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Posted by Chris Henry at 7:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In the car, on the way to school today:

Damon: Daddy, after I'm Buzz Lightyear, and Alex, then I want to be a knight in shining armor.

Daddy: Really?

Damon: Yeah. But I don't want to do girlie stuff?

Daddy: What's "girlie stuff"?

Damon: Princesses. I don't like princesses.

(Alex is the lion from the movie Madagascar)

Posted by Chris Henry at 7:40 AM | Permalink

So, as usual, I've gotten behind on updating photos on the web site.

Idaho
First up are photos from the trip Damon and I took to Idaho to spend time with the family. Click the photo to see the rest of the pictures.

While we were there, we also rented a tag-along bike that Damon rode on with his Papa and had a great time. Here's short video I took:

Damon on the bike from Chris Henry on Vimeo.

The Orange County Fair
Last week, we went to the OC Fair for the afternoon. Click the image below for more pics.

Posted by Chris Henry at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Damon Climbing the tree from Chris Henry on Vimeo.

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Okay, he didn't really say that. Exactly.

I didn't see my shoes this morning, and rather than looking for them, I enlisted Damon's help. He loves finding things, and it seemed like a win-win situation.

Turns out my shoes were sitting on the floor next to me, but out of my line of sight. Damon points them out to me, then says, "Daddy, you should look down there before asking me to help you find things."

Good point.

Posted by Chris Henry at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I looked out of the garage yesterday, and there was Damon, he had the jog stroller parked under the tree and was standing on it to try and climb up into the tree. It was moving around a fair bit since he hadn't locked the wheels, but he almost had it.

Daddy: "Damon! What are you doing?"
Damon: "Playing monkey. I want to get up into the tree"

I'd seen him trying to climb up the trunk several times already, and I guess he'd decided that he needed a leg up.

We put the stroller back, and I gave him that one little boost that he needed and he climbed up into the tree. He even climbed down. The second and third times up the tree, he was able to do it much more quickly, but did get himself wedged in and had to be "rescued".

The first thing he wanted to do when Mommy got home was run outside (in the rain) to show her how he could climb the tree and after that first little bit of help from me, he scampered up it like he was born to it.

Any bets on how long the "you can only climb the tree when Mommy or Daddy are helping you" rule will hold?

Posted by Chris Henry at 6:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It turns out that Damon loves watching The Evolution of Dance on YouTube. He's always asking to watch "The Dancing Guy." So, I got a little industrious and video-taped him dancing along with the video a couple of times. The result is below. Now, Damon asks to watch "Damon and the Dancing Guy."

Enjoy.

(video taken in December 2007)

Posted by Chris Henry at 1:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So, once again I've gotten behind on posting updates. Here are some photos of our adventures in December and January. We had a trip to Alaska, Christmas, lots of cousins, and Disneyland all in a pretty short period of time. Enjoy the photos...

Santa!	Piling Snow on Baron	Nana & Damon
At Grace's School	Cousins	Papa & Grace
Papa & Damon	Daddy & Damon	At the Park with Alana
Christmas morning with Rena and Alana	Stockings	Rena and Elmo
Lightning and Mater	At Disneyland	Hanging out with Maya
On Small World	New Shirt

Posted by Chris Henry at 8:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Summer's over and we were able to have a pretty good time, even though I worked so much it felt like I pretty much missed it entirely.

I've got some photos and videos to share of stuff that happened this summer.

Photos:

Videos:
This first video is some misc. clips from the summer that starts with some clips at the pool, some random dancing, clips from his swim lessons, and ends with a trip to the zoo with Caesar.

The last video is from our trip to Disneyland on Friday. We haven't been since March or April, so it was a lot of fun. The best part, for me, was that he's now big enough to go on the big kid rides. So we did Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and he totally loved it. We also did Autopia for the first time, which he totally loved.

The video first has clips of Damon driving the car in Autopia. Next, I taped him on the Go-Coaster. Finally, I included the clip I took last October of him on the Go-Coaster so you could see the different facial expressions.

