Watermark

So - I have fallen into the watermarking again. I used to put a little mark on my pictures all the time, but it became such a hassle and I rarely had a chance to blog, let alone put a mark on each photo. So, I stopped and then I figured out how to disable to right clicking feature on my blog. Then I figured out in google reader you can still steal the photos of whatever you want, so back to putting my little mark on the photo! I put the mark through the picture instead of in the corner this time because I discovered a picture of mine that was cropped on facebook being used by someone else from an event. It wasn't a big deal they took the picture {it was of them}, but it made me think. SOOO - sorry for the annoying marks on the pictures!

Memorial Weekend

This was a very nice long weekend! I love having extra snuggle time with my little bunny :) I has discovered some amazing things over the last few days. The most important one being that I can accomplish so much if I do not nap with Heidi. I did miss my naps, BUT I was able to clean, do laundry, and bake some bread all on Saturday while she took her almost 3 hour nap. We had a busy day that morning - breakfast, morning walk with Hunter, playtime, pool time, nap time, bread making, more playtime, bath time, evening walk with the neighbor, and then bedtime. Heidi was a pooped little girl! Sunday we had basically the same routine except we made cookies instead of bread and we went to John's work party instead of the evening walk. The party was held at a little "family fun" center - a place with go-karts, putt-putt, paintball, arcade games, etc. Heidi loved to watch the go-karts zooming around the track! We stayed and watch daddy win at putt-putt and then headed home to bed.
Monday {our extra day - THANK YOU to all of our soldiers - past, present, and no longer with us for serving our country} we went over to Bonnie and Alan's house with a few other members of our small group for a little cookout. Heidi enjoyed walking around everywhere, playing with the cats and dog and trying to step into the fish pond :) Earlier in the day we went on a morning walk and then tried to take a nap, but went to the pool instead, and then came home to take a nap! So, not sure how many of you have experienced this, but I did after having both of my children. I lost a ton of my hair {typical} and then the new growth appeared. It came in the exact same area both times. I have all of these short hairs and they are uncontrollable. I finally conquered them for straight hair days, but I have been going curly lately - might even stay curly for awhile - and they are annoying!! Sometimes they look like a have a big spiky cowlick.

Swim Lessons

I wanted to share a few pictures from Heidi's swim lessons. She absolutely loves the pool and water. She even starts squealing when its bath time. This summer we are going to have one tan little water baby! In the class we do things like ring-around-the-rosey, the hokie pokie, swim on both the tummy and back, jump in from the side, go underwater, and then at the end they get to play with a toy and swim towards it. Heidi loves to grab the soccer ball. I usually bring a toy from home, but she must have that soccer ball.

Mini-Reunion / Berry Picking

This weekend was full of many activities! Friday night was a mini-reunion of old friends. Heather was in town visiting and the four of us ladies and our kiddos/hubbys/boyfriends got together! I have know these three ladies for as long as I can remember. Heather, Kaleigh, and I were in kindergarten together! One of my very first memories is from when Kaleigh cut herself with scissors in class. We were also all in Girl Scouts and softball! Shannon has two boys and Kaleigh has four boys. Heidi was the only little girl (besides Heather's niece) there. She had a great time carrying around a water gun.

Heidi decided that she no longer wanted to have her burger cut into little pieces for her...

Saturday I was asked to baby-sit this little guy. For anyone that knows me we all know that babysitting is not something I do. It scares me to death to have someone else's child in my care. A co-worker needed help so that he could work and I was pretty much his last option. I wanted to make sure and have activities that kept us busy, so we went strawberry and blackberry picking. Next we went to my sister's house to go swimming and eat lunch.

I was really nervous because of the situation I was being put in. The little boy is 2 and was born the end of March 2009 - his due date was the day after Hudson's due date. So I was nervous because it might make me feel like "what life could have been". Luckily it did not feel that way. I guess because Hudson would have been so different from this little guy. Not better or worse, but just different. We would have had different jokes and other things to talk about. So all in all it was a good day.

We were supposed to go to the Miami area for Carlos and Glori's wedding, but due to us being gone for a week to Puerto Rico we were not able to go. It was sad to miss the wedding, but I know it was a beautiful day for them!

Heidi - 11 Months

Heidi - Today you are 11 months old!

What have you been up to?

What haven't you been up to is more like it :)

You are wearing size 3 diapers.

Your clothes are ranging from 9 months - 12 months.

