He Talks!

Henry actually started his first words already, but I simply have been wrapped up with illnesses, schoolwork, etc... and haven't shared them with everyone yet.

Last week, I thought that Henry was intentionally saying "DaDa," to his Daddy or at least when  looking for his Daddy.  It became crystal clear that he was referring to Daddy when Cory walked into the nursery on Wednesday morning, and upon his entry, Henry said a very clear, "Heeeeeey!" from the crib.  Then, just before I nursed him that same morning, Daddy walked into the room, and Henry said, "DaDa!"  Then, believe it or not, Henry repeated my prompting of, "Hey, Dada!"

What a smart boy we have... his first intentional words and even a first phrase at 9 months!

He also started saying "Bye Bye!"  There was no doubt about his "Bye Bye!" that he exclaimed while waving as I took him from his classroom last Thursday.  Now, though, he shortened the phrase to simply, "Bye," and he says it, along with the waving, quite frequently.  He also shortened ,"Hey, DaDa!" to just, "Hey, Da!"  He is pressed for time and can't manage wasting breath on double syllables when it's not completely necessary, you know.

Henry is a fun chatterer, and I love his growing range of expressions--facial and verbal.  I am, however, anxiously waiting for intentional "Mama."

He Sleeps!

Henry slept all night last night!  He woke in a good mood, which really was nothing new since his mood, save for a rough Sunday night, has been pretty much happy throughout this illness ordeal.  

Dr. Song gave Henry a good report, too, and he remains free of ear or sinus infection and is cleared for travel.  He also managed to put on a few ounces despite his lack of appetite.  We are guessing that he is going to put on several more ounces over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I sure do hope his appetite is back in full swing in time to taste all the yummy food!  

He Eats!

Henry ate some yogurt and Purely-O's this morning, and best of all, he ate lots of applesauce and sweet potato this evening!  We are so happy that he seems to be regaining his appetite.  In fact, we are all getting used to eating again.  

Just to be safe, I scheduled a pediatrician's appointment for tomorrow to make sure Henry doesn't have any issues to worry about before we head out of town.  I have high hopes that he's just fine and will be over his cold in time for his first Thanksgiving!  

News from the trenches

Henry, Cory, and I are on the mend from yet another stomach virus that first attacked Mama then Daddy, and finally, Henry.  Of course, Henry had his own cold to share, too, so it will probably be some time before we are over it and fully well.

Poor Henry was whisked away from his incapable-of-quality-care parents by Grandjoe on Thursday night for a premature first night away from his Mama and Daddy.  Grandjane cared for Henry at her house but noted that Henry wouldn't touch his food and only took his bottles.  Her suspicions were confirmed when he puked and had a very messy diaper the following morning.  Henry was promptly returned to us.

The on-call pediatric nurse advised putting Henry on stomach rest, but our little guy seemed desperate to nurse, so I let him.  It's counter-intuitive to not nurse your sick child who can obviously benefit from the anti-bodies and rich nutrients.  He only had one more messy diaper that day, and only one small spit-up.  

I had to spend the next day in Columbia for my group counseling class, and after nursing Henry around 7:30 AM, Henry puked again.  This time, I could not stick around to care for him.   Daddy put him on stomach rest and fed him water every 45 minutes.  By the time I got home, Henry made it clear that he wanted and needed to nurse, and Cory reported that Henry had only one very small wet diaper--not a good sign.  This time, the on-call pediatric nurse commended me for sticking with my instincts to nurse and said that he will, indeed, benefit from it. So far, Henry had only two more messy diapers and a couple of small spit-ups.  It is very possible that his stomach troubles are now related to his cold and the accompanying nose and sinus drainage.  

Saturday evening was supposed to be our first real date night.  We were planning to attend Art and Soul, YouthBASE's charity art show which Cory and I helped to sponsor, and then maybe dinner and drinks afterwards.  Henry was going to spend a fun-filled evening and restful overnight with his Grandjane and Grandjoe.  I was already feeling slight apprehension about the evening, so you can imagine how very sad I felt about having to call for help in caring for Henry two nights in advance.  I was sobbing when Henry left, but thankfully, I was not aware that he was not feeling well, and my own exhaustion allowed me to fall asleep even before 30 Rock was over.  (I did not stay asleep... the body aches kept me up for about 3 nights strait.)  

Henry's caretakers are doing much better today and managed to eat some real food.  Henry is still sticking with only a few Purely-O's and nursing.  He has the snottiest nose I ever saw, so we each have mucus tracks on our shirt sleeves and pants legs.  We are also taking turns holding him in the hot shower to make sure that his nose continues to run so that he can breathe and possibly avoid any infections.

Obviously, parenting brings about a body fluid/ waste obsession and missed date nights.  It's still pretty enjoyable, though!

Henry, Meet Meat

Things are progressing rather quickly for Henry--crawling, pulling up, cruising, chatting--he's getting to be a big little boy!  It seems almost silly to keep feeding him like a baby, so we made a decision to go ahead and fast track him to table food to hedge against his baby food weariness. After all, baby can't live on Purely-O's alone!  (I also took a bite of the stage 3 jar of food that we bought him, and even though Henry wasn't going to eat a lot of jar food, there is no way that I want him to develop a taste for that stuff.  Blech!)  

We started with the delicious chicken pot pie that we bought from one of our church's circles, and he seemed to enjoy his first foray into meat and mild seasoning.  We followed the chicken path again this evening, and Henry appreciated the shredded and sliced roasted chicken and carrots.  We also have the go-ahead to start introducing some dairy, and he is letting us feed him yogurt, even though it requires a spoon.

Henry is going to MMO tomorrow with shredded chicken, steamed peas, diced pears, and banana yogurt.  Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?  Trust me, even if it all got combined, it would be better than that jar stuff I tried.  

More Than Just a Diaper Change!

Look at our little future voter!  

Henry was, as you can tell from the photo, eager to help his Mama and Daddy cast their votes this morning.  He recognizes the importance of every single vote, even in South Carolina.  

We waited in line for only about half an hour, so I thought that no one would be bothered if we took the time for a photo!  

Change of Plans

Henry admitted late Friday afternoon that Mama's insanely rough stomach virus was going to ruin the weekend plans to take a road trip to visit his favorite cousins, go trunk or treating and not to some weird judgement house, dress like a pumpkin, eat some Alabama barbeque, wear his custom royal purple longalls, and tease Stacy while watching the Paladins narrowly beat the Bulldogs.  A responsive and eager-to-leave-the-house Daddy took Henry on a whirlwind Target trip where they rescued a lonely sock monkey costume just waiting for the perfect super duo to swoop in and save it from spooky clearance land.  You can see that, while we were very sad and disappointed to miss out on our family fun weekend in Chelsea, Alabama, we got plenty of cuteness.  

Daddy did a superb job of playing Mr. Mom from Thursday to Sunday, and he is slowly relinquishing his responsibilities as Mama recovers.  Thankfully, Daddy and Henry remain healthy and happy!  Our theory is that Henry is spreading the MMO germs from which he is immunized and/ or receiving milk-based antibodies.