2 months old!

Henry had his 2 month well child doctors visit today. His weight is up to 12 lbs, 10 oz and he is 24 inches in length (~70th percentile for both)! He received 4 immunizations (3 shots). I felt I was ready for the trauma of seeing him get the shots, but I was not ready for the blood which came gushing from one of the injection sites! The nurse said "Oh, he's a bleeder," as I stood there horrified and proceeded to put pressure on the site myself. Luckily it stopped bleeding, and I think I've recovered. (Henry is also doing just fine).

A lot to say

Aunt Kat and Uncle Dan visit from Memphis

Aunt Kat and Uncle Dan are visiting us from Memphis this weekend and meeting Henry for the first time. They too are expecting their first child, a daughter, in late May or early June and we are excited for Henry to have another cousin so close in age. We spent today giving them a brief tour of Twin Cities followed by watching Matt's curling match in his end of the season bonspiel tournament. We plan the obligatory visitor outing to get cheese curds before the weekend is done and look forward to watching our basketball teams (Michigan State & Duke) play their games in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament tomorrow.

Henry meets cousin Oliver

We have had a very fun but exhausting week in Michigan. After spending two days in Holland with Oma and Opa, we traveled onto metro Detroit to visit Grandma and Grandpa and Henry met his Aunt Jessica, Uncle Tony & cousin Oliver for the first time. Per usual, the visit was too short and we are sad to say goodbye to our family and travel back to Minnesota.

Road trip to Michigan

Henry is now a very well traveled 7 week old, enduring one leg of a long road trip from Minnesota through Wisconsin, Illinois & Indiana to Michigan. He did amazingly well on the car ride, sleeping the majority of the time and not crying. We stayed one evening with his great Aunt Jane in Illinois, before traveling on to Oma & Opa's house in Michigan.

Henry celebrated his first St. Patrick's day wearing his "I'm a McCutie" outfit from from Marita & Nick. He has also enjoyed new objects to look at Oma & Opa's house, especially his second cousin Hunter & Xavier's bouncy chair which has a lot more "bells and whistles" than his own. He gets very excited that he is able to hit the parrot and monkey characters in front of him to make them move.

The McRitchie guys

First walk in the stroller

I spend most days indoors incessantly bouncing on the exercise ball attempting to get Henry to take a nap. I have been patiently awaiting warmer weather so that we can go outside and take walks instead. We have had glimpses of spring this past week and the snow is finally melting on the sidewalks and street corners. Today it was absolutely beautiful, 58 degrees and sunny. My arms and back were grateful for a break from the exercise ball and we took our first walk in the stroller. It worked like a charm, after a few minutes of fussing Henry was fast asleep!

Relaxing weekend

We had a great weekend with Henry and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We are becoming increasingly brave and leaving the house more frequently. We now know that Henry will fall asleep on walks and/or in the car, which is a perfect way to "force" him to take a nap. Saturday we even enjoyed an evening out of the house at our friends Renee & Scott's. They endured listening to Henry cry during his worst time of day, or the "witching hours" as they are known, between 5-7pm. Thankfully they had an exercise ball and a baby monitor. We were eventually able to bounce Henry to sleep. Matt enjoyed watching a movie with Renee & Scott, and I enjoyed falling asleep on their couch.

Play date with Jesse

I owe my friend Jesse a huge thanks for treating Henry and me to a lovely day out of the house! We ventured out for the longest period of time that I have since Henry was born. We went for a great walk around Lake Harriet and I was treated to a delicious lunch at Jesse's house. The outing unfortunately ended in some tears for Henry, but I think he overall enjoyed a change of scenery. The fresh air also tired him out. He has been sleeping in his carseat since we got home which has allowed me to start some laundry, load the dishwasher and post these photos!

Hangin' with my crew

Henry continues growing very fast; as of today his weight is up to 10 lbs 3 oz! He spends a lot of his day staring and cooing at his stuffed animals as well as stretching out his arms and legs.

Goodbye Grandma and Grandpa

We are sad to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa today. Henry will miss snoozing with Grandpa and reading with Grandma. Mom will miss being able to take a nap whenever she wants to. It was certainly great to catch up on sleep!

Alert time with Grandma

Henry had a very busy day with Grandma and Grandpa looking around the house, reading books, and of course his favorite past time, bouncing on the exercise ball.

Mom and Henry attended week 2 of our mom and baby class at the hospital where Henry was born. Henry slept the entire time (which I suppose is better than screaming). I enjoyed talking with the other moms who have newborns ages 3-8 weeks. It was helpful and reassuring to hear they are going through the exact same things we are, as well as discuss suggestions for common problems.

Sunday walk on the sunny side of the river