Mom's Birthday Party

Well, it was my Birthday today and Henry had a great time. He knows what Birthday means, so he knew it included some sort of a party and a cake. We had a bunch of family and friends, including my dad and my step-mother, Teri, who have been here having a blast for the last 5 days. Henry and the other three kids his age actually ate their dinner without a huge mess, then danced around on the deck to Norah Jones until they started to get dizzy and bumping into each other which led to crying. haha!. Henry especially loved the train cake pan that Stef gave me. He LOVES trains and I'm going to make him his train cake for his Birthday. I'm really excited to do it for him.

Before the party we went on a hike at Fall Run Park where Henry took a pretty bad face plant on the trail and a rock embedded in his lip. The entire rest of the day he had a flap of skin hanging down off his mouth and a fat lip. So sad. He was a trooper though and as soon as he saw another rock, he totally forgot about his lip and started running again without a thought about the hidden rocks on the trail. It was such a beautiful place and there were so many leaves on the trail and we all enjoyed kicking them up.

Check out the Lake Tahoe photos. I'll write about it next!

A couple of cute photos

I don't have time to say much, so I'm just going to upload a few cute photos. Oh, Henry said Broccoli today. "Brocky" he says. He was pretty happy with himself that he could say it. These photos are of Henry in Washington DC at church and after church at our walk through a fabulous garden with aunt Meg and Uncle Kirk, which included a butterfly garden.

Honey is one

Henry learned how old he is the other day. I should have taught him earlier, but I didn't think of it until now. Now, every time we ask him how old he is, he says "one" and sticks up his little finger. He also understands the concept of one and what one looks like. He has a numbers puzzle and runs around showing us the number one and every time he has one grape or one fruit snack he says, "one" with a big smile on his face. He surely is excited to have learned about the number one.

Henry also started attempting to say his name. For about one day he said, "Hammy," which was really funny, but now he says what sounds like "honey". I think he knows he's not saying it right because he gets a little bit of that embarrassed/shy look when he says it, but at least he's trying to say his name. He can say just about everyone else's name, but not his own. I think "r's" are really hard for him at this point and so he avoids them when he can.

I just have to point out that Henry is surprisingly good at sharing. Even though he's being so high maintenance and emotional at this point in his life, he is always so willing to share things and that amazes me still. He has his raspberry plants from which he usually eats every day. Every time, without asking, he puts a few into my mouth. Today there were so many raspberries that we decided to pick some for Justin, who was home studying, and Henry brought the entire bowl up to the office and shared them all with Justin. He did the "one for you and one for me" thing, which I hadn't ever taught him. He just naturally knows the concept. When he asked for grapes in his bowl today, before he ate any of them, he gave one to Justin and one to me and then he started eating his own. He also played Sherpa today as Justin and I watched the Yankee game. He willingly was bringing me pretzels every time I asked Justin for a few. He would bring a handful over, give me all but one, and take the last one for payment. lol! He's such a nice boy.

Henry never ceases to amaze...or make me laugh

Today I printed out a bunch of photos at Costco to swap with some of the old ones around the house that just weren't that great. I printed a few out to put on his photo wall in his room and while I was up there organizing everything, he climbed up the two tiered changing table, pulled himself up to a stand and then pointed at my older brother's photo and said, "Sam". I was shocked. I clapped, laughed, and made him say it a couple more times and then asked him if he could say "Jamie," (who is Sam's girlfriend and is in the photo with him) and he said it perfectly! For the rest of the night he was saying "Sam, Jamie" while he was jut walking around. I can't believe he remembered something I had tried to teach him so long ago. I don't know when the last time we talked about all the people on the wall was. At least a week ago or more. What a memory.

Tonight I made some more fresh salsa from the tomatoes that just ripened today. I'm loving this indian summer. I thought I would bring some over to my neighbor Swati, whom Henry LOVES to death. She's straight from India and is the most lovely, friendly, and sweet girl that ever existed. Henry calls out for her frequently, so when I mentioned we were going over there, he ran to get his shoes, then he ran to the table where my cowboy hat was hanging on the kitchen chair, put it on, then ran to the door and looked at me with an excited/impatient look like, "I'm ready. Let's go!" The hat is now folded over so much that he has to turn it sideways in order to see and then it looks more like a Napoleon Boneparte hat made from straw. lol! We went over to Swati's house, but she wasn't there. I told Henry that Swati was gone and he started repeating her name over and over in a very sad tone. Poor Henry. He got all ready for nothing. haha.

More Dog Stories and Singing

This story is in addition to the last dog story when Henry stuck his finger in dog poo before peeing on the doormat and pooping under our deck. Tonight our friend took Henry while Justin and I went to a fancy lecture/dinner for the Orthopedic Surgery department that they have every year. It was so nice to have some time away from Henry for a minute! Don't tell him I said that. Anyway, so when my friend took him to her house, her dog in the back yard started licking the outside of the sliding glass door, and when Henry saw that, he promptly ran over and started licking the inside of the glass door where the dog was licking as if it was second nature to him. lol! I always believed I had a little bit of a natural dog whisperer in me and I think I've passed it on to him:)

So, in the car the other day I was singing Old McDonald had a Farm when I wanted to tell Justin something in mid verse. I stopped singing for a second and Henry continued singing in perfect pitch and tone, "E-I-E-I-O". He actually sang on tune! I'm so glad to hear that because I fear that some of our children will inherit Justin's voice and not my own. Just so you know, that's pretty much one of the only things I would rather they inherit from me and not him. They can be like him in every other way because he is just amazing:)

Henry is getting increasingly jealous of anything that takes my attention away from him and anxious about being separated from me. He doesn't even like me to be out of sight anymore even though it never bothered him before. It seemed to start ever since he learned to say Mommy and Daddy, like now we mean more to him because he can say our names. If he's with Daddy, he calls out for Mommy, making sure I'm close by. If Justin's home and I have Henry in my arms, he calls out for Daddy, wanting him to be in arms reach. I don't know what is going on with him, but I hope it passes soon because I find myself wishing for some more alone time to rest from his intensity.

