Car Seats and Air Conditioning

We have had record high temperatures here in Seattle! Yesterday it was 100 degrees and we have no air conditioning!!! We northwesters can handle 9 months of rain but give us lots of heat and we crumble! During the day we have been hitting up the mall and other random stores in order to stay cool. We have been spending our evenings at the Microsoft Mixer, which is an air conditioned sort of mall for employees. None of the shops or restaurants are open but we have been bringing our own dinners and eating them in the empty restaurants which has been strangely fun! We all commented that we felt like we had been locked in the mall after hours like in those cheesy movies! It is pretty funny because it is all families and their kids just keeping cool. Here is a video of some of our fun...fake fireworks!

Henry has been pulling up to a stand and cruising around the coffee table for the past couple weeks. He as yet to show any interest in walking which is fine with Bill and I! Bill didn't walk until he was 18 months but he did walk on his knees! We have noticed Henry doing the same thing...pretty funny!

Another big thing that happened is that Henry got his big boy car seat and is now facing forward in the car! He loves the new view and looks pretty darn cute! Here is a video of the first ride in the new seat! Oh it is a floral car seat because it was half price tht way. They were trying to get rid of the floral pattern from their line so they were selling them for half the price!!! I really have become a bargain shopper...it will help him get in touch with his feminine side!

I Love Older Women

Well my girlfriend turned one yesterday and we celebrated with a party at the park. We had so much fun. We played in the water fountain and crawled all around the grass. I even helped Halle open some of her presents! What a fun day! My parents jus can't believe how much I have grown!!!! I have gotten one ore tooth and am working on a coupe more. My parents sure will be glad when teething is over.

I also went swimming for the first time last week with my dad. I was so brave and even let him dunk me under the water! I love the water!

Stalker Nana!

Bill's mom is admittedly our official blog stalker. She is always hungry for more pictures of her little Henry so I have decided to give her a special stalker Nana entry! She is often my inspiration to do another blog and I love her for that. So I asked Henry to tell me his top five favorite things about Nana and here they are:
1. She gives me the best snuggles
2. She always tries to get rid of my parents when she visits so we can have fun Nana/Henry time
3. We take the best naps together on the couch!
4. She taught my Daddy to be a good Daddy.
5. She makes me feel like I am the best baby in the world...thanks Nana!

So here are some pics of our little guy just for Nana and also a video of Henry loving his puppy dog Wilson. Notice in the video that he is working on saying dog which is pretty cute! We love you Nana and can't wait to see you in August.

Happy 4th of July!

Henry had a great first 4th of July! His Grandpa Steve is visiting so we all ventured over to the downtown Kirkland for the town parade. Henry loved watching all of the people and cars go by during the parade! He even liked the loud firetruck. It was pretty amazing because he usually cries when he gets surprised by loud sounds. We then headed to the waterfront and Henry and Grandpa took a nap and we all relaxed in the beautiful 86 degree weather. We continued celebrating at the house with a BBQ and I hate to admit we just watched fireworks on our 26 inch TV! Personal fireworks are against the law here and it also was going to be tricky to go watch them with Henry since he goes to bed at 7...there's always next year right. Below is Henry watching the parade...we have decided to make it our new 4th of July tradition.

Other than that Henry is doing well despite the fact that he is fighting another cold. We had his girlfriend Halle over all last week and they had so much fun. That little girl is so cute and I just love seeing her and Hnery develop such a sweet freindship. I am pretty sure they have started their own secret language which may work to our disadvantage one day soon, but it is so darn cute. Every time they see each other it is like they haven't seem each other in years...big smiles, squeals and such. On the flip side they are lie little bear cubs and love to hit and sit on each other. I put some of those pics below.

Happy Father's Day!

We had fun and relaxed Father's Day for Bill. He has been fighting a stomach bug all week so he was feeling a bit under the weather but he managed to have some fun. Henry and I got him a weekend pass to the Washington Brewer's Festival and he went Friday night and tasted some fun beers! We did plan to go the rest of the weekend as a family but the rainy weather and Bill's tummy troubles kept us at home hanging out. Bill slept in late til 8am on Sunday and when he woke up Henry was so excited to see him and give him his card! We also got him a bocce ball set since he loved playing so much with Kate and Tom in Santa Monica! We did manage a nice walk at the park and We bought all of Bill's favorite food for him to enjoy throughout the day. It has been a fun 10 months watching Bill and Henry bond. Bill is such a wonderful dad and Henry loves him so much! Every morning when Bill leaves for work we wave goodbye and Henry cries as his daddy leaves for work. The funny thing is when I leave Henry doesn't even make a peep, it is just when his daddy leaves that he gets upset! What a bond they have! Overall it was a nice day and we had a lot of fun family time. Below is a picture of Bill opening Henry's card...they are just so cute together!

Introducing Henrietta!

Our friends the Huberts are out of town and Henry and I went yesterday to drop their dog Ranger off to a new babysitter and ended up with a funny picture! Henry spit up all over the shirt we arrived in, big surprise, so I ran up to Halle's room with Henry screaming (nap time was close) and quickly grabbed a shirt from her drawer. I noticed it was pink but wasn't surprised since Halle has a lot of pink shirts. Well I quickly put it on Henry and what I saw was hilarious...my little man was a little woman. He was in a hot pink shirt that said "Does This Diaper Make my Butt Look Big?" After reassuring Henry his butt looked just fine we got into the car and headed home. So anyway Henry fell asleep on the way home and when he awoke to play after his nap I couldn't wait to capture his first experience with cross dressing! By now you are probably thinking wow Katie has kind of lost it if the highlight of her day was putting her son in a pink shirt and taking pictures. Well I definitely admit my idea of fun has changed and I am not always playing with a full deck these days. I think Bill said it best when he got home from work to find Henry and I in yet another intense game of peek a boo. He said "Wow, Mommy and Henry spend a lot of time together don't they." So what do you think...is pink his color?

Thanks Mom and Dad!

We hit a milestone we were hoping to avoid this weekend...Henry's first sickness! Henry was tugging at his ears and running a low fever yesterday morning and he just seemed as if he was feeling yucky so we called the Microsoft nurse line and they sent a doctor to our house!!! It was straight out of the 1950's having her come to our house was soooo nice! Microsoft really has great insurance and health services! So after some screaming and ear checking Henry ended up with an ear infection in both ears! Poor guy has been in pain and I feel so bad! So we have been pumping him with Motrin and snuggling him like crazy (the only good part of him being sick). His fever is still coming and going but he is definitely on the mend. He has been quite a trooper and honestly taking this ear infection better than either Bill or I would. His sleep has been a little off but we already have a regular wake time of 5am so not much can throw us at this point! He has had his moments of ouch but is still full of smiles and wanting to play! Below is a picture and video of some fun we had this weekend! We got Henry a new toy and he finally mastered throwing the ball which is so awesome! Though this is not going to be the worst sickness he ever has, I am sure we have many all night vomit parties and such in our future, I finally understand how awful you feel when your child is sick. I never had thought about my parents much when I was sick. I just knew they would help me get better. It never occurred to me that it was emotionally draining to them and that they were losing sleep and watching my every breath to make sure I was alright. I definitely had the urge over the past 24 hours to call both my parents and say thank you!! I now also understand how my mom could fall asleep by 9pm on Saturday night! I guess more of these realizations will happen over the years. It is pretty neat to discover things about your parents and childhood while raising your own child.