Turnaround

Like celebrities who are trailed by hordes of paparazzi, sometimes I just want to live my life without Mom and Dad following me around with the video camera. So I turned the tables on Mom recently when she was trying to film Henry and me. Let's see how she likes it!

Ask Julia & Henry 6/29/09

It's time for our very first Ask Julia & Henry column. Only Grandma submitted questions, but she sent a lot of them, so there's plenty to talk about. Here we go:

I know that Julia has always napped/slept to the sounds of a gentle falling rain sound courtesy of her iPod. Do you also have a favorite, soothing sound to help you sleep?
I have an iPod as well, and I'm listening to the same rainfall "music" when I sleep at night. Between the white noise and Dad's super-swaddles, it's no wonder I sleep feeding to feeding at night!

I know you're only five weeks old, but are you still in the confines of the bassinet, or have you migrated to the regular crib? Where are your favorite spots for napping?
I'm still in the bassinet for now, but I'm starting to look a lot bigger than I did when I was born. Dad says he thinks I'll be sleeping in the crib before my two-month birthday. I already spend a little time in the crib, as Mom and Dad sometimes put me in there so I can look at the mobile, which I really love doing (I've already used it more than Julia ever did!). As for where I enjoy napping, my absolute favorite place is probably in someone's arms, whether it's Mom's, Bobbi's or Dad's. I also nap in the Boppy a lot, as well as the pack n play and the baby swing.

Has Julia given you "your own space," or does she sometimes forget and awaken you with her exuberance for life?!?!?
Julia really loves her little brother, so she's always coming over to me and announcing "Henry's sleeping!" and trying to touch me during my naps. I don't think she's actually woken me up on her own yet, though I'm sure she'll do that before long.

Do you think Julia has done an adequate job of "breaking in" your parents? Or do they still seem like "rookies"?
Julia did a great job training them. Mom and Dad definitely know what they're doing. For example, when Julia cried at my age, they would try everything and let her wail for a long time before they realized that she was hungry, even if she had just eaten an hour earlier. For me, they're much quicker with the bottle.

Any verdict yet on the color of your eyes? Are they still blue (like your sister's)?
Yes, they are indeed still blue.

What have your parents/sister/Babcia & Dido been doing to occupy your waking moments since this rainy weather has been keeping everyone inside and not getting a change of scenery and fresh air on walks to the park?
Thankfully the weather has gotten a little better these past few days, but you're right — it's been frustrating. For me, it was holding me a lot more than they would have otherwise, and probably feeding me a little more too. When you're my age and can't go outside for walks in the stroller, there aren't many other options!

And that's it for the debut mailbag. Thanks Grandma for the terrific questions. Now it's up to the rest of you to fill up our inbox again. You can send questions to me or to Julia.

Juicy fruit

Henry will post our first Ask Julia & Henry column over the weekend or early next week, so look for that soon (it's still not too late to send in questions). But before the week wraps up, I wanted to update you on a few things that I've been doing when Henry cries and sleeps. For example, I discovered how much fun it is to eat watermelon!


Mmmm....so good! And juicy too! I also mentioned that I've been eating with a bib lately; here's what that looks like:


Yes, I'm growing up every day! And finally, we now have two baby monitors in the house, one for me and one for Henry. So now that there are two different "receivers" in the kitchen, I like to use them as phones. Here am I "calling" my friend Sammy (the guy I told you about a few days ago).


Have a good weekend everyone, and Henry and I will see you back here next week!

Prior activity

First off, happy birthday and Mnohaya Lita to Bobbi!

One benefit of Henry's arrival is that it has resulted in the reappearance of several of my long-lost toys. For example, I used the activity gym all the time when I was a baby, and just because I supposedly outgrew it doesn't mean it's not still fun to play with!



The one-time-use formula bottles make good playthings as well. It's not just my old toys either; I find a way to play with most of the new toys, books and stuffed animals that people have bought for Henry too. I don't know why I never realized earlier: two kids = double the toys!

