my baby

It doesn't matter how hard Henry just bit me on the nipple or how deep the two little teeth gouges are after I scream and pull him away, when he has finished nursing and is resting his little (actually it's pretty big) head on my shoulder, I melt.

I don't think I'll ever be able to stay long at this face for very long. Oh brother, I love him.

Happy announcements for the day: Alan is done another semester!! Only two more semesters of classes and then he starts the "fun stuff". His opinion only on that one.

Another happy anouncement: it's almost Christmas! Just in case you hadn't heard that. We are making the horrible trek back to SoAB this weekend, and I couldn't be more excited! I love and miss that family of mine. I'm hoping I'll be seeing most of my readers over the holidays, so with that, I'll see you soon!!

photographer

I'm supposed to be working on my lesson for young womens right now....that's right, I teach lessons at church (MATURE enough for you?)...but instead I decided I would do something massively unproductive and blog.

I'm supposed to teach my 12/13-year-old girls about controlling their thoughts. How do you teach an entire 40 minute lesson on something so deep and confusing, you've never given it much thought. I can't control my thoughts long enough to think about controlling my thoughts. Figure that one out! I like to keep things simple.

Keep it simple! Eat some cake! That's my motto!

Anyways, I think Henry inherited my POV (abbreviation for point of view - not sure if that one is pop enough for everyone to figure out - but I'm sure pop ((the shortened version of popular)) is probably pretty safe here). Henry is veeeeeeery chill. I took him to the mall all day and he either sucked on whatever was in his reach, sucked on his bottom lip when nothing was in reach, fell asleep in a huge mess of poop down his pants that I didn't clean up, or laughed at me doing nothing. He really is an easy baby. I am B to the LESSED to have him.

Today I spent like 2 hours in the dollar store. Man, they have some good stuff in there! I think I'll stop going anywhere else EVER! Watch me do it and be classy at the same time...WATCH!!

So one night a few weeks ago, my sis (don't think I've ever called her that - today is abbreviation day!) told me she was making her Christmas card and I was like "I SHOULD MAKE ONE!!!!!!!1" Then I got SO excited about it, found the first one I liked on etsy, told Jennie to recreate it for me, told Alan it was photoshoot day the next day and to take a shower, took a picture, didn't edit it, emailed it to Jennie, she sent me the card...I sent them to Walmart instead of even considering any other options, and WHAM - a Christmas card in T -24 hours.

I wish I had the patience to spend time on anything. I'm exactly the opposite of a perfectionist, whatever the word for that is....sloppy, maybe? It turned out pretty cute though I think, thanks to Jennie and Henry being adorable. 

Here are some more pictures that we took with a self timer...but NOT a remote. So just picture us crawling back and forth all over the floor and trying to get Henry to look at the camera and not us...when no one was at the camera. Ergo, he's not ever looking. So we decided not to either. 

 Oh there, we were finally all looking - but what's that look on my face?!?!!!!!!!!!!! Very strange.

I love my little family and I LOOOOVE Christmas. If you want a card, I printed off about 75 extra.

emotions

So just as I had finished typing my super whiney post about my homesickness, my mom and my sister - BAM! - show up on my doorstep. I squoze my fists and shut my eyes and jumped up and down - no really, I did. I knew my mom was coming but didn't know J was coming WITH HER! They are my most faithful visitors, I think they've come like 6 times since we've been out here. I am worth the drive (and in this instance, the flight) I guess. Just kidding, we all know they came to see the chub!

We had a fun weekend, let me tell you! There were no 4-yr-old drama queens or 2-yr-old...2-yr-olds and we got to shop and eat and eat chocolate (that deserves it's own category). And even though you know I would have loved to see the cute little tyrants, I get to see them in a month and it was so fun just to hang out sans headache. :) Guess I have nothing to complain about anymore, DO I?!!?

