18 Months With Mr. Pickles

Over the weekend, we finally celebrated Henry's birthday.  He had only turned one in April - we were just a mere six months late in celebrating.  Because Aunt Carolyn's wedding was on his birthday, and the sorrow from Suzanne's recent tragic death was still fresh, we just didn't feel up to celebrating.  Once April passed, I really didn't know when would be the appropriate time for a belated birthday party, if at all.  When Mom said she wanted to have a Halloween party, I realized that coincided with him turning a year and a half, so - voila - it was decided we would  have a Halloween themed birthday party for him.  Unfortunately, I was running around like a mad woman the whole day, so I didn't get any pictures taken myself, and only have a handful that my cousin, Kiley, was nice enough to take.  Oh well.  At least I don't have the guilt of no first birthday party looming over my head anymore. 

 

Henry has been the busiest little boy I've ever known, as well as the most adventurous.  He is not afraid to get dirty.  Animals do not scare him.  Heights and climbing don't phase him one bit.  Getting hurt is no big deal.  He is still afraid of the vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, and pretty much anything else that makes really loud noises, though, which is funny because he's pretty darn loud himself.

One of my favorite things about Henry is his wonderful appetite.  After having a chronic picky eater on my hands for the past three years - really, I have two if you count Stephen - it's an absolute joy to have a child who will EAT!  While Asher's list of what he'll eat continues to dwindle, Henry's grows.  One of his favorite foods is peas - he can't get enough of them - and he'll try things like Brussels Sprouts, meatloaf, and V8 without throwing a fit.  If he doesn't like it, he'll spit it out, but no screaming, no tantrums, and no pleading from us to get him to try something.  Words cannot describe the relief we feel - for the most part, we don't have to make special foods for him at dinnertime and if we go someplace else to eat, chances are very good he will go with the flow and eat whatever we give him.

Henry's personality is really starting to blossom, too.  His sense of humor is budding.  He gives kisses and loves reading books together.  He is rough and tough, but takes time for snuggling a few times a day.  He likes to have his feet tickled and rubs our hands on his face when he's tired.  He shares his big brother's love of trains and cars.  Dancing to Yo Gabba Gabba and singing along to Thomas songs are a couple of his favorite pastimes.

It's the beginning of the end of babyhood for Mr. Pickles.  His speech is becoming less foreign to us - we can now hear him say "cat," "dog," "car," "truck," "train," etc., as well as "Mom," "Dad," and "Ash."  He is following instruction better and better; in fact, before I took the pictures directly above and below, I asked him to sit by the tree and stand by the wall - much to my surprise, he did!  So, he definitely is understanding us better, too - which obviously makes life a teensy bit easier. 

I catch myself often thinking back to two years ago when Asher was Henry's age.  It completely amazes me how much Asher changed between 18 months and two years.  I know Henry is going to sprout just as quickly over the next six months and will be a "big" boy before I know it.  I intend to relish the last few days of his baby-ness as much as I can!

Here are some pictures taken so far from the month of October.  I'll add to them as more are taken.

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Big Baby = Big Clothes

I recently made a comment on Twitter about Henry wearing clothes that Asher just wore last Winter and Spring.

Remember this picture of Asher from last January?

Henry is wearing that article of clothing (size 24 months) today.

My nine-month old is the size of a two-year old.

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The Past Month

It's been busy (as usual) around here, and I've been terrible at keeping up with my blog (as usual). Just a little recap of the past month...(Has it really been a month since Christmas?!)

We stayed home for Christmas this year. Most years we end up at my mom's house, so it was hard breaking that tradition, but keeping the boys at home so they could open their presents from Santa at a leisurely pace and play with them all day seemed like the right thing to do. Luckily, I didn't have to spend Christmas away from my mom, though; she and Bob came to us! The boys didn't finish opening all their gifts until the evening after Christmas due to a combination of Santa's generosity, a baby who could care less, and a toddler with the attention span of, well, a toddler. So, it turned out to be a good thing that we didn't go with the plan of going to Mom's after opening presents. We would have been two days late!

The day after New Year's, Asher turned a whopping THREE YEARS OLD! We had a low-key celebration with family. We spent the afternoon at The Children's Museum with NeeNee and PaPa. Grandfather, Marmie, Uncle Adam and Cathy joined us afterward for cake and presents.

(Asher requested a Thomas cake again this year. Unfortunately, the bakeries at the grocery stores only have one Thomas design, so he got the same cake as last year. Fortunately, he is very easy to please and was even more enthusiastic about the cake this year than last.)

