weeeeeeeee!

Henry, Sophia and Knox all went to the park this week to play on the swings and the slide. Sophia was able to run through the obstacle course, whilst Henry and Knox had to get carried around by their mummies, but Henry really enjoyed the swings. Knox wasn't so impressed with the swing and got this terrified bulging eyes look about his face, poor little chap. I think perhaps the 'fun' in the slide evaded Henry a little, but hopefully he will learn to see how much fun slides are! Then he got to eat his lunch sitting on the outdoor Checkers/Draughts board. Now that its warming up outside we have lots more activities to entertain us!

Are we on our way?

We thought Henry was a long way from crawling because as soon as you put him on his stomach, he rolls to his back. Very gracefully, but nonetheless, he ends up on his back pretty quickly. So we figured he wouldnt be able to crawl if he never spent time on his stomach. Well, now Im not so sure. He was ever so tired after our fun packed picnic at the park with Papa at lunchtime (say that quickly!) that I was sure he would go straight to sleep when we got home. So I put him on his back, in his bed and sure enough, he was quiet straight away. Then 3 minutes later he was screaming bloody murder. Henry isnt one to cry when you put him to bed unless something is wrong, and it usually means wind, so I went to see what was up. My crazy little boy was at the other end of the bed, 90 degrees to the way I had positioned him and on his front. Not lying on his tummy but propped up on his elbows and knees, just a-cryin' his little heart out with dark purple tired eyes. So I picked him up and asked him why he didnt just roll onto his back if he didnt want to be on his tummy any more, but of course, he couldnt answer me. I had read somewhere that babies are thinking about all the things that they are learning so much that they think about it in their sleep too. So I wonder if he was thinking about crawling in his sleep and rolled over in his sleep and thats what woke him up. We shall never know, but I wonder how far away mobility really is...

Beautiful!

Saturday was the start of a beautiful 10 day forecast. It is incredible out! I have the back door open and I didnt have to wear ear muffs or gloves or even leggings that covered my entire legs when running this morning! There is definitely a spring in my step. Is this the beginning of spring???

Happy Valentines Day.

Happy 7 month birthday little man!

Please note the following; I am standing on my own, yes, unattended! Oh and the copious amounts of drool running down my body!

The 7 month scoop on the H-man... I have two teeth now, the bottom middle two. I wake up several times a night, because I know my mummy is super tired, or perhaps because my second tooth has been coming in. I sit up well, but still avoid tummy time, so who knows when Ill be crawling. I have this new gummy smile, which is adorable and my Papa seems to be my favourite person! I have been skipping my late afternoon nap and surprisingly, not being a grumpy pants in the evening. I have moved on up into 6-9 month clothes and mummy says I am getting heavier and the cheeky woman says I have leg rolls. I have expanded my food repertoire and my favourite thing to eat is chopped banana in vanilla yoghurt.

As ever, I am a super happy young man...

My first visit to Costco

Knox and Henry at Costco! Who ever thought of double wide trolleys/carts was a genius!


After three days of freezing cold weather and living in a white world, stuck inside going stir crazy, today was absolutely beautiful and of course, Henry and I had an absolutely fantastic day! We played this morning, I ran during his first nap, then we had a play date with Sophia and Alison; learning how to share toys is going to be challenging since he doesnt go to day care. After another nap we walked the dogs in the glorious sunshine. It was the first time that Henry was big enough to touch the toys that hang in his Chariot and not be wearing gloves! We played some more and played some more, Papa payed us a surprise visit (he has been at the Film Fest all weekend and we havent really seen him since Wednesday), then we had a 40 minute bath! Henry is tucked away in bed, most probably exhausted, especially with only two naps today. I have made him a most delicious meal for next week; a barley vegetable risotto. It is so good that I almost ate it for dinner myself but I have no more barely and what kind of a mother takes food away from her baby! But if tomorrow night he doesn't like it... well game on, there is no point wasting it is there! All there is left to do is laundry and stuffing diapers; will I ever rest...

Would you want to eat your lunch on the toilet?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/02/11/133663903/breastfeeding-gets-a-boost-amid-the-health-policy-wars?sc=17&f=1001

Breast-Feeding Gets A Boost Amid The Health Policy Wars
by Julie Rovner

- February 11, 2011

With the House expected to vote to defund last year's health overhaul law and frequent battles in the Senate over repealing the law all together, things have been pretty ugly here in Washington.

But this week brought a small win for moms. A group of lawmakers are celebrating a decision by the Internal Revenue Service to allow women to deduct the cost of breast pumps and other breast-feeding supplies.

The policy change means that from now on, taxpayers will be able to get back the money shelled out for breast-feeding supplies, which can cost hundreds of dollars.

It's not super easy (is anything dealing with the IRS easy?) But women in the know can now get reimbursed if they use money from their Health Savings Accounts or Flexible Spending Accounts. Or, they can deduct the costs from their income taxes — if they have other medical expenses that make up more than 7.5 percent of their income.

