Henry's Journey

Henry the Big Boy

Man, is Henry getting to be grown up! Every morning, we get up and Daddy tries to convince the boy that, not to worry, that breakfast is waiting at school (daycare) and that he doesn't need a Mah-Me-NAH (banana) before he goes. Daddy is successful about half the time. If Henry is persuasive enough, then we all sit around the table and Henry sits in his new booster chair in front of his Superman placemat. Oh yes, the high chair is gone and the morning starts in big-boy land.

After the breakfast decision, Henry gets amped to see the car-CAR. Sometimes he dances down the hall and waits at the top of the stairs leading to the side door. We bound down the stairs and he peeks out the doorway, where his eyes get large and he starts bellowing "Car-CAAAAR, Car-CAAAR!" and running straight at the Honda. He crashes into the back bumper, starts smacking it and laughing, and waits for Daddy to put him in. That picture is of him carrying Daddy's lunch to the car-CAR. It slowed him down, but only a bit. I call the picture "I'm off to work, Dad!" He carried it from our living room out to the car. I had to snap the pic on my phone, so it's not that great (but funny!).

Winter hasn't really hit yet, so there are plenty of puddles to splash in ... we'll see what Henry thinks about his first snow fall (if it ever comes).

Daddy is Done!

Let's clarify, though ... Daddy is not done being a Daddy. I am, though, finished with my Master's Thesis, which means I am set for graduation from The Ohio State University in March. I will pay no more fees, I will study no more, I will write not another page of another paper in the quest for my degree ... I AM DONE!

This came at no small emotional cost. My expectations on what this process was like were way out of whack. I thought the paper was basically written 3 weeks ago (well before the January 2nd deadline), but I was really wrong. So I decided to spend my two weeks of vacation locked in a room on campus writing, analyzing data, revising, conferring, getting frustrated, then back for some more.

The paper has gone through 3 wholesale transformations. I literally had to gut it and start over. My frustration peaked on New Year's Day, the day before my defense, when I sent Henry and Sarah off to watch the Rose Bowl at Grandma's house while I sat in my cave and tried to finish. I may have been even more frustrated than the Wolverines fans that had to watch their team get picked apart by the accursed USC Trojans. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't very happen with my University or anything associated with it at that moment. I envisioned myself walking up to my defense committee and saying that I was pretty sure that the only thing that I respected at OSU was the football team. It sucked.

Shanny Fanny (that's really his name ... no, really) called and we talked about his Master's process, and how it's a learning experience, and how I was going to get through it. That helped. My brother had also called earlier in the process, so I knew I wasn't totally alone in this I HATE MY MASTER'S experience.

When I woke up on January 2nd to defend, I was barely keeping it together. The goal: get through my defense meeting, pass it, get my changes into the University, and have them accept it before the 5:00 deadline.

The committee grilled me, but when it was over they passed me! We shook hands, they congratulated me, and I turned my attention to the University requirements. I cracked open the 24-page Guidelines document and the 18-page Examples document, and got to work.

I turned my Thesis in at 3:30 PM. An hour and a half before the deadline. They accepted it!

My commencement will be on Sunday, March 18th. I am very excited to receive my diploma, which already has an OSU diploma frame waiting for it, thanks to my very intelligent and clever wife.

When I got home, Sarah greeted me with an O-H!

Grinning ear to ear, I responded in the only appropriate fashion ... I-O! Then I hugged the crap out of her.

DC: Day 1

We got into DC last Wednesday, and Bubs got to take his first cab ride! He wasn't impressed. We got to the hotel room, he immediately found the toilet paper in the bathroom, and TP'ed our room. Shockingly, our Marriott wasn't toddler-proof.

We got up the next morning, got Mommy situated for her conference, and went to the National Gallery for the day. We started at the modern art statue garden. Henry bounced, ran, scooted, and fell amongst works by Roy Lichtenstein, Anthony Calder, and Juan Miro. Again, he wasn't impressed, but the garden was really impressive. They also had a Metro stop from Paris that was used erected for the World's Fair at the turn of the century (the one 106 years ago).

