Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Pool Day!

Last weekend Adam flew to DC for a convention of the nerds for work. The boys and I spent the weekend hanging out, playing play doh, going to a low country boil and having an impromptu front yard pool party. It was a good weekend.

We went to the low country boil with some friends from church and John Dickson had a great time playing outside and getting downright filthy. A sign of a good time. He rode around on a motorized tractor with his new friend William, and they hauled different kids around in the back. So cute! Henry made a new girl friend who loooved to pet his head. The child does have some sweet feathery hair! Who could blame her for petting the Hen? She also tried to smack him on the head a few times, and I was warned by her mom that he was a biter, but he seemed to just enjoy the attention. He's use to having John Dickson around - while John Dickson is very good with Henry, he's still a hyper active three year old.

Sunday afternoon the weather was gorgeous, so we decided to head to the pool. Henry didn't even need toys, he was just content to be in the pool. John Dickson had a blast and particularly loved the sprinkler. They played, I laid in the grass and got a tan. For me. Still pale though. Either way, it was one of the most relaxing days Ive ever had with 2 kids. We may just be doing this every weekend. John Dickson and I finished up with some yummy popcicles and the Hen had a cup of milk, which he threw in the grass in protest. Milk or popcicle. Yeah, I dont blame him.






I love these monkeys. Later Henry took a long afternoon nap and John Dickson and I picnic-ed in the front yard. After John Dickson ate and I cleaned Emeril BAM! spaghettios off of him and the picnic blanket, we laid on our backs and watched airplanes go by, waving to Daddy from the ground. (Yes, Emeril has his own line of spaghettios... and John Dickson is a big fan - Henry also eats baby food by Tyler Florence - are you jealous?? I am.)

So that about wraps up our weekend. Stay tuned for some recent John Dickson-isms. They're some of his best.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Making strides (clever)

Here are some videos from my phone of Henry's latest achievements. The first is him (sort of) walking holding Amanda's hand. Originally, we had him and John Dickson walking like this and it was adorable, so predictably the situation deteriorated as soon as we tried to capture it on film. The next two clips are of Henry's infamous spider crawl, which is primary form of locomotion these days. All videos have running commentary from John Dickson who "Really wants to watch hisself on the bideo." He's in the room in the last one. Don't judge us.








Hope all is well out in there in blog-o-land.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Henry is 10 months!

Where do I even begin? So much to catch up on, as always. I guess we'll just pick up where we left off. The weekend after Easter Adam headed to Gatlinburg for a bachelor weekend and he dropped the boys off in Columbia on his way. It's the longest I've been without the Hennis, but somehow the mall, Cold Stone, a good book and some Chardonnay on the deck made it easier. Oh and lots and lots and lots of trim painting. I wish painting was one of my husbands many talents, but alas, its not. Just mine. I get all the worthless talents - painting, shooting hand guns, video games, Scrabble. Oh yeah, Adam is the 800 perfect SAT verbal score, but he has NEVER beat me at Scrabble. I on the other hand retook the SAT 3 times (4 total) just to raise my verbal score. I never raised it a point. But I rule at Scrabble. What were we supposed to be talking about anyway? Weekend in Columbia. Right. So Henry and John Dickson spent the weekend with Nana and Grumps and they lived it up, including dinner at IHOP (JD's favorite) and a trip to the library for 15 books. Haha, 15 books, very funny - how many was it really? Really people. 15 books. And they read them all "lots a many a times." John Dickson always loves going to Nana's house, because he always gets to have "banilla" for breakfast. Hmm... banilla...

Banilla pudding? No.
Banilla yogurt? No.
Banilla ice cream? No.
Banilla wafers? No.

