We’re thrilled to announce that Henry will have a cousin in May! Jackson VanDyke is expected to join his parents Uncle Chuck and AJ in May but we got a sneak peak via Jackson’s blog at jacksonvandyke.com.
Oppa and YaiYai live in Clarksville, Tennessee which is about one hour from Nashville where Uncle Chuck and AJ live. So, while we were in town, Uncle Chuck and AJ toured us around to a few of their favorite spots. We got to see Uncle Chuck’s work and his favorite lunch spot.
Uncle Chuck works in the music industry and recently received his first gold album.
Here is Henry posing with Uncle Chuck's first gold album to help increase it's value.
Oppa couldn't resist getting in the picture with Uncle Chuck and AJ.
We traveled to Tennessee to spend Christmas with YaiYai and Oppa on Friday, December 18. With all of the gear involved in spending a week away from home with a baby, we decided to drive. Normally the trip from our house to YaiYai’s takes about ten and a half hours. Since Henry is eating every three hours and we have to stop to feed or change him, we worried about having to stop every 15 minutes. Our plan to combat this was to drive through the night. We fed Henry, strapped him in his car seat and headed out at 5:30 p.m. Friday night.
Things went well until the first stop around 8:30 p.m., Henry woke up and started screaming. We think he was just confused about where he was and why he wasn’t sleeping in his bed. He eventually calmed down but every stop was accompanied by an intense bout of crying. When combined with our exhaustion from being awake for 24 straight hours made it seem like a very long trip. We arrived at 6:30, handed Henry, who was waking up for the day, to YaiYai and Oppa and promptly went to sleep.
Once we woke up, we were able to catch Uncle Chuck and AJ in town before they headed out to see AJ’s family. We exchanged Christmas gifts with them Saturday night.
Here are pictures of Uncle Chuck and AJ hanging out with us at YaiYai’s house. You’ll notice that YaiYai was not willing to let go of Henry long enough to get a picture of Henry with Uncle Chuck and AJ.
While Erin and I didn’t get around to sending out Christmas cards this year, due to a certain infant. Henry did make in onto YaiYai and Oppa’s Christmas card which we took when they visited over Thanksgiving.
We used the camera timer for this picture and it only took six tries, which was five too many for YaiYai.
Uncle Chuck and AJ brought Henry a Tennessee hoodie that goes great with the outfit Samuel’s parents gave us when he was born. Go Vols!
He may have been born in Texas, but he's a Vol at heart.
My brother, Uncle Chuck, and his wife, AJ, came to visit Henry this past week. Since they live in Nashville, they hadn’t seen Henry yet. Good news, they think he’s cute.
AJ cooked her famous apple dumplings for us one night which more than lived up to their reputation. They were able to participate in a number of firsts during their trip including:
One of the fun parts of having a kid is dressing them in cutesy outfits. Here is Henry in his Samford outfit that AJ picked up for us. Erin and I met and got our undergraduate degrees at Samford.
We were in Clarksville a few weeks ago with Oppa and YaiYai watching Uncle Chuck and AJ get married. A certain grandfather had photos on his office door of Henry at 12 weeks, yet it had been over a month since his 18 week ultrasound. I then realized that I posted a video but no photos. So for posterity, here are the photos. We’ll have, what will likely be, the last ultrasound this Monday.
Henry is getting more and more clothing these days. His latest haul comes from a trio of generous donors. The blanket and dog themed onesies at the top left are from Steve and Donna Springer who are friends from Clarksville. The “Robot Friends” onesies are another European addition from Erin’s Dad. The Samford t-shirt and onesies were personally delivered from Birmingham by AJ (Aunt Jennifer).
As parents-to-be, Erin and I feel the weight of guiding Henry’s young impressionable mind, particularly through his wardrobe. I think the latest set will guide him on the path to graduating from Samford and then building friendly robots that provide company and comfort to orphaned puppies. I guess it could also give him an identity crisis where he thinks he’s a robotic dog named Samford… nah than could never happen.
"Stylin' and profilin', whoo!"
