Eggshausting Eggstravaganza

Henry got to eggsperience his first Easter egg hunt today at Advent's Eggstravaganza.  We went to the morning service then headed home to make sure that Henry had a good nap before heading back to church for lunch and the festivities. Per usual, when there is a small window for nap time, he did not sleep.  So we headed back to church at eggsactly his normal nap time.

We all filled up on eggstra crispy fried chicken then headed out to the newborn to two year egg hunt.  He was so funny and seemed to know eggsactly what to do and immediately found lots of eggs in the wide open grassy area.  He kept saying "ball" and "more, more."  He did an eggcelent job filling up his Easter tote so that we could empty it back out about three or four more times to fill back up.  

Sadly, he didn't want to give up his last egg when it came time to cash them in for candy for Mama and Daddy.  It was the last straw on a windy day for a little boy just getting over his first ear infeggtion.  Looking back, I imagine us actually squealing our tires as we left the parking lot with our screaming guy.  Cory assures me that we eggsitted at a normal speed, though.

Poor kid.  He was eggstreamly tired and fell asleep less than a couple of minutes after we got home.  I sure do hope his ear feels OK and that the wind didn't make anything worse.  Lesson learned.  We will know better what to eggspect next time.

March Madness!

Henry's showing Louisville how to make sure they take it all!

Dinner will never be the same

Henry is feeding himself with the spoon now.  Well, when I say "feeding," I really mean "entertaining."  And when I say "himself," I really mean "us."

Gluttons

... for adorableness, that is!

David and Stacy are expecting their third super cute child, due to make an appearance around November 4th. We are so excited for them and know that Chippie will love his siblings who will also love Chippie. (Yes, Evan dubbed the little lima bean already.)

Cory and I are blessed with a lot of good parenting examples in our lives, and David and Stacy certainly set the bar for us. This newest Farry is a lucky baby! Henry-Totch is going to love having another cousin with whom he can roughhouse. Don't worry, though, we will instruct him to be gentle for at least six months.

Facing Forward

The bad news is that Henry has his first ear infection--moderate and in the left ear.  The good news is that Henry now weighs 21 lbs, 6 oz, so we were able to convert his carseat to the forward facing position.  It means that he got to look ahead rather than backwards as we made a couple of recent trips to Carolina Pediatrics.

I took Henry to the doctor last Friday after his cold wouldn't go away and he was acting especially wimpy.  I couldn't hide my excitement when the scale showed his stellar weight gain.  And then Dr. Song checked his ears and exclaimed, "His ears look wonderful!"  She told us to keep an eye on him and to bring him back if his fever didn't go away in the next couple of days.  

On Tuesday, Mrs. Tammy pointed out that Henry's eye was gooey, so I called and made an appointment to bring him in this morning.  Poor Henry was in pain when he woke up screaming last night, and Daddy was glad to take him back to the pediatrician this morning to see what we needed to do to help our little guy.  And, it turns out, it's time for some antibiotics.  I stayed home with him today, and we actually had a very good day playing and napping.  He is the best patient ever!  I am going to miss him tomorrow.  

Boob no more

One of my favorite things about being Henry's mom has been nursing him.  Even when he was waking every couple of hours during those early days, I still felt like all was right with the world so long as I could just nurse my baby for the next thirty minutes.  He melted my heart when he would fall fast asleep snuggled close against my skin.  He cracked me up when he began noticing the world around him--popping his head up to check out his Daddy's voice and then, later, when he learned that he could multi-task and still nurse while reaching up to pat my face or even pull and twist my nose.  He made me stop and be still in the midst of stressful, frenzied days, including those afternoons after Mother's Morning Out when he would insist on nursing from around 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM.  That comfy glider was one of our best purchases!

Henry got the hang of the sippy cup around eight months, and we were able to start adding 1/3 of whole milk to his cup when he was about 12 months and two weeks.  It only took about two weeks before he was fine with a sippy cup containing all whole milk and was nursing just in the morning and before bed.  We cut out the morning feeding about a month ago, and he was nursing only at night--our special cuddle time.  Just Thursday night, though, he only nursed for about five minutes before grabbing his pacifier out of my hand and drifting off to sleep.  He did not request nursing on Friday night or tonight, so we think the nursing era is over.  

We always planned on me nursing Henry for 12 months, with the rest of the time being up to his discretion.  I am already feeling a little nostalgia over the end of this amazing time of connection, but truthfully, I am also looking forward to a sushi dinner!  Any babysitter volunteers out there? 

Over the hills and back over the hills... to the Farry's house we go!

We love visiting David, Stacy, Evan, and Anna, but we haven't been able to do so for a long time now--not since right after Anna was born.  This time, though, we made plans, and no one was too sick or injured to make the trip to Chelsea, Alabama.  We only took one 50 mile detour up a mountain and back before arriving to our very hospitable sleeping quarters on last Thursday evening.  Henry realized around 4 AM that our bed was a lot nicer than the pack n play.

Time with my brother's family is always fun, and this visit was no disappointment.  The Friday weather was a little blah, but we got to watch Evan really enjoy the big, giant inflatable slides and mazes at Jumpin Jax.  

Anna, Cory, Henry, and I liked it, too, but perhaps David enjoyed it the most since he got to show off some mad basketball skills.  (These photos are blurry since pretty much the whole place was vibrating.)

We also had a mini family reunion since it turns out that Maria, Ken, and Matthew were in town.  So, what once was a sundry crew of three cousins turned into a motley group of four on Saturday afternoon.  

Lazy Sunday started off with a traditional rock hunt and ended with lots of horsing around.  We didn't want to leave, but the road was calling--along with work, school, and Henry's crib.  We thought about packing up Evan and Anna to take with us but decided to leave them in Chelsea, Alabama.  It would be pretty nasty to return great hospitality by kidnapping the kids!