Busy Week With Family

This past weekend we've had our entire family visiting. Here's one picture of all of the grand-kids.

6 Weeks

Almost forgot to take the weekly picture again. Todd and Megan, I don't know how you kept it up so long with Doug. Henry started to pay attention to his surroundings and both Tina and I think we've gotten a 'real' smile from him but that may be wishful thinking (or gas).This is an awesome onesie that Henry received from my aunt Dorthea. It has the words "With a moo, moo, here and a moo moo there..." printed around the borders and a little cow tail on the back side. Of course we accidentally washed it with one of his tie die shirts and now it's black and white with some red all over.
Thought this was an especially cute picture of Henry conked out on his boppy pillow. Kinda reminds me of a old fat guy sleeping in an innertube. Funny how that can seem cute when it's a 6-week old. This is what happens after there's a party in your crib at 2:00 am.

Weekend Guests

This weekend my (Derek's) cousin Nate Wagler wife Andrea and daughter Annabelle visited from southern Indiana. Nate has been nice enough to spend a few hours each day helping scrape the old paint off our house. It's definitely a thankless job. Of course we've also had the opportunity to visit. Saturday we went the the farmer's market around the capitol (first picture).
Very cute picture of Annabelle. Oh and Adam, if you're still checking this blog, the spoons are a HIT!
It's pretty funny to me that most toddlers are absolutely enthralled with Zoe's feet. Once again,
Zoe amazes me with her tolerance. It's definitely a good sign for Henry in the future.

5 Weeks

So kinda forgot to do the 5 week post yesterday. So here's the best pic we could get. Kind of a 'Fight the Power' sort of pose.

Showing off the 'g Diapers'

Really this is just an excuse to post some more pictures of Henry. Here he is post-bath with his new 'g-Diapers.' We're quite pleased with them so far. Plus the wraps are so colorful!

Henry's Favorite Activities

We haven't been doing a very good job of updating our blog. Henry had a rough week last week and this weekend, partially due to a growth spurt. He just wanted to eat all the time, which meant short sleep stretches for Henry and his parents. The past two nights have been much better and Derek claims he even slept long enough to have a dream! The pictures show some of Henry's favorite things to do--go on walks in his carrier or sling, floor time with Dad and swinging in his swing.

4 Weeks

I know this is late, but we've had some technical difficulties with posting this most recent entry. Here's a picture of Henry at four weeks. He was/has been a bit fussy recently due to a growth spurt and desire to eat almost hourly. So apologies for the not so happy boy on the picture.

Musings on the last 4 weeks.

How can such a little thing bring about so many emotions at one time? Here's this 8-9 lb (don't really know for sure at this point) person who's daily activities rarely deviate from eating, sleeping and filling diapers. In fact, during the first weeks his parents celebrated when he did any of the aforementioned activities. Now, here we are almost four weeks in and I sit amazed at the range of emotions this little man can illicit.

Fear: Is he sick? Is he 'normal?' Is he in pain? Last night at 4:00 am when he didn't want to settle down did I bounce a little too hard? DID I RUIN HIM?!! WHAT IF I RUIN HIM?!!

Anticipation: Will he really smile today? What's he going to be like tomorrow? Next week? Next month? What's his personality going to be like?

Awe: This little living, breathing, squirming, crying, pooping, peeing, cooing thing is part me. In fact, he totally relies on me for EVERYTHING and trusts that I will know how to meet is every need for the next 18 years (ok so he probably doesn't think in those terms, but still).

For the millions of people who are parents already, this is old news. For those of us doing it for the first time....it's significant. It's also a lot of fun.

I had to include this picture to answer the questions we've been getting regarding how the pets are adjusting.

It's REALLY hot!

So like the rest of the country, it's summer in Madison. This weekend turned out to REALLY be summer with temperatures reaching the mid-90's yesterday. I know this is nothing for many of you but for us this is a bit warmer than we're used to or we prefer. Especially considering that we lack central A/C. It's just not something we generally need. Well, after spending such a warm weekend with a newborn I have a few observations.

1. Holding an 8 pound baby can take you from mildly warm to ridiculously sweaty in mere minutes.
2. Moms don't like nursing when babies stick to them.
3. Being sleep deprived is tough. Being sleep deprived and REALLY hot is nearly unmanageable.

On a different note, here's a recent picture of Henry hanging out with Zoe.

Three Weeks

Here we are at three weeks. Seems like forever and seems like yesterday. We've included two pictures at the same pose.


We'd like to have more to tell you but there hasn't been a lot of new stuff going on for us. We've tried to get into a pattern as much as we can but Henry has other ideas. Some nights he lets us sleep 3-4 hours at once while other nights our longest stretch is 1 1/2 hours. He does seem to be in his best moods in the morning and fussier in the evening. Henry also has started turning toward us when we talk and tracking a bit with his eyes. For some reason he likes to go outside and look at his surroundings (what little he can see). We've found it's a great way to calm a fussy little boy.

As far as the parents are concerned, Tina continues to recover well and Derek is trying to help as much as he can around the house while he's also started a major house project (painting the whole exterior). Overall both are doing well and adjusting to the lack of sleep.

Another milestone...

So today Henry reached another milestone. That's right, he lost his umbilical cord. The first picture is of his new belly button.
The next series of pictures are from our walk this evening.



This last picture is of a wiped out Henry and Tina.