Life via iPhone, Part II

It's been since July since I posted pictures of our life via the beloved iPhone camera.  Here are some more candid glimpses into our everyday happenings since then!

Henry and Papa at Uncle Nate's Bball tournament

Bebe giving Charlie a foot massage. HA!

Charlie showing off one of his many masterpieces

"I give Baby Henny a kiss!"

Craft time is exhausting!

You know you wanna squeeze him!

Charlie was helping his Grammy organize her jewelry!

Charlie & Uncle Q in Dallas

NEW Mom Car!

At his 1st movie this summer-Cars 2! His eyes never left the big screen.

"Look, Honey!  Our new car can comfortably fit FOUR kids!" ;-)

Charlie & his girlfriend Ali on a frozen yogurt date.

Henry- always happy!

My child napping on the kitchen floor.

Sweet Henry loves his baths

I have no words.

I took this wanting to remember exactly how peaceful he looked.  His mouth is so tiny!

"Look, Mama! I get Baby Henny's milk!"

Surprising Grammy at her office on her Birthday!

We found Charlie passed out under his horse 2 hours after we put him to bed.  Lil stinker must have snuck out!

Brotherly Love.
Like how they're almost the same size? 2 years apart, everyone!

I LOVE THIS BABY!

2nd movie- LION KING in 3D!

I think he was having a flashback from 2 years ago.

Henry borrowing his buddy Hayes' cool Jumperoo!

Henry's 1st Astros game!  He didn't even care they got slaughtered!

The face we get to see when he wakes up from naps. 
Sweet baby still loves being swaddled even though he's busting out of his Miracle Blanket.

L-O-V-E

Baby MumMums!

It actually rained!  So we had to play in it, of course.

Our big boy has outgrown his swing. 

Haircut! Cutting off some of the unruly curls :(

Sweet boy wanted to sleep with me when Daddy was out of town.

Home Depot trip!
Sometimes you have to get creative to fit everything.

Love that we have all of these random, every day moments captured.  Life is never boring with these two buddies!

"One Time Cheese, Mama"

Something we've found that we say to Charlie often is:  "One more" and "One time". 
For example, "One more" when he asks for another snack.
And "One time", when he wants to play a game or something instead of taking a bath. 

Well, being the cute 2 yr old that he is, he often confuses the two.

Now when he asks for some fruit snacks, he sticks one finger out and says, "I want snacks, Mama. One time!" 

It is no surprise to anyone that knows me that I take a lot of pictures.  A lot. 
The poor child always sees the black camera in his face and gets tired of hearing me beg him to look and smile. 

Lately, trying to get him to look at the camera for a picture goes something like this:

Charlie, can you look at Mama and say 'Cheese'?

"ONE time Cheese, Mama!"

"Cheese!"

 Thanks, Charlie!  I like your Cheese! 

"CHEEEEEESE!!!!"

This is where he gets carried away & he gets really 'Cheesy'.  We have a lot of his Cheese face.

And when I was hoping for a cute picture of the boys with their Aunt Emma:

Charlie, please smile and say 'Cheese' with Aunt Emma!  

"One time Cheese, Mama!"

"ONE time!"

 Okay Charlie, ONE time!  Go!

"CHEEEEEEEESE!" 

{I love how Henry is just chillin'... completely oblivious to the whole thing.  I gave up trying to get them both to look AND smile at the camera a long time ago.} 

Charlie, say 'Cheese' and show Mama your airplane you made!

Once again:
"One time Cheese, Mama!  ONE time!"

"Cheese!" 

You can't say they don't pick up things from you! 

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Henry!

Henry Lee is 6 months old!  Somehow we are halfway through his 1st year of life.  How time flies! 
He is as precious as ever.  This little guy is a charmer- he's so giggly and happy.  We just adore him!

Look at this face... You know you wanna plant kisses on those cheeks! 

It's hard to believe that 6 months ago today our world was upside down and our blog was used more for a medical journal & prayer requests.

Living in the NICU feels like so long ago now, but we are always reminding ourselves how precious Henry's life is to us and to be thankful for God's healing hands.  We are SO thankful. 

