Many, many apologies for the prolonged, unintended absence. I've had many blog posts in my head but MAKING the time to sit down and write them out hasn't been a priority for me. We've been busy enjoying our family, working and just doing the things that make life happen (grocery shopping, lawn mowing). One thing I try to focus on is being present with Henry when I'm with him. As a full-time-working-mom, my time with him is limited and I truly want to savor it! I'm hoping to do better as I've got lots to share but let's start with these 9 month old photos of Henry by the oh-so-talented Stephanie from Stephanie's Creations.
August already! Summer has been short here in Cleveland as we've only had about 2 weeks of really hot weather (not that I'm complaining) and LOTS of rain. Our tomatoes are still green but C's mom was able to give us some from her crop so we will be having lots of fresh-from-the-garden tomato dishes this week.
Sunday-Lunch was steak and corn on the cob on the grill. Dinner was sausage/pasta/tomato/basil dish garnished with balsamic/olive oil/garlic/cheese
Monday-BLT wraps and grilled summer squash
Tuesday-Chicken and sweet potatoes in the crock pot with salad
Thursday-Brucshetta pizza
Now that Henry is starting to enjoy food, I have the following planned for him:
We are adding a new food every 4-7 days so on Wednesday, I'll add something else into his diet. I'm thinking bananas as they would easily mash in his mesh feeder.
What's on your meal plan for this week? Any great fresh tomato recipes?
Here we are at 6 months old already, how did that happen????
We've had an eventful month and the biggest news is starting food! Henry is a fan of the mesh feeder (I think he likes that he can do it himself) and he has tried avocado and sweet potato. His sleep schedule is starting to regulate a bit into 2-3 naps per day but we are still working on getting them at a consistent time each day. Each time we make progress, life gets in the way :). He's increasingly vocal and enjoys talking and shrieking. When he gets upset about something, boy he lets us know it. This afternoon Chris tried to put him down for a nap and Henry certainly didn't think it was necessary. Henry screamed for about 10 minutes and then when Chris brought him downstairs to to me, Henry spent a few minutes "complaining" about it. Henry loves music and having us sing to him. He also loves his interactive toys and is always on the go.
We've noticed that he's developed a bit of a temper (see above nap example) and is very clear about his likes and dislikes. We do enjoy seeing his personality develop! H continues to got to PT and we do his exercises every day to strengthen his upper body. Henry has his 6 month well-check in a week and I'm excited to see his stats!
Without going into all the details, we've recently had a change in nanny's for Henry. The past few weeks have been incredibly stressful as we interviewed, hired and transitioned from our old nanny to the new one. We've had lots of questions as to why (after only 2 months), we were searching for someone new to watch H and I think it all boils down to the first nanny wasn't a good fit. Honestly, when we interviewed the first time around, we found someone we really, really liked. We made her an offer but she was also interviewing with another family and choose to work for them instead. So feeling rushed to get someone before I went back to work, we hired our second choice. We called references, ran a background check, did a monthly review-all the "right" things to do. Things were fine for a while and then they weren't. I felt like I was constantly having to deal with things not being done as we asked and C was starting to dread my phone calls during the work day as they usually had some sort of nanny related issue. Our parents have listened to me worry over our nanny situation for some time...sorry guys! It wasn't anything one thing and honestly, the feeling was mutual (and she even brought it up!) so we parted ways last week and thankfully, she stayed until we found someone new. It's been a new experience for us to have a household employee and learn how to set expectations that were clear (yet trying to be flexible and understanding as she was taking care of our most precious thing, Henry, in our home. Um, I didn't want to totally peeve her as she could steal our baby and rob us blind).
So now that we've got 4 days under our belt with our new nanny, I can say that things are SO much better already! The energy in our home is better and I think it's a much better fit. The new nanny came prepared with crafts (Yes, crafts for a 5.5 month old. The fridge is covered with baby paintings already) and has all sorts of daily developmental activities they do together. As we can only learn from our past, I've been thinking about our last experience and this is what I've learned:
1. Trust my instinct. We know what's best for our family and need to make sure that comes first.
2. It has to be a good fit and if it's not (see #1) cut our losses and move on. I spent a lot of time and energy trying to make our last relationship work and bottom line was it didn't. Next time, I'll call it sooner and take steps to move on.
3. Don't be afraid to speak up about instructions and expectations up front. I've created a "House Rules" list that we now use for everyone that watches H. At the end of the day, Henry (and the dogs and our home) our OUR responsibility and we, as parents, should fully be able to expect our rules and guidelines to be followed.
I'm sure this is just the first of many challenges of being a working mom :). To those of you who have great help, be thankful and show appreciation!
If you have child-care, what are some things that work for your family? Any "House Rules" we should add to the list?
How time flies-our little guy is 5 months old! He is growing and changing more every day! Some of his recent developments are pinching (fine motor skills), talking/having conversations with us/shrieking (verbalizing), pulling toys and his pacifier toward him/putting them in his mouth and touching faces-he LOVES faces. He likes to go on walks in the stroller and he enjoys watching Max and Lila romp around. He doesn't like getting dressed or waiting to eat. When he's hungry, he wants to eat NOW :)
A few weeks ago, Henry had his first chiropractic appointment! The chiropractor also specializes in NAET testing and we learned that Henry was deficient in fatty acids (no surprise there since his weight gain has been slow). I'm now taking supplements and changing my diet a bit to increase the amount of fatty acids in my breast milk. One of my nursing mom's group friends suggested reading Mother Food and it has been very helpful. I'm (very slowly) starting to introduce diary and a few other foods back into my diet and it doesn't seem to be affecting Henry. I will be very interested to see where he is at his 6 month well-check in August!
Henry has also had a couple more PT sessions with his PT Cathy. We are working on sitting and pushing up on his hands and knees! Crawling will be here before we know it, Chris and I are already talking about baby-proofing the house :)
Henry's bedtime is around 7pm and he still gets up a couple times each night to eat. At night he sleeps about 6-7 hours before his first wake up and then every three or so hours after that. During the day he takes several naps still and usually we get a nice 2 hour nap and then 2-3 shorter ones. For the most part, Henry self-soothes to sleep but we do occasionally need to rock him.
Some recent adventures include going to a family reunion where Henry got to meet his newest baby cousin, Catherine. He also spent the day at Grandma's house with his cousin Luke. Last Sunday, I took him to the grocery store in the Baby Bjorn and he really liked looking around at all the bright lights, colors and shapes.
Here are a few photos over the past month of Henry:
Helping Mommy fold laundry (otherwise known as eating
Daddy's sock)
Chris "playing" with Henry at Grandma's house
Concentrating REALLY hard on one of his toys
Bath time! He loves to splash and kick in the tub!
Serious boy hanging out at Oma and Opa's house
And a video showcasing his new verbalization skills:
Chris, H and I spent a few days out of town visiting family (family reunion for me and H and moving family for C). We got back late Saturday night so we could get ready for the next week-Monday always comes around so fast! Mac and Lila also had an obedience lesson or shall I say Chris and I had a lesson in being better pack leaders.
Is it hot where you are? We are supposed to see 90 every day this week! I doubt we will be turning on the stove or oven. I'm certainly going to miss having central air as we only have window air conditioners. They do the job but some rooms are hotter, like my office, than others.
Sunday-Greek festival! We picked up food from the drive-thru after running errands.
Monday-spinach salad with chicken, goat cheese, strawberries and a strawberry vinaigrette
Chris and I rarely made it out to happy hour before we had Henry and now it never happens. Yesterday, we did our own "happy hour at home" with some fresh guacamole and some Summer Shandy....so refreshing!
Guacamole Recipe:
4 Avocados (I used organic Haas), removed from the peal and smashed
1/2 lime, juice and zest
1 teaspoon cilantro, fresh and chopped
1 tablespoon salsa
1/4 teaspoon seasoning salt
Smash avocados in a bowl, add remaining ingredients and stir. Serve with chips, veggie slices or on top of burgers or chicken. Store left-over guac in the fridge. I press plastic wrap right on the surface of the guac to keep it from turning brown.
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