Betwean the two of us

I've been absent from blogging for so long that I thought I'd make it up to readers by posting twice in one day! A two-fer! That is, if you want to read about weaning. If not, you might want to scroll down and look at the pics of handsome Henry some more.

Henry and I have recently reached a new milestone in our relationship: weaning. He's been transitioning to formula for more feedings each day, and will soon be completely formula-fed in addition to his solid foods. While I'd originally thought it would be nice to continue nursing him through one year of age, it just seemed like the time for weaning came sooner. I had a lot of reasons for making the decision, and I feel good about it. I'm also glad that I've decided to make the transition gradually. I think it's been easier both physically and emotionally to slowly change what has been a huge component of my life as a mother. Because while it might seem like a simple, potentially liberating change, it's really a lot more complicated than that. Breastfeeding certainly gets easier with time, but it is still essentially a huge investment in resources. A woman's own bodily resources, her emotional presence, her time. Not to mention the whole dairy debacle that spanned several months for me. When I consider the hours spent nursing Henry, every day of every week of every month of his life, it feels like a pretty monumental shift. But here we are, shifting. And I think we're both handling it well. I was a little concerned that Henry would ask to nurse more by signing or tugging at me or communicating this desire in some other non-verbal way, but he hasn't seemed to mind. As for me? Well, it makes me a little sad. I know that I will continue to be close to Henry in many other ways, but there's a closeness and nurturance that I think is unique to the relationship between a nursing mother and her child. I'll miss that.

Acknowledging the sadness and putting it aside, there is a large part of me that feels like hallelujah I am getting my body back to myself! Afterall, I was pregnant for 9+ months and nursing for 10 months. That's kind of long time to be sustaining another human being. And I feel like this may be a brief window of time before starting the cycle again. No need to get excited right now folks, but there will (hopefully) be another member of the little g-unit at some point in the future, and for me that will mean more pregnancy/nursing. I've been happy to do it, it's a joy to have a child and to have nurtured him in that way. But, the time has come to bid that relationship adieu. Now I can go wild. I can drink martinis. I can stop taking vitamins. I can be apart from my child with the knowledge that he won't starve. The opportunities are endless!

And speaking of endless, so are the bottles that you have to clean when you're not exclusively nursing. My goodness, the bottles! Is this what I really want? Yes. Yes, it is. And I feel thankful that I've been able to nurse Henry as long as I wanted to, and to make this decision for and between the two of us.

Happy holidays, indeed

It was a very happy holiday season for the g-unit, our first with Henry. While the little guy wasn't really aware of what was going on, having him in our life brought back some of the magic to the holidays. Henry was entranced with all of the lights festooned in homes and out in public, he watched the snow fall in awe, and squealed with delight at familiar faces and new gifts. You can't really ask for more than that.

The lead up to Christmas was filled with the usual rush to shop, wrap, bake and otherwise prepare; but this year we had the added twist of some weather-related challenges. A nasty ice storm and few feet of snow didn't stop us from getting everything checked off our lists, and then having a great time visiting with family and friends. Highlights included: an early Christmas celebration with my family in Pittsfield, watching my nephew Evan's first Christmas pagent at church, introducing Henry to several of my college friends for the first time, and waking up for Henry's first Christmas morning in our own house.

The weather outside may have been frightful, but Henry's bath in Pittsfield was just delightful.
It's a good thing Henry got all squeaky clean. He had a quick play date with his cute little pal Madison.

Henry's first ride on a trike. This was taken at the church nursery where Henry spent some time after his cousin's big theater debut.

With a roomful of new gifts on Christmas morning, Henry chose to entertain himself by crawling and climbing through this chair. He's a funny one, alright.

Pocketfull of Kryptonite

Or, a pocket full of coins, fuzz, tissues, leaves, and mysterious non entities that would still look tasty to a pincer-grasping nine-month old. I've realized lately that my pockets have become handy receptacles for anything and everything that I manage to spot on the floor before (or as) Henry spies these tasty treats. Because anything on the floor goes in his mouth. And when I say anything, I mean anything. It's frightening, really. Recent acquisitions included a bottle cap, a splinter-like piece of wood, and several maple seeds. We did succeed in retrieving all of these objects before Henry swallowed them. Though, it kind of makes me wonder what he has managed to swallow before we've descended upon him to scoop out the offending little goody.

