News from Newark

Thanks everyone for the calls and birthday wishes last weekend for Henry. We enjoyed a really fun birthday celebration with the Pages, Melissa, and Andrew. We had them over to our place for a bbq lunch and birthday cupcakes on Sunday. Henry was absolutely delighted the whole day... must have been from of all the new toys or his first bite of real cake (with lots of sugar - yum!) or the oodles of love & attention he was smothered with :). We were really thankful to have some friends nearby to celebrate with us as I've been slow to meet other moms with kiddos Henry's age. I can't believe my little baby is already a toddler!!!

Henry and I joined in on our first moms group last week (through meetup.com) and we've been to 2 events so far - a teddybear picnic and today wading in the baby pool at Newark Community park. The group usually meets 2 - 3 times a week and there are a handful of babies close in age to Henry. I'm excited about it - the outings so far have been pretty fun. The moms, although a bit younger than me, are all very sweet and friendly. Henry gets along well with the other babies. Next week we're signed up to attend a swimming event and a "messy" party - I think where all the kids get messy, thank goodness at someone elses house ;).

The not-so-good news of the week is that Louis was diagnosed with shingles (or poison ivy - he's still not convinced that it's shingles, he's going back to the doctor to get a second opinion today). In any case, it's a very, very painful rash (poor Louis!) and it's made for long days for me since Mr. Shingles can't help with feeding or bedtime routines (in case he passes chicken pox to Henry). Both the boys are pretty bummed they can't hang out together. Please pray for a speedy recovery for Louis (and that Henry doesn't get the chicken pox)!

We hope the camping trip was a blast!!! Please post pictures - especially of the new boat out on the water :)! We were sad to miss it... hopefully we can make it next summer!

Lots of love,

Shannon