This Baby Doll

Henry at 6 months

For some reason, I think this picture captures his look these days.

These brothers love to be in close proximity to one another.

8 months, on his first not-in-a-car-seat stroller ride

I took Henry in for his 6 month check-up today, 2 months late because I was weary of his vaccinations. Last time I was warned (right afterward) that the side effects would be worse than I was used to (more pain, redness, swelling, fever) because they don't get very pure forms of the vaccines here in Bahrain. And, yes, it was worse. Not horrible, horrible, but his leg was very sore for over a week and he had a knot for over a month. So I wasn't excited about doing that again. I ended up consulting with the doctor and waiting to give him a couple of the vaccines until we get to the U.S. in June. And so far his legs look good, phew.

I need to get the actual measurement, but Henry was at the 75th percentile for length. He was, however, below the 2nd percentile for weight, having dropped from the 9th at 5 months. The doctor was concerned and asked me to start giving him 3 formula bottles per day. I must say I'm not super surprised, as I have had trouble with my milk supply with Henry and I've been wondering lately if I'm producing enough for him. Plus, he's not super enthusiastic about eating solids and having a little trouble with constipation from it, so I hadn't been giving him much cereal and not pushing the fruits and veggies, though trying to feed it to him three times a day.

I have mixed feelings about the formula feedings. On one hand, I look forward to having the flexibility of a bottle-fed baby who I don't have to worry about nursing (finding a place if we're out, being able to leave him behind without worrying about the exact time I have to be home). Neither Davey nor Charlie would ever take a bottle, so this is new territory for me. On the other hand, I feel, just a little, like I'm letting him down, giving up the closeness that we share through nursing. I'm not one of those moms who is crazy about nursing, but I do enjoy it some. I guess I don't know how to really explain how I feel about it, and I know it shouldn't be complicated because its not that big of a deal, but it is new territory for me and it feels strange.

The doctor also asked me if I feed Henry a lot of carrots because he looks a little orange!! Afterward, he said not to worry about it but did say I need to expand what I'm feeding Henry to include many more things. I guess I must be behind on introducing him to foods since I haven't given him any beans or meat, but I don't think I did much of that before a year with the other two boys. Maybe they suffered, but they seem fine. But I guess I will try to follow the doc's advice and introduce poultry, fish, beans and egg yolk along with the formula.

I don't know why but doing anything new with a baby under one year is always hard for me. The first year is not my favorite; I find it very challenging, even with the household help I have now. It's certainly much easier, but still draining. I love my babies, but I would not call myself a "baby lover." I'm consciously trying to enjoy this time with Henry, because he is so sweet and such a little doll and someday I'm sure I'll wish the time back, but I have to do it consciously because otherwise I spend my time counting the time until the first year is over. Maybe its the lack of a full night's sleep. Who knows. But I feel a little guilty about feeling this way. But just a little so I don't worry about it too much.

Well, I'll stop rambling and go order some more bottles.

What is Beautiful?

Davey has a high standard for qualifying as 'beautiful.' It has become a pet subject for Dave to ask Davey what is beautiful, trying to get him to expand his list. Until tonight, it stood firm at only flowers and rainbows.

Tonight at dinner, the subject came up and Davey again wouldn't admit any new entrants. But then he started asking Dave and I what we think is beautiful. He asked for many answers and gave us points for each one. After he had asked Charlie (whose answers I'm going to try to remember...), I asked him again. He had set our minimum number of answers to 5, so he had to give us three more. Added to his list was mountains, Henry, and his toys.

Selfishly, it was a little bit disappointing that Henry had made the list....When the conversation first started tonight, we were making proposals for his evaluation of beauty and nothing made his list. I had asked if people could be beautiful. "No," had been his response. "Not even your mommy is beautiful?" (every little boy is supposed to think this, right?) I asked. His response, "But I like your earrings!"

Sleepovers

Dave and I have a group of three couples from his work that we have been going out to dinner with about once a month for the last year and a half or so. Since things have changed here in Bahrain and its not as safe to go out at night, we've started doing couples' nights with dinner and games in our homes. Last time it was held at Donna & Clay's, who are inbetween housekeepers and its really hard here to find a baby sitter, so we did a sleepover at our house with all the kids. They were so excited.

