My Henry

"Goodnight Henny Penny.  I love you bunches."

For the first time in 9 years I have come home to a house without a bird.

No chirping.  No whistling.  No jumping around or fluttering.  The living room is silent. 

Thankfully, Henry passed peacefully in his sleep.  I couldn't have asked for anything more.

There were so many good times.  We will all miss you dearly. 

iPhoto find

From the father's day blooper reel.

Good thing he wears them wrinkled.

Teething

The Pennguin handles teething rather poorly.

The poor guy is cutting 2 molars at once.  Can he catch a break, please?

The babe has the runs and a diaper rash from h e l l.

This calls for reinforcements.

Uh oh.  All gone.  Ice Cream?

Pink eye

OMG

So that droopy eye right there has ruined the last 16 freaking days of our lives. 
I have basically been a hermit for 16 DAYS.
We haven't even had a chance to celebrate yet.
I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.  WTF?  I had no clue it was this horrible.
My favorite comment, "you should wash your hands more."  This couldn't make me feel any less hygienic.  I WASH MY HANDS.
Even my grandmother was all, "I thought only little kids got pink eye?" 
A friend said, "I thought second graders got pink eye."
Not true.
Apparently you can have an incredibly awful case at the ripe old age of 29.  AND at said age, you can catch it from your boss at work.
 

I'm now on steroid drops that are working.  Thank the Lord.  
But the swelling is still impressive.
Also impressive, the stares.

It will be a miracle if that baby doesn't get it.

Licensure

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in shock.  I passed my last exam!!!  I am beyond excited to have this behind me.  Advice to all interns:  finish your exams BEFORE you have a baby.  

It's way too easy to keep putting these exams off.  Working and attempting to study at night and weekends with a toddler to care for and entertain was incredibly hard on ALL of us.

11 years after I stepped foot in the architecture building... I can now call myself an architect.


I have my life back.  Now I need to actually do all those things I said I couldn't do because I was taking the ARE.  Baby book?  Cook?  Clean?  Organize?

Homeschool

Home school or homeschool.  One word or two words?  Might want to figure that one out before we seriously discuss this...

Image via Pinterest

L has it in his head that we are going to buy some land in Madison county, build a small, sustainably designed, modern farmhouse and that I will homeschool P.  

Image via Harvest

The dream continues...  He will commute to work in a Prius, but we will keep my car and also buy an old truck (always wanted one).  No farm.  A manageable garden.  

Not a lot of acreage, but 10+.  Wooded.  Body of water: not a deal breaker.

Image via Pinterest

I get to design the house (of course), but we might get a divorce over the details.  

That might ruin these big plans of his.

This is such a dream of his right now, but he is insisting I get on board.  I'm already sketching the house, but it's the homeschooling snag that keeps bringing me down to earth (aside from the "how in the hell would we ever afford this" reality).  What would be best for that baby?  Am I even capable of this?  I'm flattered L would trust me even with the idea of homeschooling his number one buddy, but I don't know if I could do it.  

I have a lot to read up on...  And a lot of googling to do for design inspiration :)

Seaside Celebration

Wedding Day June 25, 2005 Paris, France

We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary while in Seaside last month. 

HOW HAS IT BEEN 6 YEARS ALREADY? 

We've been together for over 11.  That really makes me feel old.

 The water was beautiful.

P wasn't real sure about the baby pool without his float.  Need to get this baby some swimming lessons ASAP.

 Little Merman loved the beach.

 I ate my weight in Barefoot BBQ brisket sammies.

And what would a vacation be without ONE photo with me.

Televisiphonernetting

A lot to catch up on. 

Atlanta trip went well.  

Hit up IKEA (random white vases and toys for P) and H&M (bought a scarf, belt, espadrilles and wedges). 

Highlight of the trip (or highlights... we ate there 2 nights in a row).

Baby managed to survive during my absence and as a result he and his father have really bonded.  So maybe that trip was a good thing...  The photos I received while in  my seminar were classic Dad babysitting photos:

That's one way to give a bottle.

 Barefoot trip to Barnes and Noble dressed as Broby from Yo Gabba Gabba

 

Barefoot trip to Lowe's, no danger here

Self inflicted wound

A second trip to Barnes and Noble, but barefoot in our pajamas this time.  I'm not positive either of them got dressed while I was gone.

I guess we will know just how successful the trip was if I get a final PASS letter in the mail soon.  Trying not to freak out about that.  Avoiding the mailman like the plague.

It has been so nice to do absolutely nothing the last few days.  Enjoying catching up on my blogs and twitter and news and Bravo TV and everything I have tivoed for the last month.  I was actually excited about getting in bed early to watch tv the other night.  Pathetic.

Atlanta

I'm leaving on Thursday for a seminar in Atlanta for 4 days and 4 nights.  I don't think I have spent more than 10 or 12 hours away from Penn since he was born.  I could handle one night, but 4?  Maybe if I was going on a real vacation it would be easier to handle.  I'm going to a seminar for my last exam and I couldn't be more thrilled.  28 hours of lecture.  Two words:  pancake butt. 

You would think I could get motivated to study and pass this one considering it is my last and hopefully final exam of my career, but nope.  I. cannot. get. motivated.  To make matters worse, this is speeding up the weaning process.  I've been told to take it slow or you risk a horomonal freak out... this trip might end up being more interesting than I initially expected.  Sorry coworkers!

Previous IKEA excitement

I thought a shopping trip to Ikea with guilt-free birthday money to blow might make the separation anxiety more bearable, but the seminar is in Marietta AND it lasts until 8 pm.  And... I don't really "need" anything from IKEA, but that hasn't stopped me before. Luckily there is an H&M and a Chipotle near our hotel.  Woohoo!  Gonna be a wild and crazy weekend!

 I'll be headed straight for these.  Image via cocowire.

Okay, maybe these too.  Image via cocowire.

Summer has arrived

This photo just screams summer to me.  Too bad it's already 100 degrees outside and baby can't enjoy his new rides.

 Riding dirty.  Sit down, son.

 Reversing a la Brett Matthews in the 1989 Buick LeSabre.  Always with the arm.  

It's a bumpy ride.

My new favorite picture:

Early Morning Pajama Ridin'

First Birthday

Birthday invitation designed by Lou.  I drew Fisher jumping off the high dive.

  

Penn's first birthday coincided with my largest deadline of the year so far (because isn't that how it always happens?).  I was working twice as much as normal and trying to study and make birthday crafts.  I didn't want his birthday to come and go and regret not being creative.  I stayed up late making cupcake banners and a happy birthday banner for the mantel.

No theme, just a birthday celebration.  I managed to squeeze 2 dozen balloons in my wagon before the party.  I started panicking as the sweet girl at Party City was blowing them up.  How had I misjudged the size of latex-helium-filled-everyday-birthday balloons?  Had to drive home without any mirrors.  Thankfully I had made this trip alone.  There wasn't even room for Mr. Baby.

He was still sleeping when all the guests had arrived.  He was so overwhelmed by all the people in our house that he wanted to be held the whole time.  The older he gets, the more shy he gets.  Everyone is always asking, "Is he always this quiet?" "Does he always just stare?"  No one ever believes us when we say no.  At home on a normal day he is a wild man.

 

 My mom made his cakes.

Homemade lemon curd cake with buttercream icing.  Everyone loved it, Penn included.  That baby loves some sour.

He started out incredibly meticulous with his smash cake; putting it back together as he broke it apart.  Then he decided to get messy.

So the little monster took a quick dip in the whale pool.

It was a beautiful afternoon and family stayed for a Memorial Day cook-out afterwards.

Yum.

The whale pool got a little cold in the shade, but everyone sat around it like a water feature.

 

Baby loves his push-car from Gigi and Broman.  Fisher loves to chase him in it.  Penn giggles the whole time.

As usual, Lou jumped at the chance for a project and quickly assembled it during the party.  Penn could have slid all night.

The baby was worn out, but not as exhausted as we were.  I can't even imagine what my parents felt like after a birthday party with 20 friends at the skating rink?  or the CCJ?  We were only entertaining 15 family members and it took us 2 days to recover... and a week for me to finally take the decorations down.

It seems like only yesterday we were in the hospital with him.  I'm loving the toddler age, but he isn't my tiny baby anymore.  His birthday was bittersweet.  How has it been a year already?  I can admit I shed a few tears on his birthday.  Someone told me when you start missing those baby days it's time to have another.  Lou says, one and done.  I say, let's wait and see.