Clearly, Henry's palate could use some refining. The positive part of this is that Henry's just as likely to happily consume edible items. He continues to be a great eater, and is trying many new foods on a regular basis. And we're not talking baby food here.

Here he is enjoying a swig of Worcestershire sauce that he grabbed from the cabinet.
It's not uncommon for Henry to refuse spoon feeding these days, and to whine insistently while staring at the food on my plate. So, the food on my plate usually makes its way to his tray in little pieces. The other night he tried the tamale pie I'd made for myself and Brian. I hadn't really intended to give Henry any, but he wouldn't settle for his vegetable puree, so he wound up with some chunks of avocado, black beans, ground beef and tomatoes. I can't say I blame him. I'd take the tamale pie over pureed veggies, too. Once he gets the good stuff, Henry's a little chow hound and gobbles the food from my plate faster than I can transfer it to him. It makes me happy to see how he enjoys spicy, full-flavored food. Especially when he gives me a round of applause for the meal. There's nothing better than his cute smiling and clapping from the high chair as he eats.

Henry has also recent discovered how to show his "appreciation" for food by throwing it around. He and I both find his ability to toss the cheerios pretty amusing. That is, until I have to pick up a bowl's worth of cheerios from the floor. Or bananas. Or any other finger food that he manages to throw.


This weekend was packed with holiday activities for us. Including a visit with Santa at our church. Henry checked him out very carefully.Here's Henry getting ready to make his special holiday deliveries.
And oh yes, Henry now has four, count 'em, four teeth! The top two came in last week. He's getting to be such a big boy now!

Nine in, nine out

Henry is now nine months old! And as my sister pointed out, this means that starting now he will have spent more time outside of my body than in it. Wow! Time has moved a lot more quickly with Henry on the outside. Nine months of pregnancy is a looonnng time. You have all that time to wonder about the little person growing inside you. Nine months to want to meet him or her. And in our case, to speculate whether it was a him or her (I almost always thought Henry was a boy). It's hard to imagine that for all those months Henry wasn't "Henry," but instead he was "the baby" or "the little g-unit." All those kicks, all that movement, all the sleepless nights while "the baby" rumbled inside of me; it all makes sense. Because knowing Henry as we do now, he's not the type to have been a quiet little being, content to grow inside of me in slumbering peace. No, not our little boy. He's always on the go. Always moving. Always exploring. He's just the baby that he was inside of me. Those who were there for Henry's birth and the many, many (oh, so many) hours preceding it may remember how active Henry was before making his entrance into the world. When I was hooked up to the monitors, we were able to witness that Henry moved constantly. Really. The only time that he stopped moving was when I was bouncing on my exercise ball. Otherwise, the monitors revealed non-stop movement. Those little markers on the printout seemed to amuse the nurses, who remarked quite frequently about what an incredibly, unusually active little baby we were about to meet. And so it began, nine months ago yesterday.

In these nine months, Henry has grown to be a bright, curious, and fearless little boy. He's long and lean, weighing 21 pounds, 10 ounces, and measuring 29 1/2 inches in length. And he still has a humongous head atop his narrow shoulders. Thank you, Gemborys genes. ;) Henry puts the big brain inside his big head to good use, figuring out how the world around him works. He loves exploring every wheel, button, lever, or other gadget he can get his hands on. And he can sure move quickly to get his hands on these things. His current favorite places to get into are the dishwasher and the refrigerator. Open either one of those, and he'll be at your side faster than you can imagine. Henry also "talks" a lot more lately. We don't think he's using his sounds discriminantly yet, but I would bet he's close. At times it seems like he says "na na" (night night) when he's ready for his nap, but it's one of those things that I might be imagining. Henry's other favorite "words" are "ma ma" "da da" and "ba ba." He's also recently learned how to make a "pah" sound, and a "ffffuh" sound. The "pah" involves a lot of effort, and even more saliva. He kind of spits out the sound. It's adorable. Other fun feats include continued climbing, crawling, cruising, clapping, and waving.

