Henry at Eleven Months

Dear Henry--

Most of the pictures I took of you for this month are bum-shots of you headed in the other direction.  You are mobile and loving it.  Dad and I are loving it, too--now that our 12-hour flights to and from Hawaii are behind us, we are very happy to have you crawling.  You love being able to go wherever you want and explore our house...and we are right behind you, catching all the things we missed with our babyproofing!

We don't have a weight or height for this month, but I know that my biceps continue to get stronger (but not feeling stronger) and your clothes have suddenly shrunk.  It snowed here this week (what?!?),  but you'd never know it by this outfit, which is a good inch too short, and the bare feet, since taking off your socks is a diaper change ritual (I think you like to watch me go crawling for them after you intentionally drop them behind the changing table.  Nice.)  You definitely had a growth spurt this month!  (And your hair keeps growing, too--the days of your baldness are history!)

Now that you can crawl, you have quickly figured out how to get into your own toy box.  It's fun to watch you play with your toys in a whole new way now--stacking blocks, putting things in holes, pushing buttons you couldn't get before.  You still love to read and to pick out your own books.  Right now your favorites are "Goodnight Moon," "Peek-a-Who," and the rainbow ribbon book.  (I keep trying to squeeze "Pride and Prejudice" in there...)  And you love to play with Dad on the floor.

The other day I was singing "Deep and Wide" with you and you were laughing and watching me be silly, and I suddenly flashed back to doing the same thing with you when you were just a couple months old.  It's strange to think that was only a little while ago--what a different boy you are!  I can't believe that we are only a few weeks away from your first birthday...

Love,
Mama

Girly Girl

Isn't little Olivia RaVae the sweetest thing you've ever seen?  We are so, so excited to have her in our family!  She had a dramatic entrance yesterday morning, coming a couple weeks earlier than expected so that Kim had to be flown via helicopter to Spokane to give birth (they wanted Olivia to be born at a hospital with a good NICU just in case).  Casey is such an awesome, proud dad.  I love it.  We've been waiting for this little girl!

I showed Henry Olivia's picture this morning and he smiled and giggled.  I think he will like having this new friend, and I like having a new niece!