hey

Thanks, Sarah and Jay
Who’s it from?
Isty Bitsy Spider, by Henry S.
Silly kids in pajamas

I cleaned out the camera - and here are the rest of the movies. Some are from Phil’s birthday last month. Enjoy!

Henry walking in my high heels.
Talking in other languages, some made-up.
Phil’s birthday, part 1.
part 2 (cake)
part 3 (more cake)
Stop singing, mommy.

Strawberries are just coming in season around here so Henry and I went picking. Some pics and a movie - enjoy

Photopage:

Movies:

Meta cheese
Meta cheese 2

happybirthday08
snores
salad dressing
merry christmas

We had a lovely Halloween - Aunt Cindy came to visit and we went to Voltz’s Halloween party. Henry wouldn’t wear his Elmo costume, but he would wear his firehelmet. We carved 4 pumpkins and Henry had his first trick or treat. Here is a gallery of some pictures,

Andy and Kate came to visit this past weekend and we had a ball. Except poor Phil who was sick and sequestered all weekend in bed. Sorry, Phil. Andy and Kate and Henry and I managed to get ourselves to the Aquarium in Baltimore and we also enjoyed some be-yoo-tee-ful weather outside, too. Here is a picture gallery - enjoy - and thanks for the visit, Andy and Kate. ELBOWS!

ipod (playing teletubbies, which he LOVES. “Wake up, Po!”)

and meatballs YUM!

Watching Henry enjoy his meatballs and ‘hot noodles’ tonight for dinner was such a treat, we videoed it so you guys could enjoy it, too.
click HERE to see

I recently started a facebook page and there are some pictures and movies there that not everyone can see. (You need a facebook account in order to see them.) So, here are those facebook pictures for those of you unable to see them over there.
(Click on this picture to go to the gallery)

Oh, so much, so fast. We have a walking talking almost-two year old. Who recently received a very short haircut. Enjoy these movies. (click on pictures to start)
big slide
big slide2
playground tunnel
chasing bunnies
directorhenry
director henry2
bedtime book.

We went to see friends and visit Fireman Mike in Rockville sunday. Mike showed us all the cool firetrucks - “Big Trucks!” says Henry - and even jetted off to a call to end our visit. Thanks, Mike! Click on the photo to see the photo gallery.

I miss the beach.

Is anybody still out there? I’m upgrading the blog software.

Henry still has his shoe obsession. He routinely brings shoes to Phil and me as a way of saying he wants to go outside. The other night, just before our nightly diaper change and donning of the pajamas, Henry brought me one of my black boots. Then, he brought me another black boot - but it was from different pair. (one with heels - one without) I didn’t put them on myself because it was bedtime (and FREEZING outside!) so Henry asked if I would put them on him. I did and here are the pictures.

Phil didn’t want me to take pictures of this at first, but eventually relented. It just got funnier as Henry tried to stand and then to walk in the crazy mismatched boots, - HOW COULD I NOT take pictures of this?!

Also, today was the first day that Henry wanted to eat breakfast at his little table rather than in his booster seat at the big table. More pics -

I haven’t been taking many pictures lately. mostly because the little guy is TALKING and pictures just don’t grab that.

Munchkin has a rash on his face. He’s had it for weeks. Should clear up once it gets warmer and he finally cuts his molars (which are coming in.)


What are you looking at? NO, you cannot have my noodles!


Want some applesauce?

The Warrens came over for dinner a couple weekends ago. Dan is trying to help Henry climb up on the futon to get Emory.

Words Henry can say (that only mom and dad can understand):
dadda
mam
ball
nana (banana)
more
nanana (no no no)
outside
upstairs
shoes
cracker
magnet
baby
bye bye (with a wave)
car <- this one is brand new and he uses it ALOT
‘good day’ <- He told Phil to have a ‘good day’ yesterday morning before we left. This is something Phil tells me almost every morning. Henry said it twice - and waved bye bye! Made my year!

Ok, this is the last of the catch-up photos. All are of Henry’s first birthday. We had both sets of grandparents come and visit for the festivities, and boy, did we have fun!

Birthday cake -



and ice cream, which was TOO COLD, hence the face.

Balloons -

and presents -


and lots of time with grandparents -


Happy Birthday, little Henry!

This is Phil and Jay playing boxing on Andy’s Wii. I took video of them because they were so funny. See them duke it out here -
(movies removed - ask me for them if you need them!)

