Thunder in the Valley

As the Thunderbirds took to the air around 3:30 last Saturday afternoon, Beau turned to me and said, "It's a good thing I didn't see this show when I was 16 because I would have signed up for the Air Force." He couldn't have said it better.

At 9:00 in the morning, Beau and I accompanied Dad (on his birthday) to the Waterloo Regional Airport for the Thunder in the Valley airshow. A show of this stature had not been to the Cedar Valley since the 1980s. 50,000 people were expected for the 2-day event. I had never been to an airshow before and didn't really know what to expect.

We waited in line for 20 minutes or so to see inside the cockpit of a Thunderbird, checked out an Avenger (fully stocked with missiles, torpedo, and machine guns), and made our way to where the crowd was gathering by the runway. With all the seats taken up along the fence line, we set up shop in the middle of a wide expanse of grass, perfect distance between portable restrooms, ATM, and beer vendor! By the time the show started at 11:00, the area was completely packed with people.

It was an incredible experience. Highlights included: the National Anthem playing along to two planes circling a parachuter displaying an American flag; a B-2 Stealth Bomber flyover; watching a Panzl S-330 flip and stall and fall all over the clear blue sky leaving a zigzag of smoke with every twist and turn; seeing the Thunderbirds leave the crowd in awe; and $3 Summit Oktoberfests!

It was a long, hot day, but one that was totally worth the experience. If the Kiwanis can pull this off again next year, the Henrichs clan will be there. I strongly suggest anyone who missed out this year to be as well!

14 Weeks and Loving It!

On June 26, I received the best birthday present I could have ever asked for . . . a positive pregnancy test. I had a feeling I was pregnant but I didn't think we would be blessed to get pregnant so quickly again.

I took the test and waited with Jordan and Charly to find the results. Jordan took Charly into the bathroom to read the results, since I was too nervous to look. Then I looked at his face and that told me everything! The smile, the giddiness, the excitement was enough to tell me that Charly was going to be a big sister! I instantly got tears in my eyes and was so excited to begin this process again. It took a couple of minutes for it to really sink in, and when it finally did, the questions began pouring into my head . . .

Is our house big enough?
Will our house ever be clean and/or organized?
Do we need to move?
Is Charly going to want to share the attention with another baby?
What if the baby is born on Charly's birthday?
What if the baby is born on Leap Day?
Do we need to buy a double stroller?
Will it be even more difficult to bring two children to a restaurant, shopping, or on vacations?
Will I ever be able to run errands with two kids?
Is this baby going to be healthy?
Will Charly have a sister or a brother?
What will we name "it"?
Does that name sound good with "Charly"?
Will I give this baby the same amount of attention I gave Charly?
Will I have enough energy for two babies?
What will bath time look like with two children?
Are we going to be able to fit around our kitchen table?
Should they share birthday parties or each have their own?
Will they like their birthdays being so close together?
Will Jordan and I ever have a social life?
Will we ever sleep again?
Is this baby going to be a better sleeper than Charly?
What parenting techniques will we change with this baby?
Will I have just as much time to cuddle with this baby?
Will this baby even want to be cuddled?
Will this baby be as good natured, happy, and as smart as Charly is?
What will "it" look like?
How much is our life going to change?
Can I still buy new clothes for myself?
How will Elliot handle two babies in the house?
Could we have twins?
What will Charly do when we are in the hospital?
Will Charly and the baby be friends?
Will I be able to give Charly enough attention?
Will I ever get any schoolwork done?

Last Wednesday, Jordan and I went to the doctor's office to hear our baby's heartbeat. I was a little skeptical because when we were pregnant with Charly they could not hear the heartbeat, and we had to have an ultrasound. I told the nurse I was nervous and Jordan explained the situation with Charly. She put the monitor right to my belly and the instant it hit my stomach baby Henrichs' fast and strong heartbeat of 165 was heard loud and clear! I looked at Jordan and he looked at me and any questions or worries I had up until that point went away. Nothing else seemed to matter but this new baby that was growing inside of me. It was the best feeling of calm I could have asked for. Hearing the heartbeat, thinking about our future, made me emotional (the happy kind of emotional) and elated all night. Everything seemed perfect and everything seemed right.

Since high school, Jordan and I have talked and dreamed about having a big family. We love kids and we want to be surrounded by family for the rest of our lives. I am so excited to start this new journey with Jordan and Charly and to add baby number two to our amazing family.

Good Time Charly

Warning: The following blog post contains a healthy amount of photos. Our favorites from the summer.

We have not fallen off the face of the earth . . . we've just gone back to school.

Last Monday, Kelli and I dropped Charly off at daycare together and headed to the high school to kick off the year. Monday night, after a day filled with meetings, we were already exhausted, and the school year just began!

I know, all the non-teachers are rolling their eyes, feeling zero remorse for us . . . but this school year, our SEVENTH school year, is different in that we just spent the entire summer with a little girl who is growing into a toddler before our very eyes. After one day of teacher stuff, we missed her already.

Charly adjusted well though. She squealed when we pulled into Mel's driveway (our daycare provider), and she crushed Kelli by wanting to stay at Mel's and play instead of going home to be with us. We realize though, that this is a good problem to have. Mel loves Charly and we couldn't be luckier. While Kelli would love to see her little girl run to her with open arms at the end of the day, it's a different kind of warmth to see her happy and playing on her own. However I may have to start picking her up a few days, as not to crush Kelli's spirit.

