Tune it Tokoyo....

I've been teaching Henry to use the computer so he can take over this blog dealie. He needs to start carrying his own weight - the sooner the better.

We think Henry might be about to get some teeth. He has been slobbering at seriously high levels. He wears a bib almost all the time now. It is like he has sprung a leak.

The other day while Henry was at the daycare he "made" ma and pa a very nice little Christmas ornament with his picture and his handprint on it commemorating his first Christmas . Momma was nearly weeping with pride and joy. I can only imagine her reaction when he makes us the wooden owl shaped key chain holder in middle school shop class (in the year 2018 approximately).

Here is our handsome little man trying his best to dress himself.

Well, we are pretty jacked up about celebrating Henry's first Christmas. Mom is making a chicken in her amazing new crock pot. Her new crock pot even came with a little crock pot called the "lil' dipper". A crock pot within a crock pot - what will they think of next. Our new family Christmas tradition is as follows:

• Christmas eve night we have an elegant chicken dinner.
• This is followed by sipping hot cocoa while we listen to 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' (on vinyl).
• Next, we open presents and then look at them and talk about them before retiring for the evening.
• Christmas morning we check our stockings to see if Santa gave us anything.
• Christmas is over.

Look ma, no pants!

Sorry for the delay, folks. I am usually pretty good about the updating every three days or so. However, the holiday season is in full swing and it has been a pretty hectic weekend. We had three Christmas gatherings over the weekend - one Saturday and two Sunday (not to mention a company Christmas party on Friday).

Henry met many, many aunts and uncles and great grandparents for the first time. Henry was dressed to impress in a reindeer Christmas sweater. Although his severely chapped cheeks may have slightly offset his handsome appearance. Holy smokes! The little guy got lots of presents.... toys, clothes, books, a savings bond, more toys, an old west themed night light and piggy bank (Henry says 'thanks Grampy Fred'... and thats just the beginning. We have three more Christmas gatherings to go to.

Henry proved to be quite the little trooper as he was passed around from auntie to auntie like a sack of potatoes.

Henry would also like to send a shout out to Uncle Steve who is in Iraq. He can't wait to meet him.

DRAW!

I don't think we've seen someone fill out a jumpsuit with more style or machismo since Mr. Roper captured America's heart on the television program Three's Company during the mid-1970s. Not much more needs to be said about this photo. Let's face it. He is a cute, cute baby. In other news, he started a new daycare regimen which we are all very happy about. The world is his oyster.

Ooh La La...

A few things to report:

• Momma and I are convinced that Henry is personally responsible for getting me out of a traffic ticket over the weekend . Thanks for the assist little buddy. We went to southern Chisago County to visit with with family and friends this past Friday evening. On our way home I may have rolled through a stop sign and may have been traveling at speeds in slight excess than those posted. However, our friendly officer decided to let us go with a warning "seeing as how we had the little guy with".
• We had our first non-relative teenage babysitter so Momma & Pa could go the the Radio City Christmas Extravaganza Festival of Lights & Dance featuring the one and only Rockettes (momma's idea). Perhaps our biggest dilemma was how much to pay the babysitter. We settled on a rate of approximately $7.00 per hour and she seemed ok with that.
• On a recent trip to Target momma purchased some formula and upon checking the receipt realized that we had been undercharged by quite a bit. I don't know if you folks have bought formula recently but the stuff is not cheap. So we have that going for us, which is nice.

Johnny Jump Up

Henry has officially begun his agility training. The Johnny Jump-Up contraption is assembled and installed. In the photo above, you might notice how Henry is able to skillfully maintain his workout regimine while inspecting one of his fuzzy toys.

Photo Shoot Gone Wrong?

There seems to be a recurring theme to moms improvised photo shoots with Henry - and I think he is getting a raw deal. I'm not sure what she was going for here.

Here is a photo from a little while back....

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Henry is embracing the spirit of the Yuletide with gusto and vigor. We got a "holiday tree" this weekend and some lights and and a star shaped treetopper and what not. We even drank hot cocoa.

Howdy Partner

The first week of mom being back at work and Henry at daycare on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and me working from home and watching him on Tuesday and Thursday has been a pretty big adjustment. However, the little fella has been getting along just swell. He has been exhibiting a flair for the wild west. We've got two poses for the price of one today:

THE COWBOY

THE OLD PROSPECTOR

Henry is getting more vocal all the time. In fact, sometimes I think he just likes to hear himself screech. That is all for now.

Solid Foods

It doesn't take a genius to figure out Henry's true feelings about organic rice mush. One glance at this photo and I think it is pretty obvious that lil' H is in hog heaven. I guess it took him a few tries to truly appreciate our offering.

I spent the day working from home with the little guy and things went pretty good. I am equipped with a new laptop computer in order to mobilize my cause.

Goofin' Around

Here is our little champ clowning around with his buddy Luke.

Henry had his first cereal this past week. He does not eat it so much. He kinda pushes it around with his tongue with most of it ending up on his face and bib. But for what he lacks in technique he makes up for with enthusiasm.

He will be spending his first day in daycare on Monday and Momma is thoroughly traumatized. More on this later.

