Growing Up! Three Weeks

In the words of his Aunt Laura and Uncle Nelson: He is very advanced for his age!

It is pretty amazing to think that in three weeks he went from THIS:

to THIS:

Our little Henri is growing up so fast! He is the best baby ever. He has been really easy to keep on a schedule and he only gets up once at night. If he is crying it is easy to figure out what he wants. He is so sweet and we think he is the cutest thing we have ever seen.

I have meant to update the blog more frequently since there are family members who haven't met him yet so I am sorry. Today Jane texted me and told me to update the blog since she checks it every day. So, here are some more pictures of our darling little (getting bigger!) Henri.

Houston Snow Day. Charles got to come home early and they shut down the schools because there was a chance of snow.

Henri in his coming home outfit a week later: It is getting a little tight on him!

Hanging out with Daddy

There is one part of Charles that I hate: his elbows. This is why: because he sleeps with them sticking out and is always elbowing my head. I guess Henri takes after his Dad.

Henri with Aunt Janie

This picture is for you Megan and Andrew: Henri's first game of Settlers. I love the expression on his face. He looks very into the game!

I just like this picture.

Henri's face is getting more and more chubby:

Getting ready for church

Henri is very good at looking up at whoever is talking to him. I just love it when he does that!

For the past few days Henri has been smiling more and more. I am convinced they are real smiles.

The above picture is when he is three weeks old. We are loving having Henri in our family and excited to come home and introduce him to the rest of our family!

The Last 5 Days

The last five days have been quite the adventure. Here is the rundown: Tuesday night came home from the hospital:

Henri ready to go home:

His going home outfit:

Just leaving the hospital. These are the flowers that Exxonmobil sent:

Arriving at our apartment:

Charles showing Henri the moon on the way in:

In the middle of the night on Tuesday night I developed an epidural headache. These headaches are caused by a nick in your spinal column that allows spinal fluid to leak out. Getting my epidural took so long because the doctor couldn't find a good space, so he had to go in several times which is probably why I got the headache. These headaches are not uncommon, but the chances of getting one are small. I was asked if I would get an epidural again and the answer is yes. The hardest part was that on Tuesday I wasn't really able to take care of myself or of Henri. I think I had to kind of start the recovery process over and Henri got his first taste of formula. I am happy to report that since then Henri is doing a great job with his feedings.

My dad, Papa Lon, and sister Jane came in on Wednesday so we have had fun just hanging out and relaxing. Papa Lon noticed that Henri wasn't getting a lot of time in his basinet since there are so many admiring fans around to hold him. A few minutes later Charles put Henri into the basinet and moments after that Henri was then in my dad's arms. There is no damage done there as well since he is a great sleeper! I have been up with him twice during the past two nights and he has slept through the rest of the night.

We also had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with the Jones' in our ward. Their family used to live in our stake, so it was fun to talk about all of the connections that we have. One of the sisters, Lisa, was even in several classes with Michael and Jeffrey at Oakdale Elementary.

Here are some more cute pictures of Henri:

He really is a great baby! He doesn't cry very much and likes to just look around when he is awake. We can put him in his crib at night when he is awake and he will just look around and eventually go to sleep.

Charles is half Swiss so he is speaking to Henri in French while I speak to him in English. It is fun for me to hear what Charles talks about to Henri (like the World Cup) and it is helping my French out a lot as well.

Our cute baby Henri:

Our Little Hope: Welcome Henri Charles

Our sweet little Henri Charles is finally here and we are so grateful and blessed. Here is the story:

We were scheduled to be induced, so our ride to the hospital last night was quiet and peaceful.

9 pm: We were settled and I had recieved cervidil (a medicine to help get me ready for labor)

We both got several hours of sleep until...

4 am: some pretty intense contractions started.

5 am: I got the epidural. This was a hard process for me and what was supposed to take around 2 minutes took 3/4 of an hour! Charles wasn't allowed in the room, but I had a great nurse who held my hand all the way through it. By the time the epidural was all finished the doctor, the nurse and I were all drenched in sweat in our 60 degree delivery room! It was worth it though because after that I felt great!

Two hour nap.

just before 7 am: Got started on pitosin (a medicine to get labor going.) 7 am: my wonderful doctor, Dr. Hulme (also Charles' 2 cousin once removed by marriage... is that right Sherri?) came in to check on me. I was 3-4 centimeters dialated.
Another 2 hour nap.

9 am: 7 centimeters dialated.

catnap

9:30 am: fully dialated and Dr. Hulme called.

9:55 am: Dr. Hulme arrives

9: 58 am and a contraction and a half later: our sweet little Henri Charles was here! He was born at exactly 10 in the morning.