So I'm feeding Henry the other day, you know like I do, and usually he'll be done and then just sit there and laugh at me or Alan or nothing and nobody looking at him...but this time I decided I'd look at him cause there was nothing on TV (I'm joking, of course, I never stop looking at him) So I'm staring at his cute chubby face and he gives me a big ol' grin and WHAAAAAAT the H was that. A tooth. He has a tooth. 

Now, lets talk emotions. I'm emotional. At first I had a good spaz, got all excited, texted everyone I thought might possibly care. Posted about it on Facebook, cause I'm just obnoxious like that (hence, me telling the longest first tooth story ever to come to a blog). And then I got sad. Babies don't have teeth! Henry's not a baby anymore! Tears. After this little tyrade, I got mad. Did Alan even CARE about this ever-so-important milestone that had just occurred?!?!?!? And then I was happy again, but mad cause Jennie still hadn't texted me back and just po'd that there isn't a tooth emoticon on my iPhone, cause that would have been PERFECT. 

Henry is 5 months this week. When he hits 6 and is halfway to a year, I'm sure I'll have another emotional breakdown, but until then, some cute pictures I took of him just a second ago! (sorry, the tooth isn't visible yet, I am certain you are dying with anticipation to see it!)

 He's moved on to his 12-18 month clothes, which is exciting because that's all that is ever on sale at Gap but, yes, also sad. My emotions never get a break.

I love how in this picture you can see his little tuft of hair! It is getting longer but it's so fly-y..(?) ..that I can never get a good picture of it. I think the child has my painfully thin and fragile hair, which has been falling out like a fiend (mine, not his). Goodbye lovely luscious pregnancy hair, and hello hair in my toes and bra and food and stuck to the back of my arm and in Henry's mouth...I'm telling you, it's everywhere these days. Which doesn't do a whole lot for our new fluffy rug....sick.

 There's that grin! It's very easy to get these days, all I have to do is look at him. Don't mind his snotty nose, his teething process has made him pretty sniffly and every time I try to wipe it, I'm pretty sure he's going to break his neck.

 Henry and his tongue. He is hilarious with it. I keep trying to make a video, so if it ever works, I'll share it. But for now, just know that it IS funny.

And the beloved dino. Definitely his favorite and first toy. He has already barfed on him at least 20 times. So I'd say it's love (wish I knew how to do a heart emoticon).

homesick

I know I have NO right to complain as my mother is just hours away from getting on a plane to come see me and I only live like a hop skip and a jump of a drive away, but being away is hard. And it's harder with Henry. I feel like we need his grandma and his aunties and cousins. It's like he's deprived of all that love that he'd normally be bombarded with. I mean, where's Chloe to shout "hiiiiii baby Henry" as loud as humanly possible 2 inches from his face all day long?

I just feel like whining today. It's so dark out it feels like 10 at night at 10 in the morning, my sister is going to Pitch Perfect without me AGAIN and I can't stop eating cookies. What, that last one is completely my fault? Oh....

But even as I type this I realize I have nothing to complain about and feel guilty even trying to complain. I just miss my family today and even though we are spoiled with friends and visitors and trips home, I want to just stop over at Jennie's house today so we can BOTH eat cookies all day together, and I can't.  ROUGH LIFE.

Maybe some new pictures of Henry will make you feel better. Oh wait, I'm the one complaining. Well, they make me feel better.

 Just relaxin on the cold (and dirty) leather couch, pretty hard to please.

Despite the fact that he is stuck on his back 24/7 and can't move himself around at all, Hen always SOMEHOW finds his rag and sucks on it, taking in some delicious bathwater. Guess he's sick of that strict diet I keep him on. Breast milk ONLY. Don't want him getting fat or anything.

 He's always pretty cute, but he's even cuter in his jumper. Jen lent this to us and every door I tried it in Hen would just be sitting on the ground. So either our doors are too short for it (even though I'm pretty sure all doors are the same size..??) or a more reasonable explanation, he was weighing the thing down to the ground. He's a lug, I tell ya!

 Took some pics after we went for our little family Friday night date to Tony Roma's. Can't go anywhere fancy anymore with this kid, but it's not like we ever did.

