Wednesday, January 31, 2007

"Mr. Friendly"

Every Tuesday morning, Henry and I go to an infant playgroup. Not much playing going on, just an excuse for the moms and dads in the neighborhood to get out among the speaking world. When I arrived yesterday, some of the babies were on the floor playing with their toys. I laid down a blanket and sat down with Henry in front of me. I gave him his favorite Lamaze block to play with. Within a minute of sitting down, 7 month old Susannah crawled over to Henry and eyed his toy. He let out the most ferocious roar and scared her off. Not a cry, he actually growled at her!

I moved him over to the other side of the room and we sat next to sweet little Lark. She is not crawling, so I figured he was safe. Well, I guess she was a little to interested in him for his liking (these girls are so aggressive!), every time she looked at him he cried! He was much happier when I picked him up and he could survey the scene from above, like a little lifeguard. I really need to get this boy out of the house more!

My Sweet Boy

I try not to post too much about nursing since I have a few male readers. But, it is a large part of our day and a big part of my relationship with Henry. Yesterday, he started doing something very cute. In the middle of nursing, he will look up and me and smile. He will go back to eating, and then turn his head and smile again. He will do this ten or fifteen times. He is just the sweetest little boy and I love him to pieces!

What a difference a year makes!

Today is Adam's 35th birthday. Last year when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said he wanted a baby. What a kick in the gut, huh? Can't exactly pick one of those up at Sears. I was scheduled to go for the bloodwork to see if IVF #2 worked on 2/1, but decided to take a pregnancy test during his birthday dinner. Bold move on my part, huh? I could either singlehandedly ruin his birthday, or give him one very good present. Well, we know how this story ends. Obviously, the test was positive (whew!). Good thing, since I didn't have another gift in the hopper ;)

This year, Adam got an IPOD and a plaster mold of Henry's little (actually not that little) feet. It just goes to prove, your world can change on a dime.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Who stole my baby?

I am not sure if Henry has been drinking some turbo-charged milk the past few days, but boy are things changing around here!

Last night he rolled over for the first time. He had been practicing with Grandma Karen while we were at her house last week, and was very close. I was feeding him in bed last night and laid him on my legs to that I could get situated. He chose that moment to roll from his back to his belly and promptly took a face-plant into the comforter! I laid him on the bed, and he rolled from his back to his belly 4 more times. Luckily I was able to wake Adam so he could see the first roll with me. Very exciting!

Then, this morning, I was trying to get him down for a nap. He suddenly didn't seem that tired, so I laid him on the bed and started playing with him. I rolled him onto his belly once, and he didn't prop himself up on his elbows like he usually does. Within 30 seconds he had closed his eyes and put himself to sleep! He is not a tummy sleeper and usually needs to be rocked, so this was quite unusual.

Later today, I decided to try to lay him in his hammock while he was still awake, not just drowsy. I turned on his best friend the hair dryer and he was out like a light! He slept for 90 minutes which is a VERY long time for the little tiger.

To add further intrigue to all of this, he has now taken it upon himself to eat every three hours instead of his usual two. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me! Our world has just expanded by an hour!

He has also started to go to bed in the evenings a little earlier. He is going to bed around 7:30pm, sleeping for about 2 hours, eating, going right back to sleep for another two hours and waking again around 11:30pm. He then sleeps until around 2am, eats, and then wakes again around 5am. I know this does not sound all that fun, but believe me it is a huge improvement! In the past, he wouldn't go to bed until we did which made for a very long day!

Anyway, that's all for now. I will post recent pictures and a recap of our big trip to Florida soon.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Just call me Pavlov's Dog

I have been trying various schemes to get Henry to sleep longer at night. Previously, his longest stretch was 5 hours and that was weeks ago. Nursing a baby every 2-3 hours around the clock (and that is measured from the start of the feeding!) gets positively grueling by the 12th week. I read recently that by this time they should be able to go a little bit longer and that they might just be waking out of habit. The other day, when he woke at 2am I just stuck a pacifier in his mouth and he went back to sleep. Well, the next night, he didn't wake up at his appointed hour but I'll bet you can guess who was up? I am more sleep trained at this point than he is! Thanks to Henry, I now automatically awaken at 2am on the dot each night.

What's new in Henry's world


Henry has found his hands, and takes great joy in trying to shove his fist in his mouth. He is starting to drool more, so the the dreaded teething may be on the way. He loves to play under his play gyms now, batting and kicking away at the toys. In addition to smiling, he now giggles which is a sound that could just melt your heart. He happens to think his mother is absolutely hysterical, so I know he is a very smart little boy! He is also working hard at his tummy time to improve his neck strength. He still screams like a stuck pig whenever I put him on his stomach, but he is improving every day.


Christmas, the gift that kept on giving


Update on Henry's cold:

He woke up last week sounding much worse, making a wheezing noise. I called the doctor's office and got him an appointment that day. (They really try to screen the new moms during cold season by the way. Very annoying.) The doctor look one listen to him and said I was right to be concerned. He thought he had bronchiolitis, which is basically inflammation of the bronchial tubes. He took a pulse-ox (sp) reading on his hand which was normal and put him on a nebulizer in the office. That helped a lot so he sent us home with one. We had to do it every 4 hours around the clock. He is much better now.


Since he encountered many sick people (who shall remain nameless) over the holidays we have not been able to peg the culprit that got him sick. However, Grandma Karen is taking him on an all expense paid trip to the Carter's Outlet when we go to Florida on Sunday. Hmmm, does someone have a guilty conscience?


Monday, January 01, 2007

My poor baby!

Henry has reached another new milestone, his first cold. It is so sad, he is coughing his little lungs out. Luckily he is eating and sleeping pretty normally and still smiling. He is crying a little bit more than normal, but is bearing up well