Henry is seven months old!

Henry is now 7 months old and we have lots of wonderful things to report:) We're now eating "solids" (really mushy solids)! Henry started with rice cereal shortly after he turned 6 months and has not looked back. It was a funny beginning... seemed like he was asking "why would we even think to do this?". We started with a couple spoonfuls at a time, and he has taken all these experiments in stride. So far we've tried carrots and squash in addition to the cereal and if you look closely at our bibs and clothes, you'll know it. Luckily, Henry loves to be naked with the warmer temperatures outside, and we're often stripping him down before meals to a diaper and bib. Hopefully he will adjust later in life to eating with his clothes on!

We're now talking and giggling a ton! And it doesn't take much to get him going (or maybe we are just that funny:) We hear a lot of "ma", "ba", "na" and "da"'s, in reference to nothing/no one in particular and mixed in, of course, with raspberries and smiles that we can't get enough of. No official first words yet, though there have been allegations that "Grams" popped out in it's entirety on one occasion:) We had our first "swim" at a friend's home! We were ready with our sun screen, sunglasses, floppy hat and swimsuit for some pool time as the July temps arrived and it was quite an event! He did awesome, seemed to be doing some exploring with his hands and feet and was even kicking a little towards the end of our time in the pool. It was a great evening and we really enjoyed the time with our wonderful pool hosts/ a.k.a. Sharon and Rita:)

Julie is keeping Henry's social schedule full on the weekdays with lots of "play dates", field trips and visits. She is loving the flexible summer schedules of family/friends for company walking in the neighborhood, taking trips to the Zoo and even sneaking up to Atchison, KS for an afternoon... with lots of dancing with Grams that evening at Doug's house. There are always lots of stories to catch up on when I come home from work:) We try to meet folks on the weekday evenings too to catch up... and luckily people have paused during their normal work-week to hang out with us! We've snuck out to Lawrence on too many occasions to see our friends there, celebrate some birthdays and catch up with friends... a haircut with our good friend/hairstylist is always a great excuse to visit L-town! We visited Henry's cousins Anna and Nic in Leavenworth for some yummy BBQ and Henry got a ton of snuggles and kisses. We're also taking him to the local restaurants we can walk to in our neighborhood to meet with friends for dinner or ice cream and catching up... we figure we have until he's crawling/walking to enjoy these occasions restfully:)


Henry and I have had some fun weekends as well! We cheered for both the Cardinals and Royals this month at Henry's first baseball game at "The K". Henry attended his cousin Leo's Baptism and celebrated Leo's first birthday at the end of last month! Henry is completely entertained by Leo and his enthusiasm for life has been contagious as Henry's been caught giggling in excitement with/at him on many occasions:) Grandma and Grandpa Simpson as well as Great Grandma Dolan were in town for the celebration and GG Dolan met Henry for the first time. It's no surprise Henry got a lot of hugs and kisses that weekend!


We had an excellent appointment at the end of the month with Henry's Cardiologist. His SATs were 87 after being, on average, in the mid-70s before surgery! His Cardiologist is very pleased with his post-surgical progress and will see us back in September to check in and discuss when to schedule another cath. She explained to us that the "next steps" might just be waiting for the pulmonary arteries (PAs) to grow in anticipation of surgery in the future. Though she cannot predict, she thought this could be a few years depending on how quickly the PAs grow, and expected that we would continue to check in on them via cath for progress. In the meantime, our homework was to eat, grow and be merry (focus on eating/growing)! So, good news! Henry gave her some smiles during the appointment, so I think we're over the white coat syndrome from his hospital stay. He's quite the charmer.


That's all for now- Have a wonderful July!