Posted by Chris Henry at 8:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon: "Mommy, I'm pooping"
Mommy: "Got it"
Damon: "You got it?"
Mommy: "I got it"
Damon: "You got it?"
Mommy: "I got it"
Damon: "Ka-Chow!"

Posted by Chris Henry at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Video from this afternoon on the swing in the back yard.

Posted by Chris Henry at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon's birthday party was last weekend and here's some photos & stuff.

Here's some video of Damon in the bounce house:

One of his gifts was this outfit from his cousin Grace

Lastly, Damon's present from Mommy and Daddy was this:

(decorations courtesy of Nana and Papa)

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon invented a game today that involved his tunnel, his tent, and leaping over my legs. There was also some drama thrown in for good measure. This video should give you a taste for it.

We also went swimming today for the first time this year. There's a pool near some friends house that is heated year round, so we jumped in. Damon's retained quite a bit of his skills from last summer and all of his enthusiasm. There was one minor hiccup at the start of the adventure. The first pool we went to was not heated, and while it got up to 75 degrees today, the pool felt ice cold. I did my usual "just jump right in" approach to pool entry and nearly shocked my system into heart failure. Damon did come in for a few minutes and managed to have a good time. After about 10 minutes of messing about, we hopped in the car and went in search of a heated pool.

Posted by Chris Henry at 1:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon discovered a new game yesterday.

Posted by Chris Henry at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon's Grannie Linda knitted him a sweater for Christmas this year. He wears it everytime we go anywhere. It was a little cold tonight (50s), so he needed more warmth, but insisted on wearing the cookie monster jacket. So, we ended up putting a sweatshirt under the cookie monster sweater.

Posted by Chris Henry at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Daddy: Damon, wipe that booger on this tissue.
Damon: I don't want to.
Daddy: What are you going to do with it then?
Damon: Put it back in my nose.

Posted by Chris Henry at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click below to watch some of the best photos of Damon from 2006.

Posted by Chris Henry at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And so, Christmas begins...

Damon's present opening skills have increased from last year. Rip and tear baby!

Some loot:

Mommy and Daddy got him a "big boy" bed too. It's super cool.

We also managed to get a short video clip of Damon jumping onto his new bed. (Click the video to watch)

Posted by Chris Henry at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon puts his semi-transparent bucket on his head.
Daddy: "Are you a spaceman?"
Damon: "Yes."
Mommy: "Say, 'Buzz Lightyear'."
Damon: "I can't. There's a bucket on my head."

Hard to argue with that kind of logic.

Posted by Chris Henry at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Chris Henry at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon and Ceasar singing the "I Did It!" song.

Posted by Chris Henry at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Mommy, this isn't big enough. I need bigger money." Damon to Marnia while holding a penny.

Posted by Chris Henry at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's been bunch of stuff going on in the last couple of months, including a trip to Oregon, trips to disneyland, and more. In time, I'll upload photos of those things. For now, I've got two video clips of Damon and his cousin Alana at Disneyland this past week.

You'll need Apple's free Quicktime software in order to view the clips.

This clip is on the teacups, one of Damon's favorite rides.

This one is on the Go Coaster rollercoaster in Toon Town. Damon absolutely loves going on it and asks to to again every time we go. I had hoped to have video of the entire ride, but my finger slipped onto the power button a few seconds into the ride. Still a good clip though.

Enjoy.

Posted by Chris Henry at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon: I want to touch the moon.
Damon: Mommy, I want to touch the moon.
Mommy: The moon's too far away to touch.
Damon (with emphasis): I want to touch the moon Mommy!
(repeat this about 50 times in 10 minutes)
Daddy: Damon, you want to touch the moon?
Damon: I can't reach the moon Daddy. It's too high.

The moral of the story is that he really does listen, but you've gotta smack him on the side of the head once in a while to get past the skip.

I managed to get a video clip with my cell phone of the end of this exchange. The quality's not great, but you get the idea.
Click here to watch the video.

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Haven't posted any video for a while. Here's a couple from the last month or so that I took from my cell phone.