Watching a movie & eating a snack

Apparently our boys were out at 9:40 and the other two stayed up until 10:30... pretty late for these kiddos who are all usually out at the stroke of 7pm...

Such cuties

We hosted a night in at our home tonight and the boys went over to the Wene's for their first sleepover. They were excited again, even Charlie didn't bat an eye when they left.

He had a nap today so he was the last one awake still when we called to check at 9pm (he often is up late singing, talking and playing in his bed). He was telling the sitter, "My mommy is Jasmin." And asked her to call me, "Her number is 2, 3, 4, 5..." Such a little cutie. I can see him being kind of sad the only one awake with a sitter he doesn't know... but there was no crying and he was asleep shortly after the call.

It feels strange to be in our house without them here... thus the post, thinking about them! I look forward to getting them back in the morning, but hopefully after a nice sleep-in :)

Donna sent me this pic

Long Time Coming

It has been a looooong time coming, but it's finally here. Charlie being potty trained, that is.

At 17 months, the kid was very interested and pretty motivated, so I got out the potty...



... and let him start watching "Once Upon A Potty" (or the Potty Show as we call it around here). But my personal policy is not to try to train until 2 years old. So in early December 2010 we began. He was doing great. This little guy has amazing bladder control. As long as we remembered to take him to the potty at regular intervals (once every hour or two), he didn't have accidents, even when we were out and about (except #2). The problem was that when he told you he needed to use the toilet, he would say so very quietly. So if I was distracted, he wouldn't push the subject. This wasn't a problem until Dave's family came to visit for Christmas and I, as hostess, was very distracted and busy. And then we were taking a trip for a week to Dubai and Istanbul. I didn't want to be urgently searching all over as a tourist for a decent bathroom. So we abandoned potty training at the end of the month.

We took it up again at the end of February 2011. Again, he was doing great, this time with #1 and #2. He went a couple weeks with no accidents. Then we were evacuated. Complete regression. It was so disappointing, especially since I was 6 months pregnant at the time so I wanted this boy trained before the next one came! So I planned to try again when we got to Abu Dhabi. We had nothing to do all day, might as well potty train. But I quickly abandoned that plan when I realized he would probably just regress again once the new baby was born.

And once Henry was born, well, it took a long time for me to get motivated to do it agian. But, now he's three, and here we are, finally potty trained. Once I decided I wanted it enough to enforce it and he decided he wanted to do it, it was done in a day. Now he is in underwear full-time (even nights) and has only wet his bed twice - when he was sick.

Way to go Charlie-bear!

Rolly-Polly

Our sweet little Henry is now seven months old. He is sitting well, though still toppling over sometimes. He loves to roll... back and forth, back and forth he goes. And spin around on his belly. Our floors are all tile without a lot of rugs so I was trying to lay out large blankets every time I put him down to play but he just rolls right off and has learned to cope with the hardness anyway...

... showing off his skills, laying his head on his arm as he rollls.

He is still waking twice a night to eat. Eating solids well, though he takes a while to warm up to each new food. This is my first time making my own baby food (of necessity) and I am impressed with how easy and cheap it really is. I should have done it before. So far his favorite food is pumpkin with sweet potatoes in a close second. One wonderful thing is that the last few days I have given him formula in a sippy cup and he doesn't seem to mind it. I am having visions (dreams, I know) of him taking an entire formula feeding and getting to have a break for day... or at least more than 3 hours. We'll see.

He loves his brothers so, so much. Daddy too. All any of them has to do is, well, anything and he will laugh at them. There is no chance getting him to nurse if any of them are around. He loves to throw his toys on the floor and playing with a large spoon on the tile floor, for the sound it makes.

He still doesn't like being in his car seat and has stopped taking a pacifier. We still have to swaddle him when he sleeps but he is slowly getting better about scratching his head when he's upset. Still no teeth but lots of gnawing and chewing on things. He takes naps well every other day.

He gives me hugs. It is so sweet and I've never had a baby do it at this age. When I'm holding him he'll lay his head on me and put his arms "around" me... what a little love he is.

Pictures

Here are a few recent pics of my boys...

