Heiko has opened and closed doors before, but today he really discovered how fun hinges can be. He created a game where he would open the door all the way until it banged against his closet, then he would swing it until it banged shut. Luckily, the old knobs don't allow the door to shut all the way unless you pull the door closed by the knob, so he was able to repeat this sequence again and again. He spent a good 15-20 minutes playing the door game.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Learning to walk is fun!
When Heiko took to pushing his high chair around the house as a walker this week, I figured it was time to get him a push toy to help him practice walking.
We hit up a big neighborhood garage sale today, and got one for free! Well, we got a 2 for 1 deal... a Radio Flyer push tricycle and the walker for 15 bucks. (We also got a wheelbarrow and a child seat that attaches to an adult bike for 15 more dollars... 30 bucks for about 300 dollars worth of goods; thanks Stapleton!)
Heiko loved his walker immediately. He only started taking steps with assistance a couple of weeks ago, and seeing him figuring out how to move via walking instead of crawling is so adorable and fun.
We hit up a big neighborhood garage sale today, and got one for free! Well, we got a 2 for 1 deal... a Radio Flyer push tricycle and the walker for 15 bucks. (We also got a wheelbarrow and a child seat that attaches to an adult bike for 15 more dollars... 30 bucks for about 300 dollars worth of goods; thanks Stapleton!)
Heiko loved his walker immediately. He only started taking steps with assistance a couple of weeks ago, and seeing him figuring out how to move via walking instead of crawling is so adorable and fun.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Looking back
With Heiko's first birthday approaching (less than 2 months!), I've been doing a little reminiscing about my pregnancy and our first few days with Heiko. While we were in Germany, we showed Leonie pictures of me during my pregnancy because she is pregnant, due with a baby girl in August, and wanted to know our story. Well as you know, Heiko was a breech baby, and we found some crazy pictures of my weird lopsided belly with my upside-down boy inside.
The story behind the crooked belly is that I have a Bicornuate uterus; instead of my uterus being one open circular space, it has an indentation at the top, like the shape of a heart. So there are basically two sections at the top, which leaves less space for a baby to move around. Breech presentation is very common in women with a bicornuate uterus, so there you have it. Down-side up Heiko. Also, any future pregnancies run a high chance of being breech as well.
When he got big in utero, probably around 7 months or so, Heiko's breech position made my stomach look crazy weird. My braxton hicks contractions would tighten up my stomach to where you could see exactly where he was, especially his big head poking out at the top.
Here are some disturbing photos of my lopsided belly. Be prepared, they are super weird. It looks like an alien trying to escape from my body. If you are prone to nightmares, don't scroll down.
Weird, huh? But, I love my weird baby so much. =)
The story behind the crooked belly is that I have a Bicornuate uterus; instead of my uterus being one open circular space, it has an indentation at the top, like the shape of a heart. So there are basically two sections at the top, which leaves less space for a baby to move around. Breech presentation is very common in women with a bicornuate uterus, so there you have it. Down-side up Heiko. Also, any future pregnancies run a high chance of being breech as well.
When he got big in utero, probably around 7 months or so, Heiko's breech position made my stomach look crazy weird. My braxton hicks contractions would tighten up my stomach to where you could see exactly where he was, especially his big head poking out at the top.
Here are some disturbing photos of my lopsided belly. Be prepared, they are super weird. It looks like an alien trying to escape from my body. If you are prone to nightmares, don't scroll down.
Weird, huh? But, I love my weird baby so much. =)
International Baby
Okay, this post is embarrassingly late. It's been a busy summer! Better late than never, right?
Heiko took his first voyage overseas to Germany! We were there for 2 weeks, and it was a wonderful trip. Heiko got to get to know so many family members: great grandparents (Opa Karl, Opa Hans, Omi), aunts and uncles (Beate, Manuel, Bodo, Walle), a great aunt (Anneliese), and cousins (Charlotte, Christopher, Leonie, Martin). He even got to spend time with stateside family members as well: Klaus, Nina, Jason, Liam, and little baby Nora! It was our first time to meet Nora, so that made it extra special for us to have the Hetzners there. They live in NYC, but we had to all travel to Germany to see each other!
We were dreading the flights. 9.5 hours there, 10.5 hours back. BUT.... Heiko was AMAZING on the flights! On the way there we were lucky enough to have reserved bulkhead seats which offered a little bassinet that hangs from the wall; Heiko slept in there for 6 hours! On the way back we received the most amazing service from airline personnel that we have ever experienced. Lufthansa, thank you (I still need to write them a letter). We were not able to reserve the bassinet bulkhead seats for our return flight. But when Jonas walked up to the counter at our gate, the lovely Lufthansa lady said "Oh, Mr. Philipsen, we've been waiting for you." She knew we were traveling with a baby, so she spent the next 20 minutes calling people up to the counter to switch their seats so that she could put us at the bulkhead where we would have more room. The people who were switched were not happy about it, but she was so amazing and just kept telling them that we were traveling with a baby and therefore we needed those seats more than they did. Thank goodness for that wonderful woman. If we had been back in the cramped seats we were supposed to have, we would have been miserable. At the bulkhead we were able to put a blanket down on the floor and let Heiko play, which was a life saver. The return flight went very smoothly, and with only a tiny bit of crying one time when he was ready to sleep, Heiko made it through all 10.5 hours like a champ!
The weather in Germany could have been better, it rained every day we were there... but there were a few days where the sun made enough of an appearance for us to get out and explore. We went to places that were new even to Jonas, we ate lots of delicious German food, and Heiko was wonderful through it all. His nights and days were completely flip-flopped, which made for some difficulties with sleeping. Despite the sleep deprivation, Heiko was a happy boy! He had never been around so many new people, and he really took it in stride. He didn't mind all of the new places and people that he was being passed around to at all. He was his usual playful, silly self!