Since summer is officially over, we felt it was time for lots of final random summer pictures and random summer notes:

Charly's vocabulary developed this summer. She now says "No". Loud and clear. She says "home" when we pull into our driveway. She calls me "dad" (not "daddy", not this girl) and for a stint this summer we swear she referred to Kelli as "Kel". She says "cat" and "more" and "blue". She loves to say "Owie", even when it doesn't apply to the situation, especially in public when it really doesn't apply to the situation!

She says "Brooks" and "Cooper" and "Grandpa" and "Grandma". She loves "bikes" (she will help me talk Kelli into letting me get a motorcycle one of these days) and she loves to tell Elliot to "move". She loves staring at the "moon" and has all her animal sounds down pat: "moo", "arf", "baa", "oink", and "ooh ooh ah ah" (a monkey). Just this morning she even rambled off more colors we didn't think she knew, "purple" and "pink".

She loves to give us kisses and this summer even turned it into a game. She'd touch our face softly, kiss one of us, then turn to the other chanting "more, more, more" until we would crawl over to her and kiss her. She's recently started this with her stuffed animals as well.

She loves to play in our car. I have to turn off the lights, the wipers, and the radio when we get inside now. We went on lots of walks and played in lots of parks.

She loves to hide (which actually scares us sometimes), she loves to push the shopping cart in the grocery store (which makes grocery shopping not so fun), she loves to color with markers (all over our floor), and she loves to help around the house with chores (usually making more of a mess and drawing out the process).

She loves her family, and bawls when they leave her.

Her favorite thing to do, hands down, is to read books. Kelli and I, two teachers, couldn't be happier. We just wish she'd get a new selection of books to choose from every once in a while! We could sit with her for hours on end, reading books to her, and she would be as content as could be. Her favorites are Go Dog Go, Bears on Chairs, Farm Kisses, Snuggle Puppy, and Jesus Loves Me. They are read over and over and over. She hasn't really graduated from her favorite board books to some of the classic picture books that Kelli and I keep buying for her, but she'll get there soon!

She loves to be outside and would stay out there for hours if we didn't bribe her to come in. Usually upon returning from daycare, we sit outside with her watching her play even more, to avoid a minor meltdown were we to go inside the house! She even started to like the water by the end of summer, something we thought was quite the accomplishment!

Kelli and I both have been blessed with good classes this year, making life all that much easier as we return to work. Plus Fall is both Kelli and I's favorite season and it's just around the corner! As much as we love our summers it's nice to be back to some sort of a routine. It's hard to imagine that next summer, we'll have another little one to tote around!

Oh, had we not mentioned that yet?

13 Going on 30

Well, not quite. She's only 17 months. But I swear, sometimes she gives us a taste of what we're in for when she becomes a teenager.

Take for instance the new habit she formed this week: Lounging around all morning in bed, listening to music on our iPod, not wanting us to talk or look at her.

If boys start calling the house, I'm gonna lose it.

Up All Night

So Kelli and I recently sold the rights to our story to NBC and they are turning it into a 30-min comedy sitcom called Up All Night. Sure Saturday Night Live alum Will Arnett would not have been my first choice to play the role of me but Christina Applegate isn't too far off for Kelli's role.

I'm pretty sure other young couples have seen commercials for the new show and thought to themselves the exact same thing we are! Sure it's not our story but it very easily could be! Take last night for example . . .

9:30 pm - I finally get frustrated with Charly's stubborn refusal to fall asleep so I put her in her crib to cry.

10:00 pm - Charly is finally asleep.

12:00 am - Charly wakes up. Kelli takes her to our bed and she falls back asleep.

1:00 am - I move Charly to her crib.

1:01 am - Charly wakes up screaming. I go in her room.

1:30 am - Charly is still sitting in her crib taking part in an intense staring contest with me. She refuses to sleep. I gave up. Kelli brings a blanket and pillow into the room to sleep with her. They sang songs together for nearly an hour. Still, Charly refuses to sleep.

Sometime between 3:00-4:00 am - Kelli returns to bed.

6:00 am - Charly is up and at 'em! Ready for some breakfast.

This is not our normal nightly routine. Last night was worse than others. But lately she hasn't gone to bed until 9:00-9:30 pm (Kelli deals with that). She usually wakes up once, if not twice, in the middle of the night (I deal with that). And she's usually up by 7:00 am for the day. I can't understand how a person so small can function and operate on so little!

A few weeks ago Kelli and I visited our friends Shawn and Kali while we were up seeing a Twins game. They just had a beautiful new baby girl, Maci Mae, and while we were visiting a nurse stopped by to check in on Kali and Maci (not so much Shawn). She talked to them about many things (that we had heard before from our own nurses), specifically sleeping. She told them to aim for 8 hours of sleep within a 24 hour period. Naps during the day count. I don't think Kelli or I get anywhere near that! And Charly's 17 months old, a far cry from a newborn!

Kelli and I want to get away one last time before school starts up, and take her on a good ole' fashion Midwest family vacation, but now we're scared that we're going to throw her sleeping routine off for good. I guess it can't really be damaged any more than it is now! In fact, she sleeps better in a car than she does in her own crib!