Man, its been a bit since I last wrote so I’ll have to catch you up on our latest adventures…
Ainsley
We enjoyed a visit from Tyler’s sister, Traci, her husband, Geoff, and our niece, Ainsley in late April. We all had a wonderful time and Ainsley simply loved Cody. She seems to call all dogs “ruff ruff” which is very cute right now. I will say having our young nieces and nephews visit is much easier now that Hank is here as there are plenty of toys and children’s things to share. Ainsley really enjoyed some of Hank’s toys and books. We tried taking the kids to get photos together in some wildflowers and that was a hilarious failure as Hank fell asleep in the car and Ainsley, who was fighting sleep herself, seemed to only want to cling to her mother. We tried taking photos of Hank and he has the most perplexed and semi-grumpy look on his face as though asking us why we bothered waking him up. Poor guy. We won’t be doing that again despite the wildflower season being so short here. We’ll have to try again another time.
Hank enjoys trying new foods
Hank is slowly trying more foods. We learned that he is a BIG fan of avocado. I think of all the foods he’s tried so far, it seems to be his favorite. He’s also learning to drink from a glass, which is great. He does pretty well with the actual drinking, but when he’s finished, he tends to just let go of the glass so we have to be quick so it doesn’t fall on the floor (or dump whatever may be left out on him). He had his 6 month check up recently and the Dr. says Hank is healthy and progressing well. I can’t even believe its been 6 months already! Hank is now 27 1/2 inches long and 16 pounds and 12.5 ounces. He’s been rolling all over the place. One of his favorite things to do in the morning is roll out of bed and over to his toy shelf. Its wonderful having such an independent boy. He entertains himself for a few minutes before letting us know he’d like our attention. He seems to really enjoy his mobility and is only (remotely) still when he is sleeping. There is a large teddy bear that sits on his bed and Hank has discovered him and often pulls him to himself and wrestles with the bear. The bear is as big as Hank is! Luckily it doesn’t weigh as much…
Bagpipes!
I had a few more shows in early May. I had one show on a Saturday, a “grown up” show (where I perform Celtic and Folk music) and the very next morning I had a children’s show. Both were lots of fun and Tyler’s parents came into town to visit and catch the shows. My Dad was working, but my mother was able to come to the show on Saturday, much to Hank’s delight. That weekend was the first time Hank got to go to one of my “grown up” shows. I was part of an all day long showcase put on by the Austin Celtic Association. We hung out most of the day until it was time for us to go meet my parents (Hank’s Grandma and Grandpa) for dinner. It was good to see old friends and acquaintances , wonderful to sing again and a lot of fun watching Hank discover bagpipes. He wore his auditory protection and interestingly enough, several other parents asked where we got them because they wanted to get some for their children. I thought that was pretty neat, especially since sometimes being safe doesn’t look very cool, so it was good no one laughed and instead were interested in getting a set for their child.
Another big smile
We *finally* got our new computer!!! Our old one was fried in a lightning storm and we’ve been working off a laptop for the past month while trying to sort things out with insurance and make the best choice for us regarding a new computer. I have to say I am *thrilled* with our choice and now its so much easier to work on various creative projects which is wonderful. Ty and I had been working on a few things when our old unit died so we’ve had this feeling of creative limbo for a while and its nice to be back in action there again.
Hank and Grandma at a show
Our nephew, Michael, had a slumber party at our house last weekend. He turned 11 on Saturday and we had him over on Friday night to celebrate. We went to his party on Saturday but that was for him and his friends, who all had a stellar time from the looks and sounds of things. I have to say it was delightful having Michael over and made me wonder what Hank will be interested in when he is 11. Michael is really into super heroes and Star Wars. We rented an animated double feature, Hulk vs. Thor & Hulk vs. Wolverine. We watched Hulk vs. Thor and Michael decided he wanted to play the Wii, our batteries needed charging so while we waited for that, we played a game (well, part of a game anyway) of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Then Ty and Michael played some Wii and we closed out the night watching the original X-Men movie. I’d rather forgotten how much fun slumber parties can be, all that pizza and movies, etc. It was fun! In the morning, Michael wanted to watch X2 so we started it, but his parents arrived to pick him up before the movie was over. He didn’t seem to mind and went home to get ready for his birthday party. In keeping with the super hero theme, Tyler and I watched an animated movie, Wonder Woman, that night. It was actually pretty good and was voiced by some actors we like so that was a plus.
Happy Mother's Day!
Sunday was Mother’s Day. My first Mother’s Day with a baby (in the world). When I went into Hank’s room to get him ready for church, I found him trying to climb/slide off his bed and a present waiting for me. It was such a sweet moment. Later that morning, Hank went to the nursery at church and stayed there by himself for the first time. He’d been before, but I stayed with him. We were just visiting that time. This time around, his teacher took him from us while we signed him in and got our pager (let me just tell you I’m very impressed with the way the church nursery is run and could probably write a whole blog about it!) and when we went to tell him goodbye, Hank was happily playing, oblivious to the fact that we weren’t staying with him this time. It was a semi-bittersweet moment, probably a precursor to his first day of school. Really though, it was wonderful that he was comfortable with the experience. And even though we missed him, Tyler and I felt comfortable leaving him there. His teacher, Alethia, is very cool!
Cody & Hank
So, Cody wasn’t doing so well at the beginning of the month. He ended up having surgery on his ear to remove/take care of a massive clot. Fortunately there is no cancer or anything like that in him that we can find. He had cancer a few years ago and we definitely don’t want him to have to go through all that again. He seems okay right now. The surgery was successful but Cody is on several medications right now and has to wear a cone for 3 weeks. He’s not very happy about it which is understandable. Poor dog. But he’ll get better and once his cone is off, I’m sure he’ll be more happy. As it is now, he lays around most of the day. Of course he tended to do that before, I guess that comes with age too (he’s nearly 11).
Cute grin
This weekend we’ll be heading to Arlington to visit Ty’s family. Hopefully Hank and Micah can visit the zoo together again. Now that Hank is more aware of his surroundings and very interested in animals, I think he’ll really enjoy the zoo. We’ll see….
At another children's show
Drinking from a glass
Hank loves his bear!
Lots of laughter at our house!