TGIF

henry has played hard this week-he took a three hour nap today from which I had to wake him! notice he has his friends all curled up with him as he sleeps. so sweet.

decided to be dramatic while having his picture taken ...


whew, being dramatic is tough.

from earlier in the week-this photo cracks me up-his expression is priceless!

wrestle time with dad ...

have a great weekend!

welcome cousin!

congrats to my cousins ryan and maggie on the birth of their son, Ryan David Herring, born today weighing in at 7lbs 9ozs and 20 inches long. (this is my cousin who coaches at Shelby High School and had a great season this past year). David is a cutie and we can't wait to meet him!

I'm walkin', yes indeed, I'm walkin' ...

climbing through a tunnel at the park and REALLY proud of himself!

still wobbly and slow going, but the walking has begun my friends ... at 15 1/2 months.

here we go!

at the park yesterday-too cute.

orange beach, new project, new jommers

this past weekend my mom and my two sisters took our first (hopefully annual) mother/daughter girls weekend trip. destination: orange beach. we really had a nice time just the four of us. we are blessed to all have wonderful husbands who cared for our homes and children while we were away. they all did a marvelous job! we had some tasty seafood, spent relaxing time on the beach, caught up on reading, squeezed in a run, stopped by the outlets, and watched lots of girly movies. best of all we just enjoyed each other's company.

mothers and sisters are one of a kind!

we had dinner one night at this awesome place called Cosmos, named after the owner's black lab. the food was great, the atmosphere even better. live music and outdoor seating, can't beat that.

this was also the weekend of the famed Mullet Toss at the Florabama. This was as close as we got to the mullet action.

Moving on ... my friend Heather started embroidering things for her daughter. she inspired me to have a go at this ... so I brought things with me to the beach. Heather promising me it was easy, the cost effectiveness of it for a mom on a budget, and trying something new were my reasons. Above is a lobster that I tried and below is a turtle that I tried as well. I used the split stitich mostly, except for the eyes, those were french knots. I could use some improvement, but was pleased for my first attempts.

shirt from walmart: $3.50 each

thread and needle: $1.50 (for both color threads)

mark B gone pen for tracing outline: $3.75 (can be used for more shirts)

not bad!

cheese! henry's new jommers. and yes, he is my littlest prince charming. boy did I miss him while I was gone! he seemed like he grew so much while I was away.

do I hear those dogs barking again?

lil' dozer ... big belly

henry cracked corn and sweet, sweet sitters

henry tried corn on the cob for the first time-he loved it! he'd only had pureed corn before.

silly guy
every since i went back to work and henry started being cared for by others, we have been so very fortunate to have excellent child care for our angel. my sister is still keeping henry two mornings a week and boy does he LOVE his auntie. and, she sure loves him too! it's so very special to us that they spend quality time together. aunts have always held a dear place in my heart and I know that henry will feel the same way about all of his aunties.

the other times I'm at work we have sitters that keep henry at our house. I am one of those people that believes God places each person/situation/etc. in your path for a reason. and, I believe he has brought us in contact with each of our incredible sitters for a reason too.

Jenny (above) has been keeping Henry this past fall/winter/spring. I can not say enough great things about her, truly I can not. She graduates in May and is moving away to start working ... we are really going to miss her!

Hope (below) kept Henry when he was itty bitty last spring and has kept him one afternoon this winter/spring. She is one outstanding young lady as well. She will be helping out here and there this fall-not as much as we would love for her to, but her schedule is really busy so we'll take what we can get.

both of these ladies not only hold a special place in their hearts for our son, but are also diligently serving others and God. they don't even realize what witnesses they are to both Gary and I. they are such blessings to all three of us and we are very thankful!

smiles and laughs

richard came to visit this past weekend - which always means there are laughs abound! he is one funny guy.

well, henry didn't think he was so funny, but one day he will!

no, he's not wearing a dress, it is a bubble.

