the litle giraffe

tonight was so much fun as we celebrated our first halloween with our little baby xander. he is not such a baby anymore! Dressed up as the most adorable little giraffe this world has ever seen...xander had such a great time! We went to dinner with the Barnes family and then came home to get him all dressed up. Mimzy and Uncle Les came over with treats for us all: candy for Brandon & I, baby snacks for Xander! As soon as he saw the baggie with his snacks inside, he was grabbing at them and trying to get them open. He was not content until he was gobbling them all up! And not one or two at a time, he was grabbing fistfuls! ;) He is such a chunker sometimes!
We bundled up and headed over to meet with the Pringle clan to do a little trick-or-treating. It has been our tradition for the last many years to meet up with them and the kiddos and walk around a neighborhood until the kids are good and tired. It usually only takes a few houses for them to be worn out! Especially Elijah- he starts with such exciting ambition but slowly tampers off as the night wears on. We had a good time walking with them and starting our new traditions with our own family now. Xander definitely enjoyed seeing all the people and watching all the kids run around in their costumes!

Back home...

It has been nice for us to be able to visit Redding again. It just feels so good to be home for a few days. We get to stay with the Barnes, our family in Redding. It is nice to just relax and be with friends. Tonight I got to go out with the girls and enjoy a delicious dinner at Olive Garden. Brandon rode home with Gerry and they stopped in Sac to have dinner with Bryan. Later, Hay-Hay, Anna and I were entertained for hours with Xander's delerious giggles and hysteria. He is quite funny when he gets over-tired! After he went to bed, we enjoyed some more hours of our favorite TV shows together. It is so nice to have a break from life! And a chance to catch up with all my friends! I love all of you so much!

He melts my heart!

Seriously.  when your kid says your name for the first time, your heart literally turns to mush inside your rib cage. i could feel it just so full of love i think it exploded inside my body!  last friday xander started saying "mama" to me to get my attention and now he says it all day long! nonstop- in the night, when he wakes up, when i am not feeding him fast enough at dinners, when we are playing, in the car...it is so much fun! i love it. i was starting to feel guilty and a little bad for brandon, but no worries. xander started saying "dada" on monday so we are even.  now it is "dada" that he says in the middle of the night.  HOORAY! brandon gets to take the night shift because xander obviously wants his dad ;) this is so much fun! i love that he is growing up and learning new things.  he is just discovering the world so quickly.  i can literally watch him trying to speak and say new words as he concentrates on the shape of his mouth and the articulation of his tongue.  it is amazing to think how difficult that must be.  and once he learns a new word, he just keeps saying it over and over again all day as if to practice the new mouth form.  so cute! i am so proud of him.  can't wait for you guys to all hear him! ;)

he knows what he wants!

So I have known for awhile that Xander has a strong personality.  He has been having temper tantrums for a few weeks now...seriously! It is kindof cute if it wasn't so bad! ;) Well, today he we playing with the "gliding" ottoman (it came with our rocking chair & moves back & forth).  He was trying to stand up while holding onto it and when he lost his balance, he fell on his bottom & the ottoman swung back and bumped him.  So he hit it! And it swung back and hit him in the head a little harder.  So he grunted & clenched his fist & hit it again.  This time it hit him a little harder so he got really mad & he grabbed that sucker with both hands & HE BIT IT! Seriously, his face was all red and he was growling & crying/screaming at the thing while he bit into it with all his might...LOOK OUT WORLD- HE KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS!

He's walking...kindof ;)

I am happy to report that Xander has been pushing his little stroller/bus around the house! It is so exciting to see him walking all over the place! It always takes him a few moments to get his balance before he starts pushing it around on the carpet.  He does pretty well until he hits the hardwood and then the bus really takes off and he only makes it a few staggering steps before he has to let go! He is very committed, though, and he crawls over to it and tries to drag himself up again, all the while it is rolling away from him until they make it to the carpet again. ;) It is so cute! I just cannot believe he is already about to walk for real!

What more could you expect from the Hendriks'?

I woke up this morning to hear Brandon hollaring for me from downstairs.  I knew he had Xander, so i jumped up real quickly and hurried downstairs to see what was the problem.  "I think I hurt myself real bad, " he told me as I came down the stairs.  He had his hand over the right side of his face so I couldn't see anything.  "My eye hurts very bad," he explained.  I was a little bit freaking out because I thought he had actually punctured his eyeball!  Evidently, he was playing with Xander and when he popped up over the counter to play peek-a-boo, his face collided with the edge of the counter and busted his eyebrow open.  I had to play nurse and bandage him up with my awesome skills.  All the while,  Xander was perfectly fine and content discovering the toilet paper roll!