 He loves to chat with us. Very loudly. And even though I'm glad it's rarely a cry, his happy screams force me to have to crank Ellen and SYTTD up so I can hear it, leaving a resounding headache. First world problems.
 Alan thinks Henry only likes ME. Cause I get the best laughs out of him. But I am the one with the boobs, so can ya blame him?

 Wish it wasn't fuzzy. BLAAH I love this kid.

 My anti-kissing-babies husband kissing my baby. I tried to get him to kiss him on the mouth for the picture..."come on, it'll be funny!!!" haha if you know Al, you know that it WOULD be funny.

 mmmmmmm, cheeks.

 I put bright red lipstick on this night. We left the house and went to Homesense before dinner and then ended up inviting some friends to dinner so I speedily baby wiped it off before we got to the restaurant. I just felt like I was Liz Lemon'ing all night...."am I pulling this off?" Nope, I sure wasn't.

 Sorry Hen, you got my genes. Gain all your weight in your face.

 He's such a good little study buddy. It's got to be my favorite thing to look over and see Henry sitting on Alan's lap just watching him study. Love overload!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HEART EXPLODING!!!!!

Put his snowsuit on him for the first time - we were desperate to get out of the house. CUTE RIGHT? These little snow pants were just making me die. And that little smile he does is pretty ridic too. I call it is his chubby munchkin smile. Appropriate enough, I'd say.

I know I whine a lot on here, but where else am I supposed to vent? I still find myself in tears of happiness almost every day. I am so blessed and love every second I get to spend with this baby and his dad!

A 4 Month Henry

Me and Hen left the house yesterday for the first time this week to get his 4 month shots. I hate this cold weather not because it's THAT horrible but because it reminds me of the doom that is inevitably on it's way, winter. So I've been working on halloween costumes and closing my blinds and staying inside, pretending that we live in Arizona and that it's too hot to go outside but that we'll hit the pool next week. 

They weighed and measured Hen at his appt and put him on the ol' chart. At 4 months Henry is:

• 18 lbs 7 oz - the 95th percentile for weight
• 26.5" long - the 95th percentile for length
• has a giant head - 97th percentile
• doesn't fit in his bumbo unless we squeeze each thigh separately
• impossible to lift in his carseat
• has plagiocephaly, due to the fact that there is too much Henry for Henry to roll over
• breathes heavily - I can hear him from our room while he's in his nursery
• sucks on his top lip when he can't find his hands, a soother, a toy or a blanket to shove in his mouth
• is calm and floppy (one might also refer to it as being lazy) he doesn't like to stand up, just sit or lay on his back (refer back to plagiocephaly bullet)
• is in size 3 diapers
• laughs every time we look at him, which involves snorting and squinting his eyes (as you'll witness in the upcoming video, whaaa!!!! my first blog video!)
• is the cutest happiest little boy and has me in tears laughing multiple times a day

I am trying to post a video, it will be a miracle if it actually works. 

Chubalubadub

I told myself after I had my baby, I'd try to keep the blog about ME and not just post about whatever my baby was doing and when and where and why and things like this, but then I had Henry. And he was cuter and more sweet than I ever imagined possible. And it turns out, Henry is my ENTIRE LIFE. I knew a baby would take up basically all of my time, but I just really couldn't have prepared myself for how wonderfully darling he would be and how I would be ridiculously obsessed with every. single. move he makes (as mentioned in previous post, this includes the screaming). 

Pictures with commentary, as per usual:

 Henry in overalls. He only got to wear these a couple times because he tends to grow at a fairly rapid pace. I'll have to have some more cute little boys to get their use in. (note: all of his cute clothes are from aunty Branny because she's the best and lives by Zara) :D :D DD :D::D:D::D:D so many happy faces but never enough for you Hen!!!!