Oh, and today he got out of the tub twice to run into our room just to pee on the carpet. I guess it's my fault because I was trying to double task by making the bed while he was supposed to be playing (I can see him in the bathroom from anywhere in my room just in case you were wondering), and it was too late to stop him once he ran to the first patch of clean carpet he set foot on. Then when I got him out of the tub, he usually follows me into his room where I put on his diaper, but he was too busy closing doors, which he is obsessed with lately, and spent just a little too long closing our bedroom door and created a little lake next to Justin's nightstand. He also knows the words, "pee pee" "poo poo" and "bum bum" and isn't afraid to use them when he gets the chance.

BTW...that photo is of Henry after the tomatoes in the food processor splashed out all over the kitchen. I let him push the buttons when I chop things up. I cleaned up the walls and the cabinets, but I didn't notice Henry's face until a few minutes later! lol! He also likes to put stickers on his chest while he watches me cook.

Henry Ouch

Henry went to DC this weekend. On the way there we stopped at Harper's Ferry where we walked a little bit of the Appalachian trail. When we got out of our car, a huge train was going by right next to the parking lot, so I put Henry up on my shoulders and got really close to the train so he could feel the wind, hear the noise and see how big they really are. He was screaming and laughing at the same time from the exhilaration. So, because of the train, we didn't put shoes on him and he ended up running along the trail barefoot, falling every 50 feet as usual. On one of those falls he broke/scraped off a good chunk of his toenail and for the rest of the trip he had a bloody and really dirty bloody stump of a toe. He never cried or complained about it until today when he stubbed it on a wooden toy and it started gushing blood. I wiped it until it stopped bleeding, but shortly after that he dropped a Nalgene bottle on it, splitting his wound open again. I gave him a bottle of warm milk, took him up to my room and performed minor surgery to clean it out and put band-aids on it. Henry was such a good patient. He never cried and he totally let me do whatever I wanted without squirming. He ended up pulling off the band-aids twice, so it didn't really last long, so I hope it heals even though his toes are always covered in dirt! haha!

Happy Happy

Henry has learned many new words lately and one word he loves to use is "happy". I was putting him down for his nap today and as I snuggled the blankets around his face he looked up at me and said, with a huge smile, "happy, happy". He really is a happy boy. Here he is hanging around downtown Pittsburgh with his mommy and daddy.

Henry also love accessories like hats, sunglasses and hair ties, which he pulls up to his upper arms and leaves there for hours. Sometimes I find four or five hair ties stuck on his arms hidden beneath his tee-shirt while I'm changing him into his pjs. He's lucky that his arms aren't big enough for them to cut off his circulation! hopefully he'll lose interest in them by the time his arms grow bigger. By that time I'll be able to see his arms turning purple anyway. lol! Funny kid:) Henry fell asleep in the car with my cowboy hat on and his stretchy mosquito repellent armband that he loves. He loves his accessories!

Sweet Henry Stories

These stories, though short, have to be documented for posterity. Henry does random things every day that make me laugh and somehow my mom thinks these stories are really fun, so here they are...

The other day I put Henry down for his nap and he was being such a good boy. He had just finished a bottle of milk, was totally relaxed and I carried him to his room. I laid him in his crib, tucked all his blankets around him saying "snuggli wuggli," which he really loves and always makes him laugh or smile. Then I stroked his hair and said, "Henry, you're such a good boy." He looked up at me, smiled, and then said "boy" in his sweet little voice. Then he snuggled his head in his blankets, closed his eyes and went right to sleep. That just about melted my heart.


Last Saturday we went for a hike at Fall Run Park and we let Henry walk up the trickle of a stream that's left. He loved playing in the water. When we got to the waterfall we put him at the sloped, slippery base to let him slide down since he loves slides. When he reached the bottom he hit his elbow then looked up at us and said, "owwww, elbow." haha! Justin was like, "when did he learn how to say that? I didn't even know he knew that word!" He does, however, know the word "bridge,"but since he can't say r's very well yet, he says it without the r and you can imagine what that sounds like. lol! On this trail, there are probably 10 bridges and whenever he sees one, he says his version of bridge a hundred times. When this women passed us near a bridge we had to keep saying, "yeah Henry, that's a bridge. Good boy, bridge!" So she wouldn't be offended!

Henry loves to go out to the garden every day and eat fresh tomatoes, raspberries, carrots and beets. That's one of his favorite things to do. He walks down our deck stairs and finds all the cherry tomatoes that are ripe, then we go find all the ripe raspberries. After the raspberries are all gone Henry starts saying "beets, beets, beets" over and over and then goes over to the beets and carrots and looks them all over to find ones that are ready to be picked. Henry does pretty well finding the ones that aren't "babies". He seems to respond really well to the reasoning that we have to be careful and nice to the baby ones until they grow up and we can pick them. After he picks the beets or carrots, he holds them up and says "wash, wash" until they are all cleaned off. I really can't believe how much he loves his beets. I seriously love it.

