The Hank Show

Man, its been a bit since I last wrote so I’ll have to catch you up on our latest adventures…

Ainsley

We enjoyed a visit from Tyler’s sister, Traci, her husband, Geoff, and our niece, Ainsley in late April. We all had a wonderful time and Ainsley simply loved Cody. She seems to call all dogs “ruff ruff” which is very cute right now. I will say having our young nieces and nephews visit is much easier now that Hank is here as there are plenty of toys and children’s things to share. Ainsley really enjoyed some of Hank’s toys and books. We tried taking the kids to get photos together in some wildflowers and that was a hilarious failure as Hank fell asleep in the car and Ainsley, who was fighting sleep herself, seemed to only want to cling to her mother. We tried taking photos of Hank and he has the most perplexed and semi-grumpy look on his face as though asking us why we bothered waking him up. Poor guy. We won’t be doing that again despite the wildflower season being so short here. We’ll have to try again another time.

Hank enjoys trying new foods

Hank is slowly trying more foods. We learned that he is a BIG fan of avocado. I think of all the foods he’s tried so far, it seems to be his favorite. He’s also learning to drink from a glass, which is great. He does pretty well with the actual drinking, but when he’s finished, he tends to just let go of the glass so we have to be quick so it doesn’t fall on the floor (or dump whatever may be left out on him). He had his 6 month check up recently and the Dr. says Hank is healthy and progressing well. I can’t even believe its been 6 months already! Hank is now 27 1/2 inches long and 16 pounds and 12.5 ounces. He’s been rolling all over the place. One of his favorite things to do in the morning is roll out of bed and over to his toy shelf. Its wonderful having such an independent boy. He entertains himself for a few minutes before letting us know he’d like our attention. He seems to really enjoy his mobility and is only (remotely) still when he is sleeping. There is a large teddy bear that sits on his bed and Hank has discovered him and often pulls him to himself and wrestles with the bear. The bear is as big as Hank is! Luckily it doesn’t weigh as much…

Bagpipes!

I had a few more shows in early May. I had one show on a Saturday, a “grown up” show (where I perform Celtic and Folk music) and the very next morning I had a children’s show. Both were lots of fun and Tyler’s parents came into town to visit and catch the shows. My Dad was working, but my mother was able to come to the show on Saturday, much to Hank’s delight. That weekend was the first time Hank got to go to one of my “grown up” shows. I was part of an all day long showcase put on by the Austin Celtic Association. We hung out most of the day until it was time for us to go meet my parents (Hank’s Grandma and Grandpa) for dinner. It was good to see old friends and acquaintances , wonderful to sing again and a lot of fun watching Hank discover bagpipes. He wore his auditory protection and interestingly enough, several other parents asked where we got them because they wanted to get some for their children. I thought that was pretty neat, especially since sometimes being safe doesn’t look very cool, so it was good no one laughed and instead were interested in getting a set for their child.

Another big smile

We *finally* got our new computer!!! Our old one was fried in a lightning storm and we’ve been working off a laptop for the past month while trying to sort things out with insurance and make the best choice for us regarding a new computer. I have to say I am *thrilled* with our choice and now its so much easier to work on various creative projects which is wonderful. Ty and I had been working on a few things when our old unit died so we’ve had this feeling of creative limbo for a while and its nice to be back in action there again.

Hank and Grandma at a show

Our nephew, Michael, had a slumber party at our house last weekend. He turned 11 on Saturday and we had him over on Friday night to celebrate. We went to his party on Saturday but that was for him and his friends, who all had a stellar time from the looks and sounds of things. I have to say it was delightful having Michael over and made me wonder what Hank will be interested in when he is 11. Michael is really into super heroes and Star Wars. We rented an animated double feature, Hulk vs. Thor & Hulk vs. Wolverine. We watched Hulk vs. Thor and Michael decided he wanted to play the Wii, our batteries needed charging so while we waited for that, we played a game (well, part of a game anyway) of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Then Ty and Michael played some Wii and we closed out the night watching the original X-Men movie. I’d rather forgotten how much fun slumber parties can be, all that pizza and movies, etc. It was fun! In the morning, Michael wanted to watch X2 so we started it, but his parents arrived to pick him up before the movie was over. He didn’t seem to mind and went home to get ready for his birthday party. In keeping with the super hero theme, Tyler and I watched an animated movie, Wonder Woman, that night. It was actually pretty good and was voiced by some actors we like so that was a plus. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday was Mother’s Day. My first Mother’s Day with a baby (in the world). When I went into Hank’s room to get him ready for church, I found him trying to climb/slide off his bed and a present waiting for me. It was such a sweet moment. Later that morning, Hank went to the nursery at church and stayed there by himself for the first time. He’d been before, but I stayed with him. We were just visiting that time. This time around, his teacher took him from us while we signed him in and got our pager (let me just tell you I’m very impressed with the way the church nursery is run and could probably write a whole blog about it!) and when we went to tell him goodbye, Hank was happily playing, oblivious to the fact that we weren’t staying with him this time. It was a semi-bittersweet moment, probably a precursor to his first day of school. Really though, it was wonderful that he was comfortable with the experience. And even though we missed him, Tyler and I felt comfortable leaving him there. His teacher, Alethia, is very cool!

