my wish for you

Dear Henry-

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car..

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something yo u believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it.. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your father punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that he hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give him a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

sweet nugget

Tell me that is not the sweetest thing you have ever seen, go ahead, try.

It is the sweetest thing, ever.

Henry's swaddle life has come to an end.

When we decided to start letting him cry to sleep, we also decided it would be best to stop swaddling him, so he can sooth himself with his hands and whatnot.

But I am glad I took these pictures of him a while ago so I can always remember what my little nugget looked like all swaddled up.

so sweet.

P.S.

night 2 of Henry crying it out involved absolutely no crying, and only a few minutes of fussing.

loooooove.

wasnt so bad.

This is what I had myself prepared for tonight.

We have decided its time Henry learn to put himself to sleep, so we were going to let him cry it out.

we would put him down awake, and go in every 10 mins if he was crying to sooth him, and then put him right back down.

I prepared myself for hours of crying, from both Henry and I, I prepared to go in there numerous times, holding him thinking I was ruining him.

So Jason and I fed him a bottle, rocked him for a few minutes, sang take me out to the ball game, kissed him good night, and put him down.

7 minutes later, he was asleep.

success.

big baby

Today I sorted through Henry's clothes, and packed up the things that are too small.

my little guy is in the 97th percentile for height, so even though he isn't chunky, AT ALL, he is too tall for a lot of his clothes. I have one skinny tall baby. :)

I bought a 5 pack of onsies, that I love, and was sad he outgrew them.

I went to Carter's the other day, and they still had them!

So I bought them in the next size. :D

sometimes its weird to think how small he used to be.

see:

anyway. thats all for now. Sorry this blog has become so boring, but Henry is pretty much all I do these days.

you know how it is.

milestones

Little dudes first day of church.

Doesn't he look super cute?!

its the simple things

Happiness lies in the simple moments of our lives.

Happiness for me today, was walking to my bedroom, and passing this along the way:

I love watching Jason take care of Henry.

Jason talks to Henry, and warns him of his moms obsessive need to document things, that may or may not include painting Henry's feet to get cute footprints.

He made a pact with Henry, to watch each others back in this regard.

I am still unaware of the details of this pact.

But its totally cute none the less.

Henry is 6 weeks, and completely adorable.

He has the CUTEST laugh.

He also has the CUTEST scream. lol seriously.

we call him: the little gremlin, tyke, little dude, H-Dawg and peanut.

I love my boys

I love the simple moments in life that bring such happiness

Heaven on earth is in a swing

I started a really bad habit with Henry. Whenever Henry needed a nap, I would hold him til he fell asleep, and then he was just so cute and snuggly I held him the whole time. Thus creating his need to always be held in order to nap.

ugh.

I am at the point now that I wanna get back into wife mode also, clean and cook dinners, but the only time I can really do all that is when he naps, but since I have to hold him, well you see where this is going.

Well, a few weeks ago we went to our friends house, and Henry sat in their swing for a while, and loved it. He just hung out, didn't fuss, didn't need anything.

We had a baby swing, but it wasn't anything special and Henry didn't like it at all.

So this week I had it up to here with not getting stuff done and with his bad nap habit. I wanted him to get a long good quality nap, and he just wasn't getting that in my arms.

So after a stressed phone call to my sweet hubby, he ordered this for me:

Its the swing.

the lifesaver of my life.

Henry LOVES it.

Jason put it together last night, and this morning around 10, Henry needed a nap. Jason put Henry in the swing, and Henry was out like a light. like magic.

I am sooooo excited for tomorrow, to get him napping well, even if he does need to rely on a swing for a while to nap, I am ok with that.

Its a pretty fancy shmancy swing, does all sorts of stuff that Henry likes, so I highly reccommend it to anyone that will have a baby. Henry lvoes the side to side motion, the softness of the basket, seriously its like a big pillow, the sounds it plays, and the mobile.

Wanna know how much he loves it?

He took his first nap around 10, and around 1, this is what we got from him:

Thats right, my 5 week old baby was smiling all over the place today. Thats what a good nap schedule will do to a baby.

Mommy is smiling just as big. :D

sweetness

Newborns are hard, I've said that before, but let me tell you my favorite part.

Rather let me show you...

Nap time. more specifically cuddling during nap time.

I really suck at nap time. I want him to sleep in his crib for naps, but he doesn't fall asleep on his own yet, and I just love snuggling with him.

in a few weeks I will start the tough love phase and teach him to self soothe and what not, hopefully I am not shooting myself in the foot by letting him nap on him.

Cause its so sweet!!

Wanna know my absolute favorite part?

This...

When I snuggle him to sleep, he grabs on to me with his teeny tiny hand.

melts.my.heart.

only a few more weeks of this, and I am kinda sad to see it go soon. :(

BUT, hopefully doing so will get him to sleep through the night better.

3 more weeks, then Babywise starts.

wish me luck.

1 month

This little dude...

Is 4 weeks old today. 1 month old on Saturday.

life with him started out rocky, not gonna lie.

But life with him has quickly turned to lovely.

newborns are tough, I don't prefer the newborn stage.

just give me a chunky baby instead. :)

But oh how I love this little Henry of mine.

Happy 1 month birthday little baby.

Mommy will eat some cake on your behalf.

Henry's growing up!

First sign of Henry growing up.

Remember him here?

Sweet little Henry, taking a nap, in his adorable mittens. He had long nails, but they weren't hard enough to cut yet without getting skin, so he wore mittens for the first 3 weeks of his life. It was a sure sign that he was a newborn.

Now...

Mommy was finally able to file his nails down so he doesn't have to sport the mittens anymore. Anytime I read a blog about someones baby, they are always sad their baby is growing up, I couldn't be more excited. I love that he is growing, and doing new things. Jason and I can not wait for the toddler stage, as hard as we know it will be, we think it is going to be a lot of fun, too.

So farewell mittens! I shall pack you up for the next Powell boy.

This is our cute little stud muffin. Things are going much smoother and better these days, Thank goodness.

He didn't use to like binkies all that much, until we switched to the Nuk kind, and now he loves them. He also does SOOOOO well on the Nuk bottles. Life saver is an understatement.

-Names we call him, Henner, little dude, and the tyke.

-Now that his hands are free he has started to discover them and suck on them

-he loves bath time. You can't really tell since he doesn't smile yet, but his eyes get big and he stops crying if he was.

-he makes the cutest funniest faces.

-he loves his mom the most. ;)

-he will squeeze your finger with his toes, and its so adorable.

-he has blonde hair!! its kind of a dirty blonde, and when his face gets all red his hair gets sooo blonde! no one saw that coming.

-he loves play dates with his best friend Raegan.

-He loves snuggling with dad.

-he loves to be swaddled at night

-he is almost too long for new born jammies

-he loves car rides, falls asleep every single time

-he has the cutest scream lol.

-he loves when you have a conversation with him

well theres a little about Henry. We are doing really well, finally. The first few weeks were a bit rocky to say the least, but things are starting to fall into place and be wonderful. I love being Henry's mom. Life is starting to feel normal, and I am starting to feel like I can do other things during the day now, like errands or having friends over. Well thats it for now!!

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. :)