Bells in Texas

We took Henry to the pool in our neighborhood for the first time, and he loved it! We started out in the toddler pool and then moved to the big pool. He loves his bath time so much that we knew the pool would be a hit. Here are a few pictures:

Henry is 11 months old! It's hard to believe that almost a year has gone by in our little boy's life. Henry is still active as ever, and has started to stand on his own. He also loves to walk along behind his lion walker that grandma and grandpa bought him. It is fun to see him get a little more coordinated every day as he learns how to maneuver it. Henry is still a bit of a fussy eater, but we keep trying things over and over in hopes that he will eventually like them. He doesn't seem to like anything that easily slips between his fingers (like bananas, oranges, strawberries etc), but loves sweet potato fries, waffles and tater tots. He occasionally will eat blueberries and peas, but it's hit-or-miss. He still eats a lot of jar food veggies and fruits to make sure he is getting enough of the good stuff. Here are some pictures of our 11-month old:

Apparently it's a tradition in Texas to photograph kids in a bluebonnet field in the spring...we had seen TONS of families doing this the last 2 years so we knew we had to do this with Henry for his first bluebonnet season. We actually took these pictures on the grounds of the JCPenney home office, as they had one of the prettiest bluebonnet fields I had seen!

Henry turned 10 months old on April 26th. Our baby is becoming such an adorable little boy! Out of his mouth comes a constant stream of babble, from the time he wakes up in the morning to the time he goes to sleep at night. Lots of "Mama" and "Dada" (although more the latter). Sometimes it seems he understands, and sometimes it doesn't. He has developed quite a little attitude and lets out a loud grunt when he is frustrated or doesn't want to do something (like eat a new food). He also grimaces and makes a high-pitched whine when he isn't getting what he wants. As far as eating goes, his favorite foods (besides the usual jar foods) are cheerios, yogurt melts, and gerber crunchies and puffs. I am convinced that he will still be eating only these foods by the time he goes off to college...try as we might he is quite a picky eater! (I wonder where he gets that from??) Recently he has started to tolerate eating waffles and toast but otherwise Henry would prefer to have his food pureed rather than in chunks, thank you very much. He holds his own bottle and sippy cup (although the contents of the sippy cup tend to end up all over his shirt) and likes to be in charge of feeding himself. Henry loves to clap his hands and seems to understand when something he does is worthy of applause. When he eats a bite of something in his highchair, he claps his hands and says "yaaaayyyy!!"...clearly mimicking the behaviors he has seen from us. He also likes to take hold of our hands and clap them for us. Dada taught him how to wiggle his finger between his lips and make a "bababababababa" sound--it's so cute! He waves back at us when we wave at him and is also learning baby sign language for "milk"...although we haven't been that diligent about teaching him. He is more than ever fascinated and in love with his dog. Mom and Dad get a small smile in the morning, but when he sees Max it's all big smiles and shrieks of joy! Despite a recent bout of wakings in the middle of the night, he is (hopefully) back to sleeping 11-12 hours straight. He is such a happy little boy and so much fun!

Here are a few pictures showing a typical weekend day for our 9 1/2 month old:

He pulls up on everything and "cruises" along


He tries on hats with Dada (Go Blue!)



He watches his puppy out the back door


He plays with interesting new toys in the kitchen


He crawls into Laundry baskets


He goes for walks with Mama, Dada and Max (have you ever seen such a content child?)


He goes out to eat with us


He is becoming such a cute little boy with such a funny personality! We love you HB!

Henry celebrated his first Easter on April 4th. He was such a good little boy in church! The Easter Bunny brought him a stuffed bunny, an electronic book, and a "Pat the Bunny" book. Henry also helped mama on an egg hunt around our house. Here are a few pictures:

Henry's Easter basket (compliments of Grandma Carlson) with all of his gifts from the Easter Bunny


Playing with his basket


Mama's boys



My little smirker


Playing with Easter Eggs after our egg hunt around the house


How many can I fit in my mouth at once?