Henry is 9 months!

With fall arriving and schedules changing as everyone returns to school, our household has remained fairly routine! I say that knocking on wood, of course, and thankful that Henry has, for the most part, blessed us with regular run-of-the-mill kiddo stuff this month. Julie and I have grown accustomed to our weekly routines with Henry and continue to grow and learn how to juggle parenting and our lives/careers. I know pre-Henry I struggled with really being present and in the moment as well as thankful enough for the family and friends that surround us. Post-Henry proves to be challenging some days with our busy schedules as well- I know a struggle not unique to just our family. Though when I take a step back for perspective, I am always reminded of how lucky we are that Henry is here with us. I am reminded when we attend CHD support groups and hear other family's stories of their brave heart children. I am reminded when we are emailed through the group website about the anniversary of the loss of another heart child. One night when Henry woke up at 3:00am, and I begrudgingly pulled myself out of bed to comfort him, I remembered some of these moments and how everyday is such a miracle... and all the fatigue melts away with hugs that were a little longer that night:) If I haven't mentioned it recently, thank you for all your thoughts, prayers and kindness towards our family. They continue to strengthen Henry and his moms on a daily basis:)

Henry is starting to work on the art of feeding himself, and we've tackled bananas and puffs so far with success! It is such a fun process to witness... as he is somewhat methodical about the task. He picks up the food with his fingers and/or slides it to where he can do so, watches it as he brings it to his mouth and shovels it in... often resulting in a puff stuck to the back of his hand or his cheek. It's not pretty, but it's a great start! He is very persistent and a little impatient when he knows more is coming and it's not quite on the plate yet! Quite a time consuming task, but sooo very wonderful to watch. I'm holding myself back from videotaping all of this(!). Eventually this will be monotonous, but right now we're loving it!

As always, we spent some wonderful time with family and friends this month. We snuck away for "date night" on several occasions with the help of some wonderful babysitters! It really is wonderful to have long adult conversations without "No, no's" or "Ma ma's" interspersed throughout:). Though, who am I kidding, we miss Henry when we're gone! We had dinner with Aunt McKenzie and Uncle Jon earlier this month, who are expecting their first baby in December... which we are all very excited about! Henry will get to share a birthday month with the new baby, Uncle Jon and Grandpa Bridges! Between the birthdays, holidays and babies- there will be lots of smiles and celebrations in the near future:)

We continue to dip in pools whenever we get the chance as Henry loves to be in the water. Grams introduced Henry to her German heritage inspired game she calls "Plautschy Plautschy" (pronounced potchi) that her Grandmother used to play with her as a child. The simple instructions of letting Henry splash is a basin of water is proving to be quite a favorite! We did a little research and found out Plautschy was from the German word for splash. Henry loves it and splashes in the basin of water until he is completely soaked... as is everyone around him. It's a great stomach workout to witness as you can't help but laugh at how much he loves jumping around, splashing and trying to nose dive into the water:) The picture below is from the pool Grandma Dolan gave Henry... he is "mid-splash" with happiness! Good times:)

Colleen and I and the boys drove home to St. Louis to see Grandma and Grandpa Simpson one weekend last month. It was wonderfully busy as usual and we got to visit with so many good friends and family. We visited with neighbors (that have lived next door for almost 30 years!) over a wonderful dinner and got to catch up and exchange stories. We saw Uncle Tom's new home and spent lots of rolling/play time under his coffee table:) We saw my Aunt Jane, Uncle Jerry, Cousin Charlie and Jim and got to catch up on what's new with them. We met up with some of my high school/college friends at a great breakfast nook in downtown St. Louis... and one yummy breakfast burrito and Bloody Mary later and I was ready for a busy Sunday! As always, it was hard to leave St. Louis, but Henry and I were anxious to see Momma J again:)

We just got back from our first family trip to Chicago over Labor Day weekend to celebrate my cousin, John's, wedding and had a blast. We packed for at least a month's visit (more gear than you would think imaginable) trying to anticipate everything this little guy would need over the course of three days... and it went fabulous. We caught up with the Dolans that attended, celebrated John and Annie and enjoyed the beautiful sights of Chicago. The first picture on this post is one we took on the flight home of Henry while he played with the seat belt (which we had already cleaned:). We have some good stories and even more pictures- can you believe it?!

Much love!