Henry is 2 months old

How time flies.....Henry turned two months old today. We celebrated with a nice bath and the posing of this picture. This is right before a nap and you can tell that he needs one...those eyes look like they may shut at any minute!

Guy Smiley

I thought I would tell you about Henry's personality which is more apparent day by day. He is quite the happy baby, even though he was diagnosed with reflux and a possible milk allergy that caused a lot of pain. He gives lots of smiles after feeding and coos and talks to anyone who will listen. It is quite fun to have a conversation with him when he seems to answer my questions!

And he is surprisingly easy going. He is patient during diaper changes and doesn't mind a lukewarm bottle. I hope that trait is a foreshadowing of things to come! And thankfully, he isn't bothered by noise when he sleeps, including his barking dog.

Henry is settling into a routine and started sleeping through the night at seven weeks. He likes to wake around 5, but I can usually get him to sleep until 6 when I am more ready for my day to start. And when we leave for an errand, the car does a great job of soothing him to sleep.

Henry has been a true blessing and we are cherishing each day with him!

Henry becomes a child of God!

Man....it has been too long since the last post. Time to catch up.....The Bayes Family traveled to Houston to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday and Henry's baptism. It was a great weekend marked by Ellie and Tyler meeting their cousin for the first time.

Henry was baptized on November 30 which was also the 40th wedding anniversary for my parents. Good way to remember both occaisons in the future! It was also special that Henry's baptismal gown was made from the train of my mom's wedding dress. And our neighbor's gave us water from the Jordan River from their trip to Israel last year. We were blessed that Henry's godfathers Matt Bayes and Joel Springer (my cousin's husband) could be there and that Mark's aunt and family could join us too.

The pictures include one of Henry's godfather's enjoy their Texas gifts. We'll have to get Henry a 'Don't mess with Texas' onesie

Henry conflicted

As many may know, our family divides it's college allegiances across many schools. So naturally, Henry has been gifted a few things from the family fans. Today, Henry and I had a photo shoot to model each outfit. It will definitely be hard for Henry to choose who to root for during the Oaken Bucket game this weekend.

Henry looks like he is cheering on the volleyball team in the IPFW outfit...and look how his toes are spread!

Henry's new friends

Last week, we entered the world of play dates.....which is really a lunch date with another adult at this stage in Henry's life. But nonetheless, it was very nice to have company! On Wednesday, our friends from church Jennifer and her son James came to visit and today Melisa (whose husband works with Mark) and her son Landon were here for lunch. James (first picture) is 6 weeks older than Henry and Landon is only 2 weeks.

Happy Birthday Dasher!

Today is Dasher's 3rd birthday or 21st in dog years. We are going to celebrate tomorrow with some dog cookies and a 'Bowser Brew'. We hope the hangover on Saturday isn't too bad for him.

Mark snapped this picture of Dasher some time in the last two weeks. I love the look on his face....it is begging for a hug!

Henry is one month old

Today Henry turned one month old, so although he looks like Mr. Magoo in this picture, he is a mere 30 days old. Hard to believe he has turned our world upside down in such a short time.

And thankfully, Henry is sleeping very well at night. I am going to move back his next feeding to 11 pm and I think he should sleep until 6 am. Hopefully that experiment will work!

Henry finds his thumb

Last night, during an inconsolable moment, I took Henry and cuddled with him while Mark and I were watching tv. Soon he was fast asleep and we looked down to see that he was sucking his thumb. We won't mind if this became the way that he calms himself....hopefully he can find the thumb again in the middle of the night!

Grandma and Grandpa Franke's visit

Last week it was the Franke's turn for a visit to meet Henry and they spent the week thoroughly spoiling him. He was never at a loss for a diaper change, stroller walk, songs, stories, etc. We loved their visit too, since Grandma spoiled the adults with her cooking and baking. They are welcome back any time!

Rub a dub dub

Today Henry took his first "real" bath in the new tub that Daddy bought. I don't know if it was his favorite part of the day, but he smelled so nice when he was done.

Happy Halloween!

Henry was going to be a crying baby for Halloween, but then he did well for the photo shoot! Happy Halloween!

Oma and Opa's Visit

Last week, Henry got to meet his maternal grandparents, Oma and Opa, for the first time. He loved their visit and was glad that Oma could stay extra long to help take care of him. His mom was glad she stayed too! Henry got to hear lots of stories and had to endure hours of bad football on Saturday (both Purdue and MSU lost). While Oma was here, Henry even took his first bottle - hooray!

Henry also went to the doctor on Monday and got a clean bill of health. He is growing, having returned to his birth weight and added a 1/2 inch to his length. And he survived get his first shot, he barely cried. He even wowed the nurses by throwing up on the exam table and peeing on the scale....thank goodness he is so cute!

And for all who have wondered how Dasher is taking all of this....so far so good. He was perplexed by the crying at first, but now doesn't seem to mind. He has given up sleeping in his crate in our room, since he learned his sleep is interrupted. He is definitely intrigued by Henry's smells, too.

On the next post, we'll share pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Franke's visit.

Freaked out new parents head out into the wild for the first time...

The president of the local chapter of the Overprotective Parent Brigade heads out on patrol this afternoon with Deputy Dog Dasher and our very own Bubble Boy, safely ensconced beneath mosquito netting. -MF

Henry at home and Baby Pool update

It's crazy to think that only 5 days have passed since Henry was born. We came home on Sunday morning and we all have started to adjust to our new surroundings and schedules. Henry is probably adjusting the easiest...all he needs to do is sleep, eat, breathe, etc. Mark and I, on the other hand, knew there would be sleep loss, but didn't quite know to what extent. Man, it is brutal! Things are getting smoother and we look forward to the Bayes parents visit this Friday and the Franke parents visit starting on the next Saturday.

Also, there is a winner in the Baby Franke Family Baby Pool. This summer 35 family members guessed the sex, birthdate and weight of baby to be. Guesses were evenly split between girls and boys and birthdays ranged from 10/3 to 10/25. I don't know if it was/is a new found mother's intuition, but I won the pool by guessing his sex, date, and weight exactly right. So, we'll have to keep the generous cash prize. :-)

Welcome to the world, Henry Martin

What a day! Henry Martin joined our family at 10:20 am weighing 7 lbs, 14 ozs, 21 inches long. The whole experience has gone very smoothly; we are truly blessed! And the best part is that Henry is a sweetie....he naps like his dad already!

Last Day as an only "child"

Today was a big day for our dog Dasher, unbeknownst to him. For the last 22 months, he has been our only "child" and as most of you know, has required the investment equal to a child too. So, today was the last day he got our undivided attention...which amounted to a long run last night with Mark, a long walk this morning with me and many treats. Here is ready to go to J Canine, one of his favorite dog hangouts when we are away. We plan to introduce him to his "sibling" early next week. Keep your fingers crossed!

Nursery Pictures

Thank goodness I turned on the camera today to capture a few pictures of the nursery since I found the battery to be dead. Yikes...I can't imagine discovering that at the hospital!

The nursery is still a work in progress.....going gender neutral allows you to do some decorating, but a lot of the wall art will be completed once we know if this one is a miss or a mister. I also tried to go out on a limb and get drapes made, but I wasn't successful in my efforts, so a valence that goes with the bedding set is on order. Hopefully you can get a sense of what it looks like.

First Entry

Wow, my own blog. Never thought I would be starting this venture, but it makes sense for easy updates for family and friends. We are t-26 hours until we go to the hospital to be induced, unless something happens beforehand, which I doubt at this point. Crazy to think in two days time., we'll be meeting our first born child! I am ready to get this show on the road. Hopefully more to come in a few days.