Cut!

A few of the outtakes from the Month One pictures....

Wait! What month is it?

NOT happy about being One Month

Busted trying to tickle her little brother to get him to smile.

Cute, yes, but wrong kid.


My personal favorite. He actually knocked these blocks down on his own.

One Down....

Three Weeks In

Well, its hard to believe, but its been 3 whole weeks since little Henry joined our family. In some ways, it seems like he's been here all along. In other ways, I can almost forget he's upstairs when he's napping and it still sounds weird to me when I tell the doctor's office the name of my SON!


These last couple of weeks have been great--or at least better than expected. It pays sometimes to be a pessimist. I had envisioned a colicky baby who had trouble nursing (and sleeping for that matter). I had pictured sleepless nights and long days filled with a screaming infant. I tend to prepare myself for the worst so that I am either 1. prepared for the worst or 2. pleasantly surprised. Fortunately, in this instance, I have been pleasantly surprised.


Eating: As I have previously mentioned, Henry is a great eater. He has even taken his first bottle and despite being disgusted by the whole experience, he finished it. As best we can tell (and this involves standing on the scale, weighing ourselves and then standing on again with Henry and doing some quick math), Henry is between 10-10.5 pounds.


Sleeping: His sleep continues to come along, as well. The longest he slept this week was 5 hours and 45 minutes. He is getting REALLY close to the 6 hour stretches Amelia was doing at this age. Unfortunately most nights he sleeps in 4-4.5 stretches, anything longer comes in rare instances. Its still VERY hard for me to get up in the middle of the night to feed the little man. But, I really cannot complain because he immediately falls asleep when he's finished eating, unlike his sister who required some "shushing" and some "rocking" before returning to sleep.


Notables from the past two weeks: Henry not only enjoyed his first bottle this past week, but he also enjoyed his first "real" bath since losing his umbilical cord. And by enjoyed, I actually mean that he really did enjoy it! Despite his daddy drawing a rather chilly bath, he took it all in stride and to my knowledge didn't even pee in the water once! I think he is also trying to go for some kind of record for the number of times a kid can have hiccups in a 24 hour period--poor guy! He also seems to notice and stare at the black and white drawings Amelia and I made for him before his arrival. Maybe those Parents As Teachers people know a thing or two after all!


Medical Update: I spent a good amount of time on the phone with the pediatrician over the weekend. Amelia began complaining of a sore throat on Friday and initially, the nurse told me she didn't need to come in. I called back on Saturday morning, fearing strep, after Amelia came down with a low grade fever. Jason took her in on Saturday and the dr. confirmed that she was fighting some type of virus and that we should keep her away from Henry as best as we could. Then, Henry started showing signs of what my google search described as a blocked tear duct, so I was back on the phone with the doctor to make sure it wasn't an infection of some sort. By Monday afternoon, Amelia had developed a rash and call number 4 to the doctor was made. I am glad to report that both of my kids seem to be on the mend--although the blocked duct comes and goes.

Visitor Update: We've had lots of people come say hi to Henry during the last two week, some I've remembered to photograph and some I didn't. Great grandma and Papa Ward, Great Grandma Sinovich, Ann, Janice, Uncle Dave, both sets of grandparents, Erin and Elise, Tiffany and Todd, Susie and Natalie, and Lauren and Sienna. We've also been blessed with many visits from playgroup friends who have come bearing meals and clothes--which have been an incredible help! I even got to get out BY MYSELF over the weekend to meet a friend for lunch.




Big Sister Update: Amelia really has become the model big sister. I am so incredibly proud of my little lady who honestly could not be more head over heels in love with her little brother. Even with all of the visitors that have been coming around she makes sure everyone's hands have been sanitized and helps open all of Henry's presents. She is always willing to help with whatever we need (although it IS possible to be TOO helpful) and she can often be heard mumbling, "I love that Henry so much!' and "Isn't Henry so cute mom?".


