Temple Square!

Henry and I took a trip down to SLC a few weeks ago.  It was his first time!

We had lunch with daddy and walked around Temple Square.  It was so gorgeous!  This is my favorite time of year to visit Temple Square.  The trees were in bloom and the tulips were all blossomed!

Henry was not conscious for any of it.

Henry James Howe: Month Two

My little man is two months already! 

Time move MUCH faster with him on the outside.

This last month has been so much fun! He's been just as snuggly as before (yay!) But now he interacts a lot more. He is so smiley.  He is a morning person and definitely did not get it from me. I always try to make him sleep longer than he wants and sometimes roll out of bed begrudgingly but he always flashes me a huge smile and suddenly I don't mind so much. 

He's very much the opposite around bedtime. 

Come 8:30-9 and he is NOT happy. We swaddle and "shush" him nightly. He's technically considered "colicky" which I find so odd. I always thought a colicky baby was unhappy round the clock, not just at one particular time every day. He's really quite happy the rest of the time.

He really like to try to stand. We hold his hands up and he gets an intense look on his face as he wobbles about on his legs.

He has started grabbing my hair.  I read am article about hair tourniquets and I'm super paranoid about them.  His little fingers and toes are checked constantly for stray hairs wrapped around them.

He's a little social bug (he gets that from mom).  He loves to go places and smile at people.

Bath time is still his all-time favorite. I think we're going to have a little fishy once he's old enough to swim.

He wiggles CONSTANTLY. Even during his sleep, another reason why we swaddle him. I just know that once he's mobile, he's going to be a handful. He's never going to stop moving. 

He's started cooing and it's my favorite. I'm one of those sappy mom's that can get teary-eyed when he makes an especially cute noise, which he does. Daily. It's a cry fest over here.

I gotta say, parenthood scared me tremendously, but now that he's here I feel like I want 12 more (I'm sure I'll feel differently when he learns to talk back). 

First blowout 

Wide awake during nap time. 

"Peace out"

Happy Easter!

We sure loved our first Easter with little Henry!

I love that Easter and conference fell on the same day this year.  It's a really good way to focus on what Easter is truly about.

We started the day off by going to Steve's mom's for homemade cinnamon rolls.  She makes them every year and they are muy delicioso (insert "thumbs up" emoticon).  We watched the first session of conference with her and a couple of Steve's siblings.  

We came home and watched the second session and afterwards we went to my brother's house for Easter dinner.  It was really nice.  We took Penny and she was beside herself with joy.

All in all it was a really nice, relaxing day.

Henry James Howe: Month One

I can't believe my little guy is 1 month old already! Gah! Slow down, time!
In the last month he has become more alert.  He likes to focus on faces, windows, and Penny or just stare into the abyss.
Lately he has started eating ALL the time and is officially out of newborn clothes (I only cried a little).
He's gotten used to the camera always being in his face and we've already caught some pretty awesome faces.   I feel like he has such a big personality just waiting to pop out.
He's very laid back and is content doing anything which is nice when I feel the urge to do something semi-productive... but let's be honest.  I usually feel the urge to sit and hold him... and I usually give in to that urge.  He's only little once and I only have so long before I go back to work.  We're soaking in every moment we possibly can.
He hasn't lost any of his hair and we all joke that it's because he's never set down so it never rubs against anything.  Seriously, the kid is always being held.  Between my family and Steve's, we have a lot of visitors.
Little Henry is a fairly good sleeper.  He usually wakes up, eats, and will go right back to sleep.  Mom is still trying to get used to never sleeping longer than 2-3 hours at a time but doesn't mind too much, especially since Henry is usually such a happy baby.
He loves car rides and will fall asleep every time within a matter of seconds, even if Penny sits next to him and barks (dang dog!).
He still loves to keep his hands by his ears but also likes to be swaddled.
He's so strong and can hold his head up for as long as he wants to.  He's also got some pretty solid tummy muscles when he tenses up.
Now enjoy my ridiculously large collection of photos from Henry's first month.

