One Month Old

Today my littlest man, Henry, is one month old. Doesn't he look pleased about that?

I love his adorable little toes, and I think he's starting to get chunky. I don't know how much he weighs--his one month appointment isn't for another week--but he's definitely heavier than when he was born! Check out the difference in the pictures below. In the one on the left, Henry was only 6 days old. I took the one on the right today. I think he's definitely bigger. Or more round.

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Henry's Aunt Sarah told me she thought it looked like he was announcing that he's four weeks old in the picture below, so I had to repost it. It's kind of a neat coincidence that he held up exactly four fingers.

So how did Henry spend his day? Well, he celebrated reaching the ripe old age of one month by taking a nice nap with his daddy.

I, on the other hand, did some baking. My mom's birthday is coming up in a few weeks, and just like last year, Greg and I are going to make her a themed dinner for her present. The theme for this year is Spain, so I've been researching Spanish recipes, and I want to try out several this week. Today I tried Magdalenas, which are a Spanish tea cake. I got the recipe here, and they turned out delicious--not too sweet, but melt-in-your-mouth yummy.

Nick loved them, and he ate two.

Henry, on the other hand, is too small to eat a Magdalena. He was not happy about this, but he helped me make a grocery list anyway.

Lately Henry loves bouncing in his bouncy seat, especially when I bounce it really hard with my foot. Nick likes to dance to the music on Henry's bouncy seat.

Bouncy House

Today Nick visited his first bouncy house. Needless to say, he was extremely thrilled.

Notice the slightly crazed gleam in his eye, and the chocolate smeared on his cheek. That's because we were at the Chocolate Festival in Naperville, and Nick had plenty of samples before bouncing.  Pardon the poor picture quality, but it's hard to get a good shot while a two-year-old is bouncing.

Poor kid was also losing his pants. His little belly is too big for the 18-24 month pants, but he's too short for the 2T pants. With his shoes off, those jeans just kept sliding farther and farther off his little butt. It made it hard for him to get his balance.

We're going to have to remember how much he loved the bouncy house, and try to take him to another one. Honestly, it was the highlight of his day, and the only way we got him out of there was to get one of the attendants to crawl in and drag him out after almost an hour. I think he would have stayed in there all day!

Bouncy Time!

One of Nick's favorite games is "Bouncy Time." That is when Greg or I take him and sit him on one of our big bouncy exercise balls (pilates balance balls). He gets so excited and giggles uncontrollably.

Pardon my poor-quality pictures. It's the camera. But note the look of concentration on Nick's face, and the way he balls his hands into fists as he helps his daddy bounce him on the ball. If Greg stops for a minute to rest, Nick will keep trying to make the ball bounce.

Our only problem comes when bouncy time is over. Nicholas simply cannot accept that the bouncing must end. I think he wants it to continue forever. This is the sad face he gives us every single time we stop the bouncing.

The only thing wrong with this boy is that Greg stopped bouncing him. Sigh. See the shiny tear trickling down his disappointed little face? Nick has learned a valuable lesson--all fun must end sometime. I think I didn't learn that lesson until after college.  ;)

I didn't post all week this week, which is weird for me. It was a crazy week. I was one of the presenters for teacher institute day today, and I was planning all week. I stayed after school for a presenters meeting Monday, and Tuesday through Thursday I stayed late to teach extended day. Plus, on Thursday, I had to stay for the Dr. Seuss parent night I'd volunteered for. Then, I spent two nights up until almost midnight working on my powerpoint presentation. The institute day went okay, but we were short on time, and I felt like I rushed too much through my part. I'm always better at teaching when I can focus on depth over breadth. But overall it wasn't a bad day. I feel like I did the best I could under the circumstances.

I can tell you, though, that I'm very grateful that the weekend is here. I want to rest a lot and drink plenty of earl grey tea and play with Nick. I feel like this week I was too preoccupied with school work to sit down on the floor with him very much. So I tried today to spend at least an hour straight playing blocks and cars with him. I think it's so adorable when he drives the little cars around. Then we read stories. I love Fridays.