Henry Mercer - 2 years old

What? Two? For realz?? It seems like just yesterday he was a little pink line and a dream in my heart.

2 Year Stats

Height - 3' exactly, 88th percentile
Weight - 31 lbs, 6 oz, 85th percentile
Head - 49 cm, 50th percentile

Loves:

Cheese. Grilled Cheese. Mac n cheese. Cheese Quesadilla. Cottage Cheese. Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper. Cheese-its. You get the picture.
Dinosaurs
Robots (the movie)
Curious George
Spoons
Making tents then saying, "dark in here"
Trying to dump water on his brother in the bath
His Grumpa (sorry grammy!)
Running

Hates:

Vegetables. all. of. them.
The potty.

Since I'm so overwhelmed with emotion I leave you with a two year review of my favorite Hank the Tank photos... love love love this child!

Henry Mercer - 22 months old

And we can't have an Owen update without a Henry update :)

This kid is the best! He is just so funny and loving. He is finally saying "mom" (or bom) and I love it. He runs around the house looking for me, "bom, bom bom BOM!!!"

He walked in our school homecoming parade (well, rode in a wagon) and I'd hear "bom bom bom" - just to turn around and he'd ask "What's that" while holding up his sucker. Over and over - too cute!

He is not very nice to kiddos who are smaller/younger than him - but he loves to play with older kids. He pushed his poor friend Jack down last night - in a very mean way. Something to work one I suppose!

Henry only likes to eat cheese ... grilled cheese, cheese quesadilla, cheeseburger hamburger helper, macaroni and cheese. Or hot dogs and ketchup. He doesn't take after his mother at all. *grin* No vegetables - though we did just try out Kraft's new mac n cheese that has cauliflower somehow in the noodles - and he did fine with that. Time to get sneaky!

I haven't uploaded any recent photos, but here's a couple from the last month or so:

Brothers, much?! :)

Take the Henry vs. Owen challenge ... can you tell which babe is which? Exact same outfit, exactly the same age in life....



They don't look identical ... but I think it's pretty stinkin' cute how similar they look!

Henry Mercer - 21 months old

This kid is hilarious. Seriously. And he loves the attention he gets from it!

His current favorites: still balls, balloons, Word World, slides

He knows the letters i and o (because of watching Word World all summer). Sometimes he can pick out T, E, and D.

He's learning new words everyday - but won't always use them.

He loves to throw away dirty diapers. If you try to do it without him, he'll chase after you yelling, "trash! trash!"

Yesterday - I told him he had to say "grapes, please" before I would open the fridge. He gave me a big kiss. He always wins!

Henry Mercer - 20 Months Old

Oh, where does the time go? I cannot believe how big Henry is getting!

His loves are still the same: Balls, Outside, and Running.

His latest trickeries involve setting up elaborate scenes for him to "fall" off of. Example: his giraffe bike, with his popper and school bus underneath - each put in an exact location, so that he can fall over the handle bars.

He also has some new twinkle toes dance moves - I need to work on getting that video uploaded because it is hilarious.

Henry Mercer - 18 Months Old

This is my giant 18 month old.

Weight: 28 lbs 5 oz ~ 80th percentile
Height: 35.5 inches ~ 99th percentile


I'm not sure if it's starting his naughty toddler stage - or if he senses the big change coming up in his life - but wow, is he starting to test boundaries with me! He likes to run from me, and once I get him, he goes limp so I have to carry him (which is awful at 39 weeks pregnant with a belly measuring over 41 weeks). We're past the point of hand and booty smacks for punishments - so I see Time-Out's in our future. Today I took his paci away because he wouldn't walk for me. He didn't like that so much :)

His latest major milestone is that he's finally sleeping in his big boy bed!! He still wakes up 2-3 times a night, either for a paci or to be re-covered up. Once in a while he'll get all the way out of bed, but as soon as you enter the room he'll run right back to it. I'm hoping this will make brother Owen's arrival easier, since Henry is losing his nursery to Owen.

