Ready, Set, GO

Today Henry was sitting on my lap patiently waiting for me to type in www.johndeere.com (!) and I said ok are you ready? I was so surprised when he repeated me and said ready, (then continued)set, GO! I'm sure I've said that a million times to him throughout these 22 months and it was so funny to hear him repeat it. What amazes me are the things that I have no idea that he's learning or that he knows and I don't realize it until he blurts something out.

Something new I discovered that I absolutely love is hair de-tangler spray for Henry. I spray it on his damp hair after his bath and then comb his hair and he always wakes up with this beautiful, tangle-free, silky hair! It might be more of a girly product (?), but he has always gotten tangles in his hair on the back of his head from where he rests his head in the car seat or how he sleeps at night. This product has been perfect for eliminating those! I just bought the Target version of the Johnson&Johnson brand and it's a big bottle for only 99 cents! I love it. (confession: I actually was so excited about it after the first morning of Henry's silky hair that I've been using it after my shower when I straighten my hair!)

My Favorite Thing About Spring...

Is PEONY'S! I'm completely in love with the peony bushes we have outside our house. They are blooming now and they are just so beautiful and so fragrant. I can't resist cutting them and bringing them in even though they have to be thoroughly shaken out for ants. I love our house in the spring/summer. There are so many flowers and bushes and plants that just emerge from out of nowhere. It's so beautiful, I just love being outside.

Speaking of favorites, Henry's new favorite thing right now is www.johndeere.com It's obviously the company's website, but it has tons of pictures of tractors and lawn equipment and even instructional videos that show the machinery in action. I never knew I would be so excited to find tractor videos online, but I am! Henry will sit on my lap in the office and he gets so excited watching the tractors and looking at the pictures. It's so funny and sweet. I absolutely love that God has made him so uniquely Henry. I definitely know that it wasn't me who gave him this passion for large machines (!), but it's in his heart. He loves them. Watching the world through his eyes is so amazing. It's amazing to realize that God makes each person unique and gives them interests and passions independent of anything that can be taught.

Week 17

Baby #2 is doing well! I had a doctor's appointment today and brought Henry with me. He did great at the appointment, even saying goodbye to the nurse and then my doctor when she left the room. He seemed so happy to be there and knew that we were there to check on the baby. He kept lifting up his shirt and looking at his tummy for his baby. I wish I knew how crazy the concept of a baby being in someones tummy seemed to a 22 month old. I can only imagine what he's thinking when I tell him that there's a baby in my tummy!

The baby's heartbeat was 160. At 12 weeks it was mid-160's and at my 9-week ultrasound it was 174. I wish I'd recorded Henry's from all of my appointments when I was pregnant with him. I remember he was always lower, but I don't know exactly what they were at which week. My weight gain is astronomical. I gained 9 pounds in the past 5 weeks since my last visit! I figured I would have gained at least 5 (1 per week), but I was pretty surprised by 9. Thus far my greatest weight gain to date. I think with Henry the most I gained at one visit was 6. A healthy baby definitely is far more important to me than a number on a scale so I'm not going to let that get me down, it was just a surprise worth noting.

My latest pregnancy cravings have been: #1 SUBWAY veggie subs. I'm loving these and eat them at least 3 times a week. Also I've been loving macaroni and cheese. My appetite has definitely increased the past few weeks. There are times when I am absolutely so hungry day and night and if I don't eat something almost immediately I feel shaky. I'm still not really craving any sweets, or pop. I still want lots of fresh things, mostly fruit-pineapples, apples and strawberries have been the biggest cravings.

My 20 week ultrasound is scheduled for June 5th. We're anxious to know whether Henry's having a baby brother or sister. He always says "bubba" (brother) when we ask him, but I'm really not sure either way. Stay tuned!

A Little Taste of Normal

I'm so excited to update with some good news. Henry has been doing well for the past two days! Wednesday he went the whole day without getting sick and then right before his bath he had some major sickness strike. So, yesterday it was thrilling to get him to bed and have our first full day without any throw up! Small pleasure, but so wonderful. Since he's still too little to communicate when that is about to happen I feel like I have been constantly bracing myself for it throughout the day these past few days. Today was his second full day, and really the first day that he has started to seem like himself again. He's laughing a lot again, playing with tractors tons, and has been loving to run up and down our driveway and the little hill in our front yard. Patrick also went back to work today and is feeling so much better. It is just such a relief to have them both back to feeling healthy and well. I must admit I was getting really worried about Henry on day 5 when he was still getting sick. But thank you for your prayers, I am so grateful for them! And besides having some frazzled nerves and having another little collision in my driveway (most of you know that last summer I backed into our house while backing out of the driveway, well-I've topped that-now I've backed one car into the other while backing out of the driveway. My nerves were very frazzled this week with all of this sickness and this happend on the way to pick up Henry's prescription.)I have been feeling great!

Thank you for thinking of our family.

Update from Debbie Downer

Sorry everyone, after posting yesterday I felt like I should have ended with a "wah-wah". I definitely was sounding like debbie downer. Anyway let me first say that God is so good! I feel wonderful and haven't felt the slightest touch of this virus-whatever it may be. So I'm very thankful for that. It would be tough to have our whole family under the weather.

