A Bucket O' Henry

It was beautiful and sunny today. When I got home from work with Henry, we went out to the backyard to enjoy the warm weather. Even though his hair was messy and his face was dirty, I decided it was the perfect time to take some pictures. He had a great time playing in the metal pail and watching the dogs run around the yard. I'm going to miss weather like we had today. Here are some of the pictures from our backyard photo shoot.

Open Wide!

It cracks me up how Henry opens his mouth into a great big "O" when I take his picture. My mom thinks it's because I open MY mouth into a wide open smile in order to make him smile. Maybe that's it. Whatever the reason, I have many pictures of the H-Man with the biggest of big open mouths. Some of them are half-smile, half-yell and some of them are just wide open-mouthed, squinty-eyed silliness. Here are some of the funny ones:

Crazy Hair!

I just had to post this funny picture of Henry with crazy hair and a model pose (I didn't pose him that way!). He'd just had a bath, and I towel-dried his hair and put on his pajamas. I guess the vigorous towel drying made for some bozo-like hair. This particular pair of jammies that he's wearing was a gift from our friends Jim & Amber, so I wanted to take a picture of Henry in them. Jim is my teaching partner at school, so I brought the picture to work the other day and he immediately tacked it up on the wall in his classroom. The next day, one of his students, a 3rd grade girl, pointed to the picture and asked, "is that Henry wearing a wig?" We died laughing.

Henry is NOT a sissy-boy

Before Henry was born, my friend Jill gave me BUNCHES of her old baby stuff. Even though Jill has a little girl, lots of her baby equipment, furniture & toys were gender neutral and we've gotten a lot of use out of everything. (Thanks, Jill!) In the boxes of stuff, there were even a few baby boy outfits that had been passed on through several people. Just last week I pulled out this sailor suit and figured it would be fun to try it on Henry. I thought it was ADORABLE! Obviously Henry did NOT share my sentiments. Moments after I put the outfit on him, Henry started crying. It's as if he has some kind of inner "sissy radar." He wanted that girly-boy sailor suit outfit off in the worst way! He pulled and tugged at the sleeves and pantlegs in an attempt to free himself of the garment (to no avail). I managed to snap a couple of cute pictures of him in the outfit, but most of them captured an indignant, angry little guy. I guess he won't be wearing the sailor suit out in public any time soon. He was very happy to get back into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt!

A Happier Henry!

Henry seems to be feeling lots better! He still has a lingering cough, but he's in a better mood, and is finally getting back to his usual happy personality. It was hard to see Henry so grumpy, whiny, and unhappy. He even has his appetite back now. He wasn't too interested in food while sick (only bottles), but now he's making up for lost time. He had his first Ravioli-O experience a few days ago. He liked them, but not as much as Jeff, who finished the can after Henry ate 2 or 3. Check out his two teeth! He still only has the 2 bottom ones, and I've been checking daily for more, but there's no sign of anything yet. Along with about a thousand other nicknames, we like to call Henry "Two-Teeth." So, I guess it's o.k. if he doesn't get any more for a while.

Here are a couple of videos that I took last night of Henry eating and laughing. I was playing a little game of peek-a-boo from behind the camera, which he thought was extremely funny. He's laughing, squealing, and talking (with a little bit of his patented "shaky chin" action).

Family Visits

I've been meaning to post these pictures, but procrastination has gotten the better of me. We had several family visitors a couple of weeks ago. Grandma Lannie came over from Spokane to see Henry. She had a great time hanging out with Henry while I went in to work. Here's a cute picture of the two of them together:

Then, Auntie Kathleen came down from Seattle for a work meeting, and we got to visit with her for a few days. Here's a picture of Henry & Auntie Kath in jail:


A few days after that, Auntie Liz also visited. She had fun playing with Henry. Here's a picture:

Daycare, Vomit, and Snot...oh my!

I'm sorry for not keeping up with the blog better. This is my busy time at work. The beginning and ending of the school year are the two most stressful and busy times for a teacher. I officially had to go back to work on Monday, and I've been working on getting my classroom set up for about two weeks. Today is Saturday, and I'll be going in for a few hours later today, too. With me going back to work, that means Henry has started going to daycare. I really like his daycare provider. She is very sweet and fun and organized. The first few days, Henry loved all of the new toys and the other kids. However, after three days of being around the other kids, Henry developed a cold. I guess his little immune system needs to adjust to being around the new germs. On Monday he went to daycare, but when I picked him up, he had thrown up in the crib during a nap. So, he stayed home with Jeff on Tuesday. He did great all day and had fun with Daddy. On Wednesday, he went back to daycare, but I got called to pick him up early because he had thrown up again. He has a very sensitive gag reflex, and the coughing triggers that, causing him to throw up during a coughing fit. Anyway, he stayed home again on Thursday. He did great. He was happy and playing and seemed fine except for the occasional cough and runny nose. He went back to daycare on Friday, but I was called at lunch time because he had AGAIN thrown up in the crib. It's been a tough week! I'm hoping the 3-day weekend will give him enough time to rest and recuperate, and that he'll be happy and healthy and ready for daycare on Tuesday. Poor little honey! I don't have any recent pictures because they would all show Henry with red eyes and a snotty nose. Here are some fairly recent funny pictures....

Henry seems to think he should open his mouth really wide every time I take a picture. The camera comes out...the mouth opens wide!
Henry's Grandma Lannie bought him a really cool push toy full of blocks, but what he really loves is the box that it came in.
I have no idea why, but Henry loves to lick the wall. It's pretty odd; but funny!
Bathtime funny...everything goes into the mouth!