Thursday, December 31, 2015

Christmas 2015-Henry's First Christmas

One last blog post before the end of the year. I love Christmas, always have, and probably always will. I thought Christmas as a child was the best, but I have learned that Christmas with a child is even better. Henry may not have understood what Christmas was, but as he gets older, I hope to pass my love of Christmas to him.

My parents joined us in Louisiana for Christmas. I learned my love of Christmas from my Mother, so I knew this Christmas was going to be very festive. If you think festive means matching pajamas, then you are correct. My Mother made sure we all had matching pajamas for Christmas morning, Macy too. Presents at Christmas are fun to open, but the best part of Christmas is spending time together.

I have included some of my favorite pictures below, and a link to our Christmas photo album. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and may 2016 bring you many more memories.

Good Morning, Henry!



During the long process of getting this picture, it was decided I need a camera tripod and remote. 





Lots and lots of drool. But Henry now has a tooth!
I need to get a picture, but not sure how that is going to work. :)

A trip to the zoo. We tried to feed Henry to the alligator. 

But he successfully fought back. 
If you want to see more pictures click on the link below: 

Friday, December 18, 2015

Christmas cheer or Christmas fear….

We are learning the first Christmas as a parent is much different than Christmas without children. This will be Henry's first Christmas, and even though he may be too young to fully understand Christmas, Ryan and I are starting what will hopefully become Christmas traditions in our house. Now, whether our good intentions to start Christmas traditions turns into Christmas cheer or Christmas fear……….only the years will tell.

Tradition #1. Picture with Santa.
Covington, LA is the epitome of suburbia life. Neighborhoods galore, families everywhere, children everywhere. I figured it would be super easy to find a nice, fat, jolly St. Nick knee to plop Henry on and capture the quintessential Santa photograph. I was greatly mistaken, Santa is hard to find in Covington, LA. Just as I was hitting my limit of finding Jolly Old St. Nick, Ryan saw a sign that a local hotel would be hosting Santa the following day. Done. We would go. Apparently every other Mother in the area was having the same struggle to find Santa, because every family and child was also at this same hotel to get a picture with Santa. Two hours later and constant verbal reminders from all the Mothers that this was "for the children" the Mothers, I mean children were excited to have their picture taken with Santa.




Tradition #2. Christmas train.
Ryan was more than accommodating as I frantically searched for Santa, and then very calmly waited to have the picture with Santa taken, it was only fair that I would then participate in Ryan's Christmas tradition, buy Henry a Christmas train. The research was done, the train set was chosen, off to the train store we went. And quickly home we came to set up the Christmas train.


The Polar Express was the chosen train set. It makes train noises, it talks, it even smokes. Everything to meet Ryan's, I mean Henry's every wish for a Christmas train. :)

"What did you bring home now?"

I love the Polar Express movie and book, so I was all too happy to have the Polar Express train in our house. I was even more excited it came with the silver bell (for Henry, of course).



The moment of truth. Henry gets to check out his new Christmas train. 

Priceless. No love for the Christmas train. 

As the time passed, he began to warm up to it. 

Macy was not too thrilled. 
An update: Since the train pictures were taken, both Henry and Macy no longer fear the train.

And some photos to end this post. Santa Henry. Because as we all know, Christmas is for the children, not the parents. The parents, whom we all know may or may not use the excuse of having children to partake in various holiday traditions. Photos with Santa, Christmas trains, purchasing large quantities of holiday attire and then dressing up their children for more photographs…



Dogs and babies. Both equally fascinated by lights. 

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

The final two...

Ryan and I had a goal this year, complete every race in the Crescent City series. We have successfully completed all five races! The last two were completed within a month of each other, so I have combined the final two…

Crescent City Fall Classic
An easy 5k, one would think a race on a November morning would be chilly. Not in Louisiana, the humidity was ridiculous, but we ran the race together. Too sweaty for after pictures, but we did snap a couple prior to the race.

Yes, we planned to wear orange. 

Henry was dressed in turkeys. 

Getting a pre race pep talk from Dad. 

The final Crescent City race took place last weekend, Celebration in the Oaks. It was only a two mile race through City Park in New Orleans, and we decided to walk the race (as did the majority of the participants). The costumes people wore were fantastically festive. The weather was must more enjoyable.

Santa!

Henry was distracted by all the costumes. 

Henry the reindeer. 


Ryan registered us for the New Orleans Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on February 28, 2016. Ryan is currently training to run the marathon length (his first) and I am currently training to run the half marathon length (my first). Maybe that will be the beginning of our 2016 series of races.

Monday, December 7, 2015

It's never too late to be thankful...

Thanksgiving weekend went by in the blink of an eye. Ryan and I finally got around to updating our landscaping, a project we had talked about for close to a year. We are a week into the month of December, a few peppermint mocha lattes have been consumed, and our house is festively decorated, I do not want to forget our Thanksgiving weekend, it's never too late to be thankful…

I am thankful for an amazing son. He is an incredibly happy baby. On the days I question if I am doing a good job, I see his smile, and his outgoing personality and it lets me know that maybe I am doing something right.





I am thankful for a husband with the strength of an entire landscaping crew. I will not even try to lie or make you believe I was a huge help in the landscaping process. I helped pick out the plants, I decided where the plants would go, and Ryan stepped in to do all the strenuous digging and planting. I then helped again with putting the mulch in place.  I am also thankful that if we ever plan to redo our landscaping again, we will hire someone. :)


Before...

Before...

Old plants removed, new plants ready...

There's that happy baby, and his sweet sidekick, Macy. Both were amazing during the landscaping process. Henry hanging out in his stroller, Macy keeping guard. 


Love this face...


I am thankful for our amazing group of friends we have met in Covington. We celebrated a "Friendsgiving" with a few of them Thanksgiving weekend. We were too busy enjoying time with each other and eating delicious food to pause for a photo.

Our friend, Jon did come over with his truck and helped Ryan take away all the old plants!
And some after pictures of our new landscaping. Our outdoor Christmas lights are also up!




Let the Christmas season begin...

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Serious at seven months...

Someone was very serious during his seven month photos. Henry has become very curious about everything. If something is within his reach, he has to grab it and investigate. If something is in his view, he has to stare at it and contemplate. I really wish I knew what he was thinking. I am loving this age. I love watching his reactions to sounds and sights. I love watching his reaction to Macy. The thing I love most is hearing Henry and Ryan interact. Henry's giggles and shouts in response to Ryan's silliness melts my heart.

"Fantastic, the blocks are back." 

Getting bigger and bigger for his elephant chair. 

"I know what you did. You moved the blocks out of my reach."

Hands, feet...he is always moving. 




The following pictures were my attempt to line up Henry's head with the ears on his elephant chair. 
Distracted by the block and oblivious to my plan. 

Did not take long for him to figure it out.
I have a feeling I will get this "seriously, Mom?" look a lot. 

Decided to play along and give me a smile.