Happy Birthday to Me

So yesterday was my thirtieth birthday. Henry gave me a sweet "My mom is wonderful" picture frame. I put the picture of me holding him right after he was born, before he was whisked away to the NICU. Sloan gave me a Christmas ornament and a massage gift certificate and is taking me to Kabuto Saturday night.

Henry and I went out to lunch and then we met Sloan at the Christmas tree place for Henry's first Christmas tree. We chose the tree that he tried to eat. We put it up last night and Henry and I have been decorating it today. What fun! He loves the lights and I'm thankful that he is not crawling. Next year should be interesting.

Pictures from Thanksgiving

Joshua (age 6) asleep in my old toddler bed in my room at my parents' house. How sweet!

Henry and his sweet cousin Isabel love one another as they hug each other good night. (Sorry it is dark--it was taken with Sloan's phone sans flash.)
We are thinking of sending this photo of Sloan, Biff and Isabel to Hillary for her to campaign with in Vermont and San Francisco.
What is my mom doing to me?
From our Christmas card photo shoot. Yes, my son is outdoors in the freezing cold with no shoes on. This is also the first picture I've seen where he even remotely looks like my son.
Apparently there was some sort of finger sucking contest going on here between Isabel and Henry. I think maybe Isabel is winning for having one in her mouth and another up her nose.

The two Marshalls. Also, notice that Henry now enjoys sticking out his tongue. This is a trick Sloan taught him and he has yet to put his tongue back inside his mouth. Oh well.

Grandma and Grandpa Phillips with Violet (almost 7), Bo (almost 5), and Henry.

Henry's 14 month old cousin, Gigi. As you can see, sweet chubby cheeks is common in the Phillips family.

Henry's first visit to a playground. He enjoyed swinging. (There's that silly tongue again!)

Henry's First Thanksgiving

Whew! I am tired. We headed down to Greensboro last Wednesday night and spent the holiday with my folks and about a million other people. Seriously, there was my sister and her 7 kids, my brother and his 4, my aunt Ann, cousin Geoff, my aunt Jean and uncle Gene, my cousin Don and his son Ryan. It was a sweet, albeit noisy, time loaded with lots of food, card playing, and football watching. We also added to the list of things Henry likes to eat--sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and homemade whipping cream. (Who doesn't like homemade whipping cream?)
We also headed down to Davidson for another Thanksgiving meal with Sloan's folks and his brother Marshall's family. I used to think that Henry was a dead ringer for Marshall, but when I saw him holding him, it just confirmed that I was wrong and that Henry looks like Sloan more and more each day.
Sloan and I also went to a birthday party for my high school friend, Katharine and took Henry for the first part of it. It was great to be able to introduce him to all of my old buddies and relish in that his title is now secure--Henry is the cutest baby on the planet. I tried getting my parents to admit that He was their cutest grandchild, but all I got was that he was the cutest 7 month old. Although my dad did admit that Henry was the best behaved. I think this was because Henry and Papa did a lot of snoozing together in front of the TV. Henry sure got his grandparent cuddle quotient met!
Right now, Henry is teething. He is working on his bottom left tooth, which I lovingly refer to as his "twofer." He struggles with falling to sleep, cries if I am not in his line of sight, and I find myself constantly drugging him with baby Tylenol.

I am a big dork

I have now started a facebook group for all things Henry. The only good thing about this obsession with my son is that now, instead of spending most of my time thinking about myself, I am spending it thinking of Henry. I guess that is a step in the right direction. If you'd like to join the Henry Marshall Phillips Fan Club group on facebook, send a message to my facebook page--under Elizabeth Johnson Phillips--and I'll invite you.

First Official Meeting of the Henry Marshall Phillips Fan Club

I've stated before that Henry is popular with the ladies. But have I mentioned that he is a regular temptation for some cougars? That's right, it's not just babies that love him, but women as well. Today, for lunch, we met with the "Lunch Bunch" at church. These are three women who came to visit me pretty much every week while I was in the hospital and have subsequently fallen in love with Henry. He is very lucky to have such beautiful women fawning all over him from such a young age. He loves his Auntie Shannon because she cuddles him. He loves his Auntie Ann because she plays with his favorite toy with him. He loves his Auntie Robin because she babysits for him and lets him eat her pretty red hair. Mommy loves getting together with them too as she loves adult conversation and just some time with the girls.

From left to right--

THE OFFICERS OF THE OFFICIAL HENRY MARSHALL PHILLIPS FAN CLUB

Shannon Reppard (Official Baby Holder), Henry, Ann Long (Official Pointer and toy shaker), Robin Pritchard (President and Henry's crush). Not Pictured--Elizabeth Phillips (founder)

Henry's Christmas Stocking

I finally finished my first of about a million sewing projects for Christmas. Henry's Christmas stocking.

