The Henderson Family Chronicles

It has been 18 months since Andrew came home from work and told me that he was going to move to night shift. We had been married for 5 1/2 years, and the entire time Andrew had worked the 2pm to 10pm shift (which regularly was more like 2-12). In the beginning, it was very difficult for me. I was newly married, went to school and worked all day, came home at five and was alone till bedtime, actually past my bedtime. I always stayed up for him, even if I was falling asleep on the couch, or love seat as the case was. Eventually, when we had been married for about a year and a half, and I was newly pregnant, I learned to go to bed without him. After Nate was born, I realized that I highly valued that evening time alone, in quiet. While I miss Andrew, it is nice to have time for me. When Andrew made the announcement regarding night shift, I had HUGE concerns. I was pregnant with Emmy, and had only slept alone a few times in our married life. I was very worried about his sleep and his sched...

I finally uploaded some of the pictures that have been hiding on my camera for awhile. A Sunny February Day: A Not So Sunny March Day: Not so happy inside, but plenty happy helping mom and dad outside! A Not So Happy Discovery One Sunday Morning in March: Finally (after like 5 years) painted the corner cabinet Andrew made me, and my Mom brought me some stuff from Tai Pan Trading:

I tell myself that I have nothing to blog about, but as I look back on the last month or so, I realize that there has been plenty. In addition to many more "30 seconds" type moments (see previous post), some good stuff has happened too. In February Andrew and I left the kids with Grandmas and went to Utah for him to take his NCLEX-RN. He passed, of course, and with flying colors, I am sure. I knew he'd pass, he's good at what he does. He wasn't so sure, but regardless, it's over. He is still working at a skilled nursing facility, and applying for every hospital opening in the area. While in Utah we had a whirlwind mini-vacation. We visited my Grandparents, ate at Andrew's favorite restaurant (Joe's Crab Shack), Saw Avatar in 3D IMAX, visited Cabelas twice, and spent several hours at IKEA. That was my favorite part! While at IKEA, I got 29 white boxes to organize and store my craft stuff. This was important because I recently realized that my craft area...

It is truly amazing the things that can happen in 30 seconds. Here is a 30 seconds snippet from our house today: Cooper climbed into the dishwasher Cooper fell out of the dishwasher Megatron broke (again) Emmy took a diaper out of Cooper's bag Cooper ate the title page of the Book of Mormon Nate brought Megatron to Mom to be fixed Molly got in Nate's way (again) Nate bit Molly Cooper took his diaper away from Emmy Emmy started her 25th temper tantrum for the day Nate started howling because mom was mad at him because he bit the dog Emmy hit Cooper because he took his diaper away from her (still screaming) Cooper started screaming too. Whew. I followed that thirty seconds with 3 minutes locked in the laundry room on the phone to my Mom, thankfully she is past that stage in life and can help me laugh about it. I think I laughed. I may have just been crying. Some days I just don't know what I am doing. And for those of you who can look at those thirty seconds in your life and ...

Saturday mornings the kids and I run into town while Andrew sleeps off another night of work. Here is a sampling of comments that people in the library and stores heard today: "Don't you talk to me that way" "You are NOT choosing the right" "You had better listen to me right this minute" "Get back over here right now, don't make me come after you" And those are just what people heard Nate saying to me! And to top it off, here is an exact transcript of a conversation from dinner tonight: "Mom, why does milk help with spicy stuff?" "Well, it helps things not be so spicy in your mouth..." "Oh, so is that half of Heavenly Father's beautiful plan?" "Yes, Nate, that is 50% of it, right there." And what, you might ask, is the other 50%? If I had to guess, based on other conversations I had multiple times with Nate today, I'd venture a guess that it has something to do with the fact that all bad gu...

Wuv is wat bwings us togever today. Or keeps us together. After 7 years Andrew and I are still happily married. We still wake up next to each other half of the week. We still have nasty morning breath, and kiss anyway. I still nag him to be a sweetie and wipe the seatie when he has sprinkled, and he still nags me to not nag him. He still hugs me when I PMS, and I still hug him back when I PMS, which sometimes I don't want to do. We still snuggle when we watch a movie, and I still shove him away when he doesn't want to let me finish the movie. We still hold hands at Wal -mart, and cuss at each other when we play Mario-cart. He still brings me flowers and I still bring him Reeses . This marriage thing seems to be working out pretty well, I think we'll stick with it a while. Hopefully forever. Andrew is the best hubby for me, and I love him. He is very supportive of me, and tries really hard to be the best dad and husband he can be. He works really hard to support us, and...

Emmy loves cake. Chocolate Cake, with peppermint frosting. Hooray for Christmas Birthdays, right? It's hard to believe a year has past since Emmy was born, the time has flown, and Emmy is so big. She walks, and talks a little. She is a sassy stinker-pants, that recently realized that Nate doesn't listen to me, so why should she. She hides her pacifier so she doesn't go to sleep, and if someone says the word "hello", she puts her hand to her ear to "talk on the phone". She says Momom , and dada and naynay , she also says "hi goggy ". Emmy also mimics things, like when I ask a few times if she is poopy , she'll smile big and say "I poopy !" She also like to say "that funny!" Her walking is borderline on running starting today, and she loves her naynay (Nate) and follows him all over, she'd so anything for him or with him, including letting him knock her over and tickle her. She also loves her goggy . She falls all o...