Henry goes to Oklahoma

Taylor is from Oklahoma, his parents were born and raised there and he spent the majority of his childhood living in a suburb of Tulsa. All of their extended family still lives there including Taylor's grandma. We took Henry to see her for the first time this weekend. It was so much fun to see her love on him. It's about a 4.5hr drive and Henry did fantastic. I'm so proud of him!
He seemed pretty happy at 6am when we left to head down there.

4 generations picture!

Fall Family Pictures (part 1)

We decided to have fall family pictures taken this year since we have the tiny human in the picture (literally). He is 7 months now and is the perfect age to take pictures because he can sit up but he can't crawl yet so he stays where we put him. I stressed out for weeks about what we would wear. I knew I wanted Henry in overalls and boots (which I saw at Target once in the wrong size and then drove to every target in the city and ordered them online twice only to find they wouldn't ship from the warehouse and only did "in store pick up". I chose a location and they emailed me the next day saying they actually weren't available there and to choose another store...twice. I FINALLY found them without looking on a random trip to target friday. Thank you lord!)

I wanted Taylor in jeans and boots and myself in boots but I wasn't sure about colors and such. I finally found something Taylor agreed to wear and after changing my mind on my own outfit about 500 times I finally just chose something. Sneak peak of the outfits.

My sister came over and did my hair, which fell flat the second we got to the location. Here is how it looked before. But it was windy out so that was a bust. Oh well.

I hope they turned out good! Here are a few sneak peaks we took on our porch.

I will post the professional ones when I get them back!

Take the crown!

As if anyone didn't know, the Royals won the Wild card game and made it to the post season! Not only that but they made it to the World Series! This is huge because it hasn't happened in 29 years, since 1985. We have been doing alot of cheering and game watching....

  and sitting on the edge of our seats. It's been a blast!

Taylor had to work late the first night of the World Series so Henry and I surprised him with a Royals baseball themed picnic at work with baseball themed food. DORK fo sho! But it was really fun and he really appreciated it. 

 I brought a tray with hot dogs, french fries served in a Royal's helmet and blue baseball cupcakes.

The fries. 

Henry and Daddy

We have loved watching the games but they are tied 2-2 with the Giants, they need to win two more games to take the crown. Come ON boys in blue !!!

Happy 7 months Henry

Happy 7 months Henry!!!

Weight: We didn't go to the doctor this month, so I'm not sure.

Length: same here. 

Clothes:  Just about out of 6 month stuff, it all still fits around but it's getting pretty short. He is in 9 month footy jammies and is about there as far as jackets and pants go. Shirts and onesies still fit okay. 12 month is still too big. I had to get this little aviator jump suit because it was on sale and so cute. He already had the hat. Adorable little guy. 

I have an obsession with baby shoes. 

 This is right after his flu shot! Big boy didn't cry at all.

Likes: His favorite things are rolling around the floor between all his toys, his duck rattle all of a sudden, his new farm toy I pulled out of the basement. The crawl N' roll ball and his caterpillar rattle. He loves teething toys as well since he got his first tooth!! It finally popped through 1 day before he turned 7 months. It's his bottom left one. Can you see the tiny little mark on his gums in the center?

Dislikes: speaking of which, he does not like teething. But who does. Poor little guy. He is trying so hard to stay happy but somedays he just melts into me and whines while I rub his gums with my finger back and forth until he falls asleep.

Sleeping: He sleeps in his crib of course but lately (the last 3 weeks) he has decided that 2-4am is PLAY TIME! He fusses enough to get me to come in the room and then when he sees me he smiles and coos and laughs and puts his arms up for me to get him. He doesn't care about eating much at that time just wants to snuggle and sit on my lap and play. Dr. Grossman said "no sir, that is not play time" and told me this is the time when he is old enough to learn to cry it out. I'm not a cry it out kinda mom. It kills me when he cries, maybe because it's so incredibly rare. Seriously he's never cried with shots once, he just is so easy going and good. When he actually cries I know he either doesn't feel good or he's pissed (which is also rare). Dr. Grossman said to go in there when he wakes me up and tell him "Henry, I'm here. I love you very much but it is night time and not play time. Go to sleep" give him his pacifier and walk right back out without picking him. 5 seconds. That way he knows I heard him, that I'm there and I love him but that he doesn't call the shots on play time. I did it once and he played in his crib and kicked around for 45 minutes until he finally got MAD! He screamed bloody murder and actually cried, I could see real tears on the monitor and I felt horrid so I let him do that for 20 minutes but when he actually cries I don't think it helps to not respond so I went to get him, he wanted to nurse and I fed him. He ate ALOT and then immediately fell back to sleep. I felt terrible that maybe he really was hungry and I cried too. Poor guy. Mean mommy. I was geared up to try again the following night and he has slept through the night the next 5 nights. Explain that one to me.

