Smile!

As John Dickson would (and can!) now say - its Thursday! (and tomorrow is Friday). Henry is a pretty smiley little dude, but its so hard to capture because they come and go so quickly. BUT, I found something he loves today and I got a bunch of gooders. Hello baby gym!





Oh, and remember that seahorse I said looked like Henry?



Told you.

Lets not forget our other cheese head!

The John Dickson Fridays

Who said it had to actually be Friday?? John Dickson has been majorly hamming it up lately, and I figured it was time for a blog post. I would have posted yesterday, but I was busy watching John Dickson on the phone (talking to the Mooses Man), waiting for him to drive me to the store ("I drive you to store later" - sadly there is no cute mispronunciation - Ohn Disson can TALK! Well, some things haven't changed...), and being dead bolted out of my own house with John Dickson and Henry inside. Note to self: DO NOT go grab the mail without John Dickson. Moving on...

John Dickson's imagination has really been taking off. As you may know, John Dickson is obsessed with everything coffee. He loves to help make it, he loves to point it out in books, he loved the one taste he got, and he loves to pretend that he is drinking coffee. He got a new cup from Katy that looks a bit like a coffee cup, and he is obsessed. He asks for "milk coffee" or "juice coffee" and he will have you put it in the microwave if his coffee isnt hot enough. Set the timer, let it beep, and his same temperature coffee is perfect. He also has a microwave in the bath tub, which he uses to either warm up Daddy's coffee or to make Daddy dinner. It's located on top of the faucet, in case anyone comes to visit and needs a microwave while they shower.

On that note, please do not be deterred from coming to visit due to our recent spider infestation. Don't tell John Dickson I told you, but they aren't really real, and no, they don't really bite. But they are everywhere.

We had quite the car ride the other day, with John Dickson getting upset with me because I could not figure out what "Eeeeroooon" meant. John Dickson can say Erin perfectly, so I was pretty sure that wasn't what it was. Turns out he has figured out that to cool down, he needs the "air on." Once we got that settled, Henry started exercising his lungs, and John Dickson said "Mommy! Mommy! Make it better!"

I was pretty sure John Dickson had a dirty diaper last night. I asked him, and he said "No. You cant see." I waited a few minutes and then asked him if I could see his diaper, to which he responded with a straight face, "No. It's gone. I wear underwear." We wish, buddy, we wish...

John Dickson moved up to his new class at school yesterday, the "2-3s". He's been going over there late in the afternoon for a couple of months now, so it's not entirely new. Unfortunately, his best bud Pepper did not move up with him. Pepper, by the way, is a boy. John Dickson came home Friday with a hair rubberband around his wrist, which he calls a "hairbow." He insists that it is "Pepper's hairbow." We're not so sure about Pepper.

John Dickson also has a new love - Ms Mandi. Ms Mandi was his teacher before he moved up, and he calls her "my Ms Mandi." Yesterday I told him I was going to stay and watch him do music, and he said "Ms Mandi watch me do music."

For a while there, it was really hard to get John Dickson to leave school. He just wanted to stay and color or play with giant dinosaur toys. Now when we come get him, he comes flying over saying "My mommy (or daddy) is here!!!" Yesterday he came running over "My mommy is here!!!" and then looking at Henry, "My baby!!!!!!" There is a little girl in his class named Reese (he calls her "Reesey") and she has a baby brother too. Apparently when her mom came the other day, John Dickson said "Where's my baby?"

John Dickson continues to adore Henry. And I do mean adore. He still shares his blanket with Henry, and when Henry cries, John Dickson suggests that we give Henry milk, his paci, or his seahorse. Or sometimes he just mimics us trying to calm Henry down and says "Henry, Henry, Henry..." There's a chance he is confused as to how Henry eats, as Adam was holding Henry the other day and Henry started rooting around and John Dickson said "Henry eat Daddy."

