Preview of Henry's 6 month photo shoot

From the minute I stepped into little Henry's house it was just a completely laid back and happy environment...which makes for a completely laid back and happy baby!  Henry is such an expressive little guy, and such a sweetheart...I couldn't get over his sweet grin and little expressions.  He just melted my heart.  His parents were equally as wonderful...even if they are Missouri fans :)  All of this made for a wonderful session, and a fun morning with a sweet baby boy.  Enjoy your preview!

Henry was even happy as his dad dressed him...now that is a happy baby!

So sad the picture on the left is out of focus, but I had to post it...it's just too funny.

Ahh...love these so much

Hey, look...I'll even pose for you.  6 month old rockstar.

Still posing...such a stud.

If this doesn't make you smile, I'm not sure what will.

Some details from his gorgeous nursery done by his momma.

All of these windows are just heavenly...I want a room like this so bad...it is just awesome for a nursery.  I'd be smiling all the time if I lived in a room with all of these windows, too! :)

Love this shirt!

Week 28 Happenings

Scot, Gavin, Anna, Jamie Stottlemyre, & Henry

This was a pretty tame week for Henry. The highlight was on Saturday when Reggie took him to 810 Zone on the Plaza to watch the K-State/Mizzou game with Dave and Vic. Henry was awesome and very playful. He seemed to like the noise of the game, and REALLY liked Reggie's napkin, utensils, glass, really anything within 2 feet of his reach :)

While the boys were watching the game, Laura and her 'hens' attended a baby shower for April on the Plaza. Once it was over, the boys were summoned to come over for two reasons: 1) So Dave could carry/load all the stuff, and 2) so the hens could all pass Henry around. Though he hadn't had a nap yet, he was able to pull it together for 30 minutes and just smile and squeak! It was pretty funny how when the guys showed up, Henry was immediately snatched from Reggie. Then, Reggie, Vic, and Dave were essentially relegated to the corner of the room by the coffee (which was great for Dave, who made himself a Big Gulp!) and not paid any attention to until everyone was ready to leave the restaurant.

Book Club Girls & Future Baby Sifford

Shower Hostesses & the momma-to-be

We continue to introduce new solids into Henry's diet. This week featured zucchini and pears. I don't understand why, but that kid loves zucchini! So far, he has been a relatively clean eater, though he does eventually love to try and grab the spoon as you are putting it in his mouth, which of course starts the process of dirtying up stuff. We have learned that 'solids time' is to be quickly followed with 'bath time.'

No more pears on me!

Henry is sleeping very well both at daycare and at home now. At daycare, he will now nap about 1 and 1/2 hours each day. At home, he is finally making it through the night! We can officially put him down at 8:30 or so and pretty much guarantee he will sleep until 6:30am. What a relief!

Girlfriend dustup! - Week 27

Monic and Henry

It happens each and every time, yet guys never learn - a guy tries to play two women at the same time, and at some point the two women's paths cross and he is caught. This week was Henry's version of this episode. On Sunday, Laura and Jenni hosted a CABI party (this is an at-home clothes-peddaling party, think Tupperware but with overpriced fashion). Both girlfriends, Sara and Emily, somehow ended up being invited. Laura brought Henry, and he didn't know what he was in for. Before he knew it, hair was getting pulled, punches thrown, and he found himself in the middle of trying to calm down a very unstable situation! When Henry got home later that night, Reggie had to sit him down and explain to him that 'catfights' are really cool, and you never break those up! Luckily for Henry, neither girl wanted to break up. In fact, Sara came over for dinner just two nights afterward. Talk about a smooth operator!


Henry was really upset that he got caught in the middle of this. Blame Mom, Henry!!!

On Saturday we all went to Phil and Lindsay Howes' home with the Knoblauch's for dinner and drinks. The boys all played until about 8 when they all went to bed. After a great night of jokes and stories with friends, it all of a sudden was 2am! We went to wake Henry up to put him in his carseat, only to learn that he had blown out his diaper while in the Howes' swing! Seriously, it was like the diaper wasn't even there - just straight down the leg!!!! Lindsay was so nice, and helped us give Henry a bath before we loaded him up. It is probably pretty confusing to be woke up to get a bath at 2:15 in the morning from someone that isn't even your mom!  Unfortunately for us,  babies don't like to sleep in so 7am came real early!!!



Noah, Henry, and Dolan - Henry was not cool later when he learned Mom and Dad didn't bring his PJ's!



Noah trying to plan something mischievous with his boys.



Developmentally, Henry had his 6-month checkup this week with Dr. Natasha. He weighed in at 15lbs, 10 oz. He is in the 20th percentile for weight, 25th percentile for height, and 50th for his noggin. He was also cleared to eat any solid food (blended of course) other than honey. Also, Henry had a tooth break through on his lower jaw! Now it makes sense why he has been so fussy recently! It isn't fully visible yet, but you can feel the sharp bump where it has broken through the gums. Henry has also learned (accidentally) how to escape from his swing. Aunt Allison put him in for a nap. A few minutes later, as she looked down the hallway, she could see him squirming his way out of the swing straps! Before she could run down the hall to get to him, he was on the floor. Luckily, he landed on the rug, and wasn't hurt at all. In fact, he initially looked at her as if to say, "what should I do now." He cried for a couple of minutes after that, which caused Allison to get upset as well. The lesson from this is: Don't ever underestimate the strength of a Bogart!

Before

During

After!



I don't know if it is related to the tooth or not, but he has been extremely stubborn with his bottles lately. He generally won't even finish half of a bottle, and if he does finish one, it takes 45 minutes to an hour. We think he has figured out that if he holds out long enough and is fussy enough, Laura will eventually nurse him. We are in the process of transitioning him over to full-formula. We don't want to end up like a bad Maury Povich episode where Henry is 8 years old and still nursing! In addition to transitioning him to formula, Laura and Jen spent all Sunday evening steaming and pureeing fruits and vegetables for baby food. He has had apples and sweet potatoes. Loves the apples, but is a bit skiddish of the sweet potatoes. It is pretty awesome to feed him and watch him absolutely light up as you cheer him on for eating it. As an unfortunate byproduct, poor Bella has been getting some undeserved blame for some stinky gas!



Henry looks a little sad seeing that his old flame has apparently moved on!



Henry helping Monic with her taxes!

Be my Valentine (and please call my mom!)- Week 26

Phil, Lindsay, and Noah Howes with Henry

This week included Valentine's Day, so the Siffords were kind enough to offer to watch Henry on Friday night while we went out to a movie. This was our first time going on a date on a night in which we were both working during the day. I never realized how extremely difficult it would be to leave work at 5 and make a 7:10 movie! By the time we got him from daycare, got home, got ready (which as most of you know is about 45 min - 3hrs. for Laura :) ), fed Henry and packed his stuff up, and got him to the Siffords house, it was already 6:45 and we hadn't even gotten to eat yet! Luckily, Reggie threw together some PB&Js right before we headed out the door to tide us over (insert your own "Reggie is cheap" joke here). Afterward, while sitting at Cafe Trio for an appetizer and drink, we get "the call" from April; Henry had projectile vomited 'Exorcist style' twice, on her, Dave, and the couch. Though we all felt bad for the little guy, it apparently didn't phase him one bit considering her would just smile real big right after doing it!

We had Henry sleep with us in the bed on Friday night for fear he would potentially get sick and choke, but he did fine. On Saturday, Laura took him to lunch with Aunt Jen at Thomas, where Henry decided to have a repeat performance on Laura's shoe before they could even order! Laura and Jen called over for a mop/Hazmat team and headed back home. He never got sick again, though you could tell he didn't feel well. Henry then turned "outbreak monkey" on us and got everyone he came into contact with sick - Mom and Dad, Dave and April Sifford, Jen, Sara, Aunt Allison.

Before Aunt Jen caught the virus

Saturday and Sunday nights were absolutely horrible for us. Henry would wake about every hour and a half and be very fussy, most likely because he didn't feel well. This was compounded with Reggie feeling sick, so Laura had to take most all of the bullets on Sunday night. Don't worry - Reggie returned the favor mid-week when Laura was sick!

Developmentally, Henry is really starting to talk a lot. He is constantly babbling sounds. We try to encourage this by talking back to him in between babbles. He looks like he thinks he may be having conversations with us. Also this week, we had our first try with real food! Henry ate some oats blended with milk on Thursday. He did really well with them, though it was a 5/95% split of food in his mouth vs. on his mouth! We tried oats again on Tuesday, but that was an utter train wreck, most likely because of him not feeling well.

Wait until you change this diaper, mom!

Now sitting forward in the stroller!

New culinary delight coming - Week 25

Emily Hyde, Carie and Riley Pintado, and Henry

The week got off to an apocalyptic start with a blizzard in KC dumping about a foot of snow on us in less than 24hrs. On Wed. morning, Reggie spent a little over three hours shoveling the drive, steps, and sidewalks (and pushing his neighbors car out of the snow!). At the top of the drive there were 2-3ft. drifts! As discussed last week, Henry loved the jumper that the Knoblauch's had across the street. Thanks to their generosity, Laura went over on Wed. and grabbed it from them for Henry to use these next couple of months. Henry jumped all day until he was absolutely exhausted....and then he jumped some more :) What the 'snowpacalypse also meant for Henry was that he wasn't going to go to daycare at all this week. Laura stayed and worked from home on Wed, and her parents were in town to watch him on Friday.

This is both the deck, and the ground!

As with most visits from the grandparents, Henry was showered with lots of gifts and love. This time, for Valentine's Day, he got a number of new outfits and pajamas. This is good, b/c we are a little short on the 6-9 month clothing! They also offered to watch him on Friday night so that we could go out do dinner. We accepted that offer immediately, and headed out the door to Cafe Europa for dinner, and Aixois for dessert (Editorial note - Do not go to Aixois for dessert).

On Saturday, we all loaded up and went to Columbia for Henry's first Mizzou basketball game. Our seats weren't great, but Henry didn't seem to mind. He was absolutely enthralled with everything going on (or at least how many lights there were). I also caught him shooting some 'come hither' looks towards several of the Golden Girls! He was wide awake, squeaking and smiling all the way until the 4 minute mark in the second half, at which time he fell off the wagon and passed out. Reggie was holding him at the time, and it was the first time he has ever just slowly drifted off to sleep facing forward. Once out, there was no waking him up.

Why did Dad get such crappy seats?

After a long day of fun, this boy is done for the day!

On Sunday, we went over to our friends Carie and Jonathan's home for a small Super Bowl party. It was definitely a different type of party than we have historically attended. Everyone had a kid! :) I guess that comes with the territory of getting older. Henry had a great time, and made a new friend named Carter, who is 3yrs. old. There was a semi-newborn baby there who was about a month old. Even though we keep this blog, it is still shocking how much Henry has grown when I looked at the size of Brice (the baby boy)!

Developmentally, we had to take Henry to the doctor on Thursday to get the cold he has had for over a week checked out. As part of that, Laura weighed him, and he is now tipping the scales at 15lbs, 15 ounces (with clothes on). Also, Dr. Natasha was very impressed with his ability to sit without any assistance. She has officially green-lighted Henry to start eating blended oats and milk!

Bellying up at Quinton's