Fun from the other day

Xander decided that the best place to explode from within by using all of the food and by-products that he had stored up from the whole day, would be...in the store...when mom & dad DON"T have ANY diapers! So i took him outside, stripped him down & let him hold onto the side of the car. We were quite the street show! Many people stopped to observe & comment. Finally- i got him all cleaned up, only to find that I didn't have ANY extra diapers in the car either! So we swaddled him up in a little baby blanket like they did in Jesus' time & got home as quickly as possible! (no surprises when we got home, in case you were wondering!)

Some more house pics

I love it when he wakes up happy!

We didn't even have to paint- the color works great for his room

This one's for you- Mitch! Thanks for his soccer ball...he loves it!

Our bedroom...

And our wonderful bathroom- I love it!

hmm...

This is what happens when daddies dress their babies:

hahaha! j/k

Brandon dressed Xander and left all the tags on his clothes so that he could play with them...He said it was like a built-in toy! ;)

Xander visits friends...

Xander likes to hug his friend, Carter!

Elijah drops down from the cable on the Sundial Bridge

What a great action shot!

Xander loved being held by Simon

Elijah wanted his turn carrying Xander too!

My favorite four children in the whole world!!!

Our new house!

I finally feel settled enough to take a few pictures of our new place...I know they are long awaited so enjoy!  We are so blessed and thankful to have had such a beautiful home fall into our laps...it is a great, safe neighborhood, centrally located near Target, Costco & the mall!  It is always very close to the church, which is perfect! We are really so thankful for the house God has blessed us with here...It is so much better than we ever expected!

Great hosts & sweet company

I had a great visit to Redding yesterday.  I had to go up to get Xander's shots done ;( poor baby- but he always does so good.  He only cried for a split second with the initial prick and then he was laughing and flirting with the nurse again.  He is such a tough guy! So afterwards, I headed over to the Barnes to wish Haleigh a sweet happy birthday & give her some homemade cookies, before she left to look at a college.  A few of her other friends stopped by with cupcakes and brownies so we had a little birthday celebration after school with her.  Next I went to the Faires' house to move in for the night.  Now this may sound like a bit of an exaggeration, but when you have an 8 month old baby, you really DO have to move in when you go anywhere.  You have to pack a bed, and some toys, blankets, his SPECIAL blankie, clothes, EXTRA clothes for when he pees, drools, poops or drops food on the other ones, a feeding chair (he is too squirmy to be held when he eats anymore), lots of diapers, wipes, more toys, bottles, back-up bottles, a special baby spoon (?), toys for the car, a car seat, stroller, front-pack, and grocery cart cover (so he doesn't lick the bars and get all germ-infested!), and his little giraffe that he likes in his crib...oh yeah- and a diaper bag, baby food, formula, special baby snacks that dissolve in their mouth, baby tylenol, a crib sheet and a crib pad! NO WONDER PEOPLE WITH KIDS THINK WE ARE CRAZY TO TRAVEL SO MUCH! It really is a lot.  And that doesn't even include MY things! So an hour later after I had moved in, we enjoyed one of the famous Faires Family dinners, where they served one of my favorites: Oriental salad.  It is so good- with sesame seeds, chicken & crunchy ramen noodles.  It is so good.  Later that evening, Xander fell asleep so Kim, Becki & I headed out to Dutch bros (bad idea that late at night- Beck & I had the hardest time falling asleep!) & then made our traditional rounds at Target...found some great deals, of course.  When we got home, we were welcomed by Les & Xander sprawled out on the couch.  Evidently, Xander woke up soon after we left so Les had graciously taken on the role of babysitter so we could hang out longer.  How sweet!  

The next day I got to see Lindz & Carter, Val, Jennifer & Jessica, Kim, Aleah, Gram, Chelsea, Holly and Becki & Dinah stopped by too! My day ended with another bit of normalcy- I picked up the Pringle kids from school and hung out with them for the afternoon...we went to the Sundial Bridge and took lots of fun pictures, climbed the cables & waded in the water.  I met up with David & Cyndie at Outback, few Xander, visited & grabbed a quick bite before hitting the road again.  Xander slept all  but about 30 minutes, which was awesome! It made for a very smooth drive...looking forward to coming up again to see the rest of you!