And we're off....hopefully

Is there no greater house guest than one who brings  you the stomach flu? I used to think no. The one who brings you the stomach flu has to be the best. But when Henry came down with croup the day before we were to leave my parents abode (after two weeks of throwing up, teething and general 15 month old mischief) and was black listed from flying, I changed my mind. Now the house guest who just won't leave has to be the best.

Tomorrow well before the sun even thinks about coming up, we'll be on our way to the airport. Or at least that is the hope. And in case after 21 days his dadda has forgotten what he looks like, here is the boy responsible for most of the ailments this trip. Good thing you're cute, boo.

And would you believe that while we were here, the boy grew some hair! Yeah, I know you don't believe me, but I had to use shampoo the other night. Oh yes I did.

15 months

Life just gets better and better with this turd around. His 15 month well baby check had him weighing in at 23 pounds 3 ounces and 31 1/2 inches long. Both around the fiftieth percentile. They didn't give me his head measurements but said that big old thing was leveling out, and then asked who in our family had a big head. I ,of course, blamed his father.

I'm hilarious, and can you believe I stayed in one spot for more than 2 seconds?

 He is such a character. One of Henry's newest tricks is climbing up onto our entertainment center and throwing anything he can get his hands on to the ground. Pretty sure we are going to need to glue down our TV or it'll be going down next. He's also figured out how to throw/fling pretty much everything else so coming to our house is now a bit risky. I do realize that perhaps we should teach him to not throw inside, but uh, we live in Wyoming! It's winter here 10 months out of the year...if he doesn't throw in the house he won't stand a chance at becoming a professional athlete and thus paying for our retirement. We will have none of that. He's also added, "hola" and "ouch" to his vocabulary and can sign "brush teeth". Oh the brilliance! His favorite sign continues to be "hat" which continues to be oh to helpful in every day life. :)

I want to kiss you!

H man and I are going to Portland Saturday morning...here's to hoping for a delightful toddler who wins over the crowds and doesn't communicate via screams for our two hour flight.

The boy speaks.

At the moment I can't think of anything more fun than listening to my little man talk. I know the time will come when I will be wishing he had never learned but for now we are loving it.

If you had any idea how long it took me to figure out how to get this video small enough to load on the internet, you wouldn't dare mention that it plays through twice.

How much do you love Henry's fantastically large cloth diaper? We're experimenting with using them for overnights as well as during the day...yeah for more poop to dump into la toilet.

And one more for the road.

He knows quite a few more words but apparently his contract will allow him only so many at one time for the camera.

Big Nose and Tone Deaf? Please, no.

When we were pregnant with Henry we had the conversation every couple has. "I hope he has my eyes and not your big old nose. What if he gets your nose! I hope he gets your musical talent and not my non-ability to clap on beat. What if he's tone deaf!?" And of course at the top of our list (after healthy and yada yada), "I hope he sure likes the outdoors." Thankfully all of our wishes have come true so far. The kid has his mama's eyes, although it yet to be determined whose nose, he appears to be able to keep a beat and he loves the outdoors. Unfortunately he does seem to have his mother's balance. Now it could just be that big old head of his that takes him down and maybe he'll out grow it, but as of now it's hard to say if it will be Henry or myself who falls first when out in the snow.

This boy truly is happiest when outdoors.

Mom and toddler holding hands on packed snow is a sure recipe for disaster.

Our little explorer.

Pink Eye, Lentils, Snowboarding, oh my!

Last week Henry had pink eye. Have you ever tried to pin a 14 month old boy down four times a day and squirt eye drops into his tightly clenched  eyes? It was the very opposite of delightful. And of course it had to happen just as diaper changes were starting to get easy again. What, you think those aren't related? Well now when ever big boy gets laid down to get the old diaper changed he FREAKS  out thinking that the eye dropper is coming out too. Loads of fun.

I've been experimenting in the kitchen lately with some healthier dinner options. I had great success with lentil tacos. Seriously so great. Henry devoured his. As did his father. And his mother too.

The whole cauliflower alfredo sauce was not so much of a success. I mean it didn't have an ounce of cheese in it so I'm not exactly sure why I thought it might be good. I threw my bowl away before Jake got home, but Henry thought it was dang good and had a second helping. However, he must have come to his senses overnight because when I served it again for lunch he promptly threw it on the floor. Can't really blame him.

So good he had to eat it with two utensils. The roll in foreground was money.

To celebrate seven years of togetherness, Jake and I went snowboarding. It was crazily sunny which reflected off of our winter  whiteness so nicely.

We make snowboarding look sooo good.

Later when I realized I probably hadn't put on as much sunscreen as I should have...sure  I was sweating like a fool but man did I look cool.

And one last blurry shot of Henry sitting in a pan, happy as can be!

And blogger has given me high blood pressure by putting the last pictures in text in an oh so fun caption box that I can't get rid of. Fix it, Becca!

                                 

                                  

30 and 14

This past weekend, the little man became a big 14 month old and I became an old 30 year old.

These shoe pictures are getting harder and harder to take. It's as if he doesn't understand how cool these pictures will be ten years from now!

And now me on my grand thirtieth.  Jake surprised me with a date night in Park City while a wonderful friend watched Henry. It was exactly what I needed and we had a such a great time. Finding this cow statue was just icing on the cake (which I never actually got...)

Come on, you know you wanted (or want) a picture of you and a cow on your big 3-0.

Henry continues to talk and destroy whatever is in his path. He is having a love affair with "no...no...no...no" but I do believe his favorite word is still "up". This morning he did the sign for hat and then said "hat" which added lots of excitement for our morning. He also discovered his belly button and spent a good ten minutes lifting up his shirt to make sure it was still there. I'm not really looking forward to the day he lifts up my shirt in public to show of my button. He loves to play chase and roar like a lion and has finally starting waving byebye (as well as saying it in a very high pitched voice) while the person who is leaving is still looking at him.

Look at all that bare ground behind this cute boy! I know that writing this will probably prompt a horrible snow storm, but we have been blessed with some delightful (though still wind piercing cold) weather lately. The only huge downfall to no snow? The easily picked up by a toddler deer poop that is everywhere! Holy grossness.

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!