Kate Starts Crawling!!!

So Kate has been SO CLOSE to crawling recently!!  I've tried to have my camera on hand wherever and whenever, just in case she decides today is THE day!  And, as luck would have it, today happened to be THE day!!  KATE STARTED CRAWLING TODAY!!!

And I just so happened to be recording the very first time we witnessed it!

First, Kate decides to be silly, but her Mommy knew that she was almost about to crawl, so she kept on filming!!!

Kate's crawling debut!!!  (A little paper incentive never hurt!)

We are so incredibly proud of you, Kate!!!

Very proud Mama!

We love you!!!

Minus the (and B)

We had to say goodbye to our sweet Bunny last week.  Lop eared bunnies typically have a life span of 8-12 years and Bun was just over 11.5 - definitely a Grandpa Bun in bunny years.  He would've been 12 in November.

Over the last several years you could definitely tell Bun was getting older.  He started to develop cataracts and became less and less active than he was back in his heyday.  Over the last several months he had started getting very weak and lethargic and, more recently, had stopped eating and drinking.  It was only a matter of time.

We took Bun in to the vet, said a sweet Bunny prayer, gave him one last pet, and said our goodbyes.  The vet took him back and we drove home minus our infamous (and B).

Bunny.

Bun entered our worlds during Christmas 2001.  Amy, my sister, wanted a pet, and a Bunny arrived for Christmas!

She must've been very good that year!

Shortly thereafter, in 2003, my family moved to England.  I was in college so I was staying here in the states.  If they took Bun with them he would have to be quarantined for six months.  It was much easier for me to be the temporary adoptive Mother to Bunny-Boo while Amy was in England for three years.

The three years turned into five.  Amy grew, Bun grew, I grew, and Marley entered the picture.

10 week old Marl!

Marley and Amy have a special connection,
even to this day!

James and Marley!
These two wee ones are not so wee anymore!

When my family moved back to Maryland from England, Bun had a special place in my heart, Amy was in high school and very active with sports and extra curricular activities and Marley was enjoying his puppy-hood.

Being a temporary adoptive Mother to Bunny became permanent, so Bun stayed with me.

I have so many Bun stories but there's one in particular that will forever hold a special place in my heart: when Brian first met Bun.

Brian had not had the experience of being around many bunny rabbits.  He was not very comfortable in Bun's presence and he was allergic to him.  For the first year of our relationship, we were doing long distance with Brian in Ohio and me in Virginia.  Every time Brian came to visit he stayed with Bun and me, so did his allergy pills.

One time in particular Bun was out of his cage, which he normally was, and Brian starting walking down the hall to the bathroom to shower.  Bun started following him which made Brian very uneasy.  Brian walked faster until he made it safe and sound in the bathroom and closed the door.  That was, at least, until Brian turned around and found Bun opposite of him, staring, already in the bathroom.  That was when I heard, "E!  Bun is in the bathroom.  Come and get him!" 

Obviously, the fact that a grown man is fearful of a cute wittle bunny wabbit already had me cracking up, so the fact that Brian was literally running away from a five pound Bun that was literally chasing him had me doubled over!  I was no help at all!  Well, not until Brian called for help.  I wiped my tears away, walked into the bathroom and scooped Bun up to allow Brian to shower in peace!

This was one of the many reasons Bun became our ornery sidekick!

Every time I think of that story it makes me laugh!  It is one that even we laugh about together now because Brian and Bun really became good buds!  I wouldn't go as far as to call them best friends, but they both came a long way!

He he!

Bun will be cremated per the vet's normal procedure for pets his size and his ashes will be spread among an organic orchard along a river.  I like to believe that he will forever be in Bunny Heaven, romping around with the other bunnies, eating lots of clover, and lounging in the warm sun!  He was a good Bun.  He was a good friend.  And he will truly be missed.  We heart you, Bunny.

Forever in our hearts.

J-E-L-L-O

I've read that at Kate's age a great learning tool is allowing her to explore her sensory skills.  One way of doing that is to explore different textures.  Feeling is her main mode of beginning to understand the world around her right now, well, feeling and tasting, so whatever she can wrap her tiny fingers around gets a thorough examination and then goes directly into her mouth for a bit of gumming.

We've tried to let Kate explore as much as possible and introduce new textures, even the messy ones, in a safe learning environment.  We've made a rice bin and a bean bin that we let her play in while we 100% supervise because those little buggers can end up in one's mouth just too quickly.  Playing with either inevitably leaves rice and/or beans all over the floor, but we are ok with that.  A quick sweep and we are back to a semi-clean floor again.  (I would say clean, but who are we kidding - with two adults, one child, and one dog, clean is a relative term.)

This afternoon we let Kate have a little Jell-O fun!  She got to squeeze it between her fingers, feel it between her toes, and taste it, and we think she loved it!!

It's wiggly! It's wobbly!

It's slimy and green!

It slips on your belly!

And does not keep you clean!

Our Jell-O melted pretty quickly in the afternoon summer heat, so we followed up our Jell-O fun with some much needed bath fun and some patio spray down fun.  It was well worth the mess!

Our Visit with Granddad

My Dad lives in Germany, so we don't get to see him very often.  As a matter of fact, the last time we saw him was in May of 2011 when we took our Europe Trip.  We miss him a lot and the time just goes way to fast to not be seeing each other more.  Lucky for us, he was in San Diego, CA for a conference this year and made a pit stop on his way back to Germany to stay with us for almost a week and meet his very first Granddaughter!

It took Kate a few days to warm up, but she finally did!

I ♥ this.

We haven't been doing a ton other than hanging out together, enjoying some delicious food (thanks, Dad!), and relaxing.  It has been exceptionally hot so far and Brian and I have still had to work for some of his visit, so we're are enjoying our togetherness more than we are sight seeing.  Jack is most definitely enjoying my Dad's stay here.  As a matter of fact, I think Jack believes that my Dad came to visit him and no one else.  This is exactly how Jack feels when Tom, Brian's stepdad, visits too.

We are going to do our best to not make the next visit two years from now.  It is just too long, and a girl needs to see her Dad (and Granddad) more often than that!  For now, we will enjoy the time we have together in Ohio!

Nearly 40

I've joked with Brian since day one about our age difference.  He is six years older than me, so he hits the milestones quite a bit sooner than I do.  Fortunately, I don't think the number of our age really bothers either of us.  It's just a number and we certainly don't feel as old as we are, so we take it with a grain of salt.  We don't let a silly number define us.

It sure is fun to joke about though!  Ever since Brian turned 35 I have joked with him that he is nearly 40.  You see, when Brian turned 35 I was 29, so he would joke with me that I was nearly 30.  Brian, dear, I hate to break it to you but that is not nearly as bad as nearly 40!

Now we are celebrating Brian's 37th birthday!  And that really is nearly 40!

(Disclaimer: we joke in good fun.  Brian is an extremely good sport and has had to deal with said joking since day one of our relationship so this is nothing new to him.  He is also very good at dishing out the jokes.  Plus, I think he likes it when I call him my Silver Fox or Salt and Pepper because of his gray hairs.  I am sure to wake up tomorrow with a full head of gray hair for my joking.)

We even put 37 candles on his cake!

Kate is in deep concentration working on her number and
shape alligator.

She's using her thinking tongue to put two and two together.
(No pun intended.)

All this figuring out how the world works thing wears a girl out!

Finally Mommy has gathered up all of the loot for Daddy.
Now Kate is wondering what on earth those things are
floating next to Mommy...

Lighting all 37 candles!

The birthday boy!

Happy 37th birthday, Brizy!  We love you and your sense of humor!

Garden Bunny

This year we planted tomatoes, red and green bell peppers, banana peppers, cucumber, zucchini, cilantro, and basil in our little backyard garden.  Brian had mentioned possibly spraying an anti-varmint spray (that is not the technical name) around the concrete perimeter of the garden to keep unwanted critters from chowing down on our harvest.  I assured him that our little garden wouldn't need any spraying and that we could keep the unwanted animals out.  We have a wild dog, after all, and that's putting it lightly.  Plus, I am very confident that our harvests will yield plenty of crops even if we share a few with some neighborhood critters!

Now that's a healthy looking garden!

Today while Kate and I were perusing our lot of produce I noticed a wee little bunny, hiding beneath the leaves of our zucchini plant. 

There he is, lounging in the shade of zucchini leaves.

And here's a close up.

There went that whole idea that we'd be able to keep the animals out...Surely Brian will trust me when I tell him that Peter Jr. is not eating any of our zucchini.  Riiiggght.

Dear Bunny Rabbit, for your sake, and mine, just continue
to stay parked beneath that zucchini plant.  What Jack (and
Brian) don't know won't hurt them...

I was taking pictures of the Bunny while Kate was sampling
the green grass.  Yes, I know you are envious of my
parenting skills...

I am hoping that this little rabbit does not wreak havoc on our harvest, but only time will tell.  Shortly after we found said rabbit, we went inside and showed Brian.  I just couldn't keep this from him.  If we did not have somewhere to be, I'm positive Brian would have gone to the hardware store, grabbed some of that tried and true anti-varmint spray and sprayed that concrete perimeter.  Fortunately, for all of our sake's, he didn't have time, and when we returned Peter Jr. had gone on his jolly way!

Stars and Stripes

For Kate's very first fourth of July, we celebrated relatively low key at the ol' homestead.  We attended our local July 4th parade, well part of it before we headed back home for nap time, and lit some sparklers before bed.  We are fortunate enough to live pretty close to where the fireworks are set off, so after Kate was sleeping, Brian and I snuck out back for a little bit and caught some of the really high fireworks!

The Hendu 3.0 at the July 4th Parade!

Just watchin' the bikes ride by!

Celebratin' the United States of People flag.

This photo cracks me up!  Kate says, "Did you see that
people flag?!"

Sparklers!

We looked but did not touch the sparklers.

Happy 4th to you and yours!

Happy Baby

For our normal routine, Brian drops Kate off at daycare and I pick her up.  I typically work 7 am to 4 pm and Brian is more 8 am to 5 pm, so that allows Kate the most sleep in time and the earliest get home time. When Brian is out of town, I take on the drop off and pick up duties which means earlier mornings and longer days.

But these early mornings and longer days don't phase Kate!  This morning while I was gathering her stuff and my stuff for our school and work days I looked down saw this:

Cutie patootie!

She is such a happy girl in the morning!  I am grateful for the time that we have together, but this is the type of image that I remember on those difficult mornings when I'm sitting at my work desk missing my baby girl.  I look forward to our afternoon pick-up every.single.day.

I am glad that Brian gets to revel in all of this Baby Love in the am!  How can you not have a good day if you start it off like this!?

We ❤ you, Kate!  Our darling happy baby!!

Chasing Fireflies

After seeing lightening bugs in our backyard, I was recently taken back to a moment about a month before our wedding.  Brian and I took Jack for a walk in Goodale Park.  We were set to be married there.  We also wanted to see what the temperature / atmosphere / lighting / etc. was like at the time of our wedding.  We got married later in the day.  Our ceremony started at 7 pm.

We walked around the park, and as the sun went down, the lightening bugs came out.  Thousands of them.  There were more lightening bugs than I have ever seen anywhere.  Everywhere you looked there were twinkling fireflies by the hundreds.  I could've sat in that park for hours simply watching the glinting lights.  It was completely magical in every sense of the word and it was a moment that I can remember like it was yesterday.

While reliving that memory, I also relived the emotion of the time.  The excitement we felt right before our wedding, the promise of happiness and the prospect of the future are all emotions that spark when I reminisce about that night.  Everything was so much simpler then.

I wouldn't trade places with myself now to go back to that time.  I love Kate and have enjoyed being a Mom more than anything in this world.  The thing is, I've yet to find a good balance between working, being a Mom, being a wife, being a daughter, sister, friend, etc.  You fill in the blank.

Sometimes it feels like rather than being good at anything, I am simply failing at everything.  I can't seem to figure out how to balance everything.  I sacrifice time on a daily basis and that always involves my time or time allotted for making dinner or cleaning.  But then I wake up the next day feeling even more behind then yesterday.  It is a vicious cycle.

I see parents at work every single day that seem to be managing just fine.  I see parents at Kate's daycare that certainly have it all figured out.  Certainly I can figure it out too, right?  I just haven't seemed to be able to grasp what and how to efficiently spend my time during the day to successfully get the things done that are important to me (working out, taking a relaxing bath occasionally, perhaps reading a book) and the things that I want to do (blog, videos, husband time) and the things that have to get done (dinner, cleaning, next day preparations) and be a Mom (Kate, Jack, and Bun time). 

I just don't understand how it is done.  Recently, at the end of every day, I come to one conclusion: there is just not enough time in the day.  And it is FLYING by.  It makes me sad how fast the time is going by.  And I'm just sitting here, day in and day out, doing everything that I can to get by.  And I only have one kid!  How do people do it with more than one kid??  I am so, so confused because I will absolutely forego dinner completely to hang out with Kate.  But when Kate needs dinner, that won't be an option...

When I think of the night right before our wedding where the fireflies twinkled by the thousands and the atmosphere seemed to sparkle, I am reminded about how much love and emotion being a Mom has created.  I think of taking Kate there to experience magic in its truest form, to experience a surreal and breathtaking night, and to cherish that unearthly feeling.

I know I will strike a balance somehow.  I have to, right?  There are millions of people in the world that do exactly what I am doing and more.  I know it is possible.  I just don't know how to get there.  I just don't know how to get back to that moment - that carelessness of chasing fireflies - where you've not a worry in the world and can enjoy the moment.

I have got to figure this out.

Just Be

When Brian and I first started our blog, we named it Just BE and B.  Just BE and B stood for Just Brian, Erin, and Bun, those were the only members of our little family, but it was also a reminder to just be.  Just be proud, just be funny, just be original, just be happy, just be yourself...just be.

Now that we have added to the family, our blog title has changed to Just BE and K (and B) (and J) including Kate and Jack, but the premise is still the same - just be.  Just be who you are.  That's it.  Plain and simple.

Since we developed our blog and title, I always thought of how if we ever had a company Just BE would be a great name!  (Depending on the product, obviously.)  You see, the types of companies that I have thought of offer more creative, capturing who you are, just being yourself types of services.  It wasn't until this past May that the opportunity really presented itself to allow Just Be to shine.

Let me explain.

Ever since I was in high school I have had an interest in film making and videography.  (In the most innocent way for all of you that were not thinking innocent thoughts...)  My friends and I would video tape each other making music videos, commercials, goofing off, and just being ourselves.  (Those tapes still exist out there, unfortunately.  There are, however, very few VHS players anymore, fortunately...)  Why I did not go to school for this subject baffles me, but it is what it is, I guess.

I asked for some video editing software a couple years ago with the intention of getting involved.  Flying for a little bit and seeing where this passion takes me.  Perhaps finding my way in some form or another.

In addition to starting a video of Kate when she was born (I have yet to finish that one...), last month I had the amazing opportunity to capture two of Brian's nieces accepting their First Communion.  This month I had another amazing opportunity to capture Brian's cousin graduating from high school.

You can see them both here: www.justbeproductions.net or click on the links below:


Courtney & Gina's First Communion from Erin Hendricks on Vimeo.


Mallory's High School Graduation from Erin Hendricks on Vimeo.

And so enters Just Be Productions.  A life film company capturing life's candid moments.  Now, before I go any further, let me preface that we are still in the very early stages of...everything...so please excuse things that are still not what/where they need to be.  I have yet to secure a paying gig, which is fine by me.  I would rather low pressure for now!  But it is all very exciting!

I love being able to film, capture and edit people as they are.  Just as they are meant to be.  And I absolutely love being creative, so this is really a great mix!

Stay tuned for updates!!  Feedback/constructive criticism are all welcome!  And, of course, like us on Facebook if you want!