Sarah and James Plus One

Long time, no see :)

2011-12-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm still here! It's getting harder and harder to get to this dang blog lately. Mostly because I have no time but also, my computer is working soooooo slowly that it takes forever to do anything! But here I am, trying to do a post. We will see how long my computer lasts :)

Where did we leave off? Fall break, jeez. It seems like forever ago. So much has happened and I have no idea how to catch up on all of it.

We moved! I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of moving, it's a lot of work and I really loved my house. But in the long run, it will be for the best. We are now out in Corona, which is nice and quiet but a LONG drive from anywhere. The house is bigger and more open with a nice backyard for Henry and no pool to worry about. I am finally starting to feel like this is "home" now.

Here is my favorite part about the new house, the view from the backyard.

Henry helped mama at school. Look at that face :)

Henry celebrated his second Halloween. Last year, he dressed as Tigger. This year, he dressed up as his favorite character, Mickey!

My little Mickey :)

James decided to dress as Mickey too! They were so cute together :)

We took Henry to the zoo. He LOVED it! We got an annual pass so we are there two or three times a month.

Mama and Henry by his favorite animals, the elephants.

Henry is learning to feed himself. It gets pretty messy and most of the food ends up ON him instead of in his mouth but at least it's cute :)

Enjoying the ketchup, I mean fries at Culver's.

Yummy beans!

James and I needed a few things for the new house so we went searching. Henry's little friend Ariston came along for the adventure.

I thought it was so cute that they held hands the whole time :)

Chilling in a chair they climbed up into.

Auntie Em gets a kiss from Henry :)

I totally thought I had Thanksgiving and Christmas preparation pictures on my computer but alas, I do not and James has the camera. I'll have to catch up on Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff next time... Hopefully soon :)

So I shall leave you with a video I took today of Henry helping me make Christmas cookies!

Fall Break!

2011-10-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

Time to play catch-up again! It's a good thing we have these breaks or I might never blog ;) Henry has been a busy boy as usual. He seems to have REALLY found his voice lately. Before, he would say single sounds and maybe a couple words like mama and dada. Well now, he has turned into a little parrot! I found this out the other day when I was explaining to Henry what we would be doing that day. I said, ok Henry first we are going to Target. Then he says just as clear as day... Target! Then I told him later that we were going home and he again, clear as day, said home! It is seriously adorable! I tried to get it on the flip but he never cooperates. So here are some pictures of what bubba has been up to lately.

Henry LOVES to be outside. The other day we were coming home from... somewhere and Henry decided he just wanted to stay out and play. Who am I to say no? It was so nice out!

Can you tell where we were coming back from? ;)

Henry is ready for football season! Here he is sporting his team colors, for both the Cowboys and Packers.

Howdy partner!

Yee-haw! Check out that expert hat toss!

Henry just loves Daisy! He is kissing her through the glass.

We went down to Sierra Vista to celebrate my dad's birthday and his 30th anniversary in the ministry.

My mom and dad, or nana and papa as Henry calls them.

Henry enjoyed playing in nana and papa's nice big backyard with the fun play set :)

When we have all three of the boys together, we always TRY for a group shot. It is getting more and more difficult as they get bigger.

James, Henry and Sean.

Nana tries to wrangle Caleb.

The boys are not too pleased about sitting still!

Last week, my good friends, Amy and Mike got married!!! I had been looking forward to going to this wedding for sooooo long! Earlier that day, I got really sick. So sick that I had to send James to the wedding alone. I was so sad I missed the wedding :*( But James got some good pictures for me.

The bride and groom.

Henry enjoying his books in his new room :) The teacher in me, loves that he loves books!

Henry can sign please. So now he signs it all the time! It so cute and so hard to say no to! Here he is saying please for the camera. Now that, I can say no to ;)

Henry has been getting really good at scribbling with crayons. I thought it would be fun to show him how to color on some of the empty cardboard boxes we had laying around. Bad move. He took that to mean, I can draw on other things too, like the freshly painted walls! D'oh! At least it came off pretty easily.

In case you didn't catch that, yes we moved last weekend. I took like zero pictures of the actual move but I have some of the new house to share for next time.

Labor day

2011-09-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

I wish every weekend could be a three day weekend! I was able to get my housework done on Saturday, my school work on Sunday, then I spent all day with my boys on Monday. We had such a fun day! :)

Henry discovered how to scribble with our MagnaDoodle!

And he played more in the cabinets. He enjoys doing this so much he now has his own emptied out cabinet to play in :)

The weather was SO nice that we took Henry to Lakeside park to run around on some real grass and look at the water.

He was a little afraid of the water at first.

So he and daddy just walked on the path.

Then he played in the grass.

After playing in the grass, Henry got much braver with the water!

Look how close he got! I really think he would have touched it if his mama had let him ;)

Look at that face!!!

Henry's favorite time! Pictures with mama ;)

Kiss-kiss for mama!

By this point, Henry was done with pictures.

So this was the best family pic would could muster.

Henry's REAL favorite part, the slides! The camera battery was dying so this was the only shot I got, but it's a cute one :)

Good times :)

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

2011-08-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

I feel like a lot has been happening but nothing so big that deserves an entire blog. Which is probably why it has been an entire month since I have done a blog! So I thought I'd just do a quick picture update of all the fun stuff Henry has been up to lately. It is very random so I apologize in advance :)

Henry loves his pop-pops! (Popsicles)

Henry is such a good little helper! Here he is helping mama load the dishwasher. Well in this case, Henry is more UNloading the dishwasher, that is silverware scattered all over the floor! He had fun :)

He also enjoyed crawling up into the dishwasher!

One of Henry's many injuries :*( He is SOOO much better at walking now and does it all the time but in this case, he was walking and sucking his thumb so he couldn't catch himself when he fell headfirst onto the tile floor! Ouch!

One of my favorite pictures of Henry :) He was absolutely enthralled with James's cowboy boots. He loves shoes in general but these were like ginormous shoes, so naturally he was amazed by them. He just had to try them on! I love that he is wearing his Cowboys onesie too!!! LOVE IT! :)

He is trying to figure out how to walk in them. He never quite got it. Can you blame him? They are huge!

Henry is a HUGE fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It is on constantly at our house. The other day my mom found a talking Mickey at Toys R Us and just had to get it for him. He loves it!!! He laughed so hard when he first got it, I thought he might have a fit! Here he is sitting in his chair watching MMC with Mickey :)

He likes to chew on Mickey’s ears and tail :)

Henry’s new favorite game? Playing in the cabinets of course! See that little hand?

Hello!!!

How cute is this face?? :)

This cabinet gets emptied a few times a day now.

Henry found a paper towel roll the other day, dug it out of the recycle bin (it was on the top... mostly!) and had a blast with it until he started chewing bits off!

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I love Henry’s little collared pirate shirt, so cute! He decided the napkin was tastier than his dinner ;)

And the table needed to be cleaned so Henry took care of that!

It rained while Henry was actually awake the other day! Usually it rains in the middle of the night and he never gets to see it. Henry loves to be outside so this was extra fun for him. He ran around, got soaking wet and had a ball!

As I said, Henry is very helpful. Now he is helping with laundry! Yup, hangers all over the floor...

And on his arm. He thought this was hilarious!