Flashback: Babymoon

Steve and I decided that we wanted to take a nice vacation before the baby came.  With work schedules, Thanksgiving week worked best, then we'd only have to take 3 days off work rather than a full week.  I looked all over the internet for a great deal on a fun vacation, and realized our timing was quite poor.  Thanksgiving week is a very expensive traveling week, so air travel was out.

Enter our California road trip!

We visited San Francisco, Discovery Bay, and Carmel with a stop at the Salt Flats on the way out there.  

Carmel was amazing, easily my favorite stop on the trip.  It was sooo dog friendly.  One day we'll make it back out there with Henry and Penny.  Carmel was such a quaint little town, it's made up of such cute little shops.

Our adorable Inn in Carmel

Henry James Howe: The Birth

Wow time flies when you have a newborn.  He's already 3 weeks old! It feels like just yesterday I was sitting in the hospital waiting to meet him.

I had a few health problems during my pregnancy, nothing too major, but my doctor felt it would be best to induce at 39 weeks and I was more than okay with that. I was surprised I made it that long, to be honest.  I had been contracting a lot for about a week and a half leading up to it.  Stephen and I went into the hospital Tuesday, February 24th around 9 pm.  We got settled into a room to spend the night and my nurse gave me some medicine that was supposed to help my cervix soften and spread.  She came back in a few hours later to check me and decided to give me another dose for safe measure.  Around 4;30 I started contracting pretty regularly.  At 7 they gave me pitocin and decided to break my water and attach a monitor directly to the baby's head and to my uterus since the monitor I was hooked up to kept losing his heart rate and wasn't picking up my contractions. 

The OB came in to break my water and was surprised at how easily it broke, he didn't have to use any tools.  Things got moving pretty quickly once my water broke.  Suddenly my contractions became pretty intense and moved from the front to my back.  They lasted about 90 seconds each and were only 60-90 seconds apart.  Let me tell you, back labor is no walk in the park.  Side story, before we went in I had told Steve that I wanted to wait a while before getting an epidural because I wanted to experience labor and see how tough I was... Long story short, I was not tough.  After about 10 minutes of back labor I was close to tears and was more than ready for an epidural.  The anesthesiologist came in quickly and got me all set up.  Bless you, you wonderful, wonderful man.  After I was all numbed up, things were pretty easy (aside from some pretty intense nausea).  My nurse came in and turned off my pitocin because my contractions were too strong and too close together (she should have done that before the epidural... maybe I could have lasted longer). Around 2 pm the nurse came to check me and found that I was a 10 and was ready to push!  We decided to do something called "rest and descend" and it's exactly what it sounds like, I rest, the baby descends.  It's supposed to make for an easier delivery.  Pushing isnt supposed to take as long.  The nurse came back in around 2:30ish and we started pushing around 2:40.   There was a clock right in front of me and I just watched it... soon it was 3, then 3:30, then 4...  My nurse gave me a little break to "rest and descend" and we came back to pushing.  4:30 came and went and I wasn't getting closer.  My doctor had a class she had to attend at 5 and was hoping the baby would be here before that, after coming and checking my progress, she said she'd let them know what was happening and she'd leave at any time to come back if she needed to.  5 came and went, then 5:30.  At this point I was feeling extremely tired and discouraged.  I'd never heard of anyone pushing for more than 2 or 2.5 hours and not end up needing a C-section.  Up until this point I'd tried to stay focused and positive.  Steve and my nurse, Gina, had been amazing at being so supportive and encouraging.  But I started to doubt my ability to push this baby out of me, my epidural was wearing off, and I was exhausted.  I started to cry.  We decided to rest for a bit more.  My doctor came back around 6ish and I thought we were going to start talking about using a vacuum/forceps or a C-section.  But she came in and was just the thing I needed.  We had talked about my birth plan before hand and she knew I didn't want to use a vacuum or forceps and she knew I wanted to do all we possibly could to avoid a C-section.  She walked into my room and told me that his heart rate was just as steady as could be and he wasn't showing any signs of distress.  He was coming vaginally.  She was just what I needed to find more strength and energy to keep pushing.  So that's what we did... we kept pushing.  For a little over an hour.  By the time he FINALLY came, my epidural was pretty worn off.  I felt like I could feel everything.  I have never felt pain like that before.  Side note: I don't know how women go natural.  Kudos to you, ladies.

