Recently, we opened up an email account for our sweet boy (as we did for Charlie when she was a baby). It’s a place for us to email advice, love and memories. At some point in his life, we will give him access to that email account as a gift.
Today was my first email to my boy:
Hi, my love! I can’t believe you are already 5 months old and this is my first email to you. Let me just tell you that despite not finding the time to write, I have done nothing but love you and love on you. You are the sweetest little man and I am surprised every day by your amazing personality.
You absolutely love to laugh. You radiate happiness.
I constantly hear people say, “Henry loves me! I can always get him to smile!”
I don’t have the heart to tell them that it’s because you’re always smiling. You absolutely love life. Yes, I know that sounds silly because you’re still so young, But really, you love life.
Besides life, you also love your Momma. I spend so much of my day hugging you and being hugged by you. You grab onto my cheeks, my hair, my shoulders… and you pull me in for the most wonderful koala hugs. When we’re not hugging, we’re laughing. Your giggle is this magical, contagious sound that just fills my heart.
You are my sweet boy and I cannot begin to express how much I love you. Before you arrived, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like. How our life would change. How my heart would grow.
It’s been the most amazing 5 months with you and I can say without hesitation that you are so incredibly loved. By me, by Daddy, by Charlie, by your grandparents, by everyone.
I hope that when you finally read this, your heart is still the same. So open and full of life and love. You have a gift, my boy, and it’s bringing happiness to those around you.
The world has big plans for you, sweet Henry, and I’m going to guess that you have big plans for the world.
We had such a fun and busy Halloween weekend. Our kiddos were dressed in coordinating costumes… Charlie was Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Henry was her kitty cat, named “Cat.” They were both absolutely adorable.
On Friday, we went to a Halloween party with my family. It’s the same party we attended (and loved) last year and this year did not disappoint. In fact, it reconfirmed Charlotte’s love of a DJ and dancefloor. I’ll let the photos and videos speak for themselves, but let’s just say she had fun.
On Saturday, we took a break from costuming and went to lunch for Grandpa’s 91st birthday. Another great time! AND, that night, Mark and I went on a real date (thanks, M&D for the tickets and thanks to Ivan for babysitting!!) to go see The Book of Mormon. It was literally the funniest thing I’ve watched in a long while. A great show!
On Sunday, Charlie had soccer class and all the kids dressed up. Then, we went to my niece’s 5 year old birthday party, which was trick-or-treat themed. It was a blast! When we got home, it was time to trick or treat in our neighborhood with our neighbors. It was such a great time. Charlotte absolutely loved trick or treating. And honestly, it wasn’t about the candy (she only ate one piece all weekend), but she just loved the exchange.
I’m a little late with the update, but here it is! Also, can we just acknowledge the fact that my second baby is already 4 months old!? That’s just crazy. Time is literally flying faster than I can handle!
Weight: Henry went to the doctor on Tuesday of last week for his 4-month check up and HOLY MOLY. He’s HUGE! A whopping 18 lbs, 5 oz (91st percentile). I mean, little Charlie (who is also on the average to big side of things) only weighs 27 lbs.
Height: Henry is 27″ long (97th percentile)! Come on, guys. That’s bonkers. He is literally a hair less than half my height at four months old!
Health Updates: Thankfully, besides a runny nose and some teething here or there, the little guy has been great.
Sleep: For the most part, Henry is a very legit sleeper. He’s been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now and actually sleeping until around 7/8 am. Prior to this, he was waking once around 5/5:30 am.
His schedule:
7/8 am: Henry wakes up (typically by making silly noises or you just happen to look at the monitor and he’s awake. Such a good boy.) Usually within 30-40 minutes of waking up, he eats a milk snack.
9/10 am: Henry naps (his morning nap is anywhere from 45 minutes to 3.5 hours). The rest of Henry’s day is dictated by this nap, as he goes down for a nap (most often for about 45 minutes – 1.5 hours) for every 1.5-2 hours of awake time.
430/5: Sometimes Henry will take a little night nap.
6/630: Bedtime for the H pie.
As the day goes on, naps get more difficult; although, his night nap is usually an easier nap and bedtime is a sinch.
All in all, he’s a great sleeper (and baby).
Clothes/Diapers (Sizes): Henry is still in 3-6 month clothing. He might be able to swing 9 month, but we haven’t switched him or even started using any 9 month stuff yet. As for diapers, he’s moved up to a size 3 as of a few weeks ago. Dude’s big.
Diet: Still a milk monster. While we were away, Henry was drinking about 34 ounces of milk per day. Some days, I feel like it’s gotta be more than that. But who knows? At his bedtime feed, the tap runs dry (aka I run out of milk before H is satisfied) and we supplement with a bottle of pumped breastmilk (I pump before bed and first thing in the morning). SO, sometimes he legit drinks everything I have to offer, plus 5-7 ounces of pumped milk.
Henry also enjoys shoving hands/arms/shoulders/necks/shirts/knuckles/etc in his mouth. You can always tell who was just holding Henry, because their shirt is SOAKED.
Paci… still a no go. He likes it for a second, then just gnaws on it until it falls out of his mouth.
As a side-note, I’ve been a little unsure about feeding Henry pumped milk via a bottle versus feeding him directly from the source. I feel like he can eat more when he’s nursing from a bottle (he falls asleep at the boob, sometimes I run out of milk, etc). I’m thinking that a combination of our trip and my 3-night a week workouts (which are now over) screwed up my milk supply. I still seem to have more than enough milk in a 24-hour period, but the problem seems to be that I don’t always have enough at any given time.
Teeth: I feel like Henry has been teething since he was born. In the past few weeks, it feels like he’s gotten closer to his gums actually showing signs of teething and he definitely sucks his whole face into that little mouth, but still no teeth… thank god. Let’s just say he’s a bit of a chomper.
Baby Gear Love: Still loving a lot of the same items. Henry also loves his Little Giraffe lovey blanket. Oh! And his swaddle. We’d be lost without his swaddles. I think the best ones are either the Ergo Baby or the SwaddleMe. The Ergo is nice for nighttime because he can get his arms out, which allows him to self-soothe throughout the night. The SwaddleMe is nice for naps because it keeps him very nicely contained.
Henry also LOVES his play mat. I don’t remember Charlie loving it as much, but MAN does he get into it! And he can play with it for awhile! He loves swatting the little hanging guys and squeals the whole time.
Also, have I mentioned the NogginStik? That’s our fancy shmance rattle, which I actually really love. I bought it on Amazon and had to return the first one I got because it was broken, but since receiving one that actually works, it’s awesome. Perfect size and weight for Henry to hold onto. Lights up and changes colors when he hits it. Makes a rattle noise. Has a mirror on the bottom. All in all, super entertaining.
Milestones/Firsts: Supposedly, Henry rolled from his back to his belly while we were in Nashville, but really, does it actually count if I didn’t see it? No. The answer is no.
His head strength is getting SO good and he’s really discovering his voice, which gets SO high sometimes.
He is still the most smiley, happiest little dude I’ve ever met.
He’s improving his ability to fall asleep on his own! The other day, I had him sitting in the stroller awake. When I looked back, he was asleep. All on his own. No movement or anything.
Henry gives hugs. He holds onto me like a koala and just gives the best, happy little hugs.
Likes: Mommy, Daddy, Charlie (loves Charlie… except when she’s being a jerk), Rodolfo, smiling, reading books with Mommy, being rocked, being tickled, being held.
Charlie lays with Henry and gives him such hugs and snuggles. Oy. It’s the cutest.
Dislikes: Being put down when he’s not ready. And being overtired. Ugh. That’s the worst. Picture the happiest baby on earth screaming his tiny head off…
Things I Don’t Want to Forget: Just everything. I love my little bumpkins. He has such an incredible personality and is just such a happy love. Even when he’s crying, I can still get him to laugh. He’s just a love.