I'm trying not to worry too much about being away from him so long this weekend when I'm in the hospital with Owen. I know he'll be in safe hands, and be fine ... but I will just miss him so much!!


Henry - you are such a fun loving little boy, mommy loves you so so much!

Mommy and Me Monday

And Henry, at 17 months old!


Oh, my little monkey Henry - you do the funniest things right now!


~ You love to hit and throw things. We are working on not hitting or throwing at people, but you don't always listen. You're just so excited.

~ When you're over excited - you like to spin in circles.

~ You have a few favorite books, and when you read them, you like to kiss the characters. This started with an ABC book, where you always kissed the melon and the monkey. Then you started kissing all the babies in another ABC book. And now you love to kiss every page of your Dinosaur counting book.

~ You are such a helper! In fact, you get very angry if you can't help unload the dishwasher or throw your own diaper away. Please remember this when I'm begging you to do your chores in 10 years.

~ Mommy's tummy is too big to pick you up from your crib unless you're standing up. So you only stay standing until I get there - then you flop back down and laugh at me.

~ If I ask you where Owen is, you rub my belly. If someone else asks you where Owen is, you rub their bellies :)


I love to kiss dinosaurs!!

I can't believe my little boy is almost a year and a half -- and he's going to be a big brother very, very soon!!

Mommy and Me Monday (one day late!)

And watch for an upcoming post about nearly 17 month old Henry and a list of his favorites and quirks :)

Just a little note from Henry...

Henry Mercer - 13 months and 3 weeks

Henry Mercer ~ 13 months old

Solids: Oh, this little boy can drive me crazy with his eating!! He'll do great eating everything for a week or two, then stop eating the things he once devoured! Right now, he seems to be going through another "you can't feed me" stage ... which is frustrating b/c he's also refusing most vegetables. I had resorted back to baby food veggies, but now he's not eating those either. Stinker.

Waketime Length: Nothing new here...

Naps: Also nothing new here ... his morning nap I definitely keep to 1 hour now, or else he tries to wake up at 6:30am, and 7 is just so much better!

Nighttime sleep: Struggling with this right now due to a cold - first he couldn't breath and kept losing his binkie since he was breathing through his mouth - and now he has a cough when he lays down. The cough doesn't seem to stir him too much - but it keeps me up as I hear it through the monitor! Last night I got him up and gave him a couple sips of water, and rocked him upright for a little bit just to try to help him get some of the yuckiness out. He coughed a few more times once I layed him down, but then slept until 7:30! I, however, took another hour to fall asleep - so I'm dragging today!

Milestones: Henry's word list is definitely growing - he can say: mom, dad, hi, up, sit, cat, yes, and he really tries to say clothes and socks. However, he does not say any of these things on demand of course, so you'd just have to take my word for it :) He is very smart about following directions that we do everyday. If you ask him if he wants to take a nap, he'll find his frog and head to his room. He walk/runs all over the place.

Daycare: Things are still great at daycare, he seems to really enjoy it there. The biggest struggle for me is worrying about if I should send him when he has a runny nose/cough ... it's so hard to know what's just a cold/teething/or true sickness!

Now, a couple pictures from the holiday season ... can you believe this little boy is going to be a big brother in 20 short weeks!!?

Photo Session

Henry Mercer - 1 year old

And then ... the 12 week belly photo (similar to the previous pregnancy's 16 or even 20 week photo!)

Henry's first party, birthday, and Thanksgiving

We have had a busy week here in our home!

Last Saturday we hosted Henry's birthday party - with about 30 of his closest family and friends! (ok, so maybe our friends). In order to be able to invite our friends as well, we only invited Henry's immediate family (i.e. his aunts and uncles, but not great aunts/uncles) I think this turned out well, and as far as I know, no one's feelings where hurt.

We had pizza for dinner - but it was before Henry's dinner time, so I just let him continue playing. The little beggar went around to everyone's plate - getting fed, then he'd walk away, chew, swallow, and go to the next person's plate! It was adorable.