 Me and Henry in overalls :D :D :D:D:D: :D:D:D:D:D:D: D: D:D (except for I'm not wearing any overalls, sorry) My nose looks big here...I always thought I avoided the Heggie nose, but sometimes, at some angles, I think differently. Hmmm, maybe a nose job will be in the works when I go to get my boob job...ha ha calm down I'm joking (but not about the boob job)

We are a happy family (primary jingles are prominent around these parts)

 Going on a walk in Roughrider gear just in case someone thinks of mugging us (you don't mess with a fellow fan out here)

 And this is what we were prammin' around. NOT TOO SHABBY

 Henry's hands found eachother a little while ago, and now they never are apart. He always has to have them crossed over his tummy with the fingers interlocked. Cue me screaming through clenched teeth trying not to freak out (cuteness overload).

 Alan impersonating Henry (very well, I might add).

 Ok I put this hoodie (or as the Saskatoonians call it, a bunny hug...ya, I know, what the H?!?!?) anyways, put it on Henry (this is also from auntie Bran) and almost collapsed at the sight of it. I took about 60 pictures and took him to the mall where fellow baby lovers swooned and I gleamed with pride!

 One of many pictures of Henry not giving me much except for the occasional tip-over. I'll take what I can get.

 Oh, a little coo!

 We went home for Thanksgiving and got to see baby ETHAN!!!!!! He is just right in the center there and if you could just see a little closer, you'd see how stunningly handsome he is. Loved him and loved being home and wished I would have showered for the family pic.....

 Alan made this poster. He did a summer research project basically all on his own and created this on his own not knowing what the CRAP he was doing. He worked hard like he usually does and was really proud of it. He then placed 3rd out of all 4 years of med students competing. He's smart and I love him and was just proud as a mama goose. I'm sooooooooo lucky to have my Alley-Cat.

 Henry...as he continues to get chubbier. Likes to stand up while we hold him now. Loves his jolly jumper too. And is quite handsome, wouldn't ya say?

 Sitting up all on his oooown?!!?!? Wow Henry, you are developed beyond your months. (doing a little word play there, you like? as in "wise beyond your years"...I'm so clever). I actually think he owes his sitting up abilities to his belly colliding with his thigh chub, but let's not judge (lest we be judged....) ((it's late))

 hahhaa oh, my little chunkamunk.

 Hen loves to get thrown up in the air and tossed from side to side over and over and over. We're worried it's causing him some sort of inner ear damage, but he chuckles so cute I can't HELP BUT THROW HIM.

 The excessive use of capitals in this post is attributed to the fact that I can't stand this kid. Multiple freak outs a day, have I.

 He loves to study with dad! Hopefully he takes after him and not me and actually goes to school?

 Holding dad's thumb. Too smart for words.

And all of us!! It's hard to hold our big heavy camera out and capture everyone but when you're all wearing grey, it's worth every effort.

feelings, nothing more than feelings

Lately, I catch myself smiling a lot. Just smiling...a big fat grin across my big fat face (ha ha ok it's not THAT fat) but I love it. I have always struggled with being genuinely happy all the time and optimistic....a lot of the time I have to force myself to look at the positive things and be happy about all the wonderful things I have but lately, I'm just smiling! No effort needed.

Henry has changed my whole life. He has changed me in every way. Some bad (tore me apart in an area I would have loved to stay intact) but mostly, and pretty much only, good.

I love being a mom. LOOOVE it. I finally feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing and what my body and my personality was meant to do. Even when Henry is crying and just wants me to play with him or snuggle him and even when he's screaming while I try and take the 15 layers off so he can get some boob, I am smiling at him. Everything he does is cute! His screaming is cute. His sneezes that cover his face in snot are cute. His big poops up his back and into his neck rolls are cute. 

Everyone says the same thing and I figured "oh ya, suuuure, you're just saying that to sound cool", but really, no really, I did not know I could love this much. 

And I love Alan even more than I did before. 

I am planning to post some new pics this week....but am feeling blessed and thankful and wanted to write it down but didn't feel like getting a hand cramp so veto'd the journal. 

Henry, you make me happy as a clam at high tide. 

