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.

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend. The weather was a bit blustery and cold, but it was still a relaxing, and fun weekend with family. We stayed home for Easter and my mom came here and we went to Patrick's parents house for Easter dinner. Holidays are just so much fun with Henry. He reminds me of all of the simple joys that I've always loved about the holidays.

It was fun hiding his Easter basket and then waking up at home on Easter morning and watching him find it. We gave him a little tractor and a few little trucks that I put them on top of his Easter basket. When he found it he was so excited about those that he just took them out of the basket and left the rest there. Even after I took the basket out into the living room for him he kept going over to behind the door where it was hidden and saying "tractor?", "tractor?". He also loved doing the Easter egg hunt at Patrick's parents house. His mom hid close to 100 eggs outside for all of the little cousins to find. He got excited when he found an egg, but he mostly loved opening it up and letting whatever was in it fall out and then he would leave the candy and opened egg laying in the yard. Oh another of his favorite things from the Easter season was the Easter bunny at the mall. He loved that bunny and the few times we went to the mall and strolled past it he wanted to stop and wave at him for awhile. He didn't get a chance to sit on his lap because the prices are outrageous! But he loved him from afar. I'm sad that I didn't get a picture of him in his outfit on Easter. He looked darling. I'll just have to put him in it another time and take one then.

Diaper snob

We almost always buy diapers at Sam's and just get the big bulk pack. That way we save more and we get more and they last longer. Well one night a few weeks ago we were on our very last diaper and I ran to Jewel to buy more since I didn't feel like making a late night trip to Sam's. I ended up deciding to try the extra jumbo pack of the Jewel brand diapers since they were such a savings. Well, never again! I learned my lesson. Henry has had so many leaky diapers. And almost every morning he wakes up and his pjs are soaked and his bedding is wet. We really didn't have those problems with Huggies. I learned that you definitely get what you pay for in the diaper world. We will keep buying Huggies which really aren't even that much more. I'm officially a diaper snob and I can't wait for these others to just run out so we can move on!

Henry doing animal sounds

(*Note all of the video updates...I finally figured out how to post videos to my blog just by embedding the html since the shortcut way of posting them hasn't been working for me for months. Lots of updates!!)

Henry has been loving animals lately. All kinds. His favorites probably being cats, dogs and kangaroos. I'll have to get an updated video of all of his animal sounds and motions. He does a great pig sound now...it's a snort and his whole face scrunches up. Anyway, here's a few of his first ones...

Bubble

This video is also from early February. Patrick was chewing gum one night and blew a bubble. Henry instantly learned the word bubble and became fascinated with watching Patrick blow bubbles and also loved popping them for him. (kind of gross...sorry!)

Henry showing his eyes

This is a video from early in February (note the shorter Henry hair...he'd just gotten a haircut on Valentine's Day). He started showing us his eyes although in this video he's really more into "bubbles".

5 Random Things

1. Henry has been having a language explosion lately! Everyday for the past week or so he's been saying several new words a day. Mostly words that we didn't even realize he could say or coach him on. Let me try to think of a few of the new words he says: push (when he wants someone to push him on his tricycle), maybe, please (really clearly now), juice (has been a favorite for a few weeks), brother (when we ask him if he's going to have a baby brother or sister), baby, bye-bye, hi, up, down, on, off, tractor. There are lots now, I know I'm forgetting a bunch, but I'm going to try to keep an updated list so I'll post more later. Oh and, NO is a huge fave and it's making me crazy!! It's been so much fun everyday hearing him say and repeat more and more. His vocab has seriously quadrupled in a week!

2. We bought Henry a potty seat yesterday. It's just the kind that you set on top of the toilet. For anyone who's ever been to our house you know how very tiny the one bathroom is and I'm not exaggerating when I say there is just no room for a potty chair! He was so excited about it when we picked it up at Target and so excited to take it out at home, he also loves showing anyone how to put it on the potty; however, the moment he is set on to the potty seat it's a different story. He cries NO NO NO and wants down ASAP! I'm not all about potty training yet, it's just that he's been very curious about the whole thing so I thought we might as well let him start sitting there if he wants to just to get used to it. It looks like he might just need some time to get friendly with the seat itself.

3. I've been having some major food aversions and cravings lately. All I wanted to eat for dinner Wednesday was cole-slaw. Then the other day I had to make a special trip because the only thing that sounded good was chips and queso cheese dip from Q'doba. Other foods...lots of sweets and even ice-cream (I can't believe I'm saying that) have been sounding not good and even repulsive. Oh and I couldn't live without a slushie from DQ a few nights ago and made a special trip there after Henry was in bed. It's weird because usually I'm such a sweets person I wouldn't dream of wasting a trip to DQ on a fruity slush (sugary nonetheless), but I've been wanting more salty and fruity foods. Oh and I typically have been eating two lunches everyday. I get hungry and eat around 11 and then I eat something again during Henry's nap around 2. My doctors appointment Tuesday should be interesting...can't wait to see what the scale says about all of this...

4.

The Pursuit of Happyness

We just watched this movie last night. It was really heartwrenching, but also inspiring. It just breaks your heart to realize what this man and his son and so many other people go through everyday just to have a piece of the normalcy in their lives that we take for granted in our one lives. I recommend it though..it's a good, touching movie. (Disclaimer...I fell asleep during the last 30 minutes and have to finish watching it tonight!)