Continue reading "Video Update" »

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We've had some fun lately with Damon's second birthday and a visit from my parents.

The photos that I'm posting are of:
Grandparents visit on Easter weekend, with visits to Disneyland and the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Also some Easter morning photos of Damon running around the yard looking for eggs.

Also have photos of Damon's second birthday party. A good time appears to have been had by all. A number of the kids from Damon's old day care were able to come and he had a great time running around the park with them.

Click the picture to view all of the photos. Enjoy.

Posted by Chris Henry at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Is it evil to tell your mother that they don't allow cameras into Disneyland any longer due to security concerns? I'm reminded of the Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handy:

One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.

Wanna see photos from today's trip? Click Here.

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, it has been a while since I published any photos of Damon. Sorry about that.

I'm trying out a new program (iWeb) and a new service (.mac) that look like they might make publishing photos a lot easier.

Click here to view the photos. Let me know what you think of the new interface.

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

When you ask Damon to say Please, he signs please (rubs hand across chest) and says "more". We've been trying to teach him to say please, and we'll say, "Say P-P-P-Please". Damon then says, "P-P-P-More". Kills me every time.

Damon has pretended that a lot of things are phones: toy phones, blocks, plastic hot dog buns. Tonight he used a new one: a crouton. The kid's a genius. Just think of it, your dinner is also your cell phone. You'll never miss a call. Unless, of course, you've already eaten your phone.

Posted by Chris Henry at 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Damon wears "Tigger" slippers at daycare. This weekend he found a Tigger stuffed animal in his toybox and spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get it onto his feet. He did it again last night.

Posted by Chris Henry at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know it's been a while since I've posted photos. I'm also still planning on posting the family reunion photos at some point.

Damon's recently taken to mimicing a lot of the things we do. A while back Marnia called me at work to tell me about him using a plastic hot dog bun as a pretend phone. Today, I handed him my razon and he put it up to his face and rubbed it around a little.

We gave him one of Marnia's old non-working cell phones a while back:

Last week the Stuewe girls came over and spent the evening with us. Damon decided that Torie was worth having around after all:

And finally, Damon had a lot of fun playing in the dirt at the stables this morning (sorry, no photos), and really had fun this afternoon playing with the water and making mud:

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Sunday afternoon we got the great idea to go to the beach for a little while. Damon hadn't been to the beach before, and it seemed like a good idea. So, we sunscreened everyone and loaded up and took off for the Balboa Peninsula. On a Sunday afternoon. In July.

So here's the thing. There's nowhere to park on the peninsula on a Sunday afternoon. We drove around for 30 minutes looking for a place to park and never found one. So, we came home and played in the sprinkler.

This morning, we decided to give it another go. We left home arond 9:00 and there were plenty of places to park. We even found a spot that didn't have a parking meter

Damon thought the sand was pretty cool, but the ocean and the surf scared him a little. So, we played in the sand for a while and had a good time.

Bonus photo:

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon got a new ball a couple of weeks ago. It's a slightly oversized volleyball. Here's some pics from a trip to the park:

Tonight we went to the Orange County fair with the Stuewes. Damon had a blast in the petting zoo. He was tearing around after the animals and having a great time.

Posted by Chris Henry at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I'm driving to work today listening to KROQ on the radio and the song "Smoke Two Joints" by Sublime comes on. Here's how the song starts:

I smoke two joints in the morning
I smoke two joints at night,
I smoke two joints in the afternoon
and it makes me feel alright

I smoke two joints in time of peace
and two in time of war
I smoke two joints before i smoke two joints
and then i smoke some more
etc.

PS: We here at chenry.com do not condone the use of illicit drugs. Drugs are bad.

Posted by Chris Henry at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon had enough of a temperature today that he was over the legal limit for daycare, so he had to stay home. Even though he had a temp, he was in a pretty good mood (at least in the morning), so he and I went to the park, where he had a lot of fun on the slides. He's gotten a lot more nimble, and was able to climb up the steps to the slide. He couldn't figure out how to get into the slide to go feet first, so he decided to go head first instead. I was able to capture him doing it with the video clip feature of my cell phone. It's pretty poor quality video, but you get the idea of what's happening.

