A day in the life

I thought this would be fun, to take you through a day in the life of Kati and Henry.

:)

The pictures are out of order as far as whats first in the day, but oh well. :)

This is ground zero for the main chunk of the day. I am usually sitting against that brown pillow, holding Henry, or he is in the swing under the brown blanket(which is currently is in the picture). Its bright in there so he stays asleep for naps longer in the blanket is over the swing. There are burp clothes everywhere, bottles, his bag, seat, etc. Its a baby mess.

This is ground zero for feedings. We only have 3 bottles cause we are still deciding if we like them, so I have to wash the bottles 2 or 3 times a day. There are little syringes for his medication, his formula and some binkies.

My favorite part! Ground zero for cleanings. I love baths, and I love giving my son baths. He gets so clean and yummy smelling, and I loooooove swaddling his wet little body in a towel and snuggling him. My bath area has turned into his bath area. Sigh, he's worth it.

Ugh, the worst part, ground zero at night. The bassinet is in the crib, and on the floor is my bed. Sometimes I just lay down on the floor for a few mins cause I know he is going to wake up again and I will need to coax him back to sleep.

This is our morning ground zero. For some reason I prefer getting him ready and changing his diaper for the morning in here. Theres burp clothes, wipes and other crap on the bed each morning.

Well there you have it. That is where Henry and I spend our days. We leave maybe once a day, and I really don't like leaving the house, its somewhat stressful to me. I just hate when he cries while I am driving, it kills me that I can't soothe him.

Motherhood

Some homes try to hide the fact that children shelter there,

Ours boasts of it quite openly, the signs are everywhere.

For smears are on the windows, little smudges on the door,

I should apologize, I guess, for toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children and we played and laughed and read,

And if the doorbell doesn't shine, their eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I am forced to choose the one job or the other,

I want to be a homemaker-but first I'll be a Mother.

-(Author unknown)

Sometimes the house gets neglected, and thats ok, because I am learning that there is a huge difference between being a homemake and a mother. Being a mother is so much more important.

blah

I love blogging. It helps me process things and see things in real perspective. So if any of it is boring to you, well, don't read. ;)

Theres a lot about being a mom I wasn't expecting, or thought would be different.

First, I was convinced I would never be one of those moms who dont get ready each day, and spend the day in their PJ's. Maybe when my baby is a few months older that will be the case, but I think daily I get about 3 and half minutes to myself, which is used to pee.

second, there is no such thing as a quick trip when you have a baby. Currently at Costco are sitting some prints I ordered of my little tyke, and I thought I would run go get them this morning. Then I realized I can't really just run in, I have to bring the tyke, and he's a lot to haul around.

third, it really truly is so exhausting taking care of a newborn. Which is weird to me, I mean, he just eats sleeps and poops, whats so exhausting about that? I don't know, its just a constant need he has for something, and its hard.

fourth, I am sooo grateful for those who have helped me when I needed it. You know who you are, answered questions, kept me entertained, visited, etc. Every bit of it has helped so much.

fifth, the memory of being pregnant is getting dimmer each day. It seems like years ago that I was impatiently trying to get him out, not 3 weeks ago.

Life is starting to seem a bit more normal. We are slowly but surely getting Henry on a schedule that works for all of us. Our days consist of just staying home and trying to get into a swing of things. Bath time is by far my favorite part of the day. He is just so cute when he is all wet and clean and snuggled in a towel. The funniest thing about Henry is when he smiles, we aren't sure he knows he is smiling because its totally unprovoked, we think its gas. Which makes it hilarious. Henry is tall and skinny like his dad, he is in the 95 percentile for height(which means he is taller than 95% of babies his age) and in the 25-50 percentile for weight.

I still think labor and delivery was the funnest thing ever, and recovery was the worst thing ever. That opinion will probably never change. I am still not 100% recovered.

