Wordless Wednesday {The Park}

7 Months

Henry Gage turned 7 months old last week.  I can't believe that soon he'll be a year old!

Henry is sitting up like a champ now.  He will get on his hands and knees and rock a little bit, but no crawling yet.  He gets so frustrated when he can't get what he wants.  He's going to be so much happier when he can crawl and not rely on us to carry him around.  I am SO not ready for this kid to be mobile!  We need to invest in a serious First Aid Kit for this rough guy.

He loves to wrestle and roughhouse with his daddy.  Sam throws him in the air, rolls him around on the bed, hangs him by his feet, and Henry loves it all. 

Henry's favorite toys are the computer, my phone, and the remote control.  He has rearranged and categorized icons on my phone, deleted some, and pulled up a map of Russia.  As I type this, he has used the remote control to pull up Customer Support on the tv.

I love this face.  He was so done with pictures by this point.

He is really good at eating Puffs and (almost) all baby foods.  He still gags if we try to get him to eat green peas.  He loves frozen fruit the most.

Hank's hobbies include swimming, playing with Major (our chocolate lab), and watching cars drive by.  We sit on the front porch and watch the cars drive by almost every evening.  He jumps and waves his arms around when he sees a car coming.  I hope this doesn't mean NASCAR is in our future.  

He loves to figure out how things work.  He opens and slams our cabinet doors, and has learned how to turn the lights on and off.  He also likes singing.  I get to teach his class on Wednesday nights at church.  Anytime we start singing, he bounces in his chair, flaps his arms, and squeals and spits.  The other kids in class just look at him like he's crazy.  Sometimes he gets out of control and has to leave the table.

We are working on clapping, waving bye, sign language (just "more" and "done"), and saying "mama" and "dada".

Henry has started sitting up in the shopping cart like a big boy, instead of having to stay in his carseat in the store.  Wal-Mart is so much fun for him, because there's so much to look at!  He is quite the attraction.  Random people constantly come up and talk to him, rub his head, and talk about how beautiful his eyes are. All the attention slows down our Wal-Mart trips, but we don't mind :)

My favorite time of day is giving his bottle for bed.  It's the only time of day he is somewhat still and snuggly. He will let me kiss him and rub his head without trying to wiggle away.  He looks so angelic when he sleeps.

Oh, how we love this sweet boy.

Our First Family Vacation

This weekend our family went to the Gaylord Texas for a little close-to-home vacation.  Sam and I went Saturday afternoon and my parents came in to watch Little One for a day.  We relaxed by the pool, went to dinner, and slept until 10am!!!  We spent Sunday morning by the pool, then finished up our romantic day with a trip to the batting cages.  I'm not very good at remembering to take pictures of just Sam and I, I need to get better at that!  No pictures from Day 1 :(

Hank had a blast with my parents, and I think he was a little depressed when we picked him up Sunday afternoon.  We walked around the Gaylord and had a little photo shoot, then Hank went swimming!  He loved it.  By the time we went to the pool Monday morning, he was kicking his legs and splashing us with his arms.  Such a fun guy.

Watching the model train

Hanging out with Hank the Longhorn

Eating the landscaping

I love this one.

A rare family photo of the 3 of us.  

Chillaxin' by the pool

Not sure about the pool at first...

7 month pictures coming soon!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday {Blackberries}

My Day of Luxury

Sam and a couple of his friends bought a rent house in Abilene, and we have spent a few weekends working on fixing it up.  Today Sam went to Abilene to work on the house, and took Hank with him to spend the day with his Grandma and Possum.  Which means-drum roll please-I HAD THE WHOLE DAY TO DO WHATEVER I WANT!!!  BY MYSELF!!!

*I slept until 10:00.  I woke up several times to stick my head out the bathroom window and yell at the dog because he spent the morning barking, but I did not get up to start my day until 10:00.  

*I unloaded, then reloaded the dishwasher.  I swept and mopped the floor.  By "mopped", I really mean I used the Swiffer wet pads and wiped down the kitchen floor.  It totally counts as mopping.

*American's Next Top Model Season 189 marathon is on! WOOHOO!!!  I knew Brittani would win.