During presents - he was entertained for a while, but he got stuck on one present and wouldn't leave it alone. So, as per usual for a first birthday, I got to open the presents myself. He got some great toys and super cute outfits! Which reminds me that I must start those thank you cards soon...

For the cake - he was a little timid at first - making his daddy try the frosting before he did. But then he discovered it was yum - and dug in. He did not get super messy, but it was cute none the less.

Overall, it was an amazing evening - we're so thankful for everyone who came and shared celebrating Henry's life with us! I am sad that my brother and niece weren't there - as they've decided their life is better without our family - but that's another story for another post.

On Wednesday - his actual birthday - he woke up and did his first official puke of his life. :( I think he and I have been fighting the same stomach bug - no fevers, just not much of an appetite and some other tummy issues. I got it first - but chalked most of the symptoms up to pregnancy. Then Henry - and on Thanksgiving night, poor husband got it the worst of all!

Since Henry was still sick for Thanksgiving (technically, not his first - but since he was only 2 days old last time, I'm calling it first) he didn't eat lunch, or really even try his thanksgiving feast dinner. He only would eat cheese. Poor guy.

Now that it's Sunday, our household is back to healthy normals! We're working on getting the tree up - so far Henry doesn't seem to even care that it's there - but we haven't put any of the pretty ornaments on it yet :)

Here's some pictures of Henry's party!





And as always, keep your eye out for these upcoming posts this week or next:

• Maybe Baby, 13+ weeks - first belly photo, and names picked out!

• Life after IF, dealing with being a proud mama, but not wanting to hurt your friends

Henry - 51 (almost) Weeks old

Tomorrow Henry turns 51 weeks old - and then next Wednesday (the 24th) he turns 1 year old!

Hmm... I got up here, now how do I get down??

It is amazing to me to think that at this time last year he was still in my belly. The rapid growth and change that infants go through the first year is crazy!!

Bottles: He had a couple weeks where he was doing awesome, and now he's drinking about 4 oz per bottle time again - so about 12 ounces a day. He gets half milk and half formula in these now - we had bumped it up to more, and he suddenly got some runny poops, so we backed off again. We'll try to add more milk soon to see if it happens again, or if it was caused by something else.


Solids: Henry is starting to develop a sense of taste. He does not like peaches. He won't eat peach flavored oatmeal, or peaches by themselves. He will eat the peach pieces from a mixed cherry fruit cup. If he's eating something, and you put something he likes better on his tray - he'll take the old food out of his mouth to put the new good food in!

Waketime Length: Same, usually 2 1/2 hours - sometimes longer

Naps: Same here - 2 naps a day, the first nap is an hour - then about an hour and a half in the afternoon.

Nighttime sleep: Stupid Daylight Savings time threw us off for about 3 days - but then he was right back on track like a champion! Still sleeping from 7:45pm until 7am.

Milestones: Henry isn't saying too many words - but he does try to mimic your sounds. He also is getting smarter with understanding what we say. He understands and follows the directions of "go get a book", "let's go eat", "bath time", and "let's go bye bye" It's so cute! He also got his toy snake yesterday when I told him to!

Daycare: Even better here - I set him down and he walks right away to the toys!!

We're having Henry's birthday party this weekend. We figured it would be better to have it before Thanksgiving weekend, so more people are likely to be able to come. We've invited a few family members and some of Henry's bestest friends ... and some of our best friends! We were going to make big pots of chilli - because that sounded perfect for a fall party. But - once we started adding up the cost of the meat and beans and sides - we decided just to spend a little more and order pizza! It'll be easier!

And just to get you thinking ... we've officially decided on boy/girl names for Maybe!! But that's for another post, another day :)

10 months and 3 weeks

I think for now, I'm going to alternate posts about Henry and Maybe Baby. I don't want to make a whole new blog - so they'll have to learn to share the spotlight already!

