Ouch, Mom!

Henry had his first round of vaccines today, which included 1 oral vaccine and 3 shots. He did pretty well... just screamed for about 5 minutes afterward (what little person wouldn't scream when poked with needles???). He even managed to keep down nearly all of the oral vaccine and the tylenol that I gave him ahead of time (good boy!). He's sleeping now, and I think we'll just take it easy today. Otherwise, his check-up went well. He seems to be meeting all the "benchmarks" for his development and is growing well. He is now 12 lbs, 6 oz and nearly 23 inches long (or maybe longer... he wasn't exactly cooperating with the leg-stretching bit). He does not have a large head, however. Not that I'm concerned, but his weight is 75th percentile, length is 5oth, and head is 10th!!! Haha.

In other news... Henry does not like to sleep on his back for more than 4 hours at night. I don't really care how many times he needs to wake up to nurse, but lately he won't go back down after his 4 hour sleep. Well, he goes down, and sometimes even sleeps... but he is so squirmy and noisy that nobody can get any sleep. This morning after two hours of that, I finally just took him out to the living room and let him sleep on me. He liked that. And I got to watch The Office online. I guess that's the positive side of it. (Not to mention Matt hopefully getting a bit of sleep while we were in the other room...)

Speaking of Matt, he recently traded in his computer (sold it on craigslist) and bought a bike. He rode to work for the first time this morning, so we'll see how this little commuting adventure turns out.

Random: I love that I ordered prints from Walgreens directly from the photo albums (on the left) at 10:30pm the other night and they were ready for pick up the next morning at 8:30am. How easy is that???

On the Road!

This weekend, we took Henry on our first road trip! We drove up to Sandusky, OH, where Matt's (maternal) grandparents live. It's a 7 hour drive normally, but we figured it would take *a bit* longer with a baby! We left at 5:30am on Saturday and arrived at about 1pm, so it really only took us 7.5 hrs to get there. Henry was such a good boy! And by that I mean that he slept most of the way and was quick about his feeding breaks. I sat in the back with him so that I could help him if necessary, but it turns out he didn't need me too much until the very end of the trip.

In Sandusky, we stayed at Matt's grandparents house and visited with them for the weekend. While we were there, Matt's parents and sister, and several of his relatives who live nearby, came over as well. It was great to be able to introduce our little munchkin to all of them. Special thanks to Aunt Katie for bringing her hair expertise to help out the new parents!!! Henry was pretty well-behaved the whole time, although he did make me work a bit to keep him happy at Mass and dinner out on Saturday. What would life with a baby be like without some of that, though? That night we broke out the pack 'n' play for the first time for Henry to sleep in. No problems there, thankfully.

We left for home around 8:30am on Sunday so that we could make it home in time for LifeTeen. After a couple of not-so-quick rest stops, we were already behind schedule. Waaay behind. So when Henry needed to eat the next time... we tried something new. I had a breast pump that a friend had given me, but that I hadn't used much. So I pumped a bit and gave it to Henry in a bottle. We had tried this once before in anticipation of the road trip, but it did not go well that time. This time, however, it worked great! So I pumped a full bottle for him and kept him happy the rest of the way without having to stop again. Praise the Lord! Now let's just hope I haven't done any permanent damage to our breastfeeding relationship.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

In other news...

I have been going to a new moms group here in Ashburn the last few weeks. I'm enjoying meeting some other newbies (and having a reason to get up in the morning and go out!). We've even been going walking together on something of a regular basis. Hooray! Between these ladies and my other mommy friends, I'm in pretty good shape, socially speaking. Excellent.

Henry is growing and changing all the time as well. He is holding his head up pretty well most of the time, which has opened a new world of possibilities for his entertainment. He is also alert MUCH more during the day, so we're able to play with him and have some fun. Some of his new toys: a swing (that we are borrowing from a friend- thanks, Lacy!)and a Bumbo seat. And even though it's not new, I'll count his "car" mirror as a new toy, since I just discovered a new use for it. For your viewing enjoyment...

P.S. Matt is really good at putting Henry to sleep after his bath! Much better than I am, in any case. :-)

New Pictures 9.15.08

The newest pictures are up! Grandpa Panning's visit was short, but Matt had the camera, so there are a lot of pictures (of the same thing). There are also a number of naked Henry pictures (what can I say? he's so happy naked). Peruse at your own risk!

