Avocados!



We decided to go the non-traditional route for Henry's introduction to solid foods by skipping cereals for now and starting with avocados. Creamy, delicious, super nutritious...what a great choice!

 

Don't you agree, Hen?



 

"Wait...I'm not sure about this"

 

 

"WTF??"

 

 

"Are you TRYING TO KILL ME??"

Things I pray for

The Pioneer Woman (who I love and adore) recently wrote a post wondering what kind of man her son will grow to be. She inspired me to share with you something similar. The list of things I pray over my son (mostly, while I'm nursing him because it's a sweet time that we are both still and quiet).

I pray that he will be:

honest
grateful
courageous
humble
kind
faithful
smart
patient
thoughtful
athletic
healthy
curious
witty
compassionate

That he will:

stand up for himself
be a good husband and father
love his mother
be respectful
never hit back
go to university
find activities/a career that fufill him
be kind to others
not desire to play football
be confident in his abilities
be an individual
ask questions
read, read, read
pick up after himself
be independent

Being his mother and his first teacher seem like a mighty task so I also pray constantly for the wisdom and grace to teach him all those things, and many more. God is faithful.

Who knew you could love a little person so much?

I'm not a baby person. I wasn't before Henry was born, and I'm still not. I will politely admire your baby, but I will probably not wrestle her out of your hands and coo over her for hours. I'm just not all that interested in babies. Babies. Plural. Maybe I should say I'm not an "any" baby person.

Because Oh. My. God.

This baby?

This baby is different. This baby is nothing short of miraculous, wonderful, beautiful and perfect.

Your baby is cute. But my baby? My baby is divine.

Peter teases me because at every milestone or month birthday I say the same thing.

"Don't you just wish he would stay exactly this age forever?"

When he was tiny and fit up on my shoulder and would pull his little feet in, stick his butt out and fall asleep. Ohhhh...stay this age forever.

When he was a little bigger and we got the first toothless grins...Ok, this age.

Now that he's rolling over, so proud of himself, reaching for and biting everything, learning to sit up and laughing at tickles and at Bella. Alright...this is the age I would keep.

Motherhood is so joyful but also a little bit tragic because of this exact thing...it's the growing up that hurts a mama's heart! Each moment is so precious and they're just passing so quickly!

And yet, while its a little sad to see those little moments go, the joy of what's around the corner is so exciting.

Mom? Can we be done with pictures?

Photo Shoot

We recently hired a wonderful photographer (seriously, cannot say enough good things about Amanda) to take some "newborn" photos of Henry. So he was actually 6 weeks old in the photos, but I do not love actual newborn photos of skinny little babies stuck in pots and the like. We wanted Hen to be a little more sturdy for the shoot, so we waited a bit for him to grow. I love, love, LOVE the photos. I am dilly dallying with the ordering of prints because I cannot make up my mind about what to order! One of each? Yes, please.

1 Month Old

My little man is one month old today!

I really cannot believe how quickly this first month has passed (especially considering how little of it I spent sleeping!). Henry grows and changes every day, we love watching him think and learn about his new world. It's been a busy month for him, he has met both sets of grandparents and all his uncles and his aunt as well as lots of friends. 

He weighs 10 lbs and 8 oz (or he did last week at the doctor's office - probably more now). So he is a big boy! He loves to hold his head up and can hold it up for a long time. He loves to watch the ceiling fan (which, incidentally, is why he is not looking at the camera in any of the 1 month photos I took, Mama just cannot compete with that fan!). He has started sleeping pretty well at night, about 4 hours before the first feeding and then 3ish after that. He has been on lots of little field trips with me - to Target, Babies R Us and HEB, and he likes to ride in the car and in the shopping cart - or at least he falls asleep in them, which is great.

He also went to church for the first time on Easter, though he did not enjoy it very much. He hung out during the worship, but starting fussing the very second the paster got up to speak. So he and I hung out in the foyer for the rest of the service.

 And this is our attempt at our first family photo on Easter morning. As you can see, it did not go well. But it's funny to look back at...Hank is screaming, I have spit up all over me, Peter kept having to reset the self-timer on the camera (which was perched perilously on a stack of cookbooks) and run into the picture. I love that an off-center, baby screaming, head cut off picture was the best we could do. Good times.

And in case you're wondering how Bella is taking the new arrival in her world...this is how she feels about it. Look at that little face...

She tolerates Hank very well. Even comes to check on him when he is crying. But I think she feels a little abandoned and very needy. She has always followed me around, but her invisible tether has gotten somewhat shorter and she is usually never more than about 6 inches from me now. Literally under my chair, laying on my feet, squeezed between the big chair and the ottoman. I think she's reminding me that she is, in fact, still my "firstborn." Sweet puppy.

There's a new man in my life

Introducing our son, Henry George Mathew.

Also known as Hank the Tank.

Born March 12 at 7:44 am, 8 lbs 10 oz, 20.5 inches long.

Yes, he is a big boy.

39 weeks