another week goes by ...

it has been a good one. on monday henry had a doctor's appt for a round of shots. poor guy got five of those bad boys-so sad. other than that, he did great. he weighs about 26 pounds (25th percentile), is 32 inches tall (50th percentile) and is growing just fine. in the waiting room ...

before school today - ready to cheer on the Tigers for an important game this weekend. today the firemen and a firetruck visited henry's school (fire safety week). the fire dept. brought hats for all the students and let them explore parts of the truck. this was right up henry's alley!
caught a big laugh on film!

Henry continues to make the best art I have ever seen ... what an artiste. below is a leaf they used marbles to paint.

happy halloween!

below is a raccoon - the "mask" of his eyes are henry's hands and the tail is henry's foot.

apple tree

glittery ghost

and a firetruck.

on tuesday gary and I headed to atlanta for a little date night. gary surprised me a few months ago with tickets to see U2, one of my all time favorite bands. we went to REI to test out double jogging strollers, had a lovely dinner at Murphy's in VA Highlands, then headed to the Ga Dome for the concert. it was a fabulous show! a good mix of most of their albums. we drove home afterwards since we both had to work normal time the next day, but it was worth the late night no doubt. great surprise!

stage before the show (below)

20 weeks & war eagle again!

here we are at 20 weeks ... just about out of most of (but not all) normal pants and into maternity pants. trying to jog, walk and do strength exercises (at home) as much as possible. pushing henry while jogging is becoming a little harder, but still feels good. here's hoping for no broken ankles and casts this go round!

I am feeling marvelous (knock on wood)! baby V moves around a good bit and gary has been able to feel him move as well, which is exciting. time is flying by ... it goes even faster the second time around. supposedly the baby is about 10 inches from head to heel and weighs approximately 10 ounces.
war eagle again! what a game this past weekend. moving into the top 25 is quite a surprise given our young team. this weekend's game at Arkansas will be a tough one. Go Tigers! henry watched the first few minutes in his jommers, then went to bed and slept right through the excitement and crazy cheering from his parents. after four home games in a row, it was really nice to have an away game this weekend.

we worked on our tackling some more this weekend. he and daddy found lots of new things to tackle around the house!

miss you daddy

we miss and love you, daddy!

weagle weagle, bye bye blue room and the name game

another AU win, weagle weagle. once again, no tailgating pictures. I keep forgetting to break out the camera or my battery is dead, one or the other each week. it was a good tailgate though!

this weekend we started working on Henry's next room. he will move into our current guest room and the baby will occupy the current nursery. so, the "blue room" will only be robin's egg blue for a few more days. we moved all of the furniture and other junk out this weekend to our new storage space. so the room is now empty and awaiting a fresh coat of paint. its so weird to see that room empty ... I loved that room the way it was. but I know I'll love what it is about to become too. our goal is to get the room mostly done in october (now that we have some away game weekends) and move henry into his new room in november.

the name game ... we are working on a name for the new addition. we have five names that we both like ... its just a matter of choosing the best one. it is going to take a little while-it seems much harder this go round!

lots of projects and to do's around the Vaughan house.

henry found out his new cousin due in March is a healthy baby ... girl! how exciting!

the below picture is just a random one from last week. poor henry started running a 101.1 fever today out of the blue. no appetite, very lethargic. very un-Henry. no idea what this could be; hopefully, its short lived. he is getting 3 new teeth (he can never get just one at a time!), so maybe that is what is causing it.

you can ask henry, "where is the baby?" and he will say "mommy's belly." he will then lean down and give my stomach a hug and a kiss. its quite cute.

happy friday and go green!