Today is for Henry! At the doctor for his flu shot - he weighed 22lbs - 12 oz. But that was with all his clothes on, and a wet diaper. So, it's not an official weight :) My little man didn't even shed a tear for his flu shot - he's so brave!

Bottles: Still rough times here. We're trying to give him 3 6oz bottles a day - but he's drinking maybe 10-12oz a day. I've started to mix 2 oz milk with 4 oz formula, to gear us up to the switchover (and to stop wasting expensive formula!)


Solids: Henry will eat almost anything we're eating - he loves food! Almost every night at dinner I have to stop him because I feel like he's eaten a ton, and he never ever gets too full to eat. He just keeps shoveling it in!

Waketime Length: Same, usually 2 1/2 hours - sometimes longer

Naps: Definitely down to 2 naps, unless we have a crazy day. To help out at daycare, his morning nap is shorter, I wake him up around 10:30.

Nighttime sleep: Same greatness here! Still averaging 7:45pm until 7am.

Milestones: Henry now has 2 bottom teeth - and he can walk!! He cruises all over - and can even turn around or walk in a circle and keep on going! He's starting to try to say some words, but besides dada and mom - they're nothing official. You can tell that he's trying to repeat the sounds you say though - it's so cute!

Daycare: Henry is doing awesome at daycare - his caregiver says he's adjusted really well. He only cries for a minute or two after I drop him off - and it's the best thing to see him reach for me when I pick him up!

We got fall pictures taken with his cousin Claire today - I'll post some of them as soon as we get the cd!

Henry loves spaghetti night! (good thing we have it weekly!)

9 Months Old

I cannot believe it has been 9 months since this little boy entered the world!!

Here are his nine month stats:

Height = 30.5 inches = 96th percentile
Weight = 20 lbs 14 oz = 56th percentile
Head = 18 inches = 62nd percentile

Bottles: The last two weeks or so, Henry hasn't been interested in his daytime bottles. He may eat 2-4oz from them, but that's about it. So at lunch time, I began just giving him formula in a sippy cup instead of bottle beforehand. This makes him more likely to eat his 3:30 bottle. But, it still just depends on the day.

I got the go ahead from our pediatrician today to start him on milk - which I'm very excited about! We'll start w/ sippy cup of it at lunch, and see where it takes us!


Solids: Mr. Independent has decided in the last couple of days that he no longer will eat baby food, especially if someone else near by has "big people" food. Soo ... I'm still trying to sneak it in b/c it's easier to give him fruit and veggies that way -- but he's getting way more of our food too. Our doctor has said Henry can have anything, even peanut butter, so that's helpful in trying to decide meal plans!

Waketime Length: Same, usually 2 1/2 hours - sometimes longer

Naps: Henry has pretty much dropped the 3rd evening nap -- unless his afternoon nap is too short.

Nighttime sleep: Great - averaging 7:45pm until 7am.

Milestones: Henry is starting to wave at people. He wouldn't do it for Grammy last night, or friends this morning - but he was more than happy to wave at all the strangers in the doctor's office waiting room! He can pull to standing, and walk around furniture. He's also able to walk while pushing a toy! He's going to be walking before Halloween I'm pretty sure! Still waiting on those teeth ...

Daycare: Within two days last week, Nick and I both got full time jobs! Which is an amazing blessing, but I am having a hard time wrapping my head around me being gone from Henry all day. To ease the transition, he's already gone to daycare for 2 full days last week, and will do 3 full days this week. Then we have 5 beautiful days together before we're back to work officially. We are blessed to have a wonderful daycare option - I love love love our lady and know that Henry is well taken care of and loved. But - I still cry every time I leave him there :( It will get better, and we all will be fine.

But who wouldn't have a hard time leaving this handsome man?!?

Let it be known...

That on this day, a Tuesday, Henry had potentially the worst day of his life.

He woke up with a plugged nose and a fever.

The runny nose continued, which made him angry every time his mom wiped it for him.

