Ears and fish

Henry had another ear check today. After 20 days of antibiotics....his double ear infection is gone!!!! This is very good news for our little guy and we have immediately stopped the amoxicillin. It upsets his stomach, so hopefully in a few days the effects will wear off of him.

We have to say we were somewhat surprised at the clean bill of health. He has been Grouchy McCranky pants for the past few days and not napping well, so we kind of assumed his ears were still bothering him. Nope - just cranky. I think the excitement of Christmas and visitors, etc.. may have just caught up with him. A few days of staying in and going back on his routine may do him some good.

Speaking of excitement, Henry had his first visit to the New England Aquarium yesterday. He LOVED it! The aquarium has a giant center tank with lots of fish, giant sea turtles, rays, sharks, etc. Henry at times seemed to actually want to break through the glass and commune with the fish. He wore his Aunt Gina's arms out with his jumping for glee at the sight of the fish. The penguins were not as exciting for him, but I am sure some day he will love them.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Henry enjoyed the Powell family tradition of opening a new pair of PJs for Christmas Eve gifts - he had QUITE a good time with the wrapping paper (so much that I am somewhat frightened for what will happen tomorrow morning...). Some tissue paper may have been ingested, but we are assuming that we don't need to call Poison Control.

He also enjoys his new Christmas jammies - if he forgets his name all he needs to do is look around at his bum.

Alas, we will not have a White Christmas. The incredible amounts of snow we received over the past few weeks is almost gone due to a few days of 40 degree temperatures and a giant rainstorm last night. - but we won't let warm temperatures dampen our holiday spirits :)

We are all looking forward to a great Christmas Eve dinner this evening (thanks to our resident chef Michael), some traditional Danish Glogg to drink, massive amounts of cookies to eat, and a festive day tomorrow.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Henry is 8 months old!

Henry is 8 months old today!

So far he has celebrated in style - sleeping until 7:30 (holy $%$##!), discovering potted plants and the joy of eating dirt, and breaking the remote control.

More Snow

I used to LOVE snow. Truly - there is nothing better than being curled up in a chair with hot chocolate and a Harry Potter book while watching the flakes come down.

This winter - not so much. Maybe because we have had 3 big snowstorms in less than 2 weeks - every time the sidewalks begin to clear, it seems that more snow comes down. I know NEXT winter when Henry is older this will be enjoyable - he will be able to actually play in the snow. This year, all the snow means we are stuck inside a lot more (strollers on unshoveled walks - not good), I have to run and shovel what I can during his naps (running to the front door about every 30 seconds to make sure he has not woken up), and a constant fear of the ice (we had an "incident" last week involving me, Henry, the Baby Bjorn, and some black ice. Lets just say that a neighbor driving by had to stop and help me, and the whole thing was not pretty).

Do you think we will be using our patio set anytime soon???

Updates

We took Henry back to the pediatrician on Monday for his ear check - he had been on the antibiotics for 10 days and they just wanted to do a double check to make sure that the ear infection was totally gone. Alas, we got bad news in that he still has a double ear infection. The pedi did say that both ears looked "better", though. Previously, his right ear was a lot worse than his left - now, his left is worse than his right but both are better than they were a few weeks ago. Instead of switching his antibiotics the pedi decided to have him continue the amoxicillin for another 10 days - we go back on the 27th to get a status check. If he still has an ear infection then, a new antibiotic would be used and there are distant rumors of perhaps seeing an ear/nose/throat specialist (mainly due to the fact that he came down with a fairly bad ear infection after his very first cold and because I had to have ear tubes when I was little - apparently there is sometimes a genetic component to recurring ear infections due to the shape of the inner ear).

The good news is that Henry has been in a pretty good mood the past few days. He is crawling all over the house (the "serious" baby proofing has begun). Diaper changes and putting clothes on him are now epic events involving much pre-planning, skill, occasional brute strength, and calculated strategy. Bath time is now done in less than 5 minutes due to his repeated attempts at standing/climbing out of the tub. The changing table has been abandoned - it is no longer safe in any way to have him on an elevated surface - and we have transformed it into a regular dresser (an added benefit to this being that we can now put his humidifier up there instead of on the ground - previously he kept crawling to the humidifier and pulling it apart, causing a lot of spills). He is very adept at crawling, getting himself into a seated position, and standing. He is currently trying to figure out how to thwart the baby gates.