Back when it was warmer, Henry and I discovered that the pushcar can go OUTSIDE. Henry immediately began to push the car up the sidewalk to the mailbox. Once there, I realized that it is much harder for Henry to go downhill with the pushcar. It gets ahead of him and then he either has to let go and not fall or learn to run with it on the spot. HEY! Over-educated mama! the thing has WHEELS and you are on the top of a HILL. With a baby. That wants to have FUN. Get it? Okay, so I finally got it and Henry had the ride of his little life! We went up and down our little hill three times before I dragged him kicking and screaming back into the house.

Aunt Bonnie - Phil’s eldest little sister - came to see us in the middle of November (Hi, Bon!). Henry hasn’t had much chance to see her. The last time he saw her was when she came to see us in the spring with the other Syme siblings. (see pics here.) Naturally, Bonnie got the full treatment from the Munchkin, for Mommy and Daddy are not as fun on the Floor-o-Toys as they once were.

Bonnie’s visit was short, but while she was here, we enjoyed having her.

Love this pic - so cute -

Thanks, Bon, for coming to see us. Hope you come again soon! Don’t let my late picture posting keep you away.

Violet is the daughter of my friend Deb. We were postdocs in the same lab a couple years ago (years?) and we were pregnant with our first babies last year (Violet was born 22 days after Henry - and 12 days after Cheryl’s daughter, Adrienne!). Can you identify who’s who in this first picture of Henry, Adrienne and Violet?

Back in November, Violet and Deb came over for a playdate. Henry couldn’t quite walk yet, but Violet was walking all over. The two of them had a ball.

Henry had somebody his size to appreciate how fun the toys are.

Toys make the happy babies dance! (Deb took this video with her CELL PHONE! I love living in the future . . .) Violet does the Hustle and Henry does the Bump.

Eventually, these two discovered the push car. Instead of fighting over who got to push it around, we put one baby on to ride and let the other push. Problem solved and we got EXTRA cuteness!
But you really have to see it in action to appreciate how adorable it was.

I’ve finally downloaded my videos from the camera and here they are for your enjoyment. I have two versions of these new videos. For those of you who are not digging the embedded quicktime videos on this page - here are the youtube versions on their own page, and for those of you who have joined the mac army (welcome!) or are running a windows browser other than firefox (boo!) here are the quicktime versions.

We went to PA for thanksgiving. This was the first time we drove up ‘at night’ since Henry was born. The good news is that he slept most of the way there. The bad news is that we almost did, too. Anyway, we made it okay, thanks to Phil and lots of coffee. Once we got up the next morning, the playing with Henry began.

There was storybook time with Grandpa,

outside time with Aunt Sarah,

blocks with Uncle Joe,

and ‘keep Henry off the stairs’ with various relatives. (I think that’s Grandpa’s arm.)

These two shots are from Aunt Sarah’s camera - and I LUV them! Why doesn’t my camera work this well? Must be operator error!

Great Grandma Kate came over to visit. (I love saying “Great Grandma Kate”. Rolls off the tongue!) They seem to be having a good time with that potholder.

Uncle Matt had to work that weekend, but he came home anyway. Thanks, Mattie! (aren’t they handsome?)

Uncles Matt and Andy instruct Henry on the finer points of kitchen play - and they should know.

I tried to take some arty shots of Phil and Henry on the back porch since the weather was so nice and the light was so pretty, but Henry didn’t want to look at me.

Handsome Phil and I-Don’t-See-You-Mommy Henry.

Kiddo was just about to walk around this time. He would take a couple steps to Phil or I if we caught him. In a week or so, he started walking in earnest. Now, I have to wrestle him to the ground for diaper changes. Go, Henry, go!

Henry and I went to see the Maryland relatives back in September. Our cousins Brent and Trevor were making their Confirmations and there was a party. Thanks, Theresa and Bruce, for having us! It was great to see everybody and to eat cake and have people fuss over Henry - like my Aunt Jean -

Here are the boys Trevor and Brent, cutting their cake. Such handsome guys! So freakin’ BIG! Where are the little rugrats I used to know?

Big sisters Jena and Hillary were also around to party (and play football) - and play with Henry. Thanks, Jena!

My cousin Sue and her family were also there.

Have I mentioned how nice it was to see a bunch of people I love who were starved for baby-time? I actually got to eat with both hands thanks to Sue and Theresa and Sue’s daughter Kelly and a couple of pickles. Sue’s husband Mike even had some Henry-time (during the commercial breaks of the Redskins game :> ).

As you can see - Henry and I had lots of attention and had a great time seeing everybody. Hello, all you cousins! Thanks for having us!