Here he is looking over his crib rail for me. :( Heart Breaking. 

About ten minutes later....out. 

He wanted to hold my hand the other day while he fell asleep, Sweetest little momma's boy ever. 

He has figured out that he can find his pacifier and put it back in himself which helps with the self soothing thing. He doesn't always put in back in the right way but apparently he doesn't care. He slept like this for 30 minutes. 

Then he takes long naps because he has been awake all night. But we are working on it. 

Eating: Per his usual, he is great eater. He loves his fruit and vegetables and now we are trying to get him onto table food. I am still exclusively breastfeeding (no formula) when he takes milk but we are working on adding lunch to our routine as well as breakfast and dinner that we already do. I've been giving him ripe banana, chunks of avacado, pears etc and some organic yogurt melts that dissolve in his mouth. He is funny about texture but he is learning.

 

He can officially sit in a high chair like a big boy when we go out to eat. 

Playing: He lays on the floor and rolls and rolls and rolls around. I have a big blanket set down with all his toys on it and he literally is never on it. He is on the carpet around it rolling all over. He is spending more time on his tummy than his back and loves to sit and play with toys too. I put his big swing away because he doesn't like sitting in it anymore. :(

Other Milestones: He is working on sounds now, he coos and babbles all the time but there have been some definitive H, D and M sounds mixed in now. I am working with him on saying "Hi", he sounds like he says it alot but it's more of a "hi-i-i-i-i-hi-i-i" babble. We will see what his first words are. I can't wait!

 

What Dr. Grossman Said: We saw him very briefly for his flu shot booster and I had him look in his ears while we were there just to confirm his pulling on them is jaw/teething pain and not actual ear pain. He agreed but I was glad I checked. He always comments on how social and laid back he is which is nice for me as a mom. I love those qualities in him. It makes me feel like I am doing a good job. We won't have another check up until 9 months, cra-zy!

Henry goes apple picking

We took Henry to the apple orchard yesterday. Growing up my mom took us to the Louisberg Cider Fest each year. It's a huge craft fair and then they have kettle corn, apple cider donuts hot out of the grease, apple cider three different ways (cold, slushie or hot). I never could decide which one I liked best but I think slushie and hot wins. We usually got a caramel apple too. Fall brings alot of memories and traditions that I want to carry on for Henry. Taylor loves fall activities too so we decided this weekend to go to the apple orchard and pick apples!

 We went to Cider Hill Orchard in Bonner Springs. It was a great family place to go. We had a picnic lunch on a picnic table out there with pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans and chips. For dessert we had hot apple cider donuts. This was the view from the picnic table we sat at.

 Taylor on the hunt for apples.

He had never been apple picking before, it was so much fun for the whole family, I have only been once and Henry had so much to look at. He was fascinated. 

 ** side note: I am noticing I might be too skinny for my skinny jeans? what? praise Jesus.

Perfect apple with a single leaf, fresh off the tree, accented by the hand model (muah) with apple red nail polish. You're welcome. 

 Fall photo op with the nugget.

 He was more interested in picking the grass.

 After apples we walked out into the pumpkin patch and picked a cute little round pumpkin for our cute little round pumpkin. Perfect size for him!

And then we went to the store and got hot kettle corn, fresh ice cold cider and purchased our apple haul and baby pumpkin. How convenient the Moby wrap is orange as well. Festive indeed. 

Henry stayed awake until we walked to the car, the walk did him in, out cold. It was such a fun day! I can't wait to do it every year, next year he will be able to help pick them himself and run around. So fun! 

When we were done at the orchard, we met up with my mom and went to Ikea for the first time! It was awesome, definitely a marathon adventure, not a sprint. It's HUGE and takes awhile to enjoy but it was really fun. I will definitely be back to purchase more items soon. For now I just got 2 orange throw pillow covers for my couch for Halloween for a steal ($4 ea) and a set of bright color plate/bowls for Henry as he is starting table food ($1.99 for the set of 6) and a $0.49 kitchen scrub brush. 

 When we walked into the furniture warehouse side I literally said "whoa, this is like monster's inc, where are all the doors?!" It's kind of intense.

 Henry wants a kid size table and chairs for Christmas Santa (not this one but I found another one that pretty much matches our big table that might have to happen) Look how old he looks here! ahh!

Henry got to play with my mom's dog, Pixie. He loves dogs, it's so funny. 

Look at that smile!

And this perfect fall scene slays me! What a cute nugget. 

We ended the day by having dinner with Taylor's parents and snuggling on our bed watching the Royals sweep the Angels in the playoffs. Henry and Cora snugglin. Love it!