Henry has been a busy little baby now that he has the ability to crawl wherever he wants. His favorite destination seems to be Asher's room; more specifically, Asher's train table. Things are easier in a way now that he's crawling because that means he's better able to keep himself entertained. In another way, things are harder because we really have to watch him every second to make sure he's not getting into something he's not supposed to. It's been a challenge trying to get Asher to understand that he can't leave small toys out where Henry can reach them. He either doesn't comprehend the dangers of choking, or he has a dark wish for his brother.

(We can blame the lack of blog posts on Henry's new skill, too. Chasing a baby around takes up a lot more time than one would think.)

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Go, Mr. Pickles, Go!

Henry is SO close to crawling, he can taste it! Look at this little booger, all in a perfect crawling stance. But then - doh! - he starts bouncing his butt and slides himself backwards. He rolls and scoots himself really well now - he just hasn't quite figured out the whole direction thing, yet. It's only going to be a matter of time and I'll be struggling to keep him in the same room with me.

He's also able to get into a sitting position on his own now. Stephen said yesterday after Henry did this, "Hey! When did he start doing that?" Like a good, caring mother, I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I dunno. Huh. I guess that is new. Must have just started doing it. I guess." You mean he didn't come out of the womb sitting up on his own? How quickly I forget.

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New Skills

Henry is this close to getting into a sitting position on his own and pulling himself up into a standing position. Earlier this week, Stephen went into Henry's room to rescue him from his crib after his nap and found him sitting on his knees. Guess we better lower the mattress in his crib before he perfects his ability to pull himself up completely.

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Unseasonably Warm Weather

Today it was windy and gray outside, with a sprinkle of rain here and there. But, it was warm - 70 degrees - so no one was complaining! When I came home for lunch, I found two cutie patooties playing in the driveway, practicing their sweet driving skills.

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A Little Less Hair, A Little More Teeth

(1) I hate to say it, but my mother-in-law and my husband were right: Henry's baby locks had grown into a wild and crazy rattail. I mean, Henry is usually wearing more than just a diaper and doesn't drink Mountain Dew out of his bottle - he simply wasn't playing the part of white trash baby very well, no one was buying the act. So, I gave him his first haircut at bathtime, mainly just trimming up the back and sides. He was super squirmy, just like I thought he'd be, which is the reason I'd waited this long to cut it, but I managed not to pierce anyone's skin.

(2) Henry has still been pretty restless at night and cranky at times, and since his first tooth popped through a couple of weeks ago, I figured he probably had another in the works. (I remember with Asher they seemed to come in twos and threes.) Sure enough, this afternoon I felt another sharp little toofer poking out of his bottom jaw, right beside his first one. I hope he uses them for good (eating all his veggies) and not evil (biting his brother or eating my Oreos). Chomp chomp chomp!

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Seven Months of Pickles

Henry turned seven months old a few days ago. The closer he gets to the age of walking, the more excited I get! I feel so bad, but the kid really is almost too much for me to lug around anymore. We have a mirror at the end of our hallway, and the other night I was walking down it while carrying Henry. I caught a glimpse of myself with him in my arms and realized he is about half as long as I am - I really DO look ridiculous carrying him! He's exceeded the size limit of the Baby Bjorn, and we moved him to the larger car seat - so we no longer have the luxury of a baby carrier with a car seat base. He's able to sit on his own, so he can sit in a highchair or a cart, but he's not stable enough where he looks comfortable doing so for any period of time, so it's kind of tricky going shopping or to a restaurant. Poor little guy has just outgrown all of the helpful, comfy baby stuff too soon! He's getting pretty close to army crawling, though, and he keeps trying sit up on his own, so we're getting closer to independent mobility!

Henry loves to eat, so we know he's positively thrilled about sprouting his first tooth last week! Just a few more and he'll be chomping on steak in no time! We think more are in the works; this past week has been awful as far as sleeping goes.

My little big guy is so good at entertaining himself. It seemed like Asher would only last seconds when playing on his own (and sometimes that's STILL the case!), but Henry will often spend 20-30 minutes in his exersaucer or playing on the floor by himself before he starts getting fussy.

I think those are about all the updates in the Land of Pickles for now. I'm sure I'll have some more in the weeks to come...you know how babies are about constantly learning new tricks!

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Since Winter Is Obviously Right Around the Corner...

I've had to wear my coat to work for the past week, it was sleeting on my way home at lunch, and the number of leaves on the ground is beginning to outnumber those on the trees.

Winter is coming!

Since the next round of pictures I take will probably involve snow, I thought I'd go ahead and post a few pictures I took last weekend of Henry playing in the leaves.

These are some of the good pictures. Most of the pictures, however, were of him eating leaves or trying to eat the pumpkin. And notice that Asher is not seen in these pictures. Asher was busy running around behind me like a busy little squirrel frantically searching for nuts. He has apparently decided that he will no longer participate in posed photos if it requires holding still or looking at the camera.

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Maybe There Is a Slight Resemblance...

Just about every single person we encounter swears up and down that Henry is a miniature version of Asher. In fact, this weekend, Mom and I were at Wal-Mart - she was pushing Asher in the cart, and I was carrying Henry in the Baby Bjorn - and a woman stopped and did a double take and said, "Twins?" Before we could answer, it obviously dawned on her that there was an age difference and she said, "Oh, I guess not!" It's funny so many people think they look so much alike, but I, the mom, haven't really felt that there was that strong of a resemblance.

But maybe I'm wrong.

I awoke around 3 a.m. Saturday morning. We were staying the weekend at my mom's, and Asher typically sleeps in bed with me, while Henry sleeps in the pack 'n' play. In my groggy state, I looked over at Asher and - wait - who put Henry in bed with me? Where was Asher? Feeling startled, I looked over in the pack 'n' play to find Henry sleeping soundly. I looked back at Henry in bed next to me, then back to Henry in the pack 'n' play. What the heck was going on?! How could Henry be in two places at the same time? What kind of Halloween trickery was being played on me?

Oh. Huh. That wasn't Henry in bed next to me. It was Asher. EERIE.

Then, last night, I was going through some pictures I took of the boys over the weekend, and found one in particular of Henry that reminded me of one of my favorite pictures of Asher from two years ago.

Asher, 2008:

Henry, 2010:

Yep, these boys are definitely brothers. Still not sure I totally agree with people when they say Henry is a replica of Asher, but they could never deny being related to one another. It's a good thing they're handsome boys - Henry should take it as a compliment that he resembles his big brother!

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Dragon Brothers

Last year after Halloween, when I was pregnant with Henry, Mom and I found this really cute horse costume at Cracker Barrel for next-to-nothing. Henry, of course, turned out to be really good at growing, so the horse costume was a good size-and-a-half too small for him. So, I found this cute dragon costume for him:

I had no idea what Asher should be, and when I'd ask him what he wanted to be, he'd just say, "Ummmmm....I unno." We took him costume shopping, but he seemed completely uninterested in everything there was. A monkey? "Ummmmm....sumpin' else!" How about an elephant? "Ummmm....sumpin' else!" A shark - a shark would be cool! "Ummmm.....hmmm......sumpin else?" He was no help. Even the Thomas the Tank Engine costume at Target didn't phase him. So Mom and I went to Old Navy and guess what they had there? A dragon costume! Not identical to Henry's, but a dragon nonetheless!

So we got home and asked him if he wanted to dress up like a dragon like Henry. Dragon brothers! Asher thought about this and then seemed pleased with the idea. For the past few weeks, when asked what he was going to be for Halloween, he'd say, "Dragon brothers with Henry!"

They were definitely the cutest pair of dragons I've ever seen in my entire life.

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Mr. Pickles Turns Six Months

Life has been pretty good for the most part here in Neenerland...just a little busy, to say the least. Who knew having two monkeys under the age of three would keep you so busy? And so crazy?

Henry had his sixth-month checkup with the doctor today. He's still a chart-topper, weighing in at almost 22 pounds (95th percentile) and just shy of 30 inches in length (above the 100th percentile). This might explain why my arms and back hurt so badly after having him in my arms for only a few minutes at a time! We've, thankfully, been given the green light to start feeding him soft table foods and juice because this child is CLEARLY malnourished and needs as many sources of caloric intake as possible! Oh, who are we kidding...I've been dying to sneak him spoonfuls of mashed potatoes at dinnertime for the past month, the doctor doesn't have to twist my arm! I mean, seriously - doesn't he look like someone who would love mashed potatoes?? Couldn't he be a model on a box of potato-flakes? Henry also had five shots and only whimpered a little - no crying! Asher even joined in the fun by getting a flu shot and was so brave that Daddy gave him a present as a reward. Daddy said Henry didn't need a reward because he doesn't know the difference, but don't worry, Henry - remember those mashed potatoes? Yes, your reward will come by the buttery spoonful!

Henry has lots of tricks up his sleeve, from sitting up unassisted to rolling wherever he wants to go to "inchworming" backwards. He loves bathtime now that he can sit up and splash and play with toys, but hates being "manhandled" when it's time to be toweled off and dressed. As I said, he's a big boy, fully into 12-month-sized clothes now and already wearing a few smaller fitting 18-month-sized items. I'm just hoping he won't catch up with Asher too quickly...although I guess I could just rotate the clothes between the two closets! Henry adores eating (Shocker? He is my son...) and pretty much likes everything except for green beans. He hasn't sprouted any teeth, yet, but I'm sure they'll be up before we know it - I can feel them charging through his bumpy little gums.

The boys are super sweet together and it warms my heart every time Asher gives Henry a big, unprompted hug or whenever Henry gazes at Asher with a huge, gummy smile. It's funny and a little remarkable to me when Asher wakes up from a nap and immediately asks to see Baby Brother or when Asher acting like a goofball is the only thing that will cheer a grumpy Henry up. Asher lets Henry "play" with his trains and Henry loves watching Thomas episodes with Asher on TV. Could they be two peas in a pod, or are they just softening me up before a horrible decade or two (or more?!) of sibling rivalry erupts?? Only time will tell...but in the meantime, I will bask in a disgustingly nauseating whirlwind of emotions over these two affectionate brothers...

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And He Continues to Grow

Henry had his four-month checkup on Monday and, no shocker, he's still a big boy. He's in the 90th percentile for height at 26 inches long, and remains in the 95th percentile for weight, at 17 pounds, 14 ounces.

I had no idea all those steroids would pass into my breastmilk - honestly!

In the past week, he's apparently started rolling over, too, although we haven't witnessed it firsthand. We always put him to sleep on his back like they say you're supposed to, but a few times we've found him in the morning lying on his stomach. He's also getting better and better at grabbing toys (and faces and hair and glasses...) and stuffing them into his little mouth.

He's pretty cute.


(Thanks for the picture, Jamie! I couldn't find a recent full-body shot of Henry in my stash, so I thought I'd use this one. I thought it was a pretty cute shot of Mom and Henno!)

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Bumbo Baby

Mr. Henry Pickles sure is growing up fast. My mom told me the second child seems to grow up faster, partly because he'll try to keep up with his older brother, and partly because I'll be so busy with two kids that I won't dwell on his growth so much. I'm finding this to be an unfortunate truth. As much as I'd love to pay as much attention to Henry as I did to Asher when he was a baby, I simply can't. Our pediatrician said this: Having your first child is so special, but having your second is so much fun. We may not put Henry under the microscope like we did with Asher, but we also don't get as frustrated with him or worry so much about him, which I think makes him a happier baby. Because really, who wants to be stared at all day?

Anyway, I mentioned in my last post that we've started Henry on baby food. Another change he's going through is sitting up. This boy loves to sit up and see the craziness going on around him. Mom bought him a Bumbo seat last weekend so he could have an easier time doing this. He seems to enjoy it. And then, just like with every other baby contraption we have, he's screaming to get out of it within ten minutes. But hey - ten minutes is enough to make a quick blog post, right?

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Feeding Time Struggles

The kids have me constantly worrying about their diets. Henry is a little butterball turkey, so he's obviously getting plenty of nourishment, but since I started pumping, I've become obsessed with how many ounces he eats and whether I'm producing enough for him, blah blah blah. Same annoying worries I had when I pumped with Asher. I stopped nursing Henry altogether for about five days last week because he has started becoming violent with the goods - my guess is he's frustrated because he thinks taking the bottle is easier - he gets to look around and I'm sure the flow is faster with a bottle. But, I started nursing again, and he's tamed down a little bit. Sometimes. We've also started him on solid foods. He's improved his eating skills quite a bit - he's getting better at swallowing instead of pushing the food out with his tongue and now opens his mouth when the spoon nears his pudgy face. And with the introduction of food comes STINKY diapers and MESSY mealtimes. I'd forgotten how frustrating it is to feed someone who flails his arms constantly and blows raspberries with a mouth full of food.

And then you have Asher.

