Halloween (written by the regular author)

After bestowing the honor of 'blog scribe' on the last post's guest writer, and seeing the lies that came out of that post, I have taken back all script duties. Not to spend too much time on last week's garbage post, but it should be noted that Henry is now regularly putting on his dad's KC ROYALS hat (not his Cardinals cap that his mom forces in his face every 5 minutes :) ). Additionally, Henry will attend no less than 15 Royals games/year as he grows up, and maybe one Cardinals game. So I will let you the reader make the decision as to what team Henry will be a fan of! If I were you, I would equate the 'guest post' to that of reading the National Enquirer.

On to this post. Laura and Aunt Jen made the decision that Henry would be a spider, and Bella would be a squirrel (since she loves to chase/cry/bark at them). On the Saturday before Halloween, we took Henry over to our friends the Lorei's for their annual Halloween bash. Henry's buddy Jack was there, and came as a very scary tiger! Henry loved the cookies Ashely had made, taking down three before dad decided that he had had enough night time sugar.

Watch out for this tiger and spider!

Henry's spider head was short lived!

 On Halloween, Laura and Aunt Jen got the 'kids' dressed, and took them over to Laura's friend Elizabeth's house for a party, while Reggie and Grandpa Bogart went to the Chiefs game. Laura loaded up Bella and Henry into his two-seater wagon, and they headed off to the party five blocks away. Henry loved his costume, and got a kick out of using the spider legs as his clubs to hit on stuff, including Bella. Bella was so dejected, she didn't even move when Henry hit her. Talk about some serious depression! Henry also loved getting candy. He hasn't grasped fully how it all works - he kept trying to eat it with the wrapper on :)

Bella: "Oh gosh, here we go again"
Henry: "You look weird Bella"

Our family - Bella hates life

Henry and Ned - Ned went as the car from Dumb and Dumber!

Time to find some candy

How much longer to I have to wear this

Here Bella, have this Apple Crusher - You'll feel better!

Henry's team wins the WORLD SERIES!!!!!

Back in the Lou soaking in 11 in 11!!!!!!!

 As many of you know we are a house divided, mom a Cardinals fan, dad a Royals fan.  So we left the decision up to Henry as to which team he would call his own.  The choice was obvious to him go with a winning organization full of rich tradition and the best fans in baseball or the Royals.  Henry wasn't around the last time the Cards won the world series but he thinks it's super cool that they won the night before mom and dad's wedding!!!! He's looking forward to a life time of games at Busch stadium and hopes to meet Fredbird and the Clydesdales one day soon.

Cheering the Redbirds on to victory in Game 7!!!

Jack & Henry- a new generation of Cards fans!!!

Say good-bye to the Wendy's Girl- First Haircut

After 14 months, Henry's hair had finally gotten too long around the sides and back. Reggie and Laura had started to liken him to how the Wendy's girl looks from the back! Laura's girlfriend Elizabeth offered to cut little Henry's hair, so we took her up on it! Afterwards, he really looked like a big boy! Thanks Elizabeth!!!!

What are you doing back there!?!

Make sure you blend it just right. I don't want a bowl cut!

New and improved!!!

All by myself

Over the last couple of weeks, Henry has become increasingly against having someone feed him with the spoon. He now wants to take it on by himself. You just have to make sure you are holding whatever he is trying to scoop out of, or else it ends up on the floor. Reggie tries to get him to choke up on the spoon to make it easier, but so far we haven't had any real success :) 

Mmmm, it is so much better to feed yourself!!!!

And I wash it down with an Apple Crusher!

Deanna Rose Pumpkin Patch

While we were in Nashville, Aunt Jen and her friend Meg took off on that Friday to take the little guy out to the Deanna Rose pumpkin patch/farm. Here are some pics from their trip:

Meg and Henry - Could we have a new girlfriend debate brewing?

Peek-a-boo!

Which pumpkin to pick!!!

I'm not certain what is going on; can I eat this stuff?

I have either found my pumpkin, or am going to the bathroom - you guess which!

Meg and Henry feeding Aunt Jen :)

Plaza Art Fair with Aunt Jen and the Gang- September

In September, Mom and Dad left town to go to Nashville to celebrate the 30th birthdays of Laura and some of her other close girlfriends/hens. Aunt Jen traded off with Aunt Allison and Grandma Janith with Henry-watching duties. Aunt Jen, along with her friends Chris, Meg, and Sara, all took Henry down to the Plaza Art Fair that Saturday night. For whatever, reason, this weekend was when Henry officially decided that he was pretty much done with crawling. It was like we came back from Nashville to a different baby!

Here are some pics from their outing:

Henry and his Ex

No pictures, please!

Waiting for his ride (pulling up on the right side of the shot)

Henry and Meg

Give me a high-five, we made it!!! - Week 52

What a difference a year makes!!!!!

It's hard to believe how fast this has happened. In what seems like a blink of an eye, Henry is 1! His birthday was Wednesday, and Laura and Reggie took the day off to spend with our little guy. The weather was beautiful, so we went on a long walk, followed by a couple of hours at the pool. After a long nap, we took him to BRGR, along with Aunt Jen, for his birthday dinner. As much as the guy hates veggies, he loves french fries! The restaurant even gave him ice cream with strawberry syrup at the end. Even more than the meal, he was enamored with the guy that brought his three kids that were all under the age of 5 (including one infant). On a side note, how that guy did it, I don't know. He deserves a medal. Henry just stared at his kids the whole second half of dinner.

Mmmmmmmm!

What, no more ice cream?!?!

Mom and Dad went to the Keith Urban concert on Friday with the Lorei's & Jenni Payne, while Grandma and Grandpa Anderson (who were in for Henry's b-day party) watched Henry for the night. Unfortunately for us, there was a large storm that must have woke Henry up at 5:00am. He was not going to go back down. Reggie stumbled downstairs to make a bottle, while Laura headed to the bathroom for aspirin before getting Henry :). Luckily, Grandma woke up about 6:15 and asked if we wanted her to take him, to which we said yes in our most relieved voice. I think that is the last concert we go to prior to a major child event.

Saturday was the big party. We had a number of Henry's friends and their parents over, along with all our family. Laura was able to borrow an inflatable waterslide from a friend at work. Luckily, it stopped raining about an hour before the party began so the kids were able to enjoy it. Laura and Grandma Anderson did all the decorations, and Laura's friend Jenny Thompson created a number of things for the party as well. The place looked amazing once Laura forced Reggie to move all our furniture on the bottom level of the house to the garage. As expected, Henry wasn't really into opening gifts. He would just get fixated on a particular gift and play with it as mom and dad opened gifts. He was particularly interested in a pushable hot rod from Laura's friends Sara and Elizabeth. Since his party, that hot rod has replaced the stroller as Henry's go-to vehicle for family walks around the neighborhood.



Really mom????

Too spoiled!

At cake time, Henry wanted nothing to do with it and started to cry. While his mouth was open mid-cry, Reggie stuck some cake in his mouth. Once he figured out that it was tasty, he started to plow through the thing. Eventually, Laura had to stop him for fear of what the future might bring (sickness, diaper destruction). Plus, you shouldn't swim/go down the waterslide on a full stomach!

Very timid at first.......

Knocking back some cake!

Developmentally, Henry has set a new record for walking. He is up to 12 steps. Also, he has learned to high-five. He thinks it is really cool, and shoots you an ear-to-ear smile each time he does it. At his 1-year checkup, Henry's weight is 20lbs, 15oz (25th percentile), height is 29.5"(50th percentile), and noggin size is 18.75"(50th percentile).

Henry's new favorite toy - He loves to go cruisin'