Tenth Month

Eek! Another month down. Only one month until his FIRST birthday!


I may have said this in a previous entry, but Henry is really starting to show his personality. Unfortunately he got Mama's short fuse instead of Daddy's miles of patience. He is especially quick tempered when it comes to feeding. If he's in the high chair, there better be food in his belly and more on hand. It's rather amusing to watch him lean greedily towards the bowl like he hasn't eaten in days, when in all actuality, it's probably been about 3 hours. Henry definitely puts away the food. I'm still making a good chunk of what he eats with the exception of yogurt and the occasional pieces of fruit. We really started giving him little bits of banana which he seems to enjoy. The pediatrician said that we need to start trying finger foods, but I'm not going to force it as everything has to be done on his timeline or he refuses.

 

Oh and teeth! This time last month he was working on cutting his first tooth, but I'm happy to report this month that the second is coming through and it looks like another lower might be making it's appearance soon too. I'm not sure about the top jaw as he won't let me look close.

Henry has figured out that if he will army crawl, he can get just about anything he wants within reach. It's funny, some of his peers are standing and even walking, but he just figured this crawling thing out. He is usually pretty content so he hasn't needed to get creative. like Mike says "necessity is the mother of all invention." He totally rocks at walking when he's holding someone's hands and has recently been brave and will let go and hold only one hand. His balance is still shaky so he can't stand unless he's holding on to something nearby.

 

A few weeks ago, we discovered that Henry does NOT like being tossed up in the air. He makes a frightened face and screams so we've stopped that all together. Other than that, he loves to be bounced around. The rougher you move him, the harder he laughs. Oh and he loves to be tickled. The Tickle Monster is his favorite, especially right before bed. Mike is really good at that game and Henry looks at him like "Come on, let's play, Dad!" It's very sweet and I love to see them interacting.

 

Henry thinks books are pretty neat, especially the ones that make noises or have bright pictures. He doesn't fully understand why we try to read to him, but hopefully we will get to enjoy story time the right way in the future. He also loves electronics, including the laptop and the tv remote. Just yesterday, he snatched his Papa's remote and took off. He loves the light up buttons and I'm assuming the appeal of playing with something that is off-limits.

 

We ordered a convertible carseat so the days of the baby carrier are almost over. The little chunker is almost too wide to fit and since he doesn't have much room, getting in the carseat has become a battle. I know he will enjoy facing forward and getting to see out the windows instead of facing the ugly backseat. He got a wagon for Christmas and he LOVES to go for rides in it. We're hoping this warmer weather sticks around so we can go out to enjoy it more often.

He loves to play peek-a-boo with anyone who will do the hiding and Eileen is his best friend. She's great with him, very patient and he even tolerates the occasional drive by licking that she's notorious for. His favorite person is himself and would probably spend hours looking in the mirror if he could. He loves to watch us cook dinner in the evening. When he gets upset and can't be calmed down, walking him outside to watch the cars drive by almost always works. He loves to be outside when the weather is nice.

So, that's what Henry's been up to. We've started planning for his first birthday party next month which is completely surreal to me. I've been to so many birthday parties for children over the years and for so long I imagined what it would be like to have one for my own child. It's all about to be a reality!

Milestones:

 

• army crawls
• He quit the pacifier cold turkey and it went very smooth. Granted, there are still some days when I just want to pop in just to get a break from the noise. :)
• stands with assistance and can sometimes pull himself up with the help of something sturdy
• Wearing 9-12 month clothes and a few 18 month tops and tight fitted pjs. Size 4 shoes. Size 3 diapers, size 4 night time diapers.

Stats:

 

weight (2/22) 21 lbs. 12 ounces (with clothes on)

 

Henry goes tubing

Today was an interesting day. In fact, this entire week has been a little off. We've had crazy, crazy below freezing temps for four days now. We've had ice and snow and wind chills dip below zero. I've had snow days in the past that kept us at home for one, maybe two days, but today was day FOUR. Talk about cabin fever hitting the Holland House. Yuck.

So, back to today. Today we took Henry to the pediatric surgery center to have tubes put in his ears. After his 4th ear infection in 7th months, our pediatrician referred us to a children's ENT.  He is amazing! He's one of those guys that was born to be a childrens' doctor (if you ever need a referral or want to know who I'm talking about, email me. )  Since the weather has been less than cooperative, we knew it was going to take us a long time to make it to the surgery center by 5:45am.

Anyone who has known Mike for any amount of time knows that he doesn't do mornings, especially before the sun comes up. We decided to leave at 4:30 which would give us just over an hour to make the trip. Normally this would be a 25 minute drive, but we had no idea how bad it would be. The initial takeoff was frightening. We backed down the driveway and once I corrected the steering wheel, we started skidding backwards. Mike got out and literally pushed my car forward only for us to slide again. Not off to a good start. I was able to get my car over to the left side, the higher part of the road and get moving forward. Phew. We made it to the highway, which wasn't too bad and most people drove safe speeds. There was the occasional bullet proof moron doing 50mph and weaving in and out of traffic. We just got in the slow lane and cruised along. 

By the time we made it to the surgery center, there was a good 4 or 5 inches of snow. We were very thankful that the staff and doctors were there; they made great sacrifices for the kids today.  Henry slept the whole way there but was very curious about where we were. I'm sure he was thinking his Mama and Daddy were crazy for dragging him out of his nice warm bed, getting him out in the nasty weather and then going to some place new. He did great though and even let one of the nurses pick him up, walk around and get a fun toy to play with. 

After we filled out some paperwork, we just sat and waited to be called back.  They schedule patients youngest to oldest and we were the second ones in line which was fantastic news for us, especially since we were early getting there. Henry sat patiently in my lap and watched everything going on around him and then eventually crashed out. A nurse came by about 10 or 15 minutes later and took Henry back to the OR. (Yes, I cried.)  I sent my mom a text at 6:54 am that they had taken him back and then another text at 7:03 to tell her that the doc said he did great and that he would be in recovery shortly. Yep, 9 whole minutes from when they took him back to when the doctor left us with the report. Crazy fast! I'm still in shock it was that quick, but very, very thankful.

A nurse came and got us before I could even find an interesting article in a nearby Redbook. We were warned that he might be disorientated and will be weak like a newborn. The nurse had me sit in a rocker and she handed Henry over. He was limp as a wet dishtowel but as heavy as a Costco sized bag of taters. He was completely out, or so I thought. I adjusted his t-shirt and he completely revived and started screaming. This scream was awful. Horrible. I've never seen him like that and quite frankly, I pray that I never do again. He was freakishly strong, so much that I nearly dropped him. He eventually settled with the help of his pacifier and putting his head on my chest. I guess even after all these months, hearing my heartbeat is still soothing to him. We rocked for a bit, I lost track of time, maybe it was 25 or 30 minutes. Mike went and got the car and we were discharged to go home.

out like a light

Sigh. Of course Mother Nature was still wearing it out so the drive home was crummy. We drove slow, even ran a few red lights (no one else was around) just so we wouldn't have to come to a complete stop. I'm fully anticipating to get one from the City of Plano.

We made the round trip in 4 hours including a much needed stop by Mickey D's for breakfast to go. Fortunately Henry stayed asleep for about 2 hours while Mama got some much needed sleep as well. He got up just before 11, had a bite to eat and then he and I crashed in our bed for 2 or 3 hours.  It was nice having that time with my boy, just me and him.  He slept off and on throughout the day and is sleeping great tonight. The doctor and nurses said that he should be good as new by tomorrow. He's been teething this week so we're hoping good has a better definition. :)