Anyway, here's the clip. Enjoy. (You'll need QuickTime to watch the movie)

Posted by Chris Henry at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon "helped" me out this afternoon when I washed the car.

He did really well tonight watching fireworks on the block. He only started getting cranky when we go to bedtime. And off to sleep he went.

What a great kid.

Posted by Chris Henry at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, time to catch up a little bit. Since I last posted, Damon and I flew to Oregon so the Oregon branch of the family could throw Damon a birthday party. We went to Lincoln City, which is where my parents live, and hung out for a couple of days. My brother and sister in law came over for the weekend too, so it was a big party. One nice part of the trip was that I didn't take a camera with me because I knew that the grandparents would come through with the digi pics, and I wasn't disappointed.

Of course, when in Oregon, one must do one's best to blend in. Below is a photo that accurately describes what my parents did to my innocent son.

Click here for the rest of the photos.

Here are some other recent photos:

Found some cheapo kids sunglasses in the junk drawer the other day. Damon's one cool cat.

Frozen blueberries are the best

Playing around on the deck.

Posted by Chris Henry at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was Damon's big birthday party. A bunch of our friends came out to party in the park with the birthday boy. True to form, he did a number on his cake and got bits of cake everywhere. We thought about tossing him into the pool to clean him off, but decided not to. He especially enjoyed the watermelon and the dancing. He had a hard time concentrating on the presents, which I don't think is all that unusual for a one year old.

A big thanks to everyone who came out for the party, and special thanks to the Fox family for hooking us up with the park, to Aunt Mickey for a beautiful job decorating the cake, Uncle Dan for doing video duty and schlepping stuff back and forth to the cars, and Heather for taking almost all of the photos we have of the party.

Okay, here are your photos. All you ever do is look at the pictures, you never read the articles.

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:49 PM | Permalink

Yesterday was Damon's first birthday. He had lots of fun at daycare and at home.

Here are the photos we took at daycare as he his cupcake. After he was finished with his, he then stole the one from his neighbor as she was eating slowly.

Then last night, we had some friends over and served Damon's favorite foods: Peas, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, bread, and most importantly, watermelon. He then had a slice of carrot cake, which was destroyed in much the same fashion as the cupcake.

Not a bad first birthday. Two parties down, two to go. After all, you only turn 1 four times.

Posted by Chris Henry at 3:02 PM | Permalink

Damon's birthday is approaching and some folks have asked for gift ideas for him. So, here's his list. (He tried to get an iPod on the list, but we had to say no.)

Continue reading "Damon's Birthday List" »

Posted by Chris Henry at 11:07 PM | Permalink

Our neighbor Heidi came through again with some great Easter themed photos of Damon.

Damon also recently got this cool rocking chair that belonged to Marnia's mom when she was a little one.

He has also taken to helping around the house. Below you can see how he's helped out with the laundry as well as with putting together a new piece of IKEA furniture.

Posted by Chris Henry at 6:19 PM | Permalink

So, over the last two weeks or so, Damon has decided that sitting still just isn't such a great plan. He really wishes that he could walk, but has decided that crawling is a good alternative given that he falls on his face whenever he tries to walk.

The other day, I pulled out the video camera and got a little bit of his crawling onto tape.

To view the movie, you'll need Apple's free Quicktime player installed on your computer. Also, the file's about 9.1 mb in size, so if you've got dialup, you could be in for a bit of a wait.

Click the photo to start your download...

(note: if you right-click and choose "Save Target As..." you can save the movie to your local hard drive and watch it as many times as you want without actually having to download it again and again.)

Posted by Chris Henry at 11:43 PM | Permalink

Okay, so I've finally had time to upload all of the photos from the holidays.

This first set is some Black & White photos taken by our neighbor. The theme is something like "Seriously, Merry Christmas."

This is another set taken by our neighbor when Damon's cousin Alana was in town.

These were taken over the holidays and after we got home from our trip to Oregon.

