Henry in 15 years . . .

Great Aunt and Uncle "Horsey"

Tom's aunt Karen and uncle Dick from Illinois came for a horse auction this weekend! It was Henry's first time meeting them!
We meandered down to Cannon Falls to check out the auction. Henry LOVED the horses!

And it seemed that the horsed loved Henry! :)

I think Dick and Karen will be known to Henry as aunt and uncle Horsey! It will be fun to take Henry to the farm someday . . .

They're in kahoots!

I think we're going to have to keep an extra eye on cousin Cara and Henry when they get together . . .

Coolest neighbor EVER!

Henry is pretty infatuated with our neighbor, Mr. Greg (and vice versa!)! His infatuation stems from Greg's very cool riding lawn mower. Greg was out yesterday and called me over to have Henry take a seat on it. Let me tell you, Henry thought it was pretty stinkin' cool! :) He kept looking back at Greg and giving him huge smiles!
After riding the mower for a bit, Henry helped with the watering! :)

A for apples!

We were out of apples from our last trip to the orchard, so we hit up a different one on Sunday. This one wasn't quite as exciting . . . we got to pick our apples . . . right out of a barrel! Sort of takes the fun out of apple-picking when they are already picked for you! Despite the lack of involvement, the apples are delicious!
For those of you who know me well, I'm just the tiniest bit sentimental. On our way home from the orchard, Henry fell asleep and because it was late in the afternoon, we didn't want him to sleep long. So I just thought I'd hold him. *Sigh* It was the best 20 minutes of my entire weekend!! I rarely get to hold Henry (unless I'm nursing him- which isn't the most pleasant experience these days with his 7 teeth!!) without him squirming all over the place, reaching for things, pulling my hair, sticking his fingers up my nose, etc. The fall weather, the Vikings game on, and snuggling with Henry reminded my of last year's fall when Henry was just born. I just get warm fuzzy feelings thinking about that time. I can't believe he officially turned 11 months yesterday. Where does the time go? I swear we'll be sending him off to college next week. Sometimes I wish I could freeze time and have him stay this little for just a bit longer . . .

Mom of the Year

So my poor little buddy has his second fat lip. :( While I was busy making dinner in the kitchen, Henry made it up a couple of steps before I noticed (which he often does!). As I started towards him to give him a spot, he lunged for me and landed on the hard wood floor. He obviously hit his lip and his teeth cut his gums which bled- a lot! I don't know who cried more . . . Henry or his mom! But my little trooper was over it in about 5 minutes and was back to his happy-go-lucky self. It just took snuggling with mom, his lovie and his favorite book to make him forget about it.

As I was feeling awful about what happened, good ol' Jenni called from Denver. She informed me that over the weekend they dedicated Saturday to a "no banging Bennett's head" day (Bennett is a year and a half). Apparently, he's a little bruiser and often lands on his head. It made me feel better to know that Henry isn't the only little one with bumps and bruises!

Henry turns 47 weeks old!

Monday, September 13, 2010
Bunny pics are getting more and more difficult to take . . .! :)
Henry's walking is really taking off! He easily gets up from the floor to a standing position now. He'll walk several steps at a time before taking a tumble and once he falls, he'll get right back up and do it over again! He is awfully proud of himself!
In other "Henry news," he said is second official word yesterday. I would hold up a mirror and talk about the cute baby in the mirror. And he would practically make out with himself in it! :) Eventually he started saying "baby!" At first I didn't think I heard him right, but then Tom came in the room and witnessed it too! So, so far we have "roar" and "baby" . . . an interesting combo!

Minnesota Zoo, we missed you!

During the cold months, Henry and I would go to the zoo about once a week. It got us out of the house and Henry loved the people watching! We had such a busy summer, we only went a handful of times. It was a gorgeous day today so we headed over to take a gander at the animals. Henry loved watching the animals this time (and he got his fair share of people watching too!)!
We had a picnic lunch too! :)

DJJD

On our way down to Austin for Aubrey's birthday party, we stopped in Northfield to partake in the Defeat of Jesse James Days! We enjoyed yummy food, browsing the art booths, and walking with Henry!

