The lazy time between Christmas and New Years

This post is a little bit of an excuse to post cute pics of my baby for us to look back on (as I'm sure many of my posts will be). Nothing so exciting as Christmas or anything.

On the Saturday after Christmas, Alan, Leesa and Mike came over for brunch.  It was a Christmas/ Alan is in town for a few days so let's hang out type if thing. David made his amazing crepes and we all just chatted, went for a walk and generally commented on how awesome Henry is (I personally think this is the best kind of gathering, anything less than %50 Henry admiring at any function is borderline rude in my opinion *crazy mom*). 

Henry hanging out with his Uncle Alan. They mostly hang out via Skype so it was nice for them to be able to visit a bit 

Henry out on a walk with his entourage and just generally being adorable. 

And Henry in his favorite possition- hanging upside down!  He loves it when his dad flips him around and hangs him upside down. David will actually do a full 360 flip with Henry.  I usually have a heart attack but Henry loves it. 

...aaaand Henry with a water bottle. Henry loves drinking water out of assorted vessels. Anytime anyone has a water bottle, coffee mug, glass etc he makes a b-line and demands a sip. 

On Sunday David left for Edmonton, it was his first trip back after his time off playing nurse to all of us. I was a little bit nervous for him to go. I am feeling %90 better but still the thought of being home alone for a couple days & nights is always a little bit overwhelming especially after I had gotten so used to the extra set of hands.  Henry is an absolute joy and overall is a very easy and sweet little baby. But he is an aweful sleeper. He is almost 11 months old and has never slept through the night (well maybe by accident a couple times but never with any consistency). He is regularly up a couple times a night still. I don't mind so much but I pray he will be sleeping through the night by the time #2 arrives. I don't know if I can handle two babies up every night.

Henry saying goodbye as David leaves for work

And a video of Henry enjoying his Lighning McQueen car. He loves it!  

****** !?*#$ you Blogger and your garbage video upload******   

Please expect this adorable video in my next blog installment while we sort out some technical difficulties (ie. if I spend one more moment trying to figure this out right now I am going to loose it...so until next time)

First Christmas!

Henry's first Christmas is upon us despite us still being sick. Neither Henry nor I were able to enjoy the festivities as much as I had hoped but it was nice visiting with everyone none the less (kind of- to be honest I would have been happy to skip it all, but one cannot simply skip Christmas.)

We always have a triple header at Thanksgiving and Christmas which is a lot to handle even at the best of times. I love family and I love turkey, but three days in a row is a bit much of both. 

As much as Christmas is a big event, it passed without too much to comment on. On Christmas Eve we had my mothers family over, on Christmas morning we opened Santa gifts with my parents and my dad's mom then quickly scooted out to Chilliwack to celebrate with David's family. Finally on Boxing Day my dad's side came over for our final celebratory feast.

Henry helping Granddad and Uncle Hunter put together a t.v. that Santa brought on Christmas morning,

It was great seeing everyone and Henry got a ton of awesome gifts. He can now wear a different outfit everyday for the next 6 months and his rather pathetic toy boy (actually a little 6x6" wicker basket that previously held a few stuffies, teething toys and mommys old blackberry (Henry loves pressing the buttons)) has been stuffed to overflowing.  plus his playpen has been enlisted to house the larger toys. He's loving it (the toys- Mommy is loving the clothes). 

Henry taking in the gift opening pandemonium at Great Gramma & Grandpas house. 

Henry on his most prized Christmas gift- he has been sitting on/ pushing around his Lightning McQueen car ever since. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not love being pregnant, I simply tolerate it because I love my children. The one awesome thing about being pregnant is the maternity pants. And do you know when the best time to be in said maternity pants is?  When you are eating three Christmas dinners in a row!  As we sat around the table groaning at our own glutton and as I heard the tell tale shifting and zipping of pants being undone I simply let my elasticized waistband do it's job. 

It was a good first Christmas for Henry despite his being sick. While the first Christmas is big for the parents, it passes pretty much unnoticed by the baby. So I am more excited for his second and third Christmases when he can get excited and begin to enjoy all the food, gifts, family and warm-fuzzies that make up Christmas. David and I are definatly excited to be creating new Christmas traditions for our little family and to be able to enjoy all the excitement of childhood Christmases through our children.

a nice little family portrait that Hunter took on Christmas Eve, Henry being his photogenic self.