We continued on to the "classic" section of the Gallery. We saw Leonardo's Ginevra, which is quite striking, and the only Da Vinci painting outside of Europe (or so some teacher-head told me). Just after seeing it, though, Henry decided to take a header on a fountain, split his chin, and start bleeding pretty heavily. So, Dad is whisking a howling, bleeding Bubba through the National Gallery to get him outside and assess the damage. What a time for a first major injury! We decided that it didn't need stitches (how the heck would we get to an ER, anyway? What an adventure that would have been ...), and we put a Band-aid on. Which was torn off within an hour. So ... Band-Aid #2. That one lasted about 26.3 seconds. We found a CVS in the evening, and bought some liquid bandage. Voila!

Anyhoo, after about 10 minutes, Henry had completely forgotten about his spill, so we moved over to the Modern building. Very cool. We saw some Warhols, another Lichtenstein (an Ohioan and OSU alum, by the way), and some very cool murals. Again, Bubs wasn't very impressed. He did really like the I.M. Pei fountain that was installed next to the food court and gift shop. It was basically a waterfall that started at ground level and ran against the large window/skylight of the building.

Then, dinner and SLEEP. Both very necessary.

Big week for Bubs

Even though Mom and Dad totally flaked on Thanksgiving Day and forgot the camera at home, we have plenty of great Henry pictures for the weekend. Just one short day later, Henry spent Black Friday hanging out at the zoo with his cousins Asia and Tenzin. They saw the lights (of which Henry said "Wooooow"), they pet some goats, and they saw a serious amount of fish.

We also found the newly reconditioned carousel that was built in 1906 or 1857 or 1356 or something like that. It's old, OK? Tenzin had skedaddled by the time we found the wooden horsies, but he was indeed a trouper.

Then we went to dinner, and the babes found a driving video game. The pictures are, indeed, classic. "You work the shifty guy and I'll turn the turny guy!" Such teamwork.

Next installment: Washington, DC!

What a day! What a game! Go Bucks!

Sarah and I both got the best birthday present possible this weekend. We hung out all day with Brutus Buckeye, our Bucks hung on to beat that Team Up North (if you don't know who that is, I'm not tellin' you), and we had an absolute blast hanging out, yelling ourselves hoarse in the 'Shoe, and watching the sea of humanity descend on the field after the game was over. What a game!



All the buses were full trying to get down to campus, so we walked about 2/3 of the way with Brutus (aka Chris Williams). Along the way, Brutus had to get some cash for the bus (just in case we ever caught one) and made sure that he was available for the adoring fans that honked at him all the way down High St. Brutus got a little frisky and started pounding on store windows and scaring (I mean pumping up) the folks inside with his outpouring of Buckeye pride. When we got to campus, the pandemonium only increased. Every third person we ran across (and there were about 400,000 there) made sure to high-five Brutus. He had his picture taken about every 25 seconds. It was a trip. We made our way to the tailgates, had some grub (Brutus gets hungry!), and forged our way to the 'Shoe. We had to part ways with Brutus, because he didn't have a ticket. Ironic, I know. We found out later that he found an viewing angle from outside the stadium that he could see into the stadium and watch the Jumbotron erected above the South Stands. His radio provided the sound accompaniment. We caught up with him, watched all the crazies scurry from the stadium with clumps of "sacred turf" in their hands, waited for a bus, and were whisked back home.

Henry hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Thornburg (and the assorted dozen other people that happened by) to watch the game. We had all intentions to pick him up that night, but after being on our feet for 12 hours, getting home at 10:00 PM, and knowing that the traffic wasn't about to let up, we fell over, slept in, and had a sleepy Sunday morning. Again, what a great birthday!

Mood swings

Ah, Henry is finding the shock and awe qualities of the toddler tantrum. A tantalizing temptation, to be sure. Truly trying. Kind of funny. He had a positively traumatic 45 minutes last night, where he kicked on the ground, punched Simon, and really was beside himself.

