Henry: 8 months

This update is a couple of weeks behind schedule due to being gone, (his monthly birthday is on the 22nd), but better late than never, right? This month has been the most fun as far as his growth and change, and it's like we watch him grow up a little more everyday. With all of this growing comes so many new, fun stages but also less of little baby Henry too. Bittersweet for sure.  As far as actual size, Henry has gotten so much bigger! Right now he's just getting out of 9 month clothing and into 12 month. He's tall and on the slim side, like another Henry I happen to know quite well!  I'm curious to see how long he is at his 9-month check up which is right around the corner.

As far as foods, Henry is a really, really good eater. He's still breastfeeding and going strong. Here's how our day usually goes:

6:45am: wake up, BF
7:30am: breakfast - usually a fruit and oatmeal concoction although this week we'll be venturing into the world of organic yogurt too.
11am: BF upon waking up from his nap
noon: a small lunch or snack - lately it's been a mashed up avocado or other veggie
2pm: BF before his nap.
5pm: BF a upon waking/before dinner
5:15pm (or so): dinner - some sort of pureed veggies
7pm: BF before bed.

Henry also has a sippy cup of water available to him and will drink whenever he's thirsty. We only do water and he's been doing the sippy cup thing since he was about 6.5 months old. He really got the hang out it around 7 months and knows how to hold it, tilt it, etc.  He never really used a bottle, so now if I have to be gone during a regular feeding he'll just drink my milk from the sippy. We use the Nuk Orthodontic Sippy and love them. I also make all of Henry's food, but while on vacation I couldn't do much outside of mashing up avocados and bananas, so to mix it up he also enjoyed some of the Earth's Best jarred food and a couple other types of organic baby food in pouches.

It's crazy what a difference a month makes- you can even see it in the 7 month to this month's photos. 8 months is the most fun yet (told you I'd say that everytime!).  But really, everyday is something new. A new sound, a new "trick," something else to make Hank and I just die from cuteness overload, laughter, or both.

This month Henry:

will wave hello and goodbye
says "mama" (his first word!)
still doesn't have any teeth
tries to stand with no hands - doesn't quite have the balance down yet
bounces and dances to music
laughs a lot
all smiles, all day
loves to be carried on my hip all the time
knows what "up" means and will raise his arms when he wants to be picked up
lots of squealing and funny noises
lots of babbling and "talking"
good at playing independently
loves Madeline so much
sleeps through the night every night

This upcoming weekend I'm leaving to go to California for a friend's bachelorette party and I'm a little nervous about being away from Henry for two nights, but I know Hank will do just fine.  I am so, so excited for some true "me" time though but I can't imagine how it is going to feel not seeing Henry everyday. My heart already hurts a little but I'm also really excited! I'm sure some of you mamas know what I mean. I've been pumping like crazy, getting Hank prepped on what to do, and I feel ready. So come Friday, this mama is getting on a plane and heading off to a fabulous girl's weekend in Manhattan Beach. Wish us luck!

So, happy 8 months sweet Henry. We love you so much. We're already halfway to 9, and I can't wait to see what it has in store for us.

p.s. note to self: for our next baby, take monthly photos SITTING UP. Even if I have to prop the baby up, it will much easier than trying to keep a rambunctious 8 month old on his back. Talk about baby-wrangling- I should film one of our photoshoots, I'm sure you'd get a laugh!

This video makes my heart so happy.

With two of my dearest friends getting married in the next two months, when I stumbled upon this video I knew I had to share it.  I dare you to remain dry eyed- it's an amazing and touching look at this couple and the love they share on their most magical day. It's beautiful, and so much more than "just" a wedding video. I hope you enjoy it. Things like this remind me of how lucky I am to have found and married my best friend, too. Happiest Monday.


nick+maria • england wedding from Paperback Weddings on Vimeo.