I've hit a wall and I have no idea what to blog about. My day consists of poop, bottles and trying to force a newborn to nap. I have no pictures of fabrics and shelves to show you, and I haven't had any time to even think about anything other than baby.

Hopefully this will pass.

And hopefully this post is good enough for now.

sweetest moment

Being a mom to a newborn is hard.

But there comes a moment, when you see that it is all worth it.

A moment, that just melts your heart.

That moment comes, when this little face is sound asleep snuggling with you, you are wondering if you can sneak him into his crib without him knowing, and then he wakes up, looks at you with his big blue eyes, looks at you for a second before going back to sleep, and you know, you can just tell, that he woke up real quick, just to make sure you were still there.

That moment is enough to make your heart skip a beat.

I hope I never forget that moment, and the love that was there.

1 week older and wiser too.

Henry David Powell

Its been a week since Henry was born. WOW!! People always say time goes by so fast and a week with my baby certainly goes faster than a week pregnant.

He is wonderful. During the day, he is the happiest, easiest baby ever. Around 10pm he gets cranky, but usually its tameable within an hour and we go into our sleep cycle. Henry had his days and nights mixed up so our pediatrician told us how to correct it. Right now he wakes up 2-3 times a night, with 3-4 hours in between. I am thrilled with that as a newborn.

The second night he was home, before we knew his days were backwards, we had the worst night EVER. I have never had such a horrible night, he screamed and cried bloody murder, til 5 am. Jason and I were so distraught, but luckily that hasn't happened since. Talk about being broken into parenting!

We looove our pediatrician. We just had the hospital send one over while we were there, and we just decided to keep going to him cause he was nice. When we went for our appointment at his office I fell in love with it. Everyone in the office knew who we were, and that we were coming with the new baby. When we got there the receptionist said"ah the new baby is here!" All the staff really seemed like they cared about the kids and not just running a Dr's office. So much so, that they open every door for you, and insist you put sanitizer on before you leave because they are really concerned about the measles outbreak here.

Bringing him home was exactly how I thought it would be, in that I had no idea how it would be! I think we did really well considering he's our first child. 1 week after he was born, I got a HUGE nesting bug at 8 am, I woke up, cleaned the entire house from top to bottom, I even hand cleaned the bathroom floors. :) It felt so good. It was really nice to have the ward bring meals. The first night the member brought us like 3 huge racks of ribs, I was sooo surprised. It was delicious

So I guess I have to start blogging details about Henry, like all others do. :)

He was born at 7 lbs 12 oz, left the hospital at 7 lbs 5 oz, and 2 days later at his appointment was 7 lbs 8 oz. Dr said his weight gain is awesome.

He loves car rides, falls asleep every time.

he HATES getting his diaper changed, with an ugly passion lol.

His umbilical cord fell off 1 week after birth. I hated that thing.

he loves to just hang out on the bed or table with us, he isnt needy to be held.

He has HUGE feet and hands, thats the first thing everyone said when they saw him.

he loves to suck on our fingers, instead of binkies, but he likes binkies too.

he pees the bed, all the freaking time lol. we have to Vaseline his penis area until his circumcision is healed, and it makes the pee just shoot of the diaper instead of it soaking in. not fun.

he loooves to be swaddled, we went and bought 2 extra swaddlers cause he loves them so much.

more to come later, of course. :)

Henry's Birth Story

The beginning:

April 6th I had a drs appointment where he stripped my membranes. I went home with constant cramping, knowing that was going to be normal for having my membranes stripped. Later around 8 pm, I started having more intense cramping during the regular cramping. I wasn't convinced I was in labor, because I didnt want to cry wolf, or thinking something big of something little. So I took some tylenol pm, and fell asleep fast. Around 3 am I woke up with frequent cramps. I layed in bed, and was really confused. People say you will know when you are in labor, and I didn't know if I was or not. After timing them, they were every 10ish minutes, I woke up Jason around 4. It went like this:

Me: Jason lets go

Jason: go where?