He bumped his head about 5 times, twice resulting in goose eggs.

And now he has what looks like a weird bug bite on his eye.

He's a trooper though -- a little clingy, and unwilling to give up his binkie (which I think he's calling "bob" but am not certain) -- he still had had plenty of smiles and kisses for us.

Trying to escape his 37 week picture - it may look like he was laughing, but he was screaming!

And then it's August...

Hey - remember us? Long time no write ... I know, I'm a slacker!

Let's see what's going on in Henry's world:

Bottles: We still give Henry 4 60z bottles a day ... he takes most of the morning and bedtime bottles, but often only takes half of the midday bottles. Some days are better than others. He also still doesn't like to take bottles from other people. Now that he's going to daycare once a week (update on that below) - hopefully he'll get over this weird little issue.


Solids: Little piggy likes to eat. I can't eat anything in front of him without him screaming for me to share. But - he also now tries to share his food with me - so that's cute! I'm hoping to soon be done with the jarred babyfood and be giving him all table food - he does a great job mashing and chewing with his gums, even though he still doesn't have teeth!

Waketime Length: Usually 2 1/2 hours - sometimes longer

Naps: Henry takes a morning and afternoon nap, each about an hour and a half long. He still takes a cat nap in the evening, but I have a feeling we're about done with this - since the last two were only 20 minutes long, and he skipped it all together the day before those.

Nighttime sleep: Still good here - sleeping from about 8:30 until 7:00 - he sometimes wakes between 6-7am, but talks in his crib until I get him up.

Milestones: Henry is a speedy crawler! He loves to play chase around our ottaman. He can pull himself up to standing - but doesn't really walk along the furniture yet. He says "mama", "dada" and "baba" fairly consistently and in appropriate situations, so I think those are for sure his first words. He often also sounds like he's trying to say "down" and "up" - but I can't be sure yet. And then there's lots of random sounds all day long ... one of his favorites right now is "bob".

We've done tons of fun summer things, like swim class @ the YMCA, zoo trips, hanging in our kiddie pool.

Daycare: Since our job outlooks for the fall are still up in the air - we've started to send Henry to daycare one morning a week until we know more about the situation. This hopefully will give both daycare and Henry a chance to become aquainted before getting thrown into it full swing in the fall!

So - that's about it on the Henry front.

As for our family life - we're in job limbo right now. I don't remember if I posted about it - but in the spring both Nick and I were laid off from our teaching jobs. Since then, I've been called back to a .4 position, which does not make me eligible for health insurance. I had requested to be part time in the spring as well.

Now as school is getting closer, and still no word from Nick's school district - we decided I needed to resubmit my request and change it to full time - because we really need health insurance and the money! I'm going to be so bummed if both Nick and I end up getting called back to full time - but hopefully it will only be for a year. I keep telling myself it's best for my family, even if it doesn't seem best for me right now!

Now for more important questions ... like the big 1 year birthday party coming up in 3 1/2 months!! The big debate is: Big Party w/ Family and Friends? Or just Family? Thoughts?!?

Last week, 36 Weeks, The only way we could keep him still was with a toy!

30 Weeks and Overdue Updates

Hi Bloggy friends! Long time no update eh? Sorry!!



Nursing: Here's a big change - we're all done with nursing! Due to the list of cons getting longer and longer - I decided that I was ready to move on. I was going back and forth for a while, and battling the guilt of quitting breastfeeding - but finally just made the decision. I do not regret it at all! The process went much quicker than I thought it would - I tried to keep the night and morning feedings for a while. But, we discovered after I had a night out that Henry sleeps through the night after getting a bottle - but not after breastfeeding. Yeah - not going to keep that up! Then once I dropped the night feeding - he wasn't happy at the morning one. So our weaning process took a total of almost 2 weeks.