Posted by Chris Henry at 9:42 PM | Permalink

So, yes, things have been a little slow around the old web site these days. I'm sure the 3.5 visitors I was getting a day have not found other sites to visit. Oh well.

Some Damon updates:
1) He's learning to crawl right now. Just tonight he was able to move forward more than a foot in the direction he intended to go.
2) He's starting to pull himself up to a standing position. He's even taken a step or two while holding onto things.
3) At his nine month checkup last week, he came in at 95th percentile for height and 90th for weight, even after losing about a pound while he was sick.

That's about it. I'm really, really gonna post all of our recent photos soon. For now, the bathtub pic above is a pretty good one.

Posted by Chris Henry at 12:05 AM | Permalink

I'm really behind with the updates. It's been really busy here the last several weeks.

Coming soon are pictures with Damon and his cousin Alana, Santa, and more.

Here are a couple to hold you over until then

Posted by Chris Henry at 9:21 PM | Permalink

Took Damon to Home Depot tonight and got this picture with my new camera phone. Kinda cool to always have a camera along for the ride.

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:38 PM | Permalink

Damon and I went to the Kinship Center Adoption day celebration this afternoon for a little while. There were a bunch of fun things going on, including a guy doing charicatures. Here's the one he did of Damon:

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damon's new "trick" is that he sits up on his own without needing to be held. As with all of his new skills, he's pretty proud of this one. When he first started sitting on his own, he'd last for a few minutes then begin listing to one side or the other and eventually fall over. He would also do face plants as he leaned too far forward.

Over the past week he's gotten a lot more skilled at sitting and falls over a lot less often.

Here are some pics from the night last week when he decided to show off for his "cousins" Victoria and Natalie.

Posted by Chris Henry at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that from this day the minor shall, to all legal intents and purposes, be the child of the petitioners and, for the purpose of inheritance and all other legal incidents and consequences, the same as if born to them in wedlock;

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the name of the child be, and is DAMON CHRISTOPHER HENRY.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Posted by Chris Henry at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Retrospective
First off, a little before and after. The picture on the left was taken when we were in Chicago when he was about a week old. The one on the right was taken a couple of weeks ago when we were going through his clothes to weed out the ones that he'd grown out of. It appears that he's grown a little.

The surprise inspection
Last week my parents called to say that they were coming to visit for the weekend. While they were here, they snapped off a few (dozen) pics of the boy.

How can you not love this picture? (photo credit: the old guy)

Here are the rest of the photos from the weekend...

Lazy boy

Shirtless boy

That's all I've got for now.

Posted by Chris Henry at 9:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, as usual things have been really busy. I noticed tonight that it's been a while since I posted any new photos. So, here's a few to catch up on.

First off, we stared feeding Damon rice cereal a couple of weeks ago. He's not enitrely sure yet how he feels about it, but he's getting the idea. The biggest challenge is to get him to actually open his mouth so we can get the food in.

When the Angels were playing what turned out to be the last game of the series, Damon and I put on our Angels jerseys in an attempt to shift the balance of team mojo in the Angels favor. All looked good with Vladimir Guerreor hit a grand slam to tie the game, but Boston ended up winning in the end. Oh well, at least we got a good photo out of the deal.

This past weekend, we took Damon in for his first haircut. His hair on top was really starting to get out of control. Marnia really wanted to leave it long on top, kind of a chocolate mullet I guess, but the guy cutting Damon's hair had other ideas. Damon's hair is now very short, and I think it looks good, but Marnia still prefers it long and poofy - Kramer-style.

Here are the pics we took:

When we got home:

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Some new photos...

This week he's starting to reach for toys and grab them. Then into the mouth. He seems to like the taste of his little red phone.

Posted by Chris Henry at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With the new job and everything over the last month, we haven't had time to take many photos of the little guy, and even less time to post those photos. However, I do have two new ones for your viewing pleasure.

Before we get to the photos, however, Damon went in for his four month checkup this last week and came through with flying colors. He didn't even put up too much of a fuss about getting four immunizations. Cried a little when he got stabbed, but then was fine.