Complete Waste of Time

I just finished reading another book--Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. It was given to me while I was in the hospital on bed rest with Henry and since I didn't have the strength or mental acuity to read while upside down, I finally decided to dig into the stack of books brought to me by visitors. I had high hopes for this book. Being the literary snob that I am, I was intrigued by the smoky cover and the fact that it won the Pen/Hemingway award. However, about 20 pages into this book, I was grabbing an US weekly. The book haunted me from my bedside table, making me doubt my intelligence and self-righteous reading indignation. The most interesting character moved out halfway through the book and I wanted to go with her. Sloan kept asking me why I continued to read this book that I kept complaining about, not understand that I'm too OCD to not finish a book I begin and also there is my respect for the writer. Any writer. This is what makes selecting books so difficult for me. It is a commitment, not unlike a marriage. I am in it til the end whether it is a delight or a drudge. Finishing a book is like ending a relationship. After all, I was a Creative Writing major in college and I know what sort of blood, sweat, and tears went into birthing the book. And there is no epidural for the writer. Well, I suppose there is wine. Am I crazy for not liking this book? What does it say about me that I preferred to catch up on J. Lo's pregnancy than what some orphans were doing in a dilapidated house? I think I will reread some David Sedaris just to cleanse my pallet of the slowness.

Another waste of my time was the movie Eragon. My nephews have read all of the books and I wanted to be able to connect to them. Apparently, this book was written by a 14 year old. You can tell. Take Lord of the Rings, subtract the Christian allegory, then add a dash of Star Wars, and even a bit of Dances with Wolves (why do these warriors wear feathers in their hair?!) and there you go. The dialogue was horrible and predictable. The only reason I can figure that the producers were able to get big name talents like Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, and Robert Carlyle is that they must all have sons who love the books. Those actors must've kept asking, "But what is my motivation?" It's only redeeming quality was that the kid who plays Eragon is easy on the eyes. I'm sure it plays well among gay circles. I'm sure there were some people in South Beach who went as Eragon and Braun for Halloween. I will have to find out from my nephews if the book is any better.

My son, Lurch

Unfortunately for me, Henry will soon be mobile. He has begun to lurch about. He gets up on all fours like he is about to crawl, rocks back and forth, and then hurls himself forward--face planting into the carpet. He's given himself rug burn and me a heart attack as I am certain actual crawling can't be too far off.


Also, Henry definitely does not like peas. Yesterday, all I had to do was show him the bowl of peas and he cried. And like a mean mommy I still made him eat them. Introducing vegetables has been interesting to say the least. Adding fiber to his diet certainly makes diaper changing fun, particularly when it intersects with teething. I've learned he likes squash, hates peas, and like carrots. He also enjoys peppermint. We just started him on liquid Zantac for his acid reflux and he loves taking it. It makes for minty kisses as he has begun to react to my puckered lips with a sort of middle school boy, full on open mouth attack. He also like to hold his own spoon and try to feed himself. I usually hand him his own spoon to play with while I feed him and then let him try to feed himself at the end of the meal. Usually he just shoves food up his nose and squish baby food in his hair. So we've taken to bathing him now every night as opposed to every other night, which seems to make the little Lurcher happy.

Things I love

1. Eating Henry's Halloween candy.
2. Hearing "You have arrived" from the Magellan.
3. The ignorasaucer, er I mean, exersaucer.
4. Costco baby wipes.
5. Sleep.
6. Friends who babysit my son and love it.
7. Having most of my Christmas shopping done.
8. Watching Henry eat peas.

Kid In a Box

Step 1. Take the diapers out of the box.

Step 2. Stick your kid in the box.

Step 3. Take a picture of the box.

Henry's GGGGGREAT!!

Had a blast last night at our friends John and Kaden Reece's house. It is what I am going to begin calling the "2nd Annual Fish Stew Halloween Bash." It was great to be able to have a little one this year to snag some candy for us. Awesome! Check out our cute little tiger...

Yes--Mommy and Henry like to coordinate their outfits.

What good parenting looks like. (Or proof things have changed since college.)

The Gaggle of Kids--There's two seventies kids, Bob the Builder (who also carries a sword), Henry the Tiger, Dora the Explorer, Two Star Wars Storm Troopers, Jengo Fett, a Pirate, and a witch.

Daddy and Mommy took turns trotting Henry up to people's doors to Trick or Treat. We totally scored on yummy candy. Heck Yeah!!