So there you have it. Lots of random pics of baby Henry having all kinds of fun :)

Henry's first haircut

2011-07-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

My little boy has never had an abundance of hair. He has some very fine baby blond hair and I think it is just adorable! But his baby hair had finally gotten long enough that it was getting in his eyes and we knew it was time to cut it. Everyone had said that once a baby has his first haircut, he will no longer look like a baby but more like a little boy. I didn't want to let go of his little baby face but I knew it was time. I only cried a little when they snipped that first little curl off the back of his head. We took him to the Great Clips that is in the Fry's plaza right around the corner from our house. It was crazy busy but we got it pretty quickly. As soon as Henry sat in the chair with James, he started whining and crying. I thought, oh man, maybe this wasn't the best idea to do this on a busy Saturday afternoon. But then the nice ladies at Great Clips grabbed him a balloon and he was all set. He sat pretty quietly and let the lady snip at his little baby hair. I took about a million and half pictures and videos and got in everyone's way. I am sure they have seen moms like me before but I felt a little silly, crying in the Great Clips and taking a ton of pictures.

Here is Henry the day before his haircut, you can see how long his hair is in the front.

Sitting in the chair with daddy.

Umm, what are you putting around my neck??

I don't like this!!

You can't see it, but here is when they brought out the balloon. He is totally focused on that! Yay! :)

The first snip... there goes his little baby curls.

A little more off the back.

He loved flirting with the lady ;)

Look at that handsome face!

He starting getting a bit antsy again so I handed him my phone, happy baby again!

All done!

I tried to get a good shot of him smiling AND looking at me, this is the best I got ;)

He still looks like a baby to me :) just with shorter baby blond hair!

Good job on your very first haircut baby Henry! :)

Henry is 14 months old!

2011-07-28T21:18:00.001-07:00

I have been such a blog slacker lately. Life is just too busy sometimes. When I get the choice between sleep and just about anything else, sleep usually wins! But on the occasion of my baby boy's 14 month birthday, I will choose blogging tonight :) Henry has been a busy, busy boy growing up right before my eyes. I don't have any actual stats on him since he doesn't go back to the Dr until 15 months but I do have some fun updates on some of Henry's antics.

Eating: Henry is down to one bottle a day and drinks milk, juice and water from a sippy cup pretty well. He can also drink from a straw. This came as quite a shock to me one day when I was letting him chew on the straw to my Starbucks cup and he sipped up a bit of coffee! He is my child because he went right for another sip! He likes fruit pretty well. We have tried all kinds but he seems to prefer peaches, pears and mandarin oranges the best. He is also ok with his veggies. Again we have tried lots but he likes green beans, peas, corn and sometimes broccoli if it is in some mac and cheese ;) He is not a big fan of meat so I have to smuggle that in his mac and cheese as well. He loves bread, chips, pasta, waffles, pretty much all carbs! Again, totally my child. He also loves his nightly popsicle, which he adorably calls a pop-pop. He is also a big fan of caramel pudding :)

Getting around: Henry is still primarily crawling. He CAN walk and does when we encourage him or stand him up. It is just faster for him to crawl so that is what he does most often. We are working on getting him to walk more but it's looking like it may still be a while before he does it on his own with regularity. Henry is also climbing up on EVERYTHING. He can get himself up on the couch, the kitchen chairs and the rocking chair and ottoman in his room. He has this move that he does on the rocking ottoman where he will get up on it on all fours and rock! He looks like he is ready for the rodeo! Henry even tries to climb up on us. He will come over to one of us and put his leg up as if he is trying to climb us and will grunt until we pick him up. It's slightly annoying but cute enough so that it doesn't matter.

Talking: Henry can say quite a few words now. You just have to know what he is talking about. He can say: mama, dada, pop-pop, tree, pool, Daisy, bubbles, down, peas, cheese, zoo... I am sure I am forgetting some. Henry is also getting really good at his signing. He can sign: milk, more, please, mama, dada, light and all done. He is super good at this one and sometimes signs all done before he's even starting eating if it is something he doesn't like! Stinker! We are working on a few more and some of his signs sort of look the same but I think for 14 months, he is doing pretty good!

Reading: Yep, Henry can read! Just kidding! Truthfully though, Henry does LOVE books. And I do mean LOVE! He will ask to read the same few books over and over again. His favorites right now are Llama Llama Misses Mama and Bubbles, Bubbles. He recognized the covers, asks for the books by name, brings them over to me and will not rest until I have read both of these books at least once or twice. He enjoys turning the pages, looking at the pictures and a couple special characters even get kisses on his favorite pages! It is seriously so adorable!

Sleeping: We are doing pretty good here. Henry goes down about 8:00 every night and sleeps fairly soundly throughout the night. He has been teething yet again so we have had a few bumpy nights. Henry is also quite an early riser. And if you know me, you know how much I love me some sleep! Clearly, no one explained this to baby Henry. He is usually up between 5:30 and 6:00 every. single. morning. Yes, even weekends, D’oh! I do love going to pick him up from his crib and bring him in to our room to cuddle with us in the mornings. He is so cute that it makes it ok getting up that early... most times ;)

Basic stuff: Henry is wearing mostly 18 month clothes. He wears a size four diaper and size four shoe... interesting. Right now, he has six teeth on top and four on the bottom. We are pretty sure he is working on two more on the top and two more on the bottom. He is tall for his age, not sure exactly how tall. He is a skinny fella, probably no more than 20 pounds.

Fun stuff: Henry is a very happy baby. He loves to play with his toys, go swimming, be outside, go for car rides, go shopping, hit up Starbucks, be chased and tickled, playing peek-a-boo, playing in the Tupperware cabinets, taking a shower, helping mama with laundry and dishes. Henry is also a huge fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When he hears that theme song, the hot dog song or even just sees Mickey, he squeals with delight! He even does the hot dog dance! It is so cute! Henry gives the best hugs and kisses too :)

I could go on and on about this sweet little boy. I just love him to pieces! I can’t believe it has already been 14 months since this little joy came into our lives. He certainly is a challenge, for sure! But I love my boy and am so happy to have him in my life. He makes things fun and interesting to say the least!

Since I am a loser and have no new pictures on my computer yet and my camera is at school (arghgh!) I will have to settle for uploading a video.

We got Henry some magnetic letters for the fridge and the teacher in me just started naming the letters as he brought them to me. Most of the letters he could care less about. Until I got to the O. He started saying “O” and making the cutest face! I just about died laughing! Here is Henry getting ready for Kindergarten ;)

Henry walks!!!!

2011-06-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

The big day finally arrived! I had been expecting this day since April really. That was about the time that Henry starting pulling himself up and cruising the furniture. I think it took him so long to take these first steps on his own because he was afraid of falling. He also just needed a really big audience! James and I had gone down to Sierra Vista to spend the day with my family. My brother Chris and his family were getting ready to move to Las Cruses and we wanted to say goodbye. My whole family was there, including Henry's two baby cousins who are about the same age as he is. They were both walking. I figured they would be a good influence on Henry, and they were! The whole family was gathered in the living room for a quick prayer and when my dad had finished, I set Henry down. James and I were sitting across from each other, but not by very far. When I set him down, I said, go see dada. Now usually, no matter how far away he is, Henry would get down and crawl over. NOT THIS TIME!!! He started taking teeny little steps over to James, all on his own! It wasn't very far, maybe only five or seven steps, but he did it! Not holding on to the furniture or me, but all by himself! We were getting ready to go at this point so all the cameras were put away so I don't have the actual first steps on camera. I tried right afterwards that same day too but he wasn't in to performing for the camera. The next day, I had to resort to big time bribery (Capri Sun!) to get even a few steps on film. It's not the best quality but please enjoy my baby boy's teeny steps!