I could go on all day. The child is OBSESSED with vanilla Atkins drinks. He is clearly not helping with the intervention Adam and I have been trying to stage regarding the 200 Atkins drinks that can be found in the room over at any given time. And not the same 200 Atkins drinks - mom isn't a pack rat. She just always has a moving stash in case the apocalypse takes longer than anticipated or some other crazy reason. If we could just figure out why she likes to leave untouched diet cokes or glasses of tea around the house, or cold coffee in the microwave, I feel like maybe that would be a missing piece to the puzzle.

Disclaimer: I love you mom and your quirky drink habits and please dont stop sharing with us!

Speaking of Moms, I had my 4th Mothers Day last week. 4th, I know, isnt that crazy? John Dickson made me a clay heart painted pink with a white hand print on it, and Hen Hen made me a mug with his footprint on it. He said I was "just his cup of tea." I know, so thoughtful. The boys brought me breakfast in bed, which is not quite as relaxing as one might think, what with a baby and 3 year old also eating in the bed, but it was fun anyway :-) After church we had some fresh corn risotto - a new favorite of John Dickson's, and spent the day running errands and hanging out. Oh, and because it was a day ending in Y, John Dickson threw up in Target. He got new shorts on that trip.

So the Hen Hen turned 10 months last week. And laid back baby he is not anymore! He has to be on the move at all times. This is ok at home, but can be quite frustrating when he wants to get down and crawl around say at the pediatricians office, in the grocery store, etc. As much as I don't want him to walk, I think it will actually make things easier. He still loves to clap his hands, LOVES to boogie to some music, and he has started to sing. It's more of a baby "Ah" hum, but its precious nonetheless. He still has 6 teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom) and he loves to give big open mouth kisses. As an aside, John Dickson likes to give big horsey kisses, which involves licking your calves (he's on all 4s - duh), or licking your cheek. Our kids are weird. Wonder where they get it from. ::Cough cough crazy drink lady cough:: On second thought, I think it might be their dad.

Henry continues to scream his sweet little otherwise not exercised much lungs out when you change his diaper. It's awful. I usually give up when I get the diaper off and let him run around for 5 minutes before I muster the strength to put the new one on. Hen Hen has discovered cabinet doors, and he thinks it is HILARIOUS to get the pepper shaker out. He knows he's not supposed to, so he pulls it out, turns to look at you and makes an O shape with his mouth, and he starts hoo-ing like an owl. He's quite pleased with himself.

Henry, of course, still loves to eat. We've finally figured out something that he doesn't like. No, its not cold spinach, mushrooms, olives, mustard, hot sauce, salsa... Drum roll please.

Cheese.

The child doesn't like cheese. Definitely did not see that one coming.

Henahen is sooo close to walking, but he hasn't taken that first step yet, we dont think. I did hear his little foot smack the floor and find him standing suspiciously far enough away from the cabinet that I have to think he must have taken a step, but I didn't see it. Sorry Hen, doesn't count.

Henry is on his way up to the beginners class at school and has spent quite a few days over there already, transitioning. He'll be eating at a table and sleeping on a mat, but for now they have put his crib and high chair in there.

John Dickson has been unusually good lately. He's turning into a little neat freak, which makes me extremely happy. He is very good about putting his dishes in the sink and picking up all of his toys when he is finished playing. He cleans his room all by himself, and he likes to alert us of messes. He has started to let the dogs in the house, all on his own, and on Saturday he let Ellie in with muddy feet. He yells from the kitchen "ELLIE GOT MUD IN HERE!!!" and then pointed it out to us. We had to buy a new mop, which we got the next day, so it just stayed muddy on Saturday. Sunday morning John Dickson says "Daddy, you need to mop in here. It's been muddy for a long time." LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT.

