Henry VanDyke

Henry turned three months old just before he celebrated his first Christmas.

At three months Henry has achieved the following milestones:

• Making more noises or “talking”
• Turns head towards people talking or loud sounds
• Holding his head steady for long periods
• Pays attention to things around him, especially lights
• Started sucking thumb, fingers and whole fist
• Sleeping through the night
• Smiling regularly

Erin’s first time mom’s class that she attended on Thursdays has now morphed into a “playgroup”, even though the babies aren’t old enough to do much playing. It has however served to provide several cute baby group pictures.

Henry's not quite sure what he did to upset the girl next to him.

You may recall that Henry’s first experience in his bath tub was less than relaxing for him. Since then he’s started to enjoy his baths a little more, even smiling here and there.

We’ve gotten in a routine with the whole family, including Tigerman, crowding into our tiny bathroom once a night for Henry’s bath. Erin does most of the actual bathing while I’m on lifeguard duty. Tigerman lends moral support, commiserating with Henry on the stress of bathing.

You may also notice that we’ve stopped using the tub hammock because he’s sitting up so well with out it.

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Shortly before YaiYai came to town for Thanksgiving she informed us that we would be taking a family Christmas photo. The attire for the session would be Christmas sweaters. The only problem, Henry didn’t have a Christmas sweater.

Luckily, Henry’s GREAT Aunt Lori had already placed a package in the mail that unknown to us, contained a Christmas sweater. We were thrilled when it arrived and Henry looked great in the photo.

This picture was sponsored by Gymboree... kinda, not really.

Henry had a treat this weekend getting to hang out with Samuel for a bit and meeting the Conlons for the first time. The Conlons moved to St. Louis last year but we still count them among our best friends.

Moved safely out of eye poking range.

There are three babies in this picture!

This Thanksgiving we had something extra special to be thankful for, Henry. We hosted the celebration at our house to simplify baby care. Oppa, YaiYai, Uncle Chuck and AJ all drove down from Tennessee to be with us. In addition, Uncle Mo, Aunt TM, Aunt Linda and Grandma Hinderer joined us from Erin’s side of the family. We had tons of food and Henry loved all of the attention.

Notable firsts during this Thanksgiving:

• Henry’s First Thanksgiving
• First Thanksgiving celebrated at our house
• Erin’s first time cooking the Thanksgiving turkey
• AJ’s first Thanksgiving with our family
• Uncle Chuck’s first Thanksgiving as a married man
• Tigerman’s first taste of Turkey

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