More pictures

Still just 3-4 days old!

Various people holding Claudia

Some of these are a few weeks old now, but better late than never

Pictures around the house

More Claudia!!!

Here are a few more pictures - Henry is reacting great to having new company at the house - he is sweet and kisses her often. He also covets her Moses basket.

Segundo es Claudia!

Claudia Jane Stinehelfer arrived on Thursday, February 1st at 3:28 am. She was 6 pounds 9 ounces and 19 1/2 in. long. Rachel was phenomenal in labor - went through a roller coaster. After five hours of ho-hum contractions on a pitocin drip, things really got started when they broke her water at 2:30, and Claudia emerged less than a hour later like a shot! She is a lovely and so far sleepy baby - everyone is doing well and we hope to be home tomorrow afternoon.

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!

Family Photos

We had some traditional family photos taken at Target a couple of weeks ago. We are particularly happy with the ones of Henny.

The Norovirus - or how to lose 6 pounds in two days

Well, just as the stomach virus struck the Griggs family so too did it strike ours. Poor Henry woke up Friday morning throwing up and completely shocked at this horrible event. He was sick all day and I stayed home with him as Danny had to take his last final exam. I now have a pretty full understanding of unconditional love as I tried to catch the vomit of my son on several occasions. Why - who knows? It was just an immediate reaction - like - look son this isn't as gross as it seems I'll even try to hold it in my hands. Anyway, somehow, I ended up sick on Saturday and Danny got a milder form of the virus yesterday. So all in all we hope it is over. I am six pounds lighter - not that I would recommend this as a form of dieting. Yick! That's all from us - be thankful there are no pictures with this entry!

Breech and Speech

Well, exciting news about Baby S ... last night I was awakened to thunderous belly movement and suspected that our little one decided to make his/her move into the correct baby position. I had a doctor's appointment today and they confirmed that the baby is no longer in the breech position. Hooray! Other news is that Henry is now addressing most of his extended family by name - there is Lek (Alex), Monny (Molly), An Jen (Aunt Jen), Nan Jean (Nana Jean), Nan Kaffy (Nana Kathy), Pawpa, Grandaddy, Grandma, Gram, Mommy/Mama and Daddy - and he occasionally refers to himself as "Henny". He is also quite attached to our neighbor Jeff and his dog Grace and calls them by name. He still can't quite say Stella and just calls her Dawg - as in Back Up Dawg (accompanied by a "Stop! In the name of love" gesture or a "Talk to the hand" pose if you prefer). He also lights up when he gets to assist with dispensing treats to Stella.

Flooding you all with 9 new Henry pictures

Okay, so my immediate family is haranguing me for not updating lately - "get those stupid hobo pumpkin pictures off of there and put some of Henry up" is the gist of what they're saying, so with no further ado...

Recent pics

Admiring his leaning tower

Henry's new favorite pastime - dismantling the bookshelf!

Schenkemeyer Wedding in Hotlanta

Henry puts the finishing touches on his grooming, then makes his grand entrance with Mama

More recent pics

I love this one - the King woulda been proud of this peanut butter and banana sandwich, even if it's toasted rather than fried
















Simulating construction on I-85

What can I say about these? He's a wildman

Hobo Halloween

Well, I've been on a bit of a John Hodgman kick the past few days - I finished his book and saw him in person at the Regulator. Here is a night image of a Hobo jack-o-lantern I carved. This sign means "It is time for hoboes to take over the United States government"
Coincidentally, it also makes a nice homage to Henry

Photo update to State Fair entry

There are indeed a few pics from our State Fair fun before the batteries died

Here is one of Alex and Henry with Curious George - definitely Henry's favorite TV show (in fact, the only show that interests him)















And here is the farmboy longing to frolic with the chickens

Our State Fair is the best state fair in our state!

We went out to the State Fair this past Thursday, better known as canned food night. You get in free with 4 cans of food. It was crowded to say the least. It was a big family outing with Nana Jean, Nana Kathy (or Nonni as Henry calls her), Aunt Jen, Cousins Alex and Molly, Henry, Rachel and Danny. Henry got to ride the carousel and Alex rode the Dragon Wagon and other fun rides.
We hit the local food concessions and Danny and I split the Hungry Man dinner of 1/4 a chicken, 1/4 lb BBQ, a ham biscuit and three sides for $10 - a real deal at the fair. The maple cotton candy is still my favorite dessert and I had to throw out the rest of my third package which had become flattened and brick-like. We would have pictures to share but our batteries died.
The highlight for Henry was seeing all the farm animals. We had to carry him away from the chicken coop which is sat in front of and waved to the chickens. He loved the cows - especially enjoyed the gallon of pee that just missed us from the rear of quite possibly the largest cow I have ever seen. Whew - that was a close one! He then tried to break in to the sheep corral which Danny had to run interference on. Overall - I think we have ourselves a little farm boy trapped in the city. Alex and Molly also enjoyed the animals and the 664 pound pumpkin. A long evening of family fun was topped off by being trapped in the fair while waiting for the fireworks to end and then getting herded out with thousands of pushy, tired people - we had two babystrollers and a wheelchair and no one showed any mercy. It won't stop us from going back next year - we might just have to make a fuller, earlier day of it.
**The profound title lyrics above are from the Hammerstein musical Our State Fair.

New Videos on YouTube

This one is of Henry delighting in the miracle of popcorn



And here is another of the loquacious little man



And finally, Henry's drinking problem
Can you hear in my voice that it's 7:30 AM?

Henry on the phone

Here is my first experiment with AudioBlogger, and probably my last, only because blogger.com is discontinuing the free service

More Baby Frances

To wrap up our weekend we saw baby Frances again. Henry met her for the first time and enjoyed giving her kisses. We realized later that we didn't get any pictures of Frances and her parents, but we do have one with her Grandma and with her cousin.

Playground time

Besides playing with other kids, Henry got attacked by green cupcakes, went down a slide with Daddy and rode a "horsey" with Mom.

busy weekend

We spent this weekend in Richmond visiting cousins Ella and Jack. We were celebrating Jack's 2nd birthday. It was lots of fun and the kids got to know each other all over again.