We decided to start giving John Dickson some responsibility and an allowance. I wanted something he could do that would be helpful, so we assigned him the task of feeding the dogs in the morning and at night. The first night we were out of food, so the dogs actually ate our leftovers. John Dickson wanted to feed them before he went to bed (remembered on his own!) but we told him we had to go to the store. The next morning, before he even got out of bed, "Daddy, did you go to the store and get food for Boo Boo and Ellie?" (Seriously, he talks that well... so grown up). He has remembered every time all on his own, and he got his very first allowance on Sunday. He plans on using his money for the ice cream truck, so we decided to give him 50 cents so that it will take him more than a week, but not so long he gives up, to be able to buy ice cream. I figure, he feeds the dogs about 42 times and he gets an ice cream. Pretty sweet deal for us if you ask me! He seems ok with the lack of instant gratification - I'm impressed all the way around.

And side note to John Dickson letting the dogs in... clearly he can work the door knobs now. I came home from work and he saw me through the window - he came to the front door, opened the dead lock, turned the knob w/ the child safety knob on it, and let himself outside. Mmmm hmmm.

So, the dogs.

One of my best friends and the beautiful bride-to-be, Ashley Mamele, actually requested a post about the dogs. I had this whole clever post planned, some sort of letter from Ellie to Midas, but I have no pictures, because alas, our missing camera never turned up. So instead, here's the dull run down.

You might remember that Bear developed pemphigus back in early 2010. His nose was literally falling apart and his ears were cracked and bleeding on the inside. It was a battle getting him back to normal, but we finally did, although he is on permanent medication. Then his 3rd eyelids stopped retracting for a while (dogs have 3rd eyelids... I never knew). Then his flanks started dropping hair, so he had another biopsy, had his thyroid tested, and they determined it was a cosmetic progressive hair loss disease. Then he had a seizure. I know, all together now -

Poor baby.

So I took him a couple of weeks ago for his annual check up, shots, etc. My wallet's stomach was in knots just thinking of the charges. (Fine, Henry gets his quirks from me too). I was amazed when he got an excellent report! Mr Bear still has his pemphigus under control, he hasnt seized again, and his hair is actually growing back! The hair loss disease can be seasonal, (although the seasons are backwards... loss in the winter, regrowth in the summer), so it will be interesting to see what happens at the end of the summer. His heart sounded great, his belly felt good, and we were quite happy. The vet is amazing and you can tell he has genuine affection for Bear. (Lets face it though, who doesnt?) We've even started to see little black puffs of hair on the carpet again. Never thought I'd be happy about that, but I am. Poll: When is John Dickson old enough to vacuum?

Ellie is her same old clumsy clutzy giant self. She's amazing with our munchkins and we love her. Her sock theft count is up to an unprecedented 5,410. If you are out doing any early Christmas shopping for us, might I suggest socks?

So thats about it for now! That's code for, my lunch break is over and our internet provider at home left us high and dry. AKA our neighbors moved.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Henry's First Easter (and John Dickson's 3rd!!!)

Henry had his first Easter on Sunday and I'd say he's off to a good Easter holiday celebrating start.

For starters, he got all snazzied up in this sweet outfit.



Well, that wasn't so much for starters as for late in the afternooners.

Henahen and Ms Emma celebrated their very first Easters together, and man did they look cute. I was the designated bow chooser for Emma (I also bought her bow - I should do this professionally).



And well, lets just say I got a little carried away. A little "what if" sort of sitch.



Oh you know you like it.

So the day was filled with family (Lauren, Jared and Emma, as well as Nana and Grumps stayed after John Dickson's shindig to attend the first annual Kelley Family Easter Extravaganza). Now they have to come every year, because its an official thing. So easy. As I was saying, filled with family, food, Easter bunnies, and of course, Jesus.

The Easter Bunny did a great job of hiding eggs, and lil man had to be directed towards most of them. He'd spot one, take off running, and before he got to it, he forgot where it was. It was really funny to watch. He also would spot another one and get sidetracked before he got to the first one. Henahen stayed in and napped, satisfied with what the Easter Bunny left him in his adorable new Peter Rabbit basket.

These two did some of this.



The day was about as relaxing as any day can be with 3 kids 3 and under. Until that night when John Dickson "choke up" all over the living room. Bah.