Six months

We can't believe that May is over already!  Time has been flying by as we enjoy a schedule full of events...

We celebrated Meade's first Mother's Day with lots of family:

The following weekend, Henry and I had the house to ourselves as Meade went to see Gina graduate from Boston University.  Although we missed her terribly, it was nice to have a break from all of her messes.  While away, Meade stayed with our friends Adele and Bryan and their twin cuties, Max and Chloe:

Just when we thought we couldn't get any busier, we packed up and went to Pittsburgh to see Cara graduate from pharmacy school at Duquesne.  We had a short-but-fun visit with my family:

On our return to Chicago, we stopped in Columbus to visit our good friends Peter, Sarah, and Ian:

We had quite a few visitors the following weekend, too.  Our new friends Jack, Michelle, and Owen stopped by for breakfast on Saturday.  Jack and Meade went through school together and were recently reconnected by one of our neighbors.  These sorts of things happen a lot to people from Park Ridge.

  

Sunday's breakfast was with cousins Dave and Andrew, Michele, Melanie, and newly bipedal Charlotte.

So, that was May.  Henry is now six months old and weighs over 18 pounds.  His height is in the 97th percentile.  He continues to make slow progress in controlling his head and trunk.  Although his arms and hands seem to be relaxing nicely, he still has quite a bit of tension in his legs.  His physiatrist is fairly certain that Henry has cerebral palsy, although she is not making predictions regarding the severity or any specific outcome.  CP is a broad diagnosis, and nothing is changing with his therapies at this time.  

After some initial false starts and setbacks, we finally are seeing some success with sleep training.  His night sleep is still a bit short and easily interrupted, but his sleep is dramatically better than it was one month ago.  We recommend Dr. Ferber's book to anyone experiencing difficulty with a child's sleep.

The best news is that we are getting better at making Henry smile.  A baby's smile magically erases the symptoms of sleep deprivation.  Henry loves to be jiggled, and he loves to play with his squeaky mirror.  I am concluding this post with some attempts to capture Henry's smile on camera:

  

Door County

Today, Henry saw a neurologist who specializes in sleep.  She gave Meade and me a reasonable plan for helping him to learn to fall asleep without constant intervention from us.  She felt that his poor nighttime sleeping habits are learned behaviors rather than a direct result of his brain injury.  Wish us luck as we teach Henry how to fall asleep!

The extended chilly weather in Chicago gave us the opportunity to dress Henry in one of his several animal suits.  On this particular occasion, we went for a walk around the park.  He was quite a hit with the Mather girls' soccer team.  

Meade and Judy took Henry on his first of many trips to Door County.  

Music and Family

We are resting after a busy and fun weekend of concerts and family.  Nanna, Grammy, Aunt Talisa, and Uncle Jason visited from Pennsylvania.  We spent the weekend hanging out and attending a couple of concerts that I played.  

Like just about everyone else on this continent, Henry has been enjoying the brief glimpses of spring weather.  He and his mom were out and about in their matching U of I gear:

Henry attended his first CSO kids' concert and got to hear his dad perform!

He also attended his first chamber music concert and was quite well-behaved.

But best of all, he got to spend quality time with family and friends.