Louisiana!

It's a miracle! I'm blogging about events that happened...gasp...LAST WEEK!!! Thanks to some quality time spent with our blogger app and our photo chip reader thingie that plugs right into the iPad, I can actually keep things updated in almost real time. Now all we need to do is keep traveling so that I actually have material to write about (although no more hospital visits please, Jon).

On Saturday, after a bit of rescheduling due to Jon's head pain, we ventured back to Dulles and flew down to the bayou to visit the Spurlock clan in Louisiana. Jon's PawPaw hasn't been feeling great lately, so we thought a visit from his great grandson might cheer him up.

"Hi PawPaw!"





Coincidentally, we traveled during Mardi Gras, which meant we got some fun beads, king cake, and even found ourselves (accidentally) at a parade on Saturday night. When we got to town we were greeted with a crawfish boil with the whole family at Aunt Tracy's house - a real cajun welcome. Aunt Tracy even peeled some crawfish for this not-so-cajun California girl.

Henry went straight to bed when we got to the house (talk about a party pooper) but we got a generations photo of the Spurlock men before he went down.


The next morning we relocated to MawMaw and PawPaw's house so that cousin Matthew could have his bedroom back. We had such a nice visit, and Henry just loved being held by his MawMaw and aunties. Jon and Carrie spent a lot of time eating Maw Maw's delicious cajun cooking.









Here is Henry with Aunt Tracy and cousin Ethan. So cute!



The East Coast Spurlocks!


Henry celebrated his 6 month birthday while we were down South, so we posed him for a bunch of pictures. He's starting to sit up like a big boy!








In his LSU outfit, which he is clearly excited about.







We really had a wonderful trip and hope PawPaw is feeling better soon. We love you guys!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

February - Rolling Along

As I mentioned in the last post, things are pretty quiet on the homefront these days. Jon has been working hard, and Carrie continues to function as the milk truck and nap facilitator. Who knew that taking care of one tiny little person could occupy so much time??? With all that free time, Carrie frequently costumes Henry to keep life interesting. Our next task is finding Henry a running mate.





Baby it's cold outside!





Look at those little cheeks!!











And in his baby prepster duds...
























Daddy's favorite outfit - the "jedi suit"












And Henry's favorite time of day... Bathtime!

















A couple of weeks after his five month birthday, Henry started adventures in solid foods. Here is his first messy experience with rice cereal.











More!!!











Henry has since graduated to squash, pears, avocado and a host of other homemade concoctions mom forces him to eat. Carrie went a little crazy with her baby food maker -- there are probably enough cubes of puree in the freezer to last until Henry is in kindergarten.

So, just when life seemed to fall into a nice, familiar routine, things took a turn for the scary. Jon had a week of bad headaches that resulted in a two-day hospital stay to monitor three hemorrhaging spots in his brain. Thankfully the bleeding was contained to the sites of three venous malformations, so no surgery was required this time. Poor Jon was in terrible pain for a week or so due to the brain swelling associated with the bleeds. This episode served as a reminder that we need to appreciate every healthy, normal day, and never take the "boring" days for granted. Unfortunately, this episode is par for the course with Jon's condition. All we can do is continue to monitor his malformations with annual MRIs and hope for no future flare-ups.

Jon was released from the hospital on February 28th - his 30th (and Carrie's 32nd) birthday. Here is the not-so-happy birthday boy in his "suite" at the Virginia Hospital Center (this probably makes the top 10 list of saddest birthday pictures in history).





We are so grateful for all of the help and well-wishes received during that busy week. A special shout goes out to Christina Roberts, who rushed over to babysit Henry on a Saturday night, and Raquel Sours and Charlotte Montiel who split Henry duty the following day. Most of all, we thank our Muppy for flying cross country to help keep us fed, sane and comforted (cue the Academy award speech cut-off music).

Thankfully, Jon is now feeling almost back to normal and returned to work yesterday. He has a follow-up appointment with his neurosurgeon tomorrow, which we are hoping marks the end of our health drama for a while.

Here are a few shots of Muppy during her most recent visit.





And mom feeding Henry his pears.



And daddy, once he was feeling better.









Also, check out these adorable pictures from a recent play date with Henry's friend, Kara. How cute are these two??! These pictures would make for a great caption contest.

January 2011 - God Bless Texas

Early in January, we took the show back on the road, this time to West Texas (Dallas, Lubbock and Kermit) to visit friends and family. This was Henry's first chance to meet two sets of Great Grandparents, his Grandpa Mike, and Grandma and Grandpa Lundeen. We even lunched with Henry's honorary Grandparents, Judge and Becky Gonzales.

On the baby growth front, Henry continued to thrive and learn new things every day. He still doesn't love tummy time, for more than a couple of minutes, though:











Any who, back to Texas. First stop: Lubbock and Great Grandparents Mandy and Dalton and Grandpa Mike.






Four generations!


Next up was a nice lunch with Judge and Becky, who are thriving in Lubbock. they didn't really want to see anyone but Henry, though.





The next day we visited Great Grandpa George and Carole.








and our cute little family...


We spent three days in Lubbock, then piled back into the car and headed to Kermit to visit Great Granny Ardell, and Grandma and Grandpa Lundeen. the weather in Kermit was awesome... 70s and sunny!

Meeting great granny









Snuggling with Grandma Denise






And hanging out on the porch with Daddy and Jackie the dog.









There's nothing cuter than a naked baby!









Thank you, Daddy, for these amazing blue eyes!






Spending time at Granny's house.


Teaching Henry to roll over.














The Campbell/Lundeen/Spurlock clan!


We all had a great time in Texas. Shortly after we got back home, Jon had a work trip away for a couple of days, so Gramma Laurel came to help out. We love it when Gramma comes to visit!






Laurel has been trying to think up the perfect special name for Henry to call her. we are currently debating "Muppy" (short for Grandma Muppet), as inspired by the animated (and crazy) expressions Muppy makes for Henry. I think it's a keeper!



Mommy time.













Life slowed down for a few weeks after Muppy left. Jon stayed very busy with work and with his new responsibilities with his Reserve unit, which takes him to the Pentagon one weekend a month. Meanwhile, at home, Henry has become quite the little sleeper - he takes three long daytime naps and goes to bed at about 6:30 each night, which makes it hard for Carrie to time outings during the day. We spend most of our days playing at home and patiently awaiting the arrival of spring and warmer weather for trips in the stroller.

"Hello, Muppy? Please come back... Mommy is driving me crazy and I want to get out of the house!!"