*I drank a whole cup of coffee!  Before it even got cold!

*I cleaned out and organized my Pinterest boards.  I sometimes get a little Pin crazy and pin stupid stuff.  Am I really ever going to carve initials into little bars of soap?  Am I going to turn old spice containers into a shabby chic refrigerator magnet?  Why would I pin that?
   I did get inspired though.  Here are 2 Pinterest projects I did today:

*I took a long, hot shower.  I usually have Henry in his bouncer thing in the bathroom, and have to stick my head out of the shower every few seconds to check on him and let him know I am still there.  Showers are great when there's no one squealing and spitting right outside the shower curtain!
*I made 2 casseroles and froze them to have for dinner this week. Again, Pinterest recipes!

*Pinterest inspired me to try a homemade microdermabrasion paste to exfoliate and brighten my complexion.  I mixed baking soda and water into a paste, and scrubbed my face.  Some did get into my nose and felt like maybe it caught on fire. I don't have a  "Before" picture, but check out my "After" picture:

It totally worked. I'm glowing.

*I have wanted some Princess Kate shoes for awhile.  She always wears these nude colored heels and they go with everything and are fabulous.  I ordered some from Target today.  Hers are probably NOT from Target, but this is EXACTLY what I'm going to look like when they come in:

These shoes are going to instantly make me tall, super skinny, have flawless skin, gorgeous long dark hair, and dimples.

I miss my baby.  It's time for him to come home now. As much as I have enjoyed my day of nothing to do, I found myself wandering into his room throughout the day to look around.  I looked at his little clothes, organized his closet and dresser a little bit, and looked at some of his newborn pictures.  It was lonely trying to take a nap without him snuggled next to me, we always take our afternoon naps together. When he chooses to take an afternoon nap, that is.  I passed a park today and thought about how much he would have liked to go there today while the weather was somewhat cool.  I have about 30 minutes until my tiny tornado gets home and my "day of luxury" is over.  

I can't wait.

6 Months

     Hank is getting to be such a big boy!  He is sitting up by himself and has such a fun little personality.  We don't have to work as hard for smiles and laughs these days.  He does lots of talking and spitting, and we hear a new sound every day.  He loves to sleep on his stomach with his bottom sticking straight up in the air. He sleeps 8-9 hours at night.  When he wakes up around 6am I get him and put him in bed with us.  He talks and flails around for awhile, then we begin our day.

     Henry got his first tooth, and I cried.  I was ok when he smiled for the first time, laughed for the first time, and ate baby food for the first time.  But there's something about the first tooth that makes him really seem like he's growing up.  He'll be crawling soon, talking, and running soon-we don't think he'll ever walk, he'll just go straight to running.

     My job has been pretty straightforward so far:  feed him, change him, get him to sleep, and try not to leave him anywhere.  Suddenly my job seems like it's getting much harder.  Sam and I are about to be responsible for teaching him patience, self-control, how to treat others, and teaching him to love the Lord.  Very soon he's going to enter a world that I will not always be there to protect him.  What if his kindergarten teacher doesn't appreciate his "energy" and doesn't like him?  What if someone bullies him, or what if he IS a bully?  What if he doesn't make the baseball team (or the dance team, whatever)?  What if he dates a girl that is a jerk?  I can't tell him that I don't like her, because then it will turn into this whole forbidden romance, Romeo and Juliet situation.  But I need to let him know that she is a jerk.  What if the jerk girl breaks his heart?  I may be getting a little ahead of myself, he's only 6 months old.

     Henry's 6 month appointment was a little scary.  They did all the usual measurements, then told me his head circumference was in the 99th percentile.  The doctor said that could indicate an illness or brain trauma if his head grew significantly since his 4 month appointment.  He charted Henry's head growth since birth, and there was a huge jump in the past 2 months, which meant there was a problem.  The doctor said he was going to measure Henry's head one more time before we looked into what was going on.  He measured it again and got a different measurement than the nurse!  She was several centimeters off.  His head is normal!  No brain trauma!  YAY!                                 Here's his stats:

Height:  26 inches (53 percentile)

Weight:  18 lbs (60 percentile)

At his 6 month appointment.  Such a stud