Henry's first airplane ride.

Mama here. We made it back to Wisconsin on Monday night and we're glad to have Henry home after his 25 day Ohio vacation. Talk about a winter break. Granted, we were only away from him for 10 of those 25 days (15 for Papa), but it was too long and we're glad to be home.

The flight back was great. We made it to the airport and through security (which was an experience, when you have winter coats, car seats, laptops, portable DVD players, and no shoes on anyone). Henry spent the next 45 minutes watching planes take off and land. we all saw "gas trucks" and "bag tractors."

Lucky for Henry, the prettiest plane (the orange one) happened to be the very plane we got to ride on.

We tried to get a picture boarding the plane, but somebody was way to excited to stop and pose.

Henry was very excited to sit in a big boy seat on the plane.

We had about the best flight experience ever. Henry was quiet the entire flight. Take off and landing didn't scare him, and the change in air pressure wasn't more than a couple swigs of orange juice couldn't help. I was surprised that I could really notice the drop in oxygen levels when we were in flight as I couldn't seem to take a deep enough breath to satiate my increased blood levels. I sure am glad I only had to fly an hour and didn't end up going to California.

We watched a movie and had a snack and before we knew it we were in Milwaukee!

It's been great having Henry back home. We can't believe how much he's changed since we left. His speech has really taken off. While in Marion, he gave the family dog, Jazz, a treat, and when asked what Jazz did with the treat, Henry responded "Her ate it." We were a little nervous about the transistion back home after all the attention from the family, but Henry has only brought home good habits. For example, PawPaw taught him to chew with his mouth closed and when he asks for something, he'll generally follow it up with "Please...thank you...welcome." He still giggles at farts and burps, but at least we says "S'cuse me."

When we got home, he was very pleased to see that we hadn't gotten rid of his toys and spent the evening pulling all of the toys out and greeting them by name. "Hey Tractor," Hey Truck," "Hey Baby Susie." We were especially surprised when he greeted his doll, because not only had he not seen her in over three weeks, but he's also never called her by her name before.

And even at the babysitter's house, we didn't have any of the competition and transitional woes we expected. Henry spent all day Tuesday playing nicely with the other kids and entertaining the babies with his favorite new word- "HEY!" Then tonight, when we told him he was going to the babysitter's tomorrow he responded "Dego, Ni-na" (Diego-the dog and Diana).

So now we're just settling in and spending alot of time playing with our new Christmas toys. Henry received a ton of new books. We've really enjoyed all of them, but have had to designate some of them as only to be read with mama or papa. These books have also been designated as "one finger" books, meaning if you touch them with more than one finger, your two-year-old excitement to be less than gentle and rip pages or tear off some of the very cool flaps, spinners, or pop-ups that are in the books. Henry is generally very patient with the one finger rule.

The rest of us are adjusting back to everyday life. As of today, I am 33 weeks and 5 days pregnant (not that I'm counting). I went to the doctor today and everything is going well. Baby Gordo has officially dropped. Two weeks ago, I was measuring 34 centimeters and now I am measuring 33 centimeters. Unfortunately, the baby has dropped enough to put pressure on my pelvis all the time, but not enough to take the pressure off my gall bladder. But that may change in the next couple weeks as the baby settles in deeper and gives me some room to breathe. as with Henry, this one is already head down and moving south. My doctor thought that maybe this was a good sign that I wouldn't be overdue, but as with Henry, I'm not planning on having a kid until March 10th. No point in getting my hopes up.

But to keep things fresh, we are hosting a "Guess the birthday" game on expectnet. Click on the link and enter your guesses as to when Baby Gordo will mark its arrival. It even tabulates a winner after the baby is born.

http://www.expectnet.com/logingame.php?game_name=babygordoturner