But then the clouds cleared, and we had one of the most fun evenings we've ever had. A full tummy has a powerful way to cure what ails you, I guess.

He's learned to put away some of his toys, he's building with blocks (kind of), and he gets really excited and happy about just about anything. Oh yeah, and check out his stylin' duds.

The Poop Parade is over!!!

Henry's digestive system, as an homage to his new cousin Tenzin, has decided to revert to its newborn behavior and Henry has been in a constant state of poopfulness for about a week. He was pooping about four times a day. Unfortunately, neither his parents nor his backside could keep up with this, and he has had a nasty diaper rash. I overheard him talking to one of the other kids in daycare: " ... yeah, I got it over in 'Nam ... nasty spell over there".

There has been a myriad of products sprinkled, spread, and otherwise applied to Henry's butt. Boudreax's Butt Paste, a mix of Aquaphor and Maalox (don't laugh, it works) and corn starch have been the hands down favorites. This routine and the obvious pain Henry has been in has overshadowed the unbelievable strides Henry is making ... he's putting his shoes (and ours!) away, his learning to eat with a spoon and fork, he's learning his body parts (eyes, ears, hair, nose, and tummy are all in the repertoire) and he is a wicked good dancer.

Now the Poop Parade is over and we can focus on all that great stuff.

Trick or Treat!

Who is, in true Alabaman vernacular, "as cute as a lil ole bug's ear"? Why, Henry, of course. Duh. Our little bug went to two three houses, collected a coloring book, a 100 Grand bar, and a lot of "oh, isn't he just adorable".

We agree.

His cousin Tenzin went as a pumpkin, although we all thought we would do great as Henry's sidekick inside his bug-themed trick or treat bag. Oh well! The Thornburgs descended on 37 W. Kenworth and we had a really great time just hanging out and playing with the babies (er, I mean, one big boy and one baby ... sorry Henry).

Henry Jammin'

The little man can move, can't he? He took top honors at Stephanie (Still) and Kevin Stockton's wedding last weekend. More pictures will be coming. Henry's Dad posted an honorable mention in the dancing category as well. It's tough seeing a son best his old man, but I have a feeling like I need to start getting used to it. Or I have to buy some prosthetic cheeks!

(BLOG) RED

Hey, I'm trying something new. I am quite interested in this whole (PRODUCT) RED movement, where the stuff we buy contributes money to worthy causes. This is the thing you've heard of with Bono moving everything from shoes to iPods. Their blog and Tenzin's blog will automatically update (over there on the left) if you want the skinny.

--The Editor

Tenzin James Thornburg

Baby Thornburg has arrived, and three weeks early! His name is Tenzin James Thornburg. He is named after the Dalai Lama (no, seriously, he is). No pressure there. He is my first nephew, and Henry's first boy cousin.

I think his height and weight were 6 lbs, 14 oz and 19 inches long (you know, give or take). Mother, father, and baby are all doing great. Reports are coming in, but they are a bit fuzzy. Here's what I know:

Rachel's water broke on Tuesday night at around 2:00 AM. She and James quickly got to the hospital (it's about 6 blocks away), hung out for a bit, and called some family in the morning. They labored and labored and labored and labored and labored (but with an epidural) and finally went in for a C-section at around 4 PM. The babe was born about an hour later. The Thornburgs were all there to see the baby shortly after he was born, and I got to see little Tenzin after I rounded up Henry. We left the hospital around 8:45 PM to let both of them sleep (Tenzin has no problem sleeping at this point ... but give him time!)

Unfortunately, Rachel's family couldn't see the birth. They all have plane tickets ready to make the flight from California, but those tickets are for when the baby was supposed to come. They are bummed, which is understandable. Hopefully these pictures help!

More pictures are here.

Lynd's Fruit Farm

We returned to Lynd's fruit farm to seek our future (and some pumpkins and apples). We were joined by Grandma and Grandpa Thornburg. Henry got to play in field corn ... who knew that was fun? ... and helped us pick our pumpkins.

He also got to enjoy a good many apples. As of that day, they were pronounced "Ah-POE" and he was very excited to eat them.

We had a great time, climbed some trees, ate some apples, and basked in the 80 degree weather (last year it was about 40). Check out the way-back picture of Henry, too!

Go Bucks!

Henry and Asia have been solid assets for the football Bucks this season, dutifully cheering the "big boys" on to a 5-0 record. Henry loves watching football, and stares intently during the games. When a solid tackle is made, Henry screams "BOOM"! I guess he'll be blowing up quarterbacks before we know it.

Henry has logged another first: first bee sting! He actually got a two-for-one. Our neighbors threw a big ice cream social to get the neighborhood together. Henry was adamant about playing with the big kids. The big kids, though, ended up messing with a Yellow Jackets nest. Three kids got stung (one little girl eight times!), and one of them was Henry. He wasn't very happy. Five minutes later, though, he was up and running and couldn't care less.

Henry is also the proud owner of two more teeth! He decided not to wait for the last two bottom incisors and the canines, and went right for his top two molars. Go figure!

Thank you Grandma Pitts!

A surprise package landed on our doorstep on Wednesday. No note, no card ... big mystery. Who delivered it? What was inside it? Inside were some very cool Alaska-themed finger puppets and a T-Shirt from Sitka, Alaska (http://www.sitka.com/ or http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=Sitka,+AK).

Now how, do you ask, does a flimsy Godiva bag filled with gifts for Henry purchased in Alaska show up on my doorstep? Answer: Henry has a sneaky Grandma who lives in Tampa, just got back from her Alaskan cruise, and is currently travelling through southern Africa. She gave it to a courier (her pal Tom) who returned to Columbus and dropped it off, all secret-like.

Thank you thank you! Henry has a finger puppet in each hand, and is (obviously) wearing the shirt in this picture. Come home safely and we'll see you soon!

We survived the first week!

Mommy had her first week of school, Henry went back to five days a week, and all of us lived through it!

The bigger news is that Henry is walking like a champo. He's booking up and down the driveway, around the back yard, through the house, and everywhere else he can think to scamper. He's also saying Airplane (although it sounds an awful lot like "Ah-Poo") and a bunch of short words (boom, up, on ... stuff like that). He marvels at light switches, turning them off and on and off and on. And he's trying really hard to take off and put back on his ball caps.

The other news is that Daddy tweaked his back after a little too much exercise and an ill-timed battle with a screen door. Arghh!

Check out the video ...

Off to the Zoo!

Henry is still growing and learning like crazy. He's been working so hard, he actually fell asleep in his high chair! We all know how much this kid likes to eat, so it was a shocker to see him face down before any food arrived ...

We took him to the zoo last weekend, and he had a good time checking out at the animals. He laughed at a Wolverine (seriously ... no prodding), pet some goats, and was absolutely mesmerized by the fish. We walked into the aquarium, and he was beaming! We sat right next to the fish for 15 minutes just watching the big ones swim right past our faces. It was good times.

We checked out the manatees, but they move too slowly for him to track. We also trucked right past sleeping bears, sleeping wolves, sleeping mooses (meese?), and everything else that Henry wouldn't be able to see. Henry napped while we dealt with ridiculous food lines, and woke back up just in time to continue the adventure. What a trooper! We stayed at the zoo for 6 hours ... which astounded both of Henry's parents.

Steps forward and backward

Henry has added some to his repertoire, and has backslid a bit.

He has a first word! To all that know him, it is no surprise that his first intelligible word is "up". Like ... "Get me out of this high chair" or "Get me out of this crib" or "Get me out of this car seat " ... "I want UP!!!".

He also has his first sign under his belt. He now can do a really rough sign for milk. Unfortunately, his doesn't look exactly like this ... it looks more like him shaking his fist!

He has also mastered the steps. He guns for them, starts climbing like a pro, and sits on the first landing and claps for himself. YAY Henry! Then it's a 50/50 choice ... climb to the top of Mt. Staircase or turn around to come back down. He's a quite talented boy.

