Not a fun weekend

This past Friday, as we were driving home, we got in a car accident. None of us have any injuries (aside from some mild whiplash), but our car is pretty beaten up. We were driving down a major street, going about 40, when a car tried to cross and hit us.  We still don't know what exactly will happen with our car, but all of the air bags deployed, so the damage is pretty serious. And of course we happen to be living in the one state that has a no-fault law, so even though it wasn't our fault, we still have to cover our costs.

Thankfully, we have friends who were able to pick us up and Nathan and Rachel living nearby, who are kind enough to let us use their car while we wait for the news/shop for a new one. Ben and I are both pretty sad about losing that car. We've only had it for 4 months and we really loved it. That is definitely not an experience we want to ever have again, but like Ben keeps saying, thank goodness for airbags. And car seats.

In other news, Ben is away in Chicago this week. He has training for work, so he's spending his time sitting through trainings and being fed. Henry and I are hanging out together, doing pretty much the same thing we do every day, which is eat, sleep, and nap. And play--Henry is now very interactive and loves to play.

And this picture was just too cute not to post.

One Month Later

At the risk of sounding repetitive, Henry is one month old today! He went to church for the first time yesterday and he handled it pretty well. Though apparently his idea of a good church experience is having mommy walk him up and down the hallway during class. Everyone loved him and kept commenting on how much he looks like Ben. When he gets mad, his skin turns red, making his hair look red, which adds to the effect.  Ben is also the one who can get the most smiles and reactions out of him.

A family in our ward is letting us use their baby swing, and Henry loves it. I've finally found something he doesn't mind sitting in. This is his, "I'm having such a great time" face.

I feel like I should mention something other than Henry, since I think he's all I've talked about since he's been born. Since we took down our Christmas tree last week and now actually have some furniture (all of which is hand-me-down), I have finally rearranged our living room. One day my goal is to have a house in which the couch and dining table do not have to be in the same room. But we really do like living here (just ignore the mess by Ben--he worked from home today).

And last of all, I'd like to make a final shout-out to my brother Geoff, or Elder Fernquist, as he is currently known (even though he won't be reading this). He started his mission last month and he leaves the MTC tomorrow for Washington. He's excited to get up there and I'm really proud of him.

Happy Birthday Dear Tubs

Our little fatty Henry is now four weeks old. I think he's about as excited about that fact as we are.

Yet despite his young age, this week he wore his size 6 month pajamas that we got him for Christmas with just a few inches' room for growth.

His favorite past times are eating, staring at lights (especially Christmas lights), eating, sleeping, staring at his mom while eating, kicking (his right foot in particular), eating, bouncing on his dad's leg, eating, talking in his sleep, eating and... oh yeah, eating. As is exhibited by the rotundness of us belly.

A notable milestone in his life so far is his first bath, which he had a week ago. He actually quite enjoyed it and has seemed to feel the same way about succeeding baths. Don't mind Ben's hairy legs.

Baby's First Roadtrip

Henry is now 2 1/2 weeks old and he has grown quite a bit. He's in the 100th percentile for his weight, height and head size--he now weighs 11.5 lbs, which means he's into 3 month old clothes. He enjoyed his first Christmas, though he didn't seem to care that much about opening presents, since he slept through it. We'll teach him more about being greedy next year.

We spent Christmas morning as a family in Detroit, but Sunday afternoon we drove down to Missouri and surprised my family. Henry was quite a trooper on the 12 hour drive. We got in at about 3:30 in the morning and snuck into my parents' house and slept until they woke up. Everyone was pretty excited to see us there (though I'm pretty sure they mostly cared about Henry).

Henry has barely spent any time not being held since we've gotten here. He's just passed from uncle to grandma to grandpa, with his parents occasionally being allowed to hold him.

 Everyone absolutely adores him, which isn't hard to do considering how adorable he is. In my own unbiased opinion.

He's already growing up a lot and it's fun to see him start to interact a bit with people and visibly notice things around him.

Henry Bernard Fisher

It finally happened! Ben and I have the best Christmas present we could have ever asked for--our son Henry.

We went into the hospital Wednesday. After 36 hours of labor, even though I had completely progressed, he just wasn't coming out. So we went into a c-section.

Finally, Friday morning at 7:19, Henry Bernard was born.  He weighed 10 lbs 7 oz and was 22 inches long.  He is beautiful and healthy and wonderful.

We had a few visitors in the hospital, including my mom and brother Geoff.

They love their new roles as Grandma and Uncle.  It was hard for both of them to leave Henry.

It was amazing how instantly Henry became a part of our family.

We brought him home from the hospital on Sunday. It snowed on his birthday, so we bundled him up nice and warm.

We love having Henry around. He is such a joy to have in our home.

He has such a great little personality and he's quite pleasant.

We especially enjoy watching his expressive faces.  He does some good work with his eyebrows.

Not to mention his long feet already fit in the booties I knit him.

He usually likes to be fully clothed, but every now and then he'll get a little scandalous.

Ever since he's gotten here, it seems we just sleep

and sleep

and sleep.

The best part is, I now get this face to look at every day.

Christmas Time is Here

My mom and brother have been here for the past week helping out as we prepare for Baby. They've been a lot of help, doing chores around the apartment and distracting me. Unfortunately, one certain fetus does not seem to be as excited to see them as they are to see him.

We put up our Christmas tree this week, which is always one of my favorite things to do. We even already have presents under the tree, though none for me. Apparently Ben and Baby are just loved more.

Tonight we go into the hospital again for another induction. Though it will be a different hospital and different doctor than last time. Since I'm already 6 days over, there will be no failure this time. If I am not progressing by early Thursday afternoon, they will perform a c-section.  The doctors are worried that he's big enough that he just won't descend, and a week overdue should be enough to kick-start something if that's a possibility. 

So I've resigned myself to the idea of a c-section. I'm not excited about going into surgery, but we feel like we've done everything we can and that this just might be how he needs to be born. So by Thursday night we should either have a new baby or I will be in labor. Hopefully the next time we post, we'll have some handsome pictures of a very fat little boy (and maybe a name to go along with them).

Movember

Nope, still no baby. And today is now the actual, original due date, so hopefully he'll come soon. My mom and brother are here, so they're going to try to help me jiggle this baby out. And we seem to have the doctor situation figured out, so he can come any time.

For work, Ben participated in Movember. For those of you who are not cultured enough to know what this is, it is a month in which men grow mustaches to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to remind people to donate to the cause. He's been pretty excited about it and has especially loved staring at himself in the mirror.

Week 1--Pubescent Mustache

Week 2--Creepy Pencil Mustache (and mysterious fruit)

Week 3--Mustache Explosion

Week 4--The Final Result

We (meaning I) were worried that the first time the baby meets his daddy would be with a mustache. But as much fun as Ben had with this, November is now gone, and with it, the mustache.