Flagstaff day trip

This weekend was great and exactly what I needed to feel a little more in the groove of our regular life after being gone for so long.  Saturday morning we headed up to Flagstaff to the Cardinals Training Camp (yes, I married a sports fanatic), and although football isn't typically my thing, it was a lot of fun and the weather was beautiful.  I attended college in Flag at NAU, so whenever I'm up there I'm flooded with nostalgia as I look around at all the places I used to go during some of my most favorite years ever. This time Hank and I went to Crystal Creek for sandwiches to bring on the field, then headed up and parked by the dome. We watched the new quarterback and just enjoyed being in the fresh air and shady pines. It was beyond crowded though, so that was the only drawback.  After camp we headed downtown and explored for awhile; ate some gelato, visited some shops, and ended our afternoon at Dara Thai.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of football I also have to mention that this season I am actually going to attempt to get into it and partake in our tradition of Sunday football parties.  I grew up playing sports very competitively and really enjoyed watching too, but after I tore my ACL at the end of HS and didn't end up playing collegiate soccer, I think I avoided sports related things because at the time I felt too upset that my "future" didn't end up as I had pictured it all those years. (Funny how now I am SO thankful for how it did work out!).  But after staying away from sports for so long my avoidance turned into total disinterest.  Even now though if I'm in the right mood, I'll catch myself getting totally engrossed in games if I happen to sneak a peek while Hank is watching. I can't deny that I love it!  So this football season I'm all in - I'm even playing in a fantasy league with Hank. Those who know me will find this VERY laughable and I'm laughing too, but I'm attempting to have fun with it so we'll see how it goes!

Today was a good day too. We did a lot of grocery shopping to prepare for our cooking this week. Before vacation we were getting into such a food rut- we'd been eating and cooking the same things week after week.  We'd maybe tweak a recipe here and there, but ultimately we found ourselves eating the same thing over and over. Yesterday while wandering through the cutest culinary store ever we decided to just put our love for food to good use and branch out a bit. So last night we planned out recipes for each night and today got the fresh ingredients for the next few days.  I'm really excited!

Here are just a few photos from yesterday- have a great start to your week.

Friday links to love!

{on the Jersey Shore last week}

Happy Friday! I am still getting back into the swing of things as far as our routine and being home, so today will be a lot of errands and a little food shopping. Right now I have a napping baby in the bedroom and a quiche in the oven, so I thought I would take a quick ten minutes to share some links that caught my eye as I was going through my Google Reader late last night!

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I'm the one guest-posting now! Check me out over on the Paper Mama today.

I love love love this DIY chalkboard banner and you can bet I will be making one of these in the near future will all the events I have coming up.

I adore Michelle and her words always have a way of being totally relevant and just what I need to read.

Carly's "Ruminations on the Allure of Zooey Deschanel" made me giggle.

I love the look of this oversized chalkboard. I would love one of our own to jot down to-dos, to-gets, or just hellos!

Oh my lord. Next baby, we are definitely getting these announcements. Way too cute.

I may be biased, but I love everything Adie posts.

Cascade Ice generously sent me a case of their water, and I LOVED it. My favorite was the organic lemon zest. And best part about it? All natural and zero calories. Yep, zero.  Oh, and for those of you who like to indulge in alcoholic beverages they also have a zero-calorie sparkling Cosmopolitan cocktail mixer.  

Krystin's list of Simple Pleasures has inspired me to do one of my own lists next week. Her is so sweet.

The current landscape of social media. Ha! Have you gotten on the Google+ train yet?

And speaking of, if G+ confuses you (like it did me at first), check out this helpful link.

If you need to smile, just click this. Trust me.

And finally, here are a few blogs I've been enjoying catching up on: one, two, and three.

Have a great weekend!

I'm back: An update & our vacation via Instagram! (super image-heavy)

Hiii, I'm back! Did you miss me? ;) I have to admit that it was so incredibly nice to take a full three weeks off from blogging, and I need to send a huge thank you out one more time to all of my fabulous guest posters. I really appreciate all of them, and I also appreciate all of you who made them feel right at home.

I took a million photos over the past few weeks, and sorting through them will take a bit, so I thought I would quickly post an overview of our East Coast vacation via Instagram!  As much as I loved bringing our Nikon out and about, there's something about these quick little snapshots that make me smile. I'm definitely going to be utilizing Blurb's Instagram book option to make a fun keepsake from our trip.

