First of Many

Henry had a lot of "firsts" these this past week.

Last Monday we gave him his first spoon feeding of rice cereal. His expression explains it all.


He has started reading the paper with his Grandpa Allen once in a while.


My aunt brought a Boppy pillow on our trip to the mountains this past weekend, he loved it.


My cousin Nicky brought some snow into the cabin for him to feel for the first time. Not so impressed.


Santa was in the village where my aunt has a cabin so we paid him a visit. Henry did very well.


We made it to the lake on our last day in the mountains (Shaver Lake) and Henry got to watch all the ducks fight over our biscuits.

Last night I went to the grocery store at 8:30p. When I go to the grocery store at that time of the evening back in Central Illinois my fellow grocery shoppers are usually young moms who are trying to get their errands ran while their children sleep. Here in Fresno, it was a different crowd. (Although I did run into one exception who happens to be my cousin and a mother.)

A guy ahead of me in line was buying 5 packages of chicken legs and a large bottle of vegetable oil. The guy right in front of me in line was buying a pack of gum and a pack of cigarettes. He was wearing his PJ's and his t-shirt had a picture of the Monopoly guy on it with his pockets hanging out with the word "broke" below it. The guy right behind me was buying frozen fishsticks and yogurt. Ok, you pass. Behind him in line was a very young couple buying a huge case of cheap beer. The guy was wearing a Central High (where I went to HS) letterman's jacket with a "07" on the shoulder.

But who am I to judge. The guy behind me looked into my handbasket and saw only three cartons of ice cream...and I was in my PJ's as well.

My Christmas Present

My lovely hubbie already bought me these for Christmas

Herringbone Toms with orange bottoms. One for One!

Sitting Up!

Story Here

Fair Trade Find: Be Sweet

Be Sweet has so many wonderful things. We found them a little too late to include their products in our holiday selection.

The H man is down for a nice long nap, (tired from yesterday out at the ranch), I'm enjoying my parents cable (channel goes directly to HGTV anytime I find someone with cable) and surfing the web with a cuppa joe. The hubs will be joining us in California today. He is currently in Denver on a layover. It's a good day!

I.M.

My dad has been so wonderful with Henry. My mom had to go into the office last night so dad and I played with Henry. It's so much fun to see them together.

Not a great picture but this is my cousin's four year old Riley. She is matter-of-fact, take crap from no one, spit-fire, hilarious. She calls me Timmy. That's fine. At one point she called me Titty. So Timmy I can hang with. This picture was right after she told me to get off the bed because I was going to break it. After she was told that wasn't very nice, she said "at least I called her Tammy!"

I love her so much, and she already loves Henry. I always miss her when I think of California.

I.M.

Henry has been meeting a lot of people in the last couple of days. But I think he is loving it and everyone is loving him. I'm constantly amazed at our family's immediate love for him. People are willing to drop everything just to spend any amount of time with him. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, he's pretty fun.

Yesterday I rode with my mom out to Firebaugh (where I spent the first 11 years of my life) where she works in an office for a ranch so her co-workers could meet the H-man. Then I took Henry to my aunt Ellen's house which was just down the road to hang out while my mom was at work. Ellen always has a lot to do, but she also dropped everything and held him most of the morning. Which was really nice, I was so sore all over from holding him all day while travelling the day before. I was a little bummed that it was a rainy-gloomy day because I was looking forward to taking Henry out to see the cows and the horses. But it was nice to just sit for a while. Then Henry got to meet Uncle Ted and Aunt Deanne who just adored him.

Then finally last night my brother Blake came to my parents house and got to meet Henry. Henry immediately liked him and reached for his goatee. This morning my grandparents (pictured above) came over and met him as well. He won them over and was all smiles.

I'm glad that we waited until now to come for a visit. He is at such a fun stage..though a lot of work!

I.M.

California knows how to party

Henry looking at planes (and possibly mountains if he could see that far) through the glass at Denver International Airport.

In 2004 I flew from Fargo to Colorado Springs via Denver. My most memorable moment from those flights was in the airport in Fargo's Airport. A mother with a very young child was travelling alone and her bag was randomly chosen to be searched through. This was back in the day when they searched it while you watched. A large man basically tore through it and then was trying to zip it closed again. He was having a very difficult time getting it shut and was yelling at the woman. "You packed this way too full, now I can't shut it." "No you can't help, you aren't allowed to touch it at this point." "Now you are going to make all these people behind you late for their flights!" I felt bad for her, but not too bad. Like the guy said, I was going to be late!

But now I understand her stress. I thought about her yesterday morning as I was closing up my bags to go to the airport. Not too full! I don't want some sweaty guy struggling to close it again it I get the random search. But to pack myself, my child, my online store and a diaper bag was no small feat.

We made it to California. But not before one large spit up, two blowouts (one being on the plane) and one loss of my wedding ring. The picture above was taken about five minutes before it fell off my finger. I thought it fell into my diaper bag and I figured I could dig through it later. Well Tina turned it upside down last night. No luck.

I woke up this morning very sore all over from holding Henry close all day long and sitting in uncomfortable positions on the flights. But he got to meet aunts, uncles, cousins and will meet my brother tonight. He will get to see mountains and the ocean for the first time.

I'm looking forward to Brian joining us in a week. I'm sure he is too.

I.M.

Currently

via Tina's Blog

I'm currently...

wishing: I could fall asleep more easily at night
disliking: stress of impending travel with a 4 month old
missing: the mountains
wanting: This
improving: Henry's sleep schedule
realizing: I'm addicted to ice cream
loving: Being a mom
considering: a new project
watching: Modern Family, hilarious
regretting: let's not go there
hoping: for a wonderful month

What are you currently doing?

This past Friday we took Henry in for his 4 month check-up (although he is 4.5 months). He is doing so well! 50th percentile for his weight and his head size, (last time he was in the 75th percentile for his head,) and the 95th percentile for his height! He's going to be a tall boy!

He has so much energy these days. We have fun playing and he plays pretty well on his own. He rolls all over his crib and I always find him in a completely different position then when I left him sleeping. I remember in the early days he would always scream until I came to get him. Now around 7am I can hear him upstairs chatting to himself and find him smiling with his head against the bars of his crib staring at the birdie mobile Tina made him.

He has changed so much over the last couple of months and it is all going so quickly. Here is a picture of him when he was a day old.

And here is a picture of him from last week

I'm pretty sure that he is starting to teeth a bit too. He's going to look so different with teeth as well!

Fair Trade Swoon

Unity Fairtrade Marketplace 67.95

Natural colored Hemp, heavy-duty cotton canvas and cruelty-free leather trim.

::I am partial to the one on the left for those creating a Christmas list, haha::

Hello November

I'm so glad November is here. October was beautiful, but was a difficult month in many ways. But I have promising expectations for November.

sk8ordiehard

Henry is sleeping so well these days.
We leave for a month long trip to California.
::We are bringing the store with us!::
It is the official beginning of our busy season for Dignity Regained
We get to eat good food with my loud family. :)
We get to go to the mountians.