Oh Christmas Tree!

Sorry it has taken so long for me to post our Christmas tree trip. Henry and I have been fighting a case of e. coli which we got from the water in Portland over Thanksgiving. We are both fine just feeling pretty crummy. Bill has kicked into his superdad/superhusband role and we are on the mend!

We took our annual trip to the Red Wood Christmas tree farm in Woodinville to kick off the Christmas season and chop down our tree. We went with the Hubert's and had a great time. Henry fell in the mud within the first 10 minutes but had a blast running among the trees!




We also had Henry's 15 month well check. He weighs in at 28.2lbs and he is 32.5 inches tall! 90th% which means he is a big kid! Dr. Egnal said he is growing and developing wonderfully!

Dirt Devil

It has been quite a long time since I have posted. Henry has been growing like a weed and talking up a storm. He says a few words like mom, dad and ball but he mostly speaks his own gibberish language. It is so funny when he runs into the room and "says" something to us and just waits for our answer. Only problem is we have no idea what he is saying. Henry loves when I vacuum or do any chores around the house so we went to toys r us and got him a mini dirt devil and broom set! He loves it and every time I sweep or vacuum Henry does too.

We Had a great Thanksgiving in Portland this year with Bill's family. We stuffed ourselves full at Paul and Margaret's house with an awesome meal prepared by Bill's cousin Elizabeth. Auntie Anna and Nana made some yummy turkeys and we enjoyed lots of good wine! Henry was loving that he was the only little guy among 20 adults...lots of attention. Paul and Margaret also have a playroom that Henry LOVED! The day after Thanksgiving Henry got to spend the day with Nana while Bill and I took a day off and did selfish things like go out to eat! All in all we had a great Turkey Day in Portland!

My First Owie!

*updated pictures on www.birkholzpics.com or click the link to the right!
Henry had his first official "owie" last night. He and his girl Halle were running around and Halle tripped and Henry landed right on top of her, poor girl, slamming his face into the back of her head. When he lifted up there was blood everywhere and thank goodness Emily was there because she immediately reminded me that mouths bleeds a lot. If she wouldn't have said that I think I would have panicked! It ended up that it looked much worse than it was. Henry split his top lip and looks like he was in quite a fight. He only cried for 5 minutes and then it seemed to be business as usual.

On a lighter note we went out to pizza the other night with The Hubert's and sweet little Halle kept sharing her food with Henry. She was so proud and Henry was delighted that he was getting more food. Hopefully the whole sharing thing will catch on with Henry because he has no urge to share! He actually makes a growling sound whenever Halle looks at his toys!!!

Trick or Treat

We had our first Halloween activity last night! We went to Microsoft with the Huberts and did some office trick or treating. Henry and Halle were more interested in running around and playing with candy, they have not realized you can eat it yet, than trick or treating. Henry's chicken costume only lasted about 5 minutes. We had to cut off the feet of it because he couldn't stand it!

On another not our friend Tom Sparks had a big day yesterday. His first webisode went live on abc.com. Tom's wife Kate is so proud of her husband and we are too! Henry really wanted to share the spotlight on his blog with his buddy Tom! I put a link below to the webisode.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerindex?id=8946580

Tom continues to fight and each day he becomes more stable. We are excited for him to continue his fight and recover so he can share more of his talent and friendship with us! Go Tom Go!

Best Friends Forever

One of the best parts of the last year has been watching Henry and Halle become friends. They used to just stare at each other but these days they play and occasionally fight just like friends. Halle loves to hide in our tunnel and have Henry chase her out. They also push each other on the race car and Hale gives Henry kisses during one of his many cry fests! The other night we had dinner with the Huberts and we gave the little ones their sippy cups of milk and continued preparing dinner. Next thing we know they are sitting on the couch next to each other, we didn't even put them there! It was so cute and just shows how much they love each other.

Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual trip to South 47 Farm today for some pumpkin picking! We went on a hayride and also fed some alpacas. I brought Henry here last year and it is amazing how much has changed in a year. I put a picture of our visit today and then below it our visit from last year...two different worlds. Henry was walking all around the pumpkins and loving it. He definitly is quite a mover!

Great Grandma Grace

Henry's Great Grandma Grace passed away this morning. She got to be at home in the company of her children who spent the last week taking such beautiful care of their mom. It saddens us as a family to have lost both Great Grandma Grace and Poppy within a month of each other but we also realize it is a blessing for them to go together. We have lost two very important members of our family and this holiday season will be hard but we are lucky to have so many wonderful memories of the two of them that will last forever. I will always treasure the fact that she got to see Henry one last time before her passing and though she was a little bothered by the amount of noise and clutter he put out she would always call him baby love and wonder what he was up to.