11 Weeks

Here's the little man at 11 weeks. Sorry about the blurry shot but he seems to be moving faster and faster these days. It's also rather difficult to get a shot of him without at least one hand in his mouth. Henry continues to grow like a weed, though this week he's had the misfortune of coming down with his first cold. Not a milestone any of us are happy about.


Our lives have begun to get a bit more hectic as I (Derek) started back to school this week. I know I won't get a lot of sympathy, but it really is tough going back to work after being at home with him for the last 11 weeks. The level of chaos in our home is scheduled to increase even a bit more next week as Tina will return to work part time while taking care of Henry and Levi (Matt and Kathy's little guy) part time.

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Wagler Grandparents

It just came to my (Derek) attention that we haven't posted one picture of my dad with Henry. Oops, sorry about that. Anyway, here's a picture for a couple of weeks ago when they stopped through here on their way back to Kansas.

Another 'Baby Step'

Today Tina shot this awesome little video of Henry discovering how to hit a toy with his hand.

10 weeks

Here's the weekly photo for week number 10. We're still working on trying to get him to smile for the weekly photo shoot.

Not sure who he looks like??

We're not exactly sure who Henry looks like or if he's a good mix of both of us. Some people say he looks like me (Tina) and other think he looks like Derek. So here are some side by side pictures. We'd love to hear your input. Please vote on the sidebar. Here's another picture of Henry smiling if that helps.

Feeling a little conservative.

I don't think of our lives as being 'boring' or 'run of the mill.' I like to think that Tina and I somehow live within but not IN the middle-class culture that surrounds us here in Madison. But then I think of people like Mike and Debbie (click here) whom we've known from Madison Mennonite Church and I realize how conservative we are.

I 'figuratively' stand in amazement of their skill/bravery/intelligence/openness/whatever other personality trait that is required to take on such an endeavor as sailing your family all over the world on a home-made boat for five years.

The Little One's Voice

So here's a little video clip from last week of Henry 'talking' to us.
Enjoy.

Boys, Boys, Boys

Somehow through a strange twist of fate nearly all of the 'little kids' Henry is around are boys. Here are a few pictures of the various boys he's spent time with this summer.

His cousins Greg and Doug Nussbaum

His friends Noah (left) and Emerson (right).

His neighbor and future playmate Levi

And his older cousin on his Dad's side Jonathan Bontrager

9 Weeks

So today marked Henry's 9th week outside of his mother. He's really become quite interactive and fun. This picture is actually of a couple of days ago because he wasn't in much of a mood for pictures this afternoon.

The reason for Henry's moodiness is that he had his 2 month Doctor's appointment today. Those in 'the know' understand what that means. Henry received his first set of vaccinations.

If you haven't yet witnessed a 2-month old getting his/her first vaccinations, then you haven't seen true pain and anguish. Now, I'm not all that frightened of needles, but I was quite amazed at the length of the needle used on such a small person. To put it into perspective, a scaled-up version of the needle would probably be about 8-10 inches long. Seeing the injections (there were three) wasn't the worst part, it was the look that Henry gave me as he was screaming. That 'don't you see whats going on?' kind of look crossed with a 'aren't you going to do anything?' look. It was definitely not easy for his parents. Of course, I think it's a little easier that if he were to get...say...polio or whooping cough.

On to the good stuff...the numbers. Henry weighed in at a stout 12 lbs 15 oz and measured and even 24 inches long. For those of you keeping track, that's about a 73% mass increase (up from 7lbs 8 oz) and a 20% length increase (up from 20). I figure if I (Derek) would have experienced a similar increase in length and girth I'd be 302 lbs and 7'2"...that's NBA material. But alas, I've gained 2-3 pounds none of which will help with my basketball skills. I suppose it would be unhealthy to begin competing with Henry on who can gain the most weight week to week.

Finally before I forget. In our travels last week we had a great time with Tina's family and college friends. So before too much time passes. Here are two posed shots from our trip.

Tina's family

Tina's college friends.

8 Weeks

So here are a couple of pictures from the last few days. The first picture is from our first big road trip out to Orrville, Ohio; the trip usually takes 9 to 9 1/2 hours to drive, but we of course had re-adjust our expectations. After about 4 stops (the picture is of a stop off the interstate in Indiana) we made it in about 11 hours.

Henry has started lifting his head for slightly longer periods of time.

Here's the '8-week' picture of Henry with cousins Greg (11.5 weeks) and Doug (2 years).

Smilin' Henry

So Henry started smiling a bit a week or so ago but we never managed to snap a picture. This morning Derek shot these quick smiles but they are very blurry--sorry. However, you get the idea of what we've been seeing from time to time. Also, it seems that today Henry really found his voice. Before he cooed a bit and made some gurgly noises but this morning he would look at us and make really fun, louder squealing/cooing noises. How fun!

7 Weeks

Here's the 7 week photo, we told him to wave. We realized we hadn't taken a family picture since the first week we were home. Here are a couple of shots on our front porch. Henry looks good in the first picture and not so happy in the second.

Weekend Guests v2

So didn't really get a chance to put a lot of information down on the past weekend, only a quick picture. So we had my (Derek) entire family here from Friday-Tuesday. Including Henry we had 13 people in and around our house. Which, if you've been to our house, means that it was a little crowded. It helped that my sister and brother in law brought an RV to sleep in which also worked as a kids play-room. So here are some highlight pictures from the weekend.

Hanging out at the fountain in Library Mall on the UW Campus.
Walking out on the pier near the UW Memorial Union.
The whole crew.
The 'extraction' of the RV from our back yard. There was a total of about 3 inches of clearance between both sides.
Maia and Jonathan were very interested in watching Henry get his diaper change.
The 'older' grand-kids really enjoyed the carousel at Ella's Deli.


Obligatory photo of Henry.