A Month of Firsts

It has been awhile since I've last posted anything to our blog, but that is because The Phillips clan has been busy. But it has been a month full of doing things for the first time...

First time without Daddy--July 15th-20th. Sloan went on a business trip to South Carolina and I realized how difficult it would be to be a single mom. Like on a road trip when you have to fill up with gas and pee.

First Road Trip--July 16th--Richmond to Greensboro. It took an extra 45 minutes to get to Greensboro because apparently "someone" can't feed himself.

First Time at Gigi and Papa's (My Parents)--July 16th-23rd. Because I didn't think I could last a week as a single parent in Richmond. Both of us were spoiled with new clothes. Henry was also spoiled with cuddles and stopped sleeping through the night because Gigi and Papa held him so much that he ended up falling asleep around 5pm. This, however, made it easier to go out to dinner. We even were "those people" and took him to Ruth's Chris. He slept the whole time.

First time meeting the Johnson cousins--July 16th. Again, he received more cuddles and kisses from our nieces Sarah Grace (almost 9), Caroline (5), and Natalie (3), and nephew William (11). He also bonded with his Aunt Pam and Uncle Bill.

First REAL smile--July 24th. I went to pick up Henry from his crib in the morning and as soon as he saw me, his face lit up and he cooed. Considering this was the same day as my "procedure," it definitely made things go more smoothly. As to the procedure, Mom is doing fine and is having fewer GI problems.

First time being babysat by a non-relative--July 24th. A big thanks to Tracy Scoggins for taking care of Henry while I was at the Doctor. For those of you who may be called on in the future to babysit, I will use Tracy as a reference to how easy Henry is. He slept the entire time in his car seat and didn't even wake up when their dog licked his face.

First Rock concert--July 28th. CHICAGO. Hells Yeah!!! That's right, we spent Saturday in the Park jamming out to music Henry and I often dance to at home. I was a bit like Britney Spears, however, toting my baby around the amphitheater to get another Smirnoff Ice. He also was admired by many older people who'd had a few drinks. "Ohhh, he is just too cute. You said it's a boy, right? You are so lucky. So lucky. Ohhhh."

First Nude Photo Shoot--August 6th. This angered Daddy but when else is a person actually cute with no clothes on? He only peed twice on our bed while I snapped photos.

First Cold--August 6th. I spent last week coughing and sneezing and unfortunately, I gave it to my son despite my wearing surgical masks, religiously washing my hands, and his spending entire days in his swing. Oh well. He still is not a fussy baby. He just sneezes a lot with a couple sad little coughs and has stopped sleeping through the night. But he still is the BEST baby ever!!!

2 month check up and you're putting a camera where?

Henry had his 2 month check up on the 5th (when he was actually 10 weeks old). He weighed 12 lbs 2 oz and was 22 1/2 inches long! He is in the 75% for weight and 25% for height. The doctor said that it takes longer for preemies to catch up in height and not to worry--his feet and hands are still good indicators that he will show off his dad's Swedish heritage. The doctor was very pleased with his progress!

He also has slept through the night once. But the next day I bragged about it and so he hasn't done it since. I am hoping he will tonight as he was awake from 7:30 am to around 3:30pm today. But fortunately, he isn't screaming when he is awake so he remains a relatively easy baby. I suppose he figures I put up with enough while I was pregnant.

My pregnancy bed rest is still haunting me as I'm having some GI trouble and get to have a flexible sigmoidoscopy in a week and a half. Sigmoidoscopy is a fancy way of saying "butt-scope." Awesome!! Thankfully, the gastrointerologist's office is literally around the corner from my room at the hospital, so it will be a bit of a homecoming for me.

Happy 4th

So we headed out to my sister's for the fourth. We grilled some shrimp on the barbie and I ate my weight in mozzarella and tomato salad. I also made my traditional strawberry, blueberry, angel food cake and homemade whipped cream parfait. (Go ahead and say it in your best Eddie Murphy voice, "Parfait! Everybody loves parfait!" After Sloan's impression of Shrek's Donkey, I think my 6 year old nephew Joshua's rendition is the best.)

