Before and After

Afters:

Befores:

I am just writing a quick blog about sweet little Henry..

I just got done reading the blog of a high-school friend who lost one of her sweet babies to SIDS.

Here is a link to her blog...http://sisteroflikeangels.blogspot.com.

This blog is completely inspiring to me in so many ways on this night:

First off, it makes me want to squeeze and hug my baby so tight.. Not let go ever...

Secondly, it makes me RELAX.. I get so uptight with his schedule and sleeping and every little thing and seriously I need to take a Chill Pill every now and then...

Thirdly it makes me thankful for every breath and every day, they are GIFTS... Treasure the moments with your family.....

Lastly, it inspires my relationship with the Lord... He is our Rock and Steadfast Help in whatever times of Trouble...

So, I titled this blog: Before and After, obviously you can see the "Before" pictures of Henry, the day he was born. When he would sleep endlessly in his boppy, and look at his sweet brown hair. Now "After" pictures are now, he is 9 months old, and on the loose... TIME is flying before my eyes.. I am glad that I can still remember so clearly, but I want to keep remembering..

So at 9 months:

Henry hates getting his diaper changed, he flips over almost immediately to crawl and get away.

Henry loves Veggies... especially carrots and squash.. Not to interested in fruits. Loves crackers..

Henry's hair is starting to curl at the bottom and by the ears.

Henry loves people and kids.

People come up to me on a daily basis and say how Cute my baby is and that he has the prettiest eyes.. Maybe that is because he looks a lot different than Mexican babies, but I think it is because you are the cutest baby...

Henry loves touching plants...

Henry pushe HIMSELF down the slide, momma and daddy are close to catch you, but you push off by your self.. Henry has no FEAR..

Henry is saying Momma and Dadda and BA BA and Bye Bye.... At least we think you are..

We love you Henry Roo.....

Going Green with Grandma's

Well we have been quite busy being with Grandma's.. Which Henry loves to do... He told me that he loves Me and Andy the most and then his Grandma's and Grandpa's next best. :)

Also Henry made some cute St. Patty's day decorations for his grandparents. I drew the amazing clover and he put his little green fingerprints inside for the clover part. Aren't they cute!

And we are getting ready for the Cubs season in this house. My mom told me that Ryne Sandberg (yes, I spelled it correct) is coming to be the manager of the I-Cubs, which surprisingly my husband did not mention to me. Probably because I don't really care.:) But the cool part is that my mom's friend from work somehow knows them and told my parents that they could come out to eat with them when they move to Des Moines. Well, to say the least, I know my Dad is Super Excited and possibly when we come home we could meet them too. Andy informed us all that Ryne Sandberg was one of his all time favorite players.. Little known Andy fact. He still has saved all his baseball cards as a little boy, and his Home-Run Ball..

Well that is all for us for now...

Henry in his begining stages of crawling caught on video by his Daddy. Pay no attention to his mother, I had no been in the shower yet. :)

Does he not look so cute.

My heart is overflowing

Well, my life has been completely busy these last 20 days of February.

We celebrated Valentines Day this last Sunday, I went out in the morning with some students to a church in a really poor area and we handed out Samaratin Purse Boxes. Those are boxes that children or families from the USA have filled and sent out around the world to poor kids who have little to nothing. The first picture is of the church and all of the kids, and the woman I am sitting with is a Mother to a little boy named Kevin. I see her every Saturday at the park ministry we do. She is really sweet lady.

The picture of Henry and his dad is on Valentines Day. My two little Valentines. This Valentines Day was a little weird. I am not a fan of V-Day on Sundays. It is too weird.. I Don't know.....

I did recieve a really nice present from Andy, it was sort of my birthday and Valentines Day gift... Perfume and then on my birthday he gave me a cute new shirt.

Andy's mom is here with us now, and it has been so nice to just go out with out Henry for little bits of time. He misses his Grandparents tons...

Lastly we have Henry in his friend Seth's car. This was taken at the Super Bowl Party.. How cute is he.

Henry Update:

8 months old

Army crawling all over..

Eating lots of different foods

Has 3.5 teeth showing

Hair blond

Eyes Blue

Looks carbon copy of his dad.

Loves his Momma

All for now

Chao

I Heart February

Well it is now officially February 2010. The month of LOVE.....

So, I thought I would put down some of the the things I HEART the Most:

1. Andy as a Daddy and my Husband.. He is the best!! He is so loving and caring to both of us.

2. I love how Henry is so exited before Bath Time. He giggles and laughs like a wild man..

3. I HEART Nutella.. I am just obsessed with it as Giada is from the FOOD Network.

4. l Love WREATHS, i especially love my yellow wreath, it has traveled with me from its origins in the Target of Altoona, Iowa to Costa Rica and now Mexico.. It may show that travel a little in its apperance, but in any case I still Love it.

