Easter 2014

We had a great time celebrating Easter! Henry and I made these bunny hand prints to send to family last week. Steven and I both had Good Friday off, so Steven headed to golf with a friend while Henry and I went to a play date. We normally can't participate in these because of school, so I was excited to get to take him to one. It ended up being our only true egg hunt, which made it all the better we went! After nap, we met Steven in Guntersville to camp for the evening! We wanted to take Henry before baby sis comes along, and this ended up being the perfect wknd to take advantage of it since we had an extra day. We had a lot of fun! On Sunday we enjoyed church and time together. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend celebrating the Resurrection! 

Henry was interested in picking up the eggs at the egg hunt, but his motivation was piqued when he realized there was chocolate in the eggs!!

"Look. Look, Momma, Look."

There was a big crowd!!

Tons of kids were there...thanks, Rachel for hosting us!

Henry's "cheese" face-sigh.

We got our site all set up and grilled dinner over the fire. Henry was pleased! He loved exploring and being able to stay in his favorite place-outside!

Steven does the majority of the "grunt" work when we camp. While it is a lot of work for us both, it is also a great way to be together just to hang out, so it's worth it! "The family that camps together, stays together!" so they say!

Here we are heading to the playground-beautiful sunset and lake in the background!

The slide was Henry's favorite part, but it was super fast and high (one of those old school metal ones), so we had to help him (even though he didn't want us to!)

 

We roasted marshmallows after the playground, which Henry loved. He sat next to the fire in his chair like a little man and waited on his treat. 

 

I wasn't so sure, but Henry did great sleeping while we camped. He slept his normal night despite unusual noises and being with us in the tent in his pack n play. The next morning, we cooked a big breakfast, explored a little, and packed up to head home-exhausted of course! Luckily we had the rest of the day to hang out and recuperate.

On Sunday morning, Henry woke to a full Easter basket! He got the book "I am a bunny", window clings, a goldfish "carrot", 2 eggs with stickers and a piece of chocolate in each, and a little white chocolate bunny. He loved it!

A little chocolate first thing in the morning just sets the day off right, doesn't it?

Here he is working with his stickers.

Window clings on the face is funny!

Decorating the window was fun, too!

Before church, we attempted some pics out back of our bow-tied boy!

Handsome!

Steven and I weren't necessarily loving ourselves in this pic....but our boy is lookin good!

One more of the Easter boy!

On Sunday we dyed some eggs.

Henry had fun watching the eggs change colors, then point out which was his favorite. Happy Easter, everyone!

33 weeks

I'm about to hit 35 weeks, but I'm trying to keep up with this pregnancy and document some milestones as best I can! At my 32 wk appt, everything was great. My doc was a bit concerned at my previous appts that I had regressed in weight gain, so he wanted to do an ultrasound for this appt just to make sure the baby was growing like she should be. We got to see some great shots of baby girl, and her estimated weight was 4lbs 5oz, which was right on track. I was measuring perfectly and had gained 3 lbs (ha!) which the doc was happy with. The tech tried and tried to get a good pic proving baby girl is in fact a girl, but evidently she was being modest. While we got some glimpses, she couldn't actually capture it on film (?), so she did switch over to 4D for a sec to give us a treat! It was SO crazy to see the details in these shots. It made us even  more excited to actually meet her!

This was taken on 4/7, at 33 wks and a few days

This was taken at my 32 week appt. This is a picture of the actual picture, so it's not quite as good as the real thing, but you can still get the idea! Pretty amazing...she's a full blown person in there! Look at those cheeks:)

Birthday Celebrations

Well, now that Henry's birthday celebrations are 6 weeks behind us, I figure I need to blog about it! I have felt so behind on the blog, but I just have to give myself permission to run late on it! It is better than not at all, right? We had such a fun time celebrating Henry's second birthday. His actual birthday was exhausting, because we had been at the allergist the day before and the day of for his egg allergy testing that lasted all the way through his afternoon nap. He was a trooper, and we made it through with an all clear on his allergy, so it was worth it in the end! Then on March 1st, we had his actual birthday party with friends and family. Henry had lots of fun!!

                        We took Henry for pizza and afterward to get his very own ice cream at Baskin Robbins.

Henry was a BIG fan of getting his own serving with a cup and spoon!

Big two year old!

Afterward we came home and opened gifts. Henry was totally enthralled with the tool set we gave him.

He especially LOVED the electric drill he got. Look at that sweet little smile.

