BIG and small

Here is a series of shots from last nights post-bath antics. Carter is getting more comfortable with his brother-and lying down near him...inching ever the more closer is becoming more enticing by the day.

"BAY-be!"

 
 
  

Video Update

Alright - it seems that our first video experiment was not the success that we had hoped it would be. However - thanks to the incredible technical skills of Craig Tataryn we have managed to resolve the problem.

Please try all of the videos below AGAIN as they should now be working.

And if you have any other technical problems of your own, please contact Craig ( craiger@hokes.net ). He's really a whiz at these things and just loves to help. Doesn't matter how trivial your problem is, he's your man.

How On Earth Do I VIEW the VIDS, Kids?

A few of you are having problems viewing the videos we are posting. Likely this is because you do not have Flash installed on your computer. This is free, quick and painless. PLUS - you should just have it, it is that cool.

Just click here and you will be directed to a place you can download Flash and begin to see our videos we are going to post.

If you have questions or concerns, let us know in the comments section.

Hospital and Home Picture

Homeward Bound

As per your request - here are some pictures from the hospital and some shot from this weekend as well:

Proud Dad and Content Baby

zzzz.

MacJohnsons and Nolen (they brought us food, yum yum yum)

Video of Nolen's First Bath At Home

Turn down your speakers everyone!

More Vids Kids

Here is another cute video from Nole's first day home:

First video - Nolen gets cleaned up

By popular demand, here is our first attempt at adding video to our blog.  This is a short clip of Nolen getting cleaned up and footprinted (while I talk on the phone to my sister in the background).

Crazy-

 

There is a song on the radio right now that has consumed me since spring. It seems my obsession paid off-I have sucessfully influenced another person in this generation with my musical tastes. One person at a time, that is all I can do. You're welcome world. Anyway, after settling in at home this afternoon-the song came on, and wouldn't you know...

Nolen Sean Heinrichs perked right up. He was so excited, he even told his big brother all about it when he came home from daycare (see picture above).

Now you know. 

Wow, What a Ride!

It is mid morning (almost 8:00-mid if you have been up and down all night, trust me) and I am waiting for Matt to arrive back at the hospital. Carter is going to daycare today, and Matt and I are bringing the baby home today (unless we are told otherwise, which I am sure we won't be).

The baby is sleeping soundly in his fiberglass crib, and so far seems to be a pretty good sleeper. However, for a 9lb9oz baby, I should hope so. He also seems to be quite a good eater, making me wonder if he is really SO hungry all the time, or just wanting to eat!

It is hard at this stage to say what this new baby is going to be like, but I am going to struggle in the next little while not comparing him to his older brother, "But wait, Carter never did it this way!" What do you mean I have to learn a whole new baby? Like a whole new person? Yes, I guess you really do have to get me up several times over an evening before you can fool me.

Carter got to meet his little brother last night. Dad brought him by the hospital with dinner, and he ate his dinner along with his brother. What a big boy! Carter sat in a chair all by himself, and was even somewhat interested in looking and touching his new brother. So far, so good! Carter loves babies, and he loves the new truck his new brother got him-so what can be so bad in toddler world?!

Regardless, our new little boy is amazing. I can't wait to find the perfect name for him-which we hope to finalize today. I can't wait for you all to meet him, hold him squeeze him, and heck, we even may let you change a poopy diaper or two!

Thank you all for your thoughts and everything else over the last few days and months as well.

I am sure along with a name, we will be posting more photos too. We had more visitors last night-along with Carter (who's nose has a little concrete burn from a "running on pavement accident" yesterday.

The baby is hungry, must go feed him!

First pictures revealed!

Getting cleaned up



Stranger in a strange land




First visitor 

Introducing...

Weighing in at 9lbs 9ounces, 22.5 inches long, and a king-sized cranium (14.5), we have at long last met our wonderful little baby.

Mother has done a hell of a job and is now holding the little bundle, who is VERY intent on fueling up after the long night.

I'm too tired to stand up and find the camera cable, add some pictures to this post. Tune in later this morning for pics and more details.


We'll work on that whole naming thing tomorrow, but for now, we will call him Baby Boy Heinrichs.

labour and wifi

It has been a very long evening up until this point, but my beautiful wife is now napping in the bed across the room from me. Meanwhile, I'm watching the contraction monitor go off the scale. Epidurals are a wonderful thing.

