Family Time

Henry has visited a lot of family this month. Last weekend, he spent Yom Kippur in Chapel Hill, N.C. with his Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Ryan, Tia Fabiola and his cousin Luigi...

I know that face!

You'd never know it from this picture, but this was a hotly contested stroller race. Here, Luigi has the lead by a wheel.

Luigi and Aunt La La share an ice pop.

This weekend, Henry ventured into the Delta to visit his sick relative Chester Kossman in Merigold. But first, he is greeted by Aunt Kitty.

He and his cousin Hunter did their best to bring some cheer to Chester.

Leaving Merigold, we took a quick detour to Cleveland so Henry could meet some more cousins, Sidney and Shelby. In this picture, Sindney points out Henry's apples and squash mustache.

The last stop of the trip was dinner with friends at Kathryn's on Moon Lake (according to John, the largest oxbow lake in the country!) outside of Clarksdale. Best homemade peppermint ice cream ever.

Playa Eight-a

Today was Henry's eight-month birthday. He's actually added a lot to his repertoire over the past month. He can crawl across a room in no time. He pulls himself up to a standing position using anything from ottoman to bedspread to Golden Retriever leg. And--much to our relief--he can go from standing up to sitting down without falling and hitting his head in the process. He has also gotten in his first tooth (bottom) and number two is just starting to peek out (bottom, neighbor of first tooth). All in all, a pretty eventful month...

One more thing that Henry has starting doing during the last month: feeding himself Cheerios, which he is able to do with a success rate of about one out of seven O's....

Water Babies

Henry took his first swim "lessons" last week at Water Babies class, which is meant for kids aged 6 months to 2 years. They don't exactly teach the backstroke, but it's a great way for babies to get used to being in the water. They do teach kicking and climbing out of the pool (aided by the lure of a rubber ducky) and there is a lot of singing and splashing. And for the first time in Henry's life, he went under the water. It was only for about 2 seconds, but when you're the parents watching your baby get dunked, it's a long two seconds. He had a surprised look on his face when he came up, but was no worse for the wear and shed no tears, which is probably about all you can ask....

Grove Debut

September 8, 2007 was a big day for Henry. He has been to one basketball game, five baseball games and even his cousin Lexie's soccer game. But this past weekend, he finally got his first taste of the Grove on a football Saturday. He's going to have to wait until the temperatures are a little more tolerable before actually attending his first football game, so in the meantime tailgating will have to suffice.

In this picture, he is either clapping his hands in perfect rhythm with the marching band or waiving his arms around for no apparent reason--you decide.

At first he was quite happy to stay in his stroller and enjoy the scene.

Dressed to kill. (And I'm talking about Henry, not me with my American Eagle polo that I probably shouldn't be allowed to wear since I don't have Linkin Park in my iPod.)

The excitement finally got to him and he had a good nap, first in his mom's arms...

...and then again in his stroller, where he did his best Al Bundy impression.

Bienvenue en Louisiane

Henry was lucky enough to spend Labor Day weekend with his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents--and parents--in one of the greatest cities in the world, New Orleans. Obviously, Henry is a believer in the "when in Rome" concept because he stayed up late eating and drinking (his bottle) just like everyone else. One night, he was even up until 10:30--there was just too much action going on to go to sleep. It was Southern Decadence weekend, after all. (And if you don't know what that means, Google it.)

Saturday morning was brunch at Brennan's where he was passed around the table like a warm baguette. Jonathan and Lexie get in on the action.

Ryan gives us all a lesson in making Bananas Foster.

Emmy shows off her baby-handling skills.

Well, you had to know this was coming...

Responsible parenting at its best. Couldn't resist this picture since he, too, is barely legal. Although much more legal than what apparently goes on behind those purple doors.

Looks like the powdered sugar is just kicking in for Natalie during this late-night trip to Cafe du Monde. Mmmmmm, donuts.

Home sweet home! Henry tries to work off some of that rich New Orleans food by rearranging his Bumbo seat.