Best buds in their "brother shirts"

And a silly one

An overstuffed playpen...

... can still be fun for this little cutie.

Ready for a winter fun day at school. He was so excited but I think he said they just crumpled up paper and pretended it was a snowball. I expected something more from the expensive, private school but I'm sure it was still fun for the kids.

After playing in the yard with Aysha.

First Tooth

This tooth was so loose we were worried about him swallowing it, so Dave finally pulled it out when Davey was in the bath. The tooth fairy decided to leave him 1BD, or $2.67. The second was lost a couple weeks later at school. The first tooth was replaced at an amazingly fast rate, halfway up in the first week.

He's Three

Poor Charlie with his birthday three days after Christmas. Since his birthday falls during Christmas break, I justified putting off a party by telling myself no one was in town anyway. Pretty much all of the expats leave the country, as would be expected I guess. There were two girls from my playgroup that were in town so I invited them over for a playgroup on his actual birthday.

Time to open presents!

In addition to trains, this little guy loves Hot Wheels cars. Though he plays with trains most of all toys, he carries a car around with him everywhere he goes. His teachers even tolerate him bringing one to school every day.

Blueberry pan"cakes" for breakfast :)

Make a wish!

Playgroup kiddos

Singing to the birthday boy

Grandma and Grandpa Adams really spoiled Charlie this year... and we were so excited to show him his new car when he woke up.

Big brother taking him out on his first ride

Charlie is getting better at driving each time he tries

Having a bit of fun

I can't believe my little Charlie is three years old now. I think I'll always think of him as my "little Charlie." He's such a spunky, bright little guy who loves both of his brothers to pieces. He is going to school three days a week and his teachers rave about how well behaved he is, though he always puts on a show for me when its time to say goodbye. He still takes naps but I can't let him sleep more than an hour or he doesn't sleep at night - he'll sit in bed and sing and talk for two hours sometimes. He loves to sing. He taught himself counting, colors, shapes (long ago... I'm so late in an update) and I've been working with him on letter sounds. He would watch tv all day if we let him. He loves shows that are scary (to him) and "daddy movies," especially Star Wars but just about anything we'd let him watch, so we have to be careful. His favorite foods are yogurt, chicken with ketchup, carrots dipped in italian dressing, and salad with vinaigrette or lemon-garlic dressing and, of course, any kind of candy but especially chocolate. He loves to laugh and make jokes, listen to daddy's story-telling and trying to tell his own.

Christmas Cookies

Dave left the day after Thankgiving for 2 weeks to Houston. Luckily I had the forethought (unlike me these days :) to decorate the Christmas Tree before he left or I knew it wouldn't happen until he returned, which wouldn't be very fun for the kids to not have it up very long. It was so nice to have the tree up longer and get the feeling of the Christmas season going. Especially since the sand and sun here don't lend themselves very well to feeling like Christmas for this Michigan girl.

D & C had fun decorating their own little tree Grandma & Grandpa Paulson gave them a few years ago

Dave was gone for two local holidays, so to keep ourselves busy, we planned a little cookie decorating party and invited our friends the Matlocks, Kings and Custers.

Sheldon helping Charlie decorate. He and his wife, Connie, were huge helps to me with the boys, especially at church, when Dave was gone.

With Dalia & Mallory

Nonnie & the King children

Someone snapped this of Davey... I think it makes him look so old!

Cute girls having fun with Henry

Thankful Turkey

My brother and sister-in-law have been doing the Thankful Turkey with their kids for many years now and I have been meaning to do it with our kids for several. I finally did it this year - pretty pitifully - but I'm happy that it at least happened a little bit. The boys really enjoyed it and now that the turkey is drawn, hopefully we can be better next year. The idea is that every day in the month of November, each member of our family writes something they are thankful for on a feather and puts it on the turkey. I think we only did it like 5 times... the extra feathers are from doing it with our Thanksgiving dinner guests.

Here are the things that managed to make it to our list: The Gospel, eating oranges, home, prayer, friends, color green, being five, my parents, climate control, food, going somewhere, playing, City Centre Mall, our family, Book of Mormon, Oman, good books, going downstairs, Thanksgiving, sleeping, color purple, Henry, being healthy and the bathroom.