Come on down, little baby!

So we are ALL waiting for the arrival of Segundo. The official doctor's due date has passed and now my unofficial date has passed, so we are moving on to the concept of induction. Looks like the baby should arrive on or before February first. We will keep you posted.

More Henry Stories

As many of you know, Henry regrettably still insists on taking a bottle when the fluid involved is milk - juice, water, and tea he can handle with a sippie or an open container, but he is stubborn about his milk intake. We have implemented a new plan in an effort to gradually wean him off the bottle - he must take a few sips of milk from a cup before we give him a bottle (I started this and am beginning to question the logic). Anyway, he plays the game and after a few minutes of teasing and drawing it out will eventually sip from the cup 2 or 3 times, and then immediately says "boo-bawl now", asking for the bottle. It's pretty cute, and very clear that he understands the system, but doesn't seem to be having any effect yet. We'll see how it turns out - we might have to force him into a cold turkey withdrawal, which will likely cause more damage to our eardrums than front row seats for The Who.

I'd also like to relate another bottle exchange we've had recently. One day while retrieving him a bottle of milk, I asked him what he would like me to put in the bottle, just because I wanted to hear him say "Milk please". Instead, his response was "Jelly beans!" I made a mental note to myself to explore the vast, untapped jellybean juice market.

"Jelly beans!" is starting to become a more common cry for Henry these days, and has even been his response to the question "What would you like for breakfast, Henry?" We started giving him 2-3 jellybeans in exchange for his cooperation with dirty diaper changes - this has proven to be a very effective anti-wriggle tool and has saved us alot of trouble. As you have heard, however, it has also opened the Jelly Belly floodgates. Last weekend, Henry fell off our living room chair during one of his trademark descents from standing on the headrest looking out the window - he usually flops back on the seat, but this time his momentum bounced him off the seat and onto the floor. Fortunately my father rushed to his aid with a handful of 10 or more jellybeans to comfort him. Needless to say, the next time he bumped his head, he cried for exactly one second and then requested jellybeans. I was a little worried that he might start running into walls or flinging himself off furniture, but so far my fears have been unfounded. He appears to be satisfied enough with the occasional treat of 2 jellybeans.

-Dan

Yes, we have no news

Well, we wanted to just let everyone know that there is no baby news today. We went for a checkup and had a couple of brief scares - one, I nearly choked on a drink and the nurses thought I had asthma and needed an inhaler (I truly have never been that scared of choking in my life), and two, that the baby had moved back to being breech which was quickly disproved by an ultrasound. The baby stats are totally different than Big Hen - the estimated weight was only 6 pounds 10 ounces - making me think it is a girl. So, we are in the clear Segundo is presenting normally - now we are just waiting. Tick, tick ...

We do have a couple of Henry sayings for your amusement:

"Rocky Roll" for Rock and Roll - a saying of Roley (a Bob the Builder character)used without much context sometimes coupled with "careful" making even less sense

"Too Heavy" - this expression is used for anything heavier than a pencil - he carries objects and then describes his monumentous accomplishment by explaining to us how heavy the load really was, sometimes grunting and groaning is involved

"Weepy" - for sleepy - Henry drops the "sl" and adds "w" - he is rarely weepy, but others are described as such - especially Nana Kathy

"Big Cough" - instead of Bless You or Gesundheit - this is used for a cough or a sneeze - sometimes Henry will make himself cough to make you feel more comfortable

"Ice Cream" - not funny in and of itself, except that he confuses it with diaper cream, so when he asks for "ice cream" in the middle of a diaper change it sounds more like a** cream

Counting - well, we hope his math skills improve - he starts his counting at 1 moves immediately to 8,9 ... 8,9,8,9 - preferring that all groups of objects he has counted are groups of nine

We are getting a big charge out of his language development - now, I am feeling a bit weepy and will sign off. Happy Birthday Aunt Susan! Stay tuned ...

Segundo, pretty soon-o

Well, Saturday night I had mild contractions for two hours leading me to believe that Segundo Stinehelfer would prefer to arrive sooner rather than later. I also had a doctor's appointment today and my belly measured four centimeters less than last time. Pretty much assuring that Segundo is fully engaged in the birth canal. The PA doesn't think I will be making it to my due date (15 days away), so ... now the waiting and guessing begins.

Great Holidays, Football and the Name Game

We had a wonderful time visiting with our families over the Christmas break. There will be pictures to come. Henry did really well until day 3 of gift opening when he had a meltdown over the Thomas the Train track. It was pretty ugly, but he seemed to be in good, non-spoiled spirits the next morning frolicking in all of the trucks, trains and planes he received.

We spent yesterday preparing a painstakingly Southern New Year's Day feast with a pound of bacon used as seasoning. I tried my hand at making Sweet Potato Pie and of course we watched lots of football. Henry spent time in front of the TV watching some games while we were in the kitchen and we overheard him saying something like - "No big tackle Henny a baby." We do have play tackling at home and I suppose the hard tackling on TV would be pretty intimidating for a 22 month old. The big Wake Forest game is on tonight - Go Deacs!! So he will get more tackling exposure as the Deacons play in their first ever BCS bowl.

On the other baby track ... Henry is sometimes looking forward to being a big brother and other times in complete denial. Just three weeks left til the due date and still baby S is without a name - be it male or female. Here is where our blogging friends and relatives come in. We are currently accepting name nominations for baby S (corporate sponsorship also available) - remember our last name is STINEHELFER. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!