Henry's new way of getting out of Sacrament Meeting

So, I was supposed to sing today with my ensemble, but our friend Cynthia called to say that her little 2 year old was throwing up and she wouldn't be able to sing. So I had to cancel the ensemble and I don't even know if I can reschedule because it's a total hassle to get everyone together. PLUS, my neighbor Swati whom I adore was coming to church today for the first time to hear me sing. I tried to call someone about doing a solo, but I couldn't get a hold of anyone so I was just going to talk to someone before church about it. I pulled into church a few minutes early and was rushing to get in when I somehow accidentally locked the car, got out, shut the door and there was Henry and all my stuff for Sharing Time and music locked in my car at church that's 20 minutes drive from my house. Aaaahhh!!!! I couldn't even call Swati to tell her not to come or about what happened. Fortunately I parked in the shade and after a few minutes of trying to get Henry to push the buttons or pull the lock up, we gave up. We tried to point to the keys or the lock button, but he would just put his fingers on the glass where our fingers were touching the glass. We were laughing hysterically. Henry was roaming free in the car and he was happy as a clam! haha! I borrowed a friend's car, drove home, got a spare key, and drove back. When I pulled up, my sister-in-law and Swati were in the parking lot waiting with Henry and my car and there was just 10 minutes left of Sacrament Meeting. When we opened the car door, there was such a stench that everyone almost passed out. Henry had a the nastiest poopy diaper full of undigested grapes. Gross!! My singing plans were shot and Swati didn't even get a chance to feel the spirit. Can you believe this? So, she stayed to hear my lesson in Sharing Time, which actually went really well and then left. Soon after that, I soon realized that I had forgotten my binder with all my secretary stuff and wasn't able to do any of my normal duties. How in the blazes???!!! Then after church I got snagged to sing in the ward choir and I had to sing through Henry's screaming fits because he was so tired. After that, we went home. On the way home I realized that I had left almost all my props, including my cowboy hat and my down slippers at church because I couldn't clean up properly after my lesson with all the commotion going on. Henry was already asleep too, so I couldn't return without risking messing up Henry's nap. He slept from 2:30 to 6:30(four hours!!!) and I still hear him whining upstairs at almost 11pm because he's not tired enough to fall asleep. Plus, this whole time Justin was at work and won't come home until tomorrow afternoon. We did finally get a chance to go down to visit him at the hospital and eat cinnamon rolls for 15 minutes with him, so that was the only relaxing part of the day.

Is there a division for 2 and under?

Henry is an official climber. He got some climbing shoes from his Uncle Sam when he was born and recently he has been wanting to wear them all over the house. They are a size 10, but they velcro on pretty well even though Henry is just a 7 or so. This weekend we went to Ohiopyle State Park to hike, camp, and climb with our great friends Christi and Dave Romney. That place is just beautiful. We even stumbled on a kayaking competition on Saturday where the race included dropping off a large waterfall. Henry was in heaven with all the water, dogs and motorcycles everywhere. We decided to spend our Saturday climbing at a pretty nice spot where we actually met the guy who bolted the climbs. Justin and Dave did most of the climbing. I scaled a really fun crack climb that was a 5.6 in difficulty (aka: not that hard but still gave a rush). That was a blast from the past. Many of you may not know that my brother is still a professional rock climber, so when Henry began climbing all over just about everything that looked climbable, I wasn't surprised. We put his special climbing shoes with the monkey on them and he was unstoppable. He had a blast climbing all over the boulders and more difficult ledges (with mom spotting, of course). Miraculously, he didn't even get hurt in that rocky terrain. I expected him to get a bloody lip at least once on the trip! After climbing we hiked to our campsite in Bear Run where we were totally secluded (except for the distant sound of the freeway. Ugh) and we ate yummy food, roasted marshmallows, and told funny stories in the freezing night air. Henry had a tough time without taking his usual two hour nap, so we had to live with the crankster for a while, but after a pretty good night's sleep (for him) he was refreshed in the morning. We hiked out in the morning, took a nice easy walking tour up the river to look at the waterfalls and the natural water-slide and then went home.

Henry's New Pet

We have a a new pet......spider! Haha! Just in time for Halloween, eh? We are so glad that our big mama orb weaver spider has decided to join us this year. She is a large orange spider with orange and white striped legs, just the same as the ones we used to have in New Mexico, which is astounding to me since there are something like 30,000 different species of orb weaver in the USA. Anyway, so we had her for a couple days in our back sliding door, but then she vanished. On Sunday our in-laws came for dinner and my sister-in-law was cleaning up in the toy room when she screamed bloody murder, hopping and prancing out of the room, "there's the hugest, ugliest bug I've ever seen in there, eeeewwww!" haha! I ran in there and it was our girl! I was so excited to have found her, and just in time, too, because after I put her back in her corner of the door frame, she laid her eggs! We are so excited to have them there and her back where she spins her perfect web. We have the best seat in the house from the other side of the window. Henry loves it when I put a grasshopper in the web so we can watch her wrap it up and sink her fangs in it! haha! Am I grossing you out? Good! She does have some pretty big fangs. The best part of the whole scenario is that when the little spider babies hatch in the spring, they'll all float away on the breeze with their little parachutes. Isn't nature so exciting?

Poopy mornings

Henry keeps waking up at 7am, which is really early for him, because he has a huge poopy diaper. I usually go to bed around 2am, so I've been getting 5 hours of sleep and it just isn't enough for me! The worst part is that I'm so delirious when he starts to scream that I don't go in there until I hear him say "eeew", at which point I know that he's stuck his finger in his diaper and has scooped a dollop of poop out and is sitting there waiting for me to clean it off. He knows that I finally snap out my delirium when I hear "eeew". haha! So gross.

Very BIG Boy

People had been telling me recently that Henry seems really big for his age. I thought they had meant he acts older, which is does, with his long hair and all his climbing and running. He's so sure on his feet and isn't afraid of anything. This week I took him to his new pediatrician, Dr. Butler,who I adore, and he did his checkup. Henry weighs almost 30 lbs and is just under 36 inches tall which means that he's off the chart(99th percentile) for height and at the top for weight (95th percentile). His head, however is only in the 50th percentile. haha! Poor little guy. He is excelling in every area, especially verbally and physically. For a boy, he is very verbal, follows directions, and even sings a little bit. He climbs, runs, hops, jumps, goes down huge slides and is very independent. His social skills have always been advanced and children younger and especially older than him have always loved interacting with him because of his contagious personality and sweet character.

He is so eager to please and is obedient to the point that it blows my mind. One of his new things is to help me throw everything away. As soon as he finds a wrapper on the ground, even outside on the street, he wants to pick it up and put in the garbage. He's so proud of himself when he understands instructions and does what I ask him to do. Henry is also one of the friendliest kids ever. Everywhere he goes, he waves at people, especially kids, and people can't help but react with a smile and and swooning.