Getting caught up

2011-06-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

Now that I've finally finished posting the vacation pictures, I can post some more random pictures from the last few weeks. We've been so busy! James and I BOTH got new cars, we turned Henry's car seat around and we took him swimming :)

Henry is ready to roll in daddy's new car :)

I was so excited when we went to Henry's last Dr visit and he weighed in at exactly 20 lbs! Which in my mind, I'm thinking, yes! We can finally turn his car seat around! But then the Dr told us that the AAP now recommends kids stay rear facing until two years! I was sad, especially when I would go to take Henry out of his car seat and he'd be drenched with sweat because the air just can't get to him. Well, after talking with some friends and seeing just how uncomfortable Henry was with his feet squished up against the seat, we decided to go ahead and flip him around. He is so much happier :)

Henry LOVED the ocean, loved it! We hadn't taken him swimming in our pool in a while and decided now would be a great time. He didn't disappoint, he loved that too!

See that face? :)

Henry's favorite thing about swimming is getting out of the pool and crawling around it!

Me and my baby boy.

I'm trying to keep him in the pool here and not let him out.

And that is the face I get when I don't let him have his way. Are we starting the terrible twos already?

Weeeeee!

Now any time I even open the blinds so Henry can see the pool, he starts pointing and grunting and won't stop until we either go outside or I have to close the blinds again! Out of sight, out of mind :) He is quite the demanding little boy. No idea where he gets that from! ;)

Last day at the beach

2011-06-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

Three days in a row of going to the beach and James and I were ready to actually go out and see some of the sights. Now I had been coming to La Jolla with my family pretty much every summer of my entire life. We knew the place and had many traditions. One of the things we always did when I was a kid and came with my family, was to go out on the seawall and look at the seals. James really enjoyed doing this so we decided to take Henry.

The seals, very different from sea lions. Yes, I know the difference, do you?

James and Henry on the sea wall.

I like Henry's coy smile here.

Jeez, my mom and dad are crazy!

Another one of the places we love to go is Seaport Village. I was excited for Henry to get to ride on this really cool super old carousel they have there. I was a bit sad thought because there was no way I would be able to climb up on a horse and ride with him so James got to do it.

Henry chose a dragon to ride on :)

Ooh shiny!

Henry was not as impressed as I thought he'd be. This was his face pretty much throughout the whole ride.

I had to ride on the bench on the carousel. As you can see, I was not please.

Family pic in front of the fountain.

And of course, we couldn't leave without visiting the Ben and Jerry's scoop shop! Henry enjoyed some strawberry cheesecake ice cream. Yum!

The next day, we needed to leave pretty early because we were going to drive the entire way back without stopping in Yuma as we did on the way over. But we couldn't leave without saying goodbye to the ocean!

Henry had fun walking along the wall on the boardwalk.

My toes had to wiggle in the sand one last time.

And that about wraps it up. We had a blast! :)

And yet more beach pics!

2011-06-25T15:39:00.000-07:00

Day three at the beach was again cloudy. But after learning my lesson about dressing Henry, I dutifully put on his swim wear yet again. This time, we were at the beach for about a minute when I look up and my dad has absconded with my baby! I look up and there they are, headed toward the water! Well, I grab my camera and hurry (as fast as my broken leg will allow me) down to the water's edge.

They are having a deep conversation right here, get it? Deep? Ha!

Grandpa and grandson :)

I love that my dad played with Henry in the water. It brought back memories of when my dad played with me at the beach when I was a kid.

It looks like I am mad here because my arms are crossed but really I am just trying to keep warm! It was so cold!

Fighting the waves :)

That was fun grandpa!

Mama's turn to play! You'll notice, I had to put on a sweater!

I love this pic of his little toes in the surf :)

Daddy's turn to play!

After the beach, my dad took us out to dinner at this nice Italian restaurant. And I don't mean like Olive Garden Italian. These guys actually SPOKE in Italian! And the food? YUM! So of course, I had to get Henry all fancied up!

Henry and grandma :) Look how handsome he is!

I brought him tons of toys to keep him occupied but he wanted to play with the silverware instead.

He is in the middle of one of his classic Henry squeals right here! It is so cute, but soooo loud! Luckily, the other people in the place thought it was cute too :)

We offered him bites of all of our food but he wanted to chew on his table mat instead!

After dinner, we dressed down again to go for a walk. I just thought this outfit was too cute! Big thank you to Nicole for most of his outfits for this trip :)

That does it for part three! I think there is only one part left, thank goodness right? :)

More beach fun!

2011-06-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

After Henry's fun-filled beach adventure from the first day, we cleaned him up and tried to relax back at the apartment. He would have none of it! This kid LOVES to be outside and I can't blame him really. Especially when we are in La Jolla! The place we were staying had a little yard full of the greenest grass he'd ever seen. So of course, he had to play in it!

Henry playing with Auntie Em.

He would crawl back and forth between me and her. What a fun game!

Day two at the beach actually started out sunny! Now if you know La Jolla in June, it is affectionately known as June Gloom because it is always cloudy and cool. We were so excited to get a sunny day in June! Now, I'm still not sure exactly what I was thinking this day when I dressed Henry. The day before when I put on all his swim wear, it seemed like he wanted nothing to do with touching the sand. So I brought the pack and play and I figured he'd just stay in that for the vast majority of our time at the beach and only get in the water right before we left. I hadn't counted on the fact that once he saw the ocean, he'd want out of the pack and play immediately and head straight for the water. Thus began some real fun in the sun... in his clothes! D'oh!

Henry is all dressed! I didn't get any pictures of him in the pack and play because it lasted all of two seconds! Good thing I still slathered him with sunscreen!

James is trying to get Henry to play in the sand, notice where his attention is... the water!!

It's right over there! Let me GO!

And he's off!

Look Auntie Lizzie, water!

All done in the water, see the purple lips again!

Hi Grandpa! :)

Henry was absolutely captivated by my dad. So cute! I think it's the beard :)

After the beach, we played at the park. Here's Henry being super impressed by the swings ;)

Family picture! I was trying to get the crutch out of the picture, it somehow snuck it's way in, dammit. Cute pic nonetheless :)

That does it for part two!

Beach baby!

2011-06-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

It's vacation time!!! After all the chaos of the last few weeks, James and I were unsure whether or not we could actually do the beach this year. But we figured, if we could do it last year with a six week old baby and me still recovering from a C-section, surely we could do it this year! Plus, I needed to get out. I had been practically under house arrest since the accident and I felt like I needed to get out. What better place to go than San Diego! So we loaded up the rental car (yes we needed a rental since my car was totaled and still not replace yet) and headed off. First stop was Yuma again to see my grandma and my aunts and uncles. My uncle Mark and aunt Karen were kind enough to lend us their guest house again and boy were we happy to see it after the five hour drive! Lucky for us, Henry was pretty good during the drive. We left around his nap time and he slept for a good chunk of the time and rocked out to some music and played with daddy the rest of the time. By the time we got to my uncle's place, Henry was ready for lunch and another nap. My uncle had even provided a crib so we didn't need to bust out the pack and play, yippee! The crib was off in a little side room so we got Henry's crib all ready and then came out into the main room to have lunch. Henry kept crawling in that little side room where we couldn't see him so we decided to shut the door until it was nap time. We finished lunch, relaxed for bit, gave Henry some milk and then I went to open the door to put him down for his nap... LOCKED. Whoops! And no one was around at this point so we tried to have Henry take a nap on the big bed. Ha! He cried and cried! Luckily, my aunt came over just in time and unlocked the door for us. The second I put Henry in the crib, sound asleep!

