happy how-een & projects, projects

henry before school today, saying "happy how-een!" sweet story: when I picked him up from school today he had a substitute teacher visiting. she was holding henry and she proceeded to say, "I have three daughters and have truly never desired to have a boy. ever. until I met your son. henry is the sweetest and most wonderful little boy!"

ah, melted my heart and made my day~

henry's most recent art project ...
... and my most recent art project. in henry's "new room" will hang this collage. in our old guest bedroom we had this antique window hanging above the headboard with dried flowers on it. at holidays I would hang wreaths from it. i still really like this old window and was determined to find a way to use it in henry's new room. I wanted to enlarge some of the sunflower pictures from out at our land from this past summer - they are so cheerful, vibrant and colorful. then an idea struck ... I could use the old window as a frame for a collage. I'm so excited to display these photos AND be able to use the window. the picture of it really doesn't do it justice. to capture the pure essence of sweet henry, you have to see it and him in person. truly, you do.
he's one of a kind.

lunch date & 21 months

fall is in full swing at our house. pumpkins are abound, halloween decorations are up, and orange is running rampant. my favorite season is fall ... and when it turns just a bit cooler than it is now, it is perfect on the plains.

henry had a lunch date with his new friend Claire, who is 8 weeks old. he told her all about how pizza, water and fig newtons are even tastier than milk. he must have talked her ear off because she fell sound asleep but did wake up when picture time came around. she is adorable! Meredith is really enjoying her new role as mother and it was good to catch up with her.

Today marked the 21 month milestone for Henry Davis Vaughan. What is a typical day for a 21 month old? Well, it translates into waking up in a cheerful mood, starving and ready to eat as much as his mother eats, being ready to play after a big breakfast, zonking out for a 2 hour nap in the afternoons, and waking up ready to eat and play some more. talking, talking, talking is also a large part of each day. figuring out how to open doors is another newly acquired trick, along with hitting the table when he gets angry, saying he's sorry and giving a big hug and a kiss. singing songs is another favorite past time. he knows all of his letters except has trouble with I, L, Q, U, and V. he can say these numbers and in this order: 1,2,5,6. he thinks 3 and 4 are a waste of time I guess. he is getting pretty good with the colors blue, green, red, yellow, orange and black. he loves to throw toys for the dogs and say "get it!" usually shelby is his favorite for this ... and his favorite for petting and talking to is bricks.

henry has also become quite an accomplished Auburn tour guide-when we pass buildings he knows (and there are a lot!), he loves to point them out to whomever is in the car. as gary likes to tell it, it feels like the movie groundhog day each time we take the same route somewhere ... the narration is identical to the last time we took that route. its really entertaining. while 21 months does pose some challenges at times from a discipline perspective, distraction is still a marvelous tool. so far, knock on wood, those challenging times are few and far between and the laughter is much more abundant than the tears and whines.
crazy old mommy tried to make all the dogs and a 21 month old stand still for a photo. bricks passed out, shelby barked, and savannah tried to stay as far away from everyone as possible.
oh well!

cheeeeeeeeeese - ey but still cute

daddy decided it was time for henry to swing his first child sized golf club. henry has had a blast over the last few days with his new club and "gof ball."

21 is lots of fun! we are enjoying each and every day with our son, he is a sweetheart indeed.

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!