Nine

Henri is now 9 months old...

He hasn't hardly changed since birth and I hope he continues on his sweet path.

We took him to his first eye appointment last week where we got to wait in the waiting area fro 30 mins before going in, talking to a nurse, then the Dr., getting eye drops to dilate his eyes and then sent back out to the lobby for another 30 mins...all while trying to keep Oliver entertained.

I am happy to report that his eyes are perfect and there is no indication of him having astigmatism or amblyopia. He is expected to go back between the ages of 3 & 4 for another check up.

He is  on a time crunch to learn how to crawl or pull himself up to standing...he has a month before we are too be concerned and take him back to our pediatrician. So we work on that daily. He is a champion sitter though!

He LOVES any and all food he is given, much like his older brother was once upon a time...and wants everything anyone near is eating.

Henri's days are spent, sleeping, eating (often 10 ounces of formula at a time) sitting, chewing, slobbering and playing with his voice/lip sounds. 

Here are some of my most favorite pictures from the last couple of weeks...

 "Hennrrii....No, don't eat the rocks. Henri. Baby? No don't eat the rocks. No...don't eat the rocks..."

Oh yeah, he can drink out of a straw now...we let him play with one of Oliver's sippy cups at dinner last week, we looked over and he was downing Oliver's apple juice. Oliver didn't master the straw until Spring last year so we were quite amazed.

power stance.

Eyes & Legs

Just a brief update...

I heard back from our pediatrician about Henri's Leg/hip x-rays, everything looks normal but she had us schedule an appointment with and Orthopedic surgeon to measure the bones to just be safe and have another opinion. That appointment isn't until the end of February...

Tomorrow morning he has his first eye exam and hopefully his last until he is 3. Oliver will go in for his 2nd exam with the pediatric ophthalmologist at 3.

toodles.

Mommy! Mommy. Mommy. Mommy?

That is what I hear a majority of my day...a week or two ago, Oliver learned that my name is Mommy. He loves saying it like its going out of fashion! Crazy boy.

Here are some more shots that Graham has taken the past couple of weeks with our new camera.

With Auntie Karen who is also our fab hair stylist!

Third Time is a Charm.

Somehow, miraculously, Graham was given  Day off from work (he originally had the Tuesday/Wednesday but it was traded) but still had to work a partial day on NYE. We still had to have our Christmas with Granny Nanny & Poppa J, so I packed up the boys, all our gear, the dog and hit the road. I had to pick up Graham at work in Newberg and then we made our way the rest of the way to Corvallis. We arrived at about 5pm to the delicious smells of a Turkey roasting in the oven.

We opened presents almost immediately and didn't get any pictures of the during only after.

Graham took most of the pictures in this post. This is the original picture.

and this is after a little editing.

waiting so patiently for the turkey.

Is it ready, yet?!

Taste Test.

 Of all these pictures, I only took these of Henri.

(you may notice a funny left eye...the day before he took a tumble off the couch while I was changing him..squirmy little guy) I caught most of him, but he did manage to bump his nose and get a slight black eye the next morning accompanied by some sort of infection that he is now on drops for...)

New Year's Day was the Rose Bowl. The boys both received Duck (gag) apparel and had to wear it for teh day.

Henri fell asleep after breakfast and the boys headed down to Clodfelter's for the game and beer. Granny Nanny and I followed shortly with the boys in tow. The game was long and slow, 4pm came and it was just half time...we still had to fit in a visit with the Dinsmore's in Salem on our way home (and stop in Newberg for the truck) So we packed up and headed home...

***NYE, we were lucky enough to put Oliver to bed and take Henri with us to our good friends, Chad and Marci's house to hang out and watch a movie. (just had to mention that! Thanks guys!)

Growing, Growing, Growing...

Yesterday we took Henri in for his 9 month Well Baby Check up..it's a little early but we were concerned about an eye infection so just combined 2 trips to the Dr. in one. Next week he has his first appointment with the Pediatric Eye Doc since we have a family history (mostly on Daddy's side) of eye problems. We were told when we took Oliver in at 6 months that any other children we have should just come in at 6 months. Oliver is due to go in again at 3 to check his progress...

So our little (or not so little) Henri weighed in at 21 pounds and 6 ounces! That is bigger than Oliver was at 1 year old! Craziness. he is 29" long/tall and has a 19" head! What just hit me, is that I have a 21" head....

While checking him out, our Dr. noticed a discrepancy between Henri's 2 legs. He has a crease, or fat roll in his right leg and not his left and it appeared that the right leg was also about 1 cm shorter. It was very hard to tell since she was having difficulty getting him to completely relax. To error out the possibilty of Hip Dyslplasia, she ordered 2 x-rays of his legs & hips. On first look, everything looked good, but she has sent them on to the Orthopedic people to take a look. If necessary, we will have an appoitment with them to take a closer look and take measurements. Graham and I are both able to get him to relax more and we can no longer see the difference in leg lengths so we are feeling better...I was supposed to hear back today but I think it might be Monday before I hear again. As of right now, I'm not too worried.

These pictures are from a few weeks ago. I have hundreds to go through and edit of both boys and our xmas in Corvallis...hopefully this weekend you will be bombarded with blog updates!

Eight Point Five

In the craze of the holidays, I missed Henri's eight month update. A couple days after Christmas he started sitting on his own. He can't yet get there but now he can sit up for 30 mins or more. He isn't crawling yet, but shows a lot of interest, he can't yet coordinate being up on his arms and up on his knees at the same time yet...

This is from the first night that he started sitting up on his own.

Last week I made the change over to the big boy car seat, still rear facing of course. Yesterday he sat in a shopping cart for the first time & Oliver got to ride in the basket. He thought that was pretty cool and did very well sitting the whole time. For a normal trip these days, I wear Henri and Oliver is strapped in the seat, but I just needed to run in to Target for diapers and didn't feel like taking the time to load him up into the Bjorn. Tomorrow I am sadly excited to go to Costco with the boys so they can sit side by side in their carts...so sad, I know...

Henri continues to be the happiest baby I know with everyone we meet commenting so. I feel truly honored to get to be his Mama. I beg him to stay this way his whole life but fear that the monster will emerge next year....

Christmas 2009

I'm a bit behind on this post...but better late than never!

This was the best shot we could get of both boys. First Henri was happy and smiling and Oliver crying, then Oliver started to perk up and Henri started crying. The end result, apprehension on both of their faces....

Graham got Christmas day of last minute which surprised our Christmas dinner guests who thought he wouldn't be home until early afternoon. It was probably the best Christmas gift we could have had. The morning was one that you imagine as a young adult, sun streaming in the window, children gleefully opening and sharing presents, and just pure joy.

 

After present opening, we took a gift next door to our neighbors and had a chance to visit making a bit behind schedule for getting dinner made...

We didn't get any good pictures of or during dinner, but we did get a picture of the aftermath and the loot after the Grandparents showed up.

we had a very lovely, low key afternoon of cooking and dinner followed by mass present opening. Among the gifts was a a new camera for Graham and I. We were so amazed to have received it and can't stop playing with it! The pictures above were with the old camera we were borrowing from my Mom & Rick and the below were taken with the new Nikon D5000.