His 6 month pedi visit went great!  He's a BIG, healthy, perfect boy. 

Length: 27-1/2"  (88%ile)

Weight: 18lbs 11oz  (76%ile)

Head circumference: 16-3/4" (30%ile)

We think it's funny that while Charlie & Henry are tied for the same weight at 6 months, they are complete opposite in length & head size.  Charlie was short for his age and had a HUGE head, while Henry is long and has a little head.  :) 

Other new things Henry is up to this month:



He's wearing 6-9 month clothes.  Anything that has legs in it (pj's) he has to wear a 9 month.

He has blonde hair coming in!  I really thought he was going to be our brunette, but it looks like he'll be blonde for awhile. 

He is on solid foods!  He's eating 2 solid food meals a day, and we are working up to 3.  So far he's enjoyed sweet potatoes, bananas, butternut squash, pears, green beans, peas, peaches, and pumpkin. 

He's also close to sitting up- can't do it long unsupported, but is close! 

He LOVES watching Charlie.  He watches him all day long and smiles when he comes close to him. 

He still loves his baths.

Much to our dismay, he's on a bottle strike now.  Not sure why he's decided he HATES the bottle all of a sudden, but he does.  We are hoping this changes!

He enjoys playing in his exersaucer and still likes his swing.  It won't be long till he's too long for it though! 

He's still an excellent sleeper!  Usually will sleep 8-10 hours straight at night, then a few more hours after he eats.  No complaints there!

We are head over heels for this little man and enjoy him more each day.  What a blessing Henry is to our family!

Charlie is 2-1/2!

Somehow our Charlie Jack is already 2-1/2. 
Seems like just yesterday Trey and I found out we were pregnant with him, and now he is speeding through his toddler years and is a big brother!  Good thing we've already started saving for college. 

Since he turned 2, Charlie has changed A LOT.  He has grown taller, leaner (much to my dismay) and his hair is outta control adorably curly.  His eyes have changed from blue to green, and he has 2 dimples instead of 1.  I'm certain he's the cutest 2-1/2 year old boy in this world.

In the past few months his vocabulary has grown tremendously- he's pretty much able to say whatever he needs to.. but of course not without Charlie-isms.  Some of our favorites:

"My be right back!"

"I yuv you!"

"You hear dat?"

"I dancin'!"

"I gonna get chu!"

"Supa why!"

"My like it!" or "My don't like it."

"Ima show you sumpthin." 

"I comin'!"

"You're okay Baby Henny"
 

"Mama, I want dat popsicle!" 

"Charlie, you need to ask nice."

"Niiiiiiiiiiice!" 

His interests are also changing- while he still loves anything to do with being outside, and cars, he's also developed a slight obsession with "the ABC's".  (Yay!)  His favorite shows are Word World and Super Why on PBS.  He's constantly playing with his alphabet magnets and asking me to draw certain letters on his magna doodle.  He can recognize all the letters and can tell you that C is for Charlie, D is for Dada, G is for Grammy, M is for Mama, B is for Baby, etc. 

Other things Charlie loves at 2-1/2:

Blocks, Chocolate milk, Helping me cook/bake, Crafts, I Spy books, Anything to do with animals, Applesauce & Yogurt, his Pillowpets & Blankets, iPad games, Fruit Snacks, Trains.



This little boy brings so much happiness into our lives and keeps us on our toes.  It's hard to remember our life without him.  Terrible Twos?  No way. 

Just look at him!

Sweet Boy with letter stickers all over his shirt.  I melt!

Mama & Dada love you Charlie!

Short But Sweet Trip to Midland

After our vacay in Hereford, the boys and I drove down for a quick visit to Midland.
Charlie was so excited to go Grandpa & Bebe's house and this was the 1st time Grandpa met Henry! 

I'd say they hit it off pretty well!

Grandpa has a whole garage full of stuff that made great imaginative toys for Charlie.  He had a ball learning to hammer with a 'real' hammer.  They also and made big airplanes, air craft carriers and tin can bombs!  Henry was perfectly content watching them. 