Cody & Hank

So, Cody wasn’t doing so well at the beginning of the month. He ended up having surgery on his ear to remove/take care of a massive clot. Fortunately there is no cancer or anything like that in him that we can find. He had cancer a few years ago and we definitely don’t want him to have to go through all that again. He seems okay right now. The surgery was successful but Cody is on several medications right now and has to wear a cone for 3 weeks. He’s not very happy about it which is understandable. Poor dog. But he’ll get better and once his cone is off, I’m sure he’ll be more happy. As it is now, he lays around most of the day. Of course he tended to do that before, I guess that comes with age too (he’s nearly 11).

Cute grin

This weekend we’ll be heading to Arlington to visit Ty’s family. Hopefully Hank and Micah can visit the zoo together again. Now that Hank is more aware of his surroundings and very interested in animals, I think he’ll really enjoy the zoo. We’ll see…. 

At another children's show

Drinking from a glass

Hank loves his bear!

Lots of laughter at our house!

HI!

Well, my first shows back went well. I played the San Antonio Highland Games the first weekend in April. It was my first Celtic Festival in well over a year and my first shows since last August! The sets were fantastic and the audience really seemed to enjoy themselves and the music. It was also great for me to reconnect with some of my peers from the Celtic music community. They were all incredibly complimentary which was very encouraging. And I had so much fun! I’m looking forward to more shows in the future.

Hank enjoys his first rice cereal at Aunt Laura and Uncle Jon's house

We traveled to Houston for Easter break to visit my sister, Laura and her family. It was nice visiting with them. Her husband is a pastor and he led a wonderful Good Friday service, after which Hank got to examine the crucifix. He’d never seen one before as the churches he’s been in don’t tend to have crosses with anything on them. This was a special service though and the crucifix helped us visualize some of what Jesus went through for us. Obviously Hank didn’t make that connection, he just enjoys wood at this stage in his life. Laura sprung a song on me that she wanted us to sing together in church on Easter Sunday, I agreed and the song was lovely. We received many compliments after the service. I still find it amazing how sibling’s voices can blend so well. Over the weekend, Laura convinced me to give Hank food even though he’s not technically 6 months old yet. I’d heard you should wait until your child is 6 months old or your pediatrician instructs you to being giving your child “solid” food. Laura told me he was ready and then proceeded to poll anyone who walked down the baby food aisle at the store. After learning that many people gave their children the food right off their plate at 3 months old, I conceded and Hank had his very first serving of rice cereal at dinner that night. He seemed to enjoy it, or at the very least, enjoyed the new experience. He certainly loves trying to take the spoon from you and putting it in his mouth (upside down, mind you). So we’ve begun a new adventure with Hank, eating. 

Hank has fun at his first show

Recently we celebrated my mom’s birthday by having a lovely dinner at Joshua’s new house. That very weekend, I performed my first children’s show since last August at the Serendipity Children’s Festival. My band and I were a big hit with the children and families there. There was so much dancing and jumping, we were encored and everyone, children, adults, my band and I was sweaty after the show. It was also the first time Hank got to see me perform. When I went to San Antonio, Tyler’s parents (Hank’s GG and Grandad) came and stayed with Hank and Tyler and I went to the festival. That was the first time I’d ever left Hank over night. It was okay. It had to happen sooner or later and even though Ty and I missed him, we were happy knowing he was well cared for. Anyway, the children’s show was fun and Hank had a wonderful time. The children all helped me sing “You Are My Sunshine” to him and it was such a sweet moment I almost cried onstage… I’m so happy Hank loves hearing me sing. I sing to him all the time!

