Take a Hike!

Henry got to experience his first hike last Saturday, and it was made even better by the presence of his aunt Kayce who did not complain one bit!  We hit the road approximately 1.5 hours later than planned, so we ditched the Dupont State Forest plans for more local Caesar's Head plans.  Our picnic, lookout, and hike were all beautiful and made for some great picture taking and memories.  Henry says he is now ready for higher level hiking. 

Perfect Pumpkin Picking

The "first pumpkin" isn't technically a developmental milestone, but nonetheless, it is a cute first!  We had a great trip to Mini Miracles Farm in Taylors with Jeff, Jenn, and Charles Braeunig on Sunday.  Henry really liked having his friend there to help pick out perfect first pumpkins, and he especially liked hanging out in the pumpkin barrow with Charles.  Make sure you look at the 8 1/2 Month album to see all the images from the trip.  

Henry selected a modest but perfectly formed pumpkin after tasting the skins and stems of several pumpkins of varying shapes and sizes.  He also pointed out that the small pumpkin will be easily transported to Chelsea, Alabama for Halloween--smart kid!  

Henry also got to add on another first on last Saturday evening--his first bonfire!  My old friend from LDHS, Jeff Haney, was kind enough to invite us to his parent's big party.  We got to meet Jeff's beautiful wife, Nancy, and his adorable kids, Cooper and Eliza.  It was a good night full of delicious barbecue with LOTS of sides and desserts, and it was so nice to see Jeff after so many years.

This picture is of Jeff and his beautiful daughter Eliza.  You can't see the bonfire that had Henry's attention and caused him to ignore his daddy's calls to look at the camera.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...

Henry's hair is looking a little tidier as he peacefully snoozes this evening.  He decided to take control of his increasingly messy head, so we took him to visit Amanda at The Spa at 310.  It was quite fitting as Amanda not only has a long history of styling his mom's, Grandjane's, Grandjoe's, and Elizabeth's hair, she also did Mama's hair the day before Henry was born!  The first haircut went quite well.  He looks good, and he doesn't look a lot older as Mama and Daddy feared.  Henry looks like the very cute and sweet 8 1/2 month old baby that he is--just a bit more handsome.

The Wave!

Henry waved at Mama, Daddy, and himself today!  I suspected that he was doing some subtle practice waving into his car seat mirror on the way to MMO this morning.  When I asked Henry if he was waving, he just put his hand down and gave me a sly smile.  Now I know that he was practicing, and he did, indeed, make it perfect!  Henry was later playing at the leap pad station while I was in class this evening, and I waved at him like we do from time-to-time. This time, he lifted his right arm, opened his fist, and started slowly turning his hand in a sort of parade wave.  The style then changed to a more traditional up and down motion with a big Henry smile included.  Daddy came home soon after, and Henry greeted him with a welcome home wave!  We are so thrilled with this fun new interaction and especially love when he turns his hand towards himself to wave and study the motion.  He is so cute!  

Crawl Rite

Henry got his first pair of real shoes today!  We braved Haywood Mall this afternoon after a delicious Sunday lunch at Grandjane and Grandjoe's house, and we picked out a pair of size 4 beginning shoes--all white and all cute!  These shoes are supposed to be the best for Henry's crawling, pulling up, and pulling along the furniture stage.  Stride Rite is the only place I know to shoe shop, but we are hoping to figure out another place to go as it was rather packed and rather expensive.  Of course, Henry's worth it.  We are hopeful that these shoes last the promised three months!

This picture is from the Stride Rite store.  Henry had to wake from a car nap to try on shoes, but the sippy cup made it OK.

Weekend Rebound!

Our weekend got off to a slow start since Cory drove home from Columbia on Friday evening, and I was just plain exhausted from trying to keep/ catch up with my classes (and son) all week.  Suffice it to say that we couldn't even bring ourselves to go rent a movie.  We did get some wonderful news on Friday night, though, and are so happy that Will and Elizabeth got to welcome their little boy to the world.  We hated to bow out of Mema's birthday party, but surely this news of a healthy great grandchild was the best birthday gift possible!

The slow Friday night start was not indicative of our Saturday, though, and I am extremely impressed with us as we started out Saturday morning by sticking with a commitment to attend the Furman Alumni Breakfast at 9 AM.  Henry sported his new royal purple longall made by my friend and coworker Cyndi.  We extended our homecoming celebration by coming home to play with Penny then having a chance lunch with Linsey, Chris, and Niklas at the always mouthwatering Pita House.  Henry enjoyed sprinkling their floor with Purely-O's and watching his conscientious mother, who still remembers parents who let their kids soil my section of the restaurant, politely pick them up off the floor.

Elizabeth rode with us to the football game, and we actually hung around until the end of the 3rd Quarter. Then, as if homecoming breakfast and football weren't enough, we headed to Henry's first Fall for Greenville downtown!  We had to pass on the homecoming party at Fluor field, but I think Henry was game.  He was such a great sport and seemed filled with gratitude for our schedule deviation that left little time for naps or the accompanying nap objections. 