Whew! It's just a good thing we didn't put Henry in there and then shut the door to discover it was locked! We were pretty tired by that point so we all took a nap. After nap time, it was off to our first visit, my grandma! Henry is still very into his stranger anxiety stage so he didn't get too friendly with my grandma. He did get brave enough at the end to at least get close enough for a few pictures :)

Hi great-grandma! That's your nose :)

And that's my nose!

After visiting with my grandma, it was off to our second visit. This time with my aunts and uncles. My uncle Mark and aunt Karen had invited us over for a yummy dinner and we happy to see that my uncle Bill and aunt Kathy were in town too! So we got to spend some quality time with my family, which was so nice :) Henry didn’t cooperate again and cried anytime anyone got too close so unfortunately, I have NO pics with my family :( Not sure how that happened and I’m really bummed about it. Next time guys!!!

The next morning we had some breakfast and visited more with my family and waited till around nap time to leave again since it had worked well the day before. It took a little while longer for Henry to relax and get to sleep but once he did, the ride over was pretty nice. Except for one thing, Henry would wake up anytime I changed lanes and crossed those little bumps on the white lines. So I did something I'm not proud of... I stayed in the left lane the entire time! I figured anyone with kids would understand you do whatever it takes to keep your kid quiet during a car ride! Apologies to anyone I angered on the way out there!

Snoozing away, thanks to the pretty pink ipod with soothing sounds on it and mama staying in the left lane ;)

Sorry everyone!

Playing with daddy after nap time... wud up?

I'm ready for the beach!

Once we arrived in La Jolla, we decided to suit up and head to the beach! It was warm but cloudy and Henry was in a good mood so we slathered him with sunscreen and hit the beach.

What are all these funny clothes for?

Ready to roll!

Okaaaay, what's all this about?

Mama and baby on the beach :)

Hey! What is THAT?! (he's pointing at the ocean)

Come on mama, I gotta check that out!

Walking in to the water for the first time.

Hmmm? What do I think about this?

Can you see his face? He LOVED it!!! :)

He just kept on walking! He got a bit worried when the water got higher and he had a death grip on both me and James.

Then he just sat down in the water, I think he wanted a more up close experience.

My little beach baby!

Can you see his purple lips? The water was freezing!

But he didn't care! Hey mama, can we go back over to the water please? Tomorrow kid. You are too cold!

That does it for vacation part one! :)

Happy birthday Henry!!!

2011-06-19T10:24:00.001-07:00

How did this year fly by so fast?! I wasn't exactly ready for it, but my baby turned one on May 28th. After all the turmoil that we went through, I wasn't sure what, if anything, I could pull off for Henry's first birthday. So instead of the fun pool party I had envisioned, we just went and hung out at Peter Piper Pizza for a few hours. Since it was short notice and a holiday weekend, we were not really expecting too many of our friends to be able to join us. We were happy that James's brother Robert and his family were able to come, along with my brother Chris and his family, my mom and sisters and our friends Jill and Amy :)

Here is Henry on his very first ride! I think it was a horse? As you can tell, he is SUPER impressed ;) I don't think that thumb came out the entire ride! Good thing we didn't take him to Disneyland this year!

Here is Henry's second ride. And this time he got to ride with a friend! Jill's son Jace was even more unimpressed than Henry! He cried and tried desperately to escape. Henry... just sucked his thumb.

The birthday boy! With pizza all over his face and a silly hat on his head. The hat lasted about 5 seconds.

Henry loves drinking like this from a straw. He looks like a little baby bird :)

My brother Chris's son Caleb. He is practicing for his own birthday which is about 11 days after Henry's! Happy birthday Caleb!

Time to sing Happy Birthday! Henry, of course, made a grab for the lit candle. Luckily someone caught him.

Ooh, what is this? He loved playing with it, but when we tried to have him taste it, he didn't like it! Whose kid is this?!

He enjoyed making a big mess out of the yummy cupcakes that my sister-in-law Leah had made for him.

He did get a bit upset when the mess wouldn't come off his hands easily. He would swipe at it and then shake his hands to try to get it off. So he liked making the mess but didn't like being messy and didn't like eating it!

Look how cute he is though! Oh and thanks for the birthday bib Ami! :)

We opened presents after we cleaned him up but for some reason, I don't have any pictures of him opening presents!!! I think I have it on the Flipcam though... That does it for our PPP experience. After a couple hours, Henry and I both needed naps! :)

After Henry had a nap and opened some more presents (again, no pics?!) it was time for more cake. My mom always made us an applesauce spice cake for our first birthdays and I begged her to make one for Henry. Here he is smashing the cake.

Eating it? Again, not so much.

See that face? Yeah, he was done with being messy!

After we rinsed him off again, I wanted to take some pictures with my birthday boy! I hardly ever get pictures with him, but by golly, I was getting a picture with him on his birthday! It took a few tries but...

We got a good one :)

We even got a good family picture!

And this was all we could manage with my sisters, he was kinda done with pics. And I now realize, I got none with my mom :(

Time for bed! It's been a long day :) Like his hair? My sisters love to punk him out!

All things considered, I think we did pretty good for Henry's first birthday :) Next year, lots of things will be better!

The month of May

2011-05-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while since I've done a posting. There are quite a few reasons for this. Let's go back to the beginning of May. Apologies in advance, this is gonna be long! ;)

After we celebrated Easter, Henry got a NASTY cold. He had a stuffy, runny nose and a hacking cough. This was one of the worst cold he has ever had. We did everything to help little Bugs feel better. We finally found that a combination of a warm shoer in the evening in conjunction with a warm air humidifier, a fan to help him from getting too hot and a pillow under his mattress to elevate him enough to help him breathe, helped him sleep easier at night. This cold lasted for about three weeks, went away and then suddenly came back and is still lingering to this day. So that's how May began.

Henry before...

I want to say that the cold had something to do with the next few events for Henry as perhaps his equilibrium was compromised and that is what caused his next few injuries. One day, Henry was just crawling along and splat! He biffed it hard right on his little face. He split his lip and I saw more blood that I have ever seen. I was afraid he would need stitches but he ended up being ok. So now Henry has a cold and a fat lip, awesome.

Poor baby!

To help the swelling go down, I tried to put ice on it. He was not having it. So I thought... maybe now is the right time for Henry's first popsicle! Yum :)

He made such a mess that I decided that he would have his popsicle naked and in the shower. Thus began what we now call "happy naked popsicle shower time!"

The VERY next day, we were playing on the bed like we do every night. Henry was crawling along the bed and slipped and BAM! He hit his little face on the edge of the bed that has some ironwork on it. He got a black eye!

Blurry, but see the purple under his eye?

Ugh, people are gonna think I'm abusing my kid! So now Henry had a cold, a fat lip and black eye! I thought that that was the worst of it. If I had known then what was coming, I would have been ecstatic with these things. Sigh...