Becoming good friends with Cody

Let’s see, what else… Oh, Hank has been enjoying going to Baby Time at the library. Its a story time just for children under 1 year of age. Miss Virginia, the librarian, reads stories and leads us in songs and fingerplay and sometimes she has puppets, which Hank seems drawn to. After the stories and songs, Miss Virginia brings out a bunch of toys and we have toy time… Hank hasn’t actually made it all the way through toy time yet as he gets pretty tired right around then. So I’m usually packing Hank and our library books up during toy time to rush home in hopes of Hank NOT falling asleep in the car on the way home. We only live a few minutes drive from the library and if Hank sleeps in the car, that’s the extent of his nap. Ty is very skilled at seamless transfers, for whatever reason, I am not. Hank always wakes up on the transfer from car to house or shortly after being in the house and then he won’t go back to sleep. I do not think a 10 minute nap is sufficient for him at the moment, which is evidenced by him being a bit fussy and rubbing his eyes for a few hours before his next nap. We’ll figure it out. For now, we leave right after the books and puppets go away and I hope to catch all the traffic lights green on the way home.

Working on sitting with Dad

Yesterday we put Hank on the waiting list at the Montessori school near our house. Evidently, several families who already have children enrolled in the school (some of whom are parents of my former students) have recently added to their families, and there are many who are currently pregnant. So, to ensure there is a space held for Hank in the class we want him to join when I return to work, we went to the school yesterday and put him on the waiting list. It was a surreal moment as he won’t begin school for some time yet. Speaking of new babies, today Hank and I went to lunch at the home of one of my former student’s. The child of course was at school, but their mother is currently staying home with her new (3 month old) baby. She invited a few other mothers over, 2 of whom are also parents of some of my former students and one used to work at the school as well. It was interesting going to lunch with them because its the first sort of “mommy group” thing I’ve done since Hank was born and at first it seemed strange because I’d not related to them as a mother before. But then it occurred to me that its absolutely perfect as we’ll probably be room moms together or something.  All the mothers present have or are planning on enrolling their girls (yes, the four other babies there were girls) in the Montessori school and since the girls are only a few months older or younger than Hank, at some point the children will most likely be in each other’s classes. We all had a great time and have plans to try to get together again sometime which would be very cool.

Tyler feeds Hank

Hank is working on sitting unassisted. It hasn’t really happened yet, but he’s come a long way from just laying about on the boppy. He’s very into rolling presently and rolls all over the place. He’s getting quicker! Especially when he sees something he enjoys, like Cody. Hank just *loves* our dog! When Cody walks in the room, Hank often starts laughing or trying to “talk” to the dog or tell us about him. The other day he rolled right over to Cody and tried to give him a toy and take Cody’s toy. Cody wasn’t into that and immediately picked up his stuffed toy and walked away. Hank of course didn’t get why Cody walked away and began rolling in the general direction of Cody’s departure. Its fun to watch him discover his world. Cody has been here the whole time, but only recently had Hank “discovered” him and he’s having a lot of fun!

Hank was fascinated by the horses

That’s about it with us at the moment, oh wait, Hank also went to his very first baseball game this month! April 9 to be exact, we took him to a Round Rock Express game. There were huge Clydsedale Horses outside when we went in (pulling a large Budweiser Beer Wagon complete with a dalmation aboard). Hank was transfixed by the horses. We also tried out Hank’s auditory protective ear muffs at the game. We couldn’t stop laughing when we saw him in them, he was so cute and looked so different at the same time. Ultimately, we took them off because the game wasn’t as loud as we thought it might be. We certainly don’t want to wreck Hank’s hearing! Well, I should sign off for now, I’m heading to my Turkish Cuisine cooking class tonight. We’ve moved into vegetarian dishes now which is a lot of fun, and very delicious! 

Hank's first Round Rock Express game

 

Let's play Cody!

Its been a while since I’ve posted, oops…. It really is surprising how busy our lives are these days. Its also rather astonishing how the addition of one small being into our family has increased our luggage exponentially. Thank goodness our trips of late have all been via car… Hank is really having fun exploring his world which is also quite fun for us.

