Henry's First Birthday

Amid trips to St. George...

playing ball in the park...

and visits from Grandma...

...This little guy turned one year old!

He celebrated with a ball birthday party (no pictures yet) with some of his closest friends and family. He had to fight off big sister to open his presents and then later to play with his toys.

But he did get to play with some of his toys at the end of the day. Some of his favorite toys? A powerwheels Buzz Lightyears ATV, an awesome slide, a car course that Henry loves sitting in, and BALLS! He's loving being 1.

The doctor gave Henry a thumbs up at his check up. He's 24lb 3oz (87%), 31in (88%), and a 48cm head (92%). ROAR! He's 12 months!

Henry has always been such an easy going baby. Now though, he's gotten a bit of spunk in him. He throws fits like you've never seen!

Above, it seems he just didn't want his picture being taken on the floor. He calmed down when placed in a chair. Below, he saw a display of balls at the grocery store and sobbed pointing at them and yelling 'NI' until we were several aisles away.

Also, sometimes you just don't want to have a nap with your pants on! Checking on him during naptime, Henry had ripped off his pants and thrown them out of his crib. See you later, pants!

He's finally grown more teeth! His two bottom teeth have been augmented by three more teeth on top. He isn't walking yet, but he is standing on his own and taking a few tentative steps. Any day now!

Henry's verbal skills are getting better and better. He's repeating as many of Olivia's words as he can. His favorites are dog and dada! He points at most people and call them dada, including a picture of Jesus he saw at church...

Happy birthday, little buddy. We couldn't be happier about having you in our family and we love you so much!

Henry - Monster Man!

Look at Henry, our adorable monster man! He's such a wild a crazy boy and we love this guy.

He finds himself in all sorts of trouble, whether it be some new wonder he's found to shove in his mouth (pictured here with a spool of thread in his mouth) or some new obstacle he's climbed up. (He got on to that chair via the automan all by himself.)

He just plays as hard and as fast as he can until he passes out with exhaustion. One afternoon he had skipped his nap and had gotten so tired that he just crawled onto his mom's lap and fell fast asleep. Ridiculous!

Henry has fallen in love with eating. He's pleased with anything that he can hold himself, especially things he can slurp up and/or hold himself! He's definitely got a healthy appetite.

Snowshoeing with the family! Quite picturesque, no?

Henry still loves being around his sister, but they find themselves fighting over things quite often. She usually knows just how to push his buttons.

Henry's verbal skills have really exploded this past month. He doesn't babble like Olivia did, he usually only speaks deliberately when he wants to communicate something. He's got 'Mama', 'Dada', 'Numnums',  'drink', and 'dog' down. Surprisingly, he doesn't say Olivia's name. Perhaps because it's kind of long and difficult and when she says it these days is sounds something like, "Lalivlilah."

Our sweet little boy. Though he's been a bit of a handful this past month, being sick almost continually, we still love being around him. He's 100% boy with his head-butting, growling, climbing, and throwing things. Olivia and Cassandra tried to teach him how to hug stuffed animals like girls do. He picked up his giraffe and hugged it close. Then he looked at it and threw it as far as he could. Classic, Henny.

He-TEN-ry!

This little buddy is ten months old now! And this is what we usually see from him - a mouthful of grins (and devoid of teeth).

He's very into pointing and clapping for himself. He loves playing catch with us and after each successful throw, he gives himself a round of applause. Who wouldn't want to applaud that face?

We recently took a family sledding trip, and Henry hated it! We don't know whether it was the cold, the skipped nap, or the sledding; but unless being held, he was miserable. 

Another day with a skipped nap, and Henry fell asleep in the middle of his dinner with his hands in the air. This was when he was sick and not sleeping well.

Though sometimes, if you're Henry, it's great to be alive even if it's 4am and your hair is gelled in a crazy hairdo with your own vomit.

Henry so desperately wants to walk like his sister. He kneels on one knee and stands on the other foot in what we call a football stance (take a knee!). He also walks along walls and stands momentarily unassisted. Also, he is fascinated with doors and wails when he closes one and can't get it open again.

The best walking he does is behind the pushing toys we have. One evening we convinced Olivia to sit and be pushed around by Henry. It was really cute and went really well until he reached up and pulled her hair and then it was a baby catastrophe!

Henry fell asleep after church, and when we went to wake him up to go to a Superbowl party, we found that somehow his pants were halfway off. Strange.

Our ten-month old little prince is great. (Unless he's up screaming in the middle of the night which he has been inexplicably doing once or twice a week.) He's got mama and dada down cold and says 'Reen' when he wants a drink. He's a pro at going up a flight of stairs, but can only handle going down one or two before he gets frustrated. He still loves his mom the best, but he's realized how awesome his dad is as well. 

Henry (aka Hammy, Hambone, Henny, Honky Tonk, Little Man, Little Lion Man, etc...) is all boy. He loves throwing balls, driving cars, and hitting things. Do you like his toupee hair?

Ho Ho Henry!

Christmas Henry style means pulling ornaments off the little kid tree, and pulling the whole tree onto himself.

It means helping Dad find the absolute best spot to place Christmas ornaments on the tree.

It means attending Christmas parties and hanging out with Papa...

...or Great-Grandpa Owen...

...or Unni...

..or this guy. Wait a second, who is this guy?

The holidays for Henry mean dressing up like a reindeer (with jingle bell antlers)...

...or even if he's not invited to be in the great-grandchild nativity, to jump in and be the wisest Wise Man those people ever saw! (A recipient of our Christmas card said that Henry looks a lot like Winston Churchill. Henry took that as a compliment.)

Making Christmas cookies with Henry entails flour, frosting...

...well, really just eating. To be honest, he just ate his cookie like this using his two bottom teeth.

The holidays were great for Henry. He watched as people opened presents for him and then Olivia claimed them for her own. 

 Happy Henry is pleased to be eating lunch with his sister. He is mastering what Bob calls 'human food': sandwiches, bananas, clementines, string cheese, noodles, etc...

This is one of the biggest snowstorms we've had all year.  Henry was confused.

 

Henry's first New Year's Eve meant ringing it in 6 hours early, banging pots, watching Dad be silly, and drinking Festive Capri Suns.

Henry has made sure to keep busy with a variety of enjoyable activities like Holiday Head Riding...

...bike trailer rides with Dad...

...watching Olivia watch Yo Gabba Gabba...

...and taking several precarious steps while pushing a cart full of bean bags.

Henry's favorite Christmas toys have to be his truck full of cars, his singing piggy bank and the sink in Olivia's new kitchen. He loves removing it and replacing it so much, we've started to refer to him as The Plumber.

As usual, too busy to be photographed.  We have countless pictures of his back.

Also in December, this little guy turned 9 months old! Seriously though, when did that happen? He's starting to lose his baby-ness and turns into a bit more of a kid everyday. He has one of the funniest personalities of any baby.

From a young age, Olivia was kissing people and things, hugging stuffed animals, and lugging blankets around with her everywhere. Henry on the other hand loves balls (he plays fetch with himself), is constantly making grunting noises, and seems to believe that he can climb on top of anything.

At his check-up this month he was 22 pounds and 12 ounces (81%), 29 inches (75%), and had a head in the 90th percentile. So he has a disproportionate head, it's to hold all his brains!

He's also obsessed with pointing. He points at everything he finds interesting and grunts. Then he lunges forward and grabs at it.

And he's done. This was snapped right before he started to climb to the top of this rocking chair.

Gotta love this wild litte man that looks like his mother and acts like his father.