5. I love when Henry's hair is combed over, and that it is sort of a strawberry blond color.

6. I love my curtains in our bedroom. They are so pretty full of flowers, and they also have visited a total of 3 countries and still look GREAT...

My Mind is all over

Things I am thinking about:

1. How often I see Children and Young Mothers begging on the side of the road for Money. If I go and run to the supermarket, and then over to the house where we do Ministry, I will encounter at least 4 or 5 people begging at stop lights. I remember as a little girl, over by the Merle Hay Mall exit, there was always someone begging, it was odd to see. Well, times that feeling by like 100. I have seen children doing acrobats in the street for money, mothers carrying thier newborn babies and it is such a odd spectrum, because I have never seen as many BMW's in my life as well. Odd spectrum. Anyway, it is a little overwhelming at times. Thought I would share.

2. We ate out last night at a restaurant called: JOHNNY ROCKETS.. This is an American chain restaurant sort of like Applebees or Chiles, but it is a Diner, that serves American style Cheeseburgers and Shakes.. I don't think their are any in Iowa.

It was crazy, they had old Coka Cola pictures and Oldies playing. It was like I stepped into the 50's with some Latino waiters..CRAZY..

P.S. Just found out they are getting a P.F. Changs restaurant at one of the malls here. Who would have thought.

3. Andy and I are seriously thinking about calling and paying Money to a Sleep Trainer. When i say Andy and I, what I mean is I... But, since we have been thinking about it, it seems like Henry is turning a page and starting to sleep a lot better. I feel like I am a sucker parent, and it seems like all the literature out there states babies can sleep for like 12 hours a night solidly.. WELL not my baby, he likes to get up and eat, and I really think he is hungry. He eats for like over 10 minutes, so I don't know.. It is enough to make a grown woman, go Mad.. I feel like I question myself, whether or not I am doing this right or if I am seriously screwing him up.. Maybe this is Normal.?? Henry seems Happy, so I guess I should not worry that much. Right?

4. I saw... Avatar.. Thumbs Up

I saw... 500 days of Summer... Thumbs Up

5. Have you ever heard of the Mexican food Mole.. Looks like Mole, but is pronounced MOLE-AY.. Tip of the day, this is DELICIOSO.. Delicious. It Rocks, so the next time you are anywhere that serves it, go ahead and Try it.. You will enjoy it... . P.S. it has nothing to do with Moles, so don't worry, Its like a really intense seasoning thing they put in meats, like chicken, beef...

6. I am making Valentines with Henry for his grandparents and I can't wait to send them.

7. Just got done painting our bedroom, Green. And I sort of like it, just sort of. But This is the first time Andy and I have had the oppurtunity to paint our bedroom in our 4.5 years of marriage.

8. Lastly, some Henry pictures.. YEAH

Confessions

I am copying the idea from one of my friends and do a blog entitled confessions:
Pretty much the stuff going through my brain right now.

1. The dog in the house behind us, has been barking for at least 6 hours straight.. STRAIGHT...
I can't handle it anymore, and want to litterally kill it... I am not joking.

2. I feel like all the mom friends I have here in Mexico are into homemade baby food. I AM NOT. I buy the jars and it is worth every single penny of the 53 cents each jar is, to not make it my self.

3. I need a manicure and pedicure like yesterday that is how bad my hands and feet look.:)

4. I am extremely afraid of scary movies. I saw a preview for that LOVELY BONES movie, like 2 weeks ago and have been thinking about it everyday for the last 2 weeks..

5. I use way to many periods after sentences..........

6. I have done 3 loads of laundry today, and could not be happier. I have been without a washer and dryer for a week....

7. Hey I think i hear the beautiful noise of a dog barking..

8. Henry has a little cough, we went and saw the doctor and he is almost 20 pounds now.. The cough is getting better..

9. My birthday is coming up, and secretly I feel as if it should be a NATIONAL HOLIDAY.
Well, kids no school on February 16th because it is CHELSEA'S birthday... YEAH

10. I have been eating Nutella out of the jar with a spoon, because I am to lazy to make any dessert.. It is so yummy..

11. In our new house, the oven has no number settings on it.. It just says, in this order; BAKE, and then MEDIUM????? What ever that means, I have no clue..

12. I want to get Laser Eye Surgery, I am not a fan of contacts.

13. The dog is STILL BARKING.. I am off to kill it..:)

Untill later..

