Girls' Trip

Misty, Me and Rachel

Every year, my sister, Blythe, Mom and sister-in-laws, Rachel, Lindsay and Misty go on a girl's trip.  This was our second year to meet in Palm Springs and I have to admit, I was dreading it!  I didn't want to leave Henry AT ALL.  There were a couple weeks where I had just decided I wasn't going to go, it was just too hard to be away from him.  Yes, I realize dramatic, but I spend all day every day with this

amazing little person and I didn't, and still don't, want to miss a thing.  

Well, needless to say, I got on the plane, but not before Henry happened to wake up 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave and as I'm handing him over to Andrew he is gripping my shirt and screaming, which then, of course, set me off and I cried on the way to the airport.  It was a very dramatic goodbye. Andrew tells me later that he was sound asleep about 30 seconds after I left, should've known.

I made it to Palm Springs with the knowledge that if I'm too miserable I can buy a plan ticket home and return early.  This was a very comforting thought.  Of course once I got there it was so good to be with my sisters that I didn't want to leave early.  I had teary moments and I missed him all the time, but I was consoled with nonstop laughter and our usual deep discussions about life.  I was able to Skype Andrew so that I could see Henry, but he didn't really recognize me and mainly just hung up on me.  Technology made the distance easier though.

The trip went by quickly and soon we were at the airport to come home.  Lindsay and I checked in and then realized we didn't have assigned seats.  I just looked at her and told her I was going to have a melt down in front of all these people until someone gave us their seats.  Luckily, a wonderful United agent told us to get on the plane and they would close the door so that no one else could come through.  I guess in this case "you snooze, you lose" really worked out for me.  We had seats together and the rest of the flights were a breeze.

I arrived home and couldn't wait to see my little boy.  It was freezing, literally, in Wichita.  So, I grabbed him out of his seat and took him inside to hug and kiss him.  He had a very confused look on his face and when he saw Andrew wanted to go to him.  I handed him over, but kept smiling and talking to him.  Once Andrew saw our luggage he tried to hand him over to me, emphasis on tried, but now he was gripping Andrew's shirt because he didn't want to come to me.  I was heartbroken.  I teared up, but tried to keep it together.  It took a good day for him to come to me and another half a day for him to want to nurse again.

Everything is back to normal now, but I either need to leave him more often, so he is used to it, or I will never leave him again.  Any thoughts?

Oh, and a big thank you to my in-laws, Sally and Lee for driving down from Indiana to help Andrew while I was gone!  I know Henry was in great hands!

10 months

I realize that I am way behind on Henry's monthly blogs, since April 5th was 10 months and it is now April 15th, but he is keeping me really busy and I was out of town for a few days (blog to come later about that).  There are so many new things that Henry is doing I hope I can remember them all.

I'm going to start with, he is EVERYWHERE!!  He does not stay still for more than 5 seconds, if that.  This is him in the basement trying to figure out how Daddy's bike works. I'm sure 5 seconds later he was hauling it over to the stairs, trying to get there before I could catch him.  He goes up the stairs very well, we are still working on coming down the stairs.

Mommy found some pictures of one of Daddy's old girlfriends, so Henry was helping me "organize" them.  After Henry was finished Charlie got a chance to help.  It was a very productive day. :-)

He cheered on the WSU basketball team in the Final Four tournament.  There are times when he is mesmerized by the TV and other times he could care less.

He is very helpful when it comes to telling Dad how to put things together.  He just wants to see everything and know how it works.  Is there an engineer in our future?

He is such a happy kid!  There has been one exception this month, he cut 6 teeth in 2 weeks.  Ouch! He was such a trooper through the whole thing.  So, now he has three on the top and three on the bottom with at least one more poking through.  When it rains it pours!

One of his favorite things to do is pull all of the books off of his shelf.  I'm assuming it's because he has a love for reading. ;-)

He loves Charlie!  Henry will chase Charlie down and grab him and Charlie just puts up with it.  They play tug of war with Charlie's toys and Henry is slowly learning to release the ball so that Charlie can chase it rather than wave it in front of him and tease him.  Both of them keep us entertained for hours.

He rode in the grocery cart for the first time and loves being able to look at all of the people and amazing colors in the aisles a lot easier, especially because he can make sure I buy all of the right food.

He is saying dadadadadadad, Andrew is convinced he doesn't know what he's saying, it's still pretty cute though.  He continues to amaze me with new discoveries and he has learned to stay away from dog food.  The months just keep getting better!

Easter

Easter was so special this year.  We started off with some early morning family pictures.  Andrew set up the tripod and we did the "look at the blinking light" routine for Henry, then we headed off to church.  This is the first time in a few years we have had a church home, Calvary United Methodist.  It just made everything feel right this year. 

Henry enjoyed pulling the fake grass and eggs out of his Easter basket.  So, I guess this year the Easter bunny hit it out of the park.

He wore shoes that were handed down from my sister's boys.  I love wearing sandals on warm days and little kids' shoes are really expensive, so I decided these were his Easter shoes.  Kind of like Jesus wore :-)

Enjoying reading the paper with Daddy.

 After church we headed over to my mom's house for a lovely lunch.  This was the longest Henry wore his hat all day.

 Excited about his Easter basket filled with toys and a stuffed animal.

After a much needed nap my dad, stepmom and little sisters came over to wish Henry happy Easter too!  They brought a cute book and the biggest stuffed lamb I've ever seen.  It was bigger than Henry!

To end the evening, we skyped Andrew's parents who were at his brother's house in Ohio.  Henry loves the IPad. I didn't realize how busy he was until I tried to follow him around with a camera.

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter! He is Risen!