Happy 1st Birthday Henry!!!!

Wow, this year has really flown by, but what a wonderful year it has been with our sweet little Henry!  It seems like just yesterday he was born, our little Ash Wednesday baby, and now he's crawling all over and babbling up a storm this Lenten season.  Yes, I did say crawling!  Right after he turned 11 months he made it up on to his hands and knees and started moving!  Now he all over and in to everything and we've dubbed him our little explorer!  He loves to open the bedroom dresser drawers to take out clothes and empty everything he can reach out of the pantry.  He has even learned to climb up stairs this month.    He just started pulling up to a stand, though doesn't have much interest in walking when we try to hold his hands and help him.  This month he officially weaned from nursing and started cow's milk and did so very smoothly.  He is also starting to refuse all baby food, opting for whatever we have on our plates! :-)  But he is handling regular food great, even with just two tiny teeth.  He remains quite a picky eater though, liking something one day and then refusing it the next.  He "talks" a lot, mostly saying "mama," and "baba" for bath or bottle, although he says "dada" on occasion too.  He has started clapping, and it's a funny little clap with his right hand clapping on the top of his left hand.  He loves to "sing" and then clap for himself, it's so cute.  He starts to "sing" each time he hears his brother or sister sing...he trys very hard to keep up with them and always wants to do whatever they are doing, especially Nicholas.  He particularly likes knocking down Nicholas' buildings which usually doesn't go over too well :-(  He also really likes to give high fives and makes a good attempt at blowing kisses.  He weighs 22 lbs and is 29.5 inches long.  He remains pretty attached to mommy but is not shy around others.  He still likes to flash that great smile and it still melts our hearts each time we see it!  Henry, you have richly blessed our lives this year and we can't imagine life without you!  Happy Birthday our little Buddy Boo!

His birthday party is coming up in a couple weeks but we gave him a cupcake on his actual birthday.  It was his first taste of sweets and he loved it!  He was giggling with excitement when he tasted it and he ate the whole thing!

Here he is trying out his gift from mommy and daddy.

Here's our crawling man.

Grace the Gymnast

 

Grace just finished her first gymnastics class this winter.  It was a mom/tot class at our local rec center.  She loved it and is really quite good and strong!  It's been special doing this mother daughter activity together each Saturday morning.  I have enjoyed it as much as she has.  

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's week was filled with all kinds of parties and treats (including dinner out for mommy and daddy...yeh!) but the highlight has to be watching Nicholas go with his preschool class to visit St George's Village, a retirement/nursing home next door to our church and preschool.  What a happy surprise to see Nicholas have the "star" part!  His music teacher, Ms. Jeanne, had recognized that he was really interested in the globe and geography.  She had told us that in class this past week they were looking at a flat map of the earth and one child said the earth was really round.  Nicholas chimed in and said, "Well, actually it is not perfectly round.  Just like people are not perfect, but God loves us all!"  She was so impressed and so were we!!!!  We were so proud he'd made such a smart correlative on his own.  So she had him introduce the song they were about to sing by telling the crowd just that, and then use a little airplane on a stick to show everyone where the United States was and where Italy was....and then they sang "That's Amore."  He was so excited, not shy at all, and performed the song so well!  They did that whole performance, with Nicholas' intro and all, three separate times to different groups of residents in the home.  After each performance, they went around and shook the elderly men and women's hands and wished them happy Valentine's Day.  I of course had tears in my eyes most of the time, so proud that our little guy is learning what love is really about!

A Happy Birthday!

I enjoyed a wonderful birthday this year.  There was roses, carrot cake, dinner and great gifts, but the highlight was spending great family time together all weekend!  Thank you to everyone for such a happy day and year!