I am not sure how much you weigh, but you sure are heavy!!

You love to laugh and smile!

You are still nursing, even with your 1 week break while we were gone.

We have not found a food that you do not like - you are such a great eater!

Words you can say - dog, cat, paci, water, bottle, out, more, done, mama, dada, ball, bear, book, doll, duck, night-night - probably more and it is so cute when you talk!

You have 5, almost 6, teeth.

You are walking, but you are very shy about walking by yourself. You will, but we have to coax you into doing it. When you do you laugh and run toward us - so sweet!

You have been great going into the nursery at church - no calls!

You started swim lessons this month and LOVE them!!

You rip your bows out of your hair.

You clap, give high fives, and wave.

You love to cuddle and give love to everyone.

Naps are becoming longer, usually twice a day - one is short and one is a couple of hours.

You're still co-sleeping and hate your crib.

You love water!

When we are driving you are constantly babbling and cracking yourself up.

You are seriously the happiest baby and so amazing!

This and That

Things are busy - and I really do not even have time to post, so its going to be more of a list. Here goes!

- I still need to post about our FUN trip to Puerto Rico!
- I didn't die and there was not anything horrible that happened while we were on the way, there, or on the way home from PR.
- I want to post on my thoughts about Osama Bin Laden...
- I have had some nasty little stomach bug. Not much of an appetite either. I think I ate too much fiber one day...
- Because I have been having the issues mentioned above googling everything in the world to find out what might be causing my uncomfortablness/nausua.
- Heidi is being shy about walking. She will take 5-6 steps and then laugh and grab something.
- I am starting to train for a marathon! (maybe) (if I can start feeling better!)
- I am super pumped that Derek and Meredith finally made their marriage official.
- My dances are almost complete for the teen jazz recital performances!
- Heidi is LOVING her water babies/swim lessons! Seriously.
- It is already hot- Hot - HOT!

Mother's Day

So another Mother's Day has come and gone. Before I started to write this post I read what I wrote last year at Mother's Day to see if how I feel now is different from last year. I am not sure what even made me think about Mother's Day. The past two years I have tried any way I could to avoid it. Heidi and I were out and about on Saturday and a woman (that I had never seen before) wished me a "Happy Mother's Day". My first thought? "How did she know?". Then I realized, of course, she saw me with my daughter and therefore knew I was a mother.

My first mother's day was only a few short months after Hudson was born. Last year I was about a month away from having Heidi. This year Heidi was here for Mother's Day. Really and truly I still do not like the holiday, and that is okay. I do not have to celebrate with everyone else in the country. It is still a holiday, for me, that fills me with grief. I know all of us with loss always look for the one day when we will no longer feel this intense grief that we are right now. Truthfully I do not think it will ever go away. At a Bible study I am in currently and woman spoke of losing her son over 20 years ago - and she broke down when talking about him. Maybe this sounds odd, but I felt so much relief seeing her break down. Now I know that its okay that sometimes I still breakdown; and its okay that I will for many times to follow in the future.

I do want to explain that I love every bit of motherhood. Its definitely something I think comes naturally to me, which I did not think it would. I find it amusing how defensive mothers can be sometimes though, in our "mothering techniques". I think what happens is if you are talking to someone about your "techniques" and the other person does not share the same "techniques" then the conversation can become defensive because its as if someone else is challenging your parenting ability. Ok, that sentence sounded better when it was in my head, but oh well. I catch grief about co-sleeping and my feeding habits, but it works for me. It works to not have my child screaming her head off when we place her in the crib. It works that I am still nursing Heidi - she loves it and its good for her! So what if I hold her more than most people hold their child - it works for us. And whatever works for you - do it! Not every child is alike, nor do they need to be treated the same. Its what works best for your situation.

Totally became sidetracked. Back to the day at hand. It was nice to receive the happy wishes, but as much as there was "happy" there was emptiness. I just hope that I am able to enjoy the holiday as time goes on because I know that there will be a day when my sweet children on earth will bring me some sort of handmade goodie and I want them to know how much I love it without having hurt in my eyes.