Lean on me

I'm hoping that my sister will always be there for me to lean on as I grow up, but for now, she's more likely to lean on me. She really enjoys showing affection by putting her head on my tummy.



And thanks for helping to calm me down when I cry, big sis!

Hardheaded

Once upon a time there was a little girl who hated to have anything on her head, be it a hat, hood, cap or anything else. But no longer! Mom took me to get a bike helmet last week because she wants me to wear it whenever I'm on my tricycle, and anything else that has wheels (except for the stroller, of course). Not only was I okay with wearing it, I actually refused to take it off! So I kept it on in the car....


And on the playground with Dido...


And even while I was eating!


Mom was convinced that passerby would think I was a "special" child who needed protection everywhere I went. And you can imagine how sweaty and matted my hair was when I finally took the thing off!

I put it back on Sunday when Aunt Ileana visited with her family. Andrew and Lucie brought their scooters, so I wore it while I took a test drive (which I loved, by the way!). Here I am showing the helmet off again, and smartly foiling Uncle Jim's efforts to get me to support the dreaded Boston Red Sox!



Nice try, Uncle Jim! And one more thing before I forget, when I posted those photos of my Great-Grandma Emma, I forgot to include the photo that Aunt Jess took of Uncle Ryan and I in the car on the way back to the airport. It's really cute, so please take a quick peek at that blog post one more time.

One (month) to grow on

I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that I'm already one month old today. Can you believe it? Happy birthday to me!

Julia says that when she had her one-month birthday, Dad put together a slideshow of all the photos he took during her first month. So I asked Dad to do the same thing for me, but it turns out that he and Mom haven't taken all that many photos of me — at least, not much beyond what you've seen already. But I cried enough to convince Dad to do something special for my one-month birthday. So he put together a video of me doing what I do best:


Sleeping! I tend to doze off after my feedings, so Dad captured a video of all the contortions and facial expressions I go through as I drift off to Dreamland. If you look closely you might even spot a brief smile! It's a long video, so Dad added a cute song on the soundtrack to help pass the time. But that means because of those pesky rights issues, you can't watch it on YouTube and will have to click here instead. Enjoy!

Dad's big day

Today was Father's Day. Julia and I tried to take a nice picture with Dad to celebrate the day, but it's harder than you'd think. Look at the photo that we took just seconds earlier...


I look like I'm fearing for my life! Anyway, if you want to know how Dad spent Father's Day, here's your answer:


I went through a growth spurt this weekend and was eating every 1 1/2 or 2 hours, so Dad was feeding me pretty much nonstop. Sorry Dad, hope you weren't planning on doing anything fun on Father's Day!

Julia and I got Dad some new books for him to read us, and Julia also bought him a Father's Day balloon in the morning:


Even though we didn't do anything super-fancy (Bobbi and Dido came over for a barbeque dinner, and Aunt Ileana stopped by briefly with her family — more on that later in the week), Dad said he was glad that he got to spend the day with his family. I'm just glad that the day is over so we can move on to a real special occasion...

Ask Julia...and Henry!

I let Julia handle most of the blogging this week but I wanted to check back in before the weekend (and before my one-month birthday on Monday!) to put out the call for questions for Ask Julia & Henry. On Julia's old baby blog, she got a ton of great questions for Ask Julia, and we're hoping for more of the same on our new blog. I know that many more people read the blog than send in questions, so I'm hoping that you "lurkers" will finally submit a few queries of your own. Here are a few, sent in by yours truly, to get the ball rolling:

Where did your name come from?
Henry means "ruler," and while I'm indeed ruling the roost (sorry Julia, but it's true!), that's not why they picked the name. The night Julia was born, Dad slept on a less-than-comfy chair in Mom's hospital room, and had all sorts of weird dreams. In one vivid dream, they had a baby named Henry, so he told Mom that if they ever had a boy, they should keep the name in mind. And no name came along that they liked more, so there you go. The middle name, Joseph, has meaning on both sides of the family (it's Dido's name, and the name of Grandma's father, among others), and we thought the two names went really well together.