This weekend we went to a local park with a free farm. Of the birds, pigs, sheep, goats, llamas, and pony, Henry liked the little horse the best. I think the feeling was mutual. The little pony kept pawing at the fence and nudging Henry's feet with his nose. At first Henry was a little startled by all the attention, but he soon began to enjoy the experience and laughed when the pony reached out to him. I'm sure this will be a place that we will frequent regularly now that Henry finds it interesting to look at animals.

A lesson to all you kids out there: brush your teeth or you'll wind up with llama mouth! And no one wants llama mouth.

Turkey Day

On this, Henry's first Thanksgiving day, I find myself too tired to eloquently list the many things for which I am thankful. I'm hoping that by this weekend I will have recovered from the Thanksgiving coma, and perhaps be able to write something more detailed. Suffice it to say, there are many things for which I am grateful. Most of all our wonderful family and friends. For those who weren't at the table with us today, I hope that these photos tide you over a bit until you get to see him next.

Here he is enjoying some delicious roasted turkey and squash. Mmmm...


And speaking of Mmmmm, here's Henry's new "mum's the word," "mmmm" face. Teething-induced, we think.

This final photo is from last weekend, when we attended a wedding in Maine. The hotel had an indoor heated pool, so Henry and I took a little dip.

Me and my shadow

What do you do when you're a stay-at-home mom, it's freezing cold out and you've already gone to the store, played with all your baby's toys, played with non-toys, eaten, napped, and repeated? Take silly photos. (I'm afraid to see what happens when we're snowed in)
Earlier in the afternoon, Henry and I went for a chilly walk. Despite the dubious expression on his face, Henry did actually enjoy the walk. As evidenced by his very sweet singing to himself along the way. He's become quite the little vocalist, especially at bedtime.
Last weekend we hosted a fun fall gathering at our place. Our guests included six babies and eleven adults. Now that's a full house! As I've written before, I was fortunate enough to meet a great group of mommas when Henry was just a few weeks old. We continue to see one another regularly, and this was a get together with the dads, too. Taking a picture of all the little ones grows increasingly difficult!
Henry continues to be a good helper around the house. I think he's a little confused about folding laundry though. His method recently included climbing right in the basket.
Henry has also figured out how to open cabinets. Thus the major need for child-safety fasteners on the cabinet doors. Of course, Henry needed to check out just how these fasteners work as his dad installed them.
Finally, he just gets more and more cute every day.

How time flies

Where does the time go? It seemed like just yesterday that Henry was teeny tiny, and now he's eight months old. Our little buddy continues to fly though milestones and developmental markers like a whiz kid. Some events have been incontrovertible, others may be subject to the partiality of me as reporter and mom.

Definite developments:
1) Tooth count=2
2) Lots of new word-like sounds, mama, dada, baba, etc
3) Climbing the stairs
4) Walking while holding onto his Radio Flyer wagon

5) Clapping (see below)

6) More new foods, more self-feeding, more using the sippy cup
7) Starting the "dropping game." You know, the one where the kid drops his toy from his high chair the moment you pick it up and put it back on the tray. Good times!
8) Using the cell phone. Really. About two minutes after I took the photo below Henry somehow managed to dial Brian's number. I have no idea how he did this, considering Brian's number is not on speed-dial. This means Henry would've needed to access the phone book feature and press call after selecting Brian's number. Strange, but true.


And then there are the maybe-I'm-just-imagining-this, I-am-his-momma-after all Developments:
1) Giving kisses. Okay, so this is every new mother's dream come true, so it could be possible that I'm imagining it. But my mom swears he did it, too! And she's a fair judge, right? Regardless, I've had a few moments of Henry's open-mouthed slobbery little love on my cheek that sure seemed like his approximation of a kiss. I look forward to more drool love.
2) Signing. I swear he did the sign for milk the other day when I said aloud "Okay, it's time to put the milk away now." (Yes, I narrate my entire day for the child.) I've also seen him staring at his hands as he moves his fingers in the sign for milk, but he hasn't done it in context yet.

In other time-flies news, the g-unit enjoyed a trip to my alma mater for Homecoming this weekend. It's hard to believe that I graduated seven years ago. Even harder to believe: on this return-trip there were three babies in tow within our group of friends! Talk about surreal. Naturally, taking a picture with the three babies and their parents looking at the camera was pretty much impossible. But I couldn't resist posting one since the three babes in their Williams sweatshirts were just too adorable.