Half-Birthday

When I was young, I used to relish celebrating my half-birthday. Well, it was a celebration in my mind, at least; we never had any real celebration of the event, but I enjoyed remembering the day, nonetheless. As I mentioned in my previous post, Jack was six months old on February 25th (marking his "half-birthday"). We celebrated the event by going to the doctor, peeing all over the scale (Jack, not Mommy and Daddy), and receiving several shots (Jack again). For the first time, Jack had a bit of a reaction to the shots, but is feeling better now.

We learned that Jack is 27.5 inches tall (85th percentile), 17 pounds 14 ounces (58th percentile), and his head is 46.5 cm (98th percentile). We knew he had a big head, but didn't know it was bigger than 98% of babies his age. Hopefully, it is filled with brains and not rocks or one big boulder.

Here are some of his six month pictures that I mentioned the other day.

Giddyup, pillow!

Senior pictures only 17 years away

You're right, these do have a funky odor

It's damn hard work holding up a big noggin like this!

Beef...It's What for Dinner

Well, maybe a while down the road it will be. For now, it is rice cereal. Jack finally entered into the world of solid foods this weekend. We had been intending on getting Jack started on solids for a little while now (his doctor told us we could start between 5-6 months), but life interfered. Friends had given me the advice to start solids on a weekend because it could be a messy, time-consuming affair, and for weeks it seemed that we were either out-of-town or Jack was sick and the doctor recommended holding off so that we didn't end up with solids coming out one end or another in a more liquid form.

The actual cereal feeding itself was a bit anti-climatic. Jack didn't turn any cartwheels, our kitchen escaped relatively unscathed, and dreams of solids bringing on a longer, more restful night sleep proved unrealized (so far, at least). Nevertheless, we have achieved an important milestone, one for the (baby) books.

Fired up! Ready to go!

Whatcha got in there?

Can't a guy eat in peace?

It takes a very steady hand!

Ugh! I think some of your arm hair got in my cereal.

Mmmm, next stop, Murray's for some steak!

This weekend, we achieved a few other significant milestones as well. I took Jack in for his six-month pictures on Friday. (He is six-months old today!) And after running to one post office only to be told to go to another because "we don't process those on Saturdays, even though our own website says we do" (and no, we can't change the website), trying to find the next post office using the (wrong) address given to us by the postal staff, consulting with our friend Mike for assistance over the cell phone, and desperately using our best self-talk to keep from hauling off and hitting the oh-so-helpful mail personnel, we applied for Jack's passport. It's hard to say whether running all over town or trying to assist the Kinko's guy take a passport photo according to the State Department specifications ("he's gotta be looking at the camera with his mouth closed and the picture needs to fit between these lines, even though he can barely stay still for half a second") was more difficult. Actually, it's not hard at all. The running all over town wins, hands down. Thank goodness a passport is good for five years!

Jack has his six-month check-up tomorrow, so I'll try and "check-in" with stats and some of his new "official" pics.

I Didn't Forget You, Valentine!

What? Valentine's Day was LAST Thursday?
Oh, Fudge!

Do you know what this thing says?

Be mine!

Update: The Henderlembckes

When I started this blog, I never intended it to be a few times a month kind of thing, but here it is almost February, and well, I have only posted twice in January. There are many times during the week that I think, wow, that's a good idea for a post, but then I am consumed with work, laundry, baby Jack, and sleep (not necessarily in that order) and I never make it to the computer. But we have eaten dinner, the little one is fast asleep, and there is an hour or so before the season premiere of Lost, so I thought I would (briefly) catch you up on the happenings of the Henderlembckes*.

When I posted on New Year's day, I wrote about the many changes that 2008 would bring for us. We've managed to accomplish most of what we've set out to do in 2008 so far. Jack started daycare without a hitch. He has a wonderful daycare provider a few blocks from our home who spoils him with love, hugs, and attention. Most of the time, Jack is the only child there. He shares Grandma Sherri with two four-year-olds on Mondays, two school-age kids come a few days a week, and every so often a 15-month old waddler joins the crew. Nick and I have arranged our schedules so that we each have every other Friday off, so we get some extra time with Jack and Sherri gets her Fridays off.