I can stand ... and take about two steps. and then I sit down.

five has flown by

last friday, gary and I celebrated our fifth anniversary. five years really has flown by! we each had a sentimental surprise for each other and we were able to go out for dinner and drinks Friday night. each year some of our traditions include watching our wedding video and tasting a bottle of Cakebread wine. this year it was a 2007 sauvignon blanc. it was delish.

henry went to his first "spend the night party" away from home at my parents on friday night while we spent some time jsut the two of us. mom and dad were so excited-i think they all had a blast.

thanks mom and dad!

here's to many, many more!

enrique, cutest thing ever, some cakes and another new friend

one of my niece's has a birthday this weekend and she had her first spend the night party to celebrate! my sister and I made individual cakes for each guest ... they all brought their sleeping bags and so the cakes are replications of each girl in her sleeping bag with her initial on each one. cute! it was so fun to decorate them.

this one was for my nephew

the birthday girl

cutest thing ever

henry had another friend born yesterday ... congrats to Craig and Julie on the birth of Jackson Hodges Melton, 8 lbs, 13 ozs, 21 and 1/2 inches long. Both are doing great! Julie and Craig are friends from junior league and our sunday school class.

last weekend before the Art Walk/Run fundraiser ... Henry wanted his own sign, which says "me llamo enrique." ha!

the fundraiser went well-on the day of we had 145 runners and 176 walkers. In year's past we had 90-120 total, so we were very pleased! the weather was perfect and there were so many fun activities that day of ... it was a neat experience. I will say that though, that I look forward to participating in (instead of chairing) the event next year!

happy birthday mom!

we love you lots!

fifteen months

fifteen months old today ... time is still flying by at a rate I never realized existed. love for this sweet boy keeps growing at a depth I never anticipated either.

a few 15 month updates:

• about three to four weeks ago Henry dropped a few things ... his morning nap and his pacifier. while it was nice to have some time in the morning to catch up on housework and other stuff, I must admit I enjoy this "no nap time freedom" so to speak. we have more play time in the mornings for activities and such. no rushing back to the house for a nap. I like it. as for the loss of his papsy, the first couple of days he had a little trouble with it, but after that it was totally fine. now he just chews his poor little dog and tiger blankets to pieces!
• he is eating most of what we eat at meal times. while he will still eat a good variety of fruits and veggies, he now has an opinion and eating has become a little trickier despite my hard efforts in getting him to eat anything and everything. I keep telling myself my expectations are too high. some of his favorites are: yogurt, waffles, bread, any kind of bean, fish (LOVES fish), chicken, sweet potatoes, spinach, bananas, applesauce, and crackers. we try to get him to taste new foods as much as we can. Funny story ... I am overprotective (and I know and admit this) about what he eats ... one day at church I packed him a snack and when I picked him up, they told me he ate his snack AND had a pop tart. A pop tart-he'd never had a pop tart and there was a reason for that! For a few minutes I was not happy about this at all, but didn't say anything to anyone at church. Several minutes later I found myself laughing ... I mean really, one pop tart, is that going to hurt him?!? In the grand scheme of life this was nothing to be concerned about ... so that was one parenting lesson learned that day ... (*note: for anything I might post on here, just because we allow or disallow certain things for H or ourselves, this does reflect us being judgemental about decisions other parents make that might differ with ours - every child is different and every parent is different. this does not mean any one parent is better than another, so please don't misunderstand our thoughts/decisions/comments)
• he is a happy guy most of the time but he can get mad. he has a temper. we are just starting time out. he really hates to put on pants too ... not sure why. he will get mad at times if he does not get his way. the fun begins, right?!
• he loves to be outdoors. he loves animals, except for some reason he is afraid of my sister's dogs and I am perplexed about this.
• he is signing many new signs (am trying to get these all on video to post).
• he can say "night night," momma," "dog," and "da-da."
• he has the best laugh ever.
• he loves to "waller" around in your lap, on a bed, on a couch and be tickled. he could do this for 30 minutes or more.
• he loves riding in his stroller.
• he has started to cry when gary or I leave him ... sometimes worse than others. he usually stops soon after we leave, but it still is sad!
• he is still a picky book reader -loves to be read to, but only those books he "likes." not sure when this will change ... hopefully soon! :)

one year ago ... three months old. what a difference a year makes! they change so much the first year or so!

last Easter

happy 15 months Henry!