Family daycare

We have been very lucky to have help from family in taking care of Henry since I returned to work on June 1st. Grandma Sally was here for 1 week, followed by Oma and Opa until Henry begins daycare.

Henry continues changing on an almost daily basis. His neck strength is slowly improving and he is now able to sit up with assistance and look around. He likes to roll from his back to the side, still dislikes tummy time and is able to push himself to a standing position when being held. He has also been exploring his voice, babbling in different octaves, squealing and fake coughing.

Welcome cousin Mae!

Henry has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of his cousin and he would like to announce the birth of Mae Louise. Born in Memphis, Tennessee on June 4th, 2010 at 8:35pm, weighing 6 lbs 15 oz! In Henry's best Elvis impersonation, he says "Thank you, thank you very much for joining me in the McRitchie family." Now the only question remains, who will be the first grandchild to break something at Grandpa & Grandma's house?

4 months old

We cannot believe how quickly life and this year are passing by, and how much Henry is growing on a daily basis! He had his 4 month Dr.'s appointment this past week, and we found out he now weighs 15 lbs, 12 ounces (72nd %tile) and is 26 inches in length (87th %tile). Needless to say, he is a big kid. He is currently wearing 6 month size clothing, and even that size is getting a little snug!

Four generations

Oma and cousin Janka traveled here from Germany this past week to meet Henry. We were so excited to have them visit, be able to spend time with them and show them where we live. We feel very blessed that Oma was able to meet her great grandson, and able to have 4 generations of family together. Their visit was far too short, per usual, but we had a wonderful few days.

We showed Oma & Janka our favorite places around the Twin Cities, including the "Spoonbridge and Cherry" sculpture by Claes Oldenburg at the Walker Art Museum.

Janka, my dad and I visited the Mill City Museum (the most explosive museum in the WORLD!) and the Guthrie theater.

We hung out at our house drinking Matt's home brew beer as well as took Janka to our favorite local bar, the Groveland Tap.

And we enjoyed an outing to Minnehaha Falls of lunch and ice cream at Sea Salt.

Oma & Janka are now safely in Michigan at my parent's house and will be traveling onto metro Detroit later this week to meet Oliver. I of course wish we could be sharing in their entire visit, but sadly my maternity leave has come to an end and I will be returning to work on June 1st.

Early mornings

I have never been what you would call a "morning person," and I have been blessed with a son that is a lot like his father; bright and chipper and full of energy in the morning. This morning Henry was up at 5:00am and ready for the day, but I was luckily able to get him to fall back to sleep until 6:30am. I still consider 6:30am far too early for a non-work day, but much more reasonable than 5:00am. It is really difficult to drag myself out of bed each early morning, but it is hard to deny this adorable smile. It is almost as good as a strong cup of coffee (almost...).

Happy Mother's day!

Grandma & Grandpa time

Grandma & Grandpa chose a very cold and rainy week to visit Henry, but we have luckily been able to have some indoor fun. It took Henry a day or so to warm up to visitors, but he now seems to be having a lot more fun with Grandma & Grandpa than his own parents. Matt and I took advantage of live-in babysitters to run errands, go out for dinner and meet up with friends. Grandma & Grandpa are now very well practiced in changing diapers, bottle feeding, reading to Henry and putting him to bed (well, maybe Grandma a little more than Grandpa). These skills are very important as they will have a 2nd grandchild within the next month. I have a feeling Henry is going to be missing all of the extra attention when Grandma & Grandpa leave tomorrow, and we will certainly miss all of the extra help.