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| The Laffertys (Chalice, Matt, Lola, Annie) and Henry |
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| Having fun with Grandpa! |
As the title implies, this week was filled with tons of Christmas activities. We started off heading over to St. Louis on Wednesday night for all of Laura's family events. Henry slept the whole drive, so when we arrived around 10:30 that night, he was all set to stay up and watch a big MU win over Illinois! (we really didn't force/try to get him to stay up through the game, he just decided he wasn't tired; so no need to call child services :) ). Maybe he can be the good luck charm for another MU sports streak!
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| Learning to share....thanks Ella!!! |
On Thursday, Laura took the little man to her dentist's office with Jen. Everyone at their office absolutely loved him, and of course he ate it up. This visit included Henry's first dental check for incoming teeth (there were none, of course!). We were able to meet up with Reggie's friend Stefanie and her husband Tim and daughter Ella (they will be featured on the Week 20 post). That night, Laura and Reggie left Henry with Grandma Kathy and headed out on the town with Laura's friends Heidi and Leah (they were previously featured on the blog). It is so odd now when we go out and he isn't there. On one hand, it is so nice to not have any "baby" responsibilities for a little bit, but on the other hand you continually keep thinking about him - what he is doing, if he being fussy, has he blown through his outfit, etc. When we got back, we found out that Grandma had stayed up until 12:30am holding him while he slept :)
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| Just loungin'. Being cute is hard work! Now where's my margarita! |
On Christmas Eve we received an early present......SNOW! It snowed about 3-4 inches, which made everything perfect for Henry's first Christmas. That afternoon, we all loaded up and headed to church. Laura insisted on having Henry wear a buccaneer (skull and swords) stocking hat. You know, nothing represents the birth of Christ like attire that says, "Give me your booty, swashbuckler!" Plus, I think in the book of Leviticus, it talks about Jesus' pirate days....... Anyways, Henry was in no mood for sitting still for an hour, so Reggie ended up having to walk around in the lobby for about 1/2 of the service. When we were seated, there were two little girls behind us that were probably 4 or 5 years old. They would keep moving around so they could see his face and wave at him. It was really cute!
After church, we went to Laura's Aunt Pam's for her extended family Christmas (called 'Kirnaka'). It was the first time for Laura's Uncle Pat and Aunt Dana to meet the little guy (they are from Baltimore). Dana is originally from Kentucky, and has never lost her twang. As you can see in the picture, it was a bit confusing for our guy. I think he was trying to determine if it was English he was hearing :) An annual highlight of Kirnaka is the singing of "The 12 Days of Kirnaka," sang by all the cousins. It is a recap of anything of note that happened to family members during the year, and includes various props. One of the "days" in this year's song was 'one maid of milking' featuring Laura and her pump! Overall, Henry did good for a little bit, but went south quickly right as it was time to open gifts so Reggie had to take him into another room to try and get him to sleep (which only kind of worked). Luckily, pretty much everyone in the family got to hold him prior to that point - sorry Colleen!
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| Aunt Dana and Uncle Pat |
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Henry and Santa (a.k.a. Uncle Tim)
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Christmas morning was great as always, and Henry absolutely cleaned up. He got lots of clothes, puzzles, toys, etc. However, as you would guess, he had no idea what was going on. But, boy did those ribbons and boxes taste good! After brunch, we headed back to KC to do Christmas with Reggie's sister and mom. As you can see in the pics, it has become a bit of a family tradition with Reggie's mom for everyone to wear funny looking hats while they open their gifts. Unfortunately for them, Henry's schedule was so messed up by the time we got back to KC that he was pretty fussy for most of the time we were all together. Luckily, Grandma Janith got Henry some work stations that played music and lit up, so that consumed him for about an hour. It was just too bad we had to listen to those kiddie songs throughout our gift opening!
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| Mmmmm, presents! |
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| This year's hats! |
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| Grandma and Santa's Little Helper |
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| Coolest Book Ever! Each page progressively spells his name! |
There weren't any big developmental accomplishments this week. Henry has continued to discover his feet, and loves that he can just about get them into his mouth. Actually, in general, anything that can go into his mouth is now seen as "cool" in his book.
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| Boy do I hate the Cards! |
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| Merry Christmas from the Bogarts!!!!! |
