From Bean to Sprout

Nope, not Henry but Atticus… Our cat Atticus had to have a tooth removed yesterday. Poor little guy. He willingly went in the cat carrier yesterday morning not realizing it was going to be a tough day for him. All day Purrl walked around the house wailing, I assume she was looking for him. It made me realize that we’ve been neglecting our animals a bit since Henry’s come along.  I mean they’re well fed, watered, walked but they haven’t been receiving the same amount of attention they got used to for 5-6 years which makes me feel guilty. I know a lot of people are like “well they’re just animals” but they’re more than that to me. They’re my family. I can’t count the times where all three of them comforted me when I was down or sad. I owe them more than to be relegated to just “family pet”. So from now on I’m making an effort to give as much love and attention as I can to our pets.

I'm going to lie here in protest until you bring Atticus back,,,,or rub my belly

Atticus looking a little "cartoon eyes" after his mini surgery...

our shaggy dog

I also wanted to thank our friends Erin and Mark for sending us some awesome books. We received the latest one the other day and Henry loves it:

This is delicious!

Also thought I’d show the many faces of Henry yesterday:

Sweet and Innocen Dr. Jekyll

Shifty Mr. Hyde "Mouahahahahahahaha!!!"

I’ve decided to share my recipe for a sleepless night. It’s got quite a few ingredients so pay attention.

1. Take a baby that tosses and turns loudly in his sleep and will wake up screaming every 3 hours and mix in equal parts with a husband who’s so tired he sounds like a transport truck parked in our bedroom when he’s snoring…

2. Once that’s mixed add an incredibly stubborn cat who’s able to predict where exactly you want to put your legs and will reach there first and then refuse to move no matter how often you kick to push him off the edge of the bed.

3. Now here comes the tricky part, add about 30 minutes of fireworks and make sure your nervous dog hears them and pants heavily in your face and shakes her head every minute thus ringing the tags on her collar.

4. Spend the rest of the night trying to figure out how you’ll cleverly describe your sleepless night on your blog.

Ta-DA!!!

It's official... Henry is going to be a "WHAASSSSSUUUUUPPPP!!!!" guy

Today we found out that Chris’ dad Marty (aka Pops for Henry) was giving free healthcare to injured teddy bears. We thought we’d bring Henry’s bear for a treatment since he’s been a tad lethargic lately, he’s suffering from insomnia, his appetite has changed etc… We think he may be a bit depressed so we thought a visit to the doctor would be helpful. Turns out he had hurt his arm and couldn’t communicate it with us properly. Anyways, here’s the free clinic in pictures. I’d like to point out that we had to wait 30 minutes to see the doctor. That’s pretty good. I once waited hours to see my own doctor. Teddy bears are somehow getting better treatment that humans.

On the way to the doctor

Waiting together

Hannah spotted us first.

Marty working on the patient ahead of us. That pooh bear was pretty close to being a goner...

Henry anxiously waiting for a diagnosis with Mr. Bear

Finding out Mr. Bear is going to be alright

a bit of an aside pic, but I thought it was hilarious that this little hamster was getting an actual cast

Thanks for fixing Mr. Bear pops!

Mr. Bear looking better with his arm bandage

I got all flustered asking Officer Bear for a pic and actually asked if he'd pose for a pic with my daughter. Apparently bears in uniform intimidate me.

Henry playing in the grass

Heading back home

I took Henry back to see our osteopath yesterday. It was my last ditch attempt to get Henry to sleep better. I feel stupid for having waited so long. Elliot (our osteopath) could tell right away that something was off with Henry. I myself had noticed Henry seemed to be getting stiffer. He had stopped rolling over and would only kick with one leg. His digestive system was all off as well. Anyways, Elliot could tell that his pelvic bones were a little stuck as well as his hips and that was affecting his kidneys and bowel. Anyways he did a major adjustment on Henry and was telling us he may not be sleeping well due to the discomfort he’s feeling which is often due to the major growth spurts babies go through. I had told him that recently Henry had kind of stopped napping during the day as well. Well partway through the adjustment, Henry just kind of sighed and fell asleep like he really needed it.  Yesterday afternoon he had an almost 3 hour nap which was just amazing.

Last night, the best part, he slept from 9:30pm to 3:30am!!! It was awesome. I think he would have slept longer had his bedtime routine not been affected by us going out for dinner at my friend Vero’s new house.Oh and something else, Henry started rolling over almost immediately after his adjustment. I recommend an osteopath visit to anyone who’s worried about their baby.

I'm so relaxed!

Did somebody let out a velociraptor? Nope, that’s just Henry who recently discovered it’s fun to make high pitched screeches that are so similar to the dangerous dino, that Jeff Goldblum would probably run for his life if he heard it (har har 1993 Jurassic Park joke).

Whether it’s early in the morning when mom is trying to sleep just a little longer, or in Baby Sensory class when the instructor is trying to explain something, or at the movies while the rest of the audience would rather hear what the kids from Super 8 have to say instead of him, he’ll screech just about anywhere and then laugh. He did it at the pharmacy today and I had to explain to some random lady that no, he was not angry, he just likes doing it.

Speaking of Super 8, the movie was pretty great. I enjoyed all of it and even got a little teary eyed at the end with this scene:

When the main kid "let's go" of something precious, I fought back tears

It was great seeing a movie where the most famous actor is the coach from Friday Night Lights. The kids were great actors and I hope they continue with their acting careers.

Anyways, back to my little man, here are some recent pics. I’m starting to find he looks more like a little boy rather than  baby.

tummy time pro

me and my massive feet

will you put down the camera please?

after his trademark screech

On Father’s day, Henry swam for the first time in my mom’s pool. Chris was in there with him. He cried for a few minutes, I think out of shock, but towards the end he really seemed to be enjoying it. I look forward to swimming with him more throughout the summer.

Get me OUT OF HERE!!!

I guess this isn't soooo bad...

bundling up with mom afterwards

We then went home and had a great nap, sleeping until around 4:30pm. We then went to my dad’s place for some Thai food. Henry just loves my dad’s beagle Boomer. He kept starring at her and laughing like she was the funniest thing.

Flying high

Boomer the comedian

Last night, Henry slept for 6 hours straight which was just divine. He woke at 3am for a quick feed and then went back to sleep. I spent an hour, from 3 to 4 am marveling at the fact that he slept 6 hours. I know, stupid of me to do. We went to Salsa Babies today where Henry played with one of his first friends, Evan. You know how Henry picks on Luis from time to time? Well Evan had the upper hand this time, always reaching over to grab Henry. They’re so cute together. Evan’s mom Michelle and I had to partner up for a “cha cha cha” dance which we completely butchered but had fun doing it.

Why is this guy laughing?

A few weeks ago, I asked Chris what he would like for father’s day. He told me that he’d only accept something from Henry. I took that as a challenge and thus “the project” was born. I consulted with my mom (who’s my resident artist) to come up with an art project that Henry could make. Here’s what we came up with:

The artist and the pro

I squished a smurf

I have no idea what's going on but I like it.

entitled "Tiny Dancer"

Fast asleep after a hard day's work

It was a lot of fun making Henry dance across a blank canvas. It definitely was a two man job since he kept wanting to grab his feet. We’d have to wash his little feet between each round of paint and by the time we got to the orange paint, he was fast asleep. I thought he’d wake up when we went to wash his feet but he slept through it all.

And today was the grand reveal!

Adding a personal touch

Reading the card Henry picked out

Henry seems nervous about Chris' reaction to his gift

Up on the wall in our bedroom

Mommy he likes it!