Such a boy...
Sunday, October 26, 2008
New Favorites... smiling, giraffe and holding on tight!
Henry has developed some new favorite things over the past few days...
Smiling - as if he knew he was a big boy last Thursday (our one month bday), Henry flashed a huge toothless grin back at Mommy. At the time, we were meeting all the ladies at Daddy's office. This ensured that there were witnesses, including Daddy. (If not for the witnesses, I would have been sure it was gas). Since then, smiling is our favorite activity in the mornings and after naps. We smile at Daddy, we smile at Mommy and we smile at the lamb that hangs from our bouncy chair. He alternates smiling with his very popular "o face" and sticking out his tongue. He totally mimics us, and we are totally impressed by this behavior! We have yet to catch a really great smile on film, but here are some of our latest attempts...
Not going to do it again...
okay... one more!
Giraffe - Henry has also taken to his giraffe from the Miller family in the last few days. We set it with him in his bouncy chair or on the ground and he hugs it, grabs it and throws it. Once it is thrown, he gets very upset and is only soothed by the prompt return of the giraffe to his grip. His grip... did I mention the kid has a grip? Henry will latch on to anything he can reach. Most notably is his hair. Now... as you can imagine, with a strong grip, this hurts! Henry rarely cries and almost never screams, but when he gets hold of his hair, he screams bloody murder. The worst part is that he will not let go, and we need the jaws of life to get his hair out of his giant baby fingers. He has yet to lose any of his perfectly spiked hair, but if he keeps this up, he will have a major bald spot on the back left side of his scalp. We swaddle at night, so this is not a problem, but nap time has been interrupted several times by the hair pulling, and playtime turns sour at least a few times a day. I have now started putting rattles and other things in his hands to keep them occupied, but this sometimes results with whacking in the head with said object. Hopefully he will learn that he is inflicting this pain on himself in the next few days and stop the behavior. Here are a few shots of a boy with his giraffe!
Smiling - as if he knew he was a big boy last Thursday (our one month bday), Henry flashed a huge toothless grin back at Mommy. At the time, we were meeting all the ladies at Daddy's office. This ensured that there were witnesses, including Daddy. (If not for the witnesses, I would have been sure it was gas). Since then, smiling is our favorite activity in the mornings and after naps. We smile at Daddy, we smile at Mommy and we smile at the lamb that hangs from our bouncy chair. He alternates smiling with his very popular "o face" and sticking out his tongue. He totally mimics us, and we are totally impressed by this behavior! We have yet to catch a really great smile on film, but here are some of our latest attempts...
Not going to do it again...
okay... one more!
Giraffe - Henry has also taken to his giraffe from the Miller family in the last few days. We set it with him in his bouncy chair or on the ground and he hugs it, grabs it and throws it. Once it is thrown, he gets very upset and is only soothed by the prompt return of the giraffe to his grip. His grip... did I mention the kid has a grip? Henry will latch on to anything he can reach. Most notably is his hair. Now... as you can imagine, with a strong grip, this hurts! Henry rarely cries and almost never screams, but when he gets hold of his hair, he screams bloody murder. The worst part is that he will not let go, and we need the jaws of life to get his hair out of his giant baby fingers. He has yet to lose any of his perfectly spiked hair, but if he keeps this up, he will have a major bald spot on the back left side of his scalp. We swaddle at night, so this is not a problem, but nap time has been interrupted several times by the hair pulling, and playtime turns sour at least a few times a day. I have now started putting rattles and other things in his hands to keep them occupied, but this sometimes results with whacking in the head with said object. Hopefully he will learn that he is inflicting this pain on himself in the next few days and stop the behavior. Here are a few shots of a boy with his giraffe!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
One Month
It is a little unreal that it has already been a month. At times, it feels as if Henry is still brand new, but most of the time it feels like he has been here forever. Henry is still a shockingly good baby. In the first 30 days of his life I do not think he has cried for more than 1 minute at a time. Don't get me wrong, he has had a few fussy hours, but there is always a reason for his "mood." He either is hungry, wet or in one instance was fussy after 4 days of travel. (That was a lot for a 3 week old baby). We know how lucky, blessed, fortunate, etc... that we are by our superbaby.
Now, notice that I prefaced the "we have a perfect baby" sentence with "in the first 30 days..." This is because we had our first public meltdown yesterday. Yesterday we took Henry to have his first professional pictures done. He cried the entire time. By the end, we were stuffing a bottle into his mouth, pulling it out to snap a shot and quickly reinserting said bottle to avoid his screams. No fear though, we still managed to get some amazing pictures. I promise to post the amazing ones when we get them back. Our superbaby returned the minute we walked out of the studio and into the waiting room. He remained alert, smiley and content for the next 30 minutes while we waited and picked out the shots of choice. Go figure!
