Henry the Builder

Maternity leave has provided extra time for Henry and I to participate in building projects together.  He is quite the construction management guy.  He enjoys studying the different plans, deciding which we should build, coming up with a list of needed materials, then us building them together.  Here are a few of our building projects.

  The Windmill

 We had to alter the plans to find accommodate our available "materials" and to make it easy for an anxious 4 year old to operate.

The Crane

  This was also alter so that to accommodate our set and to make it functional for its intended use.

The Skyscraper

This is all Henry.  He stacked the boxes, tightened all of the bolts with his drill then we installed the (imaginary) barbed wire together.

Three Day Old Clara

I am lucky to have a trained photographer for a sister.  When Clara was only 3 days old, Emily came over and did a little photo shoot.  There were so many adorable pictures, it was hard to pick which to post.  When I make my blog book for this year, I want to put all of them in it.  For now, here are a handful for your viewing pleasure.  

In case you are also in love with these pictures as much as I am in love with them and their subjects, you can find Emily's blog here.  She takes a lot of portraits (because she loves her family) but she also is great with landscapes.  Go check it out!  You can see a lot of cool pictures.

Welcoming Baby Clara

Clara was not supposed to come until March 15th.  Henry was 2 weeks early, so I was not set on waiting that long.  Slightly afraid to wait that long, honestly, but happy to do it if she wanted to wait.

When I was in labor with Henry, my blood pressure spiked.  I hadn't had any problems with blood pressure, protein, headaches or anything until then.  It was surprising.  They put me on magnisum-sulfate (awful stuff!) and everything turned out just fine.  Because my blood pressure went up so much last time I knew there was a possibility of it happening again.  I didn't have any problems with blood pressure except for one borderline reading at the doctors office, followed 5 minutes later by a totally normal one.  The doctor told me that it was probably just a fluke, but just in case I needed to go straight to labor and delivery if I ever had any of the symptoms of preeclampsia (headache, blurry vision, just plain ol' didn't feel right, etc).

Things were fine until the Tuesday before she was born.  That night I had a little headache.  My eyes were having a hard time focusing on anything and I plain ol' just didn't feel right.  I texted Nate to see if he wanted to come home a little early so that I could go to bed.  He called back to see what was going on and when I explained my symptoms, he insisted that we meet at the hospital.  I thought I just needed to get to bed, but it turns out he was right.  The hospital was a good choice.  I met him there, got hooked up to all of the monitors, had some blood drawn and set off a few high blood pressure alarms, but for the most part was totally fine.  After an hour or so at the hospital, my blood pressure was consistently in the safe zone and I was sent home with a lovely 24 hour test to participate in.

24 hours later, we were back at the hospital.  I had been into my doctors office so that they could do a mid day blood pressure check.  It was something like 117/74.  Not bad.  I was feeling MUCH better, so I was fully expecting to go home after an hour or so of hospital fun.  So much expecting to go home that I hadn't bothered to eat anything that night (we're talking 8pm), bring Nate anything to eat, OR bring any of our hospital gear or a baby car seat.  The only things I did bother to grab on my way out the door was a cell phone charger and my "homework" for my 24 hour test.

After following the same procedure as the night before (minus the blood work and high blood pressure alarms - again, fully expecting to go home), our nurse came back with the interesting news that my protein was high and that the on call doctor was deciding what to do about it.  A short while later, she came back with the more interesting news that he had decided to induce.  I was unsure of my feelings about this.  I really wanted to get some food then a good nights sleep that night but on the other hand no sleep that night was better than chancing a seizure, so I went with it.

Right around 10 p.m. they started the pitocin.  After going through the all of the questions they ask and all of the things they do when they first admit you for delivery I went back and forth between staring at the Timpanogos Temple I had a beautiful view of out my window and watching the contraction and baby heart rate monitor on the other side of the bed all while chatting with Nathan.  I thought for sure that I was in for a LONG night and I kind of had a goal of waiting until 7 the next morning for my doctor to take his turn as the on call doctor.  I decided to take a nap while I could, so nap I did.  I got about an hour of sleep before they came in to up my dosage.  Then I dozed for another couple of hours.  About 2 a.m. I woke up to some more irritating contraction pain.  (I did get an epidural, but if you've had one, you know that you can still feel things.  At least I can and the best way I can describe it is irritating pain.)  They progressively got worse but by the time I decided I should probably call the nurse, she was only supposed to be another 10 minutes before coming to check on me anyways.  I could be tough.  And besides, I was sure it was just going to get much worse.  5 minutes earlier than her punctual self normally would have been there, she came in.  She fussed at me a little for not calling her sooner and began prepping for delivery.  I guess they noticed on the monitors at the nurses station that my contractions and the babies heart beats were lining up, which meant it was BABY TIME!!  The doctor and other nurses were in there as fast as they could be.  14-ish minutes and 1 1/2 pushes later, Clara was here!

I was able to avoid magnesium-sulfate this time around!  I am so grateful for that!  I remember a lot more about everything.  I remember small chunks of the days after Henry was born, but the rest is fuzzy if I remember it at all.  I was actually able to get out of bed several times before I left the hospital.  I remember talking to nurses and doctors that came to visit.  I remember friends and family coming to visit.  Most importantly, I remember the first few days of my baby's life.  I also remember when her brother came to meet her.  That would have been tragic to be asleep for.  I am also grateful for modern medicine as well as great doctors and nurses.  All of the nurses were beyond helpful.  Especially when they were distracting me so I wouldn't be quite as shaky and nervous while I was getting my epidural.  I am grateful that Clara got here safely and that I am still here and healthy.

 Henry and Clara

Girl cousin time!

 Coming home

She had a birthday party waiting for her when she got home.  Henry decorated a cake and brought Lamby for a birthday present. 

First stroller ride.  Henry was looking forward to going for a ride with his new baby for weeks!  It was not long after we got home before they took a ride around the house.

Clara Ruth Butterfield

March 6, 2014

3:14 am

6 lbs 9 oz

Camping Weekend

Most of this weekend has looked like this:

That would be Henry's little grey pj'd leg on top of that blue pillow.  I really wonder if it has something to do with growth spurts, but every now and then, Henry decides he wants to set up a tent and camp out.  ALL WEEKEND!  He will play in his tent, watch cartoons in his tent, almost fall asleep in his tent, etc.  This weekend he also video chatted with his cousin and G.G.  His Daddy is jealous of his tent.  How can you interrupt this for bed time?

His trucks took naps and played in the tent with him.

Sweet Boy

Henry is a kind, caring, thoughtful, helpful little boy.  He has a fun personality that I love.  With that said, I feel like there is a constant power struggle between us.  Maybe between him and the whole rest of the world.  I'm not quite sure.  He is a SMART little boy that has amazing logic and negotiation skills. It is exhausting.  My goal is to somehow teach him that I am his mother, his father is his father, and WE are in charge.  Our house is NOT a democracy.  At the same time, I would like for us to make it through his childhood without squelching his personality.  

A few times before supper, Henry politely protested the pending Baked Sausage Ziti.  He kept digging through the fridge and making suggestions as to what else would be so much better than pasta.  He was being very nice about it and not whiny, so I patiently told him that "We could have that another night." or "That sounds like an interesting supper.", etc.  I did not agree to make anything that he wanted more than pasta.

We have a ... rule? ... understanding? ... that he does not have to eat all of his supper if he does not want to.  I just do not make him anything else.  He eats what he is given or he gets a slice of bread and that's it.  Tonight he decided that all he wanted was a slice of cheese.  I told him that he could have a slice of cheese if he ate four noodles. 

I guess the noodles were tastier than he expected because he ate more than four bites.  He also ate half of his garlic toast before he decided he was done.  He then nicely asked if he could have his slice of cheese, so I got it for him.  He thanked me for it and ran off to play.  A couple minutes later he stopped what he was doing, came back into the kitchen, gave me a hug, and said "Thank you for supper, Mama!".  I am glad that we made it through our meal preference differences without having to battle it out.  I am also glad he appreciated supper, even if he didn't agree with my choice.  He's a sweet kid.

To Never Forgetting

As I have been thinking about everything we have done this year and "publishing" all of the previous years books, I thought it would be fun to write down some of the fun things Henry has said and done this year.  Things happen that you think you will never forget, but you do.  That includes things that kids say.  In an effort to never forget, here are some of fun expressions from Henry this year.

Funny Henry-isms

"You tidding me?!"

"We the best family!"

"Are you seriously?"

"Sit and be talm."

"Stay talm."

"Airbody."

"SOMEtimes..."

I think it is HILARIOUS how he has a bit of a Southern drawl.  For example, he elongates his "O"s.  So it's "hoʊtel", "doʊwn", etc.

"I know!  Guys, I got a idea."

"My do it!"  

"My on my way!"

"To-ge-wer"  (Together)

Random Things that I Love

This kid in general.

 This is not eve the best picture, but I love how he holds his hands behind his back like this all of the time.

And how he stands like this.  

 And how he likes to study things now.  When he is interested, he's INTERESTED. 

I love how he loves his froggy boots. 

And how his trucks help with everything.

I love how much these two love each other.  They get so excited to see each other and I am excited for 2014 to add another cousin/sister to the mix.

I love how many people look out for him.  I am grateful that he has grandparents, aunts, and uncles that all love and take care of him.  I love that he has a Daddy that loves to be with him.  His Daddy misses him on the nights that he doesn't make it home before bed time.  He spends his days at home taking care of both of us.  He is such a good Daddy and husband.  I love those two!