On the flipside, he isn't really keen on walking at the moment. He is cruising well along walls, or holding onto something, or taking Daddy's hand, but he's not all that into taking steps on his own anymore. He drops right to his butt and starts crawling ... fast!

First steps!

Henry is standing on his own (and is very proud of himself). He is now looking around, and can take 3-4 steps on his own before lunging at the closest parent or piece of furniture. It is truly incredible to watch him, and see his progress day-to-day. I think this parent thing is just about to shift into high gear ... literally. I've seen other baby's first steps, and they're generally tentative, slow steps to get things going. Henry measures his actions, then literally tries to run his three or four steps. There's no fear or hesitation. He sees what he wants, and he is off to go get it. It's thrilling and terrifying all at once!

First bike ride! First picnic! First time to campus!

Holy lots of firsts! We packed up the bikes and ate a picnic dinner on the campus of The Ohio State University, on Mirror Lake. Henry rode in his new trailer (which is a pretty slick ride in its own right). When we got there, Henry acted like he was an old pro. He ate his dinner while grinning at Mom and Dad, took a couple sips of water, and was generally very enjoyable company at our family picnic.

Birthday Bash (for Henry and the country)!

Better late than never, eh? For those of you in the know, Henry's first birthday was July 2nd. We had a big bash to celebrate the day, and Henry seemed to have a great time. He entertained guests with his rendition of Da-Da-Noing, held them in breathless anticipation as he studied and mauled his birthday cake (although he never really ate any), jumped in his above ground pool (relax ... it's one of those plastic baby pools!) and got antsy as we opened all of his presents. A great time was had by all. Enjoy the pictures ... the second one is Henry in his red wagon, a birthday present from Mommy and Daddy!

Two days later, our nation celebrated its birthday. The weather wasn't nearly as good. Actually, it rained. It rained a lot. It was really heartening, though, to see all the folks around us that showed up for the Fourth of July parade. We all got wet, we all had umbrellas or slickers or windbreakers (or all of the above), but many of the folks in the parade did not. It was great to show our support for our neighborhood and our country (I know, all we did was stand in the rain ... but it was still nice).

Henry's trip to Calgary











Photo courtesy of James M. Thornburg

Thanks uncle James! I thought this little trip was supposed to be a secret! Okay, the secret's out ... Henry is getting quite big, and his appetite has not waned in the slightest. Our apologies to the fine citizens of Calgary for any pain and suffering Henry may have caused.

Mobile Henry

No, I'm not talking about a handheld version of Henry that you can take everywhere with you. I'm talking about a Henry that can get around. He's moving, friends, and that means that baby gates are up, kitties are nervous, and parents are having mini heart attacks every twenty minutes or so. Here's where Henry has been lately. Click on them to view them full size.



Henry at Busch Gardens, posing and down for the count.


















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At the beach with Gramma Schmidt (not pictured), and at Race for the Cure (check out the shirt: adorable!) Both of his Columbus Grammas (actually, Gramma and Grammy) are breast cancer survivors. Daddy ran the 5k with uncle Jonna, and Henry strollered the 1 mile fun walk.














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These pics are in Dayton. On the left, his pal Camden is trying to get three points for the takedown. Henry resists, and scores a point for himself. On the right, Henry's first "popsicle", a frozen strawberry bar.













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Henry loves the water. Here's an action shot in his new swimming pool (thank you Grammy Bob!) and a little craziness in the bath.

Henry's big week

Last week was HUGE for Mr. Henry. He started the week just starting to rock back and forth on his hands and knees and just started thinking about table food. Up to now, Henry had been refusing to crawl with headstrong fortitude that is only customary and expected from Sarah's and my child. We found him sitting up in the crib on Sunday, which totally freaked us out (how did he DO that?), which necessitated us changing his crib out of "newborn" mode and into "infant/toddler" mode, ensuring that he wouldn't fall out if he stood up. The very next morning, he greeted us by singing sweetly into the monitor. We opened the door to see him STANDING in the crib, grinning from ear to ear. HOLY CRAP! One more day of newborn-styley crib would have found a very adventurous Henry on the floor of his bedroom.

