First photos of Lima Bean Hohl

Here are the ultrasound photos of little baby Hohl #2. It looks pretty happy in there. Only six weeks until we find out if it's a boy or a girl:). I was lucky enough to get an ultrasound, but not after getting a scare when the nurse practitioner couldn't find the heart beat. Luckily it was just being masked by my own and the babe was nice and snuggly in my womb sleeping away with the heart working just fine.

Henry's exciting life

Henry has such an exciting life for such a youngster. On Friday morning, we had a special playgroup at the Carnegie Science Center in the city where He played in water fountains, and in a giant factory that transported and dropped those multicolored balls down on the kids' heads. He was loving it more than I thought he would, so I just might consider getting a family pass! Then, on Friday night we had a fondue party with our friends the Schrohowsky's and the Chou's and their kids and set up our new (but old) baby grand piano. Henry has bad a blast banging on the piano and constantly looks inside to see the hammers as he steps on the keys. He's so interested in what makes them move. Saturday, we drove three and a half hours to Hershey, PA to go to Chocolate World at Hershey Park. It was so fun to see the look on his face when he saw all the candy, stuffed animals and kids running around. He loved the chocolate ride and enjoyed very much destroying the displays of candy and toys, which I let him do because all the kids around him were picking up after him and trying in reprimand him for messing up the store. All us parents were just enjoying the scene. Some youngsters would say "No, you can't do that!" when Henry would slide ten bags of candy off the shelf, then as he looked at them with a quizzical look, he would just do it again. I just love that they expected him to understand what they were saying! haha! That day, we also took a tour of an indian cave and Henry loved that as well. He is a true outdoorsman and loves an adventure.


Today was a rough day. Henry fell down a few times, which is to be expected as he learns to walk, and scraped up his little chin and cheek and now I can't go get his photo taken and get the discount at Sears. Rats! Oh well.

We've also decided that he knows who "Daddy" is and doesn't really know who "Mommy" is yet. He also knows the word "trucks" because every time a truck from the constant construction drives by, he makes an "ssssss" sound because I always hold out the "s" sound on "trucks" for some reason. He crawls fast to the front windows and looks out at the passing dump trucks making his "sssss" sound. So cute. He is a big babbler, but doesn't say anything comprehensible. He isn't really getting sign language much yet, but I'm still going strong with it! I'm just glad he doesn't really cry or shreak when he wants something, and it's pretty easy to tell what he wants 99 percent of the time. What a good boy.

Walking like a pro and little bean number 2

It's official, I'm pregnant again (yee haw!). In some sense, I was in a state of denial because I have had so few symptoms, but I saw the little bean in there today with it's tiny little beating heart all peaceful and sleeping (quite different from what Henry was doing during ultrasounds) and I was finally convinced. So, I'm due August 10th, which will most likely be more like the end of July if things go like the did with Henry.

Well, since I went to the store and bought Henry a little push toy to help him walk, he's taking off! I seriously can't believe the difference one day can make. I believe that his inability to walk was purely mental because his change was too dramatic. I also dressed him up this morning in his new snow outfit and sent him out in the 15 degree weather to play in the new few inches of snow we got last night. He hated his outfit and couldn't even walk in his boots. The first thing he did was fall to his knees and stick his entire face in the snow and eat it...and as he kept eating it, his face got colder and colder until he started crying all the snot out of his head. We're going to have to work on his snow trekking skills.

Teetering and Toddling

So, it's official. Henry is walking! He still stumbles and falls all over the place, but he can walk across the room as long as he has a point right in front of him to focus on. I have been trying to get him to walk to me as I stand up, but I think he needs me to be really low to the ground. Today he was getting a real kick out of Justin and I sending him back and forth between us and cheering each time he made it. I don't think life could be any more fun than watching my smiley, fauxhawked redhead toddle around the house. He is such a joy. We're really glad that he'll be walking well before his Birthday party. I reall hope our trip to New Mexico doesn't hinder his development. We'll be snowboarding the entire week, so I hope he's happy toddling around the ski lodges. haha! We cherish every moment we have with him.

Scared of the Vacuum

So, Henry really doesn't like the vacuum, or anything that makes a loud, continuous noise. He can barely stand the blow-drier, but the vacuum is totally unbearable for him. This makes vacuuming my house very difficult because I'm usually by myself at home and our walls aren't very soundproof, which makes it impossible to vacuum while he naps. And if he's awake, he's always right at my side begging for food like a little puppy, so if I vacuum with him in the vicinity, he screams bloody murder. Once I tried to hold him and vacuum at the same time, all the while, smiling and singing fun songs to help him realize that it's not so scary. No luck. This gives me a great excuse to let Justin do all the vacuuming. haha! So, the other day, I left the Vacuum in the upstairs hallway after I vacuumed all the Christmas garland needles from the stairs so that it was inbetween Henry's room and the stairs. Lately, I try to get Henry to crawl after me when I want him to come somewhere, so yesterday I tried to get him to come from his room to the stairs where I was going to go down. I really didn't think anything of the lingering vacuum, but boy, did he see it. He stopped at his door, sat back and scanned his surroundings. He looked in my room, back in his room and then at the vacuum, leting out a little whimper. Good thing our Henners is a very brave little baby, because he suddenly made a dash for me at the stairs, crawling as fast as he could, letting out his famous, high pitched scream as he passed the vacuum to where I was sitting. Haha! That was so classic. It made me realize how smart he is, and how much he can remember. Sometimes I forget how much of a little sponge he is. So cute!

He's also really into making boy noises lately. Any noise you can make using just air and your cheek, tongue, throat, and nasal cavity, he can do. Whenever he hears a truck, airplane, or car outside, he stops, looks at where it's coming from and makes a sound equivelant to the arab pronounciation of the letter "H", but with a closed mouth with the sound coming from his nose. Sounds nice? That IS actually one of the nicer ones! haha!

Sharing Henners

Many of you have requested that I start a blog of Henry, the sweetest, smiliest boy that ever lived. I have to admit, I will be glad to put all the millions of photos I have of him to good use. lol! I was so surprised this Christmas to know that so many of my extended family members had Henry's photo saved on their cell phone screens and had been sharing photos and videos that I thought I was only sending to my mom. I was overwhelmed by the love and care that my entire family has shown my darling little boy while we spent the Holiday's together and I am deeply grateful to have their support. I know Henry will know and love each and every one of you as he grows up.

Henry is just about the most loveable baby. He is happy 90 percent of the time, he sleeps through the night, and interacts with anyone and everyone who shares a smile with him. He loves people, expecially men with beards, and takes every chance he gets to smile and flirt with every passer-by. When people ignore him, he looks at me as if to say "I thought they were supposed to smile?" Maybe the fact that I can't look at him without smiling has given him the impression that it's just what we do -- smile all day long. Whatever the forces are that are molding this wonderful creature to become the darling boy that he is, I am grateful every minute to have him in my care. I even miss him while he takes naps! Before I go to bed at night, I look at the slide show on my phone of the hundreds of photos of him and laugh at just about every one. I am so glad to share him with all of you, and I hope you enjoy the photos and stories I will relate -- even if they're not fabulously written, and have occasional spelling and grammatical errors:)

I have to backblog his first year a little bit, but I'll do that mostly with photos. Check back often for updates and make sure to let me know what you'd like to hear more about, or if you like what you read or see.

Thanks for loving my Henners.