The foods he'll eat: chicken nuggets, fish sticks, french fries, most fruit (with the exception of cantaloupe and honeydew), corn, grilled cheese sandwiches, plain noodles (don't even try putting any sauce or cheese on them), white rice (with just salt, pepper & butter), yogurt, any kind of bread, and cereal. I finally got him to eat a few bites of a peanut butter & jelly sandwich last weekend, and he said it was good, but I'm not adding it to the list quite yet. Of course he's OK with any kind of junk food you have to offer, and ketchup. This is what's all over his face in this picture. He'll eat it plain if we let him. He also likes to eat salt & pepper directly out of the shakers when we go out to eat. Do you know how grossed out I get when I look away for a second and look back to find him licking the top of a sticky pepper shaker? Almost as grossed out as I get when he does something like lick the floor at a restaurant under the table. Yeah. He won't eat macaroni and cheese or any vegetable, but he'll lick the floor at McDonald's.


Oh, and I did convince him to try cucumber last week. He nibbled a little bit on a slice before becoming completely distracted with the seeds, which he pushed around all over the table like tiny slimy cars, yelling, "BEEP BEEP!" I don't know if he liked it much, but I felt like buying him a car out of the happiness I felt over the fact that he tried something green.

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My Chunka-Monka

Henry had his belated two-month checkup today with the doctor, and guess what? He's PERFECT! Okay, well, he's everything he's supposed to be. And even more so. The doctor and nurses were most impressed with his "healthy" size. Henry now weighs 15 pounds 10 ounces and is 25 inches long, which puts him over the 95th percentile in both weight and height. Am I surprised by any of this? No...Mr. Pickles is actually already starting to grow out of his 3-6 month-sized clothes and is moving into 6-9-month. So, yeah, I sorta knew he was a chunky monkey. Dr. Timmons said he's more the size of a six-month old than a nearly three-month old, which led me to wonder, is he overweight? Nope - she said he's perfectly proportionate, so he's not overweight at all - he's just a big baby. Because of his large size and the fact that he probably has a large appetite, she also gave us the green light to go ahead and try giving him a little bit of rice cereal if we want.

Poor Mr. Pickles also had to have four shots in his little chubby legs today. He was so brave and only cried for a minute.

Since we were so close to his three-month mark, we won't be going to the doctor again until August for his four-month checkup. Let's hope he won't be in 12-month clothes by that time!

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God Loves Henry

We had Mr. Henry Pickles baptized on Sunday. It was a very nice day - our baby was blessed, we ate lots of good food, we visited with our closest family and friends, and Henry got presents. Oh, and there was yummy cake, too. We're very lucky to have such a great family to share this special day with us.

(FYI, The 38-year old baptismal gown that Henry is wearing has been worn by Stephen and all of his siblings, as well as Angela's two children and Asher. Is it wrong that I have looked forward to my children's baptisms, not so much because of the salvation it represents, but because it's the only chance I'll have to dress my boys in gowns??)

See pictures here!

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Smiles!

Henry has been smiling more and more over the past couple of weeks, even when pooping isn't involved! Here's a little video with a few smiles in it that Mom recorded this evening while I was burping Henry.

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The Past Two Months

I'll admit, I feel pretty guilty about not giving Henry the face time that I've always given Asher on here. In my defense, Henry, this should show you what a good parent I've been - my time and attention has been pretty focused on more important things, like feeding you every 2-3 hours, changing your diaper every 2-3 hours, soothing you when you cry, picking up the house, doing laundry, wrangling your monkey brother...you know, parent-y things. Of course, there's also been the fact that I ran out of storage space on Google over a month ago and couldn't upload anymore pictures. Oops. Well, we've finally resolved that issue, so now I can slowly start sharing pictures from the past couple of months. That is, if you boys can coordinate a long enough nap at the same time for me to accomplish such a feat...

As I expected, my maternity leave is totally flying by and leaving me in the dust, struggling to slow things down and enjoy every precious second. Fat chance of that happening. For one, because I'm off of work, we've been trying to cram all the visiting with family and running around in that we can since we won't be able to do once I'm back on a grown-up schedule. Two, because Stephen works during the weekends, I've been packing up and spending many of these weekends at my mom's, so I can get some much-needed assistance with caring for two little ones. Surprisingly, that adjustment hasn't been as tough as I thought it would be. Luckily, Asher is, usually, a pretty good little boy who doesn't require constant attention from us, and he seems to understand (usually) that Henry needs more care from us than he does, so he's been good about sharing his parents with his brother. I've been so much more calm with Henry than I was when Asher was a newborn. Like, I know that a poopy diaper can wait a few minutes until we reach our destination in the car. Or, there's the fact that Henry isn't going to shrivel up if he has to wait ten minutes for me to finish my dinner before he gets fed. I also know that a little crying is normal, babies are a lot tougher than they appear to be, and they don't have to be held 100% of the time. Of course there are still things I'm struggling with...like how to entertain a newborn. I'm feeling the exact same frustration I felt when Asher was a newborn - how do you play with a slug? I want to interact with him, to teach him, to play with him...but, all he wants to do is sleep, eat, poop, and be cuddled. It's starting to get better, though...he's beginning to smile and coo, so I know he's starting to come out of the "blob of baby" phase.