May 4th, I just put Henry down for the night and casually picked up my phone to see if James had texted me while he was at work. He had. I looked at the four word text and felt my blood run cold. His text read... Broke arm. At hospital. WHAT??? I had hoped this was one of his not so funny jokes. It was not. I got another text in the next minute that told me what hospital he was at. I hurriedly called Emily who was in class at the time. She left class to come stay with Henry so I could go be with James in the hospital. Long story short, he had wrapped his arm around a piece of equipment at work and snapped both the bones in his arm. We were at the ER at UPH for about seven hours as they x-rayed, diagnosed and reduced his fracture. Luckily, my sister Erin came to hang out with me as I was a complete basket case. She came through with food and a fun attitude about the whole thing so I felt a tad better. After the reducing procedure, which if you are like me and have no idea what that is, it is where they try to line the bone back up since it had been severely displaced, we were sent home with instructions to make an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. Yikes, James would need further surgery to repair the breaks. We picked up his pain meds, I ran to school (at 3:00 in the morning), to drop off sub plans which I had written in the ER (thank goodness for WIFI!) and try to get some sleep. I took the next few days off to help James.

Henry and daddy hanging out.

And again, I thought this was the worst of it. Sigh...

May 9th, I had planned for a while to take this as my birthday day and go get my hair done, get a pedicure and go shoe shopping. That was before James broke his arm. Now we had things to do for him. We started by going to the orthopedic surgeon who confirmed that James would in fact need surgery to place metal plates in his arm to completely repair the breaks. A cast just wouldn't do it. Damn. So they scheduled the surgery for the next day Tuesday at UMC. After the Dr visit, we needed to take some paperwork to his work so they could begin the workman's comp claims started and let them know he would not be able to work for two months due to the injury. We left Henry at home with my sister and headed off to James's work. As we were driving down Valencia just past the Goodwill, I noticed a white car drifting into our lane. I had no idea that it was going so fast or that the driver would not correct fast enough. From what we hear from the cops, she was texting and driving. I tried my best to swerve out of the way and I remember turning to the right to try to avoid the car. That is the last thing I remember. Obviously, the car hit us, head-on going about 50 miles per hour. I remember waking up, seeing blood covering my pants and having tremendous pains in my left leg. James says the first thing I said when I finally came to was, where is my baby? I was so worried about Henry and he was thankfully at home, safe. I thank God for this everyday. The rest of the story is slightly blurry as I drifted in and out of consciousness so my mom and James filled in some of the blanks. According to them this is how it went. Tucson firefighters came and used the jaws of life to remove me from the car as my left leg was pinned. I was then airlifted to UMC. In the ER, I was put in traction. If you are again, like me and have no idea what that means, allow me to explain. My left femur was fractured. So badly that it was displaced. In order to line the bone back up, they used a drill to put a pin THROUGH my leg and hang weights from that pin to pull the bone back into place. Sound fun? Yeah, I screamed bloody murder through the entire ordeal. I don't know why they chose not to sedate me for this. I even argued with the doctor when he was trying to explain it to me beforehand. It did not sound pleasant and I tried to talk them out of it! But it was necessary and very painful. The next day, I was scheduled for surgery. Again, like James, the break was so bad that I needed surgery to repair the fracture. Does anyone else see the irony here??? Yeah, not cool. Anyway, the next morning, both James and I had surgery to repair broken bones. My surgery involved placing a titanium rod in through my hip and down through the middle of my femur bone and getting screwed in place at my hip and my knee. James's involved opening his arm on both sides and placing metal plates on both his radius and his ulna and getting screwed in place above and below the fracture sites. Not pretty for either of us. James's surgery was supposed to be an outpatient procedure, but due to his involvement in the car accident, the doctors wanted to keep him for observation. So James was in the hospital for four days following his surgery. I was in the hospital for six days following mine. The day after my surgery, the doctors made me get up and walk. Did you catch that??? The DAY after having a titanium rod placed in my broken femur, the sadistic doctors made me get up out of bed and walk. Now, if you know me, you know I've had a lot of surgeries in my life. Nothing and I mean NOTHING compares to the pain that I endured when I tried to get up out of that bed for the first time. But I did it. Now it is almost three weeks later. James and I are slowly getting better. James has about half his range of motion back in his arm and I am able to walk with the assistance of a walker. I am having outpatient physical therapy three days a week to help me regain my strength. I know things could have been a lot worse and I thank God everyday for helping us basically "walk away" from that car accident. But damn, I am sad. It kills me that I cannot carry my baby, crawl with him on the floor, plan a birthday party for him, make sandcastles on the beach, etc, etc, etc... I am thankful to still be here with him and I am thankful I am able to hold him and care for him with help. My sisters and my mom have been AMAZING! My mom took a leave of absence from her job and has not left my side since the accident. I needed daily shots in my stomach to prevent blood clots and my mom bravely took this on so I wold not have to do it myself. She gave me a shot in the stomach every day for two weeks! She saved me! I seriously don't know that I would have done without her. She is truly awesome! Emily also took a leave of absence from her job and has been caring for Henry when James and I cannot. She rocks!!!! Not sure what we would have done without here either. Erin took days off of work to come be with me in the hospital, take care of Henry so Emily could finish her classes, picked up meds, went shopping, took Henry and Daisy for walks, etc... Erin rocks too!!! Words cannot express my thankfulness for these three people. You are my blessings!

We took some pictures. They are not pretty so feel free to skip to the end ;)

James after his surgery.

Five stitches on my right knee and my lovely stocking to prevent blood clots.

My busted up left knee. Mostly superficial cuts and scrapes. On the bottom where you see that strip of white tape is where they cut my knee open to screw the rod into place.

A closer look at the knee and bruising.

Some funky bruising on my thigh.

Under this gauze is where they drilled the rod into my hip. They just barely missed my tattoo!

See? Yuck!

This is where the rod went in.

My left arm with a gash requiring five stitches.

Tomorrow is Henry's first birthday. I would have loved to have a great big party but with all the stuff that happened this month, a small gathering at Peter Piper Pizza is all I can muster. Henry will be happy with it, I know. And next year, all will be better and I can make up for it then. Soon the month of May will be over, thankfully. Oh I forgot to mention, in between James breaking his arm and me breaking my femur, I turned 30... yay. Emily and Henry baked me a cake. Notice the frosting missing? Henry needed to try the frosting ;)

And these pics are too cute not to share. Henry LOVES toilet paper!

Goodbye May!!! I hope next year you are MUCH better to me!

Henry's first Easter

2011-04-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

Henry was so excited for his first Easter that he woke up nice and early around 5:45. I brought him in to cuddle with me for a bit and then we got up and had some breakfast. I had made our traditional pull-apart the night before and Henry was eager to help me taste it. After breakfast, we played for a bit and then woke up daddy so we could open Henry's Easter basket together. We decided that since James had to work on Easter that we would open his Easter basket at home before Henry and I drove down to SV to spend the day with my family. Now we don't do the whole "Easter Bunny" thing just like we don't do the "Santa" thing but that doesn't mean Henry shouldn't get treats from mama and daddy right? Henry was unsure of the whole experience.

Here is Henry opening his very first Easter basket.

Ooh! Peeps! Score!

Let me see how these things taste...

Like the face? He was not a fan. Can't be my child, I LOVE Peeps!

Hmm how do I open this so I can bite his ears off??

Board books from the dollar section at Target :) There isn't much that can go in an eleven month old's Easter basket!

And there is his cheap-ass lamb that the hair is already coming out of.