Thanks to Aunt La La (AHEM), John Dickson loooooooooves money. He says "I want money." I give him a penny. "No, I want two moneys." I give him another penny. "No, I need five moneys." I was cooking dinner the other day and I told him that I didn't have any moneys for him. I heard him say "moneys right there." I just nodded and mmm hmm'd, and may not have been paying attention to him. He said it 4 or 5 times, and I finally turned around to see him standing there with my wallet. Then, while I was having ice cream with Adam's cousin Kirkley last week, Kirkley generously gave John Dickson "two moneys." I looked down a few minutes later to see John Dickson with Kirkley's wallet, zipper open, actually taking money out. I wanted to die. Then, as we were leaving, he insisted on putting his now "three moneys" (he found a penny on the ground) into the parking meter. I let him, and he immediately asked for "more moneys." How exactly do you teach a two year old the value of money?
No really, not a rhetorical question. Anyway, La La, I've been keeping a tab of all of the money that has been thrown into our air vent, put into parking meters, and lost around the house. I'll be sending you your bill.

Until next time...

More Music Sweetness

"Mooses Man!!!"

Oh the Mooses Man. He comes to school every other Wednesday, and apparently you can catch him on tv as well. He does all kinds of things, from playing the instruments for the kids, letting the kids touch the instruments, letting the kids play the instruments themselves, teaching them about music, singing for them, singing with them, and leading them in the hokey pokey and other fun dancing tunes. John Dickson LOVES the "Mooses Man." So this morning, I decided to peek in...



The sound quality stinks because I was outside of the room, but you get the picture... no pun intended.

Checking out the flute



Refusing to touch the sax



John Dickson with his girl, Emma




This made my day.

One of Each

There's no denying it, John Dickson looks just like me. I get it all the time. So it seems only fair that Henry should look just like Adam, and boy is he working hard to live up to that expectation.



Henry went in for his one month appointment yesterday, and here are the stats:

Weight: 11 lbs 7.5 oz; 90th percentile (weight gain of 3 lbs 6.5 oz from his lowest weight the night he was born)
Height: 23.5 inches; 95th percentile (growth of 2.75 inches)
Head: 82nd percentile

That's a big boy!!!!! His 0-3 month clothes are no longer snapping, with the exception of some of the brands that run a little large. Everything else checked out great, and Henry didn't make a peep while the doctor examined him. John Dickson went too to try to resolve his chronic congestion. He has been on some allergy medication for the last 4 weeks and it seems to have done the job, so he'll be continuing on that. He also was an angel for the doctor, and he got a big Elmo sticker. They got it especially for him from the back, to go with his Elmo outfit, Elmo flip flops, and Elmo doll.

Best Buds

We met up with our new old friends, Karin & Dylan, while in Columbia, for our new little boys to meet.

At first Brody humored everybody and went along with it.



Then he began to get bored with the whole idea.



Henry mentioned something about bad breath



and boredom turned to tears


finally they decided the camera was just too much pressure, so they turned around and decided they would, in fact, be best buds. He's Henry's Brody Bud.

One Month!

It's hard to believe that this sweet face is one month old today!!!



Henry is getting on somewhat of a routine - going to bed somewhere around 10:00, sleeping all night with only getting up to eat, always napping right at noon, and then the afternoon is when it all falls apart, schedule wise. Pretty good for only 4 1/2 weeks old! He eats every 3 hours, except for days when he eats every hour or hour and a half and then is visibly bigger the next day.



Henry is wearing 0-3 month clothes, but has outgrown several of those, and is well on his way to 3-6 months. He is huge! We go back to the pediatrician on Tuesday to find out just how huge. At the risk of being wrong, publicly, I'm going to throw it out there that I predict he has broken 11 lbs.

Henry has a love/hate relationship with his paci. John Dickson never took one at all, but Henry loves his when the mood is right :-)

Henry looks like his Daddy.



Henry looooves his seahorse. And quite frankly, there is quite the resemblance between the two. I'll post a picture of that soon.

Henry has the sweetest smile and we've been lucky enough to catch it a few times! (just not on camera...)