Whirlwind of a Holiday

Well, it has been ages since I posted anything for all my buds out there. And since, my mom so delicately tells me to post another blog, just because she wants to see Henry fotos.... :)
So here you go,
In the last month:
We visited 3 states: ILLINOIS, IOWA, FLORIDA.. All 3 were cold..
We visited Santa
We saw tons of Family
We ate Tasty Tacos. Jimmy Johns, Palmers Deli, Hy-Vee, Granite City, Copper Canyon Grill, The Cheesecake Factory, Taco Johns and tons of Mountain Dew... All things they do not have in Mexico.. BELIEVE IT OR NOT....
We celebrated Birthdays: Aunt Katie's, and ANDY'S.... Both celebrated in style, I might add.
We found out how much Henry loves other babies.. It is so cute, he just loves hanging with friends his age.
We put Henry in DayCare for the first time, when we had to go to a Conference in Freezing Orlando.. It was sad, but he did good.
We moved houses. :( It was sad to leave Henry's first and only home, but we are all moved in and things are good..
WE Celebrated Christmas, and New Years. And we are so blessed by the Lord to have him in our lives. And so thankful that the Lord gave us Henry .. It made Christmas a lot more Fun this year..
So here are some pictures to prove all I wrote is true!

Ready Rudulph? Ready Santa!!

Well we had our first Thanksgiving with our sweet little pumpkin. We had a great day of gorging and having lots o' fun..

Just wanted to put up some cute picures of Henry and then go, because we are moving this week and this is just a quick update on our little man.

Getting ready to go home soon, and spend Christmas with our Famalamalia....

Sweet Baby Henry

Well, our sweet baby Henry caught his first cold a week ago. It was so sad because he had the saddest little cough, and on top of that his daddy had to be gone to the USA. So just momma and Henry. Here in Mexico the pediatrician's give you their personal cell phone number so you can call and get their opinion and not have to travel to the doctors.. Which is so nice..... So Henry got over his little cold and his Daddy is back and he is doing well.

Andy and I and Henry are getting ready to move into a house that is 6 houses down from this one.. This will be the first time in over 2 years that we will be using all of our own furniture. I am so excited, how we will be getting this furniture back is a question. But I am not even thinking about that now....

Lastly, Here is our 5.5 month old baby. Time is flying and I miss my sweet newborn baby. He is becoming big, and I am loving every new milestone, but it is sort of bittersweet. Does that make sense? Anyway, look how cute he is....

Learnin from the Ladies

Weekly, I do a Bible Study with the 1st year girls. We have been doing it on women from the Bible, and what we can learn from their lives.
I thought in the car, that maybe I would start posting these bible studies on line for all to read.

This week was ELIZABETH.

Strengths: Trusted God, She was Content with her life.

Her life is found in Luke chapter 1 and 2

Key verse: Luke 1;6 Zacheriah and Elizabeth were righteous in God's eyes careful to obey all of the Lord's commandments and regulations.

It is cool to think of Elizabeth today, because she is very much still relevant.
How many of us can say that we are content with our lives they way they are.
I know that I struggle with this on many occasions, I tend to look at others and think they have it all. When really I HAVE IT ALL. God has blessed me and i have so much that I should be content..

Elizabeth was content with her life, even though through her story you see she was wanting a child and for many years had no children. I believe she was like it is okay. God is still good. i will continue to follow his commands. And then in her old age God blessed her with a child, John the Baptist. She believed that GOD would do it, even when probably everyone around her doubted..I think she is a perfect example of being happy with her life just the way it was. Didn't need anymore or any less.

The opposite of contentment is discontentment, and I sort of think Jealousy too.
Think in your life are you Discontent or not happy with how it is.
Do you constantly think that it would be better if this happened or that or if I had this or that?
Maybe the lesson we can learn from Elizabeth is too not be discontent, and just be happy with the gifts and blessings you have been given now.

Take a minute and ponder your blessings. God has blessed many in so many ways and yet I still have times of discontentment, I get jealous and just lose sight of the fact that I should be happy and enjoy right now and what I have right now.


Anyway, this was this weeks Bible Study on Elizabeth. One lady we can learn from.

My Chubby Pumpkin

This are pictures of Henry's first Halloweeny...

He was 2 characters this holiday.

Whinnie the Pooh Bear and a chubby Pumpkin.

Andy thought he was cutest as POOH, and I thought he was cutest as a PUMPKIN.

I dressed up as a Nurse. {I know, How original!}

And had the letters BOOK on his face.. He was Face-Book.. {Got the idea from The Office}.

Anyway, We had a great day of celebrating with a Harvest Party. Enjoying lots of sweets, and just having a fun time.

Funny side note: We had trick or treaters come to our house for candy and I had nothing to give, so I instead gave the only thing I had a lot of, which was Boxes of Jell-O. That my friend Mary Campbell sent down with her husband Bill, for us. I am sure all the kids loved that treat. :)