Soon after opening Henry's Easter basket, we were on our way down to SV. We left right at nap time hoping that he would sleep in the car for the hour ride down there. He did! The entire trip :) Once we got to my mom's house, I changed Henry into his Easter outfit. We had gotten the three baby boys matching outfits consisting of a polo onesie, plaid shorts and newspaper boy hats. I got Henry a blue top because I love how the blue brings out his eyes. So I changed his diaper and his clothes, gave him to my sister so I could get ready and not ten second later Henry had peed ALL over his Easter outfit! GRRRRR! At this point, it is literally two minutes before church starts. What do I do??? Luckily, I am a very good girl scout and I was prepared for just such an occasion. When my mom and I bought the outfits a few weeks ago, I got Henry a second polo onesie and plaid shorts, just cuz I thought there were so cute. As I was finishing up packing Henry's things the night before, I threw in the extra outfit, you know, just in case! Thank goodness I did! I quickly stripped off the peed on clothes, wiped Henry off with a diaper wipe and threw on his new outfit. Good as new! I was a little bummed that the wouldn't be wearing blue for our pics but hey, that's ok. He was still adorable. See for yourself!

Love, love, love this boy!!!

After church, it was time for pictures! The last time we had all three boys together was right after Caleb was born. They were much easier to photograph because, well they didn't move! This time, it was a straight up comedy trying to get these boys' pictures taken!

This is a typical shot. Caleb trying to get off the pew, head first. Sean trying to figure out how is related to these crazies. And Henry trying to crawl down the pew! Hee hee!

Sean and Henry sitting still for two seconds. They really ought to make a camera that takes faster pictures!

What? We were done with the pictures, right?

Now it was time to try to get a picture with just Henry and mama. I have like zero pictures of me and Henry because I am always the one taking the pictures. So this time, by golly, I was getting a picture with my boy! That wasn't easy either! There was so much for him to look at!

This is the best we got at the church. I just love the cross covered with lilies :)

After lunch, we tried again in my mom's backyard. I just wish he were smiling.

After naptime, it was time to hunt for Easter eggs! I had filled them with puffs and had my niece Starla hide the eggs where the babies were sure to find them.

Here's my little boy in the play structure that my mom and sisters painstakingly put together for the boys.

Henry finds his first egg!

Can I eat it?

Yum!

Seriously, could he BE any cuter?

I was super impressed because Henry figured out how to open the egg all by himself! He was so excited to see puffs in there that he gobbled them up before I could even grab the camera!

After dinner, it was time to head home. The return trip was not nearly as quiet as it was not naptime but I discovered Henry's new favorite song is Firework by Katy Perry. We must have listened to it ten times on the way back up! Henry and I had a blast in SV with my family. The next big adventure will be Henry's 1st birthday party!

Sneak peek

2011-04-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

I am exhausted after our Easter festivities today but I wanted to make sure to get these two good pics of the babies on tonight. Tomorrow (or, let's be realistic, later this week!) I will post the rest of the adorable pics.

Caleb, Sean and Henry

The three Easter eggs :)

How cute are they???? :)

Random thoughts

2011-04-08T21:36:00.000-07:00

This is more for me than anything else. I just want to remember everything about my baby. Henry is a little over ten months old now. He continues to impressed me daily with his new skills. And it's not just the big things like crawling that amaze me but it's the little things too. It's incredible to me what a little ten month old knows! He opens his mouth when he sees his toothbrush and loves to have his teeth brushed. He knows that a hat goes on your head and will try to put it on for you but does not want his hat on! He knows what a spoon is for and loves sharing his food. Mostly he hits the tray and makes tons of noise but sometimes the spoon actually gets to his mouth ;) He knows what the brush is for and will brush his hair and mine. He loves splashing in water whether it's in the sink when we are washing his hands or in the bath or when we are testing the pool water to see if it is warm enough yet (it's still not!). Whenever he sees pictures of people, he instantly lights up. He loves looking at pictures and is especially taken with himself ;) He still points at everything. His favorite things to point at are fans, lights and of course, Daisy. We think sometimes he is even trying to say Daisy! He loves going for walks and just being outside. Henry is the best buddy to run errands with. He so enjoys just walking around stores and seeing all the people and bright lights. He makes people smile wherever we go! I love playing with my baby because every little thing is so much fun for him. He can spend twenty minutes just picking up and dropping a little plastic ball watching it bounce, chasing down and doing it all over again. The repetition can be tiresome but seeing the look on his face each time, it's like he's doing it for the first time. As fun as playtime is, it's still not my favorite part of our day. That would be getting up in the morning and going to bed at night. Those two times have become so special for Henry and I. Usually when he gets up in the morning, I will go in and get him from his crib and bring him in to our room and snuggle with him in the big bed. James is mostly still asleep since he can sleep through a hurricane and sometimes doesn't even realize Henry is awake ;) I love waking up with my baby and cuddling with him in the mornings. It makes gets up early totally worth it. He is so sweet in the morning and really helps me, a VERY non-morning person, wake up! Oh, I forgot something else he has learned! How could I forget this?! Henry now gives KISSES! He gives the sweetest baby kisses and it melts me every time :) My other favorite time of day is right before Henry goes to bed at night. Henry gets stripped down to his diaper and plays on the big bed. He just loves crawling around and climbing on the headboard and of course, getting tickled. He also does this super cute thing we call belly bumps. One day, he just lifted up my shirt and I think he was simply amazed that I had a belly too! So he bumped his belly with my belly and now he does this every night. He also just discovered that he could blow raspberries on my belly just like I do on his! When it's finally time for me to put Bugs in his crib for the night, I rock him a little first and sing him a song and say his prayers. Now he knows what is coming so as soon as I turn the lights out and sit in the rocking chair, he will lay his little head on my shoulder. It's a sweet, precious five minutes that remind me of when he was really little. I'm glad that I get to have all these special times with my boy. It makes it easier when he has his moments, which thankfully happen less and less. He does still have issues eating, both solids and bottles. He can be a restless sleeper, waking up throughout the night or VERY early in the morning. He can get cranky and moody, no idea where he gets THAT from! But all in all, the good always outweighs the bad. Like when he's not eating, he'll give me this adorable smile that just makes me laugh. Or if I've had to get up super early, he'll be so sweet and give me extra slobbery kisses. Baby Henry is growing up so fast, I just want to try to make sure I stop and really enjoy all my time with him. To go with my random thoughts, here are some random pics!

He is his grandma's boy, loving Dr Pepper already! Don't worry, it's not open.

Henry helping with laundry.

Trying frozen yogurt... yum?

Checking himself out in the mirror at Old Navy.

Big boy car seat.

Exploring outside by the pool for the first time.

Don't worry, I have a good grip on his little foot in all these pics.

Let me see that!

Sharing mama's chocolate milkshake :)

Think he likes it?

Got milk... shake?

Unbeknownst to mama, daddy feeds Henry a pickle. James claims he liked it, I have my doubts.

Cutest laugh EVER!!!

2011-03-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Henry has THE best laugh in the world! Tonight, he was laughing the hardest and the funniest I have ever heard! I am so glad James was able to capture it because it is awesome :) Please enjoy my adorable baby laugh.

Playdate, Bunchkin style

2011-03-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

After Henry saw what a fun place the Bunch casa is after we were there for their birthday party, he decided he wanted to go back for a playdate with these awesome triplets!

Here's Colton showing Henry the ropes.

And sharing his toys :) Colton was trying to help Henry look through the magnifying glass, so cute!

Henry was a bit in awe of these three big kids.

Hunter showing Henry how to stack blocks.