Rubba Dub Dub

As you all know, Henry truly enjoys bath time. Here he is with his little bath towel. Henry recently had his four month check up. He passed. He is all of 25 inches and 13 pounds 11 ounces. Although we try our darndest to fatten him up, he seems to be more of a tall & slender chap. This morning we put him in some pants and he had almost outgrown them length wise but there was ample room around the waist. Oh, well.

Several people now have commented on how wonderful the shape of Henry's head is. I wasn't sure what to make of that. Momma said The doctor pointed out that a lot of babies have kinda flat heads and stuff like that and that Henry's head is in the ideal form. It is now a physician backed opinion.

To your right is Henry enjoying life from his rocking chair that he got from Grammy Buck. This is where he does his best thinking.

Milestone

Henry reached a major milestone this past week when he rolled over for the first time. Here is a picture of him psyching himself up for a roll over session.
That is the type of training and dedication it takes to be successful at rolling over at four months of age.

Baby Got a New Pair of Shoes

Here is our beloved son in his new Robeez shoes. Momma is just crazy about these new shoes. We had to get 'em. I guess they are pretty sweet. They have bears on them.

Henry continues to be exposed to cinematic brilliance. We watched Rocky last nite. Momma couldn't handle it, so it was just us boys. I think I caught Henry crying at the end.

Ahoy...

Hi, my name is Henry. Welcome to my blog.

Lou Ferrigno is on the Loose

Henry just got these new jeans (he is the one on the left) - which I think he looks quite nice in. However, he felt they lacked a certain something so we had to craft him a belt out of one of my old belts. A little work with the scissors and a leather punch and PRESTO! Momma and I decided he looked a little ridiculous like a weight lifter or something. It was worth at least a half hour of laughs though.

Hola from Henryville!

This is Henry after being told that mom is going back to work soon. The countdown is on. Momma goes back to work in a couple weeks or so. I guess that means there will be no more daytime television or any more of this for momma:

Just kidding. I guess we are both a little nervous about the thought of putting Henry in daycare. At least it will only be part time. I will be working from home and watching Henry on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If I play my cards right I could be entering into 'Father of the Year' territory with this move. Or maybe not. We'll see how it goes.

In other news, momma did a scientific study on the absorption qualities of the different brands of diapers. After exhaustive research, it was concluded that they are pretty much the same. Results have been submitted to Dateline.

Newsflash

Henry is just figuring out that he has a tongue. He has been sticking it out quite a bit and also has started making funny noises with his lips. So we have been seeing alot of this lately:

Henry pooped on me for the first (and hopefully only) time yesterday - NOT COOL. Definitely not cool.

Zoie Loses Teeth

Cousin Zoie has been losing teeth left and right. She has been reluctant to flash a smile because she said she doesn't like it when I put funny pictures of her on the internet. She finally caved in and smiled for me.

Henry Scores Big on Opening Weekend of Deer Hunting

Here's Henry with his first deer. Just kidding there, this is Henry with an eight pointer that my brother shot in his back yard. Henry did help gut it though.

First Media Exposure

For all of my readership that doesn't subscribe to the Hudson Star & Observer, Henry got his first piece of press this past week. That is me & mama with Henry is the front row there . To my right in the photo is Julie's friend and fellow 1st grade teacher Katie with her boy Luke (as a fluffy little chicken).

Today we got the proofs back from Henry's big photo shoot. I must say that our son is a very photogenic young gentleman. We will be making the rounds with our little photo album to show everyone in the coming weeks. Also, I think it was last week he weighed in at a little over 13 pounds.

Henry James coming at you live from Dad's lap...

In babywear circles Henry is establishing himself as the Imelda Marcos of jammies. Here he is looking striking in yet another pair of jammies. I think these are his only pair of two piece jammies. Jammies, jammies and more jammies. Tonite I made the mistake of putting on some jammies that he had worn earlier in the week and got reprimanded by Mrs. Johnson. Another lesson in parenthood learned the hard way.

And who taught my little guy how to flash gang signs? I guess Henry represents the east side...

Who's this clown?

Henry went trick-or-treating for the first time. We brought him around to Grammy Judy, Great Grammy Buck, Grandpa & Grammy Johnson and to the Matt & Sheri residence. After all was said and done we had received three mini snickers bars and and four Reese's peanut butter cups. You can never be too cautious these days so we cut up all of the candy to check for razor blades and needles before we let Henry eat any of it. The picture on the right is called "The Thinker".

Henry Plans a Prison Break

This is a pretty sweet picture. He's wearing my stocking cap and it is way too big for him.

In other news, he had an eight ounce bottle yesterday. That is his record. Normally he has about four or five ounces at a feeding.

Rocky Mountain High

Henry has true grit in his favorite shearling vest. For a Halloween costume idea it was discussed that he could use the vest as part of an ensemble paying homage to folk singer John Denver*. He could wear the vest, a little wig, some glasses and he could even use my ukulele as a prop. It was not to be though, it was discovered that he lacks the fine motor skills to hang on to the ukulele. Oh well....