I love daycare!

I have joined the ranks of telecommuters and it is a bit trickier than one might think. I am not the biggest fan of getting ready to go to work in the morning, and it's even harder to make that happen when you aren't really "going" to work. Some days, I stay in my pajamas/lounge pants all day and forget to brush my teeth until after I eat lunch. It doesn't really affect my productivity, but it does affect my ego when I realize that I forgot to put on deodorant for the day (and no, it's not a smell that reminds me, smart aleck). I have found that overall the advantages to working at home outweigh the drawbacks, but it is definitely different than I expected. A recent story in the New York Times confirmed some of my feelings.

We have purchased a new car and, much to our surprise (and maybe yours), it is a minivan. I was shopping around for the best used car we could get for the money, and, lo and behold, stumbled across this Honda Odyssey. I know that some of you Kiwis are not familiar with the term minivan and may wonder what it looks like - I'll post a picture as soon as we get the salt washed off of it.

We are the proud aunt, uncle, and cousin to little Andy. We went to Madison to check him out in person last weekend and man, is he a sweetie. His parents, Grant and Anne, are hanging in there during the (most amazing and hardest) first weeks. Grandpa Roy is bursting with pride (well, as much as he "bursts") at the newest additions to the family. The minivan survived the road trip and its spaciousness allowed us to feed and diaper Jack without having to take him out in the cold.

Little Andy

And it has been cold. Yesterday was the coldest day of the season, with high temperatures well below zero and wind chills close to 30 degrees below (Fahrenheit). We are headed for a big warm-up this weekend - highs in the 20s. Gotta love winter in Minnesota.

Mom, I can't put my arms down!

I will post some more pictures of Jack and his cousin in the next few days, but now I have to run and watch the Lost: Past, Present, and Future show so my brain is ready to absorb the new episode scheduled for 8pm. This writer's strike (and that darn baby) have really put a cramp in our TV viewing this season. Gotta catch the new shows when we can!

*The Clever King came up with this nickname a few years ago for our dual last name family while playing The Sims and it has stuck.

Eyes on the Prize

Tonight, all eyes are on our neighbors to the south, those crazy Iowans. As they participate in the the Iowa caucuses, about 300,000 of the approximately 2 million eligible voters in the state will have an important hand in the decision of who the rest of us will eventually get to pick between for the president. Nick has spent the last several days watching the polls and telling those Iowans (via that handy two-way communication vehicle, the television set) that if they haven't made up their mind on who they are going to support by now, then they must have some of their famous corn between their ears instead of a brain. It's hard not to be jealous of all of the face time, as we sit here due north, nary a candidate in sight, and our primary still a month away. Today on MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) I heard that one Iowan woman had been discussing hot flashes with Hillary, sSounds like an advice column, "Hot Flashes with Hillary"), a topic of critical importance when selecting the next president.

It's an interesting state of affairs when my (formerly?) Republican uncle and I are supporting the same candidate in the primaries. I'm anxious to move onto the next president, after experiencing "W" for 7 of my 14 adult years. Nick is equipped for the event with his new calendar, the day by day "Out of Office Countdown," a Christmas present courtesy of his son. Each day has an "enlightening" Bush quote, January 1st's being, "You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." Unfortunately, Nick will not become a citizen in time to vote in the 2008 presidential election, but that does not keep him from sharing his (many) opinions on the subject. Two political science majors under the same roof makes for some interesting conversation.

It seems like both yesterday and a decade ago when Howard Dean let out his (in)famous scream in the last presidential go-round. Weird.

Results are coming in...stay tuned.

What the New Year Brings

Happy 2008! I can't believe that "next year" is already here. For the last few weeks, our lives have continued on fast forward. We shoveled some snow, did lots of Christmas shopping, attended some Christmas parties, shoveled some more snow, travel to Madison to spend Christmas with my family, drove through some snow, watched Jack roll over a few times, and shoveled yet more snow. (I recently heard that we had more snow in December than we have for many of the winters that I have lived here. That doesn't surprise me.)