Henry continues to be a little trooper. Bless his heart, he still smiles and plays (mostly with tractors-"tra-tors")but he is still getting sick. 4 times today. I can't seem to quite figure out how to help him or what is causing this. The doctor prescribed a suppository for him--needless to say, the most ridiculous thing to try to give to a 22 month old. Forget it. I just keep praying for him and I pray that tomorrow will be better. Today was his fourth full day. A huge blessing-he did sleep through the night last night for the first time all weekend, so hopefully that means he's on the road to recovery.

Patrick stayed home from work again today. He mostly just feels nauseous and very lethargic. He hasn't really eaten anything in two days since his stomach has been upset. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for him, too!

I feel so sad for them! I definitely feel as if I've taken health for granted. I can't wait to have our family healthy again. It will be fun to have spunky Henry back in all of his strong-willed glory!
*the picture above was taken a few weeks ago when we made a cape for Henry out of some packing paper that came in a box for Patrick. He was hilarious when we put it on him..he immediately transformed and thought he could jump off the bottom stair and then fly through the living room.

A Little Discouragement

Poor Henry has been so sick this weekend. It started Saturday morning when he threw up a few times, only after he would eat or drink something. Then throughout the day Saturday he kept getting sick...a total of 8 times that day. Yesterday was a bit better, he only threw up 4 times, but he had such a high fever that he had no energy. Our Sunday was mostly spent laying on the couch watching Barney (his new fave). We went outside to play a few times and went for a walk or two, but mostly we stayed in...oh he also took a 3 1/2 hour nap yesterday afternoon. (Huge for him--I think he woke up because we went in there to make sure he was ok, otherwise he would have probably kept sleeping.) Then throughout the night and into this morning he got sick 4 more times and what worried me most is that he wasn't keeping down any liquids...i.e.pedialyte. It's so sad because the only thing Henry wants is milk ("moke") and I wasn't sure about it and haven't been giving it to him. He asks for it whenever he wakes up from sleep.

I brought him to the doctor this morning who did a few tests and thought he might have strep. The initial test, thankfully, came back negative. There's an overnight one that they will call me about tomorrow. Henry didn't love his doctor so much today, he cried BIG cries throughout the whole examination starting from when the doctor walked in. He only stopped to say "bye bye" to the doctor when he walked out. The doctor ruled out dehydration based on all of the tears he was able to produce (!) and another test he did. He thinks it's just viral which means we "have to let it run its course". I'm very thankful that it's not strep or something more serious, but it's frustrating to be told that there's really nothing I can do to help him either. The good news: the doctor approved "moke", so Henry had a little glass of that when we got home. He was thrilled!

The other discouraging thing...Patrick came home from work early, he's lying in bed feeling very sick to his stomach. Uh oh, this is "running it's course" throughout our family.

The good news: Dunkin Donuts makes their iced coffee in decaf. I treated myself after Henry's appointment. I love their caramel iced coffee..it's a delicious summer treat and I love tricking myself into thinking I'm actually drinking the would be much needed caffeine. Something else...I think I've been feeling slight flutters from baby #2. It always catches me by surprise, and it's the greatest thing.

Like Father, Like Son

Like I mentioned before, Henry's spring passion is mowing. He and Patrick mowed the yard this afternoon together. (Henry wasn't feeling well this morning and even threw up a few times...he woke up from a long, earlier than usual nap and was ready to head outside. Hopefully the fresh air will help and it's not something like the flu. Poor baby.)

They are quite a sight, Patrick mowing the grass and Henry mowing right alongside him--his little mower blowing bubbles all as he mows! It's too funny. Last summer Henry like to mow, too, but he was still small and Patrick always mowed with him on his back riding in the snugli (sometimes he even fell asleep!).

Free Starbucks Giftcard!!

As a promo, ShopCIL is giving away Starbucks giftcards to anyone who registers and lists 5 items to sell by June 1st. It got me motivated to clean house! If you've got anything to sell...please give it a try! It can really be anything...think of it as an online garage sale.

ShopCIL

I'm so proud of Patrick and his new business! If you have anything you would like to sell for sale by owner or are looking for classifieds stuff to buy, please visit his website. It's www.shopcil.com

It's a really professional and easy to use site. It's totally free to use, too...there are no set-up or sign-up fees. You can feature things to make them more prominent and if you sign up, he will give you free credits for featuring your items. Anyway, check it out! Let us know what you think and tell your friends!!

Some things heard around our house

Henry continues to surprise us every day with his vocabulary. It keeps growing and every day he says new words. His "s" usually sounds like "t", so yes is yet and my very favorite, bus is butt. And he loves to point at buses and excitedly say "butt, butt"! When we were in our hotel room he ran to the phone and picked it up and said "hello, hello". I hadn't ever heard him say that before and I didn't realize he would know what a phone even looked like since we only use cell phones. His very favorite thing in the world right now (besides tractors which are always #1) are lawn mowers which he calls "mow mow's". He has his own bubble lawn mower which he proudly mows alongside Patrick when he is mowing the grass. It's the cutest thing to see, both of them outside and bubbles flying everywhere. Whenever we're outside or on a walk and he hears or sees a lawn mower he exclaims "mow mow!" and he wants to either go find it, or sit a while and watch it. He was pushing his dump truck around the block yesterday and saw someone mowing his lawn across the street, so he stopped pushing and plopped down on someones lawn to watch the man mow his grass. He is fascinated with any lawn equipment...wheelbarrows and weedwackers are also mow mows to him. Everyday he amazes us with how much he knows by either what he says or how he imitates things. It's just amazing to watch him.