He also decided that crawling was his thing. He got sick and tired of not being able to get to things that he wanted to play with / maul / eat. So he just started it up. He is still a much bigger fan of walking, but will crawl if he has to. Speaking of walking, he's getting around quite easily as long as he can hold on to something (usually Mommy's or Daddy's hand) with one hand, leaving the other free to cause havoc. He's a quick little dude!

And he figured out that he could feed himself, and digs on some new foods. He's now eating all kinds of berries (loves raspberries ... another Grandpa Henry -and Grandma Peg- homage, methinks), digs on cantaloupe, loves hummos (who knew?), and routinely chomps on Cheerios and crackers with his front two bottom teeth. There's still some baby food in the mix, but not too much.

The capper for the week is that we all walked or ran in Race for the Cure, the proceeds going to fight breast cancer. Henry strollered, proudly wearing a shirt with the embroidered message "I race for my Grandmas". Grammy Bob and Grandma Thornburg are both survivors, and both participated.

On the first day of teething ...

My Henry gave to me, One Frustrated, Fussy Baby! Henry is in the throes of erupting his first tooth, and I must say he's doing a great job gutting through the pain. He has lost his smile, but isn't crying all that much. Last night, we were thrust back into the realm of sleepless nights, but he only fully awoke once, from 1 to 2 in the morning. Both Sarah and I took a shot at calming him, but eventually it was the Tylenol that did the trick.

Spring is coming, so we will be filling this teething time with exciting trips to the park, the wind in Henry's hair, and sun screening through the large bare trees that line our street. The first trip to the park was experienced yesterday (sans Daddy, by the way), and a good time was had by all.

Now let's get this tooth to erupt!

Yay for Henry!

That's right, sports fans, check out the pictures ... Henry is clapping. It's official ... clapping. It started out as leg smacking, then table smacking, then random smacking of other objects, but we have graduated to full-blown hand smacking! And he thinks it's hysterical ... he'll start clapping, we'll egg him on a little bit, and it's on! (Thanks to Aunt Sarah for the Sweet-Yo pics)

He has also decided that it's time to start standing up. He didn't go for that whole crawling thing, and he couldn't stand laying on his tummy ("tummy time," so to speak) but he is very interested in pulling himself up on furniture (or his parents) and hanging out. He's just starting to figure out that if he picks up and moves his feet, he actually goes somewhere! Which is, by the way, his primary motivation. You can see him target something, the mental gears start whirring, and he's after it. All he can do, though, is reach and lean over. Reach and lean over. And whimper a little bit so that Mom or Dad will come along and push it close enough so that he can get it. The (parent) training has begun!

Ouch! Ear infection!

What a terrible March! After finishing the antibiotics for his pneumonia, Henry woke up on Monday with an ear infection. Of course, his rookie parents had no idea what it was. He was fussy, but not all that bad, until he got to day care. He was out of sorts all morning, then Daddy scooped in to rescue him. We braved the downpour to make it to the doctor's office, where Dr. Williams put him on 10 more days of antibiotics!

He's now on Augmentin for the infection, and Florostor for the diarrhea that the drugs have brought on. We're thinking of putting him on a third drug to counteract the taste of the Florocor, but we'd probably have to find a fourth drug to counteract the third drug.

Ugh! Sorry, bubs ... hopefully your next March isn't so bad ...

The New Stuff

Sing us a song, Mr. Baby Piano Man! Henry is noticing (and reaching for) everything now. He'll lunge out of your arms to try to get that thing you thought was just out of his reach ... or was it? The pneumonia is behind us, and he took his last of 10 days of antibiotics yesterday. He still percolates a little, but it's just a little cough. Something to monitor, but not go nutso about.

