Henry Feeds the Dog

I had a minute of free time during Henry's nap today and thought you'd enjoy seeing this video I took a couple of weeks ago.

So much to catch up on....it's been a while, I know. Kyle, Henry and I have had a busy month, which will hopefully serve as a good excuse for being an absent blogger lately. In April, we had visits from our good friend, Brianna, and Kyle's parents joined us for Easter. We had a great time! We headed back to Kentucky for the last week of April and were able to visit with friends and family. I was especially excited to meet my friend, Alison's, sweet twin girls, MK and Jane, and to celebrate Ryan Roeding's first birthday, as well as celebrate my grandmother's life with my family. Henry was thrilled to be able to see his Aunt Kristen and Uncles Jonathan and Clay, as well as be spoiled seeing his great-grandmothers. It was a great visit!

My grandmother, Charlotte, passed away at age 95 on Good Friday. I'm so happy that she was able to meet Henry. We celebrated her life by playing Bingo the night of her funeral. Clearly, no one inherited her skills - nobody won! But we did have a great time together remembering what a great lady she was.

Henry with "Bia" aka Brianna. She picked a crazy weekend to join us. Henry had the stomach flu, tornados were rampant in our area and she left with the stomach bug. Regardless of the disaster of a weekend, we had such a good time together. Brianna is a great friend!


Meet Stella! It's hard to see her with that giant flower headband. I wonder who bought that for her...I did! Callie (Stella's beautiful mommy in the picture) told me that she'd put the headband on her if I bought one. I couldn't resist!

Henry participated in a couple of Easter Egg hunts, including one put together by his sweet MiMi. He even had an Elmo Easter Basket. He loved hunting for eggs with the help of his Daddy, G-Daddy and MiMi.


The empty Elmo basket soon became full. Henry LOVES Reese cups!

Breaking News...

Catching up...

Oops! I missed last week's update. So sorry...I'll spare you the details, but it was a long week of recovery for Henry. Fortunately, he's all healed and feeling better minus the new ear infection. :) Today was Henry's 18 month check up with the pediatrician. Our little man has leaned out - he's 25 pounds and 32 inches long, about the 30th percentile in both categories. He continues to learn new words (Choo Choo and Beep Beep recently) and understands everything. He's still not walking, but out of his cast and continuing to succeed in physical therapy. Because of his surgery, he wasn't able to go to school for two weeks. We had some great Mommy & Me time! Below is a recap....

I thought finger painting was a great idea. (Seriously, I did.) It ended up being face-painting.

We tried to go for a couple of walks, but that wasn't working either.

JACKPOT! A play date! It was beautiful last week. Henry and I went to the twins house to play one afternoon. From the left...Jack, Elisabeth, Henry and Thomas.

My friend, Lynsie, came to Atlanta to run in the Georgia Marathon. We had so much fun with her. This was Lynsie's ninth marathon and she's completed two Iron Man competitions!

Henry and Kyle hanging in the backyard. Notice the ever-present "Melmo" balloon. I had a balloon in the car, in the house and tied to his stroller.

Ah, the laundry basket! Henry helped me do laundry, which means that he emptied all of the clean clothes to the floor and spent 20 minutes climbing in and out of the basket. It gave me enough time to fold everything.

Another success! I bought toddler markers for Henry. He tried to eat them, but did enjoy drawing with them, too.

Mommy & Daddy Time - WOO HOO! On Saturday, Kyle and I went to the Capital City Grille to celebrate our good friend, Tiffany's, birthday. We had a nice evening out on the town. And we were home by 10 p.m. :)

The Luck of the Irish...

And the help of the Man Upstairs. Henry had has tonsils removed yesterday. Of course, we were worried, but the surgery went well and he couldn't have had better care. We were scheduled to spend the night in the hospital, but he did so well that we were able to come home last night. He's on some serious pain medicine and lots of pudding and ice cream, but his normal, happy personality returned quickly. It didn't hurt that Daddy made sure Henry had an Elmo balloon for him when he returned from surgery. Henry wouldn't let go of the balloon all day.

Daddy fed Henry some pudding. It was YUMMY!

Still enjoying the pudding....and the balloon.

Mmmmm.....mmmmmmm.....goood!

Henry wants YOU to have a Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Actually, he was pointing at the camera because he wanted to take the picture.)

The weather in Atlanta has turned to spring. It's awesome! Kyle and I took Henry to Zoo Atlanta on Saturday. Thanks Mom & Dad for the Zoo Pass. :) Henry and Kyle are checking out the gorillas in this picture.

Zoo Atlanta has a really cool petting zoo. It took Henry a while to warm up to the animals, but by the end of our time there, he was snuggling with the goats.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but this goat put his hoof on Henry's leg. Henry thought it was pretty cool.

He liked the sheep, but kept calling all of the animals "daw" (dog in Henry-speak).

Just warming up and getting used to the goats.

Kyle and I got Henry a Zoo Keeper's hat from the San Diego Zoo.

He still can't quite figure out how it works....


....but we know he loves hats. Especially when his buddy, Jack, wears them.

Kyle and I spent a long weekend together in San Diego. We had such a great time. Henry had a good time, too, because he spent the weekend with Kyle's parents, G-Daddy and Mimi.


Kyle and I at the beach last Friday. The weather was great! Sunny and just warm enough to go to the pool on Saturday afternoon.

We also got to see some good friends. From left: Ryan and Meghan Brown, Jamie Mills, Bob Beckstedt, me and Kyle. Ryan and Meghan live in San Diego and are expecting their first child in July. Jamie also lives in San Diego. Bob just happened to be visiting her the same time we were in town so we all met for dinner on Saturday night.


Kyle and I will the beautiful mom-to-be.


On Sunday, Kyle and I went to the San Diego Zoo. If you look closely, you can see the baby hippo sleeping on its mother. The baby was only six weeks old.

We got to see the polar bears eat lunch. The zoo gives them a diet of vegetables so that they don't have as much blubber and stay cool in the warmer climate.


This update would not be complete with a Henry update. Henry's growing more independent every day. This morning, he insisted on feeding himself with a spoon. No help from Mommy! Notice the oatmeal covering his chest. Big mess!

The most exciting news is that Henry took three steps all by himself yesterday morning. He hasn't taken any since, but it's start. Here's to hoping he keeps it up!

Nothing Holds This Little Man Back...

As I reported a couple of weeks ago, our sweet little man isn't walking yet and started physical therapy. Part of his therapy is to wear a series of casts to stretch his left heel tendon. It's a little short and tight, and the cast will help it to stretch so Henry can stand flat-footed. He was so brave getting the cast on, and has acclimated well. The first 48 hours were rough, and he gets frustrated from time to time. When he reaches his max level of frustration, Henry points at the cast and says, "dis" and then shakes his head back and forth while saying, "no, no, no". Pretty cute, and I'm impressed with his communication.

The number one rule with the cast is: Do not get it wet. We kept it dry for about an hour. Henry poured the dog's water bowl all over it. I panicked, but it dried just fine. Two hours later, he poured his sippy cup on it. I'm not sure this cast is going to make it for the next two weeks...


Notice the cast...and the "cheese" pose.


An up close shot of the cast. Mommy and Daddy signed it, and his therapist, Ms. Cheryl, drew an ice cream cone on it.


Over it. The first night wearing the cast.


The third day of the cast...Henry was starting to function normally again playing with my bakeware. This was a lot louder than it looks.


Today was Chick-Fil-A lunch day. YEA!


He was pouring the french fries into his mouth. Notice there is some broccoli on his tray, too, and he ate it.

Cheese!

Obviously, I didn't hit my Thursday blogging deadline, but I promise to get back on schedule this week. Henry's been a busy little boy lately. He's always enjoyed posing for the camera, but now he knows how to pose and say cheese at the same time. He tilts his chin up, squints his eyes and smiles. He's quite fond of the camera.

Posing with Gavin. Poor Gavin...his life changed drastically yesterday. For the last 17 months, Gavin's safe haven from an adoring Henry has been our bed. Yesterday morning, Henry figured out how to climb onto our bed. Gav's pretty sweet to Henry, though, and I think he secretly enjoys the extra attention.

Henry is OBSESSED with balloons. He calls them "ba-lalas". It's difficult to pry them from his hands.

We had a surprise visitor this week - Uncle Jonathan came to see us! We had so much fun together. Notice the balloon and Henry's "cheese" pose.

Uncle Jonathan taught Henry how to open and close his tent.

Kyle's birthday is tomorrow. We made cupcakes for him on Friday afternoon. They were "yummy" but Henry preferred the icing.


See you next time! Love, Henry

Mommy's Lunch Date

What a fun day we've had! I've been working more than usual lately and missing our little man. So, when it was time for lunch today, I decided to have a little lunch date with Henry. We enjoyed grilled cheese and sweet potato fries at Henry's little table. We had such a good time. I loved ever minute of our time together. You may see that Henry has a little bit of a black eye....he got into a fight with a slide and the slide won! He's okay though!




Henry was invited to a neighborhood Valentine's Day party. He played in a jumpy/bounce house for the first time and absolutely loved it. He was jumping and shrieking with enjoyment. He drew a considerable amount of attention.

My sweet Valentine....Before we went to church on Sunday morning, Henry brought me pink tulips and a super sweet card. My boys are so thoughtful. I'm a lucky girl!


Hooray! Mommy won her tennis match!

Henry has one direction: backwards. He hasn't mastered the forward move yet.

Grandpa Walker's Birthday

Thursday has become my blog update day, and it just happens that today is my Dad's birthday. Happy birthday, Dad aka Grandpa Walker. Below is picture of me, my Dad and Henry at the park in July. We love you, Dad, and look forward to celebrating many more wonderful birthdays with you. It was on your birthday two years ago that Kyle and I told you that Henry would be joining our family. I don't think we can top that birthday gift but please know that we all love you very much. Happy Day!

Valentine's Day is right around the corner. I'm fairly certain that I am Henry's Valentine. He made a Valentine Cupcake at preschool on Tuesday. It didn't take him long to devour it, and he refused to share it with his mommy!

Henry is giving you "the eyes"! We think this is his way of telling us he loves us.

Henry's discovered his silverware. It took a long time to get the scrambled egg into his mouth, but he did it. He's such a big boy!