Saturday, March 30, 2013

Easter, Take 1

I've been looking forward to Easter for quite a while. Maybe it's because Henry has been so interested in the decorative Easter eggs I've had around the house, so I thought he would be super into hunting eggs his first Easter as a mobile human being. Or maybe it's because I love the candy coated Cadbury mini eggs.  Either way, Easter weekend has been on my radar for quite some time.

Our dance card for Easter weekend is pretty full. One of the things I was most exited for, however, ended up being a total bust because of the craptastic weather we had this morning. Tulsa Zoo was putting on a fun Easter event called Zoobilee, with egg hunts, train rides, pics with the Easter bunny, and other fun Easter activities.  Unfortunately, the sky decided to open up and rain, thunder, and lightening right when all the fun stuff was supposed to start. So, we just hung out in a pavilion, got Henry's pic taken with the Easter bunny, and people watched until we felt like there was enough of a break in the downpour to run to our car.

The second egg hunt of the day was a little more successful. My dad, stepmom, brother, and his fiancee came over for lunch and to watch Henry attempt to find eggs in the backyard.  If only the weather was as gorgeous this morning as it was this afternoon!

Trying to stay dry at the zoo

Yummy bunny cake

Pickin' up eggs

I may or may not have put those eggs in his basket



Henry and Dad (aka his favorite person in the world)

Enjoying the amazing afternoon weather

Friday, March 29, 2013

Just a Little Bit of Paint

It all started with needing to have the hand rail on our stairs repaired (because it fell off the wall, most likely from being yanked on by me as I fell down the stairs, Henry in arms, tried to catch myself on it).  Repairing the hand rail meant repainting it, which also meant repainting the rest of the banister. Which then meant repainting all the trim upstairs, which led to just repainting the whole shebang up there. Throw in the front door, and we had a two week painting job on our hands.  Being banished from the upstairs, and thus Henry's play room, nearly drove us nuts, but we love how everything turned out.  So it was all worth it.  I think.  Below are some pics of the play room and the extra bedroom upstairs. We also repainted the bathroom as well, but I'm still trying to figure some things out in there.  Whenever that happens, I will post some pics of that as well.

Where we hide all of Henry's plastic toys


(Ignore the bedding on the floor)


Sunday, March 24, 2013

Henry's First Haircut

Henry got his first little haircut on Saturday. It was just a little bit of a bang trim - no way am I cutting those curls anytime soon!  He handled it like a champ. Not really. Every time we go someplace where we receive a service, be it the shoe store, or in this case the salon, Henry thinks that the person helping us is going to give him a shot. So he cries hysterically until it's clear that he's not getting poked with any needles. We went to my stylist, Abby Fisher, and she took the whole fiasco quite well. Like a true new mom, I saved his hair in a little baggie, for what future purpose I have no clue.

The rest of our weekend was pretty uneventful - the haircut was the highlight. We ran a bunch of errands, I did a bunch of laundry, Henry headbutted me in the nose so hard that it bled and still hurts like crazy.  The usual.

Perhaps the other, slightly less momentous, highlight of the weekend was the completion of the painting in our house. When we moved in, we had the entire downstairs painted. At the time, I didn't have the sanity to extend the project even further, to include the upstairs, so we just left it at that. A few weeks ago, the banister in the stairway fell off the wall, and the repairs required some painting.  I figured that while I had the painter out doing that, I might as well have him repaint and trim the entire upstairs, as well as paint the front door.  So for the past two weeks, we've been confined to the downstairs - meaning no playroom for Henry, which made me think I might lose my mind.  Fortunately, the painters finished just in time, and we now have our upstairs and playroom back. Henry loves it, we love it, all is good. Pictures to come (when I get around to taking them).

The before: Happy as a clam, but blinded by his super-long bangs

During: OMG this lady is going to kill me

Well, maybe this isn't so bad after all

After: Still a little uncertain, but super handsome

Fully recovered and wreaking havoc at the salon




Monday, March 18, 2013

Fun St. Patrick's Day Weekend

We rounded out an absolutely gorgeous week with a fun and festive St. Pat's weekend.  The weather here's been absolutely gorgeous, with temps in the 80s on Friday. I took off work a bit early and picked up Henry for some fun afternoon play time outside. I have to admit that I was a bit wistful as we drove down Brookside, past all the full patios of people enjoying a sunny and warm happy hour. But the free afternoon with my little guy more than made up for my mojito craving.

We all rallied on Saturday morning and went to the St. Patrick's Day 5K, which took place on Peoria. Henry enjoyed the people watching, and the weather was great for a race. Like many things about my body and my life, running just hasn't been the same since having Henry.  The pre-Henry me could go out and lose myself in a run. But this new me runs like a Clydesdale, and it ain't pretty. Needless to say, my finish time was stupid, but at least the race was a reasonably entertaining way to start our Saturday.

We rounded out the weekend by getting Henry a semi-ugly playhouse for the backyard.  Another plastic toy to add to his repertoire (see below post). But it makes him happy and keeps him (if even momentarily) distracted from the destruction he could be causing in the house.  For that, I can live with the eyesore in the backyard.

Just walking around, waiting on Mom to eventually cross the finish line at the race

Wearing green for his school SPD festivities

H and me, pre-race. His enthusiasm was just too much.

Just chillin' in his playhouse, reflecting on its plastic awesomeness
Favorite activity: opening and closing the door. Incessantly.


Thursday, March 14, 2013

My Favorite Food These Days

All I've done since I had Henry was eat my words.  Pretty much all of my (not well-founded) opinions on parenting, children, and general living have gone out the window, and my main concern is Henry's well-being and our own survival.  Some of the more ignorant stuff I thought and said before I had Henry:

1. My child will never play with plastic toys.
FACT: Nearly all of Henry's toys are plastic. And make annoying noises. But so long as he's entertained and not screaming in my face while I try to accomplish maybe one of the 200 things on my list, I'm a happy camper. I did buy him some "green" wooden toys, but he's just simply not interested in them. They aren't nearly as amusing to throw (at me, or the wall, or the cat) as the plastic ones, and strangely enough, the wooden ones don't make as annoying (and therefore satisfying) noise when banged together as the plastic ones. 

2. I will only feed my baby homemade baby food.
FACT: In the words of fellow Oklahoman Sweetie Brown, Ain't Nobody Got Time for That! I'm too busy trying to keep my kid alive to have time to steam, puree, divvy out, and freeze organic fruits and vegetables.  And the one time I did do all of that, Henry had the audacity to gag and puke up the carrots I made for him, not once, but twice! Forget it. It was Gerber Naturals for him.  I may try the homemade stuff again with my next one, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it.

3.  There is no reason why I can't exercise at least 5 days a week.
FACT: Seriously? What the hell was I even thinking saying this? I work 55-60 hours per week. By the time I work and spend with Henry every second of his waking hours that I'm not working (a whopping two hours each day), throw together some semblance of a dinner, do laundry (but rarely put it away), it's time to get my requisite 6-7 hours of sleep. I'm lucky if I get in 3 days of exercise a week - 5 days would be an absolute dream. I've been kind of beating myself up about this lately, especially since I bought a treadmill that I don't use nearly as much as I should. But running across this article sort of brought the whole lack of exercise thing into perspective. I'm going to keep aiming for more, but I should honestly be VERY happy with the 3 days I do squeeze in.

4. I will only listen to enriching children's music while transporting Henry.
FACT: While I do try to have fun sing-a-longs to H's Wiggleworms CD, some days (like today) I need a good dose of Girl Talk to get my day going.  I just tell myself that he can't understand the words, and that the fun beat is good for him and will help him develop his sense of rhythm.

The list could go on and on. The important thing to remember, I'm learning, is that it's important to be easy on yourself and take each day as it comes. I measure my success as a parent as whether we all three survived the day relatively unscathed.  If the answer is yes, I do a small victory dance before collapsing in front of the tv.

This precious face makes it all worthwhile!


Tuesday, March 12, 2013

More Pictures of, You Guessed It...

Henry! 

While being parents is fun and all, we REALLY need to get out and see other people! Both of our moms have been out of town for quite some time now, so our usual sitters have been out of commission. We've all three been having lots of quality time together, some of which have been rainy weekend days, so you can imagine how we've all each been a little tired of being cooped up together. We have some fun plans in store for this weekend - some family-friendly St. Pat's activities - so we hope to have something of some substance to blog about next week. Until then, more pictures of Henry.

H enjoying one of the nicer evenings of late

More outside time

Henry testing out the medal I won recently in a race

Spending some time in the screened in porch, hoping for Spring

The entryway is the best place to eat a little afternoon graham cracker snack

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Great Article About Tulsa in NY Times!

Tulsa got some great press this week! Check out this article on the NY Times web site, highlighting just a few of all the great things Tulsa has to offer: Oklahoma: Art Deco Style, Music and More in Tulsa

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Family Trip to the Zoo, Part II

We took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather this afternoon and made our second trip to the Tulsa Zoo since moving back last summer.  Henry was not too thrilled with the zoo the last time we went, but he enjoyed himself much more this afternoon.  He took a little interest in the animals (the elephants seemed most exciting to him), but he was most excited by the fun playgrounds at the zoo. He ran around and tried out all of the "big kid toys" and watched the other kids run around. All that running and playing really wiped him out, so hopefully he will sleep well tonight.  If so, that zoo membership will really pay off in the months to come!

Where are the penguins?

Climbing on the playground


Geese getting a little too close for comfort

More playground time. Not sure what is going on with my hair....

Henry exploring the playground and me being a helicopter parent, hovering over him.