Fall

Things are going good in the Dixon household. This week I feel like I am seeing some semblance of a routine both during the day and night. Addie still is not sleeping for very long stretches at night but at least she is pretty consistent as to when she is waking (1am and 5am and sometimes 3am). I could be better about keeping her in her crib or side sleeper but i tend to bring her into the bed when I am really tired.
Henry just finished an 8 week class at the local community center. It was called "Introduction to Musical Theatre" and he loved it. They did a lot of pretend playing and also had song time, story time, craft time and snack time (Henry's favorite). It was a two-hour class once a week. I will miss the two hour break. I got to go to the store or come home and clean. The next semester of classes don't start until January. A couple of the kids in class live in our neighborhood so we will be setting up some playdates with them. They are kids Henry's age that are also not in preschool. Even before the H1N1 scare I decided not to enroll Henry in preschool this fall b/c I didn't want the germs in the house with Addie being so young. Henry has been asking to go to school and it has been hard entertaining him and taking care of a baby but I am glad I made that decision. Luckily, the time change means Henry is usually asleep by 7 or 7:30 and Addie usually goes down around 6 or 7pm which means I get a break at night. Some nights Addie wakes up around 8 or 9pm and is wide awake and ready to play which I don't mind b/c I like the one-on-one play time with her. That's about the time David gets home too so he gets to play with her too.

henryism

Henry: Mommy, Did you know I am smart.
Me: Yes Henry. I know you are smart.
Henry: And smart people can build robots. I'm going to build a cleaning robot. He will go upstairs and clean my room at night and brush my teeth for me.

Addie is Four Months old!

Addie is now four months old. I thought it was a good time to update this blog! Henry is totally in love with her. He begins each morning running to my room to see "baby Addie". Yesterday when David and Henry went out for breakfast David told me Henry wanted to get home to see baby Addie. It's been a busy few weeks. I have managed to post a lot of videos to my You Tube account--some new, some old.

Here's one of Addie.

One Month Old!!!

Addie is now one month old! I can't believe how fast this month has gone by. My Mom was with us the first week and a half that we got home with Addie. David returned to work on July 6th and then a week later David's mom Pat arrived. So, we have had a busy month.

Addie is growing quickly. Her birth weight was 8 lbs. 15oz and at her two week check-up she weighed a little over 10 lbs. I think she is certainly at 11 lbs. now. She is now moving into the 3 month and 3-6 month clothes we have for her.

Addie is a good sleeper although like most babies this age she isn't sleeping for long periods of time. That she is sleeping without being held in my arms is a huge improvement over Henry. We are getting 3 and even 3 1/2 hour stretches at night and then I nurse her, change diaper and rock her back to sleep. She still likes to be swaddled which is also very different than Henry. He liked it for about 3 days and then wanted to stretch out. Henry was pretty content just being held and nursed whereas Addie has 2 and even 3 times a day where she is fussy. It can take a lot to figure out what she needs but eventually one of the soothing techniques usually calms her down (nursing, rocking, bouncing, walking).

Introducing Adelaide Elizabeth Dixon

Our baby girl, Addie, arrived at 2:31pm on Thursday, June 18th. She weighed in at 8lbs. 15 oz and measured 21 1/4 inches. I was so happy on how things went with the labor which wasn't how I felt with Henry. I am also very happy that David seems to be psychic and decided to work from home on Thursday and Friday because he believed I would go into labor one of those days. On Thursday morning around 10am I felt a pain in my back when I got up from sitting down. I told my Mom that I thought it could be something and immediately got dressed and told David to do the same. David took a 1 minute shower and got shaved and dressed as I waited for another one of the pains. Sure enough, 15 minutes later another back pain. This would not have been something to be anxious about but at my Dr. appt two days previously, I was told I was 4cm and 90% effaced and labor could come on quickly. At that appt my Dr. asked if I wanted to schedule an induction and after much thought I decided against induction and to wait it out. Ironically, the induction date and time was 7am on Thursday! Well, after the 2nd back pain I called the Dr. and they told me to some in and get checked out. After the exam the Dr. told me I should head to the hospital. After a quick stop by the house to hug Henry one more time we headed to the hospital. After about a 5 minute wait in the labor and delivery waiting room, my water broke! I was a bit embarrassed but mostly relived b/c I really wanted everything to happen on its own. We were settled in a labor room around noon and Addie arrived at 2:31pm.

Click here for pictures

Sibling Class

This afternoon Henry attended a Sibling Class at Inova Fairfax Hospital (where I will be delivering). It was a cute class that started with the 2-4 year olds showing everyone a picture of themself as an infant. I had Henry pick out the picture earlier in the day and I chose the one to the left (taken around Henry's 2nd hour out of the womb).
After the picture sharing the teacher had the children pick out a baby doll. They then learned the proper way to hold a newborn and they practiced changing a diaper and using a blanket to swaddle the baby. I was glad the teacher went thorugh the swaddling b/c I never got it down with Henry. Luckily, David was an expert at turning Henry into a 'baby burrito'.
The teacher then took us by the nursery where we got to see two newborns. Henry just loves babies so this was his favorite part of the class. When we got back to the classroom the teacher gave every child a coloring craft which she said we could take home or stay and complete. I was SHOCKED that Henry wanted to stay and color b/c I can never get him to color at home. Sometimes I can get him to paint but he always tells me he wants me to color and that he isn't good at it. Well, today he colored away and started calling himself an artist.
Henry is really excited about the arrival of our baby and I am anxious to see how he reacts. Just tonight he was leaving a room and hugged me and then turned around and said "i forgot to hug and kiss the baby". He then came over and hugged and kissed my belly. For a little guy who often acts tough and loves playing with trucks, he also has a very sweet and tender side.

13 Questions for Henry

1. What is something daddy always says to you? i don't know

2. What makes daddy happy? i like him

3. What makes daddy sad? i don't like him

4. How does your daddy make you laugh? he tickles me

5. What did your daddy like to do when he was a child? play trucks

6. How old is your daddy? 2

7. How tall is your daddy? REALLY tall

8. What is his favorite thing to watch on TV? Zocklock. daddy really likes this but it's really scary so you have to skip the scarry parts ("zocklock" is one of Henry's current favorite made-up words. He often tells me I am the Zock of the Zocklock")

9. What does your daddy do when you're not around? daddy gets another daddy (I think this comes from the fact that I have been telling henry if he gets seperated from me or lost when we are in public he should go to another Mommy to help him find me)

10. What does your daddy do for his job? he works

11. What is your daddy's favorite food? tortellni

12. What do you and your daddy do together? play

13. Where is your daddy's favorite place to go? the museum

Henry-ism

Yesterday we were wating for friends to come over to our house for a play date. I opened the front door and asked Henry to be on the look out for them. Henry turned to me and saluted and said "Aye, Aye, Captain"

Henry-ism

The other night David brought home some sweets leftover from a work meeting. Henry grabbed a cheesecake bar and took a bite. When I asked him how it was he responded with "Um, not bad. It tastes like chicken."

Snow Day

Yesterday we got about 3 inches of snow.Henry and I walked around the yard and got really excited when we found some animal tracks. I guessed they were from the red fox that we have heard comes in our yard. I went with that and Henry and I followed the tracks and Henry told me all about the red fox (even though he has never seen it).Later that night Henry was looking out the back door and told me he saw the red fox and he saw it pee pee in the snow (Okay!). Below is a video of henry making a snow angel: