3 months

Little Henry is 3 months old now! Here are a some of the pictures from last week when he got all dressed up and Ross helped get him to pose. They were too cute for me to pick just one...

... and then I realized I had the light setting on the camera all wrong, so I had to take more...

Henry is getting very smiley and loves watching the world around him. He is sometimes sleeping 8-9 hours at night, but some nights still wakes in 4 hour increments. Many days his naps are interrupted with school drop off and pick up, or errands and adventures with Ross, but when he is home, he has had some nice long naps. He loves kicking, bath time, and cuddles with his siblings.

Ross is, for the most part, a wonderful helper with Henry during the days. He lavishes him with attention and loves being right up close with Henry.

Ross decided that since Henry was wearing a fancy button-up shirt, he should also try on some of his button-up shirts. He really doesn't like wearing anything other than short sleeve t-shirts (with NO collars OR buttons), but he decided to try on all seven of his button ups and wanted to pose for pictures. He decided he liked this one best, but of course he still hasn't worn it for longer than 10 minutes.

Ross is great at keeping busy during the day - we have time doing stuff together too, but when I'm busy in the kitchen or with Henry, he comes up with lots of good ideas.

Here is a picture of Henry and me! There aren't many of us together, and of course whichever of the kids was taking this didn't bother to get my face, but still... it's me!

And here is one of my 6-going-on-16 year old... she decided that she wanted her hair cut, but was too shy for a salon, so I cut a whopping 10" off. Thankfully, I did a pretty decent job, and of course, she looks absolutely adorable. She is really happy with it and it is so much easier for her to take care of it now. In this picture, she decided to take these prongs to the nearby school park to pick up garbage.

2 months!

Henry is now over two months old, and weighed in at 13lb 12oz - which happens to be exactly what Ross weighed at the same age. He is getting chubbier and cuter by the day and continues to be much fairer than the other two, with very little blonde fuzz on his head, blue eyes, and pale eyebrows and lashes. He is starting to smile more and laugh, and is also getting better at being awake and happy even if he's not being held. He's waking 1-2 times a night, doesn't mind the car (as long as it's moving quickly!), and loves bath time. Here are some of his many faces...

We wanted to get one of all three kids, but I'll be honest, this peaceful one only came after a few minutes of fighting over where Henry would sit. As you can see, Madeleine wanted him on HER lap.

A few days later, in a different outfit, and lying on the ground instead of propped on the couch...

Ross helped with these pictures, and even put on his jeans so that he and Henry matched. Ross really only likes "short pants" (aka shorts) so choosing to wear his long pants was quite something. I did get pictures of it, but they didn't turn out as cute as this one.

With Grandpa Don and Grandma Georgia here, we have done a few day trips. One day we drove up to Point Reyes Lighthouse and walked the 308 steps down and back to see it. Unfortunately, it was one of the hottest days of the year (in fact, the hottest it has been at the lighthouse in nearly 100 years), so it was very crowded as everyone tried to escape to the shorelines. 

After the lighthouse we cooled off at Drakes Bay and the kids loved playing in the water.

Steve and the kids built a sand castle, and just as Grandpa and Grandma came to inspect it,

a wave crashed over and swept it away!

Another day trip was to Fisherman's Wharf, to stock up on salt water taffy.

Steve also took them up to Napa Valley for a day to visit Sterling Winery, while I stayed home with Henry. Those pictures, and more from their visit, including Grandma riding the cable cars, will have to come later when I get more pictures downloaded. We had so much fun with them visiting. It has been so helpful to have them here, and to have Georgia stay on a couple of more weeks. Henry has changed so much in the last month and it's been so fun to share it with them.

One Month Old!

Henry passed the one month mark a couple of weeks ago! It goes without saying that the third child will get less press time, but this milestone was also somewhat lost in the Total Solar Eclipse on August 21st, for which we drove to Oregon. 

He has been very sweet these last few weeks, despite having more moments of fussiness. He often sleeps for long periods, and then has a couple hours of being awake later in the day. He loves being held and cuddled, but has yet to grace us with any smiles.

The kids love holding him, although it is getting harder as he gets bigger - he weighed in this week at 12lb 9oz, so he was probably around 10 lb at one month old.

He likes being on his tummy and is very good at lifting his head already. Ross is a good teacher.

Our one month photos ended up with zero pictures of him actually looking at the camera. Here he is with his sweet little bunny made by Auntie Kristin.

Auntie Kristin came to stay with us for a week just before we left for the eclipse, and it was so much fun to have her here!

We drove 8 hours up to Oregon for the eclipse, and although the driving took a lot longer due to extra stops, the kids all did great. This is a view of the river and canyon that my uncle's house in Oregon looks out over. My uncle's family was all there, as were my parents, my Aunt Kathe and my cousin Ian, which made for a fun little family reunion.

The morning of the eclipse, we had perfectly clear skies and everyone was ready with glasses.

The wait for totality was a bit long for the kids (maybe an hour?) but well-worth it in the end - they were both in awe of the total dark and cold that came with the sun being completely covered.

Going to Oregon for the eclipse meant that Madeleine missed the first two days of school, but she didn't mind. Here she is heading off to 1st grade (in her new dress made by Auntie Kristin!).

While Madeleine was away at school, the boys had Grammie and Grandpa all to themselves...

We are so grateful to my parents for spending six weeks here helping us adjust to life with three kiddos. It was wonderful not to have to do any grocery shopping, laundry, or cleaning for that whole time, and get to sleep in and nap every day on top of it all. It made my recovery so much smoother, and I have had so much time to just enjoy and get to know little Henry. As we send them off, we are grateful to welcome Grandma Georgia and Grandpa Don, who arrive tonight from Toronto. We are really so blessed to have parents like ours!

2 weeks old

Baby Henry is just over two weeks old now! He had a check up at the doctor's this morning and weighed in at 8lb 15oz. Madeleine loves to hold him and lie next to him. It's a great opportunity for her to practice her reading and he is a very attentive audience. 

Ross loves cuddling with Henry too and said he wished Henry could sleep next to him ALL night!

We gave Henry his first bath a few days ago, and he was not a huge fan. Ross helped keep him warm, but I think maybe Henry was a bit too big for the little sink.

He is spending more time awake now, and fusses the most during diaper changes. He is pretty settled most of the time though, and reminds us of Ross with his squawks and squeaks while he sleeps.

Even though he's a summer baby, the foggy mornings here mean that our house stays cool for most of the day. Sometimes the afternoons warm up a bit more and the kids were very excited to put this little short sleeved dinosaur onesie on him.

My parents have been a huge help in all areas - groceries, cooking, laundry, cleaning, and keeping the big kids entertained. Every now and then they even get a snuggle with little Henry!

Henry Steven Gibson

We welcomed little Henry three weeks before his due date, just hours after my parents had driven down. We had spent the day cleaning and getting ready for their arrival, and I also fit in a swim and a nap. I had no idea that I would go into labour that night, in fact I was mentally preparing to go overdue. But to my pleasant surprise, my water broke that night, and after 7 hours of labour, Henry was born! He weighed 8lb 3oz, and was 20" long. He is named Henry after my maternal grandpa and great grandpa.

 

About 40 minutes after his birth, the nurse noticed that he was working hard to breathe and checked his blood sugar. It was extremely low, so they took him to NICU for IV dextrose and more monitoring. He stayed there for the rest of the day and the following night, and I went back and forth from my room on the postpartum unit (where my meals were) and his room in the NICU. Fortunately, I was still able to hold and feed him. The kids came in to see him and were just in love with him and so gentle. Ross picked his shirt out specifically for Henry's birthday.

He is much more fair than either Ross or Madeleine were at birth, and he has far less hair!

We were all very happy to be back at home after two days in hospital. He has no shortage of loving arms to hold him.

He did have some jaundice though, so he had to spend a couple of days sleeping on a "biliblanket" sent to us by the hospital. Then he got oral thrush, but I noticed it early, and got the prescription he needed and he is already improving. So far, he is a very settled baby - sleeping well, feeding well, and only really squawks and squeaks when he's hungry. He does cry a bit more if his diaper is being changed, or we're trying to put clothes on him.  We are all so thankful for him, and very glad he came early!