"This is good news for nursing moms, and a welcome recognition of scientific fact by the IRS: breast-feeding has significant health benefits," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who has led the charge for over a decade. Previously, breastfeeding supplies weren't deductible because the IRS considered them a nutritional expense, rather than a medical one.

The change was also lauded by the American Academy of Pediatrics. "For years, the AAP has been urging the IRS to recognize that breast milk is not just the best and most natural food for infants; it confers well-documented health benefits on both baby and mother that cannot be obtained any other way," AAP President Dr. O. Marion Burton said in a statement.

Rep. Maloney was the lead sponsor of a 1999 law that expressly permits breast-feeding on federal property.

But apparently not everyone got the message. The Washington Post reported earlier this week that a woman attempting to breast-feed her baby on a bench at the Hirshhorn Art Museum (part of the federal Smithsonian complex) was asked by a security guard to do it in the ladies' restroom instead. When she said there was no place to sit in the restroom, the guard "told her to try sitting on the toilet."

In response, a number of breast-feeding mothers are planning a "nurse-in" at the museum this weekend. And it's now tax deductible. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

Shame we cant take a trip to Washington this week!

I happily stand corrected

H and I had a lovely evening of intense playing. Im not sure that I have ever seen him play so hard, out of the bath. I would show him a toy and he would grab it, and play with it, until I showed him a different toy. In this way, we got all of the toys out of one toy box, and then slowly put them all back, playing with each one a second time. For an hour and a half he sat, naked on his bedroom floor, screeching with happiness. In the end, I had to take them all away from him at 650pm to put his pjs on. He usually breaks down around 630pm into an exhausted monster shell that is my son. He also had a fit because apparently the dinner I had prepared for him was not big enough. Don't get me wrong, I nursed him at 230pm and 430pm. Then he ate his dinner at 530pm, which consisted of a tablespoon each of oatmeal, pears and butternut squash. That's a lot of food. I made up some more oatmeal but since I didnt mix anything in with it, he screamed bloody murder, so I made him our usual smoothie; yoghurt, blueberries, peaches, soy milk and flax and he proceeded to drink as much as he could, whilst getting the rest of it over his face (drinking from a pint glass isn't so easy when you are 7 months old, but heck, you sure are going to try!). I then mixed some smoothie in with the second lot of oatmeal and he finished it off. Then I nursed him before bed at 7pm. Its incredible to me, how much one little man can eat! He is still sound asleep, so I guess that hardcore play session was good on many levels!

Another 6 inches!

This has been an extremely crazy winter here in Oxford where it usually snows an inch per winter. Its annoying though, because its too cold to take the baby out and there is nothing to do otherwise! But we are going to brave the weather today since its sunny and walk those doggies...





I confess, I stole these pictures from Danny.

I have to say, Im bored. As shameful as it is, its the weather; though at least its sunny out. Ive decided that 27F is too cold to take Henry for a walk. Ive called the pool and its 80F today; also too cold for Henry. He is in one of those 'nothing you do entertains me' moods. So the question is, what can I do today with a 7 month old?

Sickliness! agh!

The carb-fest has continued through out the week and I ate an entire tub of hummus in two days. There may be no reason for it, but we all know what I think about that. I truly believe that we crave what our bodies need at that time (unless its Reeses peanut butter cups and ice cream). For a family that never gets ill, we have definitely been under the weather lately.

The first one was my fault; there is no other way to put it, I was selfish. With all that awful weather about two weeks ago, I just had to go running in 30F weather, didnt I. And then not take a shower when we got home, since our water was out. And not change my clothes, and sit around in the sweaty ones for the rest of the evening. So I ended up with a stinker of a cold. Which Danny then got, and then Henry. A week after Danny and I were better Henry was still suffering, or so we thought. Turns out, the little man was getting his first tooth and the runny nose was just a symptom of that. So yes, Henry has a bottom tooth already! Took me by surprise for sure! Well another week on and it seems that a stomach bug is taking our house by storm! Thankfully Danny and I both have very different symptoms and I am still full of energy - though I think that may have a lot to do with the fact that Mummies dont have time to be ill. Danny came home from work today looking like Death. He never gets sick so the past few weeks have been a little bit of a shock for him. He fell asleep on the couch for a few hours, I made him drink some water and try a piece of bread, of which he managed about half a slice. Poor soul.

I have actually been enjoying this winter, unusually for me, but if warmer weather means less sickness in the air, roll on spring!

Carbs!

Today has been a day of carbs for me, for what ever reason. I had the most delicious, but admittedly odd dinners. It sounds weird but you have to try it, it was so good. I had the oven on for something else and I put cream cheese inside a wholewheat pita bread and stuck it in the oven whilst baking a banana (in its skin). Then smashed the banana into the pita bread filled with cheese, drizzled some honey in and engulfed my heavenly dinner!