Then Grandpa brought out clothespins and popsicle sticks and they made little airplanes.  This was a HUGE hit... so huge we brought them home with us and the fun continues even today! 

CA Peeps: Flashback on Trey's clothespin? 

Then of course after putting together their airplanes they had to play with them! 

Grandpa's airplane chasing Charlie's bomber airplane.

While they were playing Airplanes, Henry got some Bebe love. 

The boys are so lucky to have such great Grandparents! 

Another highlight of the trip was getting to see GG (Trey's Grandma), Aunt Martha, and cousins Robert, Jessica and Zoe!  They all came over for dinner and to visit.  I know Trey was sad he missed seeing everyone!  

Four Generations!  (Minus Trey)
Very special!

We'll be returning to Thanksgiving and I know all of us are looking forward to it!  

Our Little Vacation

The small Panhandle town of Hereford, TX was the destination of our little 10 day vacation.  There's not a lot going on there compared to Houston, but it was just what we needed.  My dad lives on the edge of town on a little bit of land with a huge backyard, 4 dogs and 2 horses.  Charlie was in heaven!  The weather was gorgeous, too!  We just relaxed and spent time together outside and taking it easy. 

Charlie and their dog Beau became inseparable.  Beau is obsessed with balls & fetching and Charlie loves a dog's attention.  They were the perfect pair! 

He was never bored- so much to do outside!

Charlie helped his Papa feed the horses every day.  He'd say, "Those are MY Horses."  When it was time to ride, he loved it!

Charlie wasn't the only one who enjoyed the quiet, country life!  Henry did a whole lot of relaxing and chillin' too!

He got a lot of attention from his Papa, Mamy & Uncle Nathan!

Aunt Emma came to visit, too!

Even bath time was fun.

It was a great visit and we are looking forward to doing it again next Spring! 

Road Trip!

Hello friends.  Are you still there? 

Sorry about the lack of posts this month but we have a great excuse!  September is proving to spoil our boys- the entire month they will have been visiting with their AWESOME Grandparents- all of them! 

My Dad's family lives up in Hereford (by Amarillo), Trey's family is in Midland, and my mom's family is here in Katy.  Pretty spread out over the great state of Texas.  We figure while our boys are not in school and I am not working we need to take advantage and travel to them every now and then for a nice, long visit.

We left on Labor Day weekend for an overdue visit to the lovely Panhandle.  That's a 650 mile drive, folks!  Trey and I have made it several times but never with a 2-1/2 year old and a 5 month old.  I was expecting to have to stay overnight about halfway but my boys were PERFECT in the car.  Amazing.  Charlie has always loved the car- he can entertain himself pretty easily and was thrilled to get to watch movies in the car - WITH headphones!  Henry on the other hand... doesn't like his car seat.  At all.  We found as long as he could see one of us he was happy.  We drove straight through and made it in about 11 hours- stopped only 3 times.

1st time using headphones!

Cute Henry playing with his toys

Road trips aren't complete without treats!  C's 1st tootsie pop.

Henry stretching his legs during a gas break.

Trey had to fly back on Monday to go back to work (so sad!), but the boys & I stayed at my Dad's for 10 glorious days!  It was so nice to relax in the quiet, small town and let the boys spend time with their Papa & Mamy. 

Since Trey wasn't going to be driving back to Houston with us, I wanted to break up the long drive home.  What better way than to stop in Midland to visit with Bebe & Grandpa?  So off we went...

This was an easy 3-1/2 hour drive- thankfully because this was the only stretch I had without a copilot/baby tamer.

Our break on the way to Midland.  Henry was not as amused this time.

"Out of my way, Peeps!"

West Texas in a nutshell. 

We stayed in Midland for 2 fun days and then Bebe was kind enough to join us for the 500 mile trek back to Houston!  It went okay.. not terrible but after about 5 hours in the car Henry was not happy.  We were all ecstatic to pull into our driveway.  Charlie ran through the house squealing: "My house!  My room!  My book!  My Kyla! (dog) My Dada! My CARS!" 

It was no doubt a fun and successful 1400 mile road trip- one we'll repeat again but not for a few more months.  :)