He is still jumping like a champo, he's picking up blocks with one hand, he's running his hand across his face to make the WaWaWa noise himself (think 8-year olds playing Indians ... er, Native Americans). And he's found his mini basketball that I got him for Christmas. He digs it, although I think he's enamored with the texture of it as much as anything else. We roll it back and forth together, and he laughs. And I laugh. The moment he can pick it up, we're going outside and dunking on the adjustable hoop. And I'll take a lot of pictures. And write about it.

Gramma came to town, and really helped us out watching the sick Bubs. Thank you so much for being cool with having your 3-month visit be filled with a less-than-100% Henry. The irony is that his giggles came back hours after her flight touched down in Tampa. Drats!

NEW-monia!

Ah, Henry has contracted his second illness that has a name. First it was the dreaded bronchiolitis, now it is pneumonia. Henry started with a fever last Wednesday, which got him an early ticket home from daycare. Sarah and I tag-teamed watching him on Thursday, but the fever wouldn't go down. As a precaution against it being an ear infection, we took him to the doctor, who told us that his ears looked great (Yeah!) but one lung had some water (Drats!). They gave him a shot and 10-day prescription for the malady, and sent us on our way. Gramma came to visit from Florida (what timing, right?) and spent the day with the Prince on Friday. Saturday has proven to be a much better day for Henry, but he's still a bit grouchy and really fights going to sleep. He's not sleeping well at night either. He was up 4 times on Thursday night, and once last night.

That's him crying right now! More later ...

Happy Valentines' Day!

Yes, I realize that we're over two weeks past Valentines' Day, but Sarah and I have been in a total timewarp the last two weeks. I'll get to that in a minute. Our little Cupid (pictured on right) was a total team player on VDay, taking an extended nap through dinner so that his Mommy and Daddy could enjoy Bravo's takeout, drink water in wine glasses, and break out the fine china (which, by the way, is neither fine nor china). A great dinner was followed by an equally scrumptious dessert of chocolate gelato (not as good as in Italy, but not too shabby) topped with raspberries.

Then, instead of posting these awesome pictures (for the rest, go here), Sarah and I:

• had our basement waterproofed: this entails big dudes with jackhammers hanging out in our house for a week ... good work, but stressful on the homeowners.
• got food poisoning: YUCK! Sarah went down hard and fast, and it lingered naggingly with me.
• did a bunch of school stuff: OSU for me, Annenberg for Sarah.
• hung out with the Prince: this really is the number one bullet, but I take it for granted that I spend every minute possible with this guy.
• tried to keep our day jobs: paying the bills is important.

Henry is doing great! He dances a bit like Elvis, and we're working on his routine to "Heartbreak Hotel". Of course, he can't stand on his own yet, so he needs a little help from his Dad to get through it. He digs sitting up, reaching for stuff, and putting it in his mouth. Standard kidzo stuff.

Graduations

Henry has graduated past all kinds of things since the beginning of the New Year. January ushered in his new life as a card-carrying member of the Lambs at "school". He no longer hangs out with the Cherubs. He is a full-blown-solid-foods-eating machine, having tackled broccoli, peaches, pears, plums (and oh, do we remember plums), yams, squash, carrots, oatmeal, barley, rice cereal, and applesauce.

He has graduated past his baby tub for baths, and now swims in the ocean of the "big boy" bathtub ... that's right, he's takin' big boy baths now. He still kicks like crazy, and now he slaps the water. And there's a lot more water now.

He is also sitting up like a champo, but still tips every once in awhile. The next big step is crawling ... he has figured out that he does not like to be stationery, but hasn't quite figured out the muscle work to be mobile. Here it comes, though ...

Our family walk

We are enjoying very unusual weather for January. Today's high temperature was 60 degrees, so we took a family walk! I busted home from work to get some daylight for the big event, and we took the stroller out of mothballs. Who woulda thunk it? It is unbelieveably strange to push the stroller and see how big Henry is, when I'm used to seeing him in his infant seat. He's sitting up like a big boy, and all I see now when I push him is the back of his head. Which is now full of hair.

So Mommy, Daddy, Henry, and Teddy traversed the neighborhood for about an hour. We saw the sunset, and picked up socks that he kicked off (more than once). Not a very exciting walk, but a welcome reprieve from winter.