Bottles: So now Henry gets 4 bottles a day. He takes 6 oz in the morning and at bedtime great - the daytime bottles are a challenge. He'll eat anywhere from 3 - 5 oz. I worry when he doesn't take enough - but he has no problem letting me know he's done by pushing the bottle away and spitting it out.


Solids: Henry's eating more and more table food now. He loves getting tastes of what we're eating. His schedule for his jarred food is the same as before. He now gets puffs or yogurt melts after each meal. He chews like a champ - I tried to give him a teether cookie to suck on, and he just took a big bite of it, so we had to nix those already!

Waketime Length: Still 2 hours, sometimes 2 1/2 depending on what we're doing.

Naps: This is some of the best news. Henry has overcome the 45 minute intruder. Finally! He now takes a morning and afternoon naps, usually 1 1/2 hours long, and then a cat nap of about 45 minutes around 5pm.

Nighttime sleep: Also good news. Henry sleeps through the night again - and is now going down to sleep around 8pm. He was trying to wake up at 6am on our vacation - but since being home he's slept until 7 everyday.

Milestones: Big things here as well! Henry can now sit up by himself for extended periods of time, and has even pushed himself into a sitting position a few times. He pushes up onto all fours and rocks back and forth, then launches himself into a face plant forward. He's taken a few true crawling movements - but now that he has figured out army crawling - he just likes to do that. I'm wondering if teeth our in our future soon - he's going through random cranky fits and objecting to his solid meals. We shall see!

We also went on our annual vacation to Munising. Nick and I go every year after school gets out - and this year dragged along my parents for babysitting purposes! Henry was so awesome on the 6 hour car ride. He took his naps - was a little fussy inbetween - but nothing near what we thought it would be. He adjusted well to the vacation home were were staying in - but was Crank the last couple of days - I think he was ready to come home!

Well - this is probably the most positive post I've ever made ... that probably the next one will be full of confusion and frustrations again!

A few pictures from Lake Superior

26 weeks ... 6 months old!

He's half way to 1 year old! Amazing!!

Here's his 6 month stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 13 oz ~ 58 percentile
Height: 27 3/4 in. ~89 percentile
Head: 17 3/4 in ~ 83 percentile

So he's definitely slowing down and becoming more average - but big and healthy like I like him! He had to get 4 shots yesterday - but handled it like a champ! A few tears and then he was good for the whole day. He got a little fussy in the evening, and a low fever overnight - but I'm thinking it's just residual from the trauma of the day.

Nursing: Going good - except this heat! Yuck! I was convinced that I was going to switch to formula during the day and just nurse morning/night ... but then we received some not so good financial news and I just feel guilty spending money on formula when I don't have to. The doctor said that we're about at the age to move to a 4 hour schedule - which means nursing only 4 times a day - that's exciting! I know the hardcore breastfeeding people would disagree - but it sounds good to me!

Solids: This week we added oatmeal, peaches, and carrots. I'm thinking of adding 1 tablespoon to each meal - as he's getting angry when it's all gone. Doc said we could start meats - but purred meats freak me out ... I tried giving him the tiniest bit of mine the other night and he just didn't know what to do with it! I also give him his sippy cup with a little juice and water in it now - he's really enjoying figuring out how it works - he just can't lift it up by himself yet.

Waketime Length: Usually 2 hours, sometimes 2 1/2 depending on what we're doing.

Naps: We've had several naps over an hour now! I'm not sure if this was making up for weekend time and busy days - we'll see if we're about to change! I think he's getting ready to only take 2 naps a day, and this is helping move towards that goal.

Nighttime sleep: Unfortunately, we're still waking in between 2-4 am and not going back to sleep until he's in our bed! Not sure yet what our next step is going to be ... do I cherish this cuddle time while I can? Or put a stop to the madness with several rough nights of CIO?

Milestones: Henry is now doing his own form of army crawling. He doesn't quite use his arms to pull himself - it's more using his knees to scoot up while on his elbows. If he would just pick his head up - he'd be on the go!

Here are a couple of his 6 month photos that I took this week: