back in black! actually brown, or gray, or snowman jammies

Henry's fever finally broke on Friday afternoon. Yea! He is still coughing and congested, but his demeanor is back to happy henry and no recurrence of the fever. He enjoyed getting outside for a walk in the fresh air . . .

. . . bundled up in his snuggly and warm coat from aunt deirdre. thanks again d!

we all wore our green this past Saturday in hopes of a Spartan "w" - unfortunately, it did not work.

thanks to gary's mom for henry's doggie longall - too cute.

thanks to aunt shannon for the classic snowman jammies!

one of my biggest pet peeves is not celebrating each holiday at its own time (like stores selling halloween stuff in July, people putting up their christmas decorations after halloween, etc.). I feel like our society just rushes through everything and each day is not celebrated for what it is. so, the snowman jommers are an example of this, but my reason for dressing him in "pre-holiday attire" is that it was pretty darn cold this past weekend and those are the warmest jommers he has. :)

pulling bricks' tail - he's always a good sport.

and our final shout out of thanks goes to aunt allison for the cashmere sweater outfit. it looked so cute on him! as you can see, he is "popping" out of it. ha!

still under the weather

no progress for H man - still sick. his cough seems to be a little worse today, so much so that he got to coughing so hard during his morning feeding that he threw up his milk. gary is at home with him today so I could come in to work. still running a fever. poor muffin.

ten months old and a few updates

Mr. H reached the ten month mark last week. To celebrate, I bought him some new pajamas that were irresistibly adorable. I love these pictures! might be some of my all time favorites. these pics were taken prior to . . .

him getting sick. poor little guy started running a fever on Monday, accompanied by a runny nose and deep, sad sounding cough. this is Henry's first time to be sick . . . we are so grateful and fortunate that he has been spared any illness the first ten months of his life. it is so pitiful to see your child miserable! breaks my heart and this is just a little virus. henry and I are . . .
at home today, as his sickness has gotten worse. for the last 10 days or so, Henry has had trouble sleeping at night. some nights up all night, other nights up for just a bit. we attributed this to his first tooth coming in . . . have heard of people having no issues with teething and others whose children had a really rough couple of weeks. over the weekend he slept pretty well, almost back to his normal self, but last night he had the worst night he has had in a long while. his congestion/virus just had him completely unsettled. how helpless a mother feels at times!


the doctor said give him 3 days for the fever to run its course and another week or so for the congestion/cough to clear up. here's hoping my sweet baby is on the mend soon.

steelers gear and some new kicks

ray and jan . . . henry was waving his terrible towel on Sunday! go steelers!

my sister here in Auburn has so nicely saved many things for henry (and future Vaughan children) from her children. I can't tell you how wonderful she has been to us and to our son in so many, many ways. one of the items she passed down was this pair of nike tennis shoes. what do you think about henry's new kicks?! funny!

UGA weekend

Gary's cousins from San Diego (the ones whose wedding we attended back in May) flew in for the weekend to visit and go to the UGA game. They are so much fun! We had the best time and wished they lived closer. I only took three pictures the whole weekend - shocker, I know.

brrrrr . . . tailgate was a chilly one. fried turkey and all the fixings. yum.
Gary's mom and Jon came down to visit too. It was a great weekend, even if Auburn came up short.

happy today

because we have some good news! two weeks ago savannah had two tumors removed. we received the results back (finally!) and both tumors were both benign. we are so thankful! savannah kept pestering with her stitches, so she ended up getting staples instead and had to wear one of those elizabethan collars for a while. but the staples are out, the crazy collar is off, and she has a clean bill of health and I am so happy!

bedtime at the vaughan house for all the kiddos . . .

and for the video of henry . . . he has become very good at the art of imitation. :)

Today is officially the "Friendliest Village on the Plains" Day!

please read press release below and Auburn fans everywhere, please remember to do one nice thing today for a visiting team's fan! WAR EAGLE!!!

Mayor Declares Saturday, November 8 "Friendliest Village on the Plains Day"
Auburn, Ala. - In support of the Lee County Auburn Club's Friendliest Village on the Plains (FVP) campaign, Mayor Bill Ham, Jr. has declared Saturday, November 8 to be "Friendliest Village on the Plains Day" in the City of Auburn.
The campaign began as a means to promote and encourage the hospitable and friendly Auburn spirit, specifically on football weekends. The program encourages Auburn fans to make visiting teams and their fans feel welcome in Auburn.
Mayor Ham commented, "One of the hallmarks of the Auburn Family is a spirited, but friendly competitive nature. I am delighted to recognize the efforts of the Lee County Auburn Club and encourage all Auburn citizens to take a few moments each game weekend to make our visiting fans feel welcome. I believe Auburn has some of the friendliest fans in the nation and I applaud the Lee County Auburn Club's efforts to make that known. War Eagle!"

Pictured (L-R): Nancy Carlton Bendinger, President, Lee County Auburn Club

Dr. Jay Gogue, President, Auburn University

Thomas Maple, Lee County Auburn Club

Lawrence Hamberlin, Lee County Auburn Club

Mayor Bill Ham, Jr., City of Auburn

Summer Vaughan, Treasurer, Lee County Auburn Club

friday laughs

we have two ottomans that have tops that come off and inside them we keep several of Henry's toys. he likes to stand and hold onto them while pulling toys out of each one. the other day he was reaching in to get a toy and the weight of his giant head made him topple over into the cube. now before you think "why would she leave him there to take a picture?" please understand that this whole process literally took not even a minute and little h did not stay head first in the ottoman for very long at all. I promise! it was really funny . . . he was not hurt or crying or anything of the sort.

he loves zwieback toasts and the complete mess that they make

my little turkey one week shy of ten months

this is his last week to be nine months . . . and on this last week we found out we have a new visitor. a tooth! hallelujah! I really thought Henry was going to walk before he got his first tooth, but thank goodness that is not the case. a jagged, sharp, and crooked tooth has popped through his little gum. you can't really see it unless you look closely, but you can feel it.

here's to my little turkey's first little tooth . . .

the man in the yellow hat revisited

yep. the man in the yellow hat is back. except this time he's the original with his little curious monkey. the city of auburn declared october 30th as "halloween" as far as trick or treating goes because Auburn High School has a home football game tomorrow night, the traffic from which may create an unsafe environment for trick or treaters. gotta love small town living!

happy halloween!

countdown to halloween

here's to happiness!

Whirlwind Tour of the Northeast

We have returned safely from our whirlwind tour of the northeast. It was a blast!

Wednesday night: we drove to Newnan to spend the night with my aunt and uncle (who won again and is still undefeated!).

Thursday morning: we caught a flight to Pittsburgh; from the airport, Gary rode with friends to Morgantown for the Auburn/West Virginia game. What a game. I will say that our whole flight to Pitt was all ORANGE - it was AUSOME! War Eagle anyway. While Gary cheered on the Tigers, Henry and I visited with our very dear friends, Ray and Jan Dobrosky. As many of you know, my parents became great friends with Ray & Jan when they lived in Pittsburgh way before I was born. Our families have all kept in touch over the years . . . vacations in Hilton Head, visits to each others homes, all wonderful times. They have always been like family/second parents to me. While the South is known for its hospitality, I will have to say that the Dobrosky house may take hospitality to a new level. Thank you, Ray and Jan, for absolutely spoiling us while we were there! We love you guys.

Henry meets Grandma Jan for the first time and is sporting his Steelers outfit she gave him. She had another Steeler outfit for him when we arrived. :)
S, Jan, Ray

When we would vacation with Ray/Jan in HH, their children and close friends would also come. Some of them stopped by Thursday night to say hello and catch up-it was so nice of them to make the effort to say hello!

Friday: Gary rode back to where we were after the football game. On Friday, we rented a car and drove six hours to Michigan to visit Kevin and Suzanne. The weather was nasty and rainy the whole drive. We had dinner with Sue's parents Friday night and then crashed.

Saturday: Kevin and Gary left at 6am Saturday morning and headed to Ann Arbor for the Michigan State/Michigan game at the Big House. They had plenty of time to tailgate and play cornhole. They had a blast and the Spartans were victorious! Woo hoo! Meanwhile, Sue and I returned the rental car and watched the game at Sue's house in their newly finished basement. Henry, who was a trooper the entire trip, took a three hour nap on Saturday afternoon. Poor little guy!

Go Green!

Sunday: the main reason we planned this whirlwind tour was to celebrate with the Perlins by helping host a baby shower for them. On Sunday we had a very nice shower for Baby Perlin, due around Christmastime. We are ready to meet you, little P! From the shower we left for the Detroit airport and flew back to Atlanta. We ended up getting home around 9:30pm last night. Thanks Kevin and Suzanne for a lovely visit! We had a truly wonderful time seeing our loved ones!

I will say that it is nice to be home and see our dogs and be settled. Henry did well on both flights-he was awake about half the time and slept half the time. He was up very late each night and slept in three different places and still had a smile a good bit of the time. He is happy to be home as well. Henry has been to more places in his first 9 months than he will probably go in the next few years . . . Chattanooga, San Diego, Orlando, Sarasota, South Carolina (Greenwood), Seaside, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. I say all of that not to boast about Henry's travels, but more as a side note to say that the Vaughans are officially done traveling for 2008.

We hope everyone had a good weekend and happy early Halloween!

The cake at Sue's shower-how perfect!

Miss Shirley (Sue's Mom)

Soon to be parents

H at the airport

funny guys