Finally at 7:09, after screaming "I want him out of me!!!" he came out face up.  That little stinker was facing the wrong way, no wonder he was so hard to get out.  I was completely overwhelmed when they placed him on my chest.  All I could think about was the fact that he was finally here, I was able to push him out and he was finally here!  Poor little guy came out with the worst cone head I'd ever seen, but he was (and still is) so perfect.  We've loved every single second of Henry, he truly is the best baby.  I never understood how people always said their children were their greatest joys (don't get me wrong, I've always wanted/loved kids, my mind just couldn't comprehend it), or when people told me I'd be so overwhelmed with love, but I get it now.  This really is bliss.

P.S.  My friend Chelsea Homer did a birth video for us.  She did such an amazing job and I'll never be able to properly thank her for capturing this moment for us.  I will always cherish this video.  If you need/want a videographer, hit her up. Click here to go check out her blog.  Not only does she do amazing work, she's one of the kindest souls I've ever met. You won't regret it.

Click here for the birth video.

Dear 2014

Dear 2014, you were friggin' crazy.

January started with a back surgery followed by some of the worst physical pain I'd ever felt.  January ended with the death of our sweet dog Maggee and we were heartbroken.  

February was fairly mellow.  We go a good deal at a hotel in Vegas and decided a vacation was just what we needed.

March was my birthday.  The best one I've had yet.  My husband wrote me the absolute sweetest letter and I told him he'd never be able to top that birthday (I have a feeling he'll never be able to top this next birthday, seeing as we'll {hopefully} have a brand new baby at home by then).  March was also the time when we hit a crossroads.  We up and changed all of our future plans, prayed and pondered, and got the answer that law school wasn't for us, and instead should buy a house and start a family.  We found the perfect house for us within a few days, put in an offer, and got it accepted.  It was a whirlwind of a week.

April was spent packing and going through the process of actually buying the house.

In May we moved into said house, planted a garden, started home projects, and began making the house our home.

In June we both felt ready for a puppy.  We looked and looked and came across a pure bred Golden Retriever (we'd both always wanted one).  She was the last one in her litter who hadn't been sold.  We both fell in love with her and brought her home immediately.  A week later I found out I was pregnant and I sobbed with joy over all the images in my head of a puppy and a baby playing together.

July  was Steve's birthday.  He turned the big ol' dirty 30! July was also when the sickness hit.  It hit hard, and it stayed.  I won't go on and on with complaining, but I've never known sickness like that.  I've never been so completely wiped out and forced to run in survival mode.  And it's not something you get used to, ever.  

In August we announced we were pregnant.  It was earlier than I was planning, but I couldn't hide it anymore.  Everyone at work knew and most everyone I came into contact with figured it out pretty quick.  My brother Casey got married and my brother Jeff announced he had eloped at the end of July (so sneaky).

In September we celebrated 3 years of marriage and found out we were having a baby boy.  All in the same day!

In October we had our 20 week scan and found out everything was healthy and developing how it should.

In November we took a road trip to Cali and partied it up in San Fran and Carmel. (Carmel was amazing and so dog friendly.  We're definitely taking the baby and Penny there sometime within the next year.)

In December I started to feel like a normal person again!  The migraines finally seemed to stop and I started to feel less like a shell of my old self!!! (Merry Christmas to me!!!!!!)  December also brought my very first car accident (and easily the most terrifying moment of my life) which seemed to set off the migraines again... but now I just don't care.  I'm just so grateful we were all okay. December also brought the very first Christmas in our new house and we were able to host my family Christmas Eve and Steve's family Christmas Day and celebrate with them.

New Years Eve left me in awe.  Is 2014 already over?  It was such a whirlwind.  I feel like everything around me was changing and moving and spinning and I was just trying my hardest to keep up and not lose my footing.

I'm excited for everything that 2015 has to offer.  I have a feeling this year is going to be just as amazing as last year.  This is the year I get to meet my little baby and watch my family grow.