I was surprised at all the tool names he knew! He loved talking about them with Steven, and we felt bad tearing him away from the to make him go to bed right after he had just opened them!

We tried to get a family shot, but in each one he wanted to show off his drill and would put it right in front of his face!

The next morning, after I got Henry ready for school, he and I were going downstairs (our regular routine) to get breakfast. He seemed to be racing down them and I commented on how fast he was going! He also kept saying what I thought was "new diaper", and I kept saying, "No buddy, we already changed your diaper!". When we got downstairs, he ran straight into the living room and to his "screw driver" which made me realize that is what he was saying as he was racing downstairs! I let him play instead of eat breakfast for as long as I could, then he took a few tools into the car with him, and we ate breakfast on the go! Too cute! He doesn't get t-erribly excited about too many toys, so it was fun to see him get excited about them. The pic above is Henry playing the next afternoon with his tools with Steven-just look at that face!!

On Saturday, March 1, we had a Winnie the Pooh themed party! We invited friends and family to help us celebrate. The guests were welcomed with the sign above. Henry kept patting the sign and saying, "Dada do that! Dada make that!" He had watched Steven nail it all together several weeks before!

 Above is the decor I put above the table on the wall. The Pooh book in the middle is one of Henry's favorites and is opened to the page where the characters are celebrating a birthday, and the quote to the right is from the House and Pooh Corner that says, "Your just in time for a little smackerel of something."

This is the dining room with dessert table and food table:) I had lots of fun decorating for this!

For lunch we had "hunny" ham sandwiches with "hunny" mustard, pasta salad from Rabbit's garden, and Tigger tails (cheese puffs).

For dessert we had owl cupcakes. Henry kept calling them "hunny cakes" and begged for one from the moment he saw them the day before.

We also had a Pooh bear cake made by Aunt Mae...super cute!

I set out his other Pooh book on an end table.

The mantle was decorated with his name, lanterns with bees, 2 framed pooh prints I had, and even a little "hunny" pot I happened to have!

Celebrating with our 2 year old!

When the kids got there, I had a bee hive craft set out that they could do.

An up close version of the craft!

The kids also played pin the tail on Eeyore. Here is buddy John Lane giving Henry a big hug! They promptly fell over after this...it was more like a hug tackle!

Here is Henry's buddy Ellis pinning the tail on Eeyore.

Cousins from Lexington came in to help celebrate of course. Isn't this a great pic?

I got this shirt made for Henry to wear on his big day.

Henry has loved every present he got for his birthday from friends. He was so big telling everyone thank you after he opened them, and we have gotten tons of use out of them since!

Checking out his card!

Posing with nieces Kaia and Mary Ellen

Above is the action packed sunroom! We are blessed to have so many friends/family who are involved in Henry's life and are watching him grow up!

Buddy JL with momma Janelle.

Buddy Bennett with BRAND NEW baby Clayton and our wonderful friends Ryan and Robin. Thank you for braving one of your first outings as a family of four to a 2 year old's birthday party!!

One of the cutest things at his party was how into the Pooh cake Henry was. He took the fondant hunny pot and pretended to feed the hunny to Pooh, then would feed himself a bite, then wold go back to pretending to feed Pooh. So sweet!

"Want some?"

"I think I'll have a little smackerel myself!"

Next he got his own owl "hunny cake". This was his first cupcake ever, and he devoured it! Here he is blowing out the candles.

He loved his first ever bites of real cake!

He kept trying to feed us bites of it, too. Here Steven is trying to take care of being fed by a 2 year old!

We also played "Hunny Toss" where we tossed bean bags into Pooh's mouth. The kids had lots of fun with this!

Guests/neighbors the Potters

The Swanners

The Burns

Henry with his two Grandmas!!

And his two boy cousins!!

Here's the exhausted birthday boy with my parents....he was begging to go to bed at this point!

And here he is with Grandpa and Peggy...all partied out and ready for a nap! Thanks everyone for making our celebration so much fun! We love each of you!

28 wks

On March 1, 2014 I turned 28 wks. My pregnancy is going well, and I have had several weekly OB visits in a row due to the doc wanting to monitor my pneumonia. I feel like I live at the OB's office! When I was (almost) 29 wks, the baby was measuring 28 cm. I find it very hard to believe, but the doc says he would actually like to see me gain some more weight!! I told him I had NEVER heard that before in my life, but I would do my best to oblige!! Ha, ha! I think it's just because I've basically been sick for 2 months solid, but I've only gained about 7 lbs total, and there have been a couple of visits where I've fluctuated and lost a few pounds. Anyway, I am not concerned, but he does want to do an ultrasound at my 32 wk appointment to just make sure the baby is growing as she should be. The heartbeat always sounds good, and she is also very active. I am great with this extra ultrasound, though, because it means another glimpse at her and also another chance to hopefully confirm her gender!:) Steven has made it his mission to make me eat, and has been pushing all kinds of food on me! I think I made up for lost time while on spring break last week! :)
My heartburn is in full force now, and I hate it so. I still sleep well and have not had back pain like I did at this phase with Henry. This pregnancy is going SO quickly...as I write this I am less than 10 wks away from my due date. When I was thinking about this last night as we were leisurely watching TV, I asked Steven if he realized that in just 2.5 short months we will be holding and possibly up walking around a crying infant and will be up every 3 hrs with her in the night.........it is a reality check for both of us to think about this! We've just done less prep than we did with Henry and worried less about it all (part of the beauty of a second child). While I've done some shopping for her for sale clothes, etc. we haven't done much else. I think when we get her room ready and I have some baby showers, it will help prep us mentally. We also need to go ahead and get out the baby equipment so Henry can get used to having it around before she arrives. I have started to glance back over the Bradley Method book to try and prep for delivery....I guess getting her here is really the first hurdle I should be focusing on anyway!
Welp, either way we are excited to meet her (still un-named....while driving to the beach last week we tried to come up with some and didn't get very far....). She'll be here before we know it!

TWO!

Our little man turned TWO on February 26, 2014!! While it's hard to believe we have a two year old, all we have to do is look at Henry to know that he is not really a baby anymore, but is quite the "big boy" running around these days! I've said it before-it would be very sad for me that he is growing up so fast except for the fact that he is just so much fun right now! Everyday he is discovering something new, saying something new, and doing something new. Being a parent is quite the adventure!
We had lots of fun celebrating his birthday this year, and I will be posting on that soon, I hope! But for now, I want to do one last monthly "progress" update. Of course I will be continuing to write all about Hank, but I'm not planning to keep up the monthly update after 2. It is a lot of work! :) 
One of the best things that happened this past month wast that Henry was tested again for his egg allergy, and he has grown out of it!! We took him on the 25th for the prick test-no reaction! We went back the very next day (his actual birthday!) to do the "food challenge". I brought a scrambled egg and boiled egg in. They gave him increasingly larger portions of it and monitored him every 20 minutes-no reaction! I was honestly VERY surprised. He was such a show off at the allergist, too. Steven and I were super skeptical they'd be able to even get him to take one bite (picky and opinionated!), but of course he showed us up and not only ate it right off the spoon but begged for more! He would say, "mmm!" after each bite, too. Silly boy....you never know what he's going to do. Anyway, it has been SO SO nice to not have this worry anymore. Honestly nicer than I thought. Plus, it makes that year of avoiding egg worth it since it worked! I guess they knew what they were talking about after all........:)
Henry went to his 2 year checkup on March 5th and weighed 26 lbs (25%) and was 33.5 inces tall (25%). Dr. Dudley said he looks perfect.:)

