Week One - The journey begins again

Boy, what a difference a couple of years makes. Since 2010, St. Luke's had renovated its Mother-Baby wing. Gone were the vinyl couches which you may or may not have been able to see the couch frame through holes in them, and in came very nice couches in which the back cushion folded out into a bed "mattress" for Reggie. I put 'mattress' in quotes because my hip felt like it suffered hairline fractures each night I laid on it!

Aubrey has immediately taken to nursing well, which is night-and-day different from HBo, who took over a week to get it. And, boy, does that girl eat! Reggie has lovingly nicknamed her 'Big Gulp' based off the sounds she makes. Laura continues to be overwhelmed with the idea that she truly does have a daughter. Occassionally, you can catch her tearing up while looking at the various outfit choices she can now make!



Ready to leave the hospital!!!

On the last day in the hospital, Reggie apparently caught a stomach bug. Not wanting to get Aubrey or Laura sick, he was essentially banished to the basement for the better part of two days. Luckily, Aunt Jen and Aunt Allison were able to come by and pick up the slack! It's been said before, but we sure are blessed to have our sisters in town with us.



Henry has really taken to having a baby sister, as you can see by the pictures. He commonly refers to Aubrey as "his baby," and wakes up each morning wanting to see "his baby" and give her hugs and kisses. At night, he really likes to hold her for a bit. For as destructive and rambunctious as he can be, he is surprisingly gentle with Aubrey.



One happy big brother!



As expected, Aubrey had lots of visitors throughout the week, both in the hospital and at our home. Grandpa Rick has already started to jockey to obtain the "#1 person to be around" status that he currently holds with Henry (yes, that's right, Henry would rather be around Papa Rick than his own parents).





Papa Rick and Grandma Rosie



Mimi and Papa Craig





Grandma Janith and Aubrey



Aunt Allison and her tired niece



Jennifer Leigh and Aubrey Leigh



 





  







  

Introducing Aubrey Leigh Bogart

The new and improved Bogarts!

 

April 2, 2013 will go down as the day in which Laura's prayers were answered. We had scheduled an induction for our to-be second child. Similar to 'induction day' with Henry, Laura got up early so she could get ready as if she were going to work (which I guess, in a way, she was :) ). As is the Bogart way, we were running behind. We were to be at the delivery room around 7:30am. At 8:00, we had just gotten to the Plaza, and still needed to drop off Henry at daycare, so Laura had to be dropped off on her own to start the process while Reggie ran Henry over to daycare. Trying to score some points, Reggie arrived at the delivery room with a latte for Laura, since there is a lot of down time before anything really gets going in an induction. Unbeknownest to him, however, apparently you cannot have coffee the day you are giving birth. So Laura's loss was nurse Kim's gain!

Last belly shot - fully baked

This time around we were pretty locked in on our name choices. We knew if it was a girl that the middle name would be 'Leigh,' after Laura's sister Jen. We had two first names at the ready depending on what she looked like. With no need to endlessly scour the naming websites before the labor process got going, our morning was pretty boring. Reggie made the mistake of making this observation audibly to Laura, who shot him a snarky response right back!

Labor was both much harder and much easier this time around. Laura had issues getting her epidural to take to both sides of her body, which caused some immense pain until they were able to get it all fixed. On the flip side, the pushing was much easier this time around. The doctor was called, and immediately asked if Reggie was ready to call the sex. Literally 8 minutes later, Aubrey made her grand appearance! Laura wouldn't believe Reggie when he announced it twice. It took Dr. Schieber actually showing Aubrey to her to convince her that yes, indeed, she had her girl. She was an absolutely perfect and beautiful 7lbs, 8oz. and 19.5" long. Lucky for us, she was also immediately into eating, unlike her brother. As the family came in to meet our little girl, Reggie immediately started to look to see what the going rate was for a pint of blood as a way to keep up with Laura's projected spending :)

We had Henry meet Aubrey on his own first, and as he entered the delivery room he started singing 'Happy Birthday.' He was singing it to Laura, but, whatever, it is the thought that counts! We then had him announce to the family sitting out in the waiting room the sex of the baby. It was a perfect day.

Holiday Fun in the Lou

Every year, we head to St. Louis for Christmas a few days early. This affords us the opportunity to catch up with a number of friends who live in town, as well as those coming into town from around the country. On the Thurs. before Christmas, we went over to our friend Heidi's parent's home to visit. As you can see in the picture below, Aunt Hues came to STL with a toy for Henry, which immediately endeared him to her :) The highlight for Henry had to have been when he stumbled upon a large inflatable exercise ball that I guess Heidi was using to do her morning jazzercize routines. Anyways, Henry loved pushing that ball all over Nancy's house!

Aunt Hues with H Bo

On Christmas Eve, Laura and all her high school friends got together for lunch. Henry and Jack, April's son, got passed around amongst all the women of course!


P-South!



Two brothers from different mothers



On Friday, we went with the Andersons to the Anheuser-Busch brewery tour. In addition, Jen's friend Meg*** was also in town and went with us. Henry particularly loved getting into a truck that was on display in the lobby. While he was in it, he simultaneously would goat the other tour patrons to come up to the truck to 'fist bump' him. On the tour, Henry only really cared about 1) the Clydesdales, 2) the dalmations in the Clydesdale's stable, and 3) running from person to person trying to give fist bumps while the guide told us about the barley, malt, and yeast that went into the AB beers! If you can't tell, giving fist bumps is one of H Bo's favorite things (he has even taught everyone in his daycare how to fist bump).

***While in town through Christmas Eve, Meg certainly did her best to make a run for the title of 'Henry's girlfriend.' She watched cartoons on the couch with him, made him meals, and bought him a present. It was noted that Emily (current title-holder) did none of this. :)

Henry's favorite thing



Grandma and Grandpa A with the little guy

Plaza Lights

It is a KC tradition that the city flips the switch on the Plaza Christmas lights on Thanksgiving night as part of a large party. After our Thanksgiving dinner with the Andersons and Grandpa Bogart, we all decided to head down to take in the festivities. Henry didn't get too into it, other than when the fireworks started to go off. There were also a number of small kids in attendance for Henry to gawk at. As expected, for about 95% of the time we were there, no one but Grandpa Bogart was allowed to hold Henry. The other 5% of the time was only because Grandpa's shoulders would finally need a break! Henry would just cry until Grandpa could take him back. In fact, it got so ridiculous, that when we tried to take pictures with Henry, Grandpa B had to either stand behind the camera, or hide from Henry's sight!


Ready to go - sorry about the hat!!!

 

Yes, Grandpa Bogart is over the cameraman's left shoulder!



This was the embodiment of the night

Grandpa A and H Bo watching the fireworks.

Fall Fun

 This past fall, we all packed up and went to St. Louis. While we were there, we went by Forest Park to take some shots of Henry playing in the leaves. Here are a few of our favorite ones!

One Year Photo Shoot

Henry's one year photo shoot in Forest Park didn't go exactly as planned.  It was hot and humid day in August and it rained on us, but somehow Stephen managed to get some amazing shots of our little guy!  Note there are no pics of mom & dad,  Laura's hair doesn't handle humidity all too well so those shots will never see the light of day. :) As you can see, Henry wasn't real into his birthday cake.  I don't think any of it actually made it into his mouth!