proudly rear facing at 20 months!!!!!

Did you know that the American Academy of Pediatricians recommends that babies ride rear facing until 2 years old?

If you have a baby under two years old, google "extended rear facing" and make your own decision!

just like daddy.

Easter traditions...

How do we celebrate Easter in Columbia?

Riding the golf cart in loops around the yard.

Enjoying a beautiful day with great company.

Blowing bubbles with cousins.

Attempting a posed picture next to the bunny rabbit.

Being very piggy with his Yogurt Melt treat snacks.

Sharing his Yogurt Melts with his only true love in life: dogs.

Dyeing eggs for the annual "Easter Egg Dyeing Contest".

Hunting hard boiled eggs on Easter morning with lots of cousins.

Cindy and Danny, thanks so much for making yet another Easter a very special memory!

our summer garden.

For the past 3 summers, we have enjoyed the fruits of Taylor's labor in our summer vegetable garden.

We are a vegetable loving family and there is nothing better than eating fresh produce grown in your own backyard -- especially when your only job is to sit on the back steps and comment that the tomatoes looked wilted and need watering or that the garden is looking a bit weedy and needs a little love.

Last summer, I decided to actively participate in tending to the herbs but after I picked every single dill sprout thinking they were weeds, I decided why mess with Taylor's heritage of solo gardening success?

Thankfully, this summer Henry is big enough to shoulder some of the gardening responsibilities:

Helping his dada plant the seeds in their little baby seed home. Henry was a BIG fan of throwing the dirt on top of the seeds.

Helping his dada push the wheelbarrow of dirt around the yard.

AND, BEST OF ALL...

Watering the garden complete with his very own sound effects.

President Keenum's Egg Hunt!

Henry was a seasoned pro at his 2nd Easter egg hunt of the season. Too bad there were a million other seasoned kids in the mix. Thankfully, Hen didn't seem to mind that he only snagged 3 eggs and that I immediately ate his candy loot.

We saw lots of friends and had a good time even though it was officially "hot" that day and I was feeling extraordinarily pregnant after the walk from the car to the egg hunt.

wrong reaction.

Aren't you supposed to be happy and smiley after your mama shares a plate of freshly baked homemade chocolate chip cookies at 9:00 in the morning?

Looks like someone didn't get the memo.

The Numbers.

7....months without blogging. What was I thinking?

2....blog posts today.

19....months ago our Biggest Boy was born.

22....pounds (maybe!) to lug around of a very small Biggest Boy.

22...weeks pregnant with Baby Girl!

39...people expected at the family Easter event this year.

10...busy little boy fingers touching everything in our house.

2....nights in Atlanta next week with my favorite mama, sister and baby niece.

1....wedding dress of Princess Diana that my mother is dying to see.

1....month until our vacation in Mexico! Woo hoo!

79...pink paint chips to closely examine for Baby Girl's very girly room.

my favorite things.

This boy loves a fire truck.

But, what exactly constitutes a fire truck?

According to Henry....

School buses, garbage trucks, large suv's, and all red vehicles

fall under the category of a

"woo woo woo".

Here kitty kitty. Here kitty kitty.

Will Henry ever realize that to win the affection of a

fleet-footed animal,

kicking and hitting is not the way to go?

Hunting what?

The event started with a very shy boy.

Too many people at a strange place and an uncomfortable button up shirt.

Not even his buddies, Lawson Joy and Katherine, could coax a smile.

Slides? No fun.

His favorite big girl, Lawson Joy?

She just wasn't doing it for Henry.....

What finally made this little boy happy?

"Ba's ba's ba's"

Maybe you don't have a toddler and need me to interpret for you.......

Balls!!!

Henry was convinced that the Easter eggs were balls and they were all there for him!

not running away?

My parents' dogs must have felt a bit safer with my dad in the chair.

Their normal reaction to seeing Henry is

RUN RUN RUN!!!

a signing fool.

At 19 months, Henry has a smattering of "words". They are definitely not clear to non-parental ears and usually, not very clear to me. He is within normal range but just not a traditional talker....yet.

He blabbers complete nonsense all day long and he signs. I first tried out signs when he was around 9 months old but he didn't pick them up and I got bored and felt silly using signs to a baby that had no idea what I was talking about.

Fast forward to around 14 months old and we have a little signing fool!!! He picks up new signs immediately and he makes them his own by tweaking them to his little needs.

A sample:

"help"

"please"

"cow"

"pig"

"cat"

We were at a Mexican restaraunt and he loved the salsa...

Can you tell?

"thank you"

"more"

I didn't have pictures of : bird, cereal, I don't know, bee, up, light, fan, sun, star....maybe later!

Summer. Fall. Winter.

Hmmmm. Where to begin?

Needless to say, it has been a busy last 7 months and I have been a miserable failure at documenting our daily events for my many many fans.

Do I want to do better? Yes.

Is this the rebirth of the life and times of the Dearman family? Why, yes, it is.

Since so much time has passed, this post shall henceforth be organized by seasons.

SUMMER

You know we love our bulldogs!!!

He was so tiny little and his hair was so short.

Not so much many anymore!

My most favorite outfit ever.

How precious is my child?

Do yall think he is as cute as I think he is?

His father was responsible for dressing his on this fateful morning.

Yes. His overalls are on backwards.

"Pick me up, dammit!!"

Think I get this look a lot?

Ummm, yeah.

FALL

We had a blast at Starkville's downtown Halloween festival.

Too bad I didn't get a picture of Henry sitting on the hay bale by himself.

It was too sad to document for posterity.

In retrospect, the scared look on his face should have warned me that an independent picture wouldn't go so well.

His first taste of juice. Yes, I am mean like that.

I figured that if we were all drinking mimosas so early in the morning,

Chicken Little deserved a treat too.

Doesn't every ridiculously long blog post need the obligatory 'grits on the head' photo?

Fall means nothing without a picture of a sweaty little boy at the pumpkin patch.

WINTER

Christmas presents were a huge hit!!!

I think his favorite presents were his new toothbrush and toothpaste just from me

According to Taylor, I am the next "MawMaw" with my gift giving abilities.

A future Picasso?

Very doubtful.

The only interest he has in crayons is shoving them and pulling them out of the box.

And, of course, pitching a fit when that thin little cardboard box self destructs from the abuse.

According to Taylor, Henry picked out this combo himself.

It's probably a good thing you can't see the too-small Robeez he is wearing as socks under his squeaker shoes.

Can you tell we love Baby Legs?

Big Boy sitting at his side-of-the-street find table.

A fresh coat of paint and we have a new kiddie table!

The Cotton District is so good to us like that.

Playdate with Joan, a fellow skinny mini.

Henry is definitely not a climber but he finally managed to get on top of the kitchen chairs.

Of course, I think "hallelujah, now I don't have to hold him up to flip the light switch on and off".

This worked for approximately 24 hours...

The very next day, he climbed on top of the coffee table, fell off on his head and started vomiting and falling asleep

-- the classic signs of a concussion.

An MRI showed no bleeding of his little baby head.

Now, I am a bit more aware of the delicate nature of a toddler's head.

One cool dude at the rodeo with his new cowboy hat!

There you are. The last 7 months of our life in a nutshell. If only pictures and my funny funny captions could sum up the craziness of these last few months....not even close.

I have a lot more to say about our little life. Stay tuned.