A Year Ago

On this day a year ago, Shaun and I went to our fertility clinic for our 4th IUI attempt.  I can still remember how I felt as we drove through all of the morning traffic to get to the clinic.  I was trying so incredibly hard to be relaxed, but I was a mess.  We were running late (you can't really rush the important part!) and so many thoughts were running through my head that all I knew to do was to hold on as tight as I could to that plastic cup.  After dropping off the sample, we had a nice breakfast together as we always did for our IUIs and then it was time to get back to the clinic.    

Here I am on the table waiting for "the guys" to travel looking so hopeful after Shaun prayed for a miracle (one of our many IUI traditions).

We prayed for a miracle, and a miracle did happen that day.  God created Henry.  And just a year later, I'm sitting here listening to him snooze in his swing.  I'm just amazed.

During the two week wait last year I wrote this:

Recently, I’ve been thinking about our happy ending. I know we are going to be parents. God has an amazing plan for our lives, and I have faith that He will give us children. And when that day comes, when we finally hold our baby in our arms, I know we will look back in amazement at how He has provided. If I tried to write my fairy tale story now, it would not even begin to compare to the story my Heavenly Father has written for me.



For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

It hurt to write those words last year.  As hopeful as I sounded, I was drowning in a sea of doubt.  I was desperately trying to cling to God's promises but even as I wrote that post I struggled to believe what I was typing.  But now I do look back in amazement at the story God has written for us.  And it is definitely way better than I ever could have written. 

Oh Poop!

Henry is breastfed exclusively, and we are constantly dealing with blow out mustard (yuck!) diapers.  When I hear him start, I immediately grab a receiving blanket to wrap around him to try to avoid getting the poop on me (mostly unsuccessful) and probably 95% of the time some of it gets on his clothes.  We have a big celebration at the changing table on the rare occasions that it actually stays in his diaper.  Those poop stains are tough to get out of clothes!  I immediately rinse the poop off of his clothes in the sink, and I even use my hands to try to get all of the poop off (I know....gross!).  Sometimes the oxiclean stain remover spray works...sometimes it doesn't.  I just got the powder version that I'm going to try to use immediately after a poop in a bucket of water in the tub.  Should I use cold or hot??  Come on girls...I know y'all have some tips.  Pass them on!

Also, wanted to add to Henry's 3 month post that Mr. Henry has now found his feet and his hands.  I wasn't sure when I wrote the post if he found his hands or not, but I now know for sure he has because he grabs my hair every time I pick him up (I LOVE this), and he uses his hands a lot during nursing now.  A couple days ago, he found his feet.  Now whenever I help him sit on my lap, he looks down at his feet with a confused look on his face and grabs his feet.  He also is rubbing his feet together.  Last night, I was brushing my teeth, and Shaun was holding Henry, and I could hear Shaun trying to tell me something, but I had no idea what he was saying because the water was running.  When I came to see what all the fuss was about, Shaun was so excited because Henry was playing with his feet for "forever."  So cute!

It seems that all of these recent discoveries have made Henry less interested in eating.  He would much rather kick, talk, look around.  It kinda makes me nervous because he is eating so quickly that I can hardly believe he is getting enough.  And he is spitting up SO much more.  I had my daily call to his nurse yesterday, but their suggestion was pumping with rice cereal.  And I don't want to do that!  I keep trying to put him to the boob, and he will eat for a little, but then he pulls off and talks.  I had him weighed yesterday, and he gained 10 ounces in 2 weeks, which they said was just fine for three months.  Any advice on this as well??!

3 Months!

I'm going to try not to say this at the beginning of every Henry update, but time is flying!  I can't believe my sweet boy is already 3 months old!  My love grows deeper and deeper for him every day.  I thought I already loved him as much as possible when he was placed on my chest three months ago.  But right now as I type this post, he is snuggled up next to me snoring, and it is hard to put in words how much I love him.  Henry is already such a little boy!  He woke up on Saturday morning (which was officially three months), and he discovered somehow in his dreams the night before that he could make really loud noises.  I brought him into bed with us, and he started out just talking and then all of a sudden...he started making squeals and loud noises and was obviously entertained by himself.  Shaun and I kept looking at each other and cracking up.  It was such a special moment for me.  While we were going through treatments, I would sometimes daydream about Shaun and me cuddling and talking to our baby in our bed on a Saturday morning.  And there we were...enjoying our Mr. Adorable, and it was even better than I dreamed.

Some fun facts about Henry at 3 Months:

• Henry LOVES to watch me brush my teeth.  I discovered this one day when I got out of the shower, and he was crying.  I was in a hurry to get ready so I started to brush my teeth and ran across the house to check on Henry.  He immediately went from crying to smiling.  I thought it was just a coincidence, but it has worked without fail numerous times.  It cracks him up!  I'm not sure if it is the fact that Mommy has white foam coming out of her mouth or the sound or movement, but he loves it.
• Henry is a very happy baby.  After he eats, we always have awake time, and he is all smiles.  As I've mentioned before he has several different smiles, but my favorite is his crooked grin.  And those dimples!!  
• About an hour and fifteen minutes into awake time (almost to the second)--he is done, and it is time for a nap!  But Mr. Henry doesn't like naps, and he definitely fights them.  I'm sure there will be a post about that soon :)
• Henry loves his daddy.  They've had some great bonding time over the last two weeks, and I love watching them together.  When I got home from a baby shower this weekend, Henry was propped up in a boppy pillow sitting on the couch with his hand on Shaun looking at the computer with him.  Henry looked so old...it was hilarious!  Shaun has also started giving Henry airplane rides all of the time, and Henry loves it!  I need to get a video of that soon.
• Kick, kick, kick!  Henry enjoys kicking so much.  He kicks every chance he gets! 

      

Healthy! (knock on wood)

We took Henry to the dr on Friday since he develped a fever after I had the flu.  I did not like this doctor at all (our usual ped was off on Friday).  I felt like I had to pull information out of her, and she didn't seem to know what she was doing.  Henry's swine flu test came back negative, but she said we could give him tamiflu, but she wasn't sure what to do.  Apparently they have authorized some emergency dosages of tamiflu for babies as young as 3 months.  I did not feel comfortable at all giving him tamiflu because from what I have read they typically don't give it to babies younger than a year old.  I just felt like she wasn't researched or confident at all.  We absolutely adore our ped so maybe I was just comparing her to him.  The good news is though that Henry's fever was gone yesterday, and he seems to be doing great!  Thank you for all of your prayers of protection over our sweet little guy.  I was going to be a disaster if he had it because I know how bad I felt.

Henry is such a little character already.  We just got out this baby einstein play tunnel out for him (got it as a baby present), and he adores it!  He kicks so hard and just looks around at all of the toys and pictures.  Shaun calls it his "man cave" lol.  He loves his daddy and especially enjoys when his dad plays the guitar for him.  Henry has several different smiles, but my favorite is when he smiles and turns his head like he is being shy.  It is precious!!  We have enjoyed being stuck at the house all together for five days.  We really needed this down time.  I hope to post some new pics and video soon so stay tuned!