And this is what we do.

When it's January and the wind is so strong even that the crazy lady who pushes her baby around in the stroller in -7 degrees weather is muddling around inside, this is what you do...

You take half of the toys out of your toy chest and turn that baby into a boat. Then you scream when you realize you're sitting on a few too many puzzle pieces.

You squish your head into that adorable owl hat and strut around the house.

You drink a little java.

You let your mama dress you in ridiculous red overalls.

You spend an amazing amount of time putting money in a piggy bank.

You find a toothbrush and refuse to let it go.

And lastly, you convince your mama to let you play with a nice strangulation hazard.

Bring on February!

Freezing at the Flaming Gorge

We like the outdoors. We really like the outdoors and we hope and pray that Henry will love the outdoors as well. If not, this child is going to have a miserable childhood.

For as much as we are outdoors, one would think I would be one of those people who have a nice matchy-match ensemble. Nope. Here I am in some sweet purple velour sweats and one of Jake's many jackets. Ahh and poor Henry face planted into that cold snow mere moments after this was taken...not sure that's helping his love for the great outdoors.

Jake's lens makes me looking even taller than normal. Awesome.

The perks of a being married to a photographer. Although one of the lesser perks would be standing out in the cold while 157 versions of this photo are being taken.

A barbed-wire fence kept this hike a little shorter than we anticipated, but today wasn't the day for attempting to climb over sharp objects, in the snow, with a baby on your back.

Smiling in the freezing cold

Only 5 more months of winter to go. Yippeee!

He's got it going on.

There's just something about a baby and a tie. Melt my heart.

The Hen-dawg is now 13 1/2 months and full of spirit. He is the proud owner of the word, "up" and must say it at least 177 times a day. And I'm pretty certain he is trying to say "thank you" as well. Or at least that's what I'm hoping it is. I don't think any of my sailor talk has the same sounds?

At just barely over one year, Henry appears to have an ear for music. Every night before we lay him down Jake and I sing to our little man. Somehow, Henry has the bum luck of being in my arms during this nightly ritual but up until last week must not have realized just how off-key I am. However, now, as soon as we start singing, Henry will continually kiss me making it much harder for me to belt it out. I'd like to think he is just being extra sweet to his mama, but well let's face it, I suuuck at singing and I think this is his way of shutting me down.

The winter chilliness has the two of us going slightly stir crazy in our house. We rarely have the car so we are still bundling up in the -7 degree weather and going for quick walks to the post office. Now don't worry, Henry is practically sweating by the time we get home thanks to 17 layers of clothing, his snowsuit, all the blankets from our living room and and wind/rain blocker that goes over the entire stroller. Oh and me? I'm a freaking ice cube when we get back. Yesterday the wind was so strong I found myself closing my eyes as I walked along the streets. So safe, I know. On the rare occasion that we do have the car, we drive right to Shopko and destroy all of the shelves. I know they must love us.

And, rumor has it that a moose was in our yard this morning....sweeeeet.

It was quite balmy, yes it was.

I hate the cold. I hate the snow (unless we are in Oregon and it means a snow day and then I loooove the snow). So it really was quite surprising last Saturday when we stepped outside into the snow and 32 degree weather and I heard myself exclaim, "Wow, I don't even need a hat or gloves today. Giddyup." I didn't actually say "giddyup" but I just might start. We decided to take advantage of the amazing weather and have some fun outside.

This was about five minutes from our house and Henry had a great time in the fresh air. We didn't think to bring our Ergo so Jake ended up carrying Henry up the slopes while I found myself with 2,000 bucks worth of camera gear strapped to my back. No pressure not to fall, but much better than my uncoordinated self being in charge of our wiggly toddler (who by the way started screaming when Jake handed him to me- he must have sensed I was the weaker party).

love this picture of my boys.

We hadn't climbed very high yet, which is why Henry doesn't look terrified in my arms.

Oh beautiful weather, you were so wonderful while you lasted. And the upcoming forecast? I believe the highest we are supposed to get in the next couple of days...10 degrees with a nice low of -7. Giddyup.

                         

The Christmas Card Jump

I really meant to post this earlier, but then Henry burned his hand, and then Shutterfly took over every waking hour as I tried to frantically put together Henry's first year book before their sale ended.  The hand is healing marvelously and the book, thank the good Lord is finally complete and ordered.

So, yes, we jumped. Yes, it was 7 degrees. Yes, I was very cold. And yes, Jake complained about being cold way more than I did. It was also extremely bright which required a last minute addition to our look.

If you were thinking you should have received a card from us and you didn't, well oops! A slight mathematical error gave us quite a few cards less than anticipated, so sorry...hopefully next year will be better.

Here we go...

Henry has already assumed his jumping position.

We are so athletic. It amazes me.

I believe Henry is very, very impressed with us.

And yes, I got my feet all the way off the ground too.

I thought that maybe next year, we could dress Jake up like a horse and Henry and I could ride him. Jake thinks not.

The burning of a hand.

Such a sad tale but sometimes you just can't move fast enough. I'm a safety extremist. I put Henry in his full five point harness to move the the car from the garage to the side of the street.  I don't even blink when Henry is in the bath, but I suppose sometimes accidents happen regardless of how on top of things you try to be.

Our little man essentially stumbled his way right into a gas fireplace the morning of Christmas Eve. One second he was turning away from the fireplace in reaction to the loud chorus of "no's!" and then next millisecond he was turning right back around with his hands stretched out. Ouch! His entire left palm and some of his fingertips ended up with a second degree burn. Thankfully the kind folks at the ER had Henry drugged up and cleaned up relatively quickly. Two hour is quick, right? And they even put us to front of the line at Urgent Care (where they then transferred us to the ER thinking Henry would need to be sedated...thankfully this was not the case!).

Surprisingly he didn't want to stand still long enough to get a decent picture of his hand a day or so after the accident.

He let us bandage his hand up for about a week before he started biting it off at night and throwing it out of his crib. Thankfully we are passed the twice daily changing of bandages. Whenever Jake would come near him for a few days after the burn, Henry would freak out because he thought he was going to get pinned down for a bandage change. Ahh, so sad!

As a result of the burn, Henry now goes around saying, "hot" to just about everything. To him it doesn't matter if it's the oven, or a bowl of applesauce...everything is HOT! Sad, but cute.

Christmas Party Fail

For the last couple of years we have been getting together with Jake's family a few days before Christmas to celebrate. It is always a ton of fun.  A whole day filled with yummy food and drink, cribbage games and the best company. It is one of my favorite days. This year however things went a little awry.
See all these happy people? Yeah, most of them (along with a few others)  would end up with the stomach flu later that night or in the coming days.

And see this adorable happy man? Yeah, he would later touch the gas fireplace and spend Christmas Eve in the ER with second degree burns (more on that later).

Boy do we know how to party.