August 2009 Archives

Mijung & Jaynie stopped by to meet "The Henry" on Mijung's day off from work.

Henry has a bit of infant acne (not as bad as Sarah's was, I don't think) so we will wait to do portraits with Anita for another little while in hopes that it will clear up a bit.

The girls schools were delayed one week due to the Swine Flu but today the Playschool had the kids come in to meet the teachers and other students. Sarah got to meet three of her teachers and went to play with one of them when she asked. Anna went with Sarah & her teacher (Sandra) but came running back to me and said in a worried tone, "mommy, Sarah's talking to her teacher!" Anna totally reverted to her super-shy self while we were at school so I thought maybe it was a good idea to walk over to OIS and see if we could take a sneak-peek at her classroom and meet her teacher, too (thanks to Jacki for the idea!). I'm glad we did but I forgot my camera which I think would have been nice to look at the pictures this week. Anna didn't talk to her new Wombats teacher but I have hope that maybe she'll do it this year since she has gotten a lot more self-confident over the summer it seems.

Sarah got the pillow balance-board idea and didn't care any more that she wasn't the one playing the game.

Henry really likes getting baths!

Sarah was dragging "Jacques" around like he was Bernie in Weekend at Bernie's.

One of the worst things about a blog is coming up with entry titles. At any rate: here the girls are having a blast in the terrace pool while Anita gets sun exposure to help with the jet lag.

I had to take Henry in for a vaccination today so I have some updated information on him & Anna (Sarah refused to stand on the device that measures height & weight so we can't compare her info). Henry screamed for one half second when he got his shot and then fell back asleep when I picked him up. Anna & Sarah actually ended up taking Anita over to Prince Coffee because the wait was so long at the pediatrician today. That worked out well for everyone (coffee for jet-lagged Anita and less exposure to sick-kid germs for Anna & Sarah!).

Henry weighs 5.7kg and is 58cm
(12 pounds 10 oz and 23 inches)

Anna weighs 16.6kg and 106.1cm
(36 pounds 10 oz 42 inches)

Anita missed her connection in Tokyo last night and didn't make it to our house until bedtime tonight. She got to hold Henry a bit, give Sarah a goodnight kiss, and read Anna a story so she made it just in time!

These pictures remind me a lot of Anna around the same age.

Henry is starting to observe a bit more while he's awake but he doesn't like to be awake for long. I asked the girls if I could take their picture today but they refused and then continued to run around like crazy (pretending to be Nala from the Lion King).

Henry is one month old today! It has flown by to say the least... Today I got to hear a few little social squeaks in addition to the more usual grunting or complaining coming from him. Of course it was adorable and once he starts "talking" a bit more I'll make a video to share.

Henry still has a hard time staying awake throughout the day but now he's also having times where he's having a hard time falling asleep! His awake-time is getting slightly more social but his favorite thing to do is to look out the big window in our family room.

Anna & Sarah are still charmed by Henry.

Henry's first trip to Prince Coffee.

Henry's first family hike.

I don't know what Anna's goal was here, but she was happy with the result.

Henry at 4 weeks.

Anna at 3 weeks.

I guess I've changed the size of my thumbnails as the years progressed as well!

This is what Henry looked like most of today.

Henry is four weeks old today and he has been FUSSY since about 2 AM this morning. He has set my expectations way too high for this! His routine lately has been to eat every 2-3 hours during the day and then go to bed around 7 PM, eat at 12 AM, 3 AM, and 6/7 AM. And going right back to bed easily after his night-time feedings. Last night was different. He was fussy and ate every two hours after midnight and didn't nap well today (I had to use the sling twice today and I only had to use it one other time this week). I really hope this was just a one-day thing but I can't think of anything that I may have eaten to cause this... Here's hoping we get our regularly scheduled Henry back tomorrow!

He is outgrowing some of his 0-3 month clothes already. I washed his 3-6 month clothes to have ready and put away some of the smaller ones. He goes in for a vaccination next week but I weighed him between 12-13 pounds on our home scale this week. I'll update with a more accurate weight after his appointment next week.

Ahhhhhh!

Anna & Sarah love to set up the Gymini and the bouncy seat for Henry with lots of stuff to look at.

Henry is doing a good job lifting and turning his head!

We survived the first two days without my mom. Craig worked a half-day yesterday and then came home for a long lunch today. The girls have watched a bit more TV than I would normally prefer but we are working our way through it!

Thanks, mom, for everything you did for us while you were here the last four weeks!

I let the girls have the bottom of the background paper. Anna wanted me to trace her and then she decorated her paper self.

I'm not sure how Craig claims he's tired. Henry has been so easy at night, Craig hasn't had to do anything at night after the second night home from the hospital.

Henry still occasionally can't wake up when he is "supposed" to be up.

Three weeks!

Henry is getting stronger every day. This past week he has started turning his head when we put him on his tummy (he seems to enjoy tummy-time) and also trying to hold his head up when he is being held up-right. He is more alert when he is awake but not really interested in anything particular (Craig found he did like a pink Barbie cat-purse the other day, however). His newborn sleepiness is wearing off a bit but he really has been the easiest baby so far so I can't complain, really, about anything he's been up to so far! This week he started to look really big in the pack n' play and I think he has just started to stretch himself out of the newborn scrunched-up phase.