Yeah, we had Henry's big photo shoot with a professional photographer yesterday. It went really good except for the part when Henry pulled an R. Kelly and peed all over mom. We were both pretty shocked at how much he peed.

I guess it could have been worse though. And the lady said it happens every time.

*As a side note, Henry's grandma was John Denver's first wife's college roommate back at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Why is this man smiling?

He sure gets the giggles quite a bit. And how about these overalls?

We have a big photo shoot today with some lady that came highly recommended from Grammy Judy. Momma wants to get some tasteful nude photographs taken in black and white. I hope he is in a good mood. She wants me to be in some of the pictures too. I may have to invoke my "no nudity" clause...

Here is another photo of Henry thinking in a large pile of leaves!

Henry's Golden Birthday & A Tribute to "Monkey": The Sordid Tale of Halloween 2004

The other day Julie and I realized that Henry will turn 21 on his golden birthday. This is on account of him being born July 21 and such. This got us thinking about what our gentle little pip squeak could be capable of when that day comes. Will he be going out and getting bombed during "the power hour" with a bunch of his no good buddies? So which one of these bozos would be Henry?

Needless to say, this got the wheels turning.

The following tale is presented mainly for entertainment purposes and cheap laughs. However, it should also serve as a cautionary reminder to my son as to how dangerous the combination of binge drinking, gothic-themed cheerleaders and deranged shriners can be.

Certain details have been withheld or altered in a slight manner to protect the innocent and in the general interest of liability issues. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the sordid tale of the Halloween of 2004 Costume Ball....

The story begins innocently enough at Timmie & Jessica's humble South Minneapolis home. I guess before we get too far here we should introduce the cast of characters...

First, there is me - whose Halloween costume is typically centered around a fake moustache - I then build around that. In 2004, I stepped it up a notch by investing in a matching fake beard. My costume motif was "weird shriner" in a casual sport coat. My wife went as Mrs. Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction, complete with a hypodermic needle attached to her chest with liquid latex.

Pictured below, from left to right are: Kristina (as the gal from the Carrie movie), My wife (as Mrs. Mia Wallace), Jessie (as the Kimmie Bassinger one-eyed nurse villianesse from the Kill Bill movie), Sheri (totally 80's head banger gal with large bangs), and Shelly (Evil pageant person).

Arriving fashionably late was Crystal and Dave and Dave's friend whom, to this day, I know only as "Monkey". Pictured below are Dave and "Monkey" - bright and chipper - striking a sassy pose shortly after arriving. I consider myself a pretty savvy Halloween costume shopper. However, I'm not sure I would know where to go to find a cheerleader outfit with a pentagram on it.

And that picture to your right, that is just a quality photograph of two young adults with a passion for heavy metal music having a good time. Obviously, the good times were rolling. People were dancing, laughing and carrying on. The music was just right. I think there may have been some chips and dip and other sundry snack items. The drinks were beginning to flow and everything was swell. For reasons that are not clear to me, this is about the time that "Monkey's" night went straight in the crapper. He was drinking Zima and doing shots of Crazyberry Schnapps like it was the eve of the apocalypse. At this point in the evening I commented to Timmie (pictured below with myself in his Dr. Feesy, Freelance Proctologist ensemble) - "That 'Monkey' fellow is hitting the Zima awfully hard. If he's not careful he is going to crash and burn." Timmie agreed.

Well, the evening carried on and I was just tearing into my second glass of white zinfandel when I happened to notice that "Monkey" was nowhere to be seen. In a panic I screamed "Monkey is gone! He's missing! Where the heck is Monkey?" Everyone became very concerned and began frantically searching the house for the missing house guest. He was nowhere to be found. I went outside to collect my thoughts and reflect on the evenings events. When I step outside I hear this rustling out back - like a couple of tom cats scrapping in the alley. But no, there were no cats. It was "Monkey" all hunched over and vomiting his guts out. I snapped this picture and ran away as fast as I could. This is the last time that I saw "Monkey". This is my tribute to "Monkey" and that is the end of my story.

Sleepy McGoo

Henry slept over 11 hours last nite. I think that is his personal record. The funny thing was that when Julie got up in the morning to check on him he was wide awake- just hangin' out. Regarless, his new found passion for sleep has been wonderful for Julie and I.

This guy has more jammies than anybody I know. These ones have Tweetie Bird on them along with some moons and stars and what not. He prefers to have the collar up because thats his style.

Momma had his three month pictures taken last Friday. I guess it takes three weeks to get them.

Until then Momma did a little fall photo spread of her own with Henry. Behold.....

Meet Bill Cosby

After much thought and consideration we have decided to change our dogs name to Bill Cosby. This is not a joke. As a pit bull, his passion for the funky sweater is both ironic and amusing.

Num, Num, Num!

Formula.... num, num, num. Stripey jammies can be quite striking when graced by a proper gentleman. It looks like the little guy can hold his own bottle here. He's not real good at it yet but he tries his best and that is what is most important- a good solid effort. Speaking of which, H-Town is a little down after a heart breaking loss by our hometown Packers to the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are like school on Sundays, they got no class...