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!

Daycare looms.......... (Week 21)

Adam, Christa, and Henry

This week brought with it the Henry's impending attendance at daycare. As you might imagine, the Bogart household was not a calm one throughout the week! I'm not going to tell you that Laura cried a lot during the week (but she did). His first day was to be Tuesday, but Laura took advantage of a big snow on Monday to excuse him from attendance! Upon Reggie saying it was up to her, it took all of about 0.00005 seconds for her to say, "He will stay home then!." Laura and Jen took the day as an opportunity to break out the exersaucer that we received as a shower gift. He absolutely loves sitting in it. I would imagine it is because there are lots of things for him to slobber all over. He did make it to daycare on Wed. Here are some pics of his daycare, exersaucer, and Jerrod, who came to visit during the week as well.

What do I love more, my exersaucer or my hand????

Henry loves Jerrod's beard. Probably b/c his dad can't grow one!

On Sunday, Reggie had received Chiefs playoff tickets from his work, so he and Laura went to the game while Aunt Jen and Henry's NEWLY CROWNED girlfriend Sara babysat at the house and watched movies. Forgetting the fact that the game got out of hand, it was really fun for the two of us to be able to get away for a few hours.

Developmentally, Henry is sleeping much better now, but has started flipping onto his stomach to sleep for some reason. This makes us a bit uneasy based upon what we have heard about how your baby is supposed to sleep on its back, but there is no stopping this kid! Also, he has developed a great need for us to hold his hand as he goes to sleep. It definitely warms your heart when he does that. Also, we found out that 1) you can scare a baby, and 2) babies don't like to be scared! While Laura was holding Henry, Jen jumped out from around a wall, which immediately frightened him and led to some substantial crying! Upon arriving home from work, Reggie kicked Jen out of the house :) Finally, he is getting good at grabbing things and bringing them to him (to be placed in his mouth). He will even bend over if he needs to to be able to reach something.

Our kids. Love that he was putting his arm around Bella!

Happy New Year! - Week 20

The Jerrys - Stef, Tim, and Ella

The week between Christmas and New Years is always great, because work isn't too difficult (if you even have to go) and you have a chance to get some random things accomplished. This was certainly true for the Bogart clan. Reggie took off on Wednesday from work. No, not to lick the wounds of yet another installment of "Mizzou Disappointment Theater," but so that we could make a Will. We went up to Liberty to meet Reggie's friend Joe Gagnon to get it set up, followed by dinner with his family. You know, making a Will makes you realize a few things, such as "I must be getting old to make one of these" and "sorry Henry your inheritance isn't larger, but mom really needed those leggings" :)  Anyways, it was pretty painless, and was great to see Joe and his family. Their oldest son, Max, is apparently a Star Wars expert. He kept asking Reggie throughout the dinner if he knew who various characters were!

Happy New Year!

Elizabeth and our guy

This was definitely the most chill New Year's Eve we have experienced. We went over to Laura's friend Elizabeth's home at 4:30 for a very kid-friendly celebration. Everyone in attendance had a child under the age of 5 I think. Around 7, we went over to Dave and April Sifford's home for a nice dinner, dominoes, and football. Henry could only make it until around 10, at which point we put him down on a bed upstairs. Overall, it was as fun as any other year when we have gone out on the town! We even stayed out until 1:30am!

"Godmother April's belly is getting bigger!"

Mac, Henry, and Ned at Elizabeth's

The next morning, as you might expect was slow going. Laura's cousin Kristy was to come over for breakfast. on NYE, Laura had texted her to just call once she was up and going since we would be up so much earlier. NOT! Thanks to some very good sleeping by our little guy, we didn't get out of bed until about 11:15. And guess what, Kristy had already called us twice! So we rushed around and did "breakfast" at noon. Kristy is an avid cook and photographer, so Laura and Jen got lots of tips on both subjects during her visit. Laura even ended up making her guacamole later that night (which was great)! Her and Henry really got along great, and I'm sure it made Aunt Colleen (her mom) very jealous.

Kristy and Henry

After a night of partying, a guy needs a coffee!

That night, our friends Adam and Christa came over for dinner and drinks. It was a short night considering how late we were up, and how late they were up on NYE (4am). We hadn't been able to hang out with them for a little over a month, so it was great to be able to catch up! Unfortunately for them, Henry was tuckered out from all the partying as well, and spent most of the night sleeping! 

Christa and Henry

Maybe he will be a race car driver. Get 'er done!

Developmentally, Week 20 can also be dubbed as 'Great Switch' week, since we are officially trying to switch Henry over to formula bottles. We are doing this now for a number of reasons 1) We want to fully transition him to formula by 6 months, 2) It won't be very feasible to make enough real stuff once Laura is back to work, and 3) Nursing is getting old! Also this week, Henry has really mastered the art of rolling over from front to back, and vice-versa. Therefore, we are no longer using the winged sleep sacks for him when he goes to bed. This has caused a small hiccup in his overnight sleeping, in that he has been waking up more frequently (we assume he flails his arms and hits himself, which wakes him up). It is also funny to watch his progression in and around the crib once he is down. For whatever reason, that boy loves to make his way over to a bumper during the night! We think it is because he loves to feel the felt on the tree on the bumper, but who knows. Additionally, he will essentially make a circle around the crib during the night, both in spinning himself around and in getting over to every bumper!

Henry and Bella are getting along better each week. We have continued to try and get him to pet her almost every day. At first Bella wanted nothing to do with that game. She would just lick him and then back away. She is now letting him touch/grab her some and will sit there and lick his hand or face.

He does this a lot now. He likes to try and chew on his feet!

Sarah, Ben, and Ned Wilson

Dave practicing for his own in April

Henry's 1st Christmas! (Week 19)

The Laffertys (Chalice, Matt, Lola, Annie) and Henry

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!

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 :)

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!

Aunt Dana and Uncle Pat

Henry and Santa (a.k.a. Uncle Tim)

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!

Mmmmm, presents!

This year's hats!

Grandma and Santa's Little Helper

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.

Boy do I hate the Cards!

Merry Christmas from the Bogarts!!!!!

The Great Girlfriend Debate/Catfight

(Note: As you read this, you need to be playing Rocky's 'Eye of the Tiger' in your head to fully enjoy this post)

Due to aforementioned hostilities that Henry has been experiencing amongst his ladies, he has decided to become a one-woman guy. Thus, he needs your help! Read below and vote on the poll as to who he should choose! One thing is certain....the guy likes blondes!

Sara and Henry (Week 13ish)

VS

Emily and Henry (Week 3ish)

Name: Sara Condreay

Hamburger Mary's

Hometown: Cornshuck, Nebraska
Height: 5'7"
Weight: No woman discloses this information; N/A
Job/Way to support Henry: Commerce Bank M-F; Barnum and Bailey Circus Clown Sa-Su.
Relationship events to date:
Pro:

• One breakfast with Henry; three total visits to the house
• Went on a dinner date with him to Hamburger Mary's (complete with drag queen)
• One night meeting out at Kona Grill (though that could be construed as spying)
• Actively defends her claim as Girlfriend #1

Cons:

• Potentially spying on Henry's activities with other girls (ask Chalice Lafferty)
• She's from Nebraska
• Visits are becoming more sporadic, focusing more on phone check-ups
• Occassionally gets a little mouthy with Henry's Dad
• Already buying Henry pajamas, which seems a bit forward for a 4 month old!

Check out my Polo PJ's - Thanks Sara!

Dinner date!

Emily Kinder
Hometown: Flyover, Indiana
Height: 5'8"
Weight: No woman discloses this information; N/A
Job/Way to support Henry: Hallmark Cards M-F; Mascot for Liberty Tax Services Sa-Su. (you know, those people that dress up like the Statue of Liberty and stand on the side of the road)
Pros:

• Two dinner dates at the house; three total visits
• Has the "bounce" that calms Henry down
• Lots of baby experience from nephews/nieces
• Doesn't call Henry's dad at 3am to push her out of the snow (in front of a driveway!)
• Finds Reggie's juvenile humor somewhat funny (or at least says that to his face)
• Taught Henry's parents how to use the carseat without using the base
• Brought Henry's mom (and thus Henry) lots of treats while she was pregnant

Cons:

• Not a KC sports fan (prefers Horse to Indian)
• No carseat, so Henry has to be driven "Brittany Spears style"
• Peyton Manning will always be her true love