One-and-a-half and four-and-a-half. Not sure where those 6 months have gone and we're now quickly moving towards 5 and 2 and I'm DEFINITELY not ready for that.
I haven't updated the blog in a while and I really do need to make more effort with it. In the meantime, until I get myself organised, here's a quick half year update for us to look back on in years to come.
The boys are just absolutely gorgeous. Total best friends. Henry was just made to be a big brother and he's loving life now Archie can interact and play with him more. He lives for the rare occasions that Archie cuddles or kisses him and is never happier than when he has his baby brother on his knee. A few weeks back we went to a music class and rather than sit on my knee on the floor, Archie decided he'd rather sit on his big brother's and it made Henry's day. Whenever we're in public with lots of other children, Henry is absolutely Archie's safety net; he follows him around calling 'brother' if he goes too far away and Henry is fiercely protective and so so proud of his "tiny baby brother" (who is neither tiny nor a baby any longer).
Archie's speech is incredible. Henry's speech was quite late in developing so it's totally new to us. He can pretty much say anything you ask him to and has a vocabulary of easily 200+ words (over 10% being Bob the Builder characters!). He chats all day and is pretty much able to tell us what he wants, whether it's to be picked up ("up up up up upppp") or certain foods ("choc choc mama pleeeease") or a film on TV ("Gruffalo, Peppa, Wonka"). He's started putting 3 or 4 words together to make vague sentences which is just amazing considering how little he is. He says please and thank you or ta without being promoted a lot of the time now too; he worked out quite quickly that saying please nearly always gets you exactly what you want! He might be polite, but he's also a total bruiser. He is totally fearless, the absolute opposite of his big brother who's a cautious little soul.
They both eat amazingly still, they're beyond easy to feed and really enjoy their food. Henry's faves are prawns, paella and fish and chips and Archie loves any form of meat, berries and yogurts best of all. There's really not a lot that they won't eat but Henry still can't have any beans or peas because they upset his tummy so much.
Henry's getting on amazingly at nursery school. He tells us absolutely nothing about his days except for what he's eaten for lunch and snack (food is always a highlight!) but we see little glimpses through his role play and the school Twitter account. The staff all love him and he's come on so well, writing his name and the numbers 0-9 independently, as well as learning so many new songs, stories and facts. My teacher head says he'll always find numbers the easiest, I really can't see him sitting down to write long sentences for a good few years yet. He adores role play, singing and acting out and regularly spends his days as Hiccup (from How to Train your Dragon), Farmer Boggis (from Fantastic Mr Fox), Miss Trunchbull (from Matilda), Willy Wonka or just a general Viking. In fact, he's rarely just Henry Barker from Durham!
Both boys love being outdoors best of all and I can't wait for summer with them this year. They both love the farm and seeing the animals, splashing in muddy puddles and exploring the woods and forest. We've had a really snowy winter and both of them absolutely loved being out in it, sledging and throwing snowballs, or just going down their garden slide into deep piles of snow at the bottom.
Archie's sleep has improved vastly in the past couple of months and he no longer has any breastmilk over night. He was beyond easy to night-wean, it sort of happened accidentally and it's definitely helped him to sleep better overnight too. He usually wakes up once or twice at night but he does, on occasion, sleep through. Henry is similar, he often sleeps right through now but does still get up for the loo some nights or sometimes wakes up if he's a little unsettled. They've started sharing a bed in the last week or so. Archie does still sleep in his cot sometimes but they both settle so much better together and I see no harm in letting them share a bed and room for however long they both want to. Henry's so so tactile and loves any form of contact, but I don't think Archie is the same and may well want his own room and space earlier than his big brother, who I fear would happily sleep with his mummy and daddy until he's 12!!
I love being their mummy so much and get so much pleasure from our simple little life. I've always said I'd love a 3rd baby but now I'm just not so sure. I'd be more than happy with a future filled with my two perfect little boys and I'm so thankful every single day that God chose me to be their mama.
