Zane 2.0

Happy Birthday, Zane!

Just like last year, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the days leading up to Zane's birth and what I was doing at the time. In looking back over the last year of posts it's fun to see what Zane has accomplished. This is what I predicted on his first birthday: "This next year will bring walking and talking and tantrums." Well that was accurate! Here are some accomplishments throughout the year: He started his second year at 18 lbs 12 oz, 29.5", began trips to the zoo, first non-name word "up", mid-Sept walking on own and "no", moved to one nap, second trip to Maine in December, started watching videos, in February began imaginative play, learned sense of self, learned colors, in April got his SCAR, began yelling in his sleep, in May terrible twos begin, fine motor control, lots of climbing, understanding pronouns, first pair of underwear, and beginning to learn shapes and counting.

And what do I look forward to next year? Well, I image he'll get pretty fluent with language and easier to understand, learn shapes and counting, jump, walk up and down stairs without hands, and generally get stronger and more nimble. What do I dream of? Potty training and sleeping in his own room!

Sunday we celebrated Zane's birthday a day early since we needed to go to daycare and work on Monday. One of our 3 year old neighbors, Josie, came over with her Mom. We had cake, but Zane wouldn't really eat any (he had it at dinner). Then we did presents, and that was a big success! Zane got an enormous cement mixer, a ball and hammer toy, little fire trucks, a yellow balance bike, and a new cup. There are some more presents from relatives that we saved for Monday. We started the day off with a bike ride to the Ballard Farmers' Market where we ate blueberries and pizza and listened to music. We finished the day off with a trip to the zoo! All in all a great day.

Monday we opened presents from G'amma and Aunt Vicki and got an amazing selection of books! We went to our last monthly baby support group, too! And then cupcakes to daycare for everyone to help Zane celebrate.

On a different note, Zane's latest obsession has been construction and building. Michael has been working on fixing our fence and Zane was inspired. He's always been interested in construction trucks, but now he loves to hammer, measure, mark up the fence with chalk, and carry a level around. I found a book with cardboard tool shapes that you can take out and use, and Zane immediately fell in love with the saw. He now has his own mini measuring tape and gets to use a tack hammer under supervision.

Here's to another great year of fun with Zane!

Happy Birthday, Zane!

We made it! We made it! Zane turns one year old today. We had a really nice BBQ out back with friends and family. It was a lot less organized than we would have liked, but it's hard to get with it and also take care of the Birthday Boy. Oh well. There is no cake picture as he was completely uninterested in his cupcake. So I ate it. And then in the evening I offered him another, but he was again uninterested. So I ate it. The sacrifices of a mother.

I've been thinking a lot lately about last year at this time. When labor started, what I was doing, and how Zane finally came into the world 49 hours later! We've been watching old videos and marveling at how wobbly and un-able he was (Michael says "pathetic"). Zane sure has changed a lot in the last year, but he's not done yet! Still a lot of growing and changing to go. This next year will bring walking and talking and tantrums.

Here he is when we brought our little elf home and the eleven months following.

He slowly changed each month. I think he really achieved his Zane-ness at around 4 or 5 months. Before that he was much more of an infant and didn't look so much like himself.

I may put up more pictures from his birthday later, but I'm plum tuckered out!

Happy 3rd Bunniversary!

Today marks three years since we found our bun in Woodland Park! Happy Bunniversary JoJo! I made you a special snack of clover flowers and one whole strawberry!Wow, is that for me?

I love clover!

Mmmmm, a whole entire strawberry! This is worth it, even if I fudge my bed later.

Do I have any strawberry on my lips?

Thanks!

This year JoJo gained some weight, went on a reduced-treat diet and regained some of her figure, got her proper digestion under better control, learned to dance for her bananas, discovered the joys of snoozing in front of a heater, and switched from sleeping in a ditch made out of a blanket to sleeping next to a rolled up "buddy" blanket that she licks and licks. She loves her buddy. She decided that she loves TV, and when we start watching a show in the evening she throws herself into a flop next to her buddy and stretches her bun sticks out (back legs). In nice weather she continues to dig in her gravel pit hole, which mysteriously gets filled in occasionally. That helps her keep her girlish figure.

May we have many more bunniversaries to come!

Happy Birthday, Squeaky-Ji!

On Cinco de Mayo my beautiful Bijou turned 15! She's the oldest cat I've had so far, and she's still going strong! May she be around for many more years.

Happy Days!

Happy Birthday Dad!















Happy 5th Birthday, Jaiden!



















Happy 2nd Bunniversary, JoJo!




I love you all!

Happy Birthday, Bijou!

My oldest child Bijou turned 14 on May 5th! Such a big girl! The oldest I've had a cat live to is 14, so I'm crossing my fingers she goes on for many more years. I think she will!











We had a bit of a scare earlier in the week with JoJo. She got very sick and stopped eating and pooping after a round of diarrhea (all over the living room!). After a few days of tempting her with fresh picked clover, she's back to her regular bouncy self. We think she ate some stuffing from the couch and got blocked up. Silly wabbit!

Happy Birthday, Julian!

March 18, 2008. Today my nephew Julian turns 3! Back in Quito in the Old City, Colleen and I had gone shopping for a piñata and small toys to fill it. No candy for the Henderson boys! Believe me, I can't imagine them hopped up on sugar. We managed to score a Lightning McQueen piñata and filled it with small cars, trucks, helicopters, and two LED-flashing fish. We managed to secretly drag the whole big bag of stuff with us into the mountains. This morning my Mom and I went to the Black Sheep Inn's yoga studio and set up the piñata and blew up some balloons while Colleen distracted the boys with an outing to hand feed salt to the llamas.

His first gift was a package of undies! You can see how excited he is! When you're three, and you've just graduated to underwear, getting a whole package of underwear emblazoned with cartoon characters is pretty great.

He also got two big trucks which were immediately coveted by Ian.

Next up was the piñata. Ian and Julian both got to whack at it. It took a little while to break, but it was pretty fun! The piñata was pretty much in one piece, so Colleen gave it to the staff and asked them to give it away.

After a birthday brownie, we piled into our rented car (with driver), and headed back to Quito. This time our driver was a Dutch ex-pat named Lex. He was interesting, but also a little volatile. His driving was pretty aggressive. At one point he was driving at a pretty good clip around a blind corner while gesticulating wildly with both hands off the wheel, and a truck full of people came right at us. He had to slam on the brakes and skid.

We made it back to Quito with several hours to spend at Mom's house before heading to the airport to fly to the coast. We got to exchange all of our damp and muddy warm clothes for clean beach clothes. It was really luxurious to know that the laundry would get done for us while we were gone!

We went to the airport in the evening and flew to Manta on Ecuador's coast. I had been developing a cold as we headed down the mountain earlier in the day, and by the time we flew I was thoroughly plugged up. The flight was pretty painful. I didn't realize just how bad my cold was getting, so I didn't load up on tissues. That was a pretty bad decision since my nose started flowing like a fountain, and the drive to Puerto Lopez took about 2 hours. I had to resort to whipping off my right sock and using is as a hanky. Luckily, it was a pretty clean sock, and I hadn't already been wearing it all day!

We got into Hosteria Mandala at about 10pm. It was really hot and humid compared to the rest of our visit in Ecuador, and I thought I'd never get to sleep, but I did ...

Bhangra Bash 2008

Last night I went with a small passel o' folks to see Bhangra Bash again. I went last year and was really inspired, and this year was just as good! I'm looking forward to going back to bhangra lessons in April.

I'm pretty blogged out with my last post, so I'll just leave you with some pictures. Our favorites were the guys in red and gold, and the gals in fushia and lime, but neither of those teams won. Oh well! Doesn't the first guy in blue look like Michael?
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Wheeeeee!

Today is my birthday! I'm freakin' 40!

For my birthday, Michael got me a Wii! Wheee! I haven't tried it yet, but that will happen soon! Now I can say to my friends:
"Do you want to come over to my house and play with my Wii?"

Tonight Michael and I are gone to Hale's for the Moisture Festival Comedy/Varitè show.

Tomorrow some friends are coming with Michael and I to watch a punjabi dance competition, Bhangra Bash!

Pink Hooray Birthday

My 4oth (!!!!) birthday is coming up, and I was just on eVite creating a, well, eVite. I was searching the design gallery and typed in the word "bhangra." eVite said " Did you mean: pink hooray birthday, pink hearts?" Why, no! But what a nice suggestion.

I've been fairly blogless. Life has just been puddling along without much to say. The Bewick's wrens who nested in my yard last year are back checking things out. I'm thinking it would be cool to install a wireless infrared camera in the nest box, but I may not have the $$ to do that before they move in. It would be cool, though!

I have too many projects ...

Queen of the Universe

Yesterday was my birthday, and I had my first annual 39th birthday. Scary! I know, I know, everyone older than me says "What's the big deal?"

I believe in being a Queen on my birthday, and I've learned to ask for and organize exactly what I want. Saturday was the fabulous Bhangra Bash. On my actual birthday the weather was beautiful, just as I ordered! I slept in, took a nice bike ride around Ballard and Sunset Hill, admired Puget Sound and the Olympics, and generally drank in the spring.

I asked Michael if I could have him for the day and was granted half a day. I consider that a minor victory since I'm somewhat of a software widow. And what do I choose to do with my Michael-time to celebrate my birthday? I went to see dissected human cadavers! Yay! As Michael said when I suggested going to the Bodies esxhibit, "It sounds creepy and gross. You'll like it!" People who know me will agree. I've been known to poke around in dried up road kill to see what's inside. I also laboriously collected and boiled clean the skeleton of a stray cat that died in my yard. One of these days I intend to take it to a taxidermist and have it articulated and mounted in some dramatic pose.

The Bodies exhibit was absolutely fascinating. I've seen lots of drawings and photographs and models of anatomy, but nothing beats the real thing for really understanding how we are put together. If anyone gets a chance to see the exhibit, I highly recommend it. It's only in Seattle for another month.

Tonight one of my favorite bands, Hill Stomp, is playing at the Comet Tavern in Capitol Hill. stop by and lift a glass with me!