His expressions are getting even more extreme as he learns to talk. He is signing over 75 words and when we go into the city or a new environment, he tries to name everything, and the things he can't name, he signs. He notices everything and never holds back his joy and excitement for the world around him.

Just the other day Henry, Justin and I were doing a little yard work and Justin took Henry to the front yard for a couple minutes and when he saw me in the back yard watering the garden, he ran toward me exclaiming, "woh dad, mommy!, mommy!, mommy!"

Yesterday we went to a Pittsburgh Pirates(I know you've never heard of them) baseball game. He loved the crowd, the jumbo screen cartoons and all the clapping. After a while, he decided to go on an adventure, so we headed out to walk around. He made a bunch of friends, got some free popcorn which he fed to a seeing eye dog. He also danced with a young disabled boy in a wheelchair and they even signed to each other. As he hopped, skipped, and ran down the ramps, he would periodically stop to dance the the music. Whenever he did, a crowd would start to congregate until he decided it was time to move on.

One of Henry's favorite things to do is to go visit Justin down at the hospital and walk around outside. There are always a variety of buses, motorcycles, the trauma helicopter coming and leaving. He gets a lot of stimulation from the diversity of people walking around and all the traffic on the street.

Well, this is Henry! He is the most lovable boy around!

Block Island Bebe

I hadn't really realized it, but Henry had never been to the beach since he was an infant and incapable of truly enjoying it. I was not prepared for Henry's excitement in seeing the endless beaches covered with sand, rocks, perfect kid sized waves to play in, and the large inlet of water which, during low tide, provides a warm, super shallow water park for kids while the parents dig in the mud for yummy clams. This trip to Block Island was THE best trip we'd had up there since I started going five years ago.
What had traditionally been a very cool, overcast and rainy place was hot and sunny all week long. The usual activities of puzzles and reading one or more books was kicked to the curb as we spent most of our days at the beach. Henry and his buddies, Gabe and Nate played in huge holes in the sand dug by their fathers' all day long. Henry also loved being around all the other children and dogs playing at the beach. He made lot of new friends and some enemies as he charmed the girls and smashed the other boys' sand creations. Other kids seem to be drawn to him and are eager to know him. We ate great fresh food, our yearly lobster, home grown tomatoes from our garden, my home-made jam and bread, and other fresh veggies from the Smocks. Eating good food is always a big part of a successful vacation. Clamming was probably the most fun activity we did this year. I had always wanted to go in previous years, however we never had enough time or motivation to get the license. While the boys were clamming, Henry and I played on the beach and caught fiddler crabs. Henry isn't afraid of anything, even large crabs with huge pincers. It was also fun to see him learn the signs for everything you find at the beach. He's so eager to learn and discover new things. Henry is always so delightful to be around with his constant smiles, dancing, expressions, exclamations of discovery and bursts of energy and laughter.

Shoe Crazy

Henry loves his shoes. He screams and cries whenever I change his diaper, try to put clothes on him, or take his clothes off. He, however, loves to wear his brown sandals that his grandparents bought for him all day long. I really didn't mind much until he started figuring out how to take one shoe off with the other foot. Now, I'm stuck putting his shoe back on a hundred times per day. All I would hear is "uh-oh, shoe, shoe, shoe, shoe...etc" as he would hobble over to me with one shoe on and one shoe off and patiently wait for me to put it back on. I would watch him walk back over to the carpet, sit down, and pull his shoe back off. Ugh. I had enough! I decided I had to get him some sort of a Croc knockoff. I checked all around, but they were either all out, or didn't carry anything of the sort. During out trip to Niagara Falls this last weekend we ran across a guy selling fake crocs for $5 and I was like "this is exactly what I was looking for!" We found a pair of white, blue and green swirled ones that have an Owl on them -- cool enough for a 18 month old -- and I was totally satisfied...until we got home. I couldn't wait for Henry to be able to take his shoes off and on all by himself. It worked for about a day, then he started moaning. After a few minutes I realized that Henry has inherited my super high, but collapsed arch that gets blistered from every shoe that was ever made (except Chinatown slippers) and that the button that connects the back strap was rubbing him in that very spot. He had his first little blister! Poor little guy:( I tried to tape it, but he just pulled it off. Band-aid - no good. I ripped the blasted thing right out of it's hole and so now there's no strap holding the shoes on!...which means that the shoes fall off everywhere we go...especially the supermarket where we had to retrace out steps 3 times to find a missing shoe. I didn't worry too much about someone stealing Henry's cheap knockoff rubber owl blister causing nightmare slippers anyway. By the way, my real Crocs give me a blister too.

Tomato man

Today I did a little quiz with Henry to see what he could say-about 25 words. He is getting really close to speaking full sentences. His whining is decreasing day by day as he realizes that I respond only to talking. I still have to suggest the words I want him to say, though, instead of him deciding on his own. He's so cute with his "please" though. The other day at the park he was whining for me to take him out of the swing and I always say "all you have to do is say please" and he copies me saying "pleeeeeeease" and all the mothers at the park let out a simultaneous "aaawww so cute". Today he said his first food word! TOMATO!!! I kid you not. He said all three syllables at least three times. Justin and I were rolling on the ground laughing at how fitting that tomato be his first food word since that was his first real food (a taste of gelato in Italy doesn't count). He likes saying the "TO" part. The middle syllable also changed a couple times from "MA" to "BA", but we got the gist of it. We picked our first Heirloom tomatoes today. They weigh about 2 lbs each and are a medium pink color. Seriously yummy and completes the tomato salad we made tonight with yellow, green/yellow striped, red, and pink ones. There isn't anything better on the face of the planet.

Emerging Personality

Henry's personality is becoming more apparent day by day. I wish I could detail all of his funny facial expressions and actions, but they are so diverse and complex that I don't know where to start. Henry loves to laugh and make us laugh. His usual routine to make me laugh is by throwing things while blurting out funny sounds or trying to get me to chase him around the house.