Me: to the hospital.

Jason: Are you serious?

lol this conversation is funny because a couple weeks before I told him I knew exactly what he was going to say when I told him it was time, "Are you serious?" lol I know my cute hubby too well.

So we got up, got ready, packed the hospital bag, fed the kitties and left. It was so surreal and weird to be driving to the hospital thinking this is the last time we will drive somewhere as a family of two. I wasn't in too much pain, so it was a pleasant fun drive, we talked, laughed, breathed through contractions, it was nice. When we got to the hospital I was dilated to a 4 and contractions were every 5-7 minutes. They had me walk around labor and delivery to further progress me, which dilated me to a 5. At this point I opted for the epidural and oh my word, that is the weirdest thing ever. It feels sooo strange. After I got my epidural, my family came. My parents and my little sister. It was so nice to have them there, and I knew it would be. They were good company and entertainment to pass the time.

around 9 am they checked me and I was at a 7+.pretty much every time they came to check me I had dilated a whole nother centimeter. Around 2pm we started pushing. I pushed for about 45 minutes before his head was in the right spot, then we had to wait for my Dr. to get there. When he got there it was a matter of maybe 10 minutes before Henry arrived. I remember Henry coming out, I remember feeling it, like something being sucked out. I immediately started crying.

I will tell you, giving birth is the most spiritual thing I have ever done. I have never felt the spirit so strong before. I truly felt like Heavenly Fathers presence was there, and that the moment Henry came out, Heavenly Father was handing him to me. I felt comforted, like Heavenly Father was whispering to me that he trusts me with this precious little one.

Anyway, he came out, they cleaned him up, weighed him yada yada. The Dr. was stitching me up, I did not tear at all on the outside, a lot on the inside apparently but my Dr. said inside tears heal way faster. He said my recovery time will be about 2 weeks instead of the normal 6, so I am pleased with that.

Details aside, my labor with Henry was perfect. From the moment I went into labor, Jason and I were enjoying each others company, he was supportive and helpful, the hospital staff was fantastic, my wonderful family came to keep me company and laughing, my wonderful Dr. came in on his day off to deliver Henry, Henry is perfect. There was no dramatic screaming or yelling, I did squeeze Jason's hands quite hard before the epidural came, but its all part of the experience right? ;)

Henry's first night was quite fun, it was full of learning and firsts. It was soooo weird to be woken up by Henry crying, like hey! thats my son crying! weeeeeird. Jason got to stay the night on an actually pretty comfy sofa bed, there was nothing sofa about it, it was pretty much a twin bed. I was still in a good amount of pain from the swelling, so I only slept about 2 hours. The rest of the time I snuggled with the little man, which is so worth losing sleep. We sent him to the nursery about 4 am though, and got him back around 7 am.

The second day was pretty rough for me, Henry did perfectly. I did not tear externally at all, but I tore a lot internally, which caused a lot of swollen pain that ran my day instead of Henry. luckily I have the worlds best husband who took care of Henry's every need when I couldn't. To this minute(a day ago) I have not changed a diaper. Jason is such a wonderful dad. I am still having some recovery problems, I don't want to take away from the blessful story of Henry's birth though so I won't go into details, but I had to come home with some hospital equipment to take care of myself because of some issues I had in recovery. Everything will be fine. :)

Alright, now for some tidbits of thoughts since.

I do not miss having Henry inside me, having him outside me is so much sweeter

Henry is the most chill baby ever, he doesn't cry, he is awake A LOT and is so snuggly

I love snuggly Henry

Jason has become a pro at swaddling Henry

my family adores him, its the first grandchild

Henry looks like me the most, which is weird to me

He loves having his picture taken

all the nurses love Henry and think he is so handsome

we took like 6 baby blankets, 8 binkies and a weekends worth of formula from the hospital

delivery(with an epidural) is a piece of cake,$ its the RECOVERY that is a real b*&$h

I am addicted to Henry

Grandma and Grandpa Odekirk sure do love being the grandparents, they take advantage greatly of giving Henry back when he pees on them. ;)

I will post more later, but for all you impatient folks, theres how it all went down.

Welcome Henry

Created with love, carried with hope, and welcomed with joy.

Henry David Powell has arrived.

He is absolutely perfect.

I am smittened with him.

I feel so blessed.

so loved.

so grateful.

so lucky.

so peaceful.

7 lbs 12 oz

21 inches long

scored a PERFECT 10 on the apgar scoring

I will work on his birth story tonight so I don't forget it, promise. :)

Total overhaul.

K, so remember how I am going to do a total over haul on my house decor?

I thought I would give you a tiny sneak peak and see what you think.

First thing about this overhaul you should know, the boldness and brightness, if there is any, is in the fabrics. I learned from my mistake last time of putting it on the walls, so I have pretty fabrics, with some color. So don't look at the fabrics and think its too bold cause mainly they are just for pillows.

Downstairs living room. Currently painted aqua, and yellow. WILL be painted a grey shade of white, with one or two black accent walls. I know, black, but I REALLY think its going to be awesome, they are small walls, and with the opposite color being a grey/white I think it will be very classy. Picture something SORT of like this for the black wall:

See? not as bad as you thought, right?

Here's a sneak peak of what I have so far.

I looove the fabric, and I needed a specific fabric. With wanting to introduce and make black a main color in here, I had to be able to blend in brown, because the couch cushions are brown. So I went to home fabrics and found the perfect one. It has black, tan, brown and the red secondary color.

The main floor. Is currently painted brown, aqua, and yellow. ugh. Remember from here, I am painting every wall the same, light greyish blue. There are a lot of black framed pictures with off white mats on the wall, red couches are staying red, adding pillows from the fabrics below(although I am not sure on the polka dots one), and another fabric that incorporates yellow, when Henry starts crawling I will take the rug from his nursery here, and put it in the living room. Not too much more will be done, a few knick knacks and things but those details aren't hashed out.

Soooo, tell me. Whatdoya think so far?

P.S. Am I the only one that cares this much about what my house looks like?

It has come, and will probably be gone.

Happy due date to me.

Happy due date to me.

Happy due date dear Kati,

Happy due date to me.

**SIGH**

To be or not to be...

THAT WAS IT!!!!!

I came into this general conference knowing there was something specific I needed to hear. I accidentally fell asleep during saturday mornings session, I was afraid I had missed what I needed to hear, listened to Saturday afternoons, nothing spoke to me, listened Sunday morning thinking come on! where is my message!! speak to me! Then Sunday afternoons session was it!

To be or not to be.

Lynn Robbin's talk was it. It was EXACTLY what I have been searching for this entire pregnancy. I have been so worried at how to raise children, boys specifically, and his talk has settled all my concerns and fears. It makes my eyes water just thinking at how perfect his talk was.

The idea and thought behind the talk was there are things you do, and things you are. You can take your spouse on a date, and check it off the list cause its something you do, but you cant check being a good wife off your list, cause its something you have to BE. I loved how much he directed it to parenting, teaching children thats its not what you do, its why you do it. Praising children for WHY they have done good, instead of just praising the act of doing good. I seriously can not convey the message to you as well as he does, so seriously, when the Ensign comes out, or the the texts of the talks is released on thursday, read it. You will not regret and it applies to everything, not just parenting.

That was it.

That talk, was all I needed.

I am now 110% ready to have this child.

I feel honored, blessed, ready and so grateful for what is about to happen.

I really did need this conference, so I am grateful for the faith I have been able to have in the Lord's oh so perfect timing. I see now, why I needed to be patient, and I love when I get to see the reason for why something is the way it is.

I love this gospel.

I love my Heavenly Father.

I know, that everything is done in the Lord's timing, for a very very, good reason.