New England

Hurray for seeing old friends!

This past weekend, we traveled to Massachusetts and Rhode Island for a friend's wedding. Everything was wonderful and we had a fun time staying with friends. Henry had a little playmate in Caroline - who he was fascinated in following around and enjoyed playing with her toys.

Daddies can push strollers too!

Martini, anyone?

The wedding was beautiful and all the details were so well thought out. The best idea? A bucket of Old Navy flip flops for guests to choose a pair to change into for the reception! My feet said thank you a million times over.


It was fun to be back in New England, where it is hard to believe I spent two whole years of my life. We laughed over plenty of strong New England accents, had delicious sea food from Evelyn's (featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives!) and really enjoyed spending time with old roommates. It was so nice to see everyone! And I do really miss good seafood!

Henry did really well on all his travels, as he always does. We are very proud of him for staying with his babysitter without any issue at all, and we're really proud of him for being such a great traveler. We've picked up quite a few tips for traveling/flying with an infant, and I'll share some of them in a future post. He makes traveling easy, and for that we are very thankful. He's a pro. In fact, we just returned on Monday night, and we're all packed up again and headed out again this evening! We did contemplate sleeping at the airport....

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I'm not ready

Henry turns 11 months today, and it's hard for me to believe that in exactly one month, we will be celebrating his first birthday. I'm not ready.

I'm not ready for Henry to be one.
I'm not ready for him to start walking.
I'm not ready to have a toddler, not a baby.
I'm not ready for him to give up his bottle.
I'm not ready to wean him from nursing.
I'm not ready to go back to work and leave him a few days a week.
I'm not ready.

But, ready or not, just like Henry's birth, his birthday will come and everything that comes with him being one will come too. I'm procrastinating on decisions for his first birthday party, because while I will be excited and proud of him, I want his babyhood to last forever if it could. I felt the same way at every other big transition - solid food, sleeping through the night, teeth emergence. But with each stage comes new joys, so even though I'm building it up now, one will be great too. So for the mean time, I'm enjoying all of his 11 month, purely joyful, giggling self. And savoring every moment until August 14th. If anyone has a stop-time machine, now would be the time to produce it.

Happy 11 months Henry!

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St. Henry

Today is the feast day of St. Henry, so I thought I'd post a little about him. Born in 972, St. Henry was successively Duke of Bavaria, King of Germany and Emperor. He devoted himself to the spread of religion by rebuilding churches and founding monasteries. As emperor, Henry built the Cathedral of Bamberg, Germany, where he is buried (year 1024) and where many miracles have been recorded, leading to his canonization as a saint. The humility and spirit of justice of the Saint were equal to his zeal for religion. He is the patron saint of the childless, of Dukes, of the handicapped and those rejected by Religious Order. Read more about St. Henry here.

Say a prayer to St. Henry for our little Henry today (:-)!

Lord, you filled St. Henry with your love and raised him from the cares of an earthly kingdom to eternal happiness in heaven. In the midst of the changes of this world, may his prayers keep us free from sin and help us on our way toward you. Amen.

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Who in their right mind

would pay $90 for a step stool?


Even a cool one like this? Definitely not us, but Henry is now a proud owner of this step stool, thanks to my fast fingers. I subscribe to an email called KidsAroundTheBend, which gives ideas about activities occurring locally, and at the bottom of the email, there is always a give-away to the first responder. This month's? The step stool! Since I happened to be on my computer answering emails anyways, I scrolled straight down to the bottom and responded with the appropriate message, saving the activities for a later reading. And low and behold, I won! I never win anything! Henry enjoys pushing it around the house now, and I'm sure it will come in handy when he is older. $90 for a step stool, sheesh.

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Happy Fourth of July weekend

With Grandma in town, we celebrated Fourth of July in style. We headed to a wonderfully delicious homecooked meal at the Corke's, and watched what remains one of the most professional back yard displays of fireworks yet to be seen. Always a good time, and Henry slept through the fireworks like a champ. Gabe and I were pretty worried about him, and checked on him frequently, but he was tired from a full day. This weekend, we went to the farmer's market, the zoo, the park for a picnic, and played in Henry's pool. Not to mention lots of things accomplished around the house with an extra set of hands. A full three day weekend, for sure, but fun. And some sparklers to boot - held at an arms distance from Henry, way out of his reach, and VERY safe, don't worry. Fourth of July continues to be one of my favorite holidays - I love the summer sun (even though we had some rain), the cookout, the fireworks, and the patriotic spirit -stems from my love of American history. I do remember though being scared of the fireworks at a young age, so at some point I must have grown into it. Luckily, Henry smiled the whole time we lit sparklers, so hopefully he'll enjoy the holiday too.

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