Also, it’s been so special watching his relationship with Charlie develop. She’s gotten to be so good with him. Every day when we get home from work (Henry and I), Charlie RUNS to the door with a huge squeal and screams, “HENRY!” as she gives him a big hug. The other day, she had set up a blanket on the floor in anticipation of his arrival.
When she wakes up, the first thing she does is ask about Henry.
And Henry… he just adores her. He’s fascinated by her silliness. He loves watching her jump. He loves being on the receiving end of her hugs and kisses. It’s all very sweet.
Yesterday was my three year blog-a-vers ary! All the way back in the day, when I was 25 (6 years ago), I wrote a bucket list. One of my bucket list items was to write down my stories.
While I haven’t gone back to rewrite the stories of my many shenanigans, I’m happy to have done a decent job keeping up with the present.
It’s so fun to have an outlet to share and preserve this beautiful, hilarious and sometimes downright ridiculous time in our lives.
It’s starting!! They’re becoming friends and it just makes my heart explode. Tonight when Henry and I came home, Charlotte exploded with pure excitement as she ran over to Henry, threw her arms in the air and lunged toward him to give him the biggest (yet gentle) hug ever.
So. Dang. Cute.
Then, this… This video is everything:
Then, as Charlie and Mark left for swimming, C gave Henry a big hug and said, “bye Henry! I love you!”
I am currently standing in a public restroom stall, attached to my breast pump… I’m literally living the dream.
I know that sounds sarcastic, but I’m totally serious. The hubby and I left our babies in the care of our parents and are currently living it up in Nashville, TN with 17 of our closest friends.
I will do a full post about the amazingness that is my trip, but for now, just a few photos…
As I’ve mentioned before, about 6 weeks ago, I very hesitantly joined a 6-week, ass-kicking challenge. It entailed (3) 1-hour crossfit workouts per week (18 total hours of crossfit) and a paleo diet (no dairy, no soy, no sugars, no processed anything, no gluten/wheat)… so pretty much meat and vegetables. Can you see why I was so hesitant?
I knew that for $250, if I signed up, I had to be seriously dedicated.
Well, today was my final weigh-in and I lost 8.4 lbs and a little over 10″ throughout different areas of my body (arms, thighs, etc).That puts me 2.6 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight!
I feel absolutely great about the results and even more so, great about the habit that’s begun. My neighbor – who is in the challenge with me – and I have a great workout routine, which we plan to continue.
Working out has been a great outlet for me and something that’s helped me keep my head on straight during these crazy few months with our family of four.
Ya know how they say, “happy wife, happy life”?? Well, Mark must agree with that statement because he’s been incredible in facilitating my journey over the past 6 weeks. He has literally put both kiddos to bed alone three times per week, for 5 weeks now! Pretty great, huh? Thanks for your support, lovey.
Can’t wait to continue on this path and continue watching my body transform.
How cute is this little dude? He’s really just the best little man baby ever. He’s been sleeping through the night most nights and has even been letting us put him down awake (sometimes).
When we took him to the doc last week (for shots), he weighed in at almost 17 lbs (with clothes). Can you believe?
Remember that time I called Henry the worst sleeper EVER? Well, I’d like to retract that statement and apologize to my little, because guess who SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT last night?
Yup! You guessed it 🙂
My pumpkin Henry slept from 7:30pm until 7am! He woke up once around 4/430, but by the time Mark got a bottle ready, Henry was already sleeping again.
Henry must have known that I had hit my breaking point. I was literally ready to crawl under a rock and stay there for the next two years.
Hopefully the trend continues!
As a side, little man is also napping like a champ. He’s turned his 30-40 minute naps into legit 1.5-3 hour naps! Such a good boy (and yes, seemingly a great sleeper all of a sudden).
Recently, we opened up an email account for our sweet boy (as we did for Charlie when she was a baby). It’s a place for us to email advice, love and memories. At some point in his life, we will give him access to that email account as a gift. 
Today was my first email to my boy:
Playing House 