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