Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Our Little Chef

Henry LOVES his sisters pink kitchen. It's one of his very favorite spots to play. He cooks a little differently than Evie but he makes a mean batch of cookies with sprinkles!

Super Tuesday!

Henry is 8 Months!

Dear Henry,


   It's that time again . . . you are 8 months old! You are still just the sweetest baby and are enjoying your new skill . . . crawling. Life is not the same because you are all over the place getting into anything that you can get your chubby little hands on. Dresser drawers are fun for you to open and shut, cabinets get emptied within minutes as you swipe everything within reach and Evie's toys are no longer off-limits. Life has changed but we love it. You are already pulling up some too which makes me really nervous. I had forgotten how busy this stage is but since you are my second baby I know it will be over with before I know it!


You weigh 19 pounds and some change. Table food seems to be plumping you up. You eat everything! Biscuits, waffles, deli meat, blueberries, beans, muffins and carrots. Some of your food ends up on your chest or in your chair but you just keep raking more into your mouth. You still get two jars of baby food a day so that your miralax can be administered easily since you still do not love the bottle. It's a good thing that you take a sippy cup! You will still take a bottle from Miss Karen but not Mommy.


Your sleep had regressed a lot to the point you were up more than when you were a little guy. Mommy kept hoping you'd do better on your own and then I waited for your constipation to improve - it's all better now! So, that meant, it was time for sleep training and it was heart-wrenching for Mommy but you made it. We are all doing so much better now! Sleep makes everything easier. I adjusted your feeding and sleeping times and it's nice to have you on a "real" schedule. You have been napping at 9 and 1 which worked for awhile but now you like to go down a little earlier. It's funny how sleep works because you are going to naps and bed earlier but still sleeping later. Let's keep up the good work, Henry!

You are still perfectly content and happy most of the time. Smiling and laughing all day long. You have developed a bit of "stranger danger" but it's still easy to distract you with a toy or a song. You love music and dancing.

You love to play with your toys. Things that roll are your favorite balls, cars and even the doll stroller. You turn it upside down and turn the wheels over and over. Evie is infatuated with you and adores being your big sister. She is really playing with you and wants you with her all the time. Crawling has given you much more access to Evie and it's so sweet to see you playing with her like a big boy. She gets on the floor and says, "Henry, come to sister." Sometimes you listen but if you do not then Evie takes it quite personally that you are not listening. I was vacuuming the other day which your sister detests and she was convinced that I was going to suck you up. She kept shouting, "Don't vacuum Henry. He our brother. We need him."

Evie is right, we do need you sweet Henry. You have made our family complete and we adore you so much. It's amazing to see you grow and change before our eyes and watch you become acquainted with our great big world.

Henry, we love you from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. You are perfect to us and we thank God for you every day.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Weekend Wrap-up!



Evie and Henry hiding under the blanket. Henry is not so sure about this game but Evie thinks it is the best game ever. She would play it all day!



Henry loves dragging things out of the cabinets.

Henry is so proud that he can eat goldfish now too!

Carl saw this on the way home from work on Friday. He was evacuated from his building so he came home early. That sounds great except that he was still working. It's hard to keep two kids quiet and cook dinner so that he can work from the kitchen table without sounding like he is working at the kitchen table!

I almost did not blog because there's not much to say! We spent the weekend playing with our kids and sleep training Henry. He has been waking up 3-4 times most nights and sleep deprivation was not working for any of us. Keep your fingers crossed but so far he is doing much better.

I ran out to the grocery store Saturday morning. Evie did not want to go with me because she wanted to stay home to play with her dolls. I wanted her to go but it was much easier and faster without my little sidekick. Henry woke up approximately two minutes after I left the house. It was a nice, windy day so we headed to the park to fly our kite. Evie wanted to play on the playground and was not so interested in flying her kite. Three year olds need specific instructions about their agenda. Evie heard park and thought swings and slides not kites. We had a pretty rough day and night on Saturday with Henry. It's really kind of a blur which is probably a good thing.

We all felt better this morning even though we were up most of the night. Carl took Henry jogging and Evie stayed home with me. I have not been in the house with Evie by herself in eight months. That just seems crazy since it used to just be the two of us all the time. Evie is on a girl kick and feels the need for me to do everything for her right now. "We girls mommy, we do girl things. Daddy and Henry are boys. They do boy things." I told her good night and she said, "But we girls Mommy." Of course, she was just fine within a few minutes, that girl can have every emotion under the sun within a fifteen minute window.

Henry went to bed super early tonight so we had a picnic just the three of us in the den. Evie loved all the attention being on her although she is crazy about Henry.

Week in Review!

Monday: I cannot believe it but Mondays are always my favorite day of the week. That's such a switch from when I taught school. Although even then Monday was my most productive day of the week before exhaustion set in towards the end of the week. There's just something about a fresh start that makes me a better wife and mother every Monday. Too bad that cannot last all week! Henry was out of sorts all day and barely napped at all. Evie and I kept busy playing animal hospital and making art in the salad spinner. It was so fun to see her so excited about something that did not even make a mess.

Tuesday: Our day started before 7 AM when the roofers knocked on the door ready to begin working. Evie was not thrilled at all to wake up to the sounds of people traipsing on the roof.  Then, she was perturbed that our roof was going to be boring old black, charcoal if you want to get specific, instead of the cheerful pink roof that she had envisioned for our house. It was so loud inside and a little scary as roofing materials streamed past our windows. Evie had school and Henry had his follow up at the GI.Our appointment went well. Henry must have been paying attention because he was supposed to go in for some further testing but he decided to start going to the bathroom on his own. Solid food and crawling have helped a lot along with a generous amount of miralax. We had time for a few quick errands including Henry's first time in the buggy after the appointment before it was time to pick up Evie. Our roof was really coming along by this point but it was still extremely loud in the house. Henry slept right through it. Carl got home in time for a quick family walk and Frisbee fun at the park. Evie was not happy at all to leave the park but it was getting dark as bedtime approached. Evie continues to be just exhausted after school. She requires a nap and does not function well without it. I literally have to pull every trick out of my hat to keep her ( and myself) calm and content after school.

Wednesday: Our poor bush did not survive during the roof work. We had a lazy morning at home before heading over to see Campbell and Courtney. It's been awhile since the kids had played because all four kids have been sick with colds and ear infections. We had a fun morning. Evie discovered that sharing is really great when someone has something that you really want. She thought it'd be a great idea for Campbell to share his M&M's with her since she had already eaten the ones in her bag of trail mix. Sharing is a challenging concept because somethings are just not good for sharing. We spent the entire day waiting for the appliance delivery truck to come pick up our old oven. I had MNO which was just what I needed. Carl took over with the kids and assured me that he would get some stuff done around the house. Evie and Henry gave Carl a run for his money. Evie kept screaming that she needed me and that it was an emergency. Henry did not want to sleep at all! I think Carl had a really good concept of why our house is literally in shambles at the end of every day. It's hard to get anything done especially since Henry is crawling. That crawling is a total game changer and has thrown us all for a loop. Evie is so excited that he can crawl but gets annoyed that Henry finds her stuff so fascinating. I had such a fun time out with my friends. It was my first night out since November. We went to Burger Up, a hip restaurant that uses local beef, cheese, chocolate, beer etc. as an integral part of their menu. My burger, the Woodstock, was delicious! We all split two desserts that were spectacular. One was a Krispy Kreme bread pudding with raspberry sauce. It was good but the Oliver and Sinclair chocolate brownie was really special. Evie was passed out when I got home. Henry was snuggling with Carl and Carl was pretty happy to see me. Henry fell asleep but Carl was worried because he was stuck in the corner of the crib. Carl went to check to make sure that Henry was okay and sweet little Henry popped right up and started crying again. He was fine as long as Carl held him. Parenting is hard but it gave me a whole new perspective to get out for a bit with other moms experiencing the same daily joys and struggles as my family. It's good for Carl to have the chance to experience being the parent at home and good for our kids to see that Daddy can take care of them too.

Thursday: The guys showed up bright and early to haul our old oven away. Not sure, why it involved six phone calls before this happened but it's nice to have that spot empty in the garage again. Evie had school and Henry had his sitter. I had a few really fun errands to run including an oil change and renewing my license plate, It's much easier to complete those types of tasks without my children. I rounded out my morning with lunch with Courtney at Stoveworks. It was so nice to finish our Chicken Salad and conversation without interruption. It was a gorgeous day so we spent the afternoon playing outside with our wild kiddos. Carl spent the night in Chattanooga so I took my kids to Chick fil A for dinner. It was my first time seeing a blogger out in public. It took me a minute to recognize her until I noticed her gorgeous daughter. They were such a sweet family and I wish that I had stopped to say hello to them. Evie was itching to play and feels that I need to be right with her. It's not enough for me to watch her through the window, she needs me on the bench inside the play area in order to feel comfortable. We traded in our book for an ice-cream cone on the way out and headed home for bath time. Bedtime was a breeze after our busy day.

Friday: We just hung out at home all day waiting for the storm that caused school to close early. Blue skies are not too convincing that a storm is on the way but weather changes quickly in Tennessee. All three of us took a nap, Evie and Henry were both up last night for various reasons. Evie is easy to get back to sleep. Henry requires a little work. I love having a baby but will be so grateful when I get more than a few hours of sleep at a time. Henry is hanging out with me having a snack and Evie is still sleeping. We are ready for Carl to get home and enjoy our first March weekend together.

Loads!

Laundry is the most time-consuming task at my house these days. It's way out of control this week. I'd rather blog but it's probably time to fold all of these loads of clothes. Does this happen at your house too? Be sure to notice the sparkly purse that Evie put under the pile.