Age

Having a baby has aged me. In the eyes of teenagers, that is. Two years ago when I started teaching, most of my students thought I was 21 or so. This past year I gained about 5 years by adding the 'Mrs.' Now with a baby, my LifeTeen kids tonight guessed me to be 28 or 29! What do you think? Have I really aged so much?

Teaching at Romulus HS (2006)

Christmas 2007



August 2008

These are a few of my favorite things

Henry's Top Five:

5. The pacifier
Some of you know that I resisted using the pacifier at first. For a variety of reasons, but mainly because I saw it as some sort of a "crutch." As my friend Theresa put it yesterday, it's sort of like an epidural... it may be a modern(ish) crutch and I may be a wimp for giving in, but wow does it make my life so much easier. Everyone I know (EVERYONE) advised me that I shouldn't worry about it and just go ahead with it (counting my blessings that Henry is even interested in the first place). So I did.

4. Bathtime
Henry used to hate the bath, but is starting to really enjoy it. Enough that I have started giving him a bath regularly at night time. He just seems to love sitting in the warm water and playing in it. I'm happy because it gives me something else to do with him in the evening rather than sit around and try to keep him from crying or falling asleep too early. And it gives me a little break from politics on the TV... also a bonus.

3. The exercise ball
When Henry is fussy and tired, he likes to be bounced. Only Mommy gets pretty tired of walking around the (small) apartment, so we've started moving the bouncing sessions to the exercise ball. This lets me bounce away without having to leave the room (and it doesn't hurt my back quite as much). Did I mention that it puts Henry to sleep?

2. Walking
Of course the best way to calm him down and get him nice and sleepy is to go for a walk. In the Baby Bjorn or in the stroller... really doesn't matter all that much. I'm so glad that the weather has been cooler lately, too. We are discovering some fun places that we can go to walk more regularly. And meeting people to walk with!

1. The changing table
In the last week or so, this has become Henry's favorite place to be. The more naked, the better. Again, he used to scream his head off when we undressed him or tried to change his diaper. Now you take that diaper off and he starts kicking his legs around, happy as can be. As long as I don't mind cleaning up an occasional (or frequent) mess on the changing pad, I can leave him up there for quite some time while I putter around the bedroom/bathroom doing whatever I need to do. Henry will just wave his arms and legs all around and talk to the shadows in the room nonstop. So great.

Politics As Usual

I am not a particularly political person. This year, however, I have been subjected treated to hours upon hours of political news and analysis via CNN, Fox News, and other (often comedic) commentary, thanks to my wonderful husband. It's sort of like being forced to eat more vegetables: I know it's good for me to be more informed and involved with the election this fall, but it does become a little too much for me at times. Now that the tickets are set and the conventions are over, the race (and the commentary) begins in earnest. I rather wish the election were happening much sooner than November, though. Here are a few things (in no particular order) that I am already quite sick of hearing (and not looking forward to 60 more days of):

• Change
• Maverick
• Attack-Dog
• Experience
• Community Organizer
  
• Heartbeat away from the presidency

Germs

I've had my first glimpse into one of the least glamorous parts of parenthood this week: having a sick family.  This was VERY mild, just a couple of colds for mommy and daddy.  But it's left us more tired than usual, at a time when Henry is starting to get a bit more demanding (and continues to be a night owl).  Most striking for me, I guess, is that when I'm feeling exhausted I can't just hand the baby off to Matt... because he's feeling even worse!  I can't really complain, but I'm having visions of later on, when there are multiple kids- with fevers and runny noses and upset stomachs and diarrhea... you get the idea.  Something to look forward to!

Labor Day Visiting

Labor Day Weekend turned into a weekend of visiting with friends, which was fabulous. On Friday afternoon, we drove up to Emmitsburg, MD to spend some time with the Loves, who recently moved there from Ann Arbor. Minus the holiday weekend traffic, it was a lovely drive up there and we enjoyed the visit very much. The third Love baby will be born in the next week, so say some extra prayers for them over the next few days. 

Friday evening, Sarah came in for a visit. She is a friend of ours from waaay back (my very first memory involves Sarah!) and is currently in grad school up at Cornell in NY. We stayed up way too late talking that night, but it was great to catch up. On Saturday, the Pannings dressed in our finest Maize and Blue in preparation for the football game later that day. It was so nice outside, though, that we took a field trip first. The four of us went up to a vineyard not too far away for a wine tasting. The wine was delicious and we learned a few things about wine appreciation, which was fun. Afterward we were a little hungry, so we went to the blