Far too young

Henry has had a couple nights of rough sleep.  Mostly due to the fact that he is cutting his final four teeth at the same time...hallelujah! Can't wait until he has all his teeth fully grown in.  Last night, he woke up around 1/1:30 crying. After some comforting, drinks of water, and some numbing cream for his gums, he went to sleep with mommy and daddy after what seemed like about an hour. He woke up a number of times after that, rolled around, hit and kicked us in the face, and then finally went to sleep for good after probably a couple of hours.

After waking up around 7:30am, Annie told me that at one point in the middle of the night Henry and I looked adorable.  I was sleeping on my back with my left arm extended out and my right arm crossed over and resting on my chest. Henry was sleeping on his back with his head resting on my left arm; his left arm was extended out and his right arm was also resting on his chest.

Before Annie told me that story I was upset with how the night went. It was the second night of Henry sleeping like that so I was pretty tired. After she told me about our twin sleeping, I found myself thinking that, for the most part, Henry just wanted to be held and comforted by his parents. At one point, in the middle of the night, he woke up, said mommy and crawled over to hug and fall asleep on Annie. I also found myself thinking back to when I was younger and when all I would need to feel better was to be hugged and comforted by my parents. I also found myself thinking of what age I was when I was 'too old' to sleep with my mom and dad and 'too old' to be comforted by them. I couldn't remember what the age was, but thinking of holding Henry and having him want, more than anything else in the world, to be held and comforted by us, I am convinced I was far too young when I no longer needed it. I know Henry and Evelyn will be far too young when they no longer need us to hold them in the middle of the night for no other reason then they just want to be held. Tonight, I find myself almost wanting Henry to wake up just because he needs me to hold him.

She was just saving up

Evelyn has done pretty good lately with not spitting up. Today, we had a Thanksgiving party to go to and had to put her in her car seat and drive there right after she ate - this is normally a sure spit up situation. However, she cashed out after a few minutes and slept the whole time we were there!

The no spit up era was short lived, however.  I am now convince she was just saving it up.  Three separate spit ups in about 10-15 minutes and three outfit changes later, I am hoping lucky outfit number four will have a longer life. At least I had the foresight to change her out of her nice outfit from the Thanksgiving party before the cascade of spit up arrived.

All that spitting up must be hard work. She is in a deep sleep now...

And what was Henry doing during this time - He took his pants off and walked around saying llama llama and niña niña and repeatedly tried to climb onto the table.

Nope - She just spit up again. She's going without clothes for a while...I'm going to run out of laundry detergent at this rate...

Nursing

Henry has gotten into the pretend stage. He likes to "feed" his stuffed animals and give them drinks of water. When he does, he makes a lip smacking sounds. Today, Henry was trying to stuff one of his stuffed animals it under his shirt, which is a common thing for him to try. I turned my back to him, but then I heard him smacking his lips. I turned back towards him and saw he was nursing his blue stuffed bear! 

A warmth that is almost indescribable

The feelings and emotions you get from simply holding your new born baby are amazing.  A person would not think just holding an 11 pound little human could fill you with so much joy, contentment, and warmth.  It is a warmth you can actually feel.  I'm not just talking about the warmth from the body heat of another person - it is a warmth that is almost indescribable...except when it is...this warmth was a volcano of spit up that cascaded over Evelyn's bib and burp cloth and ran down the front of both of us.  Looks like it's new clothes for her and daddy!

Full of memories already

Today has already been full of memories.  It started with Henry laying out his blanket and reading a book to conejito, his favorite stuffed animal.

A little bit later I walked around the corner and Henry was just walking around hugging conejito who he had put into a small tupperware container!  I missed Henry actually hugging him, but got a picture of conejito crammed into the container.

This morning has also been spent disciplining Henry for continuously sitting up on the brick in front of the fire place.  Not only is it hot when a fire is lit (which he doesn't understand yet and wants to touch the glass doors), but he has a tendency to lean up against the shovel, poker, and other tools and get dirty.  Eventually he will stop...I hope.

And, in case there was any question of whether or not Henry likes to control things.  While eating a mid-morning snack - Henry had broken pieces of pretzel on his tray. He wanted to feed me some which is very common.  However, this time, he wouldn't pick the pieces up and kept reaching up toward my head.  So, I bent down toward his tray and he reached up and pulled my head down to his tray so I could eat the pieces directly off his tray...oh boy...


For any parent out there, you know the possibility of going to the bathroom by yourself is very slim, especially when it comes to the potty training age.  While Henry and I were in the bathroom today (I was sitting down), he was standing next to me with his hand on my leg saying, "leg."  I said, "yeah, that's daddy's leg."  He then moved over in front of me and pointed down inside of the toilet and said, "pee pee."  I felt good that he is putting the whole potty training thing together, but couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable...

Extra bonus from a couple days ago - Evelyn is smiling a ton more and her dimple is really starting to show!  I sense a lot of scaring off young men in the future.  I better start hitting the weights and putting on the pounds so I have a more intimidating stature!!

Dipper

Henry loves to dip his food.  He doesn't care what he is dipping, or what he is dipping it into - he will eat it, and, not just eat a bite to taste then realize it's disgusting and stop.  He will eat his whole meal like that.  For lunch today, his dipping choice was pita bread in a mixer of vanilla and chocolate soy milk.  For dinner, we made black bean, red bean, medium salsa, cheddar cheese nacho dip.  Instead of dipping the chips, Henry went with pieces of the orange I cut up.  My curiosity got the best of me with the oranges and nacho dip, so I gave it a try...not as bad as I thought it would be, however, it will not become a staple meal in our house!

Conejito

Conejito (Spanish for little bunny). Henry has become obsessed with a stuffed conejito he has. He has to sleep with it and bring it with us when we leave. Today, we were leaving for the dining hall but he wouldn't walk out the door and kept whining. Finally, he ran into the other room an grabbed it. It even has become his cruising buddy. He stuffs conejito in the top of his walker and runs around the house!

Putting the dishes away

A routine has started in our house.  When Henry hears the dishwasher open he runs over.  After I finish putting away the bottom rack, I move to the top and Henry climbs into the dishwasher and helps put everything away. Heres to hoping he has this strong desire to help do chores for a long time!

Much more eventful

Last week was the first week Annie returned to work after her maternity leave.  It was rather uneventful; which I was incredibly thankful to God for since I had a surprise birthday party on Friday for Annie to plan.  The week and the party went off without a hitch!  This week has already proved to be much more eventful!  Here is how Monday went. 

Henry and I had oatmeal for breakfast.  When he eats it by himself it usually turns into him eating a few bites with his spoon and then it becomes finger food, which ends with him getting frustrated becasue his hands are dirty and he wont eat after that. I had gone all last week feeding him the oatmeal and thought today I would see if he had improved on his eating skills with a spoon...he did not.  

After cleaning Henry off, Evelyn woke up, so I changed her diaper and started to get a bottle ready to feed her. Before I could finish, I noticed a strong smell coming from Henry. He had quite the unpleasant poop. I have never really been affected (or is it effected) by his poops, but this one actually made my eyes water. Plus, he kept wanting to reach down and grab it so it was a lot of fun changing that diaper.  

After changing Henry's diaper I broke a glass jar getting Evelyn's bottle ready. Evelyn usually eats about 3 ounces of milk so that is what I made. She chugged it and wanted more so I made another ounce which she drank and still wanted more, so I made another ounce. In the middle of drinking the fifth ounce Henry reached into the trash and grabbed the glass pieces from the jar I broke earlier. Horrified by the fact that he still likes to put things in his mouth, I screamed, "Henry no! Put it down!" He did not. He just stood there frozen with a partial smile on his face. I jumped up, put Evelyn in her chair and grabbed the pieces from him. He tried to run away, but I scooped him up to inspect his hands and feet for tiny pieces of glass. Thankfully there was none! To be safe, I put Henry in the pack-n-play and vacuumed the floor. With all the excitement going on with Henry I hadn't looked at Evelyn since I put her down. Now looking, I see she spit up due to the josseling of me jumping up and putting her down. It was on to outfit number two for Evelyn. 

A delicious lunch in the dining hall, which consisted of Henry climbing into the bottom of the stroller and getting stuck, was followed by feeding Evelyn at home. Our after lunch entertainment was Henry pulling his pants off and running laps around the house screaming, "go go go go go!"

The rest of the evening,after Henry woke up from his nap, was pretty normal; apart from Henry farting and saying, "what was that?" Annie had a late work meeting so it was dinner with just the three of us. Evelyn had a scrumptious bottle of milk. Henry and I had the classic peanut butter and jelly...and my tea from breakfast that I forgot about and found in the microwave.

Henry stuck in the bottom of the stroller.

A Future in Coaching

This is one of the reasons I love having a good camera phone. Evelyn is starting to smile and make other faces. When she does she usually goes through multiple faces, emotions, and expressions; so, I grab my phone and take rapid fire pictures. The other day I captured this beauty and instantly saw a Jon Gruden look-a-like. What do you think? She might have a future in coaching!