One of the nice things about having a winter baby is having a great excuse (or many actually) not to go out---too cold/windy/wet, too many germs, roads are bad, etc. Its been a great opportunity to hang out and get to know Henry. And to my surprise it really hasn't been bad being "stuck" inside. It helps that Amelia has a whole load of new toys to play with. Its also nice that she gets to go to school two days a week to get a change of scenery.

So, that's our life in a nutshell. Nothing too exciting or flashy, but good nonetheless!

Bringing the Outside In

Poor Amelia! We watched the snow come down last Wednesday night into Thursday morning, but her mean ol' mom wouldn't let her go out and play in it. Part of the problem was the newborn that NEEDS to stay inside and part of the problem were the dangerously cold wind chills in the area.

So, I remembered seeing this idea last year on my friend, Ana's, blog. While Jason was shoveling the driveway after work, I talked him into filling a rubbermaid container of the white stuff for us to play in.

With the help of some mittens and a few sand toys, this kept Amelia busy for some time. We even added some colored water with a turkey baster for added fun.

Funny that given all of the things I gave her to use to play in the snow, her favorite thing of all was to eat it!

We even made a tiny, alien-like snowman. We didn't have much to decorate him with, so we tried to use some candy to do the trick. As you can see, we were only moderately successful.

And don't feel too sorry for the little one. Once it warmed up over the weekend, Jason took Amelia sledding at the elementary school down the street. It was her first time sledding and she was quite the dare devil from what I understand. She will tell you, "I went down on my back" meaning she went down backwards a few times. Hopefully we aren't quite done with the snow and there will be more playing in the white stuff to come!

The Learning Curve

Some interesting conversations have been taking place around here:

Early on, when Amelia spotted me nursing for one of the first times:

"Mom, the baby is drinking your boob!".

The other morning she came in our room and got in bed with us. She brought her "Baby (doll) Henry" and I was feeding the real Henry. She decided to unzip her footed jammies and feed her doll too. Very quietly, she said:

"I have tiny boobs and my Baby Henry has a tiny mouth!".

Amelia's teacher stopped me during pick up the other day to say that Amelia is so excited about her new baby brother. Apparently, when Amelia came into the classroom, she said, "My baby brother brought me to school today! And he's picking me up too!".

The other day at dinner time:

"I love baby Henry so much! I get so sad when he isn't here" (He's never NOT "been here").

Behind Every Great Woman...

there is a great man. Well, I know that isn't quite how the saying goes, but close enough. I feel the need to give my wonderful husband some much deserved credit for making things extra special this year.

I realize I have yet to do a post on Christmas, but I would like to share with you one of my favorite Christmas presents this year. From none other than my husband himself. I can vouch for the fact that he put many (80ish?) hours into this book. And while I kind of knew what he was doing, I never expected it to be as great as it turned out in the end.

Jason took our blog from way back in May 2006 and made it into a book. At the time, I was using a Mac website to publish the blog and when our subscription ran out we decided not to renew it. So, all of the hard work I put into the blog for 2 years was no longer available for viewing. I knew I wanted it to become a book at some point, but it wasn't super high on my priority list knowing it was going to be a huge undertaking. As I outlined in my 101 things list, my plan eventually is to have all of my blog entries made into books.

These pictures don't really do it justice, but trust me when I say it is INCREDIBLE!

The cover:

The back cover:

A sample page inside:

Seriously, its the best!

Not only did Jason decide to make Christmas super special with the blog book, he also worked his magic for my birthday. Turns out Henry and my birthdays are exactly one week apart, so you can imagine that I wasn't up for much celebrating this year. The nursing factor kept me from being able to go out and enjoy a nice dinner and since it was Jason's last day home with the family before returning to work, I really wanted something low key.

Henry surprised me by starting the morning off with an uninterrupted 4.5 hours of sleep. Then, when Amelia woke up, she and Jason headed downstairs for a secret mission. Turns out they were decorating the place with signs and streamers.

Later in the day (given Amelia's built up energy), Jason decided to take her out to Monkey Joe's to try to wear her down a bit. This was gift #2! Amelia came home and actually took a nap (gift #3!).