Our son *loves* various fabric and textures

 We’ve been rather busy of late. Hank is starting to settle into more a “schedule” with his naps which is both good and bad. He seems to love napping right around the time of our yoga class and before that was fine, but now that he’s more alert and aware of his surroundings, he won’t have it. Instead, he gets upset because he’s tired, yet refuses to sleep because there is something going on around him and he doesn’t want to miss it. So, we’ve stopped going to yoga for now as his meltdowns (which seem to coincide with Savasana, relaxation, and a crying baby is NOT relaxing) aren’t really conducive to the whole zen vibe. I’d rather he sleep as its very important for his development. So now I do yoga at home, its not the same, but it is wonderful to stretch all the same. 

We celebrated my brother, Joshua’s birthday recently. We went to a place called the Salt Lick and had barbeque. I’m amazed that Hank doesn’t want to sleep during yoga class, but could fall asleep there with little trouble.  Hank is very into various textures right now and particularly enjoys fabric. He received a play tunnel for Christmas and has recently learned to tip it over by rolling into the sides.

Hank's new trick

Tyler and I affectionately call Hank’s tunnel his Bow-Flex because Hank will lay in it and pull on the various toys, often pulling one side of the tunnel down with him. its hilarious to watch. And now that he’s learned the trick of tipping it over, it seems to be his favorite thing to do there. We think its because he figured out that when he tips it to the side, he can more easily reach all the toys rather than pulling on just one at a time. He seems to enjoy himself and kicks with glee every time he does it.

Tyler has been enjoying taking photos lately. He takes them all the time of Hank, which is why you rarely see him in a photo. He’s a much better photographer than I am so I’m sorry to say that the photos I’ve taken of him aren’t very stellar. I will be working on that so hopefully I can post some of Tyler and Hank sometime soon… Anyway, back to Tyler’s photography. Recently he was contracted by an auction company to shoot a local home auction. He said that it was a lot of fun and a great experience. I imagine it was rather exciting as there was no reserve on the house and there were several people there. In the end, there was a bidding “war” with two prospective buyers, but ultimately, only one could buy the house. The auction company was very pleased with Tyler’s work and are looking forward to working with him again which is wonderful!

Hank *loves* books!

I’ve been enjoying my Turkish Cuisine cooking classes. The food is just delicious and the teachers are lovely women! I’ve made several wonderful friends, whom I can honestly say I don’t imagine I would have run into anywhere else. Of course now I am desperately wishing I could return to Turkey, but alas, for now our travels will be domestic. That’s not a bad thing, but its also not going to Turkey either… Tyler and several of our friends have really enjoyed the dishes I’ve made so far. At the end of February, my sister-in-law, Nancy and her (and my brother Ben’s) son, James came for a visit. She and I traveled to Turkey together so we both really appreciate the food. She came over and I taught her to make Moussaka and Cacik and Baklava.

Hank is one happy baby!

It was so wonderful cooking with her. She’s really good in the kitchen, very creative and she has fantastic knife skills!  Nancy is really into food and I think it would be so awesome for her to end up being a food writer. She’s not overly pretentious (in fact, she’s completely UN-pretentious) like many of the food critics and writers out there which is definitely a plus. I’ve also begun rehearsing with my band again. I booked a few shows in April to see how I feel about balancing motherhood and music. So far all is well and its been great fun to get back with my band and make music.

So Hank is fascinated by the fish in our fish tank. He can stare for minutes (which translates to hours in baby time) at them and has recently begun to try touching them. Of course, he can’t, which seems to baffle him. He particularly likes to track Bandy (our clown fish) with his eyes, and now his hand on the glass. Its neat to see his face reflected in the mirror backing our tank, wide eyed and excited as he ‘touches” the fish. Man, is he in for a surprise when we take him fishing one day. I’m sure he’ll learn before then that fish are squishy.

Hank seems very drawn to the color red these days

Inside his tunnel

So, Hank was supposed to be going down for a nap today and he decided to surprise us! He rolled over from his belly to his back!! That is quite an accomplishment for a little one and requires some good core strength…I guess baby yoga is paying off.  🙂  

Happily, Tyler was home for lunch and managed to capture it on video. The file appears to be too large to post here but if I ever figure out how to change that fact, I’ll happily post the video. In the meantime, if you’d like to see it, shoot me an email and I’ll send it your way. Despite being a bit dark (it was nap time after all) its actually rather lovely. Tyler added music for dramatic effect. Here is what some viewers had to day about it:

“…Priceless!”

“Love the soundtrack. Go Hank!”

“Soooo exciting!”

“Go Hank Go! Strangely thrilling.”

“THAT WAS GREAT!!!”

“Very compelling…”