Henry wanted to give a "Go Green" to his MSU buddies ... here's hoping for a W this weekend. Also, Henry still loves the "Napping House" book. happy friday to all!

war eagle!

what a wild weather game! henry is officially over his stomach bug as of friday. poor guy, can't seem to stay well for very long it seems. gary's mom came down last week to help with henry while I worked and was a tremendous help! we can't thank her enough, really and truly. on saturday, gary and I planned to tailgate and go to the game without the little guy-a big thanks to my mom who came down and kept henry for us. my mom works long hours and she probably gets the least amount of grandparent time with henry ... I am glad they were able to spend some quality time together. we have such a wonderfully supportive family!

at the park
silly boy

vroom vroom!

game day ... we went for a family run on campus that morning and henry sported his tiger tail.

we had a build your own brat bar at the tailgate - gary and chad boiling and grilling.

katherine and baby alex - alex was a trooper and was great the whole day!

henry loves aubie-hope the sound is loud enough you can hear him say it.

the vaughan boys

the all knowing and influential {cough, cough} poll for baby number two is closed ... and the ultrasound is complete.

first and foremost, we are thrilled to say that our second child appears to be healthy and has reached the appropriate developmental milestones of a 17+ week old fetus. for this, we are undeniably grateful.

secondly, we are also thrilled to announce that our second child is a boy!

we took a photo of us as a couple prior to henry's ultrasound so we thought we'd repeat the tradition ... black is always a lucky color for us! here are some ultrasound pictures. he did not want to show his face (he was facing my back, identical to henry at his U/S); however, unlike henry he was not in a pike position, but head down and literally doing a headstand! he was very sleepy (let's hope that continues) and did not want to move around (also like henry at this U/S).

Henry stayed home and was still under the weather today, but seemed a little better in that there was no vomiting today! so that was exciting. he decided the best way to celebrate the news of him having a little brother to pal around with was to decorate his face with googly eyes. we were doing some arts and crafts and he just started putting the googly eyes all over his face and neck. it was hilarious!

lastly, I want to share a verse that gary and I read together and prayed over before the ultrasound today. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 "Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give to you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."

We feel so blessed to have a healthy and wonderful child in Henry and now feel doubly blessed to have the opportunity to be parents to another child, another son. What miracles and overwhelmingly beautiful gifts from God, gifts that never should and never will be taken for granted. It is our sincere hope and mission to show His perfect love to both of our sons daily ... when we sit at home, when we walk down the road, when we get up and when we lie down.

For He is so, so good!

weekend on the plains

War Eagle! Gary's sister came to visit the past several days. It is always fun to see her! The only photo taken was the one below. I had planned on taking some pics at the tailgate on Saturday, but ...

Henry and I did not make it to the tailgate on Saturday. About 4am Friday night/Saturday morning, he started vomiting and that continued throughout the weekend. He's also running a fever. He has been in and out of good spirits and very tired. Mostly, he's just wanted to be held and read to. He will say from time to time, "Henry hurt" and put his hand on his tummy; that is still extremely heartbreaking to hear. I'm not sure if this is a rotavirus relapse or a different virus altogether. Poor guy just got well-he seems to catch anything these days.

Here's hoping for him to feel better tomorrow! one morning last week before school

funny video before school last thursday

War Eagle!

A great way to kick off Auburn's first game weekend. This is our favorite time of year!

Friday night was the "Block Party" downtown Auburn. It was loads of fun and Henry danced up a storm.

Game day was even better ... started the day with a family run on campus, did some tailgating (no photos), and then we took Henry to his first Auburn game. He loved the pregame festivities! Once kickoff took place, he was more interested in cheerios, raisins and a lollipop. He lasted until about 2 minutes left in the first half and then he and I trekked back home. He loved Aubie Tiger most of all ...

Here we are at 16 weeks preggo ... one week from today is our ultrasound. This past week I started to feel 100 times better and am most grateful! Many of you have asked about baby names ... we decided to wait until after the U/S to start the brainstorming.

little picasso

henry has arts and crafts at preschool each day.

we are loving the fun artwork he is bringing home! enjoy.

frog. if you ask him "who made this frog?" his response is "mary jo," one of his teachers.
apple stamps

painted apple. this day he came home with red paint all over his smocked outfit. they said he got really excited about painting that day! adorable. the little saying that goes along with the apple is sweet too. see below. he also says mary jo made this one too. funny!

