William Sherwood

Saturday we took a long overdue trip to Plymouth to visit Matt's sister Katie and husband Brandon and their FIVE children! Yes, five :) Rose, Luke, Jack, Bella and the new little addition, William. William was born 8 days after Hank. I'm so excited to see Hank and William at family gatherings in the future.

Hank & William

Uncle/Daddy Brandon

Eleanor, Jack, Carolyn, Kendall(neighbor), Luke, Rose

Rose, Eleanor, Carolyn, Bella

Jack

Luke

Rose & Eleanor

Carolyn & Bella

The highlight of the kids' night was the mouse (or rat as Luke thought) in the basement playroom. They had fun putting cheese out to trap the mouse which kept mysteriously go missing. The kids said it was either the mouse that ate it or Jack. My money's on Jack.

Hank and the Poop

So our little baby boy is a whole week old. He's such a perfect addition to our family. He's so easy going and the girls adore him!We gave him his first bath and like the typical newborn he wasn't a big fan. He's just not happy being naked and cold but overall did just fine.



Monday was his first doctor visit. He is now 21 inches long and weighs 8 pounds 5 ounces. When we checked out of the hospital just a week ago he was only 7 pounds 10 ounces. So he's doing wonderfully well.

He changes every day and is starting to fill out more. He sleeps great. If I were to try to count his time awake, I think I'd be stretching it to say he even is awake 6 hours of the day. At night I will typically feed him once or twice depending on when we go to bed. If I feed him at 9pm, I can usually count on feeding him again in 4 hours around 1am and then again at 5am.


Now for the story of Hank and the Poop...
On Friday, Matt and I took him out on a country drive and found a couple cute antique stores in Coloma. After shopping at one, we pulled over so I could nurse him. Then I tried to change his diaper by laying him on my lap with his head on my knees. No problem, right? Well, Hank's a casual pooper. He doesn't poop to get it over with. He poops a little in this diaper and a little in that - an equal opportunity pooper. So as I was wiping him, he pooped more. Again I wiped him and asked Matt to get the next diaper ready. With Matt ready, I started pulling away the diaper only to shove it back under to try and catch the next load of poop. Unfortunately for my pants, I wasn't quick enough. Now for the fourth time, I wiped him clean really lifting his legs to make sure I got everything. Then in slow motion, I saw this stream of yellow poop flying through the air straight at my face. Luckily it didn't quite have enough momentum and fell just short of my face onto my chest and all over my tank. Matt and I laughed until we cried. We finally got Hank changed into a clean diaper - he seemed quite happy. And I wiped my shirt and pants the best I could making sure to get the puddle of poop that had accumulated in my cleavage. Needless to say we didn't shop at the other antique store - maybe next time.

Welcome Baby Hank!!!

Hank McGuffey Young

September 11, 2010
5:07 pm
8 pounds 2 ounces
20 1/4 inches

After being convinced by my doctor appointment checkup on Thursday (not much change from the 3cm of 3 weeks ago) that my body just didn't know how to go into labor, I started having fairly painful contractions Saturday morning.

The shorter story goes like this...

At 10am Matt and Carolyn ran to Lakeville for new work boots as I was getting in the shower. I made sure Matt knew I was feeling contractions and to hurry. With already making one trip to the hospital and being sent home, I was determined that I would not go again unless in extreme pain and certain our baby was coming.

Saturday was the Michigan / Notre Dame game so I started making chili for the people we had invited over. How embarrassing would it be to be perfectly fine at game time but no food because I thought maybe I was going into labor. While cutting tomatoes for the chili, I sat on a stool and took note of my contractions which I first took note of at 11:06 and felt consistently every 4-5 minutes. At 11:40 I called to see where Matt was and told him of the situation. While waiting, I played a little game of Hi Ho Cherry-O with Eleanor.

I finally made the decision that it was go time so we dropped the girls off with Grandma and Grandpa Young and set off for the hospital at noon.

Checked into triage, I started having fears that while the contractions were painful and still about 5 minutes apart, that maybe we'd be sent home again. Nope! The resident checked me at 1:20 and I let out a cheer as I was declared to be a "stretchy seven". Hurray! We checked into our birthing suite and made our phone calls.

Prior to my epidural :)

I took in my fluids and got an epidural and waited for the doctor. She was across town at the other hospital with another patient and instructed the nurse to not check me again. She didn't want my water to break before she got there. So we waited. Matt's mom joined us and we just hung out watching the game.

Finally at 4:30, Dr. Evangelista came in and broke my water. She gave me time to let the baby drop more and at 5 came in and found the baby ready to go. They got ready and I gave my one push and out came baby Hank.

Like most babies, he isn't a fan of being sprawled out naked for his first weigh-in

And Matt got to watch the second half of the game with his boy.

We could already tell he was a laid back little baby. Barely fussing and quite content, he easily took to nursing. And this behavior has continued through these first 2.5 days. His big sisters are enamored. We're very blessed.

The new Young family!

Biggest Sister Eleanor

Going home!

Eleanor's 1st Day of Preschool Take 2

I watched Eleanor get on the bus today. She was all smiles and couldn't hardly stand it! It was too cute.

She found her friend and classmate Kyle as soon as she hopped on the bus. And I think she really did have to hop to make that first step up.

So tiny!

So the word after school is she loved it and wants to go back every day! She liked the bus ride, she learned some new songs, she ate triangle pancakes for breakfast, and they went outside for recess for just a very little bit before someone blew the whistle and they had to get their backpacks and get on the bus.

Eleanor's 1st Day of Preschool

Eleanor started school today so last night she picked out for all her outfits for the week then tried them on and gave Matt a fashion show. She also informed me that she would need a nice red apple for her teacher.

This morning I woke Carolyn first and started getting her dressed. Both girls tend to be a bit sleepy at 6 o’clock in the morning and typically a little on the grumpy side. But as I was dressing Carolyn I hear Eleanor on the bottom bunk say, “Good morning Mom.” Someone was obviously excited for her big day.

But it wasn't really a big day – it was just a short meeting to go over paperwork and tour the classroom. Our appointment was from 11:20-11:40. So I've been trying to explain that to her for weeks. Tomorrow is her actual first day of school.

On the way to daycare, she asks “Now Mom, you’re just going to drop Carolyn off at Sandy’s?” No, I’m going to work for a little while then I’ll be back to get you for school. “Oh, okay.”

So at 11 I picked her up. Sandy informed me that she had been watching the clock all morning. In the car she asks, “You have to go back to work right?” Yes, we’ll find your classroom, meet your teachers, do a few things, then I’ll take you back to Sandy’s for lunch. “THAT’S IT?!?!” I thought I explained all this to her…

So she’s excited for tomorrow though disappointed in the length of the school day today. She has great teachers, her Aunt Becky works in the library, and she has 6 cousins in the same school. I’m anxious to see her on the bus tomorrow and then hear how her day went when I pick her up.

The girls anxious and excited for their first day of school (Carolyn will be doing Mother Goose this year at daycare but it doesn't start until October, but why should that keep her from taking her backpack and being ready). Is it just me or does Eleanor look tinier than ever?

Eleanor's locker!

And Eleanor's teacher, Mrs. Seddon. Notice the apple :)

Stay tuned for news about the bus ride and first 'real' day of school.