Brothers

Henri is such a cute brother to James. He likes to hold him and share toys with him. (He is also not overly loving, which I am grateful for at this point!) I liked this set of pictures that Charles got of these cute brothers

Henri likes "binklies" (blankies) and the other day he tucked James in so carefully and then climbed in the other side of this cute makeshift bed.

He also shared the tailwing of one of his airplanes with James. Apparently, that is the toy of choice for comfy cuddling.

Charles is 27!

Today was Charles' birthday and he wanted to go fishing with the family. We just headed over to the small lake that is about a 7 minute walk from our house. This is why we chose our neighborhood: because they kept a lot of trees and they have miles and miles of trails to explore. There are also three parks within a 15 minute walk from our home. We love it here!

A fun trail to explore

Even James got in on some fishing

Henri was pretending that the stick was an airplane...

...that crashed.

For his birthday present Charles wanted a wagon so that he could take the boys and gear out fishing and also down to the sandbar by the river. I also gave him a dutch oven and a firepit.

Telling

This morning I was reading "Cat in the Hat" to Henri. He is starting to understand rhyming (or maybe he has just memorized the book) so I have been trying to let him finish the sentences. Here are his responses:

"That is what the cat said...

Then he fell on his..."

Henri: "Head!"

"Then our mother came in

And she said to us two,

'Did you have any fun?

Tell me. What did you...

Henri: "do?"

"And Sally and I did not know

what to say.

Should we tell her

The things that went on there that...

Henri: "day?"

"A big red wood box

It was shut with a hook.

'Now look at this trick,'

Said the cat.

'Take a...

Henri: "picture."

In case you were wondering...

Here is what life is like with a two year old BOY!

And here is what life is like with a sweet (almost) two month old boy

(which are also applicable to the whole post since Henri gave him part of his plane to cuddle with!)

I sure love these two boys!

Easter

On Saturday we had a ward Easter Egg Hunt:

Henri also got a package from Grandmaman and Grandpapa Hope.

And a "Queen" car from Aunt Annabelle

And we dyed eggs

When I came out with James Henri wanted James to sit by him and join in the fun.

It was very cute

The finished product:

Here is our first family Easter Egg Hunt

The boys also got their Easter books (both of which I love!)

Our Easter felt pretty commercialized for us this year. It was about the candy and the eggs. After church we got to eat dinner at Brian and Hallie's house and the Hulme's were there. It is nice to have family here, and even though they are a little distant (Brian is Charles' second cousin, once removed) we feel like they are quite close!

I am more and more grateful for the wonderful sacrifice that Christ has made for us. I am grateful for the blessings that we experience because of the Resurrection. I am grateful for myself and also grateful for my family's sake. I am grateful that Heavenly Father has my boys in mind!

Monday fun

On Monday we had a pretty fun day. We went to storytime at the library, then rode on the trolley over to Market Street (a fun outdoor mall) and had a picnic in the park while Henri played in the fountains.

And Henri wanted to ride on the "horsey."

I love this cute boy who just wants to play all day!

Conference

Here are some cute pictures of my boys during Conference Weekend.

Isn't James getting chubby!?! I love it!

Lots of James (and about how he was born)

James has been a joy! We love this little guy so much! And, really, who wouldn't!

He is really just the sweetest thing! When I was pregnant I thought about having another baby through the lens of "how will this effect Henri," but right when he was born I felt so much love for him! It really is amazing that we do love this little boy just as much as we loved Henri.

Since I haven't posted this yet, here is a quick rundown of James' birth story:

• The night of the 15th the hospital calls us and tells us to come in at 5am the next morning to get induced. (Awesome! I was happy to not have to wake up and call them at 5am and be told to call back later.)
• I pack my back the morning of the 16th (unlike when we were expecting Henri and my bag was packed for four weeks,) I sneak in to kiss Henri and then we have a nice, relaxing drive to the hospital to get ready to get induced.
• 7am the pitosin is started.
• 8am Doctor Hulme (who also delivered Henri) comes and breaks my water. Also, I had an awesome nurse named Moira who is from Scotland and was just delightful.
• 10am I decide to get the epidural because contractions are getting quite painful. I am still only dilated to something like a 3.5 or 4.
• For the next several hours I lay in my hospital bed in a state of blissful relaxation. I can still feel the contractions if I pay attention, but I can also nap. And let me tell you about this nap: I didn't have a 2 year old I was listening for and for the first time in 9 months I felt comfortable- my muscles and my mind were relaxed! I loved it, and I love epidurals!
• I don't progress as quickly as I did with Henri, or as quickly as I expected. I start to feel ready for to meet this new baby, and a little frustrated that things aren't moving more quickly, then I remind myself that I feel like I am in a spa, so just sit back and relax.
• Probably around 3pm I am still only at a 6 (maybe 7 said the nurse, if she stretched me- I don't get what that means, but oh, well.)
• Probably around 3:10 I tell her that my body just feels a little uncomfortable, like I should move it somehow. So she checks me again, and tells me she will go call the doctor, because it is time to push.
• I was actually happy to wait for the doctor because I felt that giving my body a little more time to get ready for pushing was fine and hopefully it would help to minimize damage.
• We are ready to push and I push for two contractions and on the third contraction James Clayton Hope is born at 3:55pm. He is 7lbs 14 oz and 20 inches long.

The last part of the story is that during labor James' heartbeat would drop during contractions. I knew that my nurse was monitoring this closely. I was grateful to her because she acted very aware, but not worried. I think his heartbeat wasn't really dropping into a scary range, but for the mom, anything worth monitoring is worrisome. This is why I think I got a little impatient for things to progress more quickly.

Also, I asked Charles to write down what was going on with labor so that I could remember. I saw him making some notes on his phone. Later he sent me a text with what he had recorded:

Typical.

Regarding recovery: There was less damage (2nd degree tear) and recovering this time as been so easy! This is in part thanks to my wonderful mom! She stayed for three weeks and waited on all of us, hand and foot. I was able to get a ton of rest and relaxation. We also had enough energy that we watched a lot of Downton Abbey and Larkrise to Candleford (SO GOOD!)

Also, James as been the most amazing sleeper! Since he was just a few days old I could count on him sleeping for a 7 hour stretch, and now it is getting longer. I have so much energy and feel really great! (Was it because I felt so awful being pregnant?) I think I feel better than I have since I got pregnant with Henri!

Time has just flown by since James was born! Last Thursday he was 6 weeks! I really can hardly believe it! Here are a few videos of James. In this first one he is only a few weeks old:

Here is James as 6 weeks. It is amazing to see how much he has grown! Also, this is his first recorded smile! When he was about a month old there was a moment where I thought, "I think James just smiled at me!" I told Charles, who replied, "Nope, our kids smile at me first." The next day I thought, "I am pretty sure that was a smile!" The day after that James definitely was smiling. I actually started crying it was so sweet! I just love this little boy!!!

Spring is in the Air!

Well, not really here in Houston. Yesterday it was 89 degrees and our AC is on full blast! But on Friday Charles surprised me with these beautiful Spring flowers!

I also wanted to document my Valentine's Day presents!

And, for the nicest present of all:

Yes, Charles got me a new ring! (Last summer, a few days after we moved in my ring got stolen.) After almost 8 months of not having one, I have loved wearing my ring! I chose to get the same one that Charles had originally picked out for me because I love it- I love that he chose it, I love that it is perfectly my style. And, most of all I love the boy that gave it to me!