Catching up...

It's time to play catch up! I am on fall break this whole week, so I'd better do it while I can! There are a few random notes that I want to get down now in case I forget them when I do the 8 month (WHAT??!! eight month??) blog update. Henry is tilting his head to the side all the time now and raising up his shoulder when he smiles....as if he couldn't get any cuter he goes and does this! He is continuing to notice so much...a flock of birds overhead and light posts in the neighborhood on our walks. He will just crank his neck around to follow as we pass. His current favorite book is "Doggies" by Sandra Boynton-we think it is because it makes us sound like idiots as we attempt to make all the different barking sounds in the book. Still disliking baby food overall. Sleep is getting better! He is no longer waking up in the middle of the night and his early morning feeding is more like 4-5 rather than 3-4, so that is improvement! He still goes back to sleep until about 6:30-7:00ish. We are working on him saying "Dada" and sometimes I really feel like he imitates us! It is an easy one since Steven comes and goes a lot, that way when he comes in the door he has something to associate with the sound I am attempting to get him to make. He will be making all kinds of other noises, but after I start saying Dada he will listen and has switched over to Dada. Maybe it is nothing, but I think it is a start:) I don't mind him saying Dada first, either. It is cute! I know I will hear plenty of Mama soon enough! He already makes the "Mmmmmm" sound quite a bit. Henry also squeals and smiles so big when Steven comes in after work. So sweet! He is a friendly guy to everyone, and he "flirts" when we are out. Yesterday I was checking out, and evidently he was smiling and smiling at a girl behind us in line. She said "He's so animated! I make a face, then he makes one back at me."
Well, I guess that is all for now. See below for a re-cap of the last few weeks!

Visiting the neighbors one day...Bennett is 15 months and Henry is 7 months. Who is dwarfing who?

Steven playing with Henry after work one day. Sweet guys.

I got Henry a few small toys at the consignment sale and also pulled out the ring one that I had been saving until he was ready. He loves the Vtech farm toy and, as you can see, the ring toy is right up his alley!

Steven thinks this picture looks like Henry is playing charades and saying "sounds like":)

On Sunday 10/7 Grandpa and Peggy came down for the afternoon for a visit. Henry had just woken up from a long nap after church...he was pretty taken by Peggy!

Gramps on the floor playing.

We had a great afternoon visit!

And got pizza afterward...it was a little tedious keeping Hank entertained, but we managed! I can tell that eating out will become a task soon....

Henry hanging with his pup. This outfit he is wearing was his 10 year old cousin Camden's. Heather said it was the outfit she went out and bought when she found out she was having a boy:)

We Facetime our family up in Kentucky (Heather, Jimmy, and the 3 kids) to try to keep in touch. Always before, Henry would look at the Ipod, but we don't really think he "got it" until this time. He was staring at the screen and talking away (you can kind of tell by his facial expression here).

Got her!

Reading books one night before bed...Henry thinks books sure do taste good! :)

Henry has gotten to where he will lay his head on your shoulder while you're holding him and cuddle for a minute. I thought he was getting sleepy here, so tried to rock him. He was good with some cuddle time (so sweet!), but....

naptime? Think again, Mom.

He is still not a fan of baby food at all....there we are trying sweet potatoes. He looks like he is saying, "Seriously, guys? What is this junk?" And I thought he might like sweet potatoes! Silly me!

So, I have get a week of fall break which is WONDERFUL! My parents had planned to head to the beach in October, so we tagged along. We had such beautiful weather and a great time in Orange Beach. We went Friday through Tuesday, but could have stayed the rest of the week! Here are Henry's cute little toes in the clear pool.

There was a nice breeze and the temp was in the low 80's the whole time. Henry loves the water and splashes and splashes. It is funny, though, because every time we put him in his float (above) he would totally veg out. It put him in a trance or something! He must have felt like it was nap time, but as soon as we got him out he livened right back up and was ready to play!

Here he is grabbing at the water ready to splash!

He was kick, kick, kicking which must have surprised my mom:)

There was a long stretch of the sand that the waves were washing up on, so it was the perfect perch for a baby! He got to get his toes in the sand and feel the waves in a very "low key" way!

Henry took some seriously good naps while we were there, and here he is after one:) I walked in on Steven and my Dad watching football and Henry was in the middle of them-all eyes on the TV of course! He is also mesmerized by my Dad as you can see here!

The weather was so beautiful that we set up Henry's play area on the balcony. This looks like he is looking at the camera and thinking, "Why does she always point that thing in my face??"

Get a load of those teeth!

I love the way he scrunches up his nose when he smiles big.

Sweet beach babe.

My mom was awesome help with Henry. She stayed in the condo during his naps so we could take advantage of the beach and she loved playing with him in the water when he was awake, too! Every time he would look at my mom he would just grin and grin. We think he was amused by her big floppy hat.

Henry loved to grab at my Dad's face....actually, I think he was going for his mustache the whole time. Looks like he finally got a hold of it!

Cuddling with his Papa:)

Dad and Henry made a lot of "grunt" noises at each other. They know how to communicate in old man/baby:) Dad kept saying, "Can you say Papa?"

Grilling by the pool one evening.

What a cute little family:)

The weather was perfect....warm during the day and a slight breeze at night. Just right for a light jacket!

I love Henry's profile.

Ugg...if only Henry were in focus. This one would have been great!

Love this one.

We are big Rook players in my family....here is Henry getting his first introduction with some extra cards! There's plenty more where that came from, Buddy! You have a whole lifetime of Rook playing ahead of you!

Henry would just dig and dig his little hands into the sand:)

His shirt says "This is the Life" on it. Perfect for vacation!

Trying a photo op one evening while we were out for dinner. We had just given him a bath, so Henry's hair looks all fluffy:)

Cutie!

This was the best one.

This was our last morning at the beach. Saying goodby is such sweet sorrow.....

We tried to take a picture of him without his sunhat on. He was so happy that morning and tried and tried to look up at us with that big grin on his face, but every time he did the sun was just so bright that he looked back down. His eyes were watering as he smiled!

There was an awesome Halloween sand sculpture we saw the day before, but never made it back over there to get a picture. By the morning the front of it was all washed away, but the back of it was not half bad either! At least we got a pumpkin out of it!

We used the indoor pool, too, when it was too cool or we had had enough sun exposure. Henry was SO happy in there!

He just smiled and smiled! Goodbye vacation....until we meet again.

We had ordered a swing for Henry and it has just gotten in when we got back. We put it up that evening and he loved it! We were in shock at the chilly weather, but I guess it IS technically the middle of October!

We will look forward to lots of adventures on this swing in the future!