After she woke up, she and Jason decorated my cake. Jason was brave enough to take the giant cupcake form I got for Christmas and give it a try.

Not too bad for a guy and a three year old! (Of course Jason felt the need to put all (gulp) 31 candles on the cake for me.

And if all that wasn't enough, Jason and Amelia presented me with a frame with pictures inside that spelled out "MOM". Much like the frame I did for Jason for father's day. I really don't think it gets much cuter than this, I mean really!

(Check out the socks in this last one).

And last, but not least, I picked out this necklace long before Henry was born and sent Jason the Etsy link. It arrived on my birthday, so you know he had to work fast to get that done!

Not to get all mushy on my blog, but I am so lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life. I'll leave it at that.

5.5

Yes, that is the number of HOURS my little boy slept last night.

You have probably heard me say that "Amelia slept through the night the first night home from the hospital". Henry isn't quite so advanced in the sleep department (nor did we think for a second that we could get so lucky twice), but I'll take 5.5 hours! It seems like during the past week he has slept anywhere from 4.5-5.5 hours at night. He then wakes up to eat and afterward goes immediately back to sleep for 3-4 hours. Woo!

Although there is one downfall to such a long stretch of sleep at night. Since we misses out on a couple of feedings at night time, I have to feed him every 1.5-2 hours during the day to make sure he gets enough. But, seriously, I am NOT complaining!

Our First Week

...as a family of four!

Without jinxing myself, I have to say that things have been relatively smooth in the transition from one kid to two. Henry has proved himself to be a good sleeper and a great eater--both things I was worried about when thinking of going back to the newborn stage. We've been getting reacquainted with explosive newborn poop and have gotten a crash course in diapering little boys.

He had his first appointment on Tuesday with the doctor and she was pleased with what she saw. For one, he has already gained back the weight he lost prior to leaving the hospital--and then some. He currently weighs in at 8 lbs, 13.5 oz. (He was 8 lbs, 3 oz when we left the hospital). Technically that means that he has gained 10.5 oz in the 4 days we've been home. Jason doesn't think that's possible, but given the amount this child nurses, I think it is.

The rest of the appointment was pretty uneventful. All looks good and I need to start him on Vitamin D drops. She commented about his good disposition after he didn't even raise an eyebrow when we undressed him and the doctor checked him all over--cold stethoscope and all.

Interestingly, I specifically remember going into Amelia's first check-up with a list of at least 10 questions/concerns (two of which were: she never cries and she sleeps too much). I didn't even HAVE a list this time and didn't think twice about taking him in by myself so that Jason could pick up Amelia from school. (I didn't go to a doctor appointment by myself with Amelia until she was like 8 months old). I hope I am that much more laid back with ALL of the parenting this time around.

And, its funny how all of a sudden I think coming home with one baby (and no older child to care for already at home) would be SO EASY.

We've been pretty much laying low this first week. We've had some visitors come to the house, but have spent most of the time getting to know Henry. And we are pleased that he seems to like his sleep as much as we do. In fact, he is really only waking up to eat once a night. Granted, this is only the first week and I'm quite sure that things can and will change at a moment's notice. But for now, we cannot complain.

And, Jason has been off work since well before his birth as well. Having him around has been so nice. I'm sure when he goes back to work, things will be running very differently than they are right now. He has been cooking, keeping the laundry caught up, and taking care of Amelia's every need. He even had to make a 4 AM run to the 24 hour Walgreens located 15 minutes from our house.

And if you are wondering how the big sister is adjusting, well, the jury is still out on that one. She is, without question, thrilled with her baby brother. She loves to "hold" him, pet him, and sing to him. She is willing to help out in any way needed. In fact, she even disposes of dirty diapers laying around without being asked to do so. She loves to pick out his clothes, help with his bath, gather necessary supplies, and "help" him play with his toys.

With that being said, she is also still out of sorts. The first few days with Henry home she wasn't napping well and by the evening she was a crazy maniac. The last 2 days, however, have been glorious. She napped each of the last two days and was a completely different child. Thankfully she doesn't seem jealous towards Henry, but she is obviously still trying to figure out what all of this means and how it affects her.