In a book I read about raising children I learned that eye to eye contact and those "special moments" when you and your child are on the same brainwave are some of the most important moments in their development. Those moments make them feel important, understood, loved, and special...more than anything else you do. I try to have those moments all day long with him while we play and learn together.

Henry loves to dance. Haha! I laugh just thinking about his dance moves -- definitely white boy -- and he takes every opportunity he can to dance. His moves usually include swaying back and forth, knees bent, with an occasional spin and his hands in the air. If he does a spin, he stops to look at me knowing I'm impressed and we both say "woh" at the same time. Just recently he's adopted the shoulder shrug. I'm tempted to say he learned it from "Lagaan", my favorite Bollywood movie, but he hasn't seen it yet. He loves to copy me when I do it to him and he thinks it's really funny to see me doing it.

He's also a drama king. If something scares him, he'll breathe really quickly, in and out, saying "woh" over and over and over until he feels safe again. For some reason, however, when the phone rings, he puts on the same show as when he gets scared. I wonder why...? Every time his show comes on, he does his little dance and looks at me a bunch of times to see how excited I am to watch "Signing Time" for the millionth time. He then takes his post on one of the three rocking horses to watch his show. As far as he can tell, I really love it. He is now saying "play" and "please" all the time, which is nice because now his clothes don't get dirty when he signs please by rubbing his dirty hand on his chest all day.

Henry has also just learned about the garbage and I get him to throw away many things during the day to FINALLY satisfy his curiosity. Now that he understands that we only put things in the garbage, not take things out, he loves the game. Every time I tell him to put something in the garbage, I make it out to be something really special and after he successfully opens the door, slides the bucket out, throws something in there, pushes it back in and closes the door again, I whisk him up into a flying toss exclaiming, "good boy Henry!" and "yea!". He loves it. Most of the day, he gets to throw away flies that I have swatted. He also knows the word "dead" and tries his best to say it. He knows when the bugs are dead and that when they are dead, we throw them away.

Henry and I go to parks and pools all the time. Henry is very good in the water and lets us dunk him and throw him around. He goes all the way under the water and comes up choking and coughing up water, but never cries. After about a half hour, his lips turn blue and he gets the chin quiver, but the smile never leaves his face and he's always reluctant to leave the pool. On the playground Henry loves the slide the best. He's now an expert climber and loves to climb to the very top and go down the biggest and longest slide. He also enjoys interaction with other kids. Sometimes we'll meet a really nice older boy who kind of takes Henry under his wing and he loves the attention and I can tell he's learning a lot about boys and how they interact with each other. The swing is also one of his favorites. Especially when I act like he runs into me in the front and I pretend to fly back or fall over while yelling, "ouch!" or "bleh" which makes him laugh hysterically.

His hair is getting really long, but we're waiting to cut it until after Halloween when he's dressing up as an 80's punk rocker with a huge Mohawk! haha! I can't wait:)

Shhh, Show, and Shoe

Words, words, and more words. It seems like just in this past month, Henry has picked up many new words and is able to repeat what I say a lot easier. Even though he's a little bit shy to vocalize what I tell him to say, he likes to try in the comfort of his own home, tub, or in the car. Whenever I ask him to perform in front of people, he might say one word, but then gets embarrassed and pretends he doesn't hear me.

Henry has started to say "shhhhhh...." holding his finger to his mouth whenever we see someone sleeping, especially Daddy. Every time I say, "where's Dad?" he does the Ssshhh sound and searches for him in our room sleeping in our bed, which is where he very frequently is sleeping. He must really like that sshhh sound because he has started saying "show" and "shoe" all day long, but since he is used to whispering "sssshhh", he only whispers those words. I ask Henry if he wants to watch a show and he'll whisper "show, show, show". The way he pronounces "shoe" is like a combination of "ssshhh" and "eeeww" which turns into "sheewww". He surely is having fun exploring his new vocabulary!

dog and baby poo

Today was majorly hot so Henry and I decided to play in the pool and with the hose. I ended up pulling weeds on the hill while Henry dragged the hose around the yard. He eventually wanted to be where I was, so he scooted his bum down the hill in his diaper getting scratched by weeds and rocks. When I was done I had to take his wet, muddy diaper off and I thought it would be fine to let him run around naked for a minute, but then he took off, naked, toward the neighbor's house when he saw their dogs outside. They are really good dogs, so I always let him go over and play. First, Henry pet the dogs and let them lick and sniff his naked bum until one had to poo, after which Henry promptly went over and stuck his finger in it. Yuk! Seriously so gross. Then, he climbed up on their deck and onto their doormat on which he decided to take a leak. He watched the pee stream soak the mat and then looked at us and said, "Uh Oh". Yeah, we know. I brought him down from the deck, appologising as we cleaned it off. Then Henry went under their deck, squatted down and pooped on the ground! This all happened in the course of about 5 minutes. I don't think I've ever said sorry so many times in my life! I then had to get a bag from them, crawl under their deck and pick up the poo and take it back to our house to throw it away. Never again will I let Henry romp around without a diaper on.

copycat

When I was growing up, I used to make fun of kids who copied anything anyone said or did by yelling "copycat!", but when Henry copies what I do or say, I love it. Henry loves to play the funny face game and even gets random passers by to play with him. It begins with me having a conversation with a neighbor or friend while holding Hen and he will begin imitating their facial expressions which usually leads us to abandon our conversation and turn all our attention to him. He's such a clever chap. He also tries to copy things I say which is how he started saying "I love you". When he's alone, usually in the tub and we get some good one-on-one time, he'll copy me when I try to teach him new words and signs. Of course when I do, I cheer, "Yea Henry, good boy!" and clap my hands. The other morning, Henry woke up to his usual conversation with himself in the crib and I was lucky enough to be able to open the door without him noticing and watch him for a few seconds before he saw me. There he was, lying on his back doing signs and then after each one, he would cheer and clap for himself yelling "yyeeaaaaaayyyy! yesssssssss!" I'm so happy that he picked that one up from me! haha!