His new dimensions were:
Weight: 14 lbs. 4 oz (48th percentile)
Height: 26" (90th percentile)

Also, lately he's really taken to "standing" up. He just loves it. He seems also to be very proud of himself when he's standing. Of course, he looks like a drunken sailor.

(the third photo is him trying to stuff his shirt into his mouth)

Posted by Chris Henry at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This photo has not been doctored in any way. Just sheer luck.

WARNING: The contents of the photo are PG-13.

Posted by Chris Henry at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last Wednesday was my last day at Starbright and Thursday morning Damon and I left for a couple of days in Anchorage visiting my brother and his family.

We were a little late getting to LAX Thursday morning, we had about an hour and ten minutes before the flight left. It took us almost 40 minutes to get checked in and as we were nearing the front of the line, I smelled that Damon had filled up his pants. Since we were so close to the front, I didn't want to get out of line to change his diaper. As we were coming up to the security checkpoint, I heard them calling "all rows" to board our flight. As I picked him up out of his carseat to go through security and realized that he had blown out his diaper. No time to stop though, so we just kept going.

We sat down in our seats and I asked the flight attendant if I had time to change Damon's diaper. She said yes. So I took Damon in to change him and he had a super-colossal blowout. Poo everywhere. While I'm cleaning everything up, I hear the front of the plane asking if the aft cabin was secure. "Aft cabin NOT secure" was the response. Yikes, gotta hurry. They ask again, "Aft cabin NOT secure". Finally I get everything cleaned up and get back to my seat. No sooner had I sat down when I heard "Aft cabin secure". Then we waited another ten minutes before we could leave.

During the flight, I decided to be proactive and I started making a bottle for Damon prior to him actually needing it. I had the bottle on the tray table with the formula powder and water in it, and then I accidentally knocked the bottle off the tray table and INTO the diaper bag and all over my computer bag. Now all of his dry things in the diaper bag weren't dry any more.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and through the whole thing Damon was a champ.

Here are some photos that we took while we were there...

For those of you who don't believe it gets warm in Alaska, here's Grace playing in the sprinkler at 8:00 at night.

Posted by Chris Henry at 2:13 PM | Permalink

We were playing with Damon tonight on his changing table and tickled him and he started laughing, which was a first. Fortunately for you we had the presence of mind to run and grab the video camera. Click Here to download and watch the movie. On slower connections it might take a few minutes to download, so be patient.

Also, last week I took Damon into the office for the day one last time. While we were at lunch, someone at our table spotted a soap actress - Jill from the Young and the Restless. Not being one that watches soaps, I had no idea who she was, but the people I was with thought it would be fun to get Damon's picture taken with a celeb. Here's the photo:

Posted by Chris Henry at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In college I saw a bumper sticker one time that said, "I've got a drinking problem: Two hands and only one mouth."

Tonight Damon was doing his best to find a way to get both of his fists into his mouth. Apparently one isn't enough.

Posted by Chris Henry at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For the record, none of Damon's three grandmas have a mustache. I just thought it would be a funny title for an entry.

Marnia's mom was down for a visit last weekend and we had a good time. She helped me replace a rose bush in my front yard that had died a premature death. Ironically the breed pf rose was called "Diana, Princess of Wales."

Here are a couple of the photos we took while she was here:
   

This is a photo I took of Damon the other day while I was working on my computer. Thought it was cute to have a photo of him with a photo of him in the backgroud. Not all that artsy or anything, but pretty cute.

Lastly, today we took Damon to the stables to visit and for him to meet Marnia's horse buddies. The guy in the photo below is Jeff, Marnia's friend who got us the free plane tickets to Chicago for our last trip. How cool is that. Damon was enthralled with Jeff's mustache, not that anyone blamed him.

Posted by Chris Henry at 9:00 PM | Permalink

So I took Damon to the pool tonight.

He was amazing. He didn't cry or get upset pretty much the entire time. He did great in the water, which had been heated all day and was nice and warm. He got a little wide-eyed when we were hit by turbulence from other swimmers and wasn't a big fan of getting splashed, but he didn't complain at all the whole time we were in the pool. We were in for about fifteen or twenty minutes.

