Christmas #2

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my parents and the Widholms at their house this year. We had a great time and Henry got to dress up as a teeny elf with his cousins. He tolerated it for a couple of minutes so we could get the shot!

Here's Henry at our house hugging his stocking present.

Christmas #1

We celebrated Christmas today with Matt's parents and brother Jon. I've been in such a bubble it was so fun to start Christmas early! They came to our house and this afternoon my parents and Julie and her family all stopped by. It was so fun having everyone at our house, we had our Charlie Brown Christmas record playing and a fake fireplace from netflix on our tv. Very festive!

1 month stats

Henry got a great report at his 1 month visit with the pediatrician. He gained a little over a pound since his 2 week appt and was 9lbs, .5oz. He also grew an inch and was 22.5 inches long. No wonder he sleeps so much! It's amazing to think how much he's changed already. He's getting more hair on the back of his head but his hairline is receding so he really looks like an old man:)

1 month!

We have Henry's 1 month check up tomorrow so I'll check back in with stats, for now here are a couple of the many faces of Henry Knox.

Grandma power

Henry is a very lucky boy to have all four grandparents around who already adore him. But I have to give special props to both of our Moms who have been so available during these first few weeks of life with Henry. Whether it's holding the baby, cooking, cleaning, going to Trader Joe's or Target, or watching the baby so Matt and I can be alone for an hour or two, they have been eager to help.
Words can't express how grateful we are. Thank you Grandmas!

Cousins

Here's a photo of Henry meeting his cousins, Maya and Miles, when he was 5 days old! They were so cute and excited to hold him. When Henry's a little older, he's gonna think these two are the coolest:)

2 week update

Henry had his 2 week appointment yesterday. Here he is waiting patiently for the doctor. I was anxious to see what his weight was. I know when you breastfeed, it's one of the few ways of knowing if your baby is getting enough food. He gained a pound since his last weigh-in at 4 days old! He is now 7lbs 15oz. He also grew an inch and a half so he is 21.5 inches long. Everything is looking great and all systems are a go!

These first two weeks have been a whirlwind- the sleep deprivation is really as intense as everyone says. But, also like everyone says, it gets easier everyday. I'm still trying to find some time to write out Henry's birth story before I forget everything. Luckily Julie and Matt were texting friends and family throughout the whole thing so I've go their logs to jog my memory:)

Things Henry does that we love:
Looking like a drunk old man after he eats
Stretching and being really sleepy all the time
Kicking his arms and legs furiously when he gets his diaper changed or is upset about something
Snorting like a pig when upset or wanting to eat
Looking really alert and wrinkling his forehead trying to make his eyes big
Furrowing his brow

Grateful

Much more to come!
Happiest of Thanksgivings...

37 weeks

19 more days until my due date- woah! I'm definitely starting to slow down. I have weekly appointments now so I'm looking forward to my next one tomorrow!

The Little Prince - excerpt

Here is the excerpt from The Little Prince that Beth read at our shower. Enjoy!

It was then that the fox appeared.

"Good morning," said the fox.

"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.

"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."

"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."

"I am a fox," said the fox.

"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."

"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."

"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince.

But, after some thought, he added:

"What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"

"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?"

"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties."

"'To establish ties'?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."

"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."

"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."

"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince.

The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.

"On another planet?"

"Yes."

"Are there hunters on this planet?"

"No."

"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"

"No."

"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.

But he came back to his idea.

"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."

The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.

"Please-- tame me!" he said.

"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."

"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me..."

"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.

"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me-- like that-- in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day..."

The next day the little prince came back.

"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."

"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.

"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."

So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--

"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."

"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"Then it has done you no good at all!"

"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields."

And then he added:

"Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."

The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.

"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world."

And the roses were very much embarrassed.

"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you-- the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or ever sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.

And he went back to meet the fox.

"Goodbye," he said.

"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."

"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.

"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."

"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

Baby Shower #2

We were lucky enough to have another baby shower, hosted by Matt's mom and her friend Lorrie this past Sunday. Matt came along and we were both so overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity of their friends. The theme of the day was The Little Prince and Beth did an amazing reading from the book that was so sweet. I'll include more about that in a separate post.
For now, here are some photos:

Table with photos of Matt's grandparents, his baby book, some of his baby clothes and pictures of him wearing them!

Lorrie's beautiful garden

Beth reading from The Little Prince

A lovely shower

A couple of weeks ago we had a wonderful time at our shower hosted by my sister and mom. It was a co-ed affair which was great. It felt more like we were hanging out with our friends and family for the afternoon and not a formal event. Here are some photos from the party. Everything was so perfect, from all of the children's books everywhere to the food, drink and decor. We are so lucky to have such amazing family and friends who are supporting us during this milestone.
Matt's mom is hosting another shower for us this weekend with her friend Lorrie. I'm looking forward to continuing the celebration, not just for us, but also for Matt's parents who will be first-time grandparents!

36 Days to go!

I'm almost done with my 35th week, there are 36 days left until my due date. I know there's a very small chance that I'll actually go into labor on my due date but it's still exciting that we are getting close.

I had another checkup last week and the midwife thought the baby was head down (he's been butt down for awhile) so she decided to get their portable ultrasound machine to confirm. Catherine joined me for this appointment so it was extra exciting that she got to see our baby on the screen. And the midwife was correct, the baby has gotten into position! The day before my appointment, my normally very round stomach briefly turned into a rectangle so I figured the baby was on the move:)

Ultrasound/check up

We had another check up last week with an ultrasound this time! They wanted to check the baby's growth since the two fibroids I have were making my belly measure big. Matt came with me and it was so fun to get a glimpse at our baby again. He is measuring in the 73 percentile for growth which is great, about 4lbs, 10 oz they estimate. They checked a lot of different things but all looks good.
Here are some photos- he was butt down with his feet up by his head and both arms wrapped around his head, all scrunched up so kinda hard to get the clearest of photos. Our scanner is also being weird so I took these with my phone. At least it's something!

Getting crafty

I just finished our new family portrait! Been feeling crafty lately and I saw some more modern cross stitch templates so I decided to give it a go. I haven't embroidered anything since I was about 7 or 8 but it was fun. I tried to customize it so it sort of looks like Matt and I. My favorite part is Matt holding the baby in a baby carrier-too funny!

My creative niece

A couple of weeks ago, the Widholms came over to our house for a visit and Maya saw a shower gift we got from one of our friends which included an adorable lion rattle. A little later we were all downstairs and she wanted to draw to I gave her some paper and colored pencils and she proceeded to recreate the rattle she had briefly seen:

How adorable is that? I am so impressed with her skills, especially for a first grader! I'm sorry my phone cut off her flourishes by her signature:)

32 Weeks- the countdown begins!

Last Friday was September 21st and our due date is November 21st-yikes! I can't believe we only have 8 weeks until the due date. Of course he could come well before or after that date but it's still crazy to think about.

We are almost done rearranging our apartment to make room for baby and just in time because gear is starting to arrive! The car seat arrived last week and the crib should come tomorrow. Seeing both of those items in our house is really hitting home the fact that we will have a baby soon.

We took a breastfeeding workshop last week which was really informative. I just signed us up for workshops on Infant CPR and labor comfort measures which I'm looking forward to as well. I know there's only so much "preparing" we can do for this monumental change in our lives but it's somewhat reassuring getting some more information.

We have another midwife appointment this Friday and we're having another ultrasound done- can't wait to see what our baby looks like these days! I will of course post any photos we get:)
The baby is really moving around in my belly, I'm hoping to capture it on video soon. The movements are getting more intense and bizarre. Matt and I got to feel him have hiccups last week which was really cool.

Here a couple of me at 32 weeks- belly's getting bigger every week!

31 weeks

Matt and I went to an Obama fundraiser at an event space where our friend works last week. We had a great time in the beautiful Greenhouse Loft space. Steve Ewert, one of the owners, was taking photos of the guests so we took advantage of it. I've been taking photos of myself throughout this pregnancy so this is a rare photo with both Matt and I in the frame!

30 weeks!

This past weekend was really lovely in Chicago, our friends Tom and Jeannine got married on Saturday in Oak Park and we got to see lots of friends we haven't seen in awhile. Even though we left on the early side, we were both exhausted on Sunday from all the talking, standing, dancing, etc.
We had an early brunch with the Widholms for Tim's birthday at Longman & Eagle and then hung out at our house and visited. Later on, Matt and I went for a walk to go get some tacos and stopped by our neighborhood bar so Matt could have a beer and we took some photo booth photos of Matt and the bump.

West Point gear

Julie and her family went on a road trip to upstate New York over Labor Day weekend so they made a quick trip to West Point and picked this up for our baby! My Dad will be so happy:) Our baby will be able to represent during the Army/Navy game this year when he'll be all of 2 weeks old (if he's on time).
Thanks Julie, Tim, Maya and Miles!