Henry Helps Joe Study

Halloween

Henry's Blessing

It's crazy how quickly time passes. Henry now weights 10 lbs 7 ozs. He is adorable. It's fun to see him grow. He's holding his head quite well now. He loves to look at lights on the ceiling and walls and especially loves watching the fan ceiling fan (which we turn on especially for him even thought it's cold).

Joe and our family and friends blessed Henry on Sunday. It was a wonderful event. We have a lot of wonderful people in our lives. As our Bishop said, we can expect a lot from a child who obviously has a lot of loving support. Thanks to everyone who came!

I'm enjoying motherhood. It's nice to not be tied down to a schedule. The hard thing for me is loosing the ability to control my own life. My life, and my schedule, are completely controlled by an 8 week old little boy. I still write articles for the Tribune and do some work for the law firm. Other than that, I've become addicted to watching television at 4:00pm when Oprah and Ellen compete for my time. And, of course there's the feeding every two hours and the comforting of a crying baby. It's fun to read to him too, his favorite book is Pedro the Brave, a riveting story about a young boy who saves his friends from the digestive system of a mean wolf.

Joe's busy in medical school. As usual, he's enjoying the challenge and making a whole slew of new friends. The medical school has soccer and flag football teams in which Joe participates. He has made many goals for the soccer team and is excited that his two goals made it possible for the first year medical students to beat the second year medical students. He also just recently earned his second "gross" hat, a hat that the anatomy professor gives to every student who gets 100% on their exam.

A Big Week

Two days after the birth of Henry, Joe was inducted into the medical profession and given his first white coat.

Henry has Arrived

After possibly a record breaking fast labor, Henry Joseph Atkin arrived.

Born: August 23, 2006 @ 11:47am
Weight: 5 lbs. 15 oz.
Height: 18 inches

Mom and Baby are perfectly healthy.

Summertime

If you want to know how much weight I have gained in the past 7 1/2 months, don't ask. I have no idea. I close my eyes when I get to the scale at the doctor's office. The less I know right now, the better I'll feel about myself. Right?!?! The last ultrasound I had was two weeks ago and Henry was 2lbs 8ozs. The rest of the weight I've likely gained, well, lets just hope it's not the ice cream. I'm still feeling really well, despite being uncomfortable with a huge belly. I suppose I have been extremely lucky to not have any of the expected pregnancy complaints.

Joe is still working feverishly on our house. The kitchen is really AMAZING now. It went from a terribly designed, unfriendly kitchen to an immaculate user friendly workspace. There was no detail left untouched. Everything is perfect, from the beatiful pergo floor to the backsplash and undercabinet lights. I'm lucky to have a husband who loves me so much that he'll make me the perfect house! If you haven't seen it yet, you really should stop by. I just wish we had before and after photos because you wouldn't believe the difference!

Because of the house we (especially Joe) haven't had a very exciting summer. Just a lot of work. Joe wants to do some relaxing sometime before he starts medical school in August, but what can we do? If you have any fun ideas, let us know. We always enjoy a little excitement.

We did go to Mexico in May. We had a great time, relaxining by the beach. The hotel we stayed in was beautiful. The only thing between the hotel and the sand on the beach was an equally fun swimming pool. I think Joe definately deserves another relaxing week in Mexico, but after buying a house, and checking prices on all of the baby stuff we have to buy and fixing our car twice now, we probably can't afford to just go to Mexico. Too bad... I'd really love to go again!

I now have to go to the doctor once a week for "non-stress tests". I'm not entirely sure why I have to do them, or what they're really looking for. All I do is lay on a bed with fetal monitors attached. The doctor said it can take anywhere from 1/2 hour to several hours, depending on how well Henry cooperates. And, on top of that, I still have to have my regular OB appointments every two weeks. This feels like it's becoming a full time job already and Henry's not even born yet!

Speaking of jobs, Joe got a summer job at Discover Card. He looked for quite a while for opportunities that would he would really enjoy, but everyone who was interested in hiring him became uninterested when they found out he could only work until August. So, he's stuck helping people transfer balances over the phone... Only problem is once the training ends, there's only 2 weeks left before school starts, they probably won't ever actually get very much work out of him and they knew it when they hired him. Crazy company must be really desperate for employees.

Gender

No secret's here, this one is definately a boy! The doctor assured us that this baby definately has male genitalia. But, in case you're wondering, they can't tell on the ultrasound if the baby is a hermaphradite, so keep your fingers crossed that Joe's gross knowledge of anatomy doesn't taint the gender of this child!