So, as they say, life is good.

This is Just Too Much Fun

(Please, Ellen, don't rat me out for stealing all of the hospital linens)
:)

The Rest of the Story

So, if you are a regular reader of this blog, you are painfully aware that we have been patiently expecting our newest little one and that he has finally arrived. What you probably don't know, however, is the rest of the story. The birth story, if you will.

When I last left you, I was 39 weeks pregnant and had not made a single bit of progress in the dilation/effacement department. And, to make a long story short, my 40 week appointment on December 29 was much of the same as the previous 6 weeks--no dilation, no effacement.

So, it was decided that December 30 would be induction day! Needless to say, I was less than thrilled. Induction was NOT something I was interested in, but my doctor made a statement like "this baby isn't getting any smaller" that was enough to get me thinking that maybe inducing wasn't such a bad idea. After all, it certainly didn't look like Baby Pom Pom was in any hurry to get here.

I was warned at my 40 week appointment that the hospital was going to be very busy on the 30th and that I shouldn't expect a call too terribly early. This was confirmed by the hospital who called the day before induction day to tell me that I was sixth on the list of 8 and they were hoping to have everyone called in by noon.

So, needless to say, we stayed in bed as long as possible and took our time getting things moving on Weds. And, wouldn't you know, the phone rang at 8:30 letting me know they had a bed ready for me. Neither Jason or I was showered and we had just started a bath for Amelia. I had a little of cleaning and last minute packing I still needed to do. Somehow I remained calm, got everyone ready, ate breakfast, and headed out the door. The drive in was a slow one given that there was a steady snowfall coming down.



Upon our arrival, we checked in, got settled and began our HGTV-watching marathon. Not having cable at home, we were in heaven! I read a bit, facebooked a bit, and enjoyed endless episodes of House Hunters. After lots of paperwork, the Cervidil was inserted right at noon. It was supposed to be in for 12 hours. Then, around midnight, I would start Pitocin--or at least that was the plan.

Surprisingly, by 1:00, I was starting to have steady contractions, cramping, and started feeling uncomfortable. I asked the nurse to check me shortly after that and she said I was "one fingertip and some wiggle room". I knew my contractions weren't as painful (yet) as they had been with Amelia, but I also didn't want to put off the epidural if it was possible to get it earlier. So, more reading, more facebooking, more TV watching. A couple of friends stopped by to check in and the contractions continued. Eventually getting stronger and stronger. They were also one on top of another with no break in between--something I also experienced with Amelia.



Around 3:00 or so, the contractions were pretty painful and still without a break. The cussing under my breath had started, as well as an occasional, "Jason, I don't think I can do this". Jason's reply everytime was "keep breathing, keep breathing". He suggested having the nurse check me again--which I was adamantly against. The last thing I wanted was to be called a "fingertip dilated" again. Needless to say there was no TV watching, no reading, and no facebooking--it was really serious. Finally, against my objections, he rang the nurse who came in the room, checked me and declared me 4 cm.



A very long 20 minutes later, the process of getting the epidural began. Within minutes of receiving it, I felt a million times better (and was back to my earlier activities, including letting all of Facebook know that I had my epidural. I know. Pathetic). When I was checked shortly thereafter, I was told I was at 6 cm and the nurse expected this would all go down before 8 pm. My mom and brother showed up shortly thereafter and my in-laws made plans to come up and bring Amelia since it seemed like things were going to be happening pretty quick. By my next check, I was at 8 cm and my water had broken. The doctor was on his way!



And, that's when things started to get a bit scary. Everything had been so smooth up until that point and then the baby's heartrate started dropping with each contraction (that were still one on top of another). The doctor still wasn't there, so they decided to give me a shot to stop the contractions and even though I wasn't entirely dilated, they wanted me to start pushing to try and get the baby in a better, less dangerous position. That was also the time that I started feeling very, very nauseous and became convinced that I was going to vomit. The doctor finally arrived and they quickly briefed him on the situation. He actually asked if he had TIME TO CHANGE. The nurse made the decision to call in the NICU team because of the heartrate situation with the baby. After only about 10 minutes of pushing, the baby was out and was pronounced a "beautiful baby BOY"! I was very surprised (as I really thought it was a girl). They were quick to whisk him to the NICU team who was concerned because he had meconium in his mouth and they wanted to make sure it hadn't aspirated. His Apgar scores were very low, but they couldn't stimulate him until they checked to make sure whether or not he had swallowed any of the stool.