Henry turned in late for bed tonight--around 8:45.  He gave us lots of smiles, face pinches, and knuckle pop-digs before drifting off.  I am guessing that his dreams are filled with purple touchdowns and lobster cigars.

Having Henry Back

Our little virus carrier is now back to being the smiling, squealing, and laughing Henry that we are used to having around the house!  He ate cereal yesterday morning and ate his cereal, veggies, and even tried banana pieces today.  It was nice to know that he was getting the best sustenance for him, complete with the antibodies associated with whatever virus I had, but we are glad that his appetite returned.  Maybe he will not wake to nurse tonight!  (Probably just jinxed myself.)

Sadly, we had to miss out on our friend Christine's 30th birthday party on Saturday night.  Happy Birthday, Christine!  We will help you celebrate in a belated manner soon. 

We are realizing more and more that Henry is quite a flirt.  We went to Midtown Deli for lunch today where Henry got the attention of a lady sitting at the next table by flashing his dazzling smile and coy grin.  After a group of young girls sat at another table, he turned his charm to draw their undivided attention and lavishing compliments.  Later, at my friend Carla's baby shower, he focused his charm across the room to convince a lady to come over only for Henry to then manage to have a circle of little girls surround him!  Clearly, trouble is ahead since he is displaying a pattern of trading in for younger girls.

This video is from after this afternoon's banana snack time.  He's a bit sleepy here, but there is no question... Henry is back!

One more because he's so cute!

Roseola and the Tooth

We decided that Henry's temperature was climbing back to fever level, so we went to the pediatrician last night.  It turns out that Henry has Roseola, which is common for the first year of life and typically not too serious.  

Oddly, it was almost a relief to find out that there was an actual virus and to know what to expect.  Henry's two previous "sick" checks resulted in first a teething diagnosis and then a slight possibility of a small cold virus or, again, teething symptoms.  We don't want him to be sick, but at least we know how to help now!

The funny thing is that I finally found Henry's first tooth last night after we got home from the doctor!  It only took five months of some serious teething, but there it was on the bottom gum!  It's no wonder our little guy was less smiley--a protruding tooth coupled with a virus.   We are taking good care of him, and Daddy is working from home today to help since I seem to have some sort of virus, too.

I think that you can sort of see his little bit of tooth (bottom right) in this picture that I took today.  Henry is such a good sport and is much better at handling being sick than I am.  I love him.

101.8... 98.9...101.7... 99.8

Henry had his first official "fever" of 101.8 on Tuesday, and we are still home in an attempt to contain whatever is causing the fever and to keep an eye on him.  I noticed he was hot to the touch when I picked him up from Mother's Morning Out, and the teacher reported that he didn't eat his food--just took his bottle.  It was odd since I made him zucchini and some cereal for his lunch, and I fully expected him to at least gobble up his zucchini, a favorite.  Henry was also very quiet and didn't smile at me, which most people who spend any time with Henry would immediately recognize as a problem.  Henry smiles a lot... a whole lot!  I checked his temp at home, and it was 101.8. He also went easily down for and took a long afternoon nap, another sign that something was wrong!

Since then, his temperature fluctuated from 101.8 to 98.9 the next morning to 101.7 last evening.  It is staying steady at 99.9 today, so after speaking with the nurses again today, I am just watching him and making sure it doesn't get back into fever realm.  So far, his additional symptoms are that he doesn't want to eat--just nurse--and he has some killer gas.  One nurse mentioned that it may be teething related!  Teething.  What a pain!

Here's a video of Henry crawling and being inventive.  He's a little sluggish today but still super cute!

Our crawler

We are very pleased (and a little nervous) to announce that Henry started crawling on the evening of Thursday, September 25th.  The video camera was, of course, dead, but I managed to capture some crawling footage on our digital camera the next day.  It was actually my first time to see him crawl forwards instead of scoot, roll, and push.  Daddy got to witness the very first spurt of crawling.

We already began some child proofing efforts, but it's clear that we need to do more.  Henry seems to want to especially crawl right towards the brick hearth, so we will be shopping for padding very soon!

This little video is actually from his third day of crawling as Penny managed to stay out of this one.  Note that it is cut short since I had to quickly grab him right after he started really crawling so that I could intercept his hearth beeline! 

We broke down...

It's official... there are way too many exciting milestones in Henry's life to save them for an update email at his 9-Month checkup.  This indulgent blog will allow us to quickly update Henry's friends and family and will serve as small appetizers while you wait for the main course update email.

We created this blog to share videos, too.  In-person-showing-off of Henry's newly obtained crawling and chatting skills would be better, but video is pretty good!

Here's to hoping that blogger has spellcheck!  

Ginny