The lollypop and pizza diet

You haven't heard of it? All the cool kids are doing it...or at least the grumpy, sleepy, needing his lunch and needing a nap even more kid that threw a fit after spotting the last few sad pieces of Halloween candy from across the kitchen, way up on a shelf....and thew a fit (actually sad pathetic tears) until the once tough Mom caved and figured if he thinks a watermelon dum-dum mixes well culinarily with a whole wheat english muffin pizza...then so be it. I just know he isn't making our wine and food pairings in the future.

Here fishy fishy...

On a recent cold and dreary Sunday, Henry, Ed and I went to the Newport Aquarium near Cincinnati.


Henry and Mommy watching the otters.


Henry digging for dinosaur bones.


Henry enjoying the shark tunnel.

Then....Mommy enjoying the shark tunnel...trying to get a picture that wasn't blurry in low light and without a flash...which turned out to be impossible, but I kind of like the blurriness...it looks a little scary.















Whew...finally some slow ones that will stay put for a minute.


Petting the sharks...or actually splashing in the water watching the little sharks.

Coach Brooks, are you reading this?

You know those kids that can hit a tennis ball over the net or have a textbook golf swing at 2 years old and the parents swear they aren't forcing their kids to do this, that they just pick up the racquet or club and love doing it. I've always rolled my eyes and thought...suuuuuure...but I'm starting to believe them.

Henry has seemed to develop this very natural and very amazing ability to kick and punt. Ed started holding a little football up for him to kick while we were tailgating this fall and then that is all he wanted to do. After awhile when we weren't available to be his holder every time he invented his own, first with one of the blocks from a set of stacking blocks upside down and placing the ball in it and more recently he took the putting "hole" from a toy golf set, which, amazingly looks a lot like an actual football kicking tee. He places it carefully and then very deliberately takes several steps back, keeping his gaze locked on the ball, then starts his approach and WHAM, the ball goes flying! Even more recently he has taught himself to drop kick, or punt the ball. Now when I say that he kicks the ball I mean he kicks is hard and straight and with a lot of loft...and left footed.

We'd never be the kind of parents that force him into anything, but if he ends up wanting to play football and keeps up this little skill of his, by all means we'd be thrilled. And I'm sure every mother would agree with me that the kicker is the choice position on the football field (little to no contact!)...plus he looks so darn cute doing it!

68 degrees

Ahhhhhhh! In the middle of the winter doldrums it is so nice to get a day like we did last week and spend some much needed time at the park soaking up some sunshine! ...and kicking, throwing and hitting balls!

BIG TRUCK

We live on a pretty busy road and have a branch Post Office behind our house...so we get our fair share of traffic...and, as Henry stood on the coffee table the other day proclaiming for 15 minutes while pointing out the window...BIG TRUCKS!! Over Christmas Henry really started talking! He is starting to string 2 and 3 words together, which is pretty exciting.

Christmas 2007 pictures

Like them? What? Can't see them? Maybe that is because Mom "The Shutterbug" packed the camera battery charger and an extra battery to take to Madisonville but misplaced them and finally found them (in the side pocket of my car door...as if I put them there on purpose so I could find them) January 2nd. It fizzled out right before we took the family photo and opened presents at my parents house on Christmas Eve. I have a few that I took before then and I am compiling some from my parents camera and Ed's camera...so, Yes Virginia, there will be Christmas photos ...just not this week. (To add insult to injury, I got a fabulous camera bag, 2 tripods and a lens filter....and didn't get to use them!!)

We had a fabulous holiday. So much family time, so many presents, so much food! It is so nice that Ed and I are from the same town and get to see all of our families and don't have to split the time between different towns in different years. We took an extended vacation and stayed until January 2nd to really enjoy some down time and just got back last night. Our living and dining room looks like Santa and all his reindeer have trampled through here leaving fabulous presents and various Christmas decorations along the way.

We loved our Christmas tree this year and only had a week to enjoy it before we left for Madisonville...so if you pass our house we'll be the ones with the tree up for a few more days.

Hope your days were Merry and Bright and you had many Tidings of Comfort and Joy!



Incidentally, Henry is saying "Mom" in this photo...Have I mentioned that he has been saying Daddy forever and just recently started saying Mom...and I am drunk with happiness and the power to make him say it, and of course clap and cheer every time. The funniest thing is that he says everything with such glee and such upbeat intonation (daddy, doggie, heeeeee!!!)and "Mooooom" kind of sounds like he's imitating a foghorn...but it the sweetest foghorn I've ever heard!

Introducing...The Fig

I'm going to have to change the name of the blog soon to include the Fig. As many of you know, Henry was called The Shrimp through most of my pregnancy with him due to these weekly email updates that I got that compare your baby's size to what always seemed like a type of food (does that just seem a little wrong?). This time those email updates seem to favor fruit and the week that compared this little one to a Fig seemed to seal its fate...baby #2 has been dubbed "The Fig" and shall henceforth be called by that name. Good thing that name naturally stuck, because Henry's only cousin Julie, who is expecting a little one of her own in March, gets those same updates and she has already passed the "rutabaga" and "English hothouse cucumber" stage of her pregnancy...I think the Fig has a much nicer ring than either of those, don't you think. (good thing too for Julie that they had already decided on a name Owen for her little guy!)

Also a note on the current name of this blog, beyond the obvious, is that it comes from my cousin Ashley and her 4 children. They ALWAYS call Henry "Baby Henry" like that it his full name, and as Ashley said, she has a feeling that will be his name to them no matter how old he gets!

Also, this ultrasound was done around Week 12...so don't try looking too close for any sign of a boy or girl (believe, I've looked!). We are due June 25th, so the Week 20 appointment will be at the beginning of February and we should know then whether we have a blue Fig or a pink Fig.