Cousins

I was close with many of my cousins growing up and I LOVE watching Henry and my nieces and nephew develop relationships! Here they all are at Aubrey's first birthday party on Saturday.
Brynn Tressa- 3 1/2

Nolan Otto- 2

Cara Noelle- 15 months

Aubrey Mae- 1 year old!

Henry Dennis- 11 months

Ode to Uncle Darren by, Henry D. Parks

Big D, you're more than an uncle, Godfather and bro-in-law,

You're a tremendous gift to my ma and pa.

When my daddy's gone away,

you are there for me in every way.

You treat me like your own,

and make me feel right at home.

You even do the "shark attack",

to make me laugh and laugh.

But your skills don't stop there,

you do so much more to show you care.

When I was five days old,

you made my bedroom something to behold.

And then came the big surprise,

you made my parents' spirits rise.

When we were gone away,

you fixed up my bathroom for the day.

My mom's relieved, my dad's impressed,

you did something they never would've guessed.

You made us feel so dandy,

we now call you "McHandy."

So, thank you, Uncle D.,

for being there for me.

You're the best kind of guy,

my mom owes you many, many pies!

Love,

H-dog

Henry turns 46 weeks old!

Monday, September 6, 2010

This was a big week for Henry! He is officially a walker! :) He had been taking 1-2 steps for a week or two, but on Monday he took about 5 steps at a time. And since then, he's really taken off! It is so darn cute to watch his wobbly little legs move. He is so fearless when he does it, too!

Here he is in action!

And down he goes!

Henry's a biker!

Tom purchased a bike and bike trailer off Craigslist. We tested them out last night. Henry giggled the entire time he was in the trailer!
He loved his ride- now we just have to figure out how to make him more stable in it before we take him out for a longer spin.

I heart the fall!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year! I love the crisp air, the crinkly leaves and the comfort food that comes with fall. Since it was fall-like weather, we decided to do some apple picking at the Applewood Orchard in Lakeville on Sunday afternoon. Henry enjoyed our time riding in his backpack!
Henry was able to grab apples and pull them off the trees- super cute! :)
He enjoyed the fruits of our labor!

Family pic!

Check out how much of the apple Henry took down! He thought it was mighty tasty!

Henry was even nice enough to share with his mom! :)

Buffalo Bissen

On Saturday, we spent some time with Uncle Dylan, Aunt Angie and cousin Nolan. We never get to hang with them without a crowd (we were supposed to have a play date last week, but unfortunately it fell through) so we ventured up to Buffalo for some much-needed Nolan time! :)

As usual, my over-zealous boy wanted anything and everything that Nolan touched!

Eventually, Henry just took the two walking toys for himself!

Jen, Darren and the girls and my cousin Kristen and her family came to hang out too. Here are the "big" kids eating their dilly bars.

And here is Henry tasting an ice cream cone (sans the ice cream) and thinking it is delicious! Gosh, I am relaxing a bit when it come to Henry these days (letting him eat a cone before his first birthday?!?!?)- or maybe it was the beer I was drinking!!! :)

We couldn't let the night go by without a picture of Logan and Henry- who are just two weeks apart. Logan's got a few pounds on Henry and is chub-a-licious!

(This picture really doesn't do the comparison justice, but believe me, it is so darn cute!)

Cutie-pa-tooties

And here are the big kids, all snuggled in their jammies ready to watch a movie before bed.

We had so much fun hanging in Buffalo- we really need to do it more often!

Where does (s)he get those curls?

So, ladies at Target, the grocery store, the park, etc. are always asking where Henry gets his (sometimes "her"- depending on what he is wearing!) curls. I almost always have my hair blow dried straight. On this day, I kept it curly- Henry gets his curls from me! (And I get my curls from my dad)