(a pic from today)

((he won't smile for pictures - suuuuch a brat))
(((i need a new phone...i'm getting the 5...cause i am also a brat)))

My Chunk

So my little Henry has gotten not-so-little and gained quite a bit of chunk over the last little while. Even though it is kinda sad he's getting SO big SO fast, I could just burry myself in his chunk all day. Actually, it's exactly what I do every day. Every opportunity I get, I'm nuzzlin the fat. I was going through my pictures and came up with WAY too many to post, but I think Jen will appreciate it and she's the best and deserves it after spoiling Hen with all his sewed goods. 

Henry loves Al. And Al is CRRRAAAZZZY about Henry. If there were ever anything cuter, I never saw it.

Peek-a-boo.

This is the face we get every time the camera comes out. I would think he's too small to figure out that I'm trying to exploit his face all over the internet....but no. So catching a grin is nearly impossible.

We do catch it every once in a while though. Hen is super freaking smiley. He loves attention (just like me) and even in the middle of a cry if you say "hi hen" or "hi shugie" (his new nickname I got from watching too much Honey Boo Boo) he will smile at you and daaaaaaaaaamn its cute (cuss word necessary)

His laugh is ridiculous. You would die. I promise.

Loves his baths, as I'm sure most babies do. He even laughs through me dripping water in his eyes every 2 seconds. He's a good sport.

Sunday is my new favorite day cause I get to dress the chubbs up. This is one of his outfits. We need more sundays cause he's starting to grow out of his 3-6 months clothes, of which I haven't even removed half the tags yet (stress!)

Handsome Hank aka Hank the Tank

On our way to drop daddy off at school, hence why he's still in his jammies and not in 15 layers of clothes after playing dress up for hours. Henry sleeps a lot. And he sleeps really good at night. He will sleep for 10/11 hours and then wake up smiling and wanting to play. It's cute, but not so cute in the boobs-nearly-exploding area...

More playtime with dad. He will always be the favorite parent cause I am terrible at entertaining children. I have been babysitting a little girl for the week and I feel like all we do is stare at eachother awkwardly....and I feel like that because that IS all we do.

Obviously not as into it as Al-daddy was.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....babies are just dreamy. 

And now for the Iphone section. Starting off with a plethora of Henry's girlfriends (and these aren't even all of them) Come on someone, have a boy for Henry to play with cars and....hunt? with?

Claire (Amy's), Henry and Scarlett (Nola's) what seems like a looong time ago at Henry's shower (he was 5 weeks). Claire kept smacking him in the face.

Same 3 babies, a little bigger...and Henry a LOT bigger. He's just totally working it in this picture. 

HOLDING HANDS!!!! Henry totally made his move here and Claire was NOT interested. But as you can tell by the look on both their faces, it was gonna happen whether she liked it or not. Take note, Claire is 2 months older than him....he's a big boy. Also weighs the same as his friend Gretel who is almost 6 months older than him (what's uuup!)

        Henry and Ruby (Jessica's little girl). He was forced into this move but it was still pretty smooth. Swooned her right to sleep. 

And here we have Henry and Edith (Esther's). She's brand new and gorgeous. But Henry didn't make any moves because they are cousins, and no one likes an incest baby.

Concluding the girlfriend section, we have pictures of us at home in AB that made me so homesick I cried whilst posting:

We miss you gramma and papa and Jennie and babies and EVERYONE OUT THERE!

He loves when we clap his hands. Also when I make monkey sounds, which I am disturbingly good at.

oooooooh he kills me. Me and Al both check on him about 6 times a night (each) and then fight over who gets to get him out of his crib. ha ha we are too much........

More handsomeness.

Branny-Panties came to visit. It was so so so much fun. Her and Henry are the same size, so they had LOTS of good times together. Love that girl.

Me lookin shnazzy after never showering anymore and my baby who is always bathed and clean

Skinny jeans from auntie Branny. Can't believe Al let me get away with putting these on him, but he actually loved them. He's getting soft in his old age.

And I leave you with a squishy naked bum. I have two babies finally asleep so I must go do the same...no time for improving this very lengthy post.

My apologies,
Mama T