Sin City: Family Style

We spent three nights in Las Vegas over the long weekend. It is kind of a strange place to take a family vacation with a 2-year-old, but there was a reason for this location. I finally met IN PERSON eight women whom I have "known" online for over 3 years. We've all, unfortunately, had to face issues with infertility. When Jeff and I found out that In Vitro Fertilization was our best chance at getting pregnant, I searched for information online. I found a site that covered many topics of infertility, and they had message boards where people could ask questions, commiserate, offer support, and share stories. I started reading about some of the struggles that other women were going through, and I started posting on a board with them. I connected with a wonderful group of women who were all somewhere in the IVF process. I didn't know that we would remain in contact long after my unsuccessful IVF, my successful IVF, my pregnancy, the birth of Henry, and well beyond. We've become a support system for each other in many aspects of life. We started talking about meeting in person, and since we all live in different parts of the country, Las Vegas was a place that was somewhat central and relatively inexpensive. I am so glad I had the opportunity to meet my new girlfriends!

(That's Cadence in the foreground. From L-R: Terrie, Karen Z., Maggie, JamieLynne, Karen VG, Missey, Laura, me, Dawn)

Not everyone was able to make it, but we had 9 women, 7 husbands, and 9 babies there. We were marveling at how amazing this picture is, when you think about all of the struggles and treatments and heartache and happiness that brought us together.

We all stayed at the same hotel (The Excalibur), and the above pictures were taken at our group dinner on Saturday night. I'm sure our waiter loved serving our party of 25, including 9 children aged 2 and under. Actually, he was very complimentary about the kids' behavior. They really were amazing! After our meal, the kids had lots of fun playing with the black rocks in the entryway of the restaurant. Henry's still saying, "How 'bout rocks?" It's a good thing I put two of the rocks in his pocket as a souvenir.

We spent some time hanging out in Laura & Dawn's suite, and the kids loved playing in the big bathroom. Henry couldn't get enough of turning the bath water off and on. Olivia & Charlie (2-year-old twins) thought it was pretty fun, too!

We did a little bit of Vegas sightseeing during the day. Here we are in front of our hotel, The Excalibur, or "Big, big castle" as Henry calls it.Here we are with New York, New York Hotel in the background.Henry seems to like Elvis almost as much as he likes Santa Claus.

He did, however, like SpongeBob (who was in our hotel lobby) quite a bit.He alo liked the water fountain, where he made lots of wishes. Well, he threw pennies into the water, but I don't know if he actually made any wishes. I did!It was a really special weekend, finally meeting the women who gave me so much support and advice and encouragement. They helped me to survive the trials of infertility, which although extremely difficult, I would never trade in, because they led me to my sweet baby Henry.

Oliver's Birthday Party

On Sunday we drove down to Eugene for Henry's cousin, Oliver's, birthday party. Oliver is Henry's only younger cousin (3 months younger than Henry). It was fun to watch the kids play together, and it was fun to visit with this part of our family that we don't get to see often enough!
Oliver is a little guy, but he's TWO!!

Cousin Theo, Auntie Alison & Cousin Oliver get ready for the "Happy Birthday" song.

Make a wish, Oliver!

Henry LOVED this remote control race track. I might have to make a trip to Toys "R" Us soon!

Henry gave Oliver a little push on the toy train.

Grandpa & Eileen were there to help Oliver celebrate, too!

We have lots of January birthdays to celebrate. Oliver's birthday was on January 12. Auntie Marianne's birthday was on January 14. Cousin Jacob's birthday is on January 16. Auntie Kathleen's birthday is on January 18. Uncle Greg's birthday is on January 30. Happy Birthday to all of our January birthday relatives! It's a busy birthday month!

Henry's Faux-Hawk

During Henry's bath tonight, I styled his wet hair into a faux-hawk and took a few pictures. I can't believe that I haven't taken a single picture in EIGHT DAYS! I haven't gone that long without taking pictures since the day Henry was born. I'm going to blame it on my return to work after my Winter Break, because it's definitely not due to a lack of subject matter. My little cutie boy is always making me smile.

This evening we were grocery shopping, and there was another little boy in a shopping cart in our aisle. As our carts passed each other, the other little boy saw Henry and let out a sharp, shrill scream-shriek. Henry looked at him and said, "No screaming, pease." Then Henry and the little boy proceeded to take turns screaming at each other, even after we were many aisles away. I'm sure all of the other shoppers loved it, too.

Bottle-Free in 2008!

Henry hasn't had a bottle ALL YEAR! I know it's only January 6, but after drinking from bottles every day for 26 1/2 months, this is exciting news.

Henry was breast-fed until he was 5 months old, when he weaned himself. But, he's always been supplemented with bottles. He had at least one bottle per day since he was just a couple of days old. He was jaundiced, so they made me feed him bottles early on, and then it was easier to give him a bottle at night so that other people could help with the late night feedings. I went back to work when Henry was 3 months old, so he had bottles during the day at that time.

At one year old, Henry started drinking whole milk from his bottles. He would even sign "milk" or say "baba" when he wanted one. Eventually, he was down to 3 bottles per day - early morning, before nap, and before bedtime. Henry's pediatrician said that he should be off of bottles by 18 months. When I took him to his 18-month appointment, I had to tell Dr. H that he was still drinking 2-3 bottles per day. She told me that I should try to stop the bottles A.S.A.P. So, I decided that I would have him off of bottles by his 2nd birthday. I never really tried too hard. I liked the time that I spent holding Henry and feeding him his bottle. It was a nice bonding time. I would sit in the rocker in his bedroom with the lights down low. I would kiss his face and stroke his hair as he drank his bottle. By Henry's 2-year pediatrician appointment, I told the doctor that he was down to JUST ONE bottle per day, before bedtime...and we would switch to 2%. She groaned and covered her face with her hands.

So, I told Jeff that I would have Henry off of bottles in 2 weeks, by Halloween. Halloween came and went, and Henry was still drinking his nightly baba. I decided I would work on it over Winter Break during my 2 weeks off. The first week of Winter Break rolled around, and I decided to go with Plan A: we would just stop the bottles - cold turkey. When we put Henry into his crib that night without a bottle, he panicked. "How 'bout baba? HOW 'BOUT BABA? BABA!!" So, we gave him a bottle.

I decided I would have to implement Plan B. Dr. H had suggested watering down his bottle, starting with 7 oz. of milk and 1 oz. of water for a couple of days, then 6 oz. of milk and 2 oz. of water for a couple of days, etc. until the bottle was unappealing and he wouldn't want it. So, plan B began just before Christmas. We were down to 3 oz. of milk and 5 oz. of water, and Henry was still happily drinking his baba at night. Then I decided to go back to Plan A. About a week ago, I put Henry down in his crib without a bottle. He asked for the bottle, and I told him, "No baba tonight. Go to sleep. I love you." Then I walked out and closed the door. He whined for a few seconds and then stopped. That was it. And he hasn't had a bottle in a week. I think the bottle was so watery that he didn't mind giving it up too much.

I cleared all of the bottles out of the cupboard, and put them out in the garage with the recycling. I will throw them away, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't a bottle emergency first. I am glad that we're done with bottles, but I will miss my nightly snuggle time. I've tried to trade it for reading books in the rocker before bed, but it's not quite the same.

My baby is now a big boy with NO MORE babas!

Happiness is...

a new Thomas toy! How can we possibly resist buying new Thomas toys for Henry when they make him THIS HAPPY... and keep him THIS BUSY?

Yesterday, after giving Henry his new windmill and two new trains, Jeff said, "Henry's spoiled!"

Maybe. But he's happy!

Henry Trump?

After Henry woke up from a nap the other day, his hair was "styled" into a new 'do. Do you see a resemblance?