Henry is a happy go lucky little baby, and really only cries when he needs something. He has gotten over his distaste for diaper changes (and I think has come to appreciate them :-) ), but he does have one pet peeve - bathing. Between his love for being held and his mommy's love for holding him, its possible he has picked up on my non-daily bathing and is learning from my example. Whatever. Who wants to spend sleeping baby time bathing, when they could be spending it holding said sleeping baby?? They grow up fast.

Columbia - John Dickson Edition

Heeeeey-oh! I spelled "edition" right this time! Cumulative, I slept approximately 9 hours last night. I'm back baby! So... John Dickson got a big boy haircut on Saturday. I haven't had a haircut since March, but John Dickson goes every other month to a salon & spa, where he is the youngest client to set his booty in the chair. He was a little angel and dare I say somewhat enjoyed the tickling sensation of having his hair trimmed?





Not only is John Dickson's stylist in Columbia, but so is the carousel! (We have yet to locate one in Greenville...) So what better way to wrap up a haircut than a ride on a horsey roun and roun and up and down???




How beautiful is he?!?!

The Introductions Continue...

Henry's Great Uncle Mike and his Great Aunt Marianne came over on Sunday to meet our Henry Bear. They have a baby Henry grandson too - if their Henry ever comes over from San Francisco, maybe the Henrys can meet. In the meantime, Henry soaked up his great aunt and uncle love. This isn't the best quality picture, but I think its a sweet one.







Henry also met his Great Mimi and his Great Grandy. You've seen the Mimi pictures, but you haven't seen these precious pictures yet... how sweet is that?!?!? We love our Grandy!

Happy Birthday Mimi

These past couple of nights have been the sleepless-est yet post-Henry, and I have been like a zombie. So forgive this post for being 2 days late, but I am back to the land of the living, and we need to post a very special post - a birthday post!

Happy 80th birthday to our Mimi!!!!! We hated to miss her actual birthday, on Monday, but look forward to officially celebrating this awesome milestone next weekend! We love you Mims! (By the by, doesn't she look great??)




P.S. Betsy, check out Henry's outfit!!

Aunt & Uncle Love

We made it down to Columbia this weekend for more visiting and more introductions. John Dickson called his Aunt La La on the way down to begin making plans. Seriously, this is him talking to La La:



They talked for so long, I was sure Lauren had hung up, but when I finally got a turn to talk ("no mommy, I want to talk to La La. Mommy all done. Its not your turn"), Lauren was still there, and I learned that John Dickson's conversation consisted of talking about the zoo. Lauren was having a completely different conversation. It was quite cute.

I can only speculate that Lauren's side of the conversation went something like this: "I've got a great idea - lets dress you up in Gamecock attire and take pictures. It will be phase I of the gamecock conversion."



Clearly, we couldn't let John Dickson spend too much time with Aunt La La, so we let Henry take his turn.



Henry finally got to meet his Uncle Jason on Sunday! Henry was so excited when we told him that when the time came, he was sacked out.



John Dickson hopes this means another excuse to see Aunt Erin & Uncle Jason!

Zzzz

We're trying to enjoy this...



and this...



because before you know it, John Dickson will teach Henry the truth about naps... and it will be much harder to capture pictures like this...

Granna Comes For a Visit

We love grandmas, but man are we spoiled when they leave!



Granna came to take her turn lovin on Mr Henry and reading Beautiful Buehla to John Dickson approximately 5,674 times.



The book is about a beautician who gives all of the animals at the zoo a makeover. It pretty much combines John Dickson's two favorite things: beauty and animals. To really drive it home, Granna did this:



No worries, John Dickson was distracted by fruit snacks while Granna put on her makeup.

Granna took on both our boys while Adam and I went out to celebrate 4 years. We tried out a Mediterranean place we've wanting to go for a while, and went to see Inception. All in all a good night. When we got home, I think it would have taken the jaws of life to get Henry off of Granna. The two of them were quite content on the couch. Next time we will have to make the visit longer!

Sunday Morning

Can you guess where we went this morning??



Can you figure out which one of these guys danced solo in the aisle while we were there?