It Talks.

monkey has gotten very verbal lately. he chatters away to himself and to us constantly. and some of it is starting to make sense!

he mostly clearly and often without prompting will say "hi" and "tree" and "dog" and "uh-oh" and (fake sneeze) "acheeeeew" (which is funny, because we've been fake sneezing for so long now to make him giggle that when he real sneezes, he starts to laugh). and he will imitate other sounds we make, too. and he's pointing at things he wants. it's awesome.

and he signs "more" and "milk." the latter, very aggressively and often while pointing to my tats. charming. :)

on a walk before work the other morning, robb took this audio of their conversation. there are some ambient nature noises, but if you can hang on through the whole thing, it's worth it. adorable. :) 

Summer Drinks....Mmmmmmm....

so i've decided it's not fair that i hoard all the delicious recipes i make from you poor people.

most of what we make is pretty healthy. 90% vegan, but i'm out to prove that doesn't mean it can't taste great! so i'll be sprinkling in some of my cooking adventures among my posts. enjoy!

first and foremost, here's some frozen drink recipes. some boozy and some kid friendly. num.

1. "sweet cure for scurvy"- this one started when we need STAT margaritas for sitting by the pool...but didn't have any tequila or limeade, sour mix, etc. so we found this ancient bottle of "sugar cane spirits" that may have been a rum or tequila-type liqueur? not sure. anyway. blended it with ice, orange juice, fresh oranges, little fresh lime juice and some turbinado sugar. you can figure out your own amounts based on preference. but it was sort of an orange julius, frosty OJ type thing and was DELICIOUS.

2. so days later i was dreaming about it at work and wanted to re-create it....but decided to make a version henry could share. (we try not to give him too much tequila. or tequila-like substances). :) whatever tasty treats i make him, i always feel compelled to sneak in some healthy stuff, so....i started with ice and orange juice and a few oranges and a little lime juice and then added raw pumpkin seeds (full of iron + vitamin c of oranges = great iron absorption) and agave nectar and some fresh mint from our garden. and blended, blended, blended until it was kind of a thickened juice consistency. it was SO good! he couldn't get enough of it. amazing. so flavorful and refreshing.

 

3. so THEN, i started thinking about alternatives. and i thought I LIKE MOJITOS. and i like frozen drinks. bam. lime juice and fresh limes, ice, turbinado sugar and fresh mint. blended down. dream-y. 

2nd Father's Day (Old Hat Now)

wow. so sorry i'm a week late on this post. i can't seem to sit down for more than a few minutes without falling asleep. but i'm awake and with it right now and here you go.

father's day was wonderful! we had just seen our families for h's bday last week, so it was just us for this father's day.

robb's back is giving him fits right now, so i ran by myself for a prostate cancer run sunday morning and the boys came to support me. then we wandered the zoo for a while (see monkeys, below).


then we went home and played and napped and later had a wonderful mexican dinner all together. followed by more cuddling and playing and enjoying the nice weather. it was wonderful.

last year what i remember about father's day (less than 2 weeks after munchkin was hatched) was scrambling to get a picture album together in time for robb to take to work with him upon his return from paternity leave. i ended up in tears from frustration and exhaustion ("*sniff*i wanted it to be perrrrfect...*sniffle*...stupid shutterfly....*sniff* i'm so tirrrrred..."). and robb had to comfort me. :) happy father's day!

this year i am a bit more stable and things are a bit less chaotic.  :)

so here's to a wonderful dad! henry is one lucky scooter.

building forts for reading together!

daddy and henry taking swimming lessons

Year 1 Down, Here's What We've Learned

well, henry j. monkey survived us for a whole year! (and vice versa).  it's been bar none the best year of my life. i imagine robb and henry feel the same way. it's been hectic and crazy and certainly stressful around the edges, but the depth of the joy we've experienced has been profound. i thank God daily that he landed such a healthy and beautiful henry among us and thank henry for bearing with us. :)

we've learned some lessons along the way. we have advice for both the moms and dads (the alleged adults) and the kids. here goes:

-"adults": this is sort of a recent (and very annoying) revelation. ahem. neither parent should take on any major new projects. anything that will keep you away from the family for large quantities of time should be discouraged. big work changes, training for marathons and other intense races, major travel, etc. it will leave the home spouse planning the away spouse's death. and the away spouse will miss the family too much. and might end up buried in the backyard. and if 1/3 of the members of the small family end up buried in the backyard by the end of the first year, i guess i would consider that a fail.

-childrens: when in doubt, sit down. if you're worried you might fall on your head if you just take that one more step, don't do it. sit down. i'd tell you to avoid sharp things and stairs and such, but where would be the fun in that? your parents will enjoy the excitement of playing AHHHHDON'TTOUCHTHAT with you.

-"adults": when you drop the baby (it will happen), only fess up to it if there's an injury that needs medical attention (and then for sure do). if baby's fine but there's a bruise, blame your spouse or the dog. and hope like hell that when baby learns to talk, he won't remember all the woeful parenting you gave him and choose to share it. bribery probably helps here.

-childrens: you'll be sick enough your first year just breathing the air on this planet. please don't put your mouth on any sick kids at daycare/church nursery/the playground, etc. and when you're considering eating that disgusting thing off the floor that clearly fell off the dog or a shoe, maybe don't.

-"adults": you've never in your life felt both as stressed out and as joy-filled as you do now. it's a roller coaster but it's AMAZING. do your best to enjoy it. all the old people keep saying how fast it all goes, so treasure each of those tiny hugs and even the little temper tantrums if you can, cuz they'll dry up eventually. and soon he will be a giant moose and it will be hard to believe that he was ever small enough to get stuck under the chairs in the living room. regularly.

-childrens:your parents are trying. they really are. but sometimes they just can't figure out what you want or get to you as soon as you'd like. occasionally mommy needs to shower or go to the bathroom. BY HERSELF. she doesn't really want you peeking into the shower or standing in front of her looking up expectantly with your tiny hands on her knees while she uses the toilet. doesn't mean she doesn't love you. in fact, probably proves otherwise.

-"adults": speaking of toileting....if you see your childrens straining like they're taking a deuce, give them a few minutes to finish up before you attempt to change their diaper. DEAR GOD, GIVE THEM A FEW MINUTES. and if it's all just too, too gross- throw the clothes away. nothing is worth getting poo in either of your hair. trust.

-childrens: none of the following things will in fact kill you: the car seat, getting your diaper changed, having expensive and fragile things removed from your filthy/destructive paws, getting dressed, the stroller, the bath, vegetables.

-"adults": none of the following things will in fact kill you: lack of sleep, going a day without a shower, going a month without sex, feeding your kid- (whether breast feeding, bottle, solids- they will sometimes refuse for no good reason and it will be THE MOST STRESSFUL THING EVER, but they'll get through it. pooping? gaining weight? peeing? ok. things are fine), diapering a squirming, screaming banshee.

-childrens and "adults"- love on each other. at the end of the day, no matter if it was a great day or a rough day, you were plopped on this planet together for a reason and you'll be in each others' lives for a long, long time. learn to laugh together/at each other and practice your hugs. often.  

Monster Birthday Bash

so you know how we've always called henry "baby monster?" well, we decided to throw him a friendly monster themed 1st bday party. my parents hosted and they, along with my in-laws and my sister did SO much work getting everything just right. it was tons of fun. goofy, whimsical and even somehow relaxing. lots of folks were in monster-y costumes, we had fantastic monster decorations and games and we decorated monster cupcakes.

...best of all, i think henry loved it! he was sweet and happy and into all of it all day long. his new thing is saying "hiiiii" to people and waving. i guess that's his official first word, since he seems to do it deliberately and 'knows' what it means.

he's not quite walking, but he's doing a lot of shuffling from person to person and lurching around. if you're not paying enough attention to him, he'll grab your hand to help him walk. adorable. any day now...

he had lots of firsts this weekend beyond the birthday. first cupcake (didn't like much), first chinese food (did like), first trip to the beach (loved!), first swim in a big outside pool  (also loved) he had so much fun this weekend, sleep was not in the cards for him. so we're back home now and are working on getting back into a routine. but won't be surprised at all if this week is a little rough on him at daycare and such, after all the new and crazy times he had.

i know it will be rough for me. i get used to having him near me all day long and going back to work after a weekend is hard enough...after a whole week off, i'm going to miss him. he's just so easy to be around. :)

anyway. enough sniffles. enjoy the party pics!

HENRY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY, June 8 2012

we're just starting this weekend's birthday extravaganza. tonight we did birthday dinner and presents and monkey cake with family. henry was a champ. very into the balloons. not so much into the banana chocolate cake. :)

 

Ah, Crap. We Broke the Baby.

alright. henry's first major goose egg. and....caption contest! whomsoever leaves the best caption gets a huge giant prize.

my submissions:

1. as henry is nearly 1 year of age, we decided it was finally time to jump him into our gang.

2. he's been reading too much harry potter.

3. the first step in the monster transformation process: his horns are starting to break through.

ok...good luck!

(and in the interest of convincing you we don't beat our child (DON'T JUDGE ME), he fell face-first onto one of those old fashioned wooden blocks with numbers and letters and such on it. so now he's maimed AND will probably always hate learning. great.)