the good 'ol b-i-b-l-e

has this really already begun?  seriously?    okay, so everyday henry and i have this battle over the household potted plants.  he thinks that he should dig in the dirt, scoop it onto the floor, pull the leaves off, tug at the branches so the whole plant could possibly topple over (and already has), just basically destroy them.  i do not think that he should do these things.  so you can see that we are pretty much butting heads over this issue.  Well today, after giving him "the look" (and i have a pretty good one mind you, after working with elementary school children and being a teacher)  and telling him "no no" for pulling on some leaves he went off and picked up his bible that he got for his baptism.  two minutes later, who do i see standing next to the plant and scheming destruction?  mr. henry lee.  so i say "henry leeee" and he turns and looks at me over his shoulder, and he is holding his bible way up high in the branches of the plant so that it appears as though he is simply reading it and not doing any other naughty things. then he give me a little grin that says "what mom? i'm just reeeeaading my bible."  really.  seriously.  he did this.  but it didn't stop there.  he also took his bible to another "no no" place.  the lazy susan in the kitchen.  he knows that he is not supposed to be playing in the lazy susans.  so what does he do?  he opens it up and props his bible up on the little shelf inside, and when i come to get him and tell him "no no" he simply gives me the same look over the shoulder and the same little grin "what's the big deal? just reading my bible here."    let me remind you that this child just turned one.

and then there was ONE

my baby turned one yesterday.  we pretty much had the typical day since we already had the big shindig celebration for him.  but it was still special.  hugged him a little tighter. played a little harder.  don't think i could really love him anymore though :)  reminisced quite a bit. looked at pictures.  sighed.  maybe got teary-eyed.  sheesh. i'm one of those moms. i know that birthdays are supposed to be a big deal for the person having them.  but now that i am a mom, birthdays are a big deal for the parents of the person having them too.  I just think of everything that Austin and I went through this past year, the ups and downs, everything we learned, i know this all sounds so cheesy-but really, seriously.  seriously.  its not just about celebrating henry turning a year old, but i also felt like celebrating the fact that we have experienced an entire year of parenthood...and survived :)  and we were awesome at it--i think anyway :)

here's a little medley of photos of us just hanging out and playing at home these past few days...of all the gifts that henry got for his birthday....the cardboard box that his new car seat came in seems to be pretty popular, as are all the leftover balloon decorations--go figure!

even mommy can fit in the box :)

henry decided to enter a coloring contest sponsored by the local newspaper.  daddy may have gone a little overboard.....just a little.

 he's totally going to win with this.  hehehe

playing in the box, some more.  with a balloon.  he also likes to take random items from various locations throughout the house and hoard them in his box as well.  if you are missing something--just check the box.

 ride 'em cowboy!! henry loves his new pony, and mommy loves it because it doesn't buck too hard :)

 so happy to see daddy when he comes home!  henry's face always lights up for dada :).....or is it the other way around?

whenever it snows, henry goes and stands by the large patio doors and looks outside.  the other night austin opened the door and held him a little ways out so that he could feel it :)

what a sweetie.  a whole year old.

ooooooohh!  and I can't forget the time capsule-i can't believe i almost forgot about that!  it turned out awesome thanks to all of henry's friends and family that contributed to it!  Just to give you an idea of what he has in it I'll let you in on a few things:  there is a Rapid City Journal from the day that henry was born, other newspaper ads, some family heirlooms passed down that are pretty darn special, some cards and "forever" stamps so that he can write actual letters :)  someone donated a flock of baby chicks in his name through heifer international, which is pretty awesome, because its a gift that keeps on giving--the recipient of the donation makes a commitment to pass on the offspring from their flock, so by the time he is 16 he will have gifted approx. 32000 chicks to hungry families in need :)  (its a really neat charity, if you are interested you should check it out: www.heifer.org), he has letters that family members have written to him....austin and i are going to make a little book of the first year of the blog for him to read and I am going to write him a special letter... that's just a few of the things to give you an idea, in fact, a lot of the envelopes i couldn't even open because they were sealed shut....i reaaaaallly wanted to open them but austin wouldn't let me...and i will have to wait 15 years to know what is in them!  It's going to be so special for henry :)

henry's baptism and birthday celebration!