He's also really great at folding his arms for the prayer. Unless I have his favorite food waiting on his tray, he will sit and patiently wait until the prayer ends before running around or starting to eat. Sometimes when Justin and I kneel across from each other for our evening prayers, Henry can't decide who's lap to sit on. During the prayer, which can become long, he will switch sides quite a few times before we're done, but each time he switches he sits down and folds his arms again. What a good little guy:) One of my goals when he turns 18 months is to start teaching him to recognize Jesus Christ, even though I know he still knows him and they're good buddies.

Backyard bugs and bee stings

Henry is totally innamored with bugs. These tiny baby ants have found their way into our house to feed on anything Henry throws on the ground and even though I would usually not welcome them in, they entertain Henry to no end. He is turning into a drama king and everything for him is so exciting and he lets you know it by yelling out, smiling, dancing, and saying "woh!" He is not afraid of any bug, which I taught him, however he's also not afraid to pick up spiders and bees. He hasn't gotten a spider bite, but he's been stung a couple times, once from trying to pick one up while we were picking raspberries an hour away from home and once from a yellow jacket on the corner of his mouth out on our deck. They are constantly trying to build hives on our deck. He gets over it quickly, though, because he's a tough little guy. The other day Henry played with a tiny grasshopper for at least 5 minutes and was so gentile with it. I was impressed with how he didn't try to kill it. The next day, he found a millipede on our front steps and so he picked it up, but right away he pulled it apart, killing it. Then, we went exploring down our hill and I found this beautiful katydid and was excited to show it to Hen. He held it by it's hind legs so it wouldn't jump away, then tore it's head off! Just like that. I was so shocked! I guess he's getting more curious these days. I can't blame him because he sees me squishing the Japanese beetles attacking my raspberry plants all day long.

Which brings me to another topic of copying everything I do. Henry is really good at doing that now. He can even copy words as well as pretty much every gesture I do. He loves for me to make funny faces and move my head in funny ways so he can copy me. Just today in the tub I tried to teach him the colors red, yellow, and blue in word and in sign with his little stacking boats and he vocalized all three colors as well as signed yellow, and red. I don't think he sees how to do blue because it looks just like I'm waving with my thumb tucked in, which I'm sure looks just like waving to him. He knows over 50 signs now and learning about one per day. He says many words now and surprises me with sweet kisses and I love yous while I'm singing to him before bedtime.

Jackson Hohl in Jackson Hole

Wow, it's really tough to write "hole" not Hohl. haha! Justin, Henry and I, along with Justin's entire family went to the Jackson Hole area for 5 days after his sister's wedding in SLC. The cabin we rented was huge, ornately decorated, and completely wheelchair accessible. It sat on 40 farmed acres with perfect views of the Grand Teton mountains. We had fun adventures hiking and going to fun activities in Jackson Hole and surrounding area. Henry had a fabulous time palling around with Kaitlin and Wee-o, in fact, Wee-o is one of Henry's first words and he says it many times a day. Even though Wee-o, Henry and eventually Kaitlin got sick on the trip, we had a great time. Henry's favorite part was playing in the back yard with his cousins on the rocks and looking at all the farm animals as we drove around. Henry loves signing horse and laughs a lot as he watches me sign cow and moo. Henry's vocabulary is steadily increasing. He says some sort of version of "what's this?" when he looks at things and sometimes he says things like "this is a...horse" to name one. Just as we were leaving Salt Lake Henry started saying "I love you" it's pretty much the cutest thing you've ever heard. I have been trying to teach him I love you in sign, so I say it even more often than normal, which ends up being about a hundred times per day. When I ask him to say it, he gets a shy smirk on his face and says "I" then moves his tongue around his lips making "l" sounds and then says "you." My heart melts to hear him say it. He is the most darling boy in the world.


After the trip to Jackson Hole, Henry and I stayed behind to see our family and friends. We hung out with cousin Emily, Peter and Wil in Provo and we saved the life of a baby blue jay learning to fly from the dogs. We also spent time at Uncle Tony and Shelly's and then played with Aunt Kris, Tim and Kate. We had so much fun and ate really yummy food! Henry really loved that every place we stayed had either dogs or cats. I wish we could get a dog for Henry. He would love it, but it would destroy our house and all our travel plans.

Bugs

The latest sign Henry has learned is "bug". We look at bugs and spiders all day long. Henry particularly likes the Daddy Long Legs because they're slow and easy to pick up, then the legs fall off and keep moving. When Henry spots a bug, he screams in delight, trying to pick it up with a kind of daring hesitation. He wants to get the spider, but is a little afraid to touch it and every time he does, he screams and laughs at his attempt. Sometimes the bugs fall into the grass and are lost and he puts his hands up saying where did it go? He quickly forgets about it and does his characteristic hopping, yelling, running with his arms up jumpy thing. He almost never walks normally for those of you who are wondering. He pretty much always seems to have a swagger, or is skipping, jumping or running with his arms in the air. We really don't need much more entertainment around here. Lol!

New faav - corn on the cob

Every morning, after making the sign for dad and running around the house looking for Justin with no avail, Henry makes a b-line to the fridge and pulls a fresh, unshucked corn cob out and hands it to me. He wants corn for breakfast lunch and dinner. I try to give him his favorite sugary snack, but he just flops on the floor and cries for his corn. When I actually give him a corn cob to eat, he's the happiest baby you've ever seen. I took a bunch of photos in succession to show you how happy he is when he eats corn. I uploaded them to the most recent photo album.

Bubble, apple or bottle?

This past month Henry has been busy digging in the dirt and eating more dirt than real food in our backyard. I usually have to give him at least one and sometimes two baths a day. Sometimes he's so dirty that I have to do it in the sink so dirt won't drop all over the carpet. Henry's main problem is that he loves to throw the dirt and in order to do that, he lifts both of his hands over his head dropping much dirt on his head before throwing it to the ground or at me. He also enjoys playing with the hose, however sometimes it turns on him and he soaks himself with cold water which makes him freak out for a second until he warms up again. I've found that having my garden on the hill is working out well because Henry can't destroy it! We have a million plants growing, but they aren't growing that well. We don't know what else we have to do to get them to flourish. This year is kind of a experimental year with growing things.


