happy 30th birthday gary william!

today is gary's big 3-0. we are officially celebrating on friday night, but we got an early start today by being "flamingoed" by kevin and sue! yep, 30 beautiful pink flamingos adorned our front yard today. too funny!

we are still fighting germs/sickness but will save that update for another day.

today is gary's special day ... he is one wonderfully amazing father, friend, son, brother and husband.

happy birthday gary!

house of germs

the last several days have been rough ones around the vaughan house. early last week henry started cutting two teeth, which brought a cough and runny nose. by wednesday the cough had gotten so bad it was triggering his gag reflex and making him throw up often. on thursday he started running a 102 fever. also on thursday night, gary got food poisoning from some old lettuce (we think) and was in the fetal position until saturday morning. on friday, henry's eye was nearly swollen shut. I then took henry to the doctor ... turns out he has an ear infection, a respiratory infection, conjunctivitis in that eye, and a cold virus. our doctor started him on some antibiotics.

gary is nearly all better-just getting over a cold but the stomach bug is gone. henry is slowly getting better ... but still has a ways to go. his eye is much better, but everything else is still lingering and the cough is still making him sick at times. also, yesterday I found that he is cutting two MORE teeth, so four total (all molars). poor guy can't just get one tooth at a time ... or even just two ... it is four or five at a time.

henry is taking his medicine like a champ though! hopefully the next few days will show more signs of improvement - it is always so sad to see your little one sick. I have not been feeling great either but am trying to ignore it.

more and please

from a little while ago ... signing "more" (touch thumb with fingers and bring together) and "please" (put hand to chest and rub in a circle).

wonder if we can teach him "more cowbell" ....

visit with the perlins

this past weekend I went to see the perlins ... henry stayed home with daddy. it was the first time I was away from him ... I survived but only because I had a sweet little bundle of joy named adam as a stand in ...

gary took excellent care of H and the dogs. they had a busy and fun weekend, although gary did say on sunday morning henry was repeating "mama" over and over ... I was very impressed with how well gary fared and he even had the house clean and groceries for the upcoming week. what a guy! I sure am lucky. he even surprised me by taking off a half a day from work to spend with me yesterday on my birthday. the big 2-9 was fabulous ... bring on another year! :)

how cute is this family?
adam and I playing peek a boo

adam is such a sweet, easygoing baby boy. he is starting to smile and is very focused on the world around him

snowed on saturday! it was great. I was super excited about helping kevin shovel the driveway. I guess it is fun to someone who only has to do it once a year, if that.

adam in his valentines day outfit - funny!

as always, the perlins were phenomenal hosts. I had the best time seeing you guys! I can't wait for henry to meet adam this summer.

catching up

well it ended up we had to say farewell to our old computer. our new one arrived over the weekend. so, lots of catching up to do ...

henry tries tilapia with orzo and asparagus ... tilapia was the favorite, followed by asparagus, then orzo.
love those apples of his cheeks!

working on signing "more" - he finally has it! videos coming soon ...

little guy in a soft and comfy robe from his grandmother E.

not a staged picture-how sweet.

before a walk a couple of weekends ago.

at the lawn at samford hall a couple of weekends ago.

sleeping with all of his friends, most closely, his little dog. he just loves this dog!

sweet boys

this is jake, a six year old golden who came as an owner surrender to our shelter. sad story - the lady's husband left her and she can no longer care for Jake. he is housebroken, good with kids and dogs, and a sweet boy! he is going to golden rescue today. isn't he a cutie?

and congrats to Katherine and Doug who found out yesterday they are expecting a healthy baby BOY! henry is thrilled. we are very excited too.

forgot one ...

I know, I know ... you are thinking what could I have possibly forgotten after that long novel of last posting? but really, I did. henry is finally saying "mama" - it is the best thing. i just love it.

aside from henry updates, we are living in crazy times. there are so many people we know and care about (and even more we don't know) that are affected by our current economy. and, there are those going through personal, non economical trials that are deeply hurting and they are feeling at the end of their rope. hang in there ... don't give up ... and know that you are loved and thought of often.

updates schmupdates

we are in the process of reformatting our home computer and loading some new software ... so it may be a few days before I have new pics and videos to post. I do have some good ones coming though!

updates ... henry is now signing "more" and "please" and he can almost get "bird." we are working really hard on "thank you" and "all done." nothing doing there yet. I also have some of him laughing ... which are funny because he has the classic little, and sometimes big, giggle. it just makes you want to laugh and smile, its precious!

he has tried some new foods ... brunswick stew, chicken corn chowder, strawberry flax seed waffles (they are good-promise!), and lentil soup. loved all of them, especially the lentil soup. this boy LOVES any kind of legume, its wild. tonight he tried mandarin oranges (not crazy about these yet) and some hebrew national beef franks. these are 100% beef franks with no artificial anything ... I've never been a huge fan of hot dogs. they taste fine, but the process and ingredients always grossed me out. my sister in law told us about these franks and they are tasty and non-pork. for those of you that don't know, I gave up pork (along with soft drinks) at the first of the year. gary hasn't really had any either , but is claiming he is on the fence. this has made menu planning during the week a little more challenging since we often made a pork tenderloin or grilled bone-in chops. we have tried to replace that meal with some sort of fish. the hardest part about the non-pork diet is not eating salami, which was a favorite of mine on a sandwich.

henry is not walking yet. he will walk if you hold his hands and will walk around something he can hold on to, but hasn't tried any steps on his own yet. I'm sure it is coming but he can take as much time as his heart desires. he is a very fast crawler now though!

he has learned the commands (not to sound like a dog trainer) "sit down" and "no." we are working on "come" and he responds to that when he wants to ... which can test one's patience at times, but I know he will get it soon enough. we are working on "stay" by using a blanket and trying to get him to stay on the blanket with his toys until we ask him to come. we just started this so it means nothing to him right now.

he is a picky book-reader ... meaning that the books he likes to read he will read over and over and over again. but the books he doesn't like, he tries to close right away and will literally start crying and throwing a fit if you continue to try to read it. I don't know why this happens. any moms out there encountered this? when does this get better? it is weird. any thoughts/comments/suggestions are most welcome!

he has gotten to the point where he is cutting back his morning nap to 45 minutes to an hour so that his afternoon nap will remain the same length. and, from thanksgiving until the new year, he struggled with sleeping at night due to his teeth and being sick. he would rest well a couple nights a week and be up a lot at night the rest of the week. this made for a long six weeks, but no complaints from us because he has always been a good sleeper, and for that we have been thankful. after the first of the year his sleeping went back to normal until mid-january. then went back to being off until mid-week last week. as I write this, I am worried about jinxing things ... anyway, here's hoping that he continues to sleep normal except on occasion rather than the norm.

nursing is done ... he is eating whole milk completely now. I have mixed emotions. looking back it was a fast but long, easy but hard, rewarding but trying, almost 13 months. I could write more but I won't. all in all, I am extremely grateful for that time we spent together. so sweet!

*countdown to Michigan: 4 days!*

well, I spoke to soon ... henry just woke up from sleeping and is crying out for some reason ... so have a great week!

mommy's little helper

helping mum make dinner ... a little water and flour makes a great appetizer, right? I got tired of mixing and decided to go to the back door and look for the doggies (above). since we have so many it is easy to find one, whether inside or outside.
I think Shelby wants a taste of my epicurean delight.

laundry is fun stuff ... i love to find the piles that mum has just neatly folded and ransack them. I also love being inside the hamper and having mum push me around and make funny noises.

mum puts me in this pack and play for a certain amount of time once each day. she says it is my time to practice playing by myself and to work on my focusing skills. that's all well and good until I get tired of it and decide that standing up and looking around for those crazy dogs is more entertaining. or if she walks by, I flash her my cutest grin and then she can't resist picking me up and covering me with those icky smoochie kisses.

saturday ... in the park ... I think it was the 31st of january ...

gary and his dad went to the basketball game and H and I went to the park. it was such nice weather! maison, allison & joel's pup, had his 10th birthday party at a park in Bham. we hated to miss it, but from the pictures (check out the Solomon blog) it was a blast for all two and four legged friends.

top of the slide ...

... bottom of the slide

beep beep!

*countdown to Michigan visit: 11 days!*

first haircut

these pictures got out of order so start from the bottom and then go to the top of this posting.

post haircut happiness

much better!

this was why he needed a haircut-we were pushing his hair behind his ears!

funny little cape