Overall it was a great time, and I have so many things I'm looking forward to sharing! From what I learned flying and traveling with an 8 month old to my new favorite beauty product discovered on this trip, I feel like I have a huge list of upcoming posts. I'm feeling really inspired, which I'm thankful for, because to be honest I actually really loved being free of all things computer on my trip, and I was curious how I would feel when I got home. I enjoyed not blogging so much that I was actually thinking I wouldn't want to do it in the same capacity when I got home. But now that I'm here, typing away in this little box, any thoughts of being disinterested in this space has totally gone away. I'm beyond happy to be here sharing my words and day to day, and if I learned anything not blogging, it's that I need to continue to keep this blog true to me. What that means is less of the things I don't really enjoy and more of what I do. Having this space enhance my life rather than play too large of a role. Exactly what I've been thinking anyway, but I was only reminded of it during my break. Awesome.

And to give you some quick background on our trip, my parents, sister, Henry and I flew into Boston where we spent a short time (Salem, Rockport, etc.), then headed up to our family's house on Lake Champlain. From there we picked up my brother in law Abe and Hank, and headed to the Jersey Shore for beach time, then up north for a family wedding. It was a whirlwind, but so much fun and went by far too quickly.  So with that said, here is our vacation via Instagram!  Actual photos from my camera to follow in the next week or so, and I'll be breaking them up so the posts aren't as image-heavy as this one! ;)

Guest Post: Katie from Skunkboy Creatures

Hello, Sometimes Sweet readers!  My name is Katie and I run a little blog called Skunkboy Creatures.  I am so happy to be sharing with you today while Danielle is away.  I just adore that lovely girl and this beautiful blog!

I have a baby girl named Poesy who just turned six months old, and that baby will not stop growing!  It seems like only yesterday we found out we were having another little one and were filled with emotions.  We were so nervous about having a baby because we hadn't had a little one around in eight years, but we were excited about the sweet, new addition to our family!  Now she's eating solids, scooting around, and laughing like a little person!  I keep telling her to slow down, but she refuses to listen.  Sheesh... babies...

Since babies seem to be such terrible listeners on this subject, I've written a formal open letter to all babies.  Here it is:

Dear Babies,

        I am speaking on the behalf of mothers everywhere when I say, "Stop growing so fast!"  We mommies need to hold you a little longer, take care of you a little better, and enjoy your company even more.  You go from sleeping all day and waking only to eat, to gobbling pureed vegetables and scooting around the room in an instant!  Life goes by fast when you are old, and even though this may feel like a lifetime to you, it's a blink of an eye to us!  So I beg you, PLEASE, stop growing so fast... or, at least slow time down a little, okay?

Thank you for your time, adorable squishy babies.

xoxo
Katie

Guest Post: Allie from It's a Wonderful Life

Hello Sometimes Sweet readers! My name is Allie and I'm a newly married, newly mommed gal from Savannah, Georgia. I am so excited to be writing here today, thanks for having me Danielle!

Growing up, my mom always took the time to tell us magical stories. I fondly remember refilling the silver thimble on the window's ledge with water so that the fairies would have something to drink at night. One time she handed me a glass bottle of glitter and told me it was pixie dust (I was really into Peter Pan) and I spent a good half hour in the backyard, sprinkling it on my head and jumping off rocks in hopes of flying. I was that kid who believed in Santa for an uncomfortable amount of time.

My mom was always coming up with these little stories, fun and silly things to believe in. And every time she told us a new one I believed her. This curiosity she sparked within me made life seem so....special. I mean, if there really is a fairy in the fridge who turns the light on and off then what other amazing things does this world have to offer me? With each tale, my imagination blossomed. I realized that there are greater things out there and that we are just a small part of a bigger piece. That there is so much to discover.

As my own baby grows I am even more thankful for the sense wonderment towards the unknown that my mother instilled in me. Henry's own amazement for new discoveries is more apparent to me and it's something I will never grow tired of watching. As he enters toddlerhood, I am looking forward to passing on some of the stories my mom told to us. I want him to trudge through the woods with a spy notebook and really believe he's solving a great mystery. I want him him to look up at the stars and wonder what else is out there and how he can get to it. I want Henry to believe in the impossible for as long as he can and to grow up with a profound curiosity about everything around him. Isn't childhood beautiful?