He is still getting along well with his big sisters. This week was the first time we've had all three kids in my Tucson and Anna was so excited to finally have Henry next to her in the car! I knew I chose well to put Anna in the middle when Henry started fussing on the way home from the Fishing Museum on Wednesday. Just as he started to cry, I looked back in the mirror and Anna had popped Henry's pacifier into his mouth and was holding his hand.

Modeling his cloth diaper on the play blanket my mom made for him.

Anna & Sarah both wanted to read their books to Henry.

Henry is two weeks old today! He is still Mr. Wonderful in the night and he is definitely setting high expectations in the sleep department. He is more alert now during his wakeful times of the day and seems to enjoy tummy time. He practiced lifting his head up off the floor and turning it a few times today which was exciting for everyone to see since it's really the only thing he "does" so far.

I also decided to start using his cloth diapers today since I'm almost out of the newborn size diapers I bought last week and I'd rather not keep buying more. They are super bulky on him because they are one-size diapers. Sarah started cloth at 15 months and I never used the smaller settings so bulk didn't seem so extreme on her. I wonder how long it will take to get used to the bulkiness?

I weighed Henry on our home scaled and it said he is eleven pounds. He is getting more efficient at nursing (only taking ten minutes now) so we're not spending so much time doing that and he gets more time to play and stretch during his wake-time. I'm so glad my mom is here and that Craig has had time off so that by the time I'm on my own with the three kids he will hopefully be even more predictable and our days will run relatively smoothly. Craig is planning to work half-days the week between my mom & his mom's visit so we'll see how it goes then!

Henry seemed to like his first bath tonight. I was so glad to finally give him a decent cleaning now that his cord is off.

The kids did an even better job on the drive back from Seoul today. We made one less stop as well. There was slightly less traffic so it was a bit less time in the car, too.

Photos by Craig Waiting in line. Thankfully we got there right when it opened so we didn't have to wait long.

Sarah was a bit of a grump once we got to the top of the tower. She was hot, tired, and hungry. I guess I'd be a bit of a grump, too! She took a nice nap once we got back to the hotel this afternoon.

Nice drawer, Henry!

Outback Steakhouse.

Craig, Henry, & I went to the US Embassy this morning to apply for Henry's passport and to get our wills notarized. The Embassy here is much smaller than the one in Doha (but maybe the one in Doha was just "grand" as was everything there?). We were done with everything in about an hour and it wasn't too big of a deal. Now, we wait for Henry's passport and then we have to get his Alien card right away once we have it. I am also really happy to have our wills taken care of. Now let's hope we don't need them.

Craig & my mom took the girls to the hotel pool this afternoon and then we all went out to Outback for dinner. You can see in the picture above that Henry was happy to just sleep on the bench at the restaurant even while his big sister Sarah was throwing fits (in the picture above she is yelling that she didn't want me to take a picture). We're hoping she's getting her two-year molars but it's probably a lack of naps, being two years old, and all of the changes that are getting us a lot of nice tantrums from Sarah lately.

We got a minivan for our trip to Seoul this week and the girls were excited to sit in the "way back." Henry lost his cord stump between rest stops on the drive up (yay!) and he slept so much in the car that I'm worried he won't sleep well tonight... especially since he is sleeping in a drawer. We asked for a baby crib when we made our hotel reservation but apparently that didn't matter to the hotel! Luckily we brought the Pack n' Play for Sarah or we'd be in all sorts of bed-time trouble. The kids really did pretty well on the drive up probably partly because we stopped every two hours or so so Henry could eat (and the girls were able to check out rest-stop playgrounds, etc.).

Finally we had a day with enough sun to somewhat heat up the big pool today. We have had significantly less rain since my mom arrived but it has not been the sunny summer I was imagining with us at the pool every day.

Anna told me last night that she really wanted to hold Henry so I told her she could do it in the morning (she was on her way to bed at the time and Henry was nursing). She was so pleased with him and so excited to hold him it was super sweet to see.

Henry & I had our one-week follow-up appointments this morning. Both the pediatrician and the OB were crazy busy because of the holiday next week (not really a "holiday" but the vacation week at least for the shipyard here, and apparently other businesses, too). Craig took the girls on a hike and my mom & I took Henry to the appointments. Henry had to get his BCG vaccine which I was dreading but it was so much better than the ones Anna & Sarah got maybe because he is newborn and they were older (Anna was 2 years, Sarah was 4 months)? Anyway, it was not a big deal and he basically slept through it. He did get weighed but it was with his clothes and diapers on (as will the rest of his weigh-ins) so it probably seems as if he's gained more than he has because of it. He weighed 4.54 kg (up .34 kg from last week (naked, at birth)). That is 10lbs (12 oz more than birth so I'm sure it wasn't all clothing and his diaper!). We will have to measure his length and head circumference at home since they apparently don't track this in Korea (?!). I'll try to update this post tomorrow with those numbers.