Missing

(notice Win peeking at the vacuum from his perch on the bed)

Last week I purchased a bottle of vitamin E for Jared's lip. When Jared went to retrieve it to use it it was missing-and nowhere to be found. Which leads me to a story about vacuuming.

Yesterday I was vacuuming the living room and noticing that our usually powerful vacuum wasn't even picking up feathers. I did a basic inspection and determined that it wasn't plugged with anything because I could see light shining through all of the hoses. I changed the bag and tried again. When that didn't work I got out a screwdriver and began a more through inspection which lead me to, you guessed it, a bottle of vitamin E neatly crammed inside the deepest bowels of our vacuum. I'll give you one guess how it got there.

A peek into the our future

A quick answer

Win is very quick when answering this question. Don't blink!

Too Quiet

I was just sitting here at the computer working on some wedding pictures when I noticed a very loud sound. It was the sound of silence coming from Win's room.
Almost everyday he spends some time playing by himself in his pack-n-play. He really likes this time. He usually sings and talks while he plays with his toys--but he NEVER sleeps. The silence was frightening. When I went in to check on him this is what I found. I guess an afternoon at the beach can tire out even the most energetic child. ZZZZZ. . . . .

Look Closely

Stuntman

Win does all of his own stunts. We haven't told him yet that most professional stuntmen don't get to land into a feather comforter.

WIn's Second Word

Here's a little clip of Win saying his second real word. He understands like 100 words, but doesn't talk very much. "Bubba" means his little green water bottle that is always with him throughout the day and night. For some reason, he insists on pitching his voice about 14 octaves above middle C whenever he says it.

Win's first word is "uh-oh," which can have a bewildering variety of nuanced meaning depending upon the exact context and inflection of its use. It's basic meaning is: "oops, I dropped it," or "nice, i finally succeeded in throwing that out of my crib," or "something is on the ground, dad," or something like that.

We are eagerly anticipating Win's first real sentence, which will no doubt be "uh-oh bubba."

Another reason that we love Holland

Win and I spent a perfect day at the beach with our friend Sarah and and her roommate Jennika. Although the seagulls and sand are nice Win's favorite beach activity is clearly body surfing. He loves going into the water in my arms and waiting for a big wave. Then when it comes we jump into it, it splashes all over us and we laugh really hard. He always has been quite a thrill seeker. He is clearly our child since both of us are usually up for an adventure.
In case you were wondering, yes, Jared did play in his Monday night hockey game last night. I made him put a bandaid over his lip. If a scar on his lip and a decent amount of medical bills are the price of an active lifestyle, we both agree that it is worth it. Let's just hope that that is the worst of it.

Family Loss

Two Sundays ago my brother and his wife lost one of their best friends, Amy Strutzenberg, in a car accident. My brother and his family live in California and their friends Tyson and Amy have been like an aunt and uncle to Win's cousins. Here is Amy with Win's cousin Esther.
Prayers for my brother, his wife and Amy's husband would be appreciated. Amy was an amazing person, great friend and wife.
For more pictures click here.

Retired

Win's new favorite toy is this alarm clock, which we retired from active service a few days ago. The little guy figured out how to turn on and off the radio while playing on our bed one day and pretty soon he was hooked. He managed to knock it off the nightstand several times in desperate attempts to reach it from the floor, and pretty soon we had a non-functioning alarm clock. Oh well, it was old anyway. Now it's a full-time toy, and Win likes to drag it all around the house and press its now useless buttons. Here's a shot of him with the clock in the kitchen.

12 Stitches

Monday night playing street hockey I managed to run my face into my friend's forehead, with unfortunate results. My lip ripped almost completely through about one inch up towards my eye. A quick trip to the ER resulted in me receiving 12 stitches (some inside my mouth, some outside) and a lecture from the Doctor about not wearing a helmet and facemask. Who wears a helmet and facesmask playing street hockey? If you're really a disturbed individual and want to see a "before" picture, click here.

Dietsche Family

I spent some time with the Dietsche family (minus Matt) on Friday and took some pictures of their amazing kids. You might be able to tell from the pictures that each one has their own fantastic personality. Matt and Val are such great parents. (Isn't Val beautiful?!) Enjoy.

Puppy Love

Lately Win has been obsessed with dogs. He is a little scared of them and doesn't really like to touch them but he loves hunting for them. When we take walks, when he is in the park or when he is looking out the window his eyes are always pealed for these unusual beasts. When he sees one or hears one, which is usually long before I see it, he makes this face and passionately says, "ewww, ewww." It sounds a lot like woof and we think that that is what he is doing. Even if you say the word, "dog" he will begin his call. It is really cute.

Welcome Stella

Win has another new cousin, Stella James Henderson. She was born on Thursday, June 7 to Jared's oldest brother, Jamie, and his wife, Sarah. The birth went well and mom and baby are healthy. Her older sister, Jordan, seems to loves her new sister. She lives in Charlotte NC so Jared, Win and I don't get to meet her until August when we all get together for Henderson Family Vacation in Detroit.
A month and half ago both of Win's Aunt Sara/hs were expecting. Now he has 2 new little girl cousins. Stella is Win's 10th cousin and all of them are under 5-years-old. Right now I am the only sibling on both sides who is expecting. That is a first!

Click here to see her.

Reading Can Be Dangerous

Does this ever happen to you? For Win reading can be hard because people tend to eat his toes when he is not paying attention. He wanted to ask all of his blog fans if this happens to them too.

Reading Up

Whenever Jared has a big project ahead of him he goes to the library and checks out every book in the district on that subject. That's just how Jared does life. Win seems to be taking after his Dad.