So, on to the more interesting news! Henry said his first words this week!! He first said "bubble" and pointed to the bubble maker, but then he says what sounds like bubble but points to his bottle or an apple. He recognizes that they all sound similar, but he only says bubble. He is also saying ball, dad, "this" when he points to things and he even said horse today! I couldn't believe it! haha! He is such a little babbler and never stops talking to himself as he's playing or just hanging out. He constructs sentences of his babbling and talks to us using cute hand gestures to try to communicate, but it's still jibberish to us. It sure is cute though.

Henry at the Zoo

While we were visiting the Washington DC area we visited the zoo, which was suprisingly free. I love DC for all the free museums and places of interest. Henry had to take his long morning nap, so we got to the zoo a lot later than I expected, so we had to rush around to see all the things that we wanted to see. We had fun in the small mammals house as the meerkats followed the movement of my cowboy hat up and down. We got to see many of the animals get their dinner, including the pandas, which was a treat. Henry saw the pandas and signed "bear". I couldnt' believe he knew exactly what they were. He's so smart. We also had fun playing with the large ape. I didn't look to see exactly what kind she was, but there was a little girl putting on make-up in front of her at the request of the trainer. I guess she loves to watch people put on make-up.

Henry also had fun in the reptile house. He was making the snake sound when he saw every snake, lizzard, toad and crocodile. We have to teach him the difference between them one of these days. The Hippo made a splashdown in the pool after his meal which put a big smile on Henry's face. He also learned the sign for elephant and did it often as we watched them roam their territory. The last place we visited was the invertibrates house which housed a really cool octipus, some clear jellyfish, many bugs, a beehive, and a japanese orb weaver spider that was hanging from the ceiling without glass around it. It freaked many people out, but I knew they weren't dangerous and so I let Henry get pretty close. Near the end of our day, we were joined by Tracie and Justin B to walk the grounds after the houses had closed and then we ate some Thai food and coldstone. That was really fun to see them twice on my short trip. I missed Meghan though, although she was pretty busy preparing for her upcomming nuptuals. Here are some photos of Hen at the Zoo

Wash your mouth out with soap....

When I was growing up, I frequently got my mouth washed out with soap for "talking back" (I still don't know what that means). The worst part of that was finding a chunk of soap stuck in my teeth a couple hours after I had tried to get it all out. Blech. So, since I'm not planning on doing that ever to my sweet Henry I let him have his own taste of soap today as we took a bath together. He was interested in the soap and even though I made the yuk face and said 'Blech!, eeew, Yuk" a million times, he still proceeded to put the bar in his mouth, bite down with his newly emerged molars and shaved some chunks out of it. At first he smiled and laughed as he chewed because that's what he usually does when he does something he knows I don't want him to do, but the smiles quickly turned to gags and dry heaves as it made it's way back to his throat. He didn't cry, but the look of disgust on his face that I saw today was a face I had never before seen. I think he eventually swallowed the bits, but didn't get sick or throw up (which was good since I was in the tub too). I don't think he'll ever do that again. lol:)

Some of you may think that I should have just taken it from him, sparing him from this experience, however I'm trying to let the natural consequenses of his actions teach him about the gross and the relatively dangerous so that I'm not the "mean mom" who always saves him or tells him what to do. He is getting good at listening to me when I say "danger," however making my "gross face" doesn't really keep him from eating dirt, worms (one worm became two as it met Henry's chompers), yesterday's dinner from off the floor, or spilled drink off our deck. No matter what he does, we are laughing constantly at his faces and funny personality. We just love that little one.

Remembering Georgie

Georgie surely was loved. It's been a month since he died and on this day I remember him and search for meaning in his death. Every day as I look at Henry as he progresses in learning, interacting, and becomes more and more adorable, my heart aches to have the opportunity to experience those moments with little Georgie. Some day that day will come, but for now we just keep trudging through life in this soggy part of America. Does it ever stop raining for weeks on end? I imagine myself eventually moving out to Colorado leaving behind a dripping trail of rain/humidity and tears.

last week we held a memorial service for our dear little George in the freezing, rainy weather. I had worked for two weeks preparing everything I could think of to make it a special day. I wanted to do everything on my own mainly so I felt like I did something important for him, but many of my friends and family came to my rescue in the hours before the service to put it all together. I thank those who helped so much. Some of the ideas for what I would do for the memorial I read online, or from the books that I received at the hospital. There were many suggestions of what to do in my situation and since we didn't have a body for a funeral, I wanted to take some time to do everything I could to make it known that Georgie is and will always be an important part of our family. Some of the things I did were to make a memorial photo collage in a nice frame. His best photos, foot and hand prints, tiny toes photo, memorial invitation, family photos of the day it happened while I was still pregnant, and ultrasound photos were all included. It was the centerpiece of our kitchen table and everyone looked at it and now know what he looks like. There was a beautiful drawing of him that was my aunt Kris provided that was also on display. They are both haning in our music room where we can see them every day. My sister-in-law, Stefanie Chou and I made sugar cookies the shape of trains, planes, doves, and lambs and, with a lot of help from my dear friends Jess and Danae, decorated them with beautiful shiny sugar frosting, which took two days to do. They looked fabulous. I also spent a great deal of time preparing a gift for everyone who attended of a tiny tomato plant decorated with a ribbon and a photo of George's toes in a tiny paper frame with the words "Never Forget Georgie" or "Always Remember." These were attached by a piece of scrolled wire that stuck out of the dirt. I really loved how they turned out. We also bought a cherry tree from my sweet step sisters to plant in the backyard so that every year we can have cherries in his memory. I really wanted a tree to help remind me that the fruit of his existance is still with us and we will always look forward to when his life will bloom and give our family the long awaited sweet fruit we have been waiting for. One of the most wonderful things that was gifted to us was a song written by my sister, Lucy, called "Little Angel" which couldn't be more perfect or more sweet. I listen to it every day and I sing Henry to sleep every night with it's sweet melody. That song seems to immortalize him to me and hopefully I can share it with enough people that it will truly touch their lives in a way that will make his memory last forever to more people than just me and my husband. Many people also brought beautiful flowers, also some live flowers that I can plant outside later in George's garden, and refreshments. The house looked beautiful, springy, and full of love and support.

