the real countdown

Sue had the best posting today ... she had this picture and posted comments about my impending visit. I thought it was so sweet I had to share! look at this cutie and his countdown calendar! I just can't wait to see him in person. if you zoom in closely you can see that sue made it where she has the days numbered and can just tear the top number off each day (see staple in left corner). what is she, a teacher? um, that would be a yes.

still probably my all time favorite

there are so many pictures I love of my littlest one, but this one is still one of my favorites, if not my all time favorite.

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm an

Extroverted Spiritual Self-Improver

Need a break? Take this quiz - it seriously takes 10 seconds. Not exactly sure what the results mean but oh well!

And, I booked my flight to go visit Suzanne, Kevin and Adam ... only 16 more days until I get to hold that sweet baby! Can you tell I'm excited ...

henry has learned "sit down." we discovered this the other night during bath time. it may not seem very interesting, but we were very surprised!

he is learning all sorts of words even though he can not speak. Lamp/light, fan, balloon, shoe, each of the dog's names, etc. we have a painting of a cow in our kitchen and you can ask him "where is the cow?" and he will point to it. then you can ask him "what does the cow say?" and he will respond "moo" in a muffled sort of way. check it out.

tag ... I'm it.

... by heather to write "10 honest things about me," which for those unfamiliar with the blogging world, is much akin to those emails that circulate that ask a variety of questions about your likes, favorites, funny memories, etc. it is a quiet sunday night and I have 5 minutes so here goes ... in no particular order ...

1. i LOVE fruit juices. apple, grape, cranberry anything, pomegranate, orange, blueberry, grapefruit, you name it. if you open our fridge, there will be a MINIMUM of three types of juices at all times. no exceptions. I'm serious. but, what's more is that I long for (in a good way) one of those super fancy juicers that I could use daily to make freshly pressed juices and experiment with all sorts of goodies. yum. this love of juices rivals my sweet tooth.

2. i hate to be rushed. can't stand it. in any aspect of life, don't care for it one bit.

3. i have a fear, a big one, of furniture flying off the back of trucks on a highway. this stems from being personally hit (body one time, car two other times) from furniture. oh its funny, I can hear the laughter as you read this. I can laugh too, don't worry. but if I'm in a car behind a truck with furniture in it, I'm not laughing.

4. I never could have imagined that I would cherish the honor of being a mother as much as I do. it is amazing. I always anticipated it being an indescribably important part of my life, but in no way does the present compare to what I perceived in the past. I am so thankful for this honor.

5. this one is two part ... I love to clean and can be a bit over the top about it sometimes, but I don't pay too much attention to germs. sounds contradictory eh? I've never been a germaphobe though ... I just want my house clean because I like it to be clean, not because I'm fighting germs, if that makes any sense.

6. I have a list of things I want to do and learn in this lifetime. this list stays personal, but I like to think about being able to do or learn certain things in the span of many years rather than the pressure of doing it now. for example, I really want my grandmother to teach me how to sew, she is so talented. but, I am not able to do this right now and don't have the space for a machine, etc. but one day by george ... I'm not giving up on learning how to do this.

7. I have only a few passions, but many interests/hobbies. I don't know if this is good or bad. sometimes I feel like I am interested in too many things and not really "great" at any one thing.

8. I think about things too much. perfect example, what was supposed to have taken only 5 minutes (this list), has now turned into 30 minutes because I have contemplated several different responses ... I decided that some were too personal, some were too embarrassing, and others were too meaningful to be blog material. good grief.

9. I don't cry about big things, but tend to tear up about little things. that doesn't mean the big things don't have a resounding impact on my life, that's just the way I handle them.

10. I love the Cosby show. I wish it were still running. our whole family enjoyed the show when we were growing up - we would even do skits from different episodes (how corny is that?). and now if I see it, I notice that Claire and Clif always have the PERFECT story or saying or joke to teach their children as they experience different life lessons. gary has to remind me that they are using a script ... thank goodness! :)

I'm tagging: Allison, Meredith, Katherine, Suzanne, Melinda.

fun in the tub & some nice weather

bath time laughs!

it has been pretty chilly in Auburn (for Auburn), but yesterday it was really nice outside. we took advantage of the nice weather by spending lots of time playing outside and at the park.

the many expressions of little henry . . .

in the above photo, you will notice the line of drool that extends from his lip to his outfit. funny!

sweet sterling and looking ahead

for those of you that feel bad for sterling, my parent's dog that we adopted, because he is always outside . . . do not fret. he has been sleeping indoors in this cold weather and is enjoying it. at one point we put all other dogs OUTSIDE and left sterling INSIDE. the other dogs were looking around like "what is this?!?" sterling is one big sweetheart who LOVES to play with bricks and loves to aggravate savannah. he and shelby used to be tight, but they seem to be just acquaintances these days.

we had the big first birthday party this past weekend. shockingly, I only took two pictures. thankfully Allison took a bunch and is sending them to me. thanks to everyone who called, came over and wished him well on his special day. he ran 102 degree fever the two days leading up to the party and didn't get much sleep all weekend, so he was a bit crabby. but, for someone who hadn't felt all that great and was going on little sleep, he did alright.

It is still hard to believe he is one . . .

. . . I did better than I thought I would with this milestone. About a month or two ago when I first realized his birthday was on the near horizon I was emotional, but since then I have really been okay with it. I'm excited to see what lies ahead! and, if we are being honest, maybe a tiny bit nervous too . . . the growing independence, the "terrible twos" or "threes," potty training, the whole gamete. will I be the mother I want to be? will I be the wife I want to be while being the mother I want to be? I suppose all I can do is take it day by day with lots of prayer and patience . . . and see what happens!

jake's protege?

my nephew, Jake, is one talented piano player. not only does he have a gift, he absolutely loves to play. it is really exciting to listen to him! when henry was at my sister's this week, she let him play the piano and took some pictures. I'm not sure he's jake's protege quite yet, but he looks pretty darn cute up on the piano bench.

practicing walking

Henry isn't walking solo yet, but he will walk behind his little push walker. It's so funny to see him toddle about!

happy birthday!

I've written way too much lately, so not much narrating from me for a while . . .

Henry had a wonderful first birthday! Thanks to all who called and wrote to wish him well.

first time to try cake - I made strawberry cupcakes with vanilla icing. I'm wondering if this is my child for he did NOT like the icing nor the cake! I am not a huge fan of cake but I do have a sweet tooth.
he cried - but eventually cheered up and we got a toothy grin

pre-cupcake

at lunch at momma g's with dad

morning time cuteness

Madeline, we are thinking of you as you recuperate from your procedure. Hope you (and your mom & dad) are hanging in there!

...and on January 13th, 2008, our lives were forever changed.

happy birthday Henry! neither your dad nor I can believe you are one. there are not enough words in the english language to describe how thankful we are for you, our firstborn child. nor are there enough words to express the depth of our love for you. every day with you brings such joy and warmth to our hearts. this past year with you has been so incredibly and utterly wonderful and we know it is just the beginning of many more special moments and memories to come. you have so many family and friends that cherish you and your sweet spirit . . . we continue to give thanks for them as well. The Lord has blessed us with a great gift and a great responsibility. We hope and pray that we can show our gratitude and love to Him by raising you to know and love your Creator in the years to come. we also hope we can instill in you a spirit of giving and helping others. and, a humble and gentle heart. and, a confidence and motivation to do anything and be anything you desire to do and be. and, a realization that the world is a much bigger place than what you see each day.

we love you, son. you make our day, every day!

you had chubby cheeks when you were born!

