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.