Henri's First Week with James

As stated in a previous post Henri is very cute with James. He talks to him using a baby voice, he pats him. When he gives James his binky he holds it gently by the baby's mouth until he opens up and then puts it in. It is really fun for me to watch.

I would not be telling the whole truth, however, to say that Henri didn't have a rough first week and a half with James in the house. For example: one of Henri's new phrases is, "More Mama." At first Henri was just more needy. Then, he developed a fever. I thought it was just because his two year old molars were coming in (all at the same time.) Why I thought that is beyond me, since he never got a fever with any of his other twenty teeth. Anyway, after three days of a fever of 103 I took him to the doctor. Of course it was a virus, but at least we knew we just had to wait it out. Henri was miserable and grumpy and needy and it was a long week. I also had a hard time because I got mastitis and so I was pumping exclusively for several days. (If you don't understand what that last sentence is referring to, don't worry, you don't want to know.) So, I got to cuddle a lot with Henri, which was good, but then, instead of cuddling with my sweet newborn I was spending a lot of time with a plastic pump (which I was resenting quite a bit.)

Well, Henri started feeling better around day 5 or 6 of the fever. Just before he was going to bed that night he got a burst of energy and started running in circles around the kitchen. He fell over and started crying... and bleeding. Because of this:
To me the picture doesn't look as bad as it was. I really almost fainted and was convinced that we needed to rush to the hospital right away. Charles is sure that this cut went to the bone. Thankfully there wasn't that much blood. My level headed mom and level headed husband convinced me that there was nothing that really could be done about it. A call to one of the doctors in my home ward (I am so grateful I can call a health professional at just about any time! Thanks Morris!) confirmed that there wasn't any reason to rush to the hospital. So, we put some rubbing alcohol and a band-aid on and sent him to bed. There will probably be a scar, so my beautiful little boy will now look a little more tough. For me watching Henri run around is a little scary. I am hoping that he doesn't take after some of his uncles (Mike) by having a little too much "youthful exuberance." (Becky, you should write a post about that.)
All in all, Henri's terrible, no good week could be a blessing in disguise: now that he is feeling better he seems pretty well adjusted to having a new baby in the house. Here's to hoping that lasts after Grandma Grace leaves!

James is Two Weeks!

Wow, I can't believe that James is two weeks old already. He is such a good baby! Last night I started feeding him at 9:30 and probably put him in bed at 10:30-ish. This morning I woke up to some grunts (he was looking for something to eat) just after 6. I have to admit, this doesn't happen every night, but it does happen most nights. It is awesome.

I choose to believe that babies can really smile.

This recovery has been WAY easier than my last post-baby recovery. Things that I haven't had to deal with in the last two weeks (that I did after Henri):
epidural headache
horrible stomach problems (we won't go into further detail)
nearly a fourth degree tear that got infected
pretty serious anxiety (although it only lasted about 4 or 5 days)
a headcold (this one was the least serious in this list, but it happened last and after bravely dealing with everything else the headcold pushed me over the edge of sanity.)

Here are some cute pictures of James with his eyes open.

We are loving our sweet baby James so much! He has such a sweet little spirit! He is always happy---this could be because every time he makes a peep his Grandma Grace goes to his rescue and cuddles him. I am also feeling great---this could be because every time I make a peep my Mommy Grace comes to my rescue and gets me some food, or a drink, or anything that I require! Thanks Mom!

Brothers

I think these two little boys look like brothers:

Henri

James

Here are some more cute pictures from this last week. I think James is going to have blue eyes.

Henri getting ready for a haircut. See that bruise on his forehead? There has been a bruise there for the past two months, just in slightly different shapes and sizes. He just keeps hitting that spot over and over.

Cute brothers

Here is Henri reading a book to James. He talks to him in a cute high baby voice. It is pretty funny. Of course, by the time I grabbed my camera Henri was not quite as animated, but you can see how cute Henri is to James.

Rock A Bye Sweet Baby James

Our sweet James Clayton Hope arrived on Feb. 16 at 3:55 pm.

I never got a picture of myself late in this pregancy, so Charles snapped one just before I got induced.

About 8 hours later we had this precious baby in our arms

and we fell in love with another little boy

Henri likes him too. He pays him the perfect amount of attention: some positive cute attention... but not too much

Henri also likes him, possibly because Baby James gave him 'Mator.'

The proud daddy. Even though Charles pretends that he wishes James were Henri's age and could run around and play with balls and cars, he is so good with James and he secretly loves just hanging out holding him. One thing that Charles has always been good at is to talk to his sweet newborns all the time when he is holding them. James is already getting a good dose of French.

Our family.
We love our Sweet Baby James!

35.5 weeks down... halfway to go

It has been over a month since I last posted. If I don't post again for that long I will have a new baby by my next post.

These eggs expire after the baby will be born.

My doctor will induce a week early? Well, my emotional calendar is now set to Feb. 13th instead of Feb. 19th.

These are some examples of how my mind is working these days.

Make Believe

Tonight while Henri was playing in the bath he had quite a runny nose so I got him a tissue. (Sidenote: Everyone knows I think Henri is amazing, but really, he is the best nose-blowing two year old I have ever seen!) After a few minutes he asked for a tissue for his "elphanent" (elephant squirt toy.) I envisioned myself actually getting up every 30 seconds for the rest of bath time to get a tissue, so I pulled a pretend tissue out of my pocket and handed it to Henri. He looked at my hand and then at my face and then back at my hand and took the "tissue." He then promptly "drop it in water. Oh noooo." This went on for quite awhile. When he would ask for another tissue I would ask him, "what do you say?" The correct answer would be "please," but he says, "kind voice." Good enough. He loved it when I would ask him for a tissue and then blow my nose. Although it is hard for me to watch him turn into a little boy I love watching him develop and learn and discover new things. So, this post is dedicated to a fun bathtime!

Henri's ABC's

Charles was gone all week for work and when he got home on Friday Henri was in Heaven! He was so happy that his daddy was back! Even today on the way home from church he looked and me, smiled and said, "daddy, home." The night Charles got back Henri was pretty wound up for quite awhile, but he was really tired, so as the evening wore on he was pretty calm. One thing he likes to do with Charles is watch some children's music videos in French (Henri Des is the best!) and also recite the ABC's with a youtube video. Here is a video of Henri saying his ABC's in French, with a little help from dad.

I LOVE the end of the video!!! Doesn't he look so grown up??? Doesn't he sound like a little French boy???
I am so glad that Charles is home and that Henri loves him!