Twelve months old

 Henry has changed so much in the last month.  I feel like he learns a new trick everyday.  He runs around nonstop and climbs on everything.  He uses anything he can find to climb higher..which included his friend Michael who came to visit.  Poor guy didn't know he was coming over to be a step stool for Mr. Henry to use to climb up a chair. 

 Henry's newest trick is spinning.  We have this on video and it is hilarious.  Don't really know where he learned this but he spins on command.  He can say dada and hi and no...he has said mama but not consistantly.  He claps and waves and does a great "hands up".  He can tap his feet and splash water on command and he loves to chase Savannah and throw her tennis ball to her.  He recently found the door handles and can now open the back door to go outside. (oh no!!)

His favorite toy right now is his toy lawn mower and his wagon.  He is obsessed with going outside.  And he is NEVER ready to go back inside. 

He sleeps from 7 til 6ish...which may be 4:30 or 5 sometimes...not good. We are also down to one nap (I miss that second nap sometimes!!) Henry is wearing 12 months outfits and 18 months pajamas.  He still wears size 6 shoes.  And he loooves his shoes (I think it is because he knows he gets to go outside if we put them on him:)

He looooves talking on the phone.  He has some very serious calls and the hand jestures are hilarious.  He usually hands you the phone if you start laughing at him.  We usually just continue the conversation and hand it back to him. His conversations can last ten minutes sometimes.  He just walks around the room talking away!

He loves his bubble machine.  We picked it up at Costco for his birthday and it has been put to great use ever since!

He is getting used to sharing his toys with other kids.  And when Michael came to visit he was okay with sharing his favorite. 

As far as eating...Henry is still an eater.  I can't even remember giving him baby food.  This little guy will try and usually like everything he sees.  His favorite foods are bananas, greek yogurt, and Costco brand animal crackers.  We have switched to whole milk as well and we are down to two bottles.  He loves drinking out of his sippy cup but I still worry that he doesn't get enough liquids so we haven't said goodbye to his bottle.  I'm sure the next year will bring even more tricks and suprises...Lance and I love our little Henry so much and can't wait to see how he changes throughout the next year!

Celebrating mother's day

This year to celebrate mother's day we had a relaxing weekend at home.

We played in the yard....

And baked a little....

And had brunch with my parents...

And snuggled a little...

It was perfect!

Our hydrangeas have started to bloom and they are gorgeous!  One bloom was so huge that I couldn't resist bringing it inside to enjoy.  That is just one bloom by the cup above.  Amazing!

How fast does time fly?

This fast.....

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all moms, to my mom, to my mom-in-law, and all my friends who are moms.  What a special job we are blessed with..to care for and raise the sweetest gifts from above!

Back in January....

I just saw that I never published this entry :( A little late!

Don't know how this happens, but days turn into weeks and I look at my calendar...and almost a month has gone by!! Lance and I have turned our main focus away from our new home and are fully devoting every waking moment to work or baby Henry.

In January, we had fabulous dinners with friends, attended fundraisers, celebrated upcoming weddings and babies, and attended the Mayor's Ball and Mystery Ball (which were both soo much fun).  Henry started Kindermusik classes which he is loving! 

I also started work in Gadsden part time as we are settling down.  Not gonna lie, it is a great escape from mommyhood and I am loving it! We took a short weekend trip to Portland to visit A-dec (a company that makes dental equipment).  We visited the plant with Catherine and Forrest and spent another day visiting wineries.  Catherine has a much better blog entry on our trip so please refer to it if you want more details;)

While we were in Portland, Henry started walking! Nine months old..Crazy right...thought we had a few more months but this little guy is on the move.  We were sad to miss this milestone but are so happy Grammy was in Gadsden staying with him so she could see it!  During our trip, we managed to squeeze in a couple of food network finds..pok pok and vodoo donuts.  They had been on our list of places to go to if we were ever in the area, and our hosts were sweet enough to take us!

Lance is also getting busier as he establishes his practice here in Gadsden.  We have been so welcomed by our Gadsden friends and we were only wrong about one thing...we thought we would be less busy moving to a small town;)

Poor Sav is getting chased around more and more everyday.  I can only imagine how terrifying it is to see baby Henry wobble down the hall, squealing and following you around!

For Valentines, we just relaxed at home.  We attempted to remake the wings we had eaten at Pok Pok...pretty close to the real thing.  We also made hand print ornaments for Grandma and Grammy:) 

 

San Antonio

Last weekend, we went to San Antonio for the annual JLS cattle sale.  Usually, when we can make it, Lance and I fly out just for the weekend and go straight to the ranch.  This year, we flew in a few days early so we could enjoy San Antonio as well.  My parents flew with us because they had never been out there and I knew they needed that experience:)

Henry did great flying!  Last time we flew, he was four months old and we didn't have to do a lot of entertaining.  This time..a whole different story.  We did master a new trick..exhausting him by running around an empty gate at the airport before boarding...worked like a charm.  Bottle during take-off, nap for the first hour and a little entertaining with toys and magazines..and we were there! I doubt the other passengers that saw us coming imagined he would be such a great flier!

We stayed at the Embassy Suites on the Riverwalk.  It was soo convenient for us because breakfast was always ready for little Henry and the cocktail hour had a wondeful appetizer buffet that Henry definitely enjoyed! Most important we had a separate room for Henry to sleep in and a mini fridge for milk and snacks! Couldn't have been more perfect for us.

We took the usual Rivercruise and Henry was amazed! He mostly loved listening to the tour guide and watching the ducks swim by.

We visited the Alamo.

Henry slept so great every night...could it be that we were on the go..no stop?!

We couldn't let my parents miss our favorite spot in Texas...Los Valles Fruiteria in San Antonio.  I found it in Southern Living magazine a few years ago and it has been regular stop for us ever since. It is definitely off the beaten path and you need to know a little spanish to order what you want.  Lucky for us..we know exactly what we want...fresh fruit with lime and chili powder, fresh tortilla with chorizo and cilantro/onions, and mango water! The food is delicious and we actually ended up going twice!

We also took Henry to the San Antonio zoo.  It was actually a cool morning so it ended up being perfect. His favorite animals were the monkeys, the giant shrimp, and the flamingos.  They had a kiddie area where kids could swim and see small animals up close.  

Lance charmed some birds while we were there too! The ended up on his head and picked a couple of grey hairs!

We had a fabulous lunch at Luke... John Besh's restaurant on the Riverwalk.  Yummy!

Henry started a new "trick" while we were there...he started taking calls on the phone.  Now a "phone" can be a bottle of lotion, a remote, his hand...but regardless, he is always serious and always motioning with his other hand.  We call them his "business calls"...I guess that is how we look when we are on the phone!

We spent the weekend at the ranch.  I have to say, this was definitely a new experience for my parents and they had a blast!

Henry had a ton of fun meeting the JLS ranch family!

Henry ran around the ranch and although he left with a couple of scrapes and bruises...I know he can't wait to go back!

At first, he was in awe of the big black cows in front of him!

Then he loved them!

This is three quarter blood...breed him to an angus and you get a brangus! He was the sweetest:)

Here are the babies from the JLS ranch family! What cuties...start the bidding at $1!

It was the first showing of the long awaited clones of 915.  So crazy to see the exact cow five times in a row!

We had a fabulous trip in San Antonio.  Good fun, sweet friends, beautiful Texas, and lots of family time...we were pooped!