Here's a few pictures from those events...

Karla, Jack, and Katie at the Buckskin Christmas Gathering

The weather's gonna stay this way for how many months?

You mess with Tom, you mess with me

I am strangely drawn to this

Will Ferrell has some competition

And next year I want a Red Ryder gun, a pony, and a real live fire truck

2008 will bring us many changes. Tomorrow, Jack goes to his first day of daycare. Tomorrow is also my first day of my new (although somewhat? temporary) telecommuting schedule. We will soon be returning to our status as a two-car family (if all goes well), after a year or so as a single-car one. We will also soon become an aunt and uncle, as my brother and sister-in-law have a baby on the way. Hopefully, we will also be able to slow down a bit as 2008 begins. I will try and keep you posted about how each of these changes is going.

Hope you enjoyed the holidays. Here's wishing you all the best in 2008!

Our Winter Wonderland

The snow and ice storms hitting the U.S. in the last few weeks have made the news worldwide. Of the six years that I have lived in Minnesota, this year has been the earliest that we have been hit with the snow and cold. It seems especially cold when you have a little baby to get bundled up! I never thought putting mittens on a little one could be so difficult. They ought to make that an American Gladiator or Survivor challenge. Forget this eating worms or knocking people off platforms with a foamed oar. This is the true test of survival in a harsh environment!

As you may have guess, I'm not a fan of winter. This time of year I often ask the Clever King just why we live in Minnesota. I then spend a lot of time explaining to him how, yes, there is snow and cold in Wisconsin, but it is DEFINITELY not as snowy and cold as it is HERE in southern Canada. This time of year, lots of other folks ask the Clever King why HE lives in Minnesota when he is from the island paradise of New Zealand, where it is rarely below 50 degrees (although furnaces are also rare there). He spends a lot of time explaining to them the merits of the States. We've collectively spent a lot of time the last few weeks shoveling the sidewalk so the wheelchair man can get through to church*, digging out cars, commuting home from work, and hunting down the last of the fresh apple cider in the local supermarkets.

Fresh apple cider may be the best part of late fall. CK has perfected the art of heating it in the microwave so it is just hot enough to burn your throat a little bit, but not hot enough to burn your mittenless hands off. One of our favorite mugs (meant for coffee but used for cider by us) has an excerpt from Garrison Keillor on it. It was given to us by an Australian friend one summer when he and his girlfriend (now wife) stayed with us. CK and I each clamor for this mug in the winter months because, when we are feeling sorry for ourselves, it reminds us of the expectations of being a Minnesotan in the winter. Here's what Garrison has to say:

"Growing up in a place that has winter you learn to avoid self-pity. Winter is not a personal experience, everybody else is as cold as you, so you shouldn't complain about it too much. You learn this as a kid, coming home crying from the cold, and Mother looks down and says, 'It's only a little frostbite. You're okay.' And thus you learn to be okay. What's done is done. Get over it. Drink your coffee. It's not the best you'll ever get but it's good enough."

Yes, Jack's first Minnesota winter has definitely arrived with a bang. On those few occasions that he has been out in the cold for the 15 seconds it takes to transport him from the house to the car and the wind hits his face, he takes a sharp little breath and looks at us as if to say, "Good God, people! What have you done with that warm cozy place where I spent nine months?" We tell him he's been fortunate to spend the first days of winter at home with Daddy, surrounded by radiators pumping out heat and soft, snuggly blankets wrapped around his little body. Soon enough, he will have to brave the cold each day to get off to daycare. With a Wisconsin mom and a Kiwi daddy, we'll have to see if he is tough enough for survival in the land of 10,000 (frozen) lakes. I'm betting he can make it.

*This stems from the times when we first moved into our house and we had disagreements about exactly how frequently and well the sidewalk needed to be shoveled. Nick often felt that it was "good enough" and I would respond that if he wanted to be the house in the neighborhood who had the sidewalk that kept the wheelchair man from getting to the church on the corner, that was fine with me. The (hypothetical) wheelchair man usually won.