I know, I know, it has been a week since henry's special weekend, but I have had a crazy week with rehearsals, henry being sick (much better now though!) etc.  We had our dance performance this weekend in brookings, and I was stuck up there friday through sunday because of the weather!  It stunk-big time-i have never been a part from henry for so long :( i am so happy that the roads are now drivable and i am back with my babies!!  

  It was such a special day, and henry had so many people travel to come and share it with him.  We had all his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and some great-grandparents as well as some friends join us.  The service was wonderful and henry was very well-behaved and very into it :)  he enjoyed watching the pastor pour the water out, and even applauded her several times throughout the ceremony -haha :)  i think he could become quite the showman based on his performance.  

The pastor also read some verses that Austin and I chose especially for henry and they come from Philippians 4:2-13, which, for us, is a summation of what we have learned as henry's parents..."The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus....(Especially that last part about peace that transcends all understanding--haha, that's what i'm working on most :)  )  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation...I can do everything though him who gives me strength" (henry has definitely been teaching us to put our faith and trust in God more than ever)

 and it also includes our hopes for henry as he grows up..."whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things...And the God of peace will be with you." 

   :)  Just wanted to share.

here are some of the photos from the big day!  I had a friend take them for me so that I could just enjoy everything that went on :)

haha, henry was very happy to be baptised :)

here are some family photos following the church service

and now a few photos from the party

here is some of the decor....i had to include these because i worked too hard on them not to-ha!

henry's banner

we had a pizza party, and for dessert--cupcakes!  yum :)

one of henry's little friends, taden was able to make it, they have known each other for pretty much their whole lives--wow!!!

here's henry reading a bible that he got as a gift.  he was showered with so many wonderful gifts-a very lucky boy for sure :)  

waiting patiently for his birthday cake :)

 yay! henry's gluten/peanut/dairy-free birthday cake!  :)  which he thoroughly enjoyed..........destroying.  as you will see in the following pics

singing happy birthday to our baby boy

 he was pretty cautious at first, then, just dug his hand right in....

 and eventually decided that he should just pick it up.  all babies manhandle their birthday cakes like this right?  I don't know why henry has such a penchant for lifting things...haha his little body was shaking but he got it off the table and was pretty pleased with himself

sooooo....he did sample it a little bit with some minor persuasion on my part....but he didn't really eat any of it.  All that work baking that cake just to see him rip it apart.  And it was totally worth it :)

We could not have asked for a more perfect day for henry :)  Thank you so much to everyone who made it so special!

p.s.  I do have more photos, just not the time for them yet, otherwise i'd be much more than a week behind on this!  if you are on facebook, gramma molly has a lot of awesome photos from the weekend that you should definitely take a peek at!  

the happy, confident, allergy-free, eating agenda

henry is feeling much better now! he had some funky stomach bug that just needed to work its way through his system i think.  he is taking antibiotics now and is no longer clinging to me like a sad little leech :)  poor baby...i was beginning to feel like i had sprouted a fifth limb though... :)  he is back to his busy ways, and back to eating food!  which brings me to the true topic here: henry's diet.  as you probably know by now, henry is allergic to dairy and mildly allergic to peanuts.  his skin also seems to react to wheat/too much protein.  SO, i have been majorly stressing over what to feed this baby of mine.  paranoid that i would make him sick or miserable with another horrible eczema outbreak, I was freaking out about mealtime.  I also was beginning to feel like a bad mom because i didn't think that he was as far along in his eating stages as he should be since he still eats very plain fruit and vegetable purees for the most part with only a few other things like cracker puffs, banana chunks, peaches, and even a little corn now.  i thought that other babies his age were eating more table foods, and i was worrying about what too cook and how to cook it because it is so hard to avoid the aforementioned foods!  It was even a task to bake his birthday cake which was a simple box recipe (gluten/peanut/and dairy-free of course) however, I quickly realized I couldn't spray the pan with pam or flour it with regular flour, so i purchased some dairy-free "butter" and gluten-free flour. oh yes and i had to have dairy-free frosting as well.  i am not even going to tell you how much all this stuff cost me.  uffda folks.   and he didn't even eat the dang cake :)   also on my mind, the fact that most babies switch to whole milk by the time they turn one, and i couldn't switch him to that, but i didn't want to only feed him soy milk because it does not have the fat and vitamin d that babies need for brain development. so i didn't know if he would need supplements.....yikes.  needless to say, i may have been losing a little sleep at night over all this.

enter a wonderful dietician.  i set up a consultation with one to discuss all my questions and craziness.  and what did i find?  that feeding henry basic vegetable and fruit purees is just fine.  that he can, and should, stick with his soy formula for another year until his second birthday (just switch from bottle to sippy cups).  that adding olive oil to sweeten up certain foods is much yummier, healthier, and easier on the wallet than all that fake butter stuff.  that henry is perfectly normal and will be just fine!  the dietician explained to me that there is too much pressure on parents to feed babies table foods and a lot of variety of foods early. (hmmm, you mean kind of like trying to teach your baby to read before they are one? haha, sorry, i can't help but laugh at this because it seems so crazy to me, why do we put so much pressure on kids to perform so early?...)  actually, i guess it turns out that the more slowly you introduce new foods, and the less variety, the better, especially for little ones with allergies.  We discussed henry's meal plans and possible foods for me to slowly introduce over time.  Also, it is normal for a baby to not want to self-feed and just play with their food, and also to be sensitive to new textures.  As long as henry feels comfortable and happy when he eats, and he is getting the nutrition he needs, then he will be okay!  So glad that I went and talked with this woman, I feel so much better now, and I most definitely will not be passing on any of my fears and anxiety to henry!  I'm just going to sit back and let him grow and develop at his own pace and just try to follow his cues from now on instead of worrying about what every other baby his age is doing at the diner table.  henry is his own special little man :) of course i already knew that, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded i guess.

And, just in case we also forgot who wears the pants around here, henry decided to remind us.  Yep, Henry wears the pants in this family.  And he wears them on his head  :)

exploring!

while henry's cousins were all here visiting, we went to the south dakota's children museum, which was an awesome place!!  unfortunately, everyone had the same idea that we did--taking their kids to the museum the day after thanksgiving--so it was crazy busy!!  here are a few photos from our little journey there.  austin and i have already decided that we need to go back again soon-henry had so much fun there :)

playing and making patterns in the sand

 gears!

 travis and kaydyn playing in the water room

 kaydyn painting the window while henry watches on the other side

 hehe-such a neat art/craft room they had there

kaydyn and uncle george climbing in the clouds

jolie checking out the pretty flowers on the play house

some very pensive thinking going on here

they even had a little farm where kids could pick veggies-pumpkins, tomatoes, even corn!  

they had little red wheel barrows, and henry, of course, had to climb in :)

he even picked mommy some flowers :)

haha, yep, henry joined the little piggies in the pigpen :)

what a cool place! every community should have one for their kids--if you get a chance you should definitely go, we had just as much fun as the little ones :)

Also, i thought i would add that yesterday, we had a lot of family here to see henry and to celebrate his baptism and first birthday a little early.  we had an amazing weekend, and austin and i can't express how amazing it felt to be surrounded by family and friends that care about and love our little boy so much!  I will be posting pictures very soon!  Right now though, henry has come down with a little bug or something, and we are busy making sure that he gets better.  we took him to the clinic this morning and they ran a few tests and gave him a shot to get him on the mend :) hopefully his fever will stay under control, and after he goes back to the doc tomorrow, he will be feeling much better.  we are somewhat relieved that it waited until after his big weekend--of course we would rather he didn't get sick at all!

ThanksGiving Loveys

I like to call this little collection of black and whites the thanksgiving lovey doveys--pretty self explanatory :)

great-grandparents meeting baby Bryson for the first time

 Paul J and his baby boys!

 mom and bryson

 gramma bernie and henry share some smoochies

josh, linds, and their jolie pie

uncle george and bryson

great-grampa charlie with hank

 dog pile on gramps

i love the holidays :)