Back to the last month. One month of waking up in the middle of the night and frantically checking to see if he is breathing. One month of diapers, bottles, pumping, feeding, diapers, bottles and diapers. One month of hours spent watching him watch the toys on his play mat, waiting for him to do something. (a superbaby spends hours content on his or her play mat kicking and swinging and "talking" to the toys, especially the sun rattle). One month of showing him off to family and friends, proudly. One month of waiting for the other shoe to drop, for him to show his true colors, the colors he flaunted while growing in my belly. One month of pictures, 257 saved on our camera alone. (notice, "saved," not taken). One month of kisses, snuggles, naps and hugs. One month of being amazed that we "made" him.
I think this is the point that most moms of one month old babies rave about how all the sleepless nights and exhausting days are totally worth it because their baby is so amazing. Well, because Henry has been so good, I really cannot complain about sleepless nights and exhausting days. Don't get me wrong, I am tired. This mom gig is a 24 hour a day job. Did I mention the bottles and diapers and diapers and pumping??? But, I have been very lucky to have very willing helpers (thank you especially to daddy and nana), and we have only had 2 nights with more than one wake-up. Again, I know how lucky we are...
Henry had his one month check up with Dr. Durham today. My little chubrock currently weighs 10 lbs, 12 oz (2 lbs, 12 oz more than his 1 week check up and 1 lb, 10 oz more than his birth weight). He is 22 inches long (1.5 inches longer than birth). These numbers put him in the 75th percentile for both height and weight... this means he is perfectly in proportion. Don't get too excited... there is the matter of his head. While his head has grown according to schedule, his head size is hovering around the 25th percentile at 14.5 inches. Unfortunately for Hank, it seems that he has inherited his daddy's peanut head. Daddy turned out okay, small head and all, so we are not concerned.
The last month has definitely been emotional, but it has been pretty awesome. We love having him in our lives, and are pretty sure we will keep him. :)
Here are some of the latest pics of Hank the Tank!
Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive this last month. I am now going to press the slow motion button on life because it is going way too fast. Enough blogging, I am going to go snuggle with my little man before he starts to walk and talk!
Now, notice that I prefaced the "we have a perfect baby" sentence with "in the first 30 days..." This is because we had our first public meltdown yesterday. Yesterday we took Henry to have his first professional pictures done. He cried the entire time. By the end, we were stuffing a bottle into his mouth, pulling it out to snap a shot and quickly reinserting said bottle to avoid his screams. No fear though, we still managed to get some amazing pictures. I promise to post the amazing ones when we get them back. Our superbaby returned the minute we walked out of the studio and into the waiting room. He remained alert, smiley and content for the next 30 minutes while we waited and picked out the shots of choice. Go figure!
Back to the last month. One month of waking up in the middle of the night and frantically checking to see if he is breathing. One month of diapers, bottles, pumping, feeding, diapers, bottles and diapers. One month of hours spent watching him watch the toys on his play mat, waiting for him to do something. (a superbaby spends hours content on his or her play mat kicking and swinging and "talking" to the toys, especially the sun rattle). One month of showing him off to family and friends, proudly. One month of waiting for the other shoe to drop, for him to show his true colors, the colors he flaunted while growing in my belly. One month of pictures, 257 saved on our camera alone. (notice, "saved," not taken). One month of kisses, snuggles, naps and hugs. One month of being amazed that we "made" him.
I think this is the point that most moms of one month old babies rave about how all the sleepless nights and exhausting days are totally worth it because their baby is so amazing. Well, because Henry has been so good, I really cannot complain about sleepless nights and exhausting days. Don't get me wrong, I am tired. This mom gig is a 24 hour a day job. Did I mention the bottles and diapers and diapers and pumping??? But, I have been very lucky to have very willing helpers (thank you especially to daddy and nana), and we have only had 2 nights with more than one wake-up. Again, I know how lucky we are...
Henry had his one month check up with Dr. Durham today. My little chubrock currently weighs 10 lbs, 12 oz (2 lbs, 12 oz more than his 1 week check up and 1 lb, 10 oz more than his birth weight). He is 22 inches long (1.5 inches longer than birth). These numbers put him in the 75th percentile for both height and weight... this means he is perfectly in proportion. Don't get too excited... there is the matter of his head. While his head has grown according to schedule, his head size is hovering around the 25th percentile at 14.5 inches. Unfortunately for Hank, it seems that he has inherited his daddy's peanut head. Daddy turned out okay, small head and all, so we are not concerned.
The last month has definitely been emotional, but it has been pretty awesome. We love having him in our lives, and are pretty sure we will keep him. :)
Here are some of the latest pics of Hank the Tank!
Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive this last month. I am now going to press the slow motion button on life because it is going way too fast. Enough blogging, I am going to go snuggle with my little man before he starts to walk and talk!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Biggest Little Sports Fan...
