An adventure with Felix & Henry

Two weeks ago Bill and I flew to Boston to visit Bill's sister Sarah, her husband Mike and their gorgeous new baby, Lily. We decided it was best to go without the boys so we could actually spend time with Sarah, Mike and Lily and also because the thought of flying to Boston with both boys made me want to pull my hair out. So my parents generously offered to watch the boys for the long weekend we planned on going. In a moment of some sort of insanity they decided they would take the boys to Kansas City to visit the Brockways and Hayes. So Felix took his first flight and Henry went on the first flight that he remembers (St. Maarten '09 was his last one, he can't really remember it). Needless to say, they had a blast and so did we. Here are some of the fabulous pictures uncle Dave took of their weekend.
Fishing with Bryan:

Eyelash boy:

Bubbles!

Hanging with Jenny:

Brotherly cuteness:

Six Months

It's hard to believe that Felix has been in our lives for six months already but at the same time it seems like we've never been without him. He continues to amaze and amuse us on a daily basis and is certainly the perfect balance to his brother Henry. When Henry cries, Felix laughs to cheer him up and when Felix cries, Henry does silly things to cheer him up. Watching their relationship as brothers grow is one of our favorite things. I love that only they truly understand their bond and I hope that they continue to learn from each other as the grow.

Here is our little man on his 1/2 birthday:



And here he is month by month for the last 6 months:

Babbles

Felix has been cooing and babbling for a few months and he certainly has a lot to say! I remember Henry being the same way and he definitely hasn't slowed down, we expect Felix will probably be a lot like his brother in the verbal skills department. Sometimes the babbles are cute, sometimes they're more like screams and often they're better classified as screeches. Parenting is often challenging but we try to focus on these special moments because we know in the blink of an eye he'll be nearly 4 years old and already know everything ;) One of these special moments has been happening for both Bill and I recently because while Felix is practicing all his sounds he's started to babble first "dadadadadadada" and now "mamamamamamama." We realize he doesn't really understand what he's saying yet and that he's just gearing up his tongue to learn how to make real sounds but that doesn't make these moments any less special.

He seems to save the mamammas for when he's really mad at us and I must say that when I'm trying to calm him down and he starts saying mamammama I can't help but smile.

He's witty

Henry has become increasingly entertaining as he gets older. We've always enjoyed his antics but lately it seems he has really upped his game. A few recent examples:

He was leaning over Felix who was laying on the couch.
Henry: "Hey buddy!"
Felix: coos and kicks his legs
Henry (having just been kicked in the chest): "Is that all you've got?"

Bill and Henry were sitting on the leather couch. Bill reaches his hand back on the back of the couch and feels something sticky.
Bill: "Best case scenario that is jelly"
Henry: "You can say that again!"

There have been more and I promise to get better at writing them down when they happen but wanted to share these two that were fresh in my mind.

Here he can be seen modeling some of the hottest looks for spring:

Felix Giggles

On Friday, February 26th the boys ventured to the Minnesota Children's Museum. Henry played hard for about 5 hours and Felix demonstrated for us his first official giggle. Cute, contagious and filled with harmonious fluctuations... Needless to say I am a huge fan!

Henry's Restaurant

On Friday evening Henry's Restaurant opened to rave reviews. Chef Henry made pizzas for everyone. As you can see from the photos Henry's philosophy is simple: work the dough well, use the best ingredients and a chef's hat MUST be a fedora!

A vegan who eats meat

We recently learned through a little google searching and talking with our pediatrician that Felix is intolerant to cows milk proteins. What does this mean you ask? Well it means that mama can't eat ANY dairy or it will pass to Felix and make him crabby, spit up, sleep less etc. At first I thought this wouldn't be too hard because frankly I don't even like to drink milk. I have since realized it's nearly impossible and that there is dairy in just about everything! So I thought it would be best to blog a little about this so I'll always remember this time in our lives. After going grocery shopping a few times and reading the labels on everything I buy I'm trying to see this as a blessing in disguise. Going dairy free really just means that aside from avoiding the obvious foods (oh cheese how I miss you!) all you have to do is avoid processed foods with a million ingredients!

So our dinners are back to the basics; meat, veggies, breads and pastas. Snacking is a totally different problem though because most chips, cookies, crackers etc all contain some sort of dairy (see above, processed foods). Did you know that salt and vinegar potato chips contain dairy? Neither did I. Dining out is less appealing because I have to ask if there is dairy hiding in everything (is there butter in this? do you use milk in your bread?) but there are other things keeping us from dining out so that is less of a problem ;)

Foods I can't eat:
chocolate
caffeinated beverages
dairy
eggs (seems to be OK if they're baked into something but he gets hives if I eat a whole egg so I avoid baked-in eggs whenever I can just to be safe)
soy

So what am I eating? A lot of rice based foods. (Rice milk has replaced regular and soy milk.) A lot of meat and veggies. For snacks I like this brand because their foods do not contain any of the top 8 allergens. Our co-op carries vegan baked goods which are delicious (dairy and egg free). So far he seems OK with the other 5 top allergens, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, fish and shellfish.

Take one day and look at everything you eat, I bet there is dairy in almost all of it. (most packaging lists allergens in bold print at the end of the ingredient list e.g. "Contains Milk, Egg, Soy" but for a full list of hidden dairy click here or here) Needless to say I have a whole new respect for people living with food allergies. Let's hope Felix grows out of this!

Why do I do it? This is why: