Ready for a new reality - Week 23



Paul, Eileen, and Dolan Knoblauch, with Henry

Week 23 was our little guy's first "full" week of daycare. I use the quotation marks because for the next four weeks, Laura is only working M/W/Fr. Reggie handles all drop off duties, while Laura picks him up each day. One of Henry's "teachers," Elaine, must think Reggie is a pretty cold hearted parent. Each day during the week Elaine would ask how mom was doing. He would say she was tearing up a bit but doing ok. She would then ask how dad was doing, to which Reggie would just brush it off with a "Oh, it's fine. This is no big deal." I'm sure Elaine was taken aback a bit based on her resulting look.

The 2033 starting 1B for the KC Royals!!!!

Reggie has hit his busiest time of the year for work, so he has been getting home closer to 7pm recently. This is difficult for him, since generally Henry is in bed by 8, and cranky by 7:30. On the days she works, it is especially hard for Laura to not get to see Henry until around 5pm, and to then only have about 3hrs. with him before it is bedtime. It's hard to believe that  on the days Henry is in daycare that his teachers/babysitters spend more waking hours with him than his own parents.

The Knoblauchs came over on Saturday night for a few drinks. It is really cute to see Dolan interact with Henry. He is such a loving boy, so he really likes to go right up to the other baby and hang. In fact, one day at daycare, Henry was crying because he was ready to eat. Dolan crawled over to him and put his head on Henry's chest to comfort him. They live across the street from us, so it was a good chance to see how far our baby monitor's signal reached. Sure enough, when Paul went back home to put Dolan to bed, you could hear him crystal clear as he started reading him a book (Note - Paul turned off the transmitter very shortly afterward, most likely because the book, Cat in the Hat, was a bit above his reading level! :) ).

Developmentally, there have been some things worth discussing. First off, Henry started to be able to sit up on his own! It is only for a few seconds, but still it is awesome! Also, we have been working with both Bella and Henry for a few weeks to get each one comfortable with another. It seems to finally be paying off, as Bella is more and more inclined to sit still or lick Henry while he pets/grabs her. We have also found that sitting on top of Reggie's shoulders is quickly becoming one of Henry's very favorite things to do. It even calms him down when he is fussy most times. Finally, we have apparently reached the point at which the noisy hum of a bustling restaurant no longer will put Henry to sleep. Rather, the noise functions to keep him awake, and make him fussy. We had to learn this the hard way this week!

"Oh God, get him away from me. He keeps pulling out my extensions!"- Bella

Sitting up briefly started this week!

There's nothing wrong with two buddies holding hands!

Laura's earning money again! (Week 22)

Ashley, Ryan, & Reece Lorei with Henry

As discussed briefly in last week's blog, Henry began daycare on Wednesday this week. This was our trial day, and therefore he was only there for a half day before Laura came to pick him up at noon. The "teachers" took various pictures of what Henry did during his time there and made somewhat of a collage for Laura, which made her feel better. Thanks to our wonderful sisters, Henry didn't have to go back the rest of the week. Jen took off Thursday, and Allison took off on Friday to watch the little guy.

Boy do I LOVE (HATE)  the Cardinals!!

30 seconds before mom cried uncontrollably!

Thursday was Laura's first day back to work. It was a bit of a rough morning, complete with a few tears being shed as she said goodbye to her guys. Luckily, her friend Jenny met her immediately upon showing up to do coffee and then to walk her to her new seating area (for those who don't know, Hallmark is a bit like a huge game of musical chairs, whereby they move your specified seating area/work area about once/month it feels like!). Laura didn't have to go too long without seeing Henry as Aunt Jen brought him up for lunch at the Hallmark cafe.  Henry dined with some of Laura's favorite Hallmarkers; Jerrod, Katie, and Emily (at that time still in the running for Henry's number one lady).  According to Laura the anticipation of going back to work was way worse than actually going back.  She definitely missed our little man but enjoyed her $2.50 latte (much to Reggie's dismay, the days of making coffee at home may be over), getting dressed up, and not getting slobbered on all day.  

Bath Time: Rated PG-13 for all you kids out there

Friday night was a guys night since Laura went to happy hour with Elizabeth and Sara to celebrate making it through her first week of work. On Saturday, Reggie was put to work to replace a ceiling fan and the kitchen faucet. Henry was really cute when Reggie was working on the bedroom ceiling fan. Regardless of whether Laura would hold him, or if he was in his exersaucer, he would contort his body to be able to stare at Reggie, and he would just smile as big as he could! Most likely he was laughing because of how long it took Reggie to do each task (he had to go to the hardware store three separate times!).

On Monday, Laura went with her friend April to register for her upcoming baby shower. It is funny how different 6 months makes. Six months ago, Laura knew next to nothing about what a mother would need for a baby, and now she is an expert in my book! Henry was along with them, and this blue hippo caught his eye. Before you knew it, he had it in his mouth, slobbering all over it. Ol' Godmother April bought it for him as a thank you for coming along to register. He played the part of guinea pig for the trip, as April tried out everything on Henry to decide if her baby would like or dislike what she registered for!