Here are a few pictures. We sure do miss everyone!
Heiko took his first voyage overseas to Germany! We were there for 2 weeks, and it was a wonderful trip. Heiko got to get to know so many family members: great grandparents (Opa Karl, Opa Hans, Omi), aunts and uncles (Beate, Manuel, Bodo, Walle), a great aunt (Anneliese), and cousins (Charlotte, Christopher, Leonie, Martin). He even got to spend time with stateside family members as well: Klaus, Nina, Jason, Liam, and little baby Nora! It was our first time to meet Nora, so that made it extra special for us to have the Hetzners there. They live in NYC, but we had to all travel to Germany to see each other!
We were dreading the flights. 9.5 hours there, 10.5 hours back. BUT.... Heiko was AMAZING on the flights! On the way there we were lucky enough to have reserved bulkhead seats which offered a little bassinet that hangs from the wall; Heiko slept in there for 6 hours! On the way back we received the most amazing service from airline personnel that we have ever experienced. Lufthansa, thank you (I still need to write them a letter). We were not able to reserve the bassinet bulkhead seats for our return flight. But when Jonas walked up to the counter at our gate, the lovely Lufthansa lady said "Oh, Mr. Philipsen, we've been waiting for you." She knew we were traveling with a baby, so she spent the next 20 minutes calling people up to the counter to switch their seats so that she could put us at the bulkhead where we would have more room. The people who were switched were not happy about it, but she was so amazing and just kept telling them that we were traveling with a baby and therefore we needed those seats more than they did. Thank goodness for that wonderful woman. If we had been back in the cramped seats we were supposed to have, we would have been miserable. At the bulkhead we were able to put a blanket down on the floor and let Heiko play, which was a life saver. The return flight went very smoothly, and with only a tiny bit of crying one time when he was ready to sleep, Heiko made it through all 10.5 hours like a champ!
The weather in Germany could have been better, it rained every day we were there... but there were a few days where the sun made enough of an appearance for us to get out and explore. We went to places that were new even to Jonas, we ate lots of delicious German food, and Heiko was wonderful through it all. His nights and days were completely flip-flopped, which made for some difficulties with sleeping. Despite the sleep deprivation, Heiko was a happy boy! He had never been around so many new people, and he really took it in stride. He didn't mind all of the new places and people that he was being passed around to at all. He was his usual playful, silly self!
Here are a few pictures. We sure do miss everyone!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
10 Months
We were out of town again for the new month birthday, in Texas visiting family and friends for a wedding. It was my first time flying alone with Heiko (we flew a few days before Jonas since I am off work), and he was a rockstar. Everyone around us on the plane commented on how good he was. Heiko got to spend some good quality time with his Nanna and Poppy while we were there, including his first overnight without mommy! I was sad, but held it together (for the most part), and he had a great time with them. The travel sleeping issues persisted... this kid does not sleep well outside of his home.
Here is Heiko's 10 month update, a few days late. =)
-Points at things, both near and far.
-Imitates roaring sounds with this throaty, gravely little grunt. It's hilarious.
-Imitates coughing, which he thinks is hilarious.
-Cruises on furniture, but still mostly content with getting down and crawling to where he needs to go.
-Takes a few steps while holding someone's hands... he is in no rush to learn how to walk on his own.
-Crawls on his hands and knees (instead of his usual army-crawl) about half of the time.
-Says "mama" and "dada" to the right person!
-Learning how to put things into containers instead of just taking things out.
-Has started showing us his silly side! His personality is really developing. He does this funny little social giggle, laughs at random things, and does things he thinks are funny.
-Learned how to throw balls.
-Uses his feet to manipulate things, like a little monkey boy.
-Loves reading! He sits still, listens, points to things, turns pages, makes noises... this teacher is LOVING it. =)
-Starting to want less of the pureed baby food, and more chunks which he can feed to himself.
-Not very interested in nursing anymore... the only time he really wants to nurse is in the middle of the night, which is not really a good time for me. ;) During the day he only will nurse for 1 or 2 minutes max, and only on the right side (he has totally given up on the left side). So it looks like our breastfeeding days are numbered.
Here's Heiko!
Here is Heiko's 10 month update, a few days late. =)
-Points at things, both near and far.
-Imitates roaring sounds with this throaty, gravely little grunt. It's hilarious.
-Imitates coughing, which he thinks is hilarious.
-Cruises on furniture, but still mostly content with getting down and crawling to where he needs to go.
-Takes a few steps while holding someone's hands... he is in no rush to learn how to walk on his own.
-Crawls on his hands and knees (instead of his usual army-crawl) about half of the time.
-Says "mama" and "dada" to the right person!
-Learning how to put things into containers instead of just taking things out.
-Has started showing us his silly side! His personality is really developing. He does this funny little social giggle, laughs at random things, and does things he thinks are funny.
-Learned how to throw balls.
-Uses his feet to manipulate things, like a little monkey boy.
-Loves reading! He sits still, listens, points to things, turns pages, makes noises... this teacher is LOVING it. =)
-Starting to want less of the pureed baby food, and more chunks which he can feed to himself.
-Not very interested in nursing anymore... the only time he really wants to nurse is in the middle of the night, which is not really a good time for me. ;) During the day he only will nurse for 1 or 2 minutes max, and only on the right side (he has totally given up on the left side). So it looks like our breastfeeding days are numbered.
Here's Heiko!
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