Wednesday, October 9, 2013

4 Months Old!

I cannot believe it's already been 4 months!  But I also can't imagine a time where Henry didn't exist in our family.  He really is the happiest, sweetest baby ever.  Every day I'm amazed that I get to be his Mommy.  I am so not ready for him to grow up!



He is just the perfect amount of chunky and bald!  

Stats:

Length: 24.7 inches
Weight: 15. 4 pounds
Head Circumference: 16.5 inches

He is pretty much average in all categories.  His length is just a little below average, but I figured that was coming.  I am 5'2" on a good day and Hannes is 5'8" on a good day.  We're just hoping he ends up, at least, as tall as Hannes!  


What Henry's been up to:
This is going to be long!  Henry has changed so much during the last month!  It is so crazy!!!  He loves to laugh and getting kiss tickled on his neck and under his arms.  One of his favorite things is standing in your lap.  He is getting so wiggly that it can be hard to hold him sometimes.  He definitely loves to be able to look around and he loves going places where there is a lot to look at...like IKEA!  He also loves to jump.  Here's an adorable video of Hannes and him playing.




Anything that touches his hand or that he can reach he grabs and then, usually, tries to put it in his mouth.  He can now reach his friends on his play gym and he loves grabbing them and yelling at them.





He may have rolled over from his back to his stomach.  The story is a little unreliable, Tyler is the only true witness and it has yet to happen again.  I was in the kitchen making some coffee and I left Henry on his back and when I returned he was on his stomach and Tyler was next to him.  Ty says that Henry flipped himself over, but since he hasn't done it again...I think Tyler may have given him a little nudge.  He can go from stomach to back no problem, though.  





Also, when he's on his stomach he really gets those legs going like he wants to crawl.  I have a feeling that he's going to be a super active baby and I'm going to be in trouble!!!  He can already scoot himself around on his back so I've been trying to remember to keep a better eye on him and keep anything he can't have away from him!






He's also amazing at figuring things out.  It took him about two minutes flat to figure out how to get his toy bus to play music.  Then he spent the next ten minutes pushing it over and over again so it would play music.  He also likes trying to eat it.






I know I may be partial, but I really think Henry is a baby genius.  It takes him absolutely no time to figure things out.  Unless it's how to blow raspberries...he's been working on that for weeks!  He always wants me to do it and tries to copy me, but usually just ends up spitting everywhere.  Sometimes he gets it, but he can't figure out how to do it at will.  Today, when I went to change his diaper I played peek a boo with him with his pants.  I did it twice and then he started to do it himself!  He would cover his face and then pull his pants off of his face.  I really don't think there's much this little guy can't do!




*Sorry about the obnoxious sound on this video.  I know my voice is crazy annoying, but Henry seems to like it!



What Mommy's been up to:
I have attempted to start exercising again.  (aka.  I have run twice, once last month and last night)  I am going to try to make it a habit.  I find myself constantly complaining about my body and how my clothes fit (or don't fit) and my lack of clothing that fits, and then in the same breath talk about how I shouldn't be complaining because I am doing NOTHING about it.  So, I'm going to start doing something about it.  It's just so hard because I am always here alone with Henry and can't jog with the stroller we have and we definitely don't need to buy another stroller.  I just have to get myself motivated and run when Hannes gets home from practice, at 8 o'clock at night.  I really thought this weight loss would come more easily.  I really didn't gain that much weight during my pregnancy (about 30 pounds) and I don't eat that badly and I am breast feeding.  I guess my body just really likes these extra 10 pounds.  

Henry's sleeping habits are hit or miss.  For a week he was sleeping 5 hours in a row during the night and now he's back to not sleeping through the night.  Also, he's growing...at least I think so...because sometimes he wants to eat every hour!  My nipples are almost as sore, if not more, than they were when he was first born.  He's still sleeping with us most of the night.  We put him to bed in his own bed and when he wakes up to eat he comes to sleep in our bed and then stays there the rest of the night.  I really like co-sleeping.  I have read a lot of articles that are both for and against it, but my philosophy is that you do whatever works for your and your family and this works for us.  I find that I am more restless and don't sleep as well when Henry's in his bed.  I am always listening for him.  (Especially lately.  He's had this nose cold thing going on.  His nose gets so dry and crusty and full of boogers and it's hard for him to breathe.  Sometimes, he can't really breathe and sounds like a pig.)  I'm also lazy about staying awake during those middle of the night feedings and would much rather get him latched on and then go back to sleep.


Tyler and Emily really enjoy having Henry around.  I'm sure they'll be even happier when he's a little older and can do more things.  I know I'm ready for him to be able to go to the park and swing and do stuff!



