henry is three weeks!

our sweet little henry baby is three weeks old already!

i put him in his first cloth diaper today and took some pictures

henry is such a doll
we all love him
and all the kids love to take turns holding him and helping take care of him
he is possibly our fussiest baby so far
it's usually related to burps
and with his milk allergies his stomach is probably more sensitive
and probably hurts so i don't blame him too much
i just think of it like he's a grumpy old man

i'm pretty happy we've survived three weeks with 5 kids so far

lately

 time with newborns is funny

it feels like it goes so quick and lasts so long, too

some of that has to do with sleep deprivation, i'm sure

it turns out henry isn't a huge fan of sleeping at night

but hopefully that'll change soon

he is such a doll

i love him so much

look at those eyes

i was starting to organize our linen closet the other day

but got busy and left it open 

so olive helped herself to the linens and fell asleep in them at bedtime

silly girl

 noah's last picture as a 7 year old

 this picutre of hazel makes her look like an adult

and i don't like it one bit

but she sure is pretty

 olive is a total helper with henry

and always very concerned about him and his well-being 

 eleanor ate noah's birthday cake with her fingers

and looked pretty cute with frosting on her face

 those eyes! he is so aware for such a young baby

he's been looking at me square in the eyes since day one

i love it

 this one is a week or so old

i was going up to take a nap with henry and noah wanted to join us

it was a pretty sweet moment

 that same day was an excellent mail day

most of what you see i won from an instagram giveaway

and i also got some jammies and bottles i ordered for henry, too

 i taught noah and hazel how to thumb wrestle recently and they thought it was pretty fun

 each of the kids have had a hard time since henry was born

olive held it together really well the first week

and then had some meltdowns the second

 having my body back to myself has been pretty nice

not only am i not pregnant anymore, i'm not nursing, either (i wish i were...)

it's seeming to be a lot easier to lose baby weight this time which i'm grateful for

and every day my incision hurts a little less (hallelujah)

  oh michael

i am soooo grateful for michael

he has been so amazing since i've had henry

this shouldn't be surprising to me since michael is always the best

but he's just known exactly what i've needed

and picked up all the slack so i could heal and rest 

so helpful and loving

i am so grateful for him

i am a lucky girl, for sure

it was a little rough for the first couple weeks

but i feel like we're getting the hang of things, little by little

thank goodness for sweet friends, helpful grandparents, darling children

and a wonderful husband to make this transition to 5 kids so much easier

i am so grateful

noah is eight!

noah is eight today! how crazy is that? 

i feel old all the sudden!

we put streamers up last night and decided to set up noah's dinosaurs to party, too

the kids loved it!

first picture as an eight year old!

 michael made pancakes and spelled noah's name with is

 noah went to school like normal

and when michael took olive to speech (bless him) he also took treats to noah's class

and brought the kiddies home from school

we let noah open presents right away

he got a rocket, legos and a dinosaur kit

he loved it all

 cute boys!

 i could not love this boy more!

 after presents, we ate pizza and drank shirley temples

then we sang to the birthday boy

and he blew out the candles

here's noah's sweet dinosaur cake

after we ate and had cake, michael took the big kids to the riverwoods

so noah could do the ropes course and they could bowl and play miniature croquet 

it was a low key birthday 

(i'm not quite ready to throw a party with such a little baby)

but noah loved it

it's so weird to think noah is eight

in some ways it feels like way longer ago that i had him

a LOT has happened since then 

and i'm so grateful life has worked out as it has

noah is a really fun, funny boy

he loves to cuddle and his family is really important to him

his dad is his best friend

he protects his sisters

and he could not be happier to have a baby brother

the other day while holding henry he said, "it only took four tries" :) 

he likes to tease and joke

he is a total homebody 

he is awesome at martial arts

and a great student at school

he is so excited to be baptized 

he loves legos, dinosaurs, and playing with other boys

he's super social

i am so happy i get to be his mom

henry's first bath

henry's umbilical cord finally fell off a couple days ago

i was just holding him at the kitchen table and heard something fall to the ground

not only did it slip past his diaper but his onesie and outfit, too. so weird! 

tonight we gave him his first official bath after the kids went to bed

and he loved it!! he was so cute in it, too!

hopefully it will help him sleep better tonight than he has been recently

i think we have a case of the mixed up days and nights...

michael and i went to boise (with henry)

 we decided to take advantage of my parents being here and go look for a house to rent in boise

laying around to heal is lame...(kidding) 

luckily i've started to feel pretty good already

and traveling was fine

 we drove up on thursday afternoon

and got to the hotel at like 10:30

henry got his own bed

 friday we spent all day looking at houses

for lunch we tried a teriyaki place that did not disappoint

 henry was a cute little traveler 

it was a little crazy to travel with a newborn

and sadly we didn't find a house that was a good fit for our family

despite looking at like 7 houses...

i'm glad we got to know boise a little better

and it was a fun trip with michael and henry

grandma and grandpa kelly are here

the very biggest benefit to having a planned c-section

is definitely being able to plan it

and also plan to have help 

we were so lucky to have michael's parents here for a week and a half

and now my parents are here

 my mom brought a book her aunt gave her as a young girl

it's Aesop's fables and the kids have loved reading it with her

 these girls love sitting on grandpa's lap

i love this one of both my parents with henry

eleanor is a slow warmer-upper but she's getting more and more comfortable with both sets of grandparents

in other news, i think it's safe to say henry will be a thumb-sucker like all his big sisters