Henry continues to talk up a storm. It is interesting, because I try to keep a "tally" on my phone of all his little phrases, and this is the first month that I truly have not been able to keep up at all. He has just said so many things there is no way. After looking at the list, I can even see progress within it. The first phrase of the month is much more "choppy" than what is written for the end of the month, and certainly much more than the full sentences he is saying to us (literally) today ("I want that book please, Mommy. No, not that one. (As I search the seat compartment for the one he's asking for). It's on the floor.") He will repeat anything, and it is SO much fun to hear that little voice emerge. We've tried stuff like supercalagragalisticexpialadoshus on him, and it is hilarious to hear him try. He gets pretty close for a 2 year old!! The more silly of a mood he is in, the more willing he is to try new words, so we do our best to take advantage of this:) He is my little companion in the car to and from work, and jabbers to me all the way. It's nice to hear other people confirm that he is a talker, too though, because we don't really know any different, but will sometimes look at each other and say, "Wow! Did he say______ (fill in the blank)". When church workers, strangers, and his school nursery workers comment on it, though, it makes it seem more valid. :)
Some stuff he's been saying this month has been:
I want mama, runny nose bubble need tissue, playroom dada, drink of water, bang on ball-hit it with a hammer-big hammer, sandwich, salad, lettuce, come on mama!, be careful!, hurry, hurry up, what's the matter mama?, you ok? (these are both so very sweet-he is showing lots of two yr old empathy, and he's gotten lots of practice this past month while I've been sick with pneumonia), I make a noise!, it's blue with green on it! (he's gotten very good with his colors this month), I see bicycles mama! Come on, bicycles!, mama finger scratch my face. Ouch, it hurt me. Hurt chin. (I went to grab him to keep him from falling and scratched his chin with my fingernail really badly! He told EVERYONE the story of what happened thereby making me feel like a terrible mother! I think he's going to have a scar from it- as you can see in the pics here), a little bit more, baby sister, look mama look-it's a ______(whatever he sees-he reports EVERYTHING to me!), mama's shopping, whatcha doing?, it hurts me/I hurt my feet, finger, thumb, whatever, wake up Maggie!, I like snow! More please!, No. Mine. Gimme that/it, I put it away, stickers? stickers? Thank you lady! (He has learned at what stores he gets stickers when we check out, and he never fails to ask. At least he thanks the lady when he get what he wants!), hey Mags, all done mama-I ate it all gone!, babies drink milk-they don't eat goldfish-Henry eats goldfish (this is after one of our conversations with him to attempt to get him ready for baby sister-ha!), Nora Kate (sounded like "cake"), Dawson, Carter, medicine...I need my medicine, I have dirty hands, tip it up high (new sippy cup), there's birds on that jacket! (he noticed my windbreaker), I like Bennett's house! (after we'd visited), baby Clayton, there's a choo choo train on it, Manar says-go away sneeze. skat!, No write in books. Only on paper! No, no. That's naughty. (after a conversation we had when we saw some crayon scribbled on the back page of a hand-me-down book. we talk A LOT about this). I want to hold you, Want that mommy? Want this? Want that one? Want some? (all in a row), can you reach that mama?
He breaks out into song on his own a lot these days, and some songs or portions of songs we get the pleasure of hearing are: That's Elmo's World! My God is so big (complete with hand motions), Muffin Man, This Old Man, Happy Birthday to You (for a while he was throwing "reindeer" in there and we couldn't figure out why-then we realized it was because of the "dear, so and so" part. so funny!). Itsy Bitsy Spider, Skip to my Lou my Darlin.
He has gotten really good (or bad) at saying "I want" this month, and we've had to remind him a lot to say please. He wants EVERYTHING! When he was a baby, I remember reading that a parent should "narrate the day" to increase a child's vocabulary, so I tried to do that some but felt so silly. Now, it is Henry who narrates the day. He tells us everything he is doing or wants to do.........I want to go outside, I put my coat on, I need shoes, I open the door, Come on, Maggie! Come on! Pine cones! I pick up them up. Come on, mama! Want this, mama? Want this? Need this? Here you go.........you get the picture:)


Henry also has "triggers" for every family member. As soon as he talks to or sees particular ones, he says certain things. For Manar, it's stickers. For Kaia, it's bracelets. For Grandpa and Peggy, it's cookies. For Grandma, it's Jesus Loves Me. The boy doesn't forget much! Recently we've been with my parents, and we heard him with my dad at the fridge in the kitchen say, "What are you doing, Papa? Are you getting yogurt?" It's so funny to hear him try to carry on conversations. He also answers "good" or "great" to questions now...like, when Steven asks him how he's doing or how his day was, he says, "good". He's also developing a little sense of humor, and when we showed him an eraser recently (he has a serious love for all things office supply related), he stood up and pretended to "race" it across the room:). He poked himself in the leg the other day accidentally and I heard him from the back seat tell himself sorry and then kiss his leg!
Ok, enough about that...some of Henry's current favorites are....
-food-animal crackers, green olives, graham crackers, cereal bars, strawberries, chicken nuggets
-toys-tools, knocking over stacking cups, golf balls/clubs, play-doh, painting, anything art (anything that's not really a toy like batteries, wipes, lotion, sunscreen, etc:))
-activities-anything outside is #1 by far, running around the house in a circle chasing dada (or vice versa), riding on dada's back like a horse, bubbles
-people-Ellis, Braeden, Eli, plus he talks about certain school nursery workers like Mrs. Mandi, Mrs. Julie and her daughter Emma, Mrs. Valerie, Mrs. Tracy, all family, he's been especially clingy and needy for me this month...up, please! I wanna hold you! I need mama.

We love you, little man! You are a blessing and a sweetheart.