And now just to brag a little.  Today, when we were at the nurse, she made a comment about how every time Henry looks at me he smiles.  She made it sound like not all babies do that with their Moms. I know he loves me, but maybe it's more than just a normal how babies love their Moms kind of love.  Which is awesome!  And, lastly, a few weeks ago I was at my work visiting with Henry.  A coworker and I were talking and he said that he had been talking to someone else about kids (he has 1 year old twins) and they told him if he needed any parenting tips to talk to me because I have three amazing kids!  Wow!  I was so happy to hear that!  I have found that if you want to have great children it's a lot of work and usually requires you to punish yourself.  I mean, grounding your kid from a sleepover is really a punishment for you.




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Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Just Keepin' It Real

I figured why not just show you some candid photos of our apartment.  It is very "lived in", but I'm sure anyone with three kids can understand!  It is clean on Saturdays when we do all of our cleaning, but then slowly goes down hill during the week.  So, here it is.


Emily's side of their bedroom.  She didn't know what to wear this morning hence the pile of clothes on the floor.


Tyler's side of the bedroom and their shared desk and bookshelf.


The kitchen as seen from Emily and Tyler's room.  The door connects to their bedroom.


No, we didn't do dishes last night.


Thanks for the Dunkin' Donuts coffee Mom!!


View of the bathroom from the door.


Putting our bathroom shower situation into perspective!


The tornado/living/dining room area.  I think I'm supposed to be folding that laundry that Hannes washed on Sunday...whoops!




I know that we're all friends and no one will be judging me from these photos!  There are no pictures of our bedroom because Henry is in there sleeping.  However, if you've seen any of my selfie photos from my pregnancy then you know what it looks like!



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We're Moving!

We weren't quite ready to move, but I guess I'm happy we're going to have more space!  In Sweden, you have to give three months notice when you move out of an apartment.  You basically sign a contract for life.  It never expires, but if you decide you want to leave you have to let them know three months in advance.  It's kind of a long story, but I'll give you the bullet point edition.

-My work found this apartment for us before we moved here and signed the contract we have with our landlord.
- Our landlord also owned an apartment that a coworker lived in.
- My coworker moved out and left a mess.
- Since my work was on the contract they got stuck paying for it!
- Head office said no more being on contracts.
- We talked to our landlord and asked to be on the contract instead of my work.  He said no, but made it sound like it would be a yes IF my work cancelled their contract.
- My work cancelled their contract.
- We never heard from our landlord about a contract!

I don't know if that actually made the story any shorter.  Anyhow, we were going to be homeless as of December 31st; unless we found a new place.  Which, let me assure you, is no easy task!  There are probably between 10 and 15 companies in Jönköping/Huskvarna that own apartment bulidings.  If you want one of those you have to sign up to be on their list, and there are probably 50 people in line ahead of you...if not more!  There are also apartments owned by individuals and most of those get listed on blocket (which is just like craigslist).  However, they are usually rented out within hours of being put up.  It's really not easy to find a place and apartment owners have no clue if they'll have an apartment available or when.  Hannes and I have applied for at least 4 apartments and lost them to people who were faster.  So, when we got a call that an apartment was available (even though it's a little more than we wanted to spend) we had to say yes!



We currently live in Huskvarna (which is kind of like a sister city to Jönköping - the 9th largest city in Sweden!  Population 89,000...ha!).  Both of these cities are situated on the southern tip of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern.  We are going to be moving to downtown Jönköping, it's about a ten minute drive from where we live now.  Our apartment building is situated between Vättern and a smaller lake, Munksjön.


The building that we are moving to is brand new and isn't finished yet.  Our apartment doesn't face either lake (which is probably why it was still available and we were able to get it!).


Our apartment is somewhere in the building on the right side.  On the second floor and it has a walk out patio onto the rooftop courtyard.

Here's the floor plan:


Emily's bedroom is the one that's labeled SOVA 1.  Sova means bedroom.  Äta is where we are going to put our dining room table.  Umgås is the living room.  Hannes' and my bedroom is SOVA 2.  We're taking the larger one because it's the only place our bed will fit and Henry is still going to be sleeping in our room for a little while longer.  Tyler will be in the room next door.  Labeled ÄTA/SOVA because it could be either a dining room or a bedroom.  The FRD off of Tyler's bedroom is just storage space.  The apartment isn't huge, just 925 square feet, but it's larger than what we have now.  It's just so annoyingly built that we're having a hard time figuring out how to configure our furniture.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see!  There are also no closets in our bedroom so Hannes and I are going to have to buy some kind of closet system...which will take up some space.

I'll put up some pictures after New Year's when we've gotten all of our stuff moved in!

I just realized I never posted any pictures of our apartment that we live in now.  So here are some!



The balcony door in the living room.


The balcony door/dining room.



The dining room area.


The entry hall and bathroom.  Yes, that is the size of our bathroom!  There is only a shower and the bathroom is so small that the medicine cabinet over the sink is partly in the shower.  You have to cover it with the curtain when you shower!


Kitchen.  We have since added an island cart next to the cabinet.


Living room/Dining room

*Disclaimer:  These pictures were taken right after we moved and do not include any pictures of the bedrooms (I don't know why).  Our place has gotten much more crowded/messy/lived in since then!  Which is why you're not getting any pictures that were taken today!








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