Time Flies

Russ here.  It's been interesting to watch Hank develop.  He's closing in on six months old, now.  He is much more aware - he follows noises with his head, he recognizes people from greater distances, and he displays evidence of memory and training.  His personality is coming through more and more. 

For example, I could tell he was obviously watching the fireworks explode in the sky.  I know that doesn't sound like such a big deal, but it's more than he could do four months ago.  We played cornhole last night at Brian and Amanda Langland's house (much fun), and I could tell that he was following the bags as they flew across the yard.  It made it very difficult to feed him a bottle while his head was on a swivel.

Watching fireworks with Mom

He grins at me from across the room when someone else is holding him.  I'm able to get his attention, make one of my go-to funny faces or noises, and he flashes that big gorgeous grin at me.  At church and in new places, he opens his big eyes wide as he absorbs every little detail that surrounds him.  Things that I observed long ago and now take for granted, like nails in the back of the old wooden pews, or the spinning blades of a ceiling fan.  He reminds me of an astronaut that has landed on an alien planet and has only just stepped out the door of his spaceship.  He appears to scrutinize everything, and he doesn't want to miss anything.  He prefers to face out and have a wide field of view of his environment.

Watching the iPhone with Dad

He has learned his first "trick".  A while ago I discovered that when he wakes up in the middle of the night, inconsolably hungry and screaming at the top of his lungs, I could pacify him somewhat by patting him gently on the mouth with my fingers, making his voice modulate.  He found this slightly amusing for about ten seconds, then remembered that he was hungry and resumed his wailing, angrier than before at the attempt to placate him.  Now, even when he is silent, if I gently pat him on the mouth, he starts making sounds so that he can hear his voice modulate.  He doesn't scream - in fact, he makes the most gentle, soft little "coos".  It's adorable.  He grabs my thumb and pinky with his hands as if to feel the machinery behind those strange sounds coming from his mouth.

He and I often spend quality time just talking.  We don't understand each other, but we have some fun exchanges.  When I talk to him, I often see him watching my mouth as I form the words.  It's fascinating to watch him learn.  So sometimes I slow down my speech, and make rudimentary sounds (mainly, "da-da") so that he can more easily observe where the sounds come from.

He recognizes the bottle now, and even reaches for it.  He's able to grasp things and put them in his mouth now.  He's also able to roll over, and he uses it as his only means of locomotion.  When I put him on the floor of his room to play, he watches me leave, begins to cry, and will sometimes roll towards the door.  He rolls all over the room - we've found him in some pretty funny locations.  I need to put a camera in his room so we can see how he is able to maneuver into some of the places we find him.

I don't know how he winds up here...

Apparently, neither does he.

Anyway, he's a fascinating little guy.  I have a feeling he will only grow to be more so.

Baby Food

Soon after Hank turned 4 months old, I started him on rice cereal.  (I blogged about this a few weeks ago.)  He seemed to like it and tolerate it well.  So last week, after a few weeks of only cereal and learning to eat from a spoon, we started Hank on baby food.  Before I made the transition, I found out about a series of classes at Central Baptist called "First Spoonfuls" that teaches you about adding solid food to your baby's diet.  One of my friends, who is a registered dietician, teaches the class.  I knew that we would see demonstrations of how to make your own baby food, but I thought that there was NO WAY that I was going to do that.  I'm not that domestic.  I mean, I don't like to cook for myself, much less go to the extra work of making my own baby food!  But once I got to the class, the instructor made it look so easy that I figured I should "give it a go."  And so far, it has been pretty easy, but I have started out very simple.  The first food that I gave Hank was bananas because all I had to do was mash a banana up with a fork and add breast milk.  Since then I have made apples, pears, carrots, and mangoes.  The apples, pears, and carrots took a little more effort because I had to peel, chop, and cook them prior to putting them through the food processor.  I got some little containers from Babies R' Us and some ice cube trays from the grocery so that I can freeze and store my homemade baby food.  I haven't spent a whole lot of money so far on storage since I'm not sure how long this phase of making my own baby food will last.  But it does make me feel good that I know exactly what Hank is eating and that it doesn't have any preservatives in it.  Frozen, homemade baby food can stay in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