Much like the delivery of Amelia, things were super stressful at the end and I could not get over to see the baby. Luckily Jason was there watching over things and the nurses and doctors were great about keeping him informed (and they briefed me later as well). It is such a helpless feeling to see a whole team of people working on your baby from across the room. There was some concern that he may need to go to the NICU for awhile, but in the end, he was released to the regular nursery. The downside was that he could only stay in the room with us for about 20 minutes before they needed to take him up.






When they were finally done with him, I got to hold him and decided to try nursing him before they took him away. To my surprise, he latched on right away! (this is wwwaaayyyy different than my nursing experience with Amelia).



Jason went out to the hall to get Amelia and brought her in by herself. The first thing she said was, "Mom! You don't have that baby in your belly anymore! Now you can ride your bike!". This is especially funny because I don't think I've ridden a bike more than a handful of times since college AND definitely haven't ridden it since she was born. We told her that she had a new baby brother and prepped her to tell the rest of the family. Jason went out to get our parents and when they came into the room, Amelia yelled, "Its a Boy!". That moment alone was so worth not finding the gender out in advance! While looking him over, Amelia asked if he had feet (he was swaddled) and when I showed them to her, she said they were dirty. He had been wiped clean after delivery, but hadn't had a bath yet, so he still had some blood spots on him. Right before he left, Amelia said, "he's kind of ugly!".



We got such a short time with him in the delivery room that no one other than Jason and I got a chance to hold him. The nurses were pretty serious about getting him up to the nursery and checked out by the doctor up there. Luckily on the way to our room, we were able to stop by the nursery and see him through the window!

We had a great first night with the little guy. He spent a little time in the nursery, but most of the night with us. Surprisingly, we were all able to get some sleep at the same time in the room together.

And the next day we had lots of visitors come for a chance to meet Henry! Watching Amelia hold him for the first time was priceless. She immediately called him "cute" and was tickled with checking him all over. The pediatrician came to check him out and declared him "the biggest kid in the nursery". Two different nurses commented that he was the "longest baby they had ever seen".



Papa got a turn to hold the little guy.

GG got two for the price of one!

And Grandma too!

Jason's grandparents (Amelia and Henry's great grandparents) came by to get a good look at the little one.

They approved!

Aunt Amy, Uncle Derek, Andrew, and Jacob prolonged their St. Louis visit until Baby Henry decided to come. We were so grateful! Does she look like a proud Aunt or what? Baby Henry is her ONLY nephew!

Andrew and Jacob got Henry his first set of cars--and an official welcome to the "Boys Club".

Thursday was such a busy day full of visitors! We decided to head to bed early that night--again Henry spending part of it in the nursery and part of it with us. It was New Year's Eve and although we were up before the ball dropped and after, we all slept right through midnight. Henry was actually in the nursery at the time and the nurse told me he slept through the festivities down there and assured me he would not be a partier!



We were up and at 'em early on Friday (New Year's Day) hoping to get a ticket out of there early. Henry got a visit from the hospital photographer and did awesome! The pictures turned out really well--expensive, but adorable! But, apparently us and the photographer were the only ones in a hurry on the holiday. The pediatrician didn't show up to release Henry until nearly 1:00 and then we still had to wait around for my OB to come and circumcise our little guy. He finally strolled in around two and did the deed. We had to then wait an hour for them to check and make sure things looked okay. And, they didn't. So when it was all said and done, it was shortly after 5 pm by the time we got home. Amelia met us there and my in-laws brought along some pizza for dinner. It was a great first night together as a family!

And so, our next chapter begins! I cannot think of a better way to start out a New Year!