After a brief break from our weekly Happy Hour posts, I am back!  It was tough to come up with a list of topics for this week, because basically all we have done is cuddled our new son Hayden.  Today he is officially two weeks old, and still perfect (in our eyes)!

Hayden is 2 Weeks Old Today!

Some of my favorite pictures of Hayden thus far.

• We’ve been adjusting to life as parents, and couldn’t possibly love it more!  We feel so blessed to have such a happy & healthy little boy, who brings so much joy to our lives.  Sure, sometimes changing poopy diapers at 3am isn’t much fun, but when he snuggles in and falls asleep in your arms, it makes it all worth it!  He eats, he sleeps, and he poops, so he is a perfect newborn baby!

Our New Sleep Schedule

All snuggled in!

• As all new parents know, living with a newborn baby leads to many sleepless nights.  The first couple of nights we would just stare at him while he slept, periodically checking his pulse to make sure he was still alive.  The night before my birthday he gave me the best present ever, he slept for 7 hours straight!  We didn’t sleep for 7 hours straight that night though, we were still up every half an hour checking his pulse.  Since then he’s been a little rock star when it comes to sleeping!  He loves his crib and must have inherited his love for sleep from his mother.

Maternity & Paternity Leave

• We are pretty fortunate that our lives in Kuwait provide us with time off to spend at home with Hayden.  By Kuwaiti law, Rachel is able to  take 70 days off of work, with full pay!  Her maternity leave will run until December, when we get another 3 weeks off of work, so technically she is off until after our holiday break in January!  Kuwait doesn’t have a law granting fathers any paternity time, however my position is very flexible and my employer has been supportive of my desire to stay home and help care for Rachel and Hayden.

Now That We Have A Baby, Is It Time For A Minivan?

Durango looking all tough with the jack on the back . . . .

• When guys find out their wives are pregnant, one of the first things that goes through their mind is, “oh crap, we better not be buying a minivan, because I refuse to drive one!”  Well, we aren’t buying a minivan (yet) but our Durango did lose a bit of its masculinity today and is one step closer to looking like a minivan.  Today I decided to take the big ass jack off the back!  The jack is so heavy on the backdoor, that someone has to hold it open to load the stroller in.  When you are trying to load a baby, bags, a stroller, a wife, and everything else, there was just too much going on to have two adults load a stroller. So, I swallowed my man pride and took it off.

No more jack . . . .

Canadian Thanksgiving

Thanks to our friends at www.thepearlcurriculum.blogspot.ae for organizing the potluck, and for this great photo.

• Last Monday was Thanksgiving in Canada.  We have a lot of awesome friends here from Canada, so we were invited to celebrate with them at a potluck dinner!  There was about 30 people there, and it was so nice getting everyone together and giving thanks for such great friends.  On Thursday, November 26th, we’ll celebrate the “real” thanksgiving with our American friends! 🙂

Hilton Resort Walking Paths

2 weeks old, and has already been to the ocean multiple times.

• One of the reasons we got a membership at the Hilton Resort this year, was because of their awesome paved walking paths throughout the property.  We were excited that we could spend all winter outside going for family walks and getting Hayden outdoors.  We’ve been a couple of times already since he’s been born, and we just love it!  One loop is about 3-4 kilometers, so its the perfect distance for a short walk, or you can do the loop multiple times for a decent one.