I also got a book from Barnes and Noble called "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel.  It has some good ideas and recipes in it.  I never thought about adding ingredients like cinnamon, parsley, onion, or garlic to baby food, but I bet that it makes it taste a lot better.  In fact, some of the recipes sound so good, I think that I might even eat them myself!  The other night, Russ was going to make us some mango smoothies.  I told him to let me look in my baby food puree book and see what tastes good mixed with mango.  The book suggested that strawberries combined well with mango so Russ added some strawberries in the blender with the mango.  And let me tell you, a mango/strawberry smoothie is delicious!  So if this homemade baby food thing doesn't work out, at least I got a good smoothie recipe out of it!  

By the way, if you live in the Lexington area and are interested in taking the classes at Central Baptist, here is the link to the website:

http://www.centralbap.com/Left+Navigation/Community+Classes/First+Spoonfuls

The classes are free!  You can't beat that deal!

And here are some pictures of the foods that I have made so far along with a picture of the book that I bought:



Little Boy in Blue

Over three years ago, when my sister found out that she was pregnant with her second child, she was sure that she was having another boy.  I happened to be in the Dollar Store shortly after she told me that she was pregnant again and I came across this cute little outfit for six dollars.  I loved the turquoise color!  (I think that babies look so cute in bright colors.)  Well, come to find out, my sister was expecting a little girl!  My niece, Sallie Kate, is a doll and I am so glad that she is part of our lives, but I was left with this little blue outfit hanging in my closet.  I guess that I was too embarrassed to give it away to anyone other than family since it came from the Dollar Store.  Little did I know when I bought this outfit that over three and a half years later, I would be putting it on my own son.  I'm glad that I saved it because it looks good on him if I do say so myself!  Here are some pictures of my cutie pie wearing my Dollar Store find:

Of course, Scout always has to get in on the action.  She loves to give Hank kisses.  I guess that there is something about a baby's scent that dogs love, too!

Kicking Like Crazy

Hank always has a great time kicking and splashing in the bathtub.  He kicked a little too aggressively one night and managed to kick his left leg completely out of the tub.  He wasn't so sure what to do once he got himself into this situation.  Luckily, daddy was nearby and able to rescue him quickly.

Stand Up, Stand Up Little Hank

Hank loves to practice standing up.  He has been trying to stand since he was only a couple months old.  Russ makes it a game and says, "One...Two...Three...Stand Up!"  Hank holds on tight to Russ' fingers as he helps him to stand.  Hank always gets this look of anticipation/excitement on his face as Russ starts to count.

Getting ready to practice standing

"One...Two...Three..."

"I did it, Mommy!"

"He we go again.  I can't wait!"

Holding tight to daddy's thumbs

I had to include this picture because his little booty looks so cute in these pajamas that grandmama bought him.  He is starting to look more like a little boy and less like a baby.  I didn't think that would happen until he was at least one! He is growing up too fast!

Bucking Bronco

I don't know why I thought that it was a good idea to give my almost 5-month old a ride on my shoulders....especially since he has really been practicing grasping things lately!  It may have been a better idea for Russ to try this instead since he is bald.  Russ says that Hank's expressions make it look like he is riding a bucking bronco. (The third picture down really shows this the best.)  These are terrible pictures of me, but they are so funny of Hank that I had to forgo my vanity and post them anyway.  Enjoy!

Hank is proud that he held on longer than 8 seconds!

Swimming in the Pool - Take 2

After Hank's first experience with the pool, I wasn't sure how it was going to go for the rest of the summer.  However, after the water warmed up, Hank has been enjoying the pool with mom and dad.  He can usually only take about 30 minutes at a time and it completely wears him out!  He immediately goes down for a 1-2 hour nap after we get him out of the pool and dried off.  I have included a ton of pictures because it was hard to pick my favorites and I want to remember all of his little facial expressions.