I figured for sure he'd yell coming out of the pool, but no, not the incredible swimming baby. The only time he complained at all was when I unwrapped his towel from him in the mens room and stripped off his swim diaper. Even then, he didn't complain a lot and once he was wrapped up in his blanket, he was all happy again.

Sorry, no pictures. Don't have a waterproof digital camera.

Posted by Chris Henry at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How could you not love this kid?

Posted by Chris Henry at 7:56 AM | Permalink

Time for a little catch-up. My hosting provider did a bunch of changes this weekend and I'm finally able to post new content today.

Marnia's Dad was here this weekend for a quick visit and we got some good pictures, especially when Marnia and Jim took Damon to the stables for the first time.

On Monday, Damon went in for his two month appointment. His specs now are:
Height: 23 2/4" (80th percentile)
Weight: 10 lbs 13.5 oz (40th percentile)

He also got his first immunizations on Monday. Two shots in each leg. He was VERY put out by the whole needle thing. Can't say I blame him much. He did calm down after a while, and doesn't seem to be having any reactions.

Lastly, we started his lifelong TV addiction tonight. His cousing Grace sent down four of her Baby Einstein videos. As I write this, he's watching Baby Bach and seems to be liking it. And yes, we realize that we're bad parents by letting our child watch television at such a young age.

As John Stewart says at the end of The Daily Show...
And now, your moment of Zen...

Posted by Chris Henry at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm a little conflicted about this whole Father's day thing. Marnia and I have been through so many hurdles to become parents that it feels to me that father's day is more of a hallmark holdiay than the real thing. Don't get me wrong, I cherish my role as a father and my son is the embodiment of happiness. However, what is there about tomorrow that makes being a father that much better than any other day of the year?

I'm not sure what pregnant people go through, but I know that for me I was so focused on the adoption process, that when we got to the hotel, and then got home, with Damon, that I was pretty unprepared. Trying to figure out why the little dude is crying in the middle of the night. Which formula is he going to finally like? Which bottle will agree with him? Why the heck won't he burp? Why the heck did he just spit up twice the amount of liquid that I just put into him? Stress. Stress. Stress. I'm sure other parents go through that part, but when you add onto all of that the whole, "is this kid really going to be mine?" part, it just gets crazier.

Before you start thinking that I've gone over the deep end, or at least further than usual, things have also gotten a lot better over the weeks since we've been home. The legal hurdles have been crossed and he's ours forever. We did figure out which formula and bottle he likes. We've gotten a lot better at figuring out what it is that he needs at a given point in time. Burping and spitting are just things that you learn to work with. After all, a burping child is generally a happy one. I've actually developed a whole new appreciation for the burp and think everyone needs at least one good belch a day.

People keep asking me what I think about being a father. I've taken to responding "it's different." I know that most of the time the answer that's being sought is something about how great it is. It is great, but mostly, it's different. On several occasions I've found myself looking forward to things "getting back to normal." The problem is, that view of "normal" is outdated, and from what I've been able to gather, I won't see normal around here for quite a few years. So, what I'm getting at here is that fatherhood IS different. Every day is different than the day before in some way or another. Different isn't bad either. It's just different.

So, back to Father's day. I think that Father's day is a good thing, but from where I'm sitting, Father's day isn't about me. Father's day is about my dad and is about my son. I think that doing something special with my son tomorrow is important for me, even though at his age, he's not really going to appreciate what's going on. I think that doing something special for my dad is important also. At his age, he also may not understand what's going on, but that's how it goes. (just kidding Dad). In the end, the day isn't about clever cards or Home Depot tools (although I'm not turning any down that show up), but about spending time with people.

The question begs though, how is that different than any other day? I enjoy doing things with my son every day and doing things for my dad is also not something that should limited to a particular day.

Posted by Chris Henry at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Some photos Marnia took tonight of Damon "helping" me while I was working on my computer.

Posted by Chris Henry at 10:26 PM | Permalink

Some photos from the last week or so that are further eviden