Over 60 people attended the service. There were people filling the rooms and hallways of our home including friends, family and neighbors that I hardly knew. I am so grateful for those that made it. Many of Justin's classmates also came to support us which, I know, can never be taken lightly with their busy schedules. It was so good to see you all. Our Bishop conducted the service, Franklin Chou played the piano, the Shill Boys, Brayden and Collin, sang "Families can be Together Forever" which was absolutely sweet and darling. I just love that family. Justin and I both spoke about what we were feeling and said things that needed to be said about him. It felt good to express what I was feeling to all the people there like how much I love Georgie and how his memory will be a great help to my spirituality and ultimately be a stepping stone to my salvation. We sang the hymns, Be Still my Soul and God be with you 'till we meet again, planted the cherry tree in our backyard and spent some good time talking with friends and neighbors. It seemed to be a real positive experience for everyone, especially those of our friends who had never had contact with The Church before.

After the service, I was left with a real sense of peace and resolution. I was left with many beautiful flowers that are still alive and blooming all around me. My home is filled with life and when the clouds break, light. I am about to plant my garden soon and I will hopefully have a summer filled with fun filled Henry moments and time spent tending my garden. I am still working on putting together a book of remembrance with all the cards, photos, and anything else I can put in a book to have to show our kids who he was how many people loved their brother and our darling son, George McGregor Hohl.

In addition, I am in the process of turning the hill in our backyard, which is covered in rocks, trash and stumps into a garden for Georgie. Justin has already built a terrace and we are adding a fence soon with an entrance next to the cherry tree we planted. Many of you have already contributed bulbs and live flowers that will come back next year after I plant them, but if you are interested in contributing to Georgie's Garden, I will be adding to it all summer and during the next four years with everything I can get my hands on. I'm going to plant trees, flowers, bushes, vegitables and anything else that comes my way so that I can keep him in our memory. You can send any contributions to 5014 Venice Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15209. He will not be forgotten.

Baby Boy Lost

After five months of pregnancy, my little baby boy came into our lives for only a moment, then left us to return to his Heavenly Father. I suppose he just wasn't ready, or didn't need to come into this world at this time. We are sad and we look at our precious Henry and it breaks our heart to think of what we will be missing without our little one that would have been, but we know that we will see him again and that he is still ours for eternity.

He was born at about 1 am on Thursday, March 22nd. He weighed 12 oz and was 10 inches long. His heart had already stopped before he was delivered, so I never got to hold him while he was alive. His lungs had not developed to the point where he could be sustained artificially, so all we could do was hold him through the night. His skin was translucent and his tiny body was cold and limp. I rested him agains my chest, kissed his head and face and put my hands on him to keep him warm. He already had redish blonde hair forming his eyebrows and on his head with a face that looked a lot like Justin. He was perfectly formed and perfectly peaceful as we held him and kissed him for a few hours in the hospital. We took some photos as to not forget him and the kind nurses made hand and foot prints for us and put it all in a nice little box that we will keep in a special place in our hearts and in our home.

During these few days I have had time to reflect on my blessings and what these trials bring into our lives. Recently I have heard of tragedies much greater than my own and I am aware of what women have been living through since the beginning of time with the death of babies, and children small and big. These women are not very far removed from my generation, but I feel that in our day we expect everything to go as we plan it, and when it doesn't we ask, "why me?" I cannot pretend not to feel much grief over the loss of my child, but I do believe that his death will only influence me to be a more humble and grateful woman, a more loving mother, and a more compassionate friend. Through this trial I will also come to a better understanding of the pain the Father went through as he lost his beloved and perfect son, Jesus Christ. Because of this, I am closer to becoming more like them which will, in the end, lead me to eternal life where I can spend all eternity with my husband and children, even the ones who have been taken from me.

I rejoice in knowing that I was the vessel that carried one of Heavenly Father's special spirits and whatever the reason for his short journey, I believe that he was so special that the Lord had bigger and better plans for him in his kingdom. In the end, I get to be the mother of a soul that already proved his perfect faith in Christ and strength of testimony as to need no further trial on this earth. I am so honored to have him in our family for forever. He is a most precious part of our family and we will never forget nor be able to ignore the influence he will have on our lives for the rest of the time we spend in this world. I know he will be with us helping us choose the right and become one with eachother as we hold fast to the gospel of peace and salvation.

Our baby boy will always be in our hearts and in our minds until we arrive home to heaven where he will be waiting for his mommy and daddy, this time with a warm body and a beating heart. We love you little one.

Grandma saves the day!

I have been on bed rest now for a week and a half and so many people have come from church to take care of me and Henry. I can't believe how wonderful they have been and how willing these women are to clean my house and to take care of Henners. A month is a long time for someone to be incapacitated, so I've convinced Henry's grandma to come to take care of him and hopefully cook a few dinners as well. I'm just glad that Henry can have a normal schedule again with the naps that he needs and I'm excited for him and grandma to have this time to bond and get to know each other better. I feel like I'm doing a little better, however that doesn't really mean much in my case. I'm just hoping that my ultrasound on the 14th will be a positive one.

So, Henry has been making a sniffing noise with a scrunchy face lately as well as doing the signs for fish and airplane. He chooses not to learn the life changing signs for eat, drink, more, tired, and all done, however he sure knows his sign for fish!! You can guess how much that helps my life. haha! I really don't know what went wrong. We're still working on it though. He's talking up a storm in his secret language and loves to play with a ball and bat, or anything that he can swing around. His hair is growing and we had to cut it, and might even need to be cut again soon. I fear that it's turning blonder. I will miss his red hair!