Christmas Break

Before I go into the craziness of this break, I have to start by saying that getting time off to hang out with Henry and Sarah has been incredible. He is changing so fast, and we have both hung on his every gasp, short, and fart. Here are our pictures of Christmas 2005. That being said ...

It has been an absolute whirlwind since Sarah and I both buttoned up our respective careers for 2005 and got ready for the holidays. We were both off starting on December 20th, and have had far less rest and relaxation than we thought we would.

To kick things off, Henry was diagnosed with bronchiolitis. It's not as bad as it sounds: it means that a virus has enflamed Henry's bronchioles, and he has a "chest rattle." Very common in babies. It means, though, that we have to give him a treatment every four hours of Albuterol, which is an inhaler. Babies don't take to inhalers well, though, so we had to buy a breathing chamber attachment (Shannon, why don't you tell everyone what you thought it looked like?)Henry has been pretty OK with it, and is just as happy as ever.

For Christmas, all of our family was in town. Bryan, Sarah, and my Mom all stayed with me. We decided to have a very traditional Christmas Eve lunch of Tommy's pizza, which made us all deathly ill on Christmas Day. There was a lot of unpleasantness which I don't really want to write about or think about any more.

After Christmas, we emerged from our cave and tried to visit all of the relatives that we missed. We saw Sarah's Grandma Fleming in Xenia, and caught up with the Williamseses in Strongsville.

Santa brought Henry a mound of toys, a new Honda Accord, and a bag for his iPod. We pick the Accord up Monday or Tuesday (1/2 or 1/3). My RSX, dubbed Supercar, has to be traded in so that some other budding family or driving maniac can enjoy it. Can we please have a moment for Supercar? The good news is that the new car will have an iPod jack (because doesn't everything in life revolve around iPods?)

Merry Christmas, all! Or, please fill in the blank for whatever occasion that you are celebrating at this moment. Or in the last week.

Is that a syllable I hear?

Henry started moving his jaw up and down over the weekend (think of a very cute baby version of Frankenstein from the nose down). We thought that was pretty cool, but then Henry upped the ante and figured out if he talked while attempting this new jaw movement, out came .... NEW SOUNDS! He now is saying "ra ra ra", "wa wa wa" and things such as that. It is very cool, if I do say so myself.

He is also going absolutely nutso on the Exersaucer (thank you to our benefactors Chris and Kim for that gem). He is bouncing, spinning, and is enthralled with all of the toys thoughtfully placed in arms reach around the saucer. This is by far the toy of choice right now, keeping him quite content for quite a while.

Christmas tree and pictures


We went out to get Henry's first Christmas tree, and it was a blast! Here is a pic of Sarah and Henry getting into the action. We went to our normal place, and cut down a winner! Bryan has deemed it an ecologically and environmentally sound practice, informing us that we were taking part in "selective logging".

We celebrated Asia's first birthday party that night, got up the next morning, and did our traditional Christmas picture. This time we did it at our house, because Dad's living room was a train wreck because he hadn't finished his delicate surgery on the monstrosity of a tree that they had picked out. Here's a pic of Asia and Henry.

Unfortunately, the family picture turned out with Bryan being all fuzzy. Sarah was a bit fuzzy too. Damn camera. Maybe a bit of Photoshop, or Dad's pictures, will fix it.

Hello, Great-Grandpa Henry!


Henry finally met his namesake, Henry Louis Schmidt, Jr. , and the Artist Formerly known as Little Henry. We went down to Florida to visit my Mom and Papa Schmidt. The whole family (all of Mom's sibs) took the opportunity to get together, see the baby, and put together an impromptu Schmidt reunion.

I have some more pictures here.

It was really great to see everyone. The Schmidt family has literally flung themselves to the four corners of the country, and we don't get to see each other as often as we might like. And we sure don't get to see everyone together. Some of my cousins couldn't make it, which was sad, but the stalwart combatants that made the trip had a grand time.