Henri weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces and is 20.5 inches long. While they were cleaning him up I could see a little chub on him! Because he was a pretty big baby and he came so fast I have been pretty uncomfortable since the epidural wore off, but now (about 12 hours later) I am feeling much better. Here are some pictures of our sweet boy.

First family photo:

Henri and Mommy:

Henri and Daddy:

Henri and Dr. Hulme:
Henri and Grandma Grace:
Henri with his eyes open :

Pink Nails!

I painted my toenails last night. I admit it isn't the best paint job ever, but I am quite proud of myself. It took a lot longer than usual because I had to wait for some nails to dry before I went on the next, but I had the time last night when I couldn't fall asleep. So, I watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which is always fun and pampered myself a little!

Halloween

This Halloween Charles and I didn't do much. If it weren't for some good friends we might have not done anything very Halloween-y at all. That night we went to our friends Jenn and Kenny Kunz's home to play games (one of our favorite past times since we have been here.) The treats above were my contribution to the holiday. Charles painted the faces on them (I especially like the blob.) I think they turned out pretty cute, but it is hard to compare to Bakerella!

Friday night we were also saved by some friends from being Halloween Scrooges. Matt and Aimee Jones (some of you may know Matt... he is a year younger than I am and grew up in my home stake in the 5th ward. He also went to Hillcrest until his senior year. Going along with this side note: his dad was just released as bishop in our Texas ward and I have to say that he, and the rest of the ward have taken very good care of us!) I am going to start the sentence over: Matt and Aimee invited us over to carve pumpkins.

I was shocked that the pumpkin in the next picture really was smaller than my stomach!

Matt and Charles (who looks quite Texas-y in his borrowed sweatshirt.)

Aimee and me with our finished products

I did a regular jack-o-lantern because it is tradition and I usually follow tradition. I would like to especially highlight Charles' pumpkin: on the far left (your far left) there is a Texas flag, in the middle a ghost, and on the right a pregnant ghost (which is why he was pointing to that and my big tummy.)

Happy Halloween!

Alligator Park and Spider Alley

This last weekend Charles and I went to a Brazos Bend State Park with some friends from BYU who are now living in the Houston area. Charles was particularly excited because this is the alligator/spider park. He has been wanting to see alligators since we got here and he has been checking any ponds that we come across to see if there are any lurking around.

As we started on the walk Robert (who had been to the park before) gave us some tips. If an alligator starts chasing you run in zig zags and, most importantly, just be sure you can outrun one other person. This was not comforting to me since at this point I am not in a condition to outrun anyone. (Aside: These animals are out in the wild and there are no cages. We were walking through their home and were literally a few feet away from these guys!) So, we went on our two mile walk and ran into 5 alligators. The walk also takes you through what is known affectionately as "Spider Alley."

Does my smile here look a little forced? It may be one of several reasons: 36.5 weeks pregnant, walking very far is quite uncomfortable, or we were surrounded by these lovely creatures:

Charles took these pictures and just to put things in perspective: I am pretty sure he wasn't using any zoom.

The above picture is reminiscent of one of my favorite movies of all time: "The Emporer's New Groove." Kusco says, "Okay, that was the freakiest thing I've ever seen," when he witnesses this exact scene in the jungle.

As we were almost done with the walk Charles spotted this alligator swimming along by us. Only his eyes are showing. When Charles pointed him out we both stopped to look. As we stopped he stopped too. "Charles, keep walking!"

Turn Baby Turn!

36 Weeks and getting ready for the baby!

Well, four weeks left! Here is a quick baby update. Some of you may know that most of the time we have been in Texas the baby has been breech. So, we scheduled a C-Section for the 12th of November. At my last doctor's appointment, however, the baby had turned! For now, no C-Section. We feel that this is a huge blessing. I have three due dates: the 18th, the 21st and the 25th, so we will see when this little boy is going to come!

I am feeling pretty ready for to have this baby. I hear people saying how much easier it is when the baby is in your tummy, but I can't help but feel that this little boys is already controlling my schedule. He lets me know when to sleep, eat and use the restroom! I feel like I am getting a taste of his little personality. As Papa Lon would say, "he has two speeds: turbo and off." He gets that from his dad. He has also found his first toy: my belly button. A lot of pregnant women find that close to the end of their pregnancy their "innie" bellybutton turns into an "outie." Mine is still and "innie"... most of the time. Sometimes little boy will start kicking around and find where my belly button is and kick it out and in and out and in. Funny baby.

Mostly we are both grateful that everything is going well and he is growing and healthy! We are getting excited!