And here comes the favorite game of the day... "Let's put stuff on Henry's head!" See the beanbag in Colton's hand?

Here Henry, let me just put this on your head!

Ta-da!!! Look how proud Colton is :)

Oh my gosh! That dog is a LOT bigger than Daisy!

Henry and Ami. I love that Henry shares ;)

Whatcha got there?

Wow! That's a lot more teeth that I have! (We are hoping he grows up to be a dentist!)

Let me outside please!

Peek-a-boo!

Thanks for having me over to play Colton, Hunter and Ethan! I had a BUNCH of fun :)

Video updates

2011-03-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

I know you were all waiting on pins and needles for my latest videos ;) Here are a few of my favs. Henry is so cute and precious and adorable and is forever doing something I want to capture. But the SECOND I grab the Flipcam... he stops. It is really frustrating! So it took me days to get some of his cuteness on film. Enjoy!

This first video is of Henry growling. When he gets upset or sometimes just wants to be funny, he growls! He'll also growl if we growl at him. I think it is just hilarious!

This next one is of Henry finally figuring out how to move his feet. He has been awesome at pulling himself up and moving along furniture with his hands. But he hadn't quite figured out that he could move his feet too. Well I think I am in trouble now, because he has figured it out! I love that he walks on his tippy toes :)

And last, Henry taking a bath! We have this giant duck that Henry takes his baths in now that he is too big for the sink :( He was really afraid of it at first, but now he loves it! James is convinced that Henry is actually saying the word duck here but I'm skeptical. You be the judge!

I have a million more videos I could post, but I think this will do for now :)

Spring break

2011-03-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Ahhh Spring break! A time for rest, relaxation, and fun :) Well, I have been getting a TON of that last one! Henry has been a busy, busy boy! Here are some of Henry's adventures from the last few weeks.

Rewind to Rodeo weekend, I somehow forgot to post these pics. Here is Henry is his cute cowboy outfit. He was not really cooperating so this is the only good pic I got.

My friend Victoria came back to Tucson for the weekend. Victoria, Jenn, Aimee and I have been friends since college. It was fun to get together with all of them again. And now there are three babies to add to the group! Here is Tyler (Victoria's boy) Henry and Katie (Jenn's little girl).

Henry was very interested in the babies.

Three babies are so fun! (Right Ami?)

College group plus babies!

Hmmm who is next in line for mommy-hood here????

This next group of pictures is just cuz I think Henry is adorable when he is covered in food ;)

He is practicing using a spoon.

Right now he just thinks it's a toy.

And apparently it is hilarious!

He's just so happy :)

A very nice parent gave me a gift card to get a pedicure and who am I to turn down a gift?! Just in time for flip-flop weather, mama got a pedicure! Henry was absolutely enthralled with my newly painted toes. It may have been because they were bright pink or because I got a little white flower on my big toe but whatever it was, he loved it! He chased me around the house trying to get my toes :)

Henry has finally outgrown his baby car seat which means he needs a new stroller. Mama had to put it together before we could go on a walk an Henry wanted to help.

Yay! Ready to go for a walk :)

I thought it might be fun to take Henry to the park for a bit one day. He looks so cute, even though he looks a bit like an old man with his shorts all hiked up and his belly sticking out ;)

Here's Henry and daddy sitting on a park bench. It was pretty much the only thing for a baby to do at the park, who knew? Notice Henry pointing at the camera? He does this ALL. THE. TIME. He points at everything. We call him out little ET ;)

Mama and Henry, pointing again, he is so cute!

Trying to get a kiss and of course, he is resisting. Typical little boy.

The day before spring break, we had out carnival at school. Henry stopped by for a bit and we got him a balloon. I have no pictures of that. But he liked the balloon so much that I decided Henry needed a ball... a big one. A big, blue, ball. (Please laugh, I did!) Here is Henry playing with his new ball. I think he looks like a baby elephant, it reminds me of Dumbo :)

I am trying to get as much work done the first week of break so that I can MAYBE relax a bit the second week. So I have been cleaning, cooking, baking, doing laundry, etc... Henry likes to help. Here he is "helping" me cook dinner. He discovered the tupperware cabinet a while back but now he has figured out that is he throws all the stuff on the floor, it makes LOTS of noise and it totally fun :)

Henry is helping me do laundry here.

Yay! Socks!

Henry got to go to his first birthday party! Here are the birthday kids, Colton, Hunter and Ethan blowing out their two candles.

Me and Henry at the party.

Henry loves to be outside and he loves to be thrown up in the air. Here we are combining his two loves. Can you see the giant smile on his face?

Weeee! This is fun daddy!

Next post... videos! You know you're excited :)

Happy birthday daddy!

2011-03-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

Today is James's 32nd birthday. I wanted to make his first birthday as a dad a special and memorable one. James really enjoys surprises (I totally do NOT) so I set out to surprise him with a few little things. First on the agenda, dinner. I had roped grandma and auntie Lizzie into babysitting for us so James and I could go out to dinner Saturday night. I enlisted my dad's help with picking the restaurant. James LOVES steak and if you know me, you know that I don't eat red meat. So I had NO clue where to go to get a good steak. Luckily for me, my dad knew the place to go, McMahon's. Since James wanted a surprise, I did not tell him where we going and I even blindfolded him on the drive over! It was very fun for me ;) When we go there, I had James guess where we were... he got it on the first guess! Damn! I guess I gave him too many good clues... next time, I going to drive in circles and not say a word! Anyway, McMahon's was amazing! We had a nice cozy table and there was a fantastic pianist playing, it was perfect! Plus, I think the food was pretty incredible too. Thanks grandpa for the recommendation! Next up, the cake. James had to work on his birthday, he almost always does. I guess people want to read the paper every day. So I waited until James went to work and then I started the cake. It was just a box mix german chocolate cake with that crazy coconut topping but I think it turned out pretty good. When it was finished, Henry and I packed up and headed to the Tucson newspapers. We got to see daddy at work and all the guys at work were happy to see a cake too! Finally, I had to work on Henry's present to daddy. Again, people who know me can tell you, I am NOT a crafty person... at ALL! In fact, I think I may break out in hives any time I even approach Michael's. However, just because I don't like crafts doesn't mean that Henry and James should miss out on crafts too! So far, I've done a cement mold of Henry's feet for James for Father's day and a little feet Christmas tree for James for Christmas. Now I had to think of something for his birthday. I think I was running on empty at this point and I was a bit short on time. All I came up with was, get some finger paints and let Henry go to town! I think the end product turned out cute but the process was exhausting! This was the only part of any of my surprises that I actually got pictures of, so check it out!

Here's Henry experimenting with colors.

And here's Henry getting bored and crawling away!

What am I supposed to be doing again?

Grabbing the camera with my paint-covered fingers? Yes!

Henry enjoyed painting so much that he painted himself and the floor as well!

While mom's busy snapping pics, I'll just suck on my paint-covered thumb, yummy!

Mama, why did you just freak out and pull my thumb out of my mouth? The paint says non-toxic, jeez!