St. Louis

Last weekend Patrick and Henry and I took a little mini-trip to St. Louis for the night. We were able to get a great deal on a hotel since it was the last minute and we got a suite with two rooms with a door in between. That worked out perfectly because we were thinking the whole family would have to go to bed at 7:30 otherwise! We went to the St.Louis zoo on Saturday. Henry's absolute favorite thing there were the elephants. When we left the elephants he kept saying, "more". He just wanted more and more elephants! On Sunday we went to Grant's Farm. We took a tram ride around the park where they have free roaming cows, sheep, goats, elk, deer, buffalo, and zebras (weird but true). Henry thought we were on a train and was so excited. He said choo choo almost the whole way. Then we went to a children's museum called the Magic House. They have an outdoor exhibit that's filled with sand and lots of different kinds of trucks, dump trucks, tractors and diggers (little ones) and then one real digger that the children can get into and pretend to drive. This was his dream. He didn't even want to explore the rest of the museum, but eventually we made our way inside since it was such a hot day. It was a really fun getaway and I will say that St. Louis is a great place to visit and very affordable. The zoo and Grant's Farm were free for all of us.
(I'll post some cute movies soon!)

Learning some lessons

I have been convicted just recently of being very judgmental about 2 things in particular that I never even realized I was doing. As all good lessons happen, it was through some of my own experiences...

Firstly, I got pulled over on the interstate in a construction zone by a state trooper! As soon as I passed the police car I tapped my brakes and noticed him immediately pull out behind me. I made sure I was doing the right thing throughout the whole construction zone and thought that maybe he would forgive me since I was being such a good driver. HOWEVER...as soon as we left the construction zone (and thus another lane opened up to pull over into) he put on his lights. I started sweating and shaking and pulled right over and as a side note everyone will be shocked to know that I didn't cry! Another side note...Henry was in the back seat sound asleep. When he asked my how fast I thought I was going I replied 71 (which my cruise had been set at) and he said, "actually I clocked you at 69"! (The brake tap!) He asked me if I realized that the speed limit was 55 in the construction zone. I said I definitely did but I honestly (and this is true) didn't realize the zone had started yet. Then he asked for the standard license and insurance. This is when I felt like I was in a Safe Auto commercial. I could not produce a current insurance card. The first one I finally dug out of the car (after flipping through my Sam's, Blockbuster, museum, and frequent coffee cards) had expired in 2006. Then I gave him the next one I found...expired in 2005. He asked me if we still had the same insurance and I told him yes, then he told me to keep looking and see if I could find it and he went back to his car to do whatever they do. This is when Henry woke up. I still had my window down and it was noisy with the traffic on the interstate when all of a sudden I hear "vrrooom, vrooom" noises coming from the backseat! Henry had woken up and was imitating all of the cars going by. He was thrilled when I told him that there was a police car behind us and that there would be a police man coming over to our car to talk to us. He couldn't wait to see him. When the officer came back he told me that because I had been honest with him and my record looked good he was going to give me a warning, but to please drive safely and find that card whenever I got home. Henry waved to him and blew him a kiss...all of which the officer ignored...although I'm totally convinced that having a sleeping baby in the backseat definitely helped with the warning versus a ticket. I later found out that the minimum fine for speeding in a construction zone is $375. I definitely felt that he showed me a lot of grace and I am so thankful for that!

The lesson I learned here is that usually when I see people pulled over I always try to look and I wonder, Hmmm, I wonder what they did wrong and I get all interested in making judgements. I realized that sometimes it's just our turn to get caught. Obviously no one is a perfect driver. And I will say that this man put some serious speeding fear into me. Now whenever I see a police car when I'm driving I break into a sweat and wonder what I might have done wrong in the last 5 miles. When they pass me I feel such relief!

The second lesson won't be as long. Henry and I usually go grocery shopping on Wednesday mornings. We had an especially busy morning and ended up going a little later..still in the morning but later than usual. By the time we were halfway through the store his little head started to bob and I knew it was only a matter of time before he fell asleep. I took off my coat and lay it across the cart bar and he lay his little head on there and fell asleep in Wal-Mart for the rest of the time we were shopping and checking out. I felt horrible that my little baby had to sleep on a cart bar in Wal-Mart, and I realized that when I've seen babies sleeping in places like that before I've thought things like, "take that poor baby home for his nap-time" or "can't you run your errands after his nap". The obvious thing I learned is that babies will be babies and sometimes they do just fall asleep...even when it's NOT their nap time!

God is good at showing us the places in our hearts that need work. I'm thankful for these lessons and thankful for the grace that was shown to me.