Growing up so fast

In the past few weeks Henry has made leaps and bounds in his speech development. He surprises us almost daily in how much he can understand and what he attempts to say. Some funny instances of this include:

I had just picked Henry up because he had gotten into something in our house he shouldn't have (not a rare occurrence) and was going to take him to a different part of the house. He attempted to wiggle out of my arms and told me "dow!" (down). It was so surprising that both Sam and I started laughing. 

He can make a few animal sounds but his favorite animal is the cow. He says that a cow goes "mmmm." And he will point out all the cows in every book and show you his toy cow. 

Yesterday, Henry was sitting down with the book "Is your mama a llama?" and reading it to himself as he turned the pages. He would say "wawa", turn the page and babble, turn the page again and say "wawa", and repeat this until he had no more pages to turn. I think "wawa" means llama. I happened to have my phone near me to capture it. 

We're trying to teach Henry how to feed himself with a spoon. If there is food already on the spoon he has no problem bringing it to his mouth. We've practiced with yogurt and applesauce. A bath usually follows these practice sessions. He's not convinced that eating with a spoon is better than just getting your hands dirty and scooping it up.

The Magic of Christmas

This Christmas season, Henry is old enough to notice his surroundings and enjoy them. We put up some Christmas lights in our apartment, and they are his favorite. Every time he comes into the living room he points to them, crawls over to them and tries to touch them. I let him play with them for just a little while and he was in heaven. 

On the left, is Henry's 1st Christmas. And on the right, is one year later. Look how much he's grown!

We didn't put up a Christmas tree this year. Mostly because we were afraid that Henry would grab it and pull it down on himself. Plus, our apartment doesn't allow real Christmas trees. Bummer. 

Since we've been married we have had "nontraditional" trees, so we continued it again this year. 

2012: Our plant/tree with popcorn garland

2013: Tomato cage with lights

2014: Baby-proof tree (washi tape on wall)

We've started a new Christmas tradition of an advent calendar! I put it together so each day you either do an act of service or a Christmas activity. It wasn't too difficult to make and I think it helps us be more charitable and make memories. Some of the ideas I put inside included: 

Watching the Christmas devotional, putting up Christmas decorations, reading The Mansion and Christmas Carol, making paper snowflakes, making graham cracker houses, seeing Christmas lights, making/delivering holiday treats to friends and neighbors, complimenting people, smiling more, leaving quarters in a vending machine, holding the door open for someone, scraping someone's windshield, etc. 

A couple weeks ago we went to a Window Walk. There were ice sculptures, fire throwers, a tree lighting, and some other activities. The ice sculptures were my favorite. 

Our ward Christmas party was really nice. For dinner they served Mexican food! Yum! I signed up to bring enchiladas, and I had to bring enough to feed 30 people! I had to quadruple my recipe! 

We didn't know how Henry would do sitting on Santa's lap, but we took him to see Santa. He was fine in my arms until Santa started reaching out to hold him and then Henry had a meltdown. It was funny but sad at the same time. Maybe next year...

Thanksgiving Pictures

Here are some pictures of our family, courtesy of Alan Honey. Thanks again! Henry wasn't the most cooperative, but we took what we could get. I think the blooper shots are pretty funny and show Henry's personality.

He isn't walking independently yet, so most of the time he would just prefer to crawl. He was refusing to walk in these pictures. 

Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving in Kansas City with family. Here are the Honey boys on Thanksgiving morning. Lauren and Ross are very good hosts and good cooks!

Peggy was sweet enough to read lots of books to Henry. He loves books so much. It looks like he is paying more attention to the story-teller than to the story.

It's a tradition that during the holidays we make graham cracker houses/creations. It's fun to see what everyone comes up with. They are a really creative bunch! And the kids eat about 40% of their own candy and frosting before they're through and are covered with royal icing. Gotta love it. 

Hair Cut

I love Henry's blonde hair, but there comes a point when he just looks a little scraggly, even after I bathe him and comb it. But who wants to pay a lot of money to get their baby's hair cut, just to have your kid freak out and cry in a hair parlor with a haircut you could probably just do yourself? So...I decided to try giving Henry a haircut at home. I found this really helpful website that walks you through cutting boy's hair (http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/how-to-cut-boys-hair-like-a-pro). She tells you at what angle to cut the hair to make it look natural. I thought this was really helpful. 

I won't pretend that I did an amazing job, but it was effective and Henry didn't even cry! I put him in his high chair and gave him pieces of paper towels and paper to rip into pieces (in addition to a Christmas movie in the background). He didn't really care about the movie but he loved the paper. 

These are just styles I experimented with. I don't style his hair in a mohawk. I promise. 

Time Flies

I have a lot of catching up to do but I feel like I have a good excuse...

We are so excited for our newest edition to join our family! 

This is what Henry thinks of becoming a big brother...I'll leave the interpretation of his facial expressions up to you.

Unlike Henry's pregnancy, this one has been very different. Starting at about 6 weeks, I was having really bad morning sickness (morning, afternoon, evening and through the night). I'll spare the details but it would be sufficient to say that it was really rough and I don't know what I would have done without Sam's help and support. He should win some sort of prize for being so helpful. I tried ginger ale, small snacks, sea-bands, vitamin B-6, etc all with no relief.

At my 8 week appointment, I was able to start a prescription (Diclegis), which helped me not throw up but it didn't eliminate nausea. So I also started taking Zofran, which basically allowed me to return to my almost-normal-self. I am so glad I live in a day and age where these treatments are possible. 

Therefore, my blogging was put on hold for a while. But now I'm attempting to catch up. 

I discovered a new craft! It is using freezer paper stencils to design clothes. All you do is trace and cut out your design on freezer paper with an exacto knife. Then you iron it to your shirt, paint it, and wait for it to dry. I'm excited to do more freezer paper stencil projects. I've seen a lot of cute ideas for onsies that I'll probably experiment with. 

Sam took Henry to the park and played on the swings when I wasn't feeling well one day. It's nice to be within walking distance of a park. Look at that hair blowing! 

And while we're talking about hair, Henry is such a funny kid. When we put him down for a nap, he'll lay on his stomach in the crib and use one had to twirl his hair. One day after his nap, I picked him up from his crib and this is what his hair looked like. I just had to take a picture!

For Halloween, we had a little monkey on our hands. He wasn't the biggest fan of the hood portion of his costume but he was really cute!

He's been caught red handed with my wallet! It wasn't the first time and probably won't be the last either.  But how can you be upset with a cute smile like that?

Little moments here and there

This post has pictures of little events that show Henry's personality.

Going to Target.
Henry loves books. Probably more than toys. Is that unhealthy? We actually have to hide his books and only let him have them occasionally or else he would just sit and look at books all day. Seriously. We have a book worm on our hands.
I needed to run some errands and he had a book in the car with him. I was trying to encourage him to let go of it and leave it in the car, rather than take it inside with us but he started to throw a fit. So...he brought the book with him and held onto it the whole time.

Walk in the park.

I'm trying to go on a walk every day while the weather is still nice. Towards the beginning of our walk I gave Henry a leaf to look at. I was really impressed that he didn't put it in his mouth the whole time. About 10 minutes into our walk, Henry stops jabbering and I stop to check on him and this is what I discovered. 

Fast asleep. Still holding his leaf. 

General Conference

General Conference was very challenging this session. Henry had a bad cold and everyone was pretty miserable because of it. Here he is paying full attention to Elder Oaks talk. He also paid attention to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. 

Picking Sam up from work

Being a one car family, we get to pick Sam up from work. When we get there early enough and the weather is nice, we park and sit by the fountain. He is such a happy little boy!