5. I'm excited for Easter. I think Henry is going to love it this year and get really excited about his Easter basket and finding eggs, etc. I've been trying to explain the real meaning of Easter to him, but I think it still escapes him...

Henry has some news...

He's going to be a big brother! We've let our families know the exciting news and now lots of friends and co-workers know, so I thought I would make it official and post these pictures! My first ultrasound was last Tuesday. We saw the sweet little baby and the heart beating and the little arms and legs swishing around. It's always so surreal and an ultrasound makes something very abstract feel very real. My due date based on the ultrasound is October 22, which is also my birthday! It will be an exciting year! I'm about 10 weeks along. So far this pregnancy has been totally different than my first with Henry, so I'm thinking maybe it's a girl, but for those of you who know the family I married into, having a girl would be an extreme rarity, and nearly an impossibility, so we will see at 20 weeks!

Henry was so excited to see the pictures on Tuesday of the baby and whenever I ask him now, "where is the baby", he rubs his tummy! So he sort of gets it, he understands that it's in someone's tummy.

We are very excited and definitely feel blessed.

Cousin Fun

This weekend we went to Chicago and stayed at Dan and Sara's house Saturday night. We missed Sara--she got home from France yesterday! Henry and Gabe had a great time together, though. They are almost the same size now and it's fun to watch them play...sometimes together. They played with play-doh together, colored together and the cutest thing of all was that they ate breakfast at Gabe's little table together. There were times when they were looking at eachother and babbling to eachother. It was the cutest thing! The other cutest thing was on Sunday morning before they sat down to eat breakfast I put some Fruit Loops in a bowl for them to munch on and they were sharing them. But if I would ask Henry to give one to Gabe he would take one out and Gabe would lean over and then Henry would put it in Gabe's mouth! They did that a few times. It was so sweet! I wish we lived closer. I would love for them to be able to play together more often.

On the farm

The weekend before last was our first real dose of Spring weather. We went to Patrick's parents farm so that Patrick could help his dad with a few things and to give Henry a chance to play and ride on some tractors. Tractors are his favorite thing in the world, but he was really hesitant to ride on one. When he finally decided to go for a ride he shook his head and said "no" the whole time! And he would only ride on the smallest tractor and the forklift tractor. The pictures of Patrick in the tree are to illustrate how they get things done out on the farm. Patrick's dad drives the tractor over to the base of the tree, Patrick rides up into the tree on the forklift and then stands either in the tree or on the forklift and trims falling branches. It seemed unsafe to me, but I'm sure it's been done many times!

Owl updates (for anyone interested)

The saga of our porch dwelling owl continues. He actually left his stoop on the porch sometime during Sunday night and we didn't see him again all week (which made Henry really sad! Everyday when he woke up we would ask him if he thought he would see the owl that day and he always nodded his head with a strong belief that he would.) Then yesterday morning I opened the blinds before I left for work and guess whooo was back? Our owl! Except he switched stoops on the porch to the opposite side and also (this is a very sad part) we're pretty sure the nest he is sitting on belongs to some morning doves that nest there every year. And we saw him with some eggs that we are pretty sure don't belong to him. So sadly we think our owl is a nest stealing, egg robber. Henry is totally fascinated with him and is usually glued to the window when the owl is there. So that's cute to watch!

Irritated with Google Video

Ok so I have a few new movies I've uploaded to Google video; however, when I go to post them on my blog I can't get past the "validating user information" page. It just keeps saying "undefined". I don't even know what that means! I'm just frustrated because I want to post them on here. Anybody else having trouble with Google video??

Guess WHOOOO's On Our Porch??

It's an owl! Sorry the pictures both kind of look the same. The owl doesn't do much but sit there. Patrick spotted him today when he was looking out our front windows. He's just sort of sitting and sleeping on our porch. Any owl experts know what kind of owl this is? And are they dangerous? We're afraid he might swoop down and scratch someone! It's pretty neat though, I've never seen a real owl in the wild up this close before.

Our New Mantel

This is our very original fireplace. White brick with a simple mantel.

Here's Patrick's "character find". Dirty brick from floor to ceiling.
Here's the fireplace in progress.
Freshly bricked fireplace.
Our brand new mantel!!


For anyone who has ever been to our house, you know our fireplace has always been a work in progress. When we moved in we had just a mantel and some white painted brick around the fireplace area...that was all, it was plastered above. Then as a part of renovations Patrick knocked down the walls in the living room to dry-wall and put in new electrical. Well, when he knocked down the wall that the fireplace was on, the fireplace as we knew it crumbled to the floor revealing this floor to ceiling brick fireplace which Patrick proudly called a "character find". I was not so excited about it. But overtime (you can follow the transformation top to bottom) he re-bricked the fireplace and just a few weekends ago built a mantel in just a few hours!! I am so impressed with his skills and am now loving the fireplace I once thought was just an eye-sore.

Uh-Oh

Yet another night I was making dinner and Henry was playing....very contentedly. After a few minutes I realized that he was being really quiet. Overly quiet. So I came into the living room to check on things and here's what I found. (along with a very happy Henry-he loves the vacuum and was thrilled that this mess necessitated the need to bring it out!) (FYI...just in case it's hard to tell, he had taken dirt out of our plant and strewn it about the office floor and into the living room.)

Finally, I'm updating!

Henry has been really into making messes of multiples lately. I bought some clementines at the grocery store thinking he would love them as a snack. He wasn't crazy about eating them, but he still found something to do with them. I was making dinner in the kitchen while he busied himself sorting and pouring oranges.