Henry Davis Vaughan - born January 13th at 1:26pm; 7 pounds 16 ounces; 20 1/2 inches long

ready to meet you
last picture with only four legged children

. . . and on Jan. 12th, 2008 . . .

which was a saturday, I went into the office to tie up what loose ends I could because I felt like in case something happened with the ECV procedure, I wanted to make sure things were ready for me to be out of the office. after leaving there I met Tricia for a pedicure - I remember the lady asking, "are you overdue? you are really big" Ha! The things people say to pregnant women. Then from there I met Gary at Acapulco's for a yummy Mexican dinner. The contractions were still happening all through that day, but were not close together or patterned. They would, however, keep me up most of that night (Saturday night). I couldn't get remotely comfortable in bed and the contractions made me gasp here and there, so I went to the couch so as not to wake up Gary. There was no need for both of us to lose sleep. That is where he found me the next morning (the 13th) watching Bobby Flay on Food TV. And the story will continue tomorrow . . . the date of Henry's arrival!

this time in January of 2008 . . .

. . . I'd had some sort of stomach bug for several days. Gary was in Newport News for work all week, so Savannah, Shelby and Bricks were left to care for their large bellied mother who couldn't keep anything down. I do remember that throwing up and being very pregnant were not a good combination, but I survived. I remember my sister asking me to call the OB on call to make sure I didn't need to be seen by a doctor. I hated to call the doctor on call and bother him, but since Gary was out of town and my sister, who is very level headed, insisted, I called him. He said there was a bug going around, not to worry. I had a doctor's appointment a couple of days later and that's when I found out Henry was breech. Gary and I were left with the decision to try an ECV (provided henry was small enough and amniotic fluid levels were sufficient) procedure to try to turn him to the head down position. Before Gary got home, Tricia and I went to visit Allison and Madeline (picture above). Turns out I'd been having contractions all week, but just didn't know that's what they were! That was amusing-thank you Allison and Tricia for teaching me what contractions are. I came back to auburn the next day, Jan. 11th, and Gary returned home from VA that night. And that, my friends, was what happened last January 11th . . .

focused

I see a truck I like in there-think I can get it?

let's try . . .

like my warm sweater from my grandmother Elizabeth? I sure do!

zoom zoom zoom - thanks, madeline for letting me borrow this toy - i love it!

and, go gators! I know that Tebow is undoubtedly a media darling, but wow, he is the real deal. you have to respect and admire this 21 year old. and how many positive football role models and Christian examples are there in today's society?!?

friday laughs

what a cute booty!

henry one year ago . . . .

countdown to henry's big birthday - one year ago this was me/him at 36 weeks, just a few days before he decided to make his grand entrance! time flies.

updates, updates & NY resolutions

As I mentioned in one of my posts below, Henry has lots of news to report. We call it news . . . you may call it superfluous and maybe even boring details. :)

• he is now using front facing car seat
• he has consistently been drinking water from a sippy cup since about 7 months old. over the last month or so, I've been working with him on drinking his milk from a cup rather than using a bottle. until New Year's Day, he wanted nothing to do with milk in a cup. However, starting on NY Day, he has only used the cup for his milk feedings! It is like someone turned on a switch and he said, "bottle, what bottle?" So, we have not used a bottle since NY Eve and I guess we are all done with the bottles - I guess there is no real use for them anymore. He nurses in the morning and uses a cup his other three milk feedings.
• he has "tasted" whole milk mixed with breast milk and whole milk on its own and seems to like it just fine. so, his lunch time feeding is now solely cow's milk. starting next week after his birthday we will be increasing the cow's milk and decreasing the breast milk. I have mixed emotions about this - bittersweet is the best way to describe it. Someone once told me, "you aren't really done being pregnant until you stop nursing" and I think there is truth to that statement. In some ways I am excited about packing up all the accoutrements that come with breastfeeding and ready to be done with constantly planning around a nursing or pumping schedule. There are a few other things that come along with nursing that aren't really "blog material" that I will be glad to leave behind. Yet in other ways, I think back about how fortunate I am that nursing went so well and that Henry and I were able to share many special moments together. My original nursing goal was six months and I'm proud that I made it to one year. And, I love the idea that he received the absolute best nutrition from day one through his first year of life. I hope to do my best to continue with quality nutrition from now throughout the rest of his life. I will always look back on this past year with amazement and respect for human life and for the bond shared between parent and child. I can not put into words how much this last year has changed our lives, and certainly for the better.
• solid food eating wise he is still doing great! he even will eat green peas now which was the only food he met he didn't like. I'm not sure he has a "favorite," but if you had to pick a few things, he really enjoys: yogurt; he likes all green veggies (asparagus, broccoli, sugar snap peas, edamame, green beans, zucchini) but spinach is his favorite; he loves any kind of bean (black, pinto, northern, chick peas); cheese (he has tried provolone, muenster, havarti); butternut squash; sweet potatoes; avocados, mangoes, peaches, apples and pears. the fruits he can be picky about are bananas, papayas and strawberries. we are trying to move on to things with more texture and less mashed/pureed.
• Henry started crawling, army crawling that is, at 9 months. In the last few days he has started crawling up on all fours, normal crawling that is.
• he can take steps if holding onto something, but doesn't seem real interested in trying to take any steps on his own.
• Henry doesn't watch TV (we turned our cable off last April-we never watched much besides sports and movies and Food TV), but we do allow him to watch a Signing Times video and a Praise Baby video. My friend Crystal introduced us to the Signing Times video series - teaching your child sign language. The benefits of sign language include communicating with your child before he/she can talk, increased reading and language abilities, and that by learning to communicate earlier, children can use a sign instead of throwing a tantrum to communicate their needs. Scientific studies suggest that "typical" children who learn to sign: have higher IQ scores, are better adjusted, read at an earlier age. Obviously a child will be fine without learning sign language (neither Gary nor I learned ASL as children and I guess we turned out okay, ha!) and it will not delay actual speech as commonly suggested, but there are so many developmental and social benefits that he/she will have access by learning ASL. It goes along with the belief that "most parents want to give their child every advantage in life possible, and signing is one way to do that." So we started the Signing Time video at about 7-8 months and we try to work on it with him throughout the day and when he is in his highchair. In the last day or two, we have started to see that Henry can now actually do a few signs! I can't tell you how exciting it was to see him to it on his own! He can sign eat (put your fingers together and bring them to your mouth in a repeated motion), milk (your hand squeezes like you are milking a cow), and dog (you pat your leg with your hand like you are calling a dog). I was able to get "eat" and "milk" on video. Hopefully, there will be more to come soon! Enjoy!
  

EAT

MILK

• as for New Year's resolutions . . . last year my resolution was to be more punctual or avoid that ever present "five minute late" standard seemed to set. I would say that I improved slightly, Defintitely room for more improvement. For 2009, Gary and I have both resolved to focus on healthy eating for our family as a whole. We are pretty healthy eaters overall, but there are things we eat that do not contribute to good nutrition that we can work to improve. Some ares of focus are: cutting out certain types of meats (pork mainly); eating less foods with preservatives and additives; and not drinking soft drinks. While we haven't been over the top "soft drinkers" we do enjoy them here and there. However, there is just really nothing good or nutritional in any soft drink. So we will see how it goes!
• I am changing my work schedule by working and being in the office more starting this week. While I am extremely thankful to be employed in our current economic state, this continues to be a struggle for me. If finances were no consideration, I would choose to stay home full time. But, that is not reality and it is not drudgery either, don't get me wrong. You working moms out there know how hard it is to leave your little ones; it never really does "get easier" in my opinion. I am focusing on the positives: I have a job that helps pay the bills and provides great benefits, I enjoy my job, I work with absolutely wonderful people, my job is local and does not require extensive travel, I have the ability to work less than full time, and Henry is in excellent hands while I am away. I will be just fine and so will Henry, right?!? :)

a walk and a swing

bird's eye view from walk earlier today with H and the dogs. bricks and shelby are the best dogs to walk and savannah and sterling are usually the more challenging/energetic dogs to walk, so we try to split them up accordingly. my guess is that when we pass people in the neighborhood, they must think we have serious issues walking four dogs and a baby.

my sister gave us a swing they no longer use - so gary attached it to the only tree with limbs strong and low enough to hold it. it's right in our front yard. henry LOVES to swing; his face just lights up and he kicks his feet around. I am so excited about having the swing put up and in use!