A Day with Daddy

While H's school has been closed the past few weeks he and I have been spending lots of time together. It has been a such a blast to get to spend all day with him. But today, in order to let me get a chunk of work done at work, Jason stayed home with Hendrick. I think initially H was a little miffed as to why he was back on the bottle but he readjusted quickly.

I love watching Jay and H together. They get such a kick out of each other. Jason will make different noises and Hendrick will just giggle over and over. Every day when I come home from work I can't wait to get in the door and see how they are doing. The best days are when I come in and they are hanging out together and making each other laugh. Jason intentionally and Hendrick unintentionally. There is nothing quite like the uninhibited laugh of a baby. H just chortles out of sheer delight at the simplest things. It makes me smile and all that I was worried about just drifts away in that moment.

Meet Me in St. Louis: The Visit

It was really exciting to have Hendrick get to meet Jason's side of the family. In addition to grandma and grandpa, there were lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends, ready to hold Hen and play with him. I am very thankful that we had six days to spend with people because it allowed us lots of time to just hang out at various houses and catch up with people.

Hendrick spent his days sleeping, playing, and eating. Not all that different from home except for the larger number of people who wanted to hold him and play with him. There were moments when he got a little over stimulated, but nothing that a nap couldn't fix. I was amazed at how easily H. went down for a nap. Once he was tired it took him about ten seconds to fall asleep once he was in his little travel crib. (By the way, I am in love with the travel crib we have. We didn't plan to purchase one and received this as a gift. Easy to travel with, super easy to put together, and packs up very small.)

One of the highlights of the trip was a chance for Jason to have a family birthday party. I really enjoyed seeing all of Jay's siblings, nieces and nephews, mom and dad, and H. get to celebrate with him.  It was a great day.

Sadly, although I took photos in St. Louis it was during this trip that my trusty point and shoot digital camera decided to go on the fritz, so I only have a few photos that turned out. If anyone has photos from our trip to St. Louis that they are willing to share, please e-mail me.

Meet Me in St. Louis: The Journey

Hendrick took his first plane trip to visit his family in St. Louis this August. It was the perfect opportunity for me to employ one of my lesser advertised skills - worrying. I wanted the trip to be as perfect as possible so that meant weeks of planning and trying to think of every possible scenario we may encounter in our journey. We needed enough outfits in case there was an emergency change needed, diapers, wipes, toys that would entertain Hendrick but not annoy those around us on the plane, blanket to lay down in the airport to let him stretch out before being held for 3.5 hours, etc. I will spare you all of the details that I obsessed over. What ever happened to the days where it was just "over the river and through the woods" to grandmother's house?

To make a long journey short. It went just fine. Getting through the SF airport was a breeze as it was very family friendly. We picked seats at the back of the plane so that we would disturb as few people as possible. But, despite our best efforts to look friendly we got a few sidelong glances as we settled in. I just smiled at as many people as possible and quietly hoped Hendrick wouldn't scream on the flight. (I love his loud, clear voice but I am his mom and wired to do so.)

Three and half hours later we landed in St. Louis. Hendrick slept for a grand total of 20 minutes during the flight and made lots of friends with the people around us. There was no screaming and although I was exhausted by the end of it, I feel that the plane ride was a success. After getting in our rental car and figuring out how to install the new car seat we brought with us, (note to readers: Don't bring a car seat you have never installed on a trip and try to figure it out at tail end of your journey. It is not fun.) we were comfortably at Grandma and Grandpa's house by 9:00pm. Hendrick had a bath to wash off as much of the various airport bathroom changing table experiences as possible and asleep by 10:00pm.

Note: There are no photos from this part of the trip to St. Louis. My focus was on keeping Hendrick entertained, fed, clean, and dry.

Food glorious food!

Hendrick has been watching us eat meals for weeks now and finally he got his turn to try some food. We figured he has two teeth and a keen interest in what we are eating so why not give him a taste. It started with a little watermelon. He found that very interesting. Soon I got paranoid about Hendrick managing to break off a chunk of watermelon and choke so we moved on to rice cereal.

Hendrick eats his rice cereal at a little table and chair just his size. (We are very thankful to Kate for giving us her daughter's weaning table. Hendrick loves it!) His meal is around dinner time because that is the time when my milk production is the lowest right now so it seemed a natural
time to introduce solids.

The first meal was a huge success! Hendrick loves food!



After a few weeks of rice cereal we have moved onto sweet potatoes. Once we have passed the 4-7 day waiting period (to make sure he has no allergic reaction) Hendrick will get to try bananas and then avocados. Jason and I have decided that we are going to try to make most if not all of Hendrick's food at home. So, we are employing the freeze food cube method. We make a batch of baby food and freeze it in cubes to be thawed when Hendrick is ready to eat. So far things are going well. I can't wait to see what his reaction is to the different foods he will get to try over the next several months.

Moving in...

So, this is where our blog has landed after the mac version was closed. We hope you enjoy following our little adventures and perhaps learn a few things with us as we go along. For those of you wondering about the origin of the blog title. One of the nicknames that Hendrick acquired is Brown Trout or Little Brown Trout so this blog documents the chronicles of Little B. and Family.

Adventures in floor beds

In keeping with the Montessori method, Hendrick sleeps on a floor bed as opposed to in a crib. He can look around the room and when he is mobile he will be able to get in and out of bed when he is ready to get up or go to bed. (For those concerned about safety, the floor bed method requires the room to be completely baby-proofed. We are in the process of baby-proofing so that the room will be ready when Hendrick starts to crawl.)

Up until recently there has not been much excitement around the floor bed but now that Hendrick can roll around there have been a few mornings when we find him on the floor in various positions. Regardless of the stance, we always find him chatting to himself and we get a big smile when we come into the room.