Photo Album -- Harrison's 1st Week

https://www.photoshop.com/user/higginsfamily --> Drop down "Higgins Family Albums" --> Select album "Harrison -- Week 1" --> Click on a blue box icon to the right of the page to start the slideshow.

Harrison's First Week

The little guy had a busy first week -- started it with being born and ended it as the third wheel on a lunch date with his parents. We spent the weekend in the hospital with family and friends visiting us there, then carted our bundle home on Monday. Chris stayed home for all of our first week together, and the three of us didn't even leave the house on Tuesday. Wednesday we ventured to the pediatrician (Harrison is up to 5 pounds, 13 ounces -- a 4 ounce gain since he was born!) and took our first walk in the stroller that night. Thursday was more hanging around the house (figuring stuff out and getting better at being parents all the time) and successfully bathing the baby, and Friday we went on a "Harrison is one week old" lunch outing to a restaurant nearby. The little guy loved it -- evidenced by how soundly he slept. :)

Our first impressions of Harrison are that he's the cutest baby we've ever seen (naturally...) and also the noisiest baby we've ever heard (with a constant soundtrack of snorting, grunting, squawking, and groaning when he's awake plus plenty of snoring when he's asleep). He loves knowing that someone is nearby, so we spend alot of time with him laid out across us somehow so he knows he's not alone. He makes lots of funny faces and his little arms shoot straight up in the air sometimes -- we don't think that any of that is intentional, but it makes us laugh anyway!

Not that anyone is interested in us, but both parents are doing well. Sleeping fine (although not in long stretches since he's eating every 3 hours), feeling good, and crazy about our little boy!

Thanks for all the good wishes! We'll probably put up weekly updates for his first month and then drop down to monthly entries after that. We're also working on a photo album online so you can track him that way, if you're interested.

Harrison's First Bath

Well, we couldn't resist trying to give little Harrison a bath when we got home from the hospital. We knew it was a stressful day for all parties but decided to give it a shot anyway -- wash all that hospital-ness off of him.

So we got the water and washcloth and towel and fresh clothes and a million other things ready and stripped him down, which froze his baby butt and made him cry (which we all expected).. Then his crying made Rachel cry (which none of us expected).. Pretty soon the only pictures Chris could take had a crying person in them (no, not him), so he called the bath about 30 seconds into it. We'll try again another day. Oh! One bright spot of the bath was that Harrison peed on Rachel for the first time!

Don't worry -- as soon as the baby was dressed and warm, no one was crying anymore! And the rest of our first night at home was perfect. :)

Harrison Kai Higgins is Born!

Chris and I are happy to announce that our little baby was born on Friday May 16 at 5:02pm. He was long and lean -- weighing 5 pounds, 9 ounces and measuring 19 inches. Took us 9 months and a few days to decide, but we've named him Harrison Kai Higgins -- both Chris and his dad's middle names are Harris.

We love him!

It's Time!

On our way to the hospital!

Rachel's belly at 40 weeks

And she's off!

Wee is Due!

But alas, he is not making his appearance. Okay with me -- just means I get a little more time with him all to myself. :) I did try to convince him to be born, though!

So what's he doing in there?


Come on, you, Mama says so!


Need some help?

What's Wee Up To This Month? Installment Ten

FINAL INSTALLMENT!

Month Ten -- Weeks 37-40

Unless you're already a parent or have lots of friends who are, you're probably wondering why there have been 10 monthly installments to this big adventure. Let me explain...

Short answer : Women are pregnant for 10 months, not 9.

Long answer : Baby doctors are not interested in tracking pregnancies in any unit larger than weeks (and can even calculate in days when they're measuring the baby on a sonogram photo). Human moms are pregnant for 40 weeks (well, a baby is due after being carried around for 40 weeks). Since the number of days in a month is typically closer to 28 than 35, we'll call every 4 weeks equal to 1 month. Divide 40 by 4, get 10, and there you have it. Ten months is longer than nine months, for sure, but it's nothing like 22 months, which is how long elephant moms carry their "little" babies around. I think the 9 month concept probably is a count of how long a woman is pregnant once she knows she's pregnant, if you follow me without my using any explicit language. So now you know, and knowing is half the battle!

Size -- Wee is probably going to spend all month at around 20 inches (head-to-toe), which is where he finished last month, and will grow from about 6 pounds to 7 or 8 pounds (and hopefully no more!).

Development --His senses are all ready to go! He can taste, feel hot / cold / pressure when Chris spanks his little bottom for messing with his mom, hear, and see. His vision won't be too good for the first few months after he's born, but he should be able to see within about 6 inches of his face right away.

Appearance -- Like a real baby!

Rachel's belly at 36 weeks