Asher is still totally in love with Baby Brother and constantly wants to hug, kiss, and pat Henry on the head. Our biggest fight right now is keeping Asher off Henry...his love sometimes hurts. He's a very caring big brother: he fetches pacifiers, sings Henry songs, and shares his toys with him. Now I just need to teach him how to change diapers...

Henry has been a great little baby. He's very easygoing, cuddly, not too fussy, and doesn't treat me like a chew toy when I feed him. He's sleeping for 3-6 hours at a time at night, and I usually end up getting around eight hours of sleep total, so I haven't been too much of a zombie. He's really chubbed up nicely over the past nine weeks, too, and has managed to keep his head full of luxurious hair. He has his two-month check-up on Monday, and on Sunday he's going to be baptized. Yet another busy weekend is ahead of us!

Here are pictures from April and pictures from May.

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How It's Been

As usual, I've been so far behind on keeping up with this blog. It's not like I've been busy or anything...I've just had a little nine-pound human attached to my boobs for approximately a third of every day the past two and a half weeks. Then, there's the two-year old who is constantly up in my grill wanting to see Baby Brother, touch Baby Brother, squeal in Baby Brother's face, cuddle Baby Brother, or tickle Baby Brother. I'm already running interference between the two boys, and they've only been living together for a couple of weeks. Luckily, so far, it's been good attention Asher has been doling out on Henry, but it's still a lot of work and stress to make sure little Henry doesn't get crushed under all of Asher's good intentions. On top of that, our sweet little toddler has suddenly turned into...well, a toddler. We're pretty sure most of it is his way of dealing with the new addition to the family, but, WOW. Temper tantrums galore. Defiance. Stubborness. Whining. Throwing things. Running around screaming like a banshee. Our pediatrician (and everyone else we've talked to) has assured us this is perfectly normal and said the best thing to do is to stick to our guns when it comes to the rules and to praise, praise, praise him for every little good thing he does to encourage positive behavior. We've been doing this as much as possible, and it seems like as long as we make sure he gets his naps in and smother him with as much attention as possible, life is much easier.

I have to say, knock on wood, things have been going so much better than they did after Asher was born. So far, I haven't had any postpartum depression like I did with Asher. There have been some instances of feeling a little overwhelmed and lonely, but nothing like the completely and utterly lost and hopeless feelings I had two years ago. I was worried that going back to the days of feeding and diapering every few hours would be horribly rough, but surprisingly it's been a groove that's been pretty easy to slip back into. I don't know if it's simply the fact that we've done it before and know what to expect, or that Henry is (so far) a VERY easygoing baby, or that Stephen has been home more than he was in the first few months after Asher was born, or maybe even the time of year has made things more pleasant - Asher was born at the beginning of dreary January, which kept us pretty much hibernating indoors, whereas we have the windows open now and can smell the neighbors' flowers and hear the birds chirping. My recovery has been MUCH shorter and less painful this time around, too...it's easy to sink into depression when you physically feel like you've had a semi-truck crash out of your lady parts. I also am very happy to report that nursing is (again, so far) much easier this time around. It feels much more natural this time - i.e., I don't feel like a chew toy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Henry doesn't turn into the little badger that Asher was, but it's nice to know that breast pump is around if I need it! Although, I will admit, I do occasionally pump just to give myself a break every once in awhile. Besides, I think it's nice to let Daddy have some feeding time, too.

Henry had his two week checkup last week, and he's apparently pretty perfect. His weight was up to nine pounds (50th percentile), and his height is up to 21.75 inches (90th percentile). We'll see the doc again in a couple of weeks for his one-month checkup.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to post pictures up from the past couple of weeks pretty soon, but in the meantime, I've finally gotten the pictures uploaded that were taken during our hospital stay.

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