I, of course, had to re-check the box to be sure it was non-toxic and check out what else I saw... Yep, that says for ages 3 and up! No wonder we had such a hard time! ;)

Here is the finished product. Looks a bit like Jackson Pollock if you ask me! Perhaps I have a future artist on my hands ;)

All in all, a pretty successful birthday full of surprises for daddy. I hope you had a great birthday James! Henry and I love you!!! :)

This next bit has nothing to do with James birthday but it all happened on the same day so I thought I'd include it anyway. I thought I'd try one of my mom's recipes while she was in town so she could show me the ropes. It was something easy... or so I thought, bean soup and homemade bread. This was a meal I'd seen my mom and my grandma make a million times and I thought it was time I tried it for myself. Well, it certainly wasn't easy and really, nothing is easy with a nine month old! My mom got me started and then went to help Liz find a new apartment. I was on my own with a new recipe to try out and a baby to watch. So while I was busy cooking away in the kitchen, my little helper was never far away, playing in the cabinets, banging on the trash cans, climbing in the refrigerator...

Hey mama, can I have some orange juice?

After I pulled him out of here, he was not too happy with me. He pouted for a while, very loudly and then it got quiet... too quiet. All of a sudden, I hear BANG! Oh crap, he fell! Nope, he was busy doing this...

Busily removing all our DVDs off the shelves, nice!

Oh, hi mama, I was just re-organizing for you ;) Oh and check out his pant leg, yep that's flour from when he was helping me make bread!

Ta-da! Home-made bread! I did it! Looks good, right? Wrong! I messed something up cuz it was all doughy inside. Whoops! Oh well, at least I tried!

At least things weren't a total wash, the beans turned out pretty good! I had some tortillas thankfully as a back-up so dinner was saved :)

Whew! This weekend was exhausting! Crafts and surprises for daddy's birthday plus some extra cooking and baking. Thankfully after this week it is... SPRING BREAK!!!! Whoo-hoo!

It snowed!!!!!

2011-02-27T14:27:00.001-08:00

This is what I woke up to this morning... Beautiful!

So, of course, we bundled Henry up and took him out for his first glimpse of snow!

He was entranced!

He is just so adorable!

Here are his little footprints in the snow ;)

Daddy and Henry.

He needed a closer look.

He also wanted to see how it tasted.

He just stared at it and grabbed a big handful and let it melt in his hand.

He didn't even seem to care that it was cold.

The thing I love most about snow in Tucson... it is rare and melts within an hour! But at least Henry got to experience snow and I got some cute pics. So all in all, good reasons to get up at 6:30 in the morning :)

Busy, busy, busy!

2011-02-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe I let an entire month go by without blogging! Henry has just kept me so busy that when I do get a spare couple of minutes, I catch up on sleep! And why am I so tired? Henry has been crawling. He crawls ALL the time now. He also has learned how to pull himself up... on EVERYTHING! Nothing is safe in our house and we never get to sit still anymore. It is so much fun to watch Henry discover. He finds joy in the simplest things, like finding out that daddy's computer chair moves from side to side when he pushes it, or hearing how much louder his toys are when he bangs them on the tile rather than the carpet. Toys are fun, but to Henry, cabinets, drawers, Daisy, bed posts, mirrors, walls, and of course, electrical outlets are SO much more fun :) He hardly even sits still for pictures any more but here are a few I managed to snap.

Little explorer.

Henry loves hats! Loves to chew on them that is :)

What? It tastes good mom!

Henry REALLY enjoys his food! He gets only a teeny bit messy :)

Here you can see where Henry fell and hit his little nose. My baby's first bloody nose :(

Henry loves to be outside. Here he is in his new swing!

Weeeeeee!

Dude, I am so tired from all that swinging.

I'm coming to get you!

Look at my handsome boy!

And here he is saying, check out my shoes!

The first discovery of the kitchen cabinets :)

Oooh what is this?!

And here is an attempt to capture Henry's second crawling injury, a fat lip.

Check out the top left corner. It's hard to see but it's all swollen and bloody.

Check out that tongue!

I LOVE this little boy!

Dude, I love you too mama!

I just noticed how orange his nose looks in all these pictures. Maybe it's time to cut back on all the sweet potatoes and carrots?

Henry crawls!!!!!!

2011-01-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

Henry has been scootching and pulling himself forward for a bit now. Just this week, he had started actually moving his hands and knees and crawling with his belly off the floor for a few "steps." He is so aware of the camera though so whenever it turns on, he stops what he is doing. It is quite frustrating. Today I finally captured him! It's only a few seconds but I am happy I caught it :) He is crawling for the camera. I had tried every toy that boy owned and noting worked. Cameras, cell phones and remotes are much more interesting to him. Enjoy!

Henry Stats

2011-01-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

I have been quite the blog slacker lately. I guess that's what happens when you go back to work! Henry has been learning and growing at an alarming rate. So here is the latest on baby Henry :)

At his 6 month check up (he is about 7 1/2 months now):

Weight: 17 lbs 4 oz

Height: 28 in.

Movements:

Rolls back to belly and belly to back no problemo!

Pushes up to hands and knees.

Pushes back from hands and knees to sitting position.

Can pull up to knees if there is something to hold on to.

Can pull up to standing with little assistance.

Scoots backwards, pulls self forward a bit, can crawl forward a few "steps."

(Gulp! My baby is crawling!!!! )

Sleeping:

Takes two naps a day, anywhere from an hour to three hours a piece.

Sleeps about 12 hours a night.

Still has a few crazy nights where something will wake him up and he won't go back to sleep for hours. Those are few and far between these days thankfully!

Eating:

Henry now eats three meals a day!!! I never thought this day would come. He spent so long pursing his lips and refusing to eat so I am thrilled that he is actually opening his mouth and enjoying his meals now :) He LOVES all fruit and sweet potato and corn. He had tried a few puffs and bites of bread with little success. That's ok :)

Misc:

This kid is a crack up! He shakes his head like he is saying no. Seven and a half months old and he is already telling me no! He has recently discovered his index finger and uses it for everything. He looks like a baby ET pointing at everything! He also can pinch things between his pointer finger and thumb. He is still working on this skill :) Henry is also EXTREMELY vocal. He has this high pitched screech when he is happy and excited, it is adorable! He also has the m, d, b, and g sounds down pretty good too. He is actually starting to "play" a bit more now too. Where before he would just chew on things, he now bangs on things and pushes things to make them go. He loves things that make noise and light up. When I read him his story before he goes to bed at night, he stares at my mouth and LOVES listening to rhyming words. One of his favorites at this time is "Stand back said the Elephant, I'm going to sneeze!" I know it sounds strange to say, but I feel like he really enjoys his stories :) James and I are both very excited that it seems like Henry will be ready for Disneyland soon. Meaning, he LOVES being thrown up in the air, falling down on the bed, being swung back and forth, the kid is a regular daredevil. Henry smiles, laughs, talks, squeals, etc when is happy and when he is cranky or upset, boy does he let you know it! He does this cute little grunt, sticks his chin out and clenches his teeth. Then if he is sad, he will stick out his bottom lip and gets the saddest little puppy dog look I have ever seen. I foresee him uses this to get things out of me in the very near future... I am in T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Of course, Henry NEVER does any of this stuff as soon as he sees the camera or the flipcam. It's a little sad for me. That is why I am writing it all down now. I want to remember every look, every like, every dislike, every detail of this amazing little person :) Here are a few pictures I have taken recently.

His favorite part of his race track is the flags on the back. he literally crawls over it to get to them!

Sharp dressed man!

Henry and daddy watching football.

Play time :)

Bang!

Looks like he might know what he is doing with that hammer huh?

My little Chandler :)

Hi sweet boy!

Super Baby!!!

I hope on my next blog to actually have some video of Henry crawling... if he cooperates! :)