Oma's Visit

Last week both Mark and I had our first overnight business trips since Henry was born. He headed to Orlando, I headed to Indy and Oma Bayes headed to Houston. It was nice to know that Henry was in such good hands!

While Oma was here, Henry really got a hang of eating from a spoon and is now very vocal when he wants more. You can see from the picture, that he doesn't have a problem with opening his mouth wide.

On Sunday, it was a chilly day for church, so Henry got to wear a sweater gifted to him by Gross Oma Stoppenhagen (She is wonderful, not gross, but that is the German word for 'great'). He was definitely happy to be bundled up. Finally, Henry is modeling a summer hat that we bought to protect his fair head in the Houston sun. We are ready for Spring!

Henry is 4 months old

Henry had a day of firsts....sitting in a highchair and trying rice cereal. He didn't seem to mind sitting in the highchair, I am sure there was much more to look at from that vantage point. The rice cereal wasn't a hit, but we'll try again. He had maybe 5 bites, but did know to open his mouth when the spoon was coming closer.

Good news from the doctor yesterday....Henry is a little light for his size at 13 lbs 5 oz, but in the 75th percentile for length. Long and lean!

New Toy

This week I discovered Craigslist and bought a used Baby Einstein activity jumper. This came highly recommended by Katie and I was thrilled to find one gently used. After cleaning it up, Henry got a chance to try it out....and loved it! There is lots to touch and look at, and the best part is that he can touch the floor and bounce. I think this will be around for a long time.

Meet Katy!

Henry's new nanny Katy started this week. She has been a blessing to Alison. Alison just started working again out of her home office and Katy comes and keeps care of Henry and the house during the day. It has been working great so far (although Dasher is still warming up to her). Katy is a native of Wisconsin and a University of Minnesota grad (go Big Ten!). She just recently married Danny, who is an up and coming professional hockey player. Danny has been splitting time playing here in Houston and in Minneapolis. So it is nice for Henry to finally have a masculine male role model to look up to (see "Henry meets Butkus" post below)!

-MF

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...keep them doggies rollin'

Henry learned a new trick this week! He is rolling over (from his stomach to his back). Being the obnoxious parents that we are, we treated the event as if he just figured out how to do long division on his own while hanging out in his pack-n-play. Not to be outdone, while we were on our hands and needs trying to encourage Henry to "Roll over! Roll Over! You can do it!", Dasher plopped down next to Henry and proceeded to roll over two times. What makes it so crazy is that we've never taught him how to do it before! Maybe we should be practicing the long division flash cards with Dasher..

Random photos for the grandparents....

Henry has taken to three things this week: (1) naps on the couch (2) watching TV and (3) reading books. Yeah, he's not adopted... -MF

Henry meets Butkus

Henry met my teddy bear, Butkus the Bear (in honor of the rather unfortunately named Dick Butkus of the Chicago Bears) who, while missing one eye and now a rather mysterious shade of gray versus his original white, seemed no less for the wear. I must admit there is a definite resemblance between the two pictures (taken by Mary). We don't have the time today to discuss why I was wearing a dress (to be filed under, "Gender Confusion, long term lingering effects of").

- MF