Henry enjoyed sleeping in his cousin Isabel's amby baby sling and even went for his first dip in the pool. And my oh my is he ever like my father, Papa, as he fell asleep in the pool. As I write this, I have been trying to get Henry to go down for a nap for about three hours, so it seems a little odd to think of Henry snoozing in the pool--but nevertheless, he did.

He enjoyed snoozing on a floaty in the pool and cuddling with his cousins on the floaty as well. Once again, his cousin Isabel loved on him and we may have to have a "You can love your cousin so long as you don't LOVE your cousin" talk in the future.

Very Young Sweet Peas

Here are my two Baby Ps. When Sloan and I first started trying for Henry, we made the original Baby P at Build A Bear and then I've been sleeping with him ever since. He even came with me to the hospital, which made the doctors and nurses laugh. The idea behind it was that the bear would smell like me and then we'd give it to our child to soothe him or her in their crib.

We are going to take a picture of Henry each month next to Baby P so that we can see how much he is growing. We watched our DVD footage of him in the hospital and his first bath and it was incredible to see how much he has grown. I swear he is larger today than yesterday when this picture was taken.

He has his 2 month check up next week (although he'll be 10 weeks), so we will see exactly how much he has grown then. He will be getting lots of shots, so please keep him in your prayers next Thursday.

He's going to need therapy...

Sometimes I worry that I may inadvertently be turning my son gay. I like to dress him in his fancy clothes with collars (which Sloan, in turn, makes into a vampire costume) and I just LOVE to sing him show tunes. He particularly loves "Somewhere over the Rainbow," "My Favorite Things," and "No Day but Today (from Rent). We also dance around to Stevie Wonder a lot, but I'm not sure this is helping much. This morning I introduced Johnny Cash, and yet, I can still envision this backfiring on us as well. Maybe I shouldn't discourage Sloan from singing the Rolling Stones and drinking songs to him. Poor Henry. Mom's go to songs will make him gay and Dad's go to songs are "Handsome Molly" and "Sympathy for the Devil."

Donations for Henry's future therapy are accepted.

Isabel and Henry

Just when I think Henry is getting big, we go visit his cousins and he is dwarfed by his 9 month old cousin Isabel. He is more than twice the size he was at birth, weighing in at 11 lbs, 5 oz on the June 20th.

His cousin Isabel sure loves Henry. She gets very upset when we try to keep her hands off of him, and enjoys playing with the jiggly elephant on his car seat. She loves having her hands washed off so she can investigate the only person she has ever seen smaller than her. They are becoming fast friends.

Henry doesn't seem to mind his cousins attention. Mainly he enjoys her hand me down swing and loves snoozing poolside in her Ambibaby hammock. His Aunt Sonya even rigged fans to the hammock so he can snooze and sway in style.

Last night was his first night sleeping in his crib in his room. He had been sleeping in a bassinet in our room, but Henry is a noisy sleeper and I've spent many a night with him on my chest on the living room couch so that Sloan could get a full night's sleep. I got a wonderful night of sleep, but I did miss him a bit.

We are very excited about this weekend as my college friend Jackie and her husband Cary are coming down from Baltimore. They are expecting a little girl, Natalie, in September. Henry is going to love getting together with all of my sorority sisters at New Year's every year as they all keep having girls.

Thank God he was early...

So at his 6 week check up, 2 days after his June 5th due date, Henry weighed 9 lbs, 11 oz and is 21 inches long. Yeah, we're thankful that the chunkster came early. He is gaining weight regularly. He is certainly a Phillips. He loves to eat and to sleep and has quickly grown out of anything labeled newborn. We had hoped that this sweet Feltman bros. outfit he came home from the hospital in would be his first outing to church outfit too, but alas, as soon as he filled up his diaper, the snaps on the crotch popped. He did wonderful in church. He is a definite Presbyterian--he slept through the whole sermon!

Grandma Phillips came in town this weekend. What a treat! I've never enjoyed running errands by myself so much in my entire life. I went shopping, got a pedicure, and on Saturday, Sloan and I went on a date. We went to see Ocean's 13 and then to Kabuto. Henry seems a bit spoiled after Grandma Phillips' stay as this morning he required being held to go down for his morning nap. (Are they called naps when all you do is sleep?)