"auburn car tracks"

I love that little picasso. mmmuaahhh!

cute, cute and cute.

had a great weekend. hope you did as well. spent quality time with our niece and nephew, quality time as a family, enjoyed hanging out with katherine and alex, celebrated my sister's birthday, enjoyed a family hike at Chewacla, and laughed at the many funny things henry continues to spring on us.

here's to his cuteness himself.

third day of preschool. he had a good week! he brought home two crafts, apple stamps and a painted frog.
touchdown auburn in his new Auburn hat.
shopping for birthday decorations ... he thought these decorative cones were hats. ha!
checking out chewacla park

monday with momma ... who he is now starting to call mommy as well.

his appetite is back and its almost scary how much he can eat. he can also drink milk again-rotavirus made him lactose intolerant for about 3 weeks. he has a new tooth on the bottom; this makes a total of 11 teeth altogether. he is basically no longer particular about reading any new book-its fabulous! his talking has really taken off-its amazing the things little ones know and just can't verbalize up to a certain point. he is also extremely observant. we can pass my office and he will say "momma's work!" we can approach the hill before we get to the park and he will mutter "park! park!" he can spot an auburn flag, sticker, emblem, you name it a mile away.

he still LOVES cars, trucks and keys. lastly, he is as excited as we are about football season kicking off this thursday night. woo hoo!

and one more thing, Nancy and Doug welcomed Dalton Ruth Bendinger into the world on Friday. She was 5lbs 10ozs and 19 inches long. Exciting news!

Henry's New Role ...

... of Big Brother will start sometime in February or thereabouts! We are excited to announce the we are expecting baby number two. I am almost 15 weeks. We do plan to find out if baby number two is a boy or a girl ... which will happen on Sept. 14th. So, cast your vote now on the poll. So far from talking to friends and family, girl is the overwhelming leader. I will add that girl was the overwhelming leader last time as well ...

As for us, we do not have a feeling or a preference. Just a healthy baby is a blessing!

Another reason to celebrate is that this baby will have a cousin within weeks of his/her age ... Gary's sister Deirdre and hubby Joe are expecting their first child in early March. How fun that these two will be so close in age and that Deirdre and I can share our pregnancies together. We are thrilled for them!

first day of preschool

Henry had a great first day of preschool! He had some free play time, some outside play time, a snack, he painted and helped clean up crafts and toys. When we left, he kept saying "henry's school." Too cute! Let's hope tomorrow goes as well!

this is what I'm talking about in my henry-ism of the week. you ask him to smile and he takes his pointer fingers and puts them on his cheeks. ha!

here is henry showing off his animal sounds. my favorite is the turkey. enjoy!

sunny days

Henry is still on the upswing and doing well! not 100% but SO much better. I'm thankful that all of the virus gunk happened within the last two weeks and not the upcoming two weeks because Henry starts preschool on Tuesday. He has "Meet the Teacher" day tomorrow and will be going to Grace Methodist Preschool here in Auburn on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 8-11:30am. It is a sweet little school and a smaller program, which I like. I really don't care if Henry learns his ABCs, to count, shapes, etc., this year, as long as the program is fostering a gentle, kind and giving spirit, creativity, and obedience. That is what is most important to me at this point ... the rest will come later. Gary and I both think he will really enjoy it! Our new babysitter, Sally Anne, starts this week too ... she will be keeping Henry on Tues/Wed/Thurs afternoons. She seems like a wonderful Christian young lady and we are looking forward to getting to know her.

Sunday was a beautiful day, wasn't it? We took Henry and the dogs for a long walk. Gary rigged up a leash that allowed for one person to walk the three sporting dogs. He walked them and I walked the herding group, Shelby, and pushed Henry. Below is the view from behind. Too cute!

henry sporting his new "crocs"

On Saturday there was a baby shower for Nancy. It was great to have almost all of our old crew from college all in one place! Several gals brought their little ones, which was so fun. Catherine Ellis, Megann's adorable baby girl, is pictured below. All of the baby girls were so good! Nancy is less than a month away from welcoming Dalton Ruth. We are very excited for them!

L-R from bottom: me, Elizabeth & daughter Emma, Tricia, Emilie, Nancy, April & daughter Vivian, Allison, Lindsay & daughter Caroline, and Jessica.

good news!

no trips to the hospital for us today! henry's hydration is better and we think maybe today is the day he is turning the corner. its been the best day (so far) in several days, so that is exciting! thanks for all the well wishes.

rotovirus update

day 10 of the old rotovirus. concerned about henry's hydration, we took him back to the doctor yesterday and confirmed that he is dehydrated. she gave us a different idea/method of getting more fluids in him along with some medicine to help with the vomiting. I am taking him back to the doctor today at 11:30 for a re-check of his hydration. if any better, we can go home and hope we are on the downward slope of this crummy virus. if not they will admit henry to the hospital and give him IV fluids and monitor his progress.

here's hoping for a trip back home!

i don't care if sunday's blue, saturday was bad and friday too ... thursday, I still thought about you, its monday, I'm in love

with stuffed animals and madeline, that is.

henry missed all of the weekend festivities on what we found out at the doctor's office today is the roto virus. in efforts to try to cheer him up this morning, I put most of his stuffed animals in his rocking chair for him to "rock" them. he loves stuffed animals and loves to rock.

as you can see, he was pretty excited.
at gary's mom's this past weekend-despite the virus, we still had a lovely visit with she and jon.

and henry's other love, miss madeline. he so missed not being able to come to her party. so he wanted to send a little birthday message ...

do you ever feel like ...

there are so many terribly tough, tragic, and unfair things happening to so many people that you know personally (not to mention those you don't know personally), all at the same time? gut check, heart wrenching, confusing, unbelievable types of things.

that is what it feels like right now. without going into detail about each situation, if you do pray, please pray for these families. the power of prayer is indescribable and these folks need it:

1.) The Hess Family
2.) The Murphy Family
3.) The Garner Family
4.) The Parker Family
5.) The Carpenter Family

during times like this (struggles/trials/life changing events), they always makes you extremely thankful for your blessings. sometimes, oftentimes, that question of "why" surfaces ... why does this family have to suffer through this? why do trials continue to plague them? it is not fair! turning to your faith and to your God and trusting in those two, are just about all that you have the power to do. but gosh, many times that is hard to say the least. it is hard as an outsider. it is hard as an insider. the last power you have as an individual is the power of attitude. we've all heard it, we know attitude is a choice that is ours to make. again, that is undoubtedly another area that is hard. that's unfortunately what these types of things do ... make you question your faith, your God and your attitude.

to those out there suffering, enduring life changing situations and emotions, hang in there! there are so many out there praying and loving you ... our hope is that at least once each day you feel that prayer and love and it brings comfort to you ... even if only for a brief moment.

19 months today and some congrats

19 months today. what a fun age! henry is talking ALL the time and saying the funniest things. he is still about 26 pounds and has not gained weight in a while - probably because he is on the go, a lot. he's not hyperactive, just a busy toddler. sadly, he has had a stomach bug since monday night and has had a rough week resulting in a terrible diaper rash. he now knows what "hurt" means and can say it. so this week as he has been under the weather, he has been saying "henry hurt" and it breaks our hearts. his little voice saying those words ... I can't even explain. and this is just diaper rash and upset stomach! I've got to toughen up I suppose. anyway, hopefully he's on the mend by tomorrow because his number one gal, besides momma of course, has a BIG BIRTHDAY tomorrow ... Miss Madeline turns 2! We are celebrating with her on saturday and henry wants to feel his best for that no doubt.

Happy Birthday sweet Maddie!

Also, congratulations to Meredith and Geoff who welcomed Martha "Claire" Peel into the world early this morning. Claire is teeny tiny at 4lbs 15ozs, 18.5 inches long. We hope to visit them tomorrow and meet little Claire.

lots of baths this week
The below video is another sweet one. Henry was walking in the hallway and looked at a picture we have of his cousins J&K. He picked up the picture, sat down and starting talking to it. He kept saying "KK!" and "Jake!" Then he would hug the picture. This was another miracle in that I can't believe that I caught it on video. You can hear him say KK, Jake, aw and hug, hug, hug. how I love this tender hearted little guy! and how we all dearly love J&K. they are so unbelievably great with henry and treat him like a brother.

happy 19 months!