Edit: Just in case it wasn't obvious, we never made our induction appointment. Looks like the threat was enough for Adine, who called me less than an hour after we had scheduled the appointment, to let me know it was time to go to the hospital.

Pre-announcement: Hokes baby born on Wednesday, September 13th (?)

Well, we now have a date.  We reluctantly/eagerly agreed to a date for inducement this afternoon. 

We are scheduled to go into the hospital Wednesday morning (7:30am).  Really have no idea how long it will all take, but using the last time as a judge (Adine had some pitocin last time as well because the delivery slowed down after the epidural went in) I would expect it still to take the better part of the day.

Decidedly less romantic than natural child birth, but has the advantage of starting AFTER a full night's sleep instead of during.

Having said all this - we are still hoping that the baby decides to join us in the next 2 days before this appointment.

Post delivery updates

For those who are anxiously awaiting news of our newest family member, thought I would reiterate Adine's post about the hospital having wifi (internet access).  We are planning to bring Adine's laptop and expect to put out a post within 2 hours after delivery with all of the info.  Likely to include a picture or two as well.  So, watch this blog for the latest.  Might even put out a post when we go into the hospital, but I am just as likely to completely forget that one.

Assuming of course that we ever actually deliver this baby. 
Which is doubtful.  Adine and I are already working on strategies to
handle in utero home schooling.

Hokes Daily Baby News - Sept 11th Edition

No baby



A couple "real" contractions this weekend, but only one at a time...

Another non-stress test scheduled for today.

It's Like Getting the Henderson Account

You know how you work all those years to get that one account? The Henderson Account. It is so close, and yet so far from your reach? You can almost smell it at times?

That is what waiting for this baby has become. I KNOW scientifically that it HAS to come. What comes in must come out, Matt has reminded me...but I almost don't believe it to be true. Don't be surprised if I am writing this same thing a few weeks from now. I have been thinking this baby would be born for so many weeks now, and it hasn't been, it is my Henerson Account. It is just too good to be true. So close to our reach, yet so far away. Frankly, I am getting tired of waking up in the morning knowing that I had yet another evening pass where we did not rush to the hospital.

FYI

Matt and I are delivering 2.0 at Fairview Southdale. They have a WiFi connection so we will be able to email pictures as soon as we get our act together. Also, I will hopefully have some time to make a blog post or two wile I am in there...so get/keep reading.

Carter & 2.0 Updates

Carter Updates:

Where do I begin? Carter. [sigh] Carter. So cute, is it the chicken or the egg? Or Nature or Nurture? Or is this Darwinism survival of the fittest at its finest? Whatever...Carter is growing to not only be cuter, but more independent by the day.

A favorite game of mine and Carter's that he has been playing for over a month now is "nigh nigh!". This game involves running with a pillow, blanket or something soft and throwing it on the floor, near someone who is also pretending to sleep, and pretending to sleep. This game is the best at 6:30 am when you are dead tired on the weekend.

Carter has more teeth. Finally, something to report on the tooth front. All his eye teeth are in, and his two molars on the bottom are in, along with two more boring their way up top as well. This has made tooth brushing more imperative, but not always a fun process because I think his mouth is sore a lot. Matt and I have started brushing our teeth with Carter---this has improved his want to tooth brush substantially-as he is big into imitation right now.

Carter's vocabulary keeps growing, and our understanding of words is increasing as well-although he often has a running commentary of the world that I just cannot understand.

Tee = teeth
Mou = mouth
Ea = ears
Hai = hair
To = toes
Fee = feet
Doe = door (I am sure this is because of the door project, that seemed to imprint a lot on Carter. He now also has an obsession of closing all doors. Not being tall enough to open them, he will at times shut himself into a room, but often he is shutting himself out)
dawg = dog
ca = cat (he is getting better with animals, and making animal sounds)

I know there are more words, but I don't know what I have reported on, and what words are new and improved. Obviously, with his comprehension of words building at about 10/day at this age, his vocabulary is bound to be growing by leaps and bounds as well.

When I think of 2.0 arriving any day now (a strong contraction as I was writing that last piece for anyone who was wondering! 1st one today that I am timing, so we will see!) I can't even imagine Carter being so little. I can't imagine him getting any bigger. I can't believe the time has gone so fast. Lastly, I still am in a little denial we are going to be doing this again, with a set of small pudgy helping hands.


