Catching up...week of 8/19 & 8/26

Since starting back to teaching things have certainly been busy around here, but good. I try to keep the weekdays fairly low-key since we are not at home quite as much as we used to be. I want Henry to be able to be at home as much as possible after school, so I don't drag him all over the place running errands and seeing people if I can help it, although we do have to "make grocery" at least once a week, and we also have small group every Monday night. We take lots of walks around the neighborhood and spend lots of time playing with his toys when we are at home. It is so different now for us than it used to be....we look at each other after Henry goes to be and and say, "Uhhh....whatta ya wanna do?" Before, we just would up and go out late in the evenings, but this is not an option anymore! It has made for earlier bedtimes for us, which is a good thing! Our weekends have been fun with a trip to TN and a weekend here, too, over the past 2 weeks. See below for all of the Hough happenings!

We headed to TN a few weekends ago. On the way to see my folks, Steven met up with his mom at a nearby golf course to play a round together. While Henry did not stay and play, he was wearing his "Little Golfer" overalls to commemorate the day, so I had the three of them get a picture together! The course is suppose to be the backdrop. Oh, well!

While they golfed, I headed to my folks for a few hrs to visit. Here is Henry saying howdy to his Papa!

And here he is doing some serious work swinging with his Manar. The open mouth is a classic Henry face. Love it!

The swinging wore him out and he actually fell asleep! It was such a pretty day and while I don't normally hold Henry during his naps, I made an exception. He is only going to be little for so long, ya know?

Mom was laughing at how spread out and relaxed he looked, so she took some pics.

This was the beginnings of his sitting up...with support as you can see here, but he would practice on his own for a bit, then teeter over.

Always gotta have something in that mouth!

Next, we headed over to Steven's dad's house where we met up with Heather and her crew to spend the night. Here are the boy cousins saying hi!

Me and Layna...she had just completed her first week of kindergarten in Lexington and did great of course!

Grandpa and Henry in his John Deere farm shirt that he and Peggy gave him. It says"Make way for the BIG GUY" on it.

Aunt Heather always hooking Henry up with gifts!!

She found this adorable astronaut Kelly's Kids outfit for him...perfect if you live in Huntsville, huh??!! And he got another cute outfit and some adorable shoes, too! Thanks Heather!!

What handsome boys!

Our cornhole boards have been seriously falling apart for a while, and we have known people make their own, but that they are a lot of work. With Steven's bday coming up, he put a request in to his dad to make him a set since he is Mr. Handyman. When Heather heard, she wanted a set, too, and who can blame her? Look at the finished product....they're awesome!!

It was beautiful weather, so we enjoyed some outside time! Henry with is favorite aunt!

Lovin' on the babe!

BIG GUY:)

Trying to get a picture of the 4 grand kids.....3 are being cooperative.

The girls always have such cute matching clothes...the boys finally got a set! Matching PJs!

Looking handsome, boys!

After church on Sunday I wanted to get a picture of me with Henry...we just so happened to match really well that day! I got these chew beads from Steven for our anniversary, and Henry absolutely loves them. It's like he knows they are for him and every time I wear them he's obsessed! They're really cool...made of the same material a paci is made of, safe for his teeth, and safe for the dishwasher, too!

What a nice looking family! I see some of Steven in Henry here.

Ahhh...my sweet baby.

After lots of trying....a great cousin shot!! We are trying to use these shirts as long as possible! The first time they were worn was when Henry was born, and I think they have a bit more wear in them! Cute big cuz, mid cuz, lil' cuz, and baby cuz. Thanks for meeting us, guys! It was lots of fun!

Here are some pictures of Henry playing after school one day...he is loving being on his tummy now and plays the longest this way.

He pushes and pushes himself up and eventually scoots backward off the playmate and onto my (not so clean) carpet. Cringe! But he's so proud of himself that I can't stop him.

Playing with Dad after work one day. Henry is SO talkative now. He doesn't just make noises, but actually moves his bottom jaw and really acts like he is "telling us all about it"!

Well, since Henry is now 6 months old (see post just below this if you missed his 6 month pics!), we started rice cereal. I wasn't sure how it would go, but he loved it! He has been watching us eat for a while now, so we knew it was about time. You can see here he is interested in it even before we begin....

First bite...

He kind of bit on the foreign object in his mouth, but them got some in. He never made a bad face or acted like it was yucky or pushed his tongue out.

And he wanted more right away!

He certainly did like to "help" as Daddy put the spoon in!

More helping...most of it ended up on the bib, but he quickly got the picture and started opening his mouth for it like a little baby bird. SO amazing!

Mmmmmm!

What?! We're through?

On Saturday night we went to a cookout at a neighbor's house. It seemed like it had been forever since we'd gotten together, so it was lots of fun to see everyone. Here is Henry in a ball pit just his size!

Henry was super content just chilling in his stroller most of the night. I put him in the "right" way, then looked over, and he had made himself comfy by getting sideways and propping his head and feet up!:)

And who even needs toys when feet are so "handy"?!

Yum!

What? Haven't you ever seen a baby eat his feet before?

Here's big boy Jackson swinging.

And Georgia and Bennett playing on the slide...I missed pictures of Molly and Rylan somehow! They all seem so big compared to Henry, but I know he will be running around like this VERY soon!

6 Months Old!

I am in shock that Sunday Henry turned 6 months old! It is crazy...he is certainly not an infant anymore, but is a true bouncing, cuddly, busy baby boy. Can I just say that I LOVE this age?! It is the best yet...he is old enough to be SO interactive with people and things, yet too little to run away or even crawl away from us! I can hold him on my hip now that he has good torso strength. He does not throw fits, and when he is upset he is very easily distracted. Everything is new and fun, and he smiles ALL the time. I have a feeling we will be saying this for a while, but still. I love it. Every moment with him is sweet and precious. I think precious is the best way to describe the last 6 months we've had with him. Webster's dictionary defines precious as: of great value, cherished. I was lucky enough to be able to stay at home with Henry for about 5 and a half months before going back to work, and I would consider that time with him of great value and I certainly cherished each moment. Now that I am back to work, I am loving each moment I have with him all the more. I try to be even more intentional about interacting with him during the time that I do have with him. Speaking of work...
Henry is now going to nursery each day. There is a nursery at my school and the students' parents provide care for the teachers' children who are not in school. It has been SO wonderful. I had some anxieties about the whole thing, but it has been great. Henry is happy there and the nursery workers love him and talk about how happy and content he is and what a good sleeper he is. I truly believe that God has called me to that place, and when He calls, He will equip! I am thankful and honestly amazed that it all worked out the way it did. I am able to be a mother AND a teacher, both of which I love (who knew??!!). The school has graciously worked with my schedule, and it looks like this:
I work MWF from 8-12:30, and I get to go nurse/visit him at 9:30 and 11:45
I work TTH from 8-3:00, and I get to go nurse/visit him at 9:30, 11:30, and 2:00
Sometimes I feed him, lay him down for nap, then come back after teaching for 2 hours and he is still asleep or is just waking up, so I feel like I have not missed any time with him at all! Today, for example, I dropped him off at 7:45, came back to feed and lay him down at 9:30, and he was still asleep at 12:30 when it was time to go home! Anyway, enough about that.
Speaking of Henry's sleeping, he is still a good sleeper. We bathe him each night and try to lay him down around 8:00. After a few minutes of rocking/swaying him, he goes to sleep on his own in his crib. I would say he cries half the time and just plays and falls asleep on his own half the time. If he does cry, it is not for long. Lately, though, he has been waking up at about 4:15ish. He is pretty easily patted back to sleep, but it does not last much more than an hour (if that). When he wakes up around 5:30, I feed him and he falls right back to sleep. He is still sleeping when I go in at 7:00 to get him up for the day. which I hate doing, by the way....there is something SO wrong about waking up a sleeping baby. But you gotta do what you gotta do. If he is allowed to just sleep, he usually wakes up around 9:00 or so. That is what he has done this past weekend anyway.
Henry still eats around every 3 hours and still takes a bottle when necessary, although he does "play" with it for a bit before actually taking it. We started rice cereal this weekend and it went great! I think he is going to be an eater!
We think his favorite color is orange. NOT because we are UT fans, but because he really does seem to be drawn to it! He lunges especially for that color...we even tested it by holding up several different colors and switching up hands and everything, but he pretty consistently went for orange. Pretty funny, because orange is one of my least favorite colors!:) Oh, well.
Henry has been "talkative" for a long time now, but he has taken it to a new level recently. He growls, screeches, and really moves his mouth a ton....moving his lower jaw is kind of a new thing. He gets on a sound and does it over and over, like "Mmmmmmm" or "Dadadadada". He can get quite loud! We have notices, though, that he does this mostly in the privacy of his own home and is kind of quiet when we are out. He does a LOT of observing when we are out! On Sundays, we take him to the church svc with us, and he just stares and stares. He does not nap like normal due to this, so as soon as we get in the car, he conks out! He is also super ticklish, and I can get him going pretty easily by tickling his ribs and insides of his little chubby legs.
Henry loves his toys, loves his feet (as you will see in the pictures below), but his favorite "thing" to stare at is still his pup. He is mesmerized by Maggie. He lunges for everything now, and it goes straight to his mouth. He is sneaky and somehow gets by us a lot! He is always grabbing at our face, too, and gets rough!He got his first tooth a month ago, and his second on came in about a week and a half later. One thing people always comment on is how much hair he is growing. It is really coming in now! He is sitting up now, and doing great with it. While I do not walk away and leave him yet, I can see it coming soon. He is getting more and more control each day and falling over less and less. It is so cute and makes him look like a little person all the more. I know there is a ton more going on with him, but I have written WAY too much stuff and if you have gotten through it I am sure you are bored out of your mind, so sorry!:) I write all this so I can remember it! I have been shocked at how easily I have forgotten when all the little milestones have occurred in his life already.

You are precious to us, little man, and we love you dearly! Thanks for being so sweet and fun. You bring us so much joy and each day is all the more a blessing because of you.