So, it has been a busy sports season for my little guy. We had big hopes for the Cubs, but they blew it. Football has been a bit more successful for our teams (Notre Dame, Illini and Bears), but it too has had a few rough patches over the last month. It is important that we teach Henry the importance of team loyalty early on. It is rough being a Cubs fan, but we stand behind them no matter what! (At least we try...)
Thursday, October 2, 2008
A week in the life of Henry Michael...
Henry Michael Toth made his debut on 9.23.08 at 8:02 a.m. He weighed in at 9 lbs, 2 oz. and was 21 inches long. Given his size and the fact that he was breech, we had a scheduled c-section. Much to Kevin's disappointment, there is no heroic rushing me to the hospital story to tell. However, there is the story of Kevin folding like a lawn chair during my surgery. I walked into the OR, took the spinal like a champ and was alert and ready the entire surgery. After I was "prepped" (and by prepped I mean gutted like a fish), the nurse escorted Kevin into the room, where he sat next to me and tried his best to be super supportive. He kept telling me not to listen to what the doctors were saying (i.e. "clamp this", "pull that")... I was fine with the conversation taking place; however, Kevin turned white and was rushed to the corner. Soon thereafter, he was escorted out of the room in a wheel chair and given some orange juice. Despite his momentary collapse, Kevin rallied and returned to meet his son just moments after his birth.
The first week has been pretty surreal. Henry (aka Hank to some) is a freakishly good baby. We were released on Friday, September 26, 2008 from the hospital in South Bend. Henry slept the entire hour drive home, and was so quiet that we felt the need to pull off at a toll plaza to make sure he was still breathing. This has been the theme of the last week. Henry sleeps all the time! He wakes up once a night, and usually I am waking him up to feed him because I am sure he is starving.
At his first check up on Monday, September 29, 2008, Henry was down to 8 lbs, so while I know waking a sleeping baby is never a good idea, the kid needs to eat. My mom (aka Nana) took us to the doctor because Dad had to work. Henry again slept the entire drive to South Bend, woke up and charmed the staff and the doctor, fell asleep on the walk back to the car and slept through a trip to Babies R Us, Target and the whole drive home. Amazing! I am sure at this point that second my mom leaves, he will instantly grow horns, pick up a pitchfork and turn into the devil child I was expecting to come out of me. (Pregnancy was rough, remember?).
We are enjoying this blissful baby in the meantime. Our first week was also quite busy... from entering the world, meeting so many people that love him, watching our first ND game and first Bears game, there has been a lot of excitement. Last night Nana, Dad and I even took Henry to Pikk's for table side guac and the Cub's game (we won't mention how terrible it was). Did I mention he slept through that too...not a peep the entire time we were at dinner.
Nana is leaving tomorrow, and we are not sure if we will survive without her. Dad is loving how clean she keeps the house, and I am loving the company. I suppose that Oly (my dad) and Uncle Bryce would like to have her back though.
I will try to keep you all updated. Here are some pictures to document the first week! Enjoy!
Love,
Paige
brand new...
with Uncle Bryce...
with Nana...
with Oly...
my "oh" face...
The first week has been pretty surreal. Henry (aka Hank to some) is a freakishly good baby. We were released on Friday, September 26, 2008 from the hospital in South Bend. Henry slept the entire hour drive home, and was so quiet that we felt the need to pull off at a toll plaza to make sure he was still breathing. This has been the theme of the last week. Henry sleeps all the time! He wakes up once a night, and usually I am waking him up to feed him because I am sure he is starving.
At his first check up on Monday, September 29, 2008, Henry was down to 8 lbs, so while I know waking a sleeping baby is never a good idea, the kid needs to eat. My mom (aka Nana) took us to the doctor because Dad had to work. Henry again slept the entire drive to South Bend, woke up and charmed the staff and the doctor, fell asleep on the walk back to the car and slept through a trip to Babies R Us, Target and the whole drive home. Amazing! I am sure at this point that second my mom leaves, he will instantly grow horns, pick up a pitchfork and turn into the devil child I was expecting to come out of me. (Pregnancy was rough, remember?).
We are enjoying this blissful baby in the meantime. Our first week was also quite busy... from entering the world, meeting so many people that love him, watching our first ND game and first Bears game, there has been a lot of excitement. Last night Nana, Dad and I even took Henry to Pikk's for table side guac and the Cub's game (we won't mention how terrible it was). Did I mention he slept through that too...not a peep the entire time we were at dinner.
Nana is leaving tomorrow, and we are not sure if we will survive without her. Dad is loving how clean she keeps the house, and I am loving the company. I suppose that Oly (my dad) and Uncle Bryce would like to have her back though.
I will try to keep you all updated. Here are some pictures to document the first week! Enjoy!
Love,
Paige
brand new...
with Uncle Bryce...
with Nana...
with Oly...
my "oh" face...
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