Weekend Fun

This weekend I spent my time cuddling with my little munchy munch that I missed so much while on our trip! We had a nurse-a-thon in which Heidi showed that she was not weaned from nursing after a week away from her "nee-nees". We were invited to Miss Emma Kate's birthday party on Sunday, but after being gone for a week Miss Heidi was not going to do very well on a road trip to Atlanta. She has been clinging to me like there is no tomorrow, but I surely do not mind :)
Saturday we did go to a neighbor's birthday party - Miss Adyson. She is a new friend we met only a few weeks ago. Randomly Heidi and I were shopping in Toys-R-Us and a lady, her husband, and child were shopping and she asked me something about a snack Heidi was having. I thought nothing of it, but the next day Heidi and I were on a walk and I happened to see our new neighbors (down the street) and stopped to talk to them - turned out to be the same family! How fun is that? I did get a picture of the birthday girl, but I tell you, it is so hard to get pictures these days! I'll get it all figured out one of these days.

Puerto Rico

Well, we have left for Puerto Rico and are back :) Nothing terrible happened and I am here to live to tell about it. The anxiety I felt before we left was the worst anxiety I had felt in my entire life. It ranks right up there with when I was mumbling to myself while pregnant and rushing to the doctor. I was completely paralyzed to enjoying anything for fear it was going to be ripped away. I do want to clarify one thing - I am not afraid of dying. Not in the least bit. It was the thought of leaving Heidi and her growing up without me - or really knowing me. Maybe the next trip will be easier. I know that if I had not had so much anxiety I would have enjoyed this trip even more.
Sunday night my parents came and picked Heidi up so that she could sleep on a regular schedule rather than waking up at 4AM with us. It was hard spending that Saturday and Sunday with Heidi before we left. I cannot fully explain how I felt before leaving on this trip. In my heart of hearts I thought I was truly going to die. So, Heidi and I spent our time swimming, reading books, and all sorts of fun things. I wrote letters to her in her journal (that I am still continuing) and set up a video camera to capture us playing together.
Anyway - my parents came to get her and I felt like throwing up as my big girl sat in their backseat waving bye-bye. She and Hunter were off...and hubby and I were left alone in the driveway. So, we packed, went to dinner, made a last minute trip to Wal-Mart, went home, packed some more, and then went to bed. EARLY the next morning we woke up and headed to the airport. We flew to Atlanta and then made it to San Juan, PR!
First we checked in at the convention center with Best Buy, got our loot, and then headed to check in at the hotel. We stayed in the villa section of the Caribe Hilton. That night was a little beach welcome party and then it was bedtime for this Henninger family member!
Tuesday John had the vendor show, which I would have gone to, but I found something much better to occupy my time :)Wednesday we had our excursion - we chose the bike riding through the rainforest outing. Let me tell you - it was (for me) the bike ride from hell. No lie. In the first place I have not ridden a non-stationary bike in over a decade (which makes me sound so old...) and it was through the mountains, mud puddles, rocks, you name it. It should have been labeled "hardcore need to train for 3 years to ride" bike ride. I was not the only one having a hard time. Plenty of others had to stop and walk their bike up the mountains; I was the only one about to puke my guts out...We rode our bike to this little stream/river area and it was so pretty! The water felt so wonderful on my poor tired feet. Some daredevils jumped from the rocks - I chose to stand in the ankle deep section. When we were approaching the river one of the tour guides told me I would be "happy" to know that we were at the halfway part. I looked him like he was completely insane.I will let you know that even though I wore white shorts I was the only one who came out of this adventure with hardly a spec of mud on my clothes or body :)






After the river the media team joined our group to video for the little video that recaps the weekend. They were in the back of the truck and there was an open seat....so I asked to ride back in it. To heck with that bike. We were not friends.

After the bike ride we took naps and then went to dinner in Old San Juan. The hotel/Best Buy provided a shuttle for all of us to ride back in forth. We went to one of the hotels that had a small casino where we raked in the dough on the roulette tables - one of our favorites :) We ate dinner at a Chicago Burger place and it was delicious! After all of that we headed back to the hotel for bed!

Wednesday during the day we went to the beach for a little bit and the went to Old San Juan for the day. We bought Heidi the cutest little handmade doll - she just loves it!We took some pictures around our hotel before we had the dinner/concert on our last night in PR. I had on some really tall shoes - that's why I seem to be closer to John's height :)This little guy was in the courtyard/garden area in our hotel. We were able to see him in his full plumage, but of course I did not have my camera!

Concert by the Goo-Goo Dolls! It was such a great time! We had dinner and enjoyed the concert, then headed back to the hotel to continue the party. Then it was bedtime because we had to get up early for the flight back home.