2.0 Update

2.0 (yes we do have a list of names, and no we are not keeping them from people, it is just a list, and we all know how long it took to name Carter, in addition to the fact that Carter was not even on our list-but Ant Jennette's list-which Matt and I both at the time nixed, then decided that we had come up with it all on our own. We are so creative!). Just as active as ever. You'd think with the limited amount of room s/he has left that the fetal movements would have simmered down. Not really. This is one busy baby.

On Friday (according to our doctor, 6 days past due) we had a non-stress test scheduled and 2.0 passed with flying colours. Two tests were done, an ultrasound and the non-stress test. On the ultrasound, we got to see a little bit of head/face (but not a lot), 2.0's heart beating, baby fat, and spine. The technician was primarily looking for amniotic fluid (presence of, enough of etc...), and seeing the baby breathe, and as well as watching 2.0's movements. For the other test I was hooked up to a fetal monitor, and a monitor to measure my contractions. I also had a trigger switch to measure each time 2.0 moved which allowed them to compare 2.0's movement to those two variables (fetal heart beat and contraction rate/intensity). Of course, 2.0 passed with flying colours, and everything was fine.

Now that the baby is late, and we are not really wanting to push labour on unless it is happening naturally (e.g. no pitocin if we can help it!) this test has to be done very three days. Fine with me. This baby will come when it is ready to come, and no sooner. I am a little surprised that it is taking this long, as I was always under the assumption 2.0 has been trying to find new and inventive ways out for the last 9 months, but that is not the case.

Regardless, we are im/patiently waiting the arrival of our little one. I am feeling fine-little to no swelling, Matt is happier because work is slowing down a little, and house projects are more completed, and Carter is getting better and better at identifying "baby" (which is pronounced Bae) things and the baby things in our house.

Our Carter care team, Uncle Corey and Auntie Kate are on 24 call now that their wedding is completed (which was amazing by the way-even with the all day/night rain). I hope that the baby arrives before their honeymoon in a few weeks, otherwise we are screwed!

Is this blog still here? What have you been up to?

I can't decide if this is a personal/vanity blog to update you all on our growing family and how great they are, or a place where on a monthly basis i post my guilt for not posting at all-promise to post more, and ponder/wonder at where the time goes? I am going to make this a post dedicated to the later-however considering they are both fairly self-serving (but one a little more interesting than the other!), it does not really matter much, eh?

This month has been crazy. I have been off work now for almost a full month in preparation for the baby. No baby yet, for anyone who is wondering. Although, who knows, maybe tonight is the night?

It seems that our house list of things to do before baby come has gotten smaller and smaller, which really could not have happened if it were not for Elmer and Amanda who helped get us started by sorting out the stuff we had stored in 2.0's room, Sig and Pete who helped putting up the doors (which look amazing and was QUITE a project), Steve McCubbin who also helped finish putting up the doors and trim, and lastly, but not last-Ant Jennette OR as Carter calls her "NET". Ant Jennette I think lives from lists-and really hates having one with stuff on it. Seriously, the woman is on a mission if there is stuff on a list, and cannot rest, even for the evenings if there is stuff on the list. I can't even tell you all the things she did, but in her honour, here is a short list:

-Carter Care
-Adine Care (ensuing nap times happened, and that Adine didn't paint or lift things)
-errand running
-making ~40 meals for us to enjoy over the next few months
-Ikea runs- purchase, assemble, and paint new furniture
-Home Depot runs- almost daily, we now know all the staff
-Grocery runs
-cleaning out our still green fish tank (damn nitrate levels!)
-you get the picture...

We are lucky to have such amazing family and friends around, and around even extends beyond a 500 mile radius. Honestly, I really have not been clenching until everything is done, but - wow, we are now making new lists for anyone interested in helping:

-get closet door pulls installed
-stain deck
-organize computer room
-.....
-GIVE BIRTH TO 2.0

Has it come to this?

The following is an email from Matt:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Hokes Daily Baby News - Sept 9th Edition
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2006 12:36:46 -0500
From: Matthew W. Heinrichs
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

===========
No labour
No baby
===========

Thanks,
Matt, Adine, and Carter