What will you be called?
You mean will I be called Hank? No! In fact, Mom and Dad completely forgot that was a nickname for Henry until people started asking. But the plan is to call me Henry. The only person who might thwart that is Julia, who sometimes has trouble saying "Henry," especially when she's talking quickly, and ends up calling me "Harry," which has led Mom and Dad to slip and all refer to me as Harry on occasion. (I should mention that one relative, who shall go unnamed, is not a fan of my first name at all, so it remains to be see what this person will end up calling me.)

Are your Mom and Dad getting any sleep?
Some. I've been very good about sleeping from feeding to feeding at night, which is the most they could ask from me at this point. They should be extremely grateful! And Mom and Dad are now at the point where they are switching off feedings, so while I awake every 3-4 hours at night for a feeding, they are conceivably sleeping for longer periods of time than that. But I know they're both sleep deprived, and getting more tired with each passing day!

What's up with your Twitter feeds?
The feed "gadgets" on the blog's sidebar can be a fit wonky sometimes (blame the main Twitter site, which frequently gets overloaded, which is why sometimes the Twitter feed is blank when you pull up our blog), but since it can take a few days to get a post queued up, Julia and I wanted to give you quicker access to bigger news. So on my feed, I keep you updated on when big things happen, like I start sleeping with the lights off or I change diaper sizes. These are things that I might not devote a whole blog post to, but I still want you guys to know about. Meanwhile, Julia devotes her Twitter feed to funny and smart things she's actually said. If you ever need clarification of something in one of our Twitter feeds, send one of us a note!

How does your first month compare to what Julia's was like?
Mom hates comparing the two of us and what we were like as newborns, so I'm going to respect her wishes. But I will say that in general, we had similar experiences.

And finally, what are your email addresses again?
I'm so glad you asked. You can contact Julia here and me here, and if you have questions for both of us, just send to one address and it will get to both of us. So what are you waiting for? Start emailing!

Party of one

I realize I've been hogging most of the blog posts this week, but I'm getting a bit restless. I still love Henry, but why does Mom need to be with him all the time? Especially after my nap, I just want to snuggle with her and want her to put Henry down! Since Mom's been home, I've gotten much more clingy — hey, if she's going to be home all the time, then I'm going to take advantage of it!

But while I love being near Mom, I've also become an expert at amusing myself, especially with all the rain we've been having that has trapped us indoors. I can play with my toys and dolls alone for hours. Take a look:



And that's not the only way I can entertain myself. Sometimes I do things that I know I'm not supposed to.


And as proof of what can happen when I'm left to my own devices, I've also developed a crush on two of the "bad boys" of the TV shows I watch. I already told you about Norman from Fireman Sam, but I also have a thing for Sammy, who is one of the mice who likes to makes trouble on Angelina Ballerina.


Maybe it's because they're both fond of wearing this pageboy cap, but Mom and Dad worry about whether this "bad boy" fascination is a sign of things to come when I get older!

I'm growing up in other ways as well. Now I'm only eating part-time in my highchair, preferring to use a booster seat much of the time.


In that photo I was being silly by wearing a bib and no shirt, but much of the time now I'm not wearing a bib when I eat. And as long as I can prove to Mom and Dad that I can eat without making too much of a mess, I hope the bib stays off for good!

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Place?

Dad certainly saved the best for last during his paternity leave! A week ago today, he and Grandpa took me to Sesame Place. That was the big surprise he kept talking about. Yippee!! Despite waking up at Grandma and Grandpa's house that morning with a flat tire, Dad somehow got it fixed and got us on the road in time for breakfast with Elmo and some other Sesame Street pals. This year, I was most interested in spending time with Zoe.


I made sure that I hugged her three separate times during breakfast. Then we went out to the park and started to go on the rides. Grandpa took me on the carousel...


And Dad took me on the Blast Off ride I went on last year. This year it was even better!


Then, all three of us took to the sky for Big Bird's Balloon Race.


And what Sesame Place visit would be complete without spending some time with Abby Cadabby?


We also took in the parade...


This was basically the expression on my face all day long:



Here's a video of some of the day's highlights.



The only thing I was upset about was that it was too overcast and cool to go on any of the water rides. I kept talking about that all day, how I wanted to get wet and splash everyone. But Dad promised we'll go back later in the summer and go on the water rides, so you can be sure I'll make him keep his word! Otherwise, it was a perfect day. I just wish Mom and Grandma had been there too!

Julia in bloom

It feels like it's rained every single day since Henry was born. So whenever the sun comes out, I try to make the most of my chance to go out and play. That's exactly what I did a week ago, when it was super-sunny. I sampled some of Mom's iced coffee...



And then, hopped up on sugar, I made a beeline for the backyard to smell the flowers. I looked like a beautiful flower myself: brightly-colored and in bloom!



Speaking of the rain and going outside, I ventured out with Dad over the weekend to a sidewalk sale at a toy store downtown, where I got my hand painted with a butterfly, just like I'd been talking about since I got a ladybug painted on my arm a couple months ago.


It started raining again 5 minutes after this photo was taken, so unfortunately the butterfly didn't last very long. But I've already decided about what I want painted on me the next time: a duck!

Swinging single

In addition to all the other places that Mom and Dad have been stashing me, they are putting me in the baby swing more and more. Each day I seem to tolerate about a minute longer than the day before, so I'm up to about five minutes now! Julia, as always, is fascinated by me and everything I do, so she loves to watch me in the swing:



Maybe one day I'll notice all the cool stuff going on above my head in the swing!

The legend of Misty Hollow

I am shamefully overdue in talking about my super trip last with Bobbi and Dido to visit their friend Pauline, who has a farm in Pennsylvania called Misty Hollow. I had such a good time with all the animals, especially Ellie May the goat and Hockey the dog, that I didn't care if we ever came home. Every morning I'd run out to the barn on my own to visit with the animals. Take a look at these cute photos:

Here I am feeding Ellie May as Bobbi and Pauline watch.



And here I am petting Hockey.



I loved being with Hockey!



I enjoyed leaning my head on him too.



And I showed the love to Ellie May as well.



I also liked being with the two sheep: Mary and her baby Harvey.



Here's more love for Hockey...



Hockey wasn't the only dog on Pauline's farm. I also liked to pet Eddie (though I did love Hockey more!).



It was very sunny (not like the weather the past few weeks!), so Bobbi and Dido made sure I was protected from the sun.



How much fun did I have at Misty Hollow? Well, I've barely stopped talking about it since I came back. In fact, I told Mom over the weekend that I needed to pack my bag so I could go visit Pauline and Hockey. I hope Bobbi and Dido take the hint and bring me back soon!

Finding my place(s)

Fun fact: today was my original due date! Instead, I'm celebrating my three-week birthday today! Anyway...

When Julia was a newborn, Mom and Dad spent a lot of time "hovering and holding" — that is, hovering over her as she slept and holding her seemingly every waking moment. But now that there are two kids, and Dad is back at work, it's just not possible for them to give me the same attention. So instead, I've been learning to sleep and hang out in lots of different places. Like the pack and play...


And the Boppy...


And the Baby Bjorn...


And the new baby sling that Mom put me in...


It's super-cozy and comfy!


And last but not least, there's the papasan seat, which I think was Julia's least favorite item when she was my age. Well, I've already probably spent more time in it these past three weeks than Julia ever did! I especially enjoy being it on the porch and gazing at the ceiling fan, which helps lull me to sleep:



Hope you all have a great weekend!