We had a nice visit the past few days from Gayle, Mark, and Erika. Henry enjoyed their visit immensely - he loves having LOTS of people paying attention to him! He was a model baby while out and about on a long shopping trip, and became fast friends with a waiter at the Cheesecake Factory.

Finally, we want to send along a huge CONGRATULATIONS to our good friends Karen and Zach on the arrival of their beautiful daughter Anna Sophia yesterday. Anna will be giving Cyanne Blabey a run for her money in the competition to be Henry's future spouse :)

Snow Day

We had our first major snowstorm of the season today! At most recent count, 8+ inches have fallen so far and it isn't due to stop for a few more hours.

I figured that I should take Henry outside to introduce him to snow. He was somewhat confused by it, I think...

Lessons

We have learned a few lessons this past week:

1 - After a major ice storm, it is really not wise to put your baby in a Baby Bjorn and go outside, thus stepping on a black ice coated driveway and slipping all the way into the street. But, we are thankful for nice neighbors who, upon seeing the spectacular ice skating action and balance shown by yours truly, stop their car to help you navigate your way safely inside (no babies or moms were hurt in this attempt).

2 - Even though your baby may SEEM to be doing well and recovering from colds and ear infections, it is still NOT WISE to hold the baby above your head while playing with him, no matter how much he may like this. It is also not wise - when the inevitable massive baby spit up comes from holding the baby above your head - to turn your head to try and avoid the spit up. Because then it all goes in your ear. This is most unpleasant.

3 - Finally, Henry hates avocado. It kind of makes me sad, because I could eat them all day and all night. He was so traumatized by the avocado that he has really not eaten any solids since the attempt. He just looks warily at them, afraid that I may have hidden avocado in there somewhere.

O' Tannenbaum

Henry joined us yesterday as we braved the cold to buy his first Christmas tree! There has been much debate over the tree including if we should even get one at all this year. Henry's crawling and pulling-up abilities combined with a large tree covered in lights and ornaments could produce chaos that is truly awe-inspiring. The compromise was to get a "mini tree" for the dining room table that we could enjoy on the ground floor, and a regular tree to be put upstairs in our "sitting room" (which overlooks the living room).

Henry was not too excited by the tree selection process, but we thought he would be VERY excited by the tree in its fully decorated glory. The tree was put up and decorated after he went to bed last night, and upon waking this morning we took him up to see the joy of his first tree.

He couldn't have cared less - we should have known! He was more interested in crawling over to the stairway railings and pulling himself up. I guess we could have put the tree on the main floor after all!

In other news, the antibiotics seem to be helping his ear infection. He slept through the night on Friday and last night (yesterday morning he even slept until 7 AM!! Insert sounds of an angel choir here), and overall has been in a better mood. His napping is still off, but we are hoping that it works itself out over the next few days. He will be on the antibiotics 3 times a day through next Monday, at which point we take him back to the pedi to be double checked. We have our final "itsy bitsy baby yoga" class on Tuesday - after this he graduates to the "big kid" yoga baby class (the one he is currently in is for non-mobile babies, which has made for a few interesting classes lately) but other than that will be taking it easy yet again this week and hiding out from the cold weather.

Sigh...

December has not been kind to our poor Henry thus far.

While he seemed to be getting better earlier this week, the past few days have seen a downward spiral for him - a lot of heavy coughing, lots of congestion, difficulty sleeping, very little napping, and a lot of sudden, hard crying. I thought he was going through some separation anxiety ( a very normal stage around his age) and that his new found abilities to stand up in his crib were interfering with naps (since he likes to stand more than lay down now, and it is hard to sleep while standing up!). This morning, after waking at about 5:30 (ugh), then taking only a 25 minute nap (double ugh), and then having inconsolable crying for about 30 minutes (triple ugh) I brought him into the pediatrician. The verdict?

Double ear infection :(

So, this explains quite a bit. His cough, which I was most concerned about, apparently is fine - it sounds worse than it is and is just caused by post-nasal drip. His right ear is more infected than his left, but the pedi said neither was a "really" bad infection. He is on a dose of antibiotics for the next 10 days - if he isn't showing improvement in the next day or two we need to bring him back in, but otherwise we go back on Monday the 17th to make sure it has cleared up.

We recently got home, I gave him his first dose of (grape flavored) antibiotics, some Tylenol, and a HUGE bottle. We are now trying to have him take a nap. Thus far he isn't sleeping (and he needs sleep - 25 minutes in the past 7 hours is certainly not enough sleep for him), so wish us luck that he dozes off soon.

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Henry had his first meet and great with "the Big Guy". He loved him! Henry is such a ham - any time there is a camera nearby he loves to flash a big grin. He was quite the departure from the hoards of screaming, terrified babies we watched sit on Santa's lap while we waited. Santa actually thanked me after Henry was done, saying that he "needed that" (Henry came on the heels of twins that were a wee bit frightened of Santa...)

Henry was feeling a lot better today, we were happy to see (let's hope it lasts!) I decided it was time for us to brave the icy sidewalks and 20 degree temperatures and finally leave the house. We had quite the day - baby yoga class, a playgroup meet-up, and Santa! He had a little trouble falling asleep for bed, but that is because he has been pulling himself up to stand in his crib - but then gets stuck and doesn't know how to get down. Crying then ensues, and one of us needs to go in to show him how to let go of the crib rail and sit back down.

On an interesting/slightly amusing note - having grown up in Southern California I have NO idea how to dress a baby for freezing temperatures. Today being the first REALLY cold day we have gone out, I may have gone overboard: long-sleeved onesie, very thick hooded sweater, 3 layer, fleece lined hooded ski parka, hat, and then in the stroller zipped into his fleece bunting/sleeping bag, all topped with the rain cover (to act as a wind shield). Henry was not amused by this - in fact, crying did ensue when the jacket was placed on him - perhaps because he was unable to put his arms down at all due to all the layers and promptly toppled over due to this fact. The picture above shows him in all his bundled glory, and not looking very pleased about it.

Update on the cold...

Our poor little guy is not feeling well :( It is kind of heartbreaking to see him - VERY stuffed up, very clingy, sneezy, coughing...it is so, so sad!!!!

He did pretty well yesterday. We hit him with a full arsenal - 3 baths over the course of the day with "soothing vapor" bath wash, nasal aspirator to clear his nose, saline spray, Vick's baby vapo rub on his chest, a Vick's soothing vapor plug-in in his room, and the cool mist humidifier running next to his crib (our home as turned from looking like a daycare to looking - and smelling! - like a hospital). Henry has learned to recognize the nasal aspirator and the saline spray and starts to cry upon seeing them....so we use them sparingly (I guess no one likes things shoved up their nose....). The day was spent in his jammies on some one's lap, or being carried around in the sling. I broke our no TV rule and he watched part of "The Princess Bride" with us - Henry's first movie (and a great one, at that)!

The good news is that he slept better last night - he only woke up two times, both before 10 PM, and then slept until 7 AM - woo hoo! It was actually kind of funny - the second time he woke up at around 9:45 PM....he started crying so I turned on the video monitor to see him and see what he would do (we always give him a minute or so before going in since he often falls back asleep on his own). He was crying fairly hard, got up on hand's and knees, then got up into a seated position (a new trick for him). Then he did a kind of commando roll, got into sitting again...and as I was watching him just FELL OVER completely asleep. One second he was sitting and crying, the next he was on his side fast asleep - and after less than a minute of being awake. It was almost like he had been shot. It was actually pretty funny. I love the video monitor.

He is showing a lot of new physical leaps - he is pulling himself to standing quite a bit - in his crib, on the couch, using our legs, etc. He can now fairly easily get himself into a sitting position from his belly/hands and knees, and he is crawling a bit more. He has not yet figured out that he can crawl towards toys or different areas of the house. The only things he will crawl towards are Mike and myself. So, we have not yet had to actually latch any of the baby gates, but I am sure it is just a matter of time.

He is taking a nap now - after a struggle with his morning bottle (since he is so congested he can't breathe while taking the bottle) and another "soothing vapors" bath. It is only about 20 something degrees here in Boston, and we are supposed to get a snow/sleet storm this evening, so it looks like we will be staying inside a few days longer.

Everyone wish us luck that Henry naps well and feels better soon!

Good News and Bad News

Good News: Henry's 2nd tooth has popped through! As of yesterday morning, you could tell that the pain was gone and he was a much happier camper. the second tooth overall seemed to be easier for him than the first tooth, so hopefully teething will continue on a positive trend.

Bad News: The slightly runny nose we first noticed yesterday seems to have turned into his first cold.

The kid can't get a break, it seems :(

His poor little nose is like a faucet (and he does NOT like you to wipe it, let me tell you!), he is coughing and sneezing, and while (so far) he is in a decent mood, he is not sleeping well. He woke up about 5 or 6 times last night, and only took a 20 minute nap this morning. My discussions on the importance of sleep to help in the getting better process have fallen on deaf ears.

So, our plans for an outing to get our Christmas tree have been scrapped. Plans for the weekend now include staying in our jammies all day, giving some extra baths, using the humidifier, and attempting to get him to take longer naps. I may even let him watch TV! Wish us luck!

Henry is 7 months old!

Time certainly does fly - even in the midst of teething. It is hard to believe, but Henry is now 7 months old!

His first tooth (bottom right center) FINALLY broke through about a week and a half after his teething pain/agony/misery/whatever word you would like to use began. We had 2 days of a fun, calm, relaxed, joyful, well rested, well napping baby. Now - the other bottom tooth is coming through. Poor baby! You can't feel the tooth at all through the gum yet, but the gum is very puffy, red, and swollen, so it is only a matter of time. Luckily, this time we know what to expect and have an arsenal of tricks to try and use (who knew he would enjoy frozen bananas in a mesh feeder so much?). It is harder to check on the daily progress of this tooth, though, since he can now actually bite you when you put a finger in there to check!!!

Other than the teething, Henry is doing well. Not much progress on crawling, but I think a lot of that is due to him wanting to be held quite a bit these last few weeks, so he hasn't had much practice time on the floor. He did crawl about a foot earlier today and was VERY pleased with himself. Unlike when he learned to roll, though, he doesn't seem very interested in practicing continually. He has to be "in the mood". He LOVES trying to pull up to standing, though - my legs are a favorite practice area, as are some very unstable plastic toys he has. Continual toppling over has not deterred him - I think his goal is to actually walk before he crawls.

Henry is getting excited about the upcoming Christmas season. He experienced his first snowfall here in Boston last week (although truthfully he seemed not to really notice...). The tree should be making its arrival in the next week or so, and I am sure Henry will be enthralled by the lights. I am on the search for a local "mall Santa" to go to and have his picture taken - don't we all have pictures of ourselves as a baby screaming on Santa's lap??? I am also on the search for some festive, non-toxic wrapping paper (since we all know he will love the paper a lot more than his gifts...)

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Weekend

It was another fun-filled weekend in the Powell household!

Henry is, unfortunately, still going through some teething pains. The tooth is being a little stubborn and has not yet broken through - we have our fingers crossed that the little bugger will pop through soon and give poor Henry some relief. In the meantime, he is enjoying chewing on ice in a mesh feeder and the wonders of Infant Motrin.

Henry is also progressing on the physical skills - we witnessed an official "crawl" on Saturday evening - we put him on our bed, he got up on hands and knees and made a beeline for a a stuffed animal. We then got the video camera and he, of course, refused to perform for the camera (and in fact, has chosen not to crawl since then!). Also, on Saturday Mike went into the nursery to discover Henry had pulled himself to standing in the crib. So, we have now lowered the crib to its lowest setting to prevent baby escape.

On Saturday we all headed to the Plewak household in Western MA for Griffin's 1st birthday party! It was exciting for Henry because 3 dogs were there. He hasn't had a lot of interaction with animals yet, so this was a big deal for him. One of the dogs, Anchor - a very large flat coat retriever - gave Henry massive tongue baths every time he passed by. Henry took it like a man - I don't know if he ENJOYED the massive licking, but he was intrigued by it. Another dog at the party was a small Boston Terrier - Scooter. Every time Henry saw Scooter wander by, Henry would burst into laughter. He was highly amused and it was hysterically funny to see.

At the party Henry also was able to see a fish tank for the first time and play on Griffin's swing set in the backyard. He let us know that he wants to live at the Plewaks - our house now seems very dull compared to theirs.

We hope all is going well for everyone, and we ill keep you updated on Henry's teething and crawling progress!

Give our address to the tooth fairy...

Henry's shall we say...challenging temperament of the past few days has finally been explained! This morning after he began crying uncontrollably after I placed him on the floor with a toy (Hey, I had to make coffee!!!) I finally put two and two together and felt his gums. Yep - there it is! You can see a little slit in his bottom gum and while you can't see any of the tooth yet, if you run your finger along his gum you can feel something hard and sharp poking through a bit. Poor baby :( So, the arrival of this tooth explains several things from the past few days:

- refusal to nap
- hysterical crying every now and again for no obvious reason
- a slight problem with whining. Oh Lord, the whining!!!
- severe drool rash
- Did I mention some whining?

Henry has now received some doses of both homeopathic "teething tablets" and good old Motrin and is - thankfully - taking a nap for now. Supposedly, once the tooth actually pops through the pain for them ends, so let's hope that happens soon! The bottom middle two teeth are almost always the first to arrive, followed by the top two middle teeth.

I have to admit that I am going to miss his cute, huge gummy smile :( He is getting so big!!!!!

Henry is on the move

Henry continues to practice his early crawling skills - he is now getting quite adept at pulling himself forward to go after toys. His current method is to get himself on hands and knees, pull his knees forward a bit, and then move his hands forward - then repeat. This does involve collapsing on the floor in between moves forward quite a bit, but he is getting better. He does best on his playmat or the rug in his room - the hardwood floors cause some slipping and sliding (while Mike and I find this amusing, Henry does not).

He is also pulling himself up on things as you can see from this picture. He was fascinated by the water filling his bathtub.

Daylight Savings

Ah...I remember the days when "Falling Back" meant an extra hour of sleep, waking up and being pleasantly surprised that it was actually an hour earlier than you thought. Alas, Daylight Savings is no longer as joyful an experience.

As expected, attempts to keep Henry up later at night in preparation for the time change have failed (we long ago discovered that he wakes when he wants, regardless of later or earlier bedtime changes, and 90% of the time he likes to wake up around 5:30 AM), and our wake up call this morning came at...4:45 AM. It is now not quite 8 AM and Henry has already woken up from his first nap of the day! Mike is really the one we should be feeling sorry for, as Sunday is my "sleep in day", so he was the one in charge this morning.

So, it looks like the Powells are in for a few long days and a lot of coffee (and some early bedtimes for us). Everyone cross your fingers that it doesn't take Henry TOO long to adjust to this absurdity of changing the clocks (WHY do we do this again? Didn't Ben Franklin come up with this idea as a way to save candles? Is this really still necessary???). We are going to do lots of "crawling practice" today to try and wear him out. The good news is that it looks like a wonderful New England autumn day outside - yesterday we were all trapped inside due to Tropical Storm Noel coming through.

We will keep everyone updated!

HENRY CRAWLS!!!

Well, kind of :)

Henry has been getting up on hands and knees for a few weeks now and either just hanging out for a while in that position, or rocking back and forth for a bit. He has been doing it more consistently and more often as of late - whenever we watch him on the video monitor going down for a nap we see him hanging out on hands and knees.

This morning Henry was on the floor playing with his chime ball (a toy that is pretty much what it sounds like...) It rolled away from him, and instead of waiting for me to roll it back, Henry went after it! He propped himself up a bit on his arms and pulled his body forward towards the toy. He reached it, accidentally batted it further away, and pulled himself after it again! He probably moved about 3 feet total. It was somewhat sad looking - kind of like watching a paralyzed man crawl on the ground and drag his legs behind him, but it was a start! Each time after reaching the ball he would get fully on hands and knees and rock for a bit - you can tell that his brain is working on coordinating all the different things he has to do to "officially" crawl. He has the various parts down, but can't quite do them all at the same time yet.

Henry was so excited from his crawling that he then took a 2 hour nap! That made mom happy (of course, he has not napped since then, but we take what we can get). Later in the afternoon Henry showed off his new skills in our baby class, causing much admiration. It is a good thing we have those baby gates up!

In other news, Henry is still doing well on solids. He has now had sweet potatoes, bananas, peas, and pears. He did not do well with peas - they bothered his stomach quite a bit, so those have been tabled for a while. He is also becoming an expert with the sippy cup. He drank an entire bottle's worth of formula from a sippy in the time it took me to put a load of laundry in - I was amazed. I think he likes the "independence" of a sippy as opposed to the bottle. Henry's only issue with solids is that he insists on feeding himself. If I attempt to put the spoon in his mouth without his hand also being on it, hysterical crying ensues. So, we just let him do it. It is leading to some very messy meals, but hopefully his coordination will improve soon.

He has been having a little trouble with napping, but I think it is a combination of him beginning to transition from 3 naps a day to 2 naps a day, and learning to crawl (reaching physical milestones can often disrupt sleeping patterns. They get so excited that they can't sleep!). We are interested to see what Daylight Savings brings this weekend. There is a good chance that Henry will have a 4:30 AM wake up call for a day or two before he gets used to the time change, so that will be fun!

We will try to get some action photos of Henry on the move. Someday I will also figure out how to transfer our home movies onto the computer so we can post the videos here, as well.

Happy Halloween!

Red Sox Parade

It has been an interesting day. It started at about 12:30 AM when Mike apparently had a very vivid dream that caused him to somehow flail violently in the bed and BAM- elbowed me right in the eye. Nothing like waking from a dead sleep with an elbow to the eye. The only thing Mike could recall of the dream was "Henry was running and I had to catch him" :) Ice packs were applied for a while and a black eye was avoided (shockingly - I was convinced I would have one this morning. The guy has sharp elbows!)

Only a few hours later - a little before 4 AM, Henry decided to add to the fun. The poor guy was up for an hour, just crying and crying. Tylenol was finally administered and he fell back asleep at 5 AM (only to wake for the day at 6:15 AM - Boo!!!). He wasn't in a great mood today, either, so something is definitely amiss. He may be teething, he may have a bit of a bug, he may be reacting badly to solids, or he may just be going through a phase. Ah - those lovely baby phases.

Since Henry wasn't too happy today, I figured my best weapon was distraction. So, off to the Red Sox victory parade the two of us went! We ended up finding a great spot right by Fenway Park (and the start of the parade). Henry was enthralled by the ticker tape machine- I was picking confetti off of him and his stroller for hours afterwards. All the players went by on the Duck Boats - it was very fun to watch and Henry was quite a hit with the semi-inebriated college students that surrounded us. We didn't make it to the 2004 victory parade (I seem to recall it was raining and Mike and I were wimps), so I am glad Henry and I were able to be there today. His inauguration as a true Bostonion/Red Sox fan has begun!

After a full day at the parade and then some time in the park, Henry was tuckered out and in bed early. I am currently recovering from the events of the last 24 hours by eating some early Halloween candy :) Everyone wish us luck that no flying elbows or crying fits occur this evening!

RED SOX WIN!!!!

The Red Sox are (once again!) World Champions!

It is a thrilling day in Boston and the Powell household. Henry is a lucky child - only 6 months old and he has already seen the Sox win the World Series.

Now, for our shameful news...

None of the Powells were actually up and awake to see the Sox win :(

I know, is pathetic. And we call ourselves fans. But COME ON - what parents of a 6 month old can stay up until 1 AM to watch baseball? A valiant effort was made by all, though...

Henry made it until 7:15 PM (so, he not only missed the END of the game, he missed the whole darn thing. Since he is not yet allowed to watch TV and has no real grasp of the rules of baseball yet, this is OK).

Mike made it until about 11:15 PM.

Devon, the lone hold out, made it the latest - 11:30 PM!!!

We were confident in the ability of our team to sweep the Rockies, so we went to bed knowing that we would win (we stopped watching at the bottom of the 8th inning, so missed the drama that came at the end of the game).

Henry and I may be venturing down to Fenway Park tomorrow to see the beginning of the victory parade...I am trying to decide how crazy it will be and therefore how "baby appropriate" it will be. On one hand, it is noon on a Tuesday - how drunk and rowdy can people be? On the other hand, this is Boston, so chances are very good that people will be VERY drunk and rowdy.

Regardless of what we do, Henry will be wearing his Sox gear tomorrow in celebration. We look forward to many more World Series wins!!!!

Halloween is almost here!

Halloween is one of our FAVORITE holidays (well, one of MY favorite holidays), so naturally Henry needed a Halloween costume even though:

1 - trick-or-treating is past his bedtime

2 - he is unable to eat candy (unless I puree it somehow...)

3 - he will never remember this

Who cares? He looks so cute in his costume! He was dressed up today for a costume party with part of his baby group. He was a sport about it - some of his little friends were NOT excited about being in costume.

We were planning on bringing him to "Boo at the Zoo!" tomorrow (an excuse to dress your child in costume and take them to the zoo), but the forecast is now calling for rain, so unfortunately we may be in for a change of plans. If we do end up taking him, we will be sure to take many pictures of our little monkey to share with you.

Fun Pictures

I managed to finally get a picture of Henry on hands and knees (and very happy about it!). Also, today we tried sweet potatoes for the first time! Although Henry still is more excited about the spoon than the food/eating process, he seemed to like it more than the oatmeal. I also learned a valuable lesson - those bibs that go on and off over his head are a BAD idea when feeding him. He definitely needs his bath tonight!

There seem to be no after-affects of his shots today. After his 4 month shots he ran a temperature for 2-3 days, but so far today he has been in a great mood - no fever, no Tylenol needed since last night, etc. Mom and Dad are also in a great mood because Henry slept until 7:45 AM!!! That was almost 13 straight hours of sleep last night - his longest stretch ever. Of course, the Tylenol had a lot to do with it, but it was exciting to miss the sunrise this morning. His sleep in meant that he missed his Kindermusic class (since his nap schedule had to be shifted) but I am not complaining!

It is a gray and cold day here today, so it looks like we may be indoors most of the day. There is a small chance that a neighborhood costume party at a local park may be attended if Henry's naps and the weather cooperates. Pictures of him in his costume are coming soon!

Henry is 6 months old!!!!

It is amazing to think that half a year has gone by already. It is true that time moves very quickly with a baby (and, we must admit, sometimes it goes VERY slowly!!) - the difference of Henry today and Henry back in April is astounding.

We had Henry's 6 month appointment at the pediatrician today. He was a trooper and took all of his shots very bravely with much less crying than with his previous shots (we will see what tonight holds!). He has to go back in 4 weeks for his flu booster, then no more shots until his 9 month appointment!

His current stats:

Weight - 18 pounds, 6 ounces (75th percentile)
Height - 29.5 inches (97th percentile)

His percentiles have been the same from the beginning - he is right on track (and looks like he will be tall)!

The pedi gave us the OK to start him on fruits and veggies in addition to the oatmeal cereal he has been enjoying, and to start giving him solids twice a day. He can start on pureed meats (mmm...sounds delicious!) in a month or so, and "finger foods" at 9 months. Everything else looks good. The nurse practitioner who weighed him made the comment that he was "the most active baby she had seen in a long time" (this is after it took about 10 minutes to weigh him since he kept trying to roll off the scale, kept grabbing all the medical equipment around him, etc). At least this time he didn't pee on anyone (as he has been known to do at the Dr.)!

In terms of what Henry has been up to lately - his newest "trick" is getting up on hands and knees and rocking back and forth a bit. This is a precursor to crawling, but it still could be months before he actually crawls. He managed to stay up on hands and knees for over a minute yesterday, and did it at his baby playgroup - he was a big show-off! He looks VERY pleased with himself when he does this. I have yet to have my camera handy to capture this, but hopefully soon.

In other news, Henry's "nanny" (she watches him one day a week and one night a week) is leaving us - the other family she works for now needs her full time. So, the Powells are on the search for a new sitter - hopefully one Henry enjoys as much as he did Wilma. We are lucky that there are so many colleges and universities nearby, so there are a lot of people to choose from, but it is always a stressful experience to find someone to watch your child - wish us luck!

Finally, Henry is THRILLED that the Red Sox have made it to the World Series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He promises to sleep in later than 5:30 AM on those mornings after mom and dad have stayed up to watch the game. The Red Sox did win the World Series last the year we were married - maybe we will be lucky enough to have them win again the year Henry was born. Go Sox!!!!!!!!!!

A fun-filled weekend

It was a fun-filled weekend with a visit from Nana Gayle, a trip to a pumpkin patch and apple orchard, and Henry's first experience eating solids!

We decided to start him off on oatmeal cereal - we won't do any fruits or veggies until he is officially 6 months old. Henry did very well - opened his mouth wide, actually swallowed a decent amount, and smiled through the entire process. He did seem a tad more interested in eating the spoon than the oatmeal, though.... During today's oatmeal feeding he learned to blow raspberries on me with a mouth full of food - fun! We will keep him on one serving of solid food a day for a while, and slowly move him up to more frequent feedings. When we start fruits and veggies in a few weeks we need to introduce one food at a time and then give that food for 4 days in a row to watch for allergies - so it is a long process.

The oatmeal was just one highlight of a great weekend. Nana Gayle came for a visit and to watch Henry for a night while Mike and I headed out on the town to celebrate my birthday -a week early :) My birthday request was for sleep, and Mike obliged. Not only did I get to sleep in on Sunday morning, but I also got a 2 hour nap on Saturday afternoon! We stayed at our "usual" place- the Boston Harbor Hotel - had a great dinner, and enjoyed some rest. On Sunday the 4 of us went out to Harvard, MA to visit some farm stands, a pumpkin patch, and an orchard (home of the state champion for apple cider!). Henry is wondering why we keep making him sit with pumpkins in an attempt to take a picture. Sunday night Mike took me to see "Wicked" - a great show. Nana Gayle headed back to Michigan this morning, and we were all sad to see her go.

Fall Festivus

Last weekend Henry joined us for the 2nd vacation of his almost 6-month life. It has become a Columbus Day tradition (started in 2001) for a group of us to travel to Vermont and experience the best of the fall season - apple picking, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, outlet shopping (yes, I said outlet shopping), and some crazy board game playing. This is the 3rd year that we have stayed at a great house in Londonderry, Vermont (on, appropriately enough, "Hobart Road"!). This year the Powell family joined Beth, Amy, Dana, Krissy, Jess, Rene, Kurt, and little Luke for the weekend. Although the midnight corn maze had to be skipped (due to someone's 7 PM bedtime...) it was, as always, a great weekend. Henry got to experience fall foliage, apple trees, pumpkins, and a petting zoo. It was so much excitement for him that upon our return to Boston Henry slept until 8 AM - the latests he has EVER slept!!!! Of course, he then went back to his 5:45 AM wake-up call the next day, but we will always remember that one, glorious, 8 AM day....

Baby Jail

Since Henry is on the verge of being mobile (and because I am obsessive about getting things done early), we have begun the dreaded babyproofing process. At the 5 month mark Henry is now able to:
- Roll both back to belly and belly to back (although he much prefers back to belly)
- Pass objects from hand to hand
- Rotate a full 360 degrees while lying on his belly
- Sit unassisted for a few minutes
- "shimmy" forward to grab a toy just out of reach
- Move backwards across the floor
He is also attempting to pull up to stand and trying to get on all fours. Hence, the need for babyproofing! We feel like at any moment he is going to start breakdancing. The child loves to move. Nothing makes him happier than standing while holding on to your hands and "walking" across the room.
Babyproofing thus far has consisted of installing gates across all the staircases and the door of his room, cabinet locks on all kitchen and bathroom cabinets, a few door locks for rooms we want "no access" to, and the lovely "toilet locks" (my original plan was to install all the toilet locks and then not tell Mike how to open them, just to see what would happen. It would have been funny, but I chickened out). Of course, since none of this babyproofing is "technically" necessary yet, the only purpose it has served is to startle Mike and I every time we attempt to open a kitchen cabinet and are unable to. Since these measures will be in place for the next few years, we will hopefully get used to them soon.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Powell Family Blog! Since we have so many of our friends and family live far away from us, we thought we would create this blog to help keep everyone updated on what new and fun things Henry is up to (and maybe there will be some news on Mike and Devon as well). Also, we realized that we have been very poor record keepers regarding Henry's development (the poor child has no baby book, and please don't ask me when he first rolled over), so this will also help us keep track of those important milestones.We hope you enjoy watching Henry change and grow as much as we do - we will try to keep this updated as often as we can!Love,Henry, Mike, and Devon