My 2013 Christmas table decorations.  the centrepiece/ table decor has been my job since I was a child and every year I try to get more elaborate/ gaudy.  this years colour scheme was "candy cane"

A very gooey baby

We are in the throws of some hellish plague in our house. Henry has been sick for over a week, and I don't mean whiny with a runny nose sick.  I mean 103> fever, hacking phlegmy cough that makes him vomit and cry, and pink eye in BOTH eyes. Hell knows no misery like a sick 10 month old.  Of course I'm sick as well because any good mother goes down with the ship. Try telling an infant to not rub snot all over your face, or asking him to wait until your mouth is closed before sneezing at point-blank range...not going to happen. So mommy is misserable and baby is misserable but thank all that is good that David could take time off work, and managed to somehow not succumb to the plague and is caring for everyone. Bless that man. 

I keep trying to take a nice sick pic of Henry but that child just has to smile every time he sees a camera. 

His right eye is almost completely crusted shut here. 

We got drops for Henry's eyes.  Which, incase anyone is wondering, takes three adults pinning him down to get anywhere near his eyes. His eyes don't seem to be clearing up as quickly as I had thought they would and for this I blame Mr BunBun (or Mr Funny Bunny if you ask David - we are still arguing over the name). Henry ADORES his bunny and absolutely will not sleep without him. I'm pretty sure Mr Funny BunBun is crusted in the most vile assortment of bacteria and virus, and I am washing him every couple days, but I'm pretty sure Henry and his beloved bunny are just passing pink eye back and forth to each other.  I'm sure I'm supposed to take the stuffy away until everything clears but any mommy knows you just can't confiscate your baby's best friend in his greatest hour of need.  

Henry and his BFF having a lazy sick morning together

While we all wallowed in our cesspit of disease and misery - it snowed!  A beautiful, fluffy, perfect for playing sort of snow. We watched and marveled mostly from the warmth of the couch.  Finally we did muster all our resolve and decided that Henry simply must go out and see the snow, no good parent could allow their son to miss his first decent snowfall. So I dragged myself off the couch, threw a jacket on and stuffed my crying, coughing, snotty misserable little baby into his snowsuit. 

Enjoy some photographic evidence of Henry tolerating the snow. And feast your eyes on the amazingly dated hand-me-down snowsuit that Henry is sporting. 

***and finally no smile for the camera! I don't know if that makes me happy or sad. 

Our Lives till Now...the abridged version

So here is a little catch up on how we got to here.  Ill try to spare you too lengthy a history so Ill start with the beginning of 'us' (rather than a geologic or biblical sort of 'beginning').

August 2, 2009- David & Sarah meet.  We met online (which I like to think is tres trendy)

>>>many years elapse during which we do many fun and exciting things.  Sarah graduates from SFU, works for City of Vancouver & then City of Surrey.  David cycles through a million different trucking jobs (we finally came to the conclusion that all trucking jobs just suck) and finally after many years of humming-and-hawing and deep contemplation and anxiety, he applies to and is accepted to BCIT.

Sept. 1, 2013- We get married!  David and I have a beautiful little wedding with close friends and family.  The ceremony is in a little church in Port Moody and my parents host the reception in their back yard.

Feb. 2, 2013- Henry is born!  I wont get into the details but after a couple unsuccessful days of labour I get a c-section...and a beautiful baby boy.

Today- With Henrys first Christmas (and first birthday) just around the corner we find ourself happily living in my parents home.  While the idea of moving back into my family home was not an easy (or particularly pleasant) one it has turned out to be a real blessing for us.  It has given us the financial flexibility to allow David to make the decision to start school full-time and for me to make the decision to resign from my job with the city and stay home full-time.  Aside from the financial benefits, it has also been a great support system for us having family so close, and Henry adores his Granny, Granddad and Uncle Hunter.  We are also expecting our second baby at the beginning of June (2014) so I am sure we will be happy for the extra helping hands.

Welcome!

Welcome to our Bird family blog.  I decided to start blogging mostly just as a way of archiving family memories.  Henry is almost 11 months old and already I am forgetting things he did as a little baby.  I decided to use this format as a place to journal what my family is up to in the hopes that we will look back in years to come and enjoy the memories.  I am keeping this blog quasi-private (for close friends and family) for a couple reasons.  Firstly, I am not a particularly compelling or even good writer and the thought of strangers reading my clunky blogs was just too intimidating.  Secondly, Im just not sure how I feel about strangers getting so intimate a look at mine and my families life.  So for now we are hidden in the farthest corner of the inter-web in hopes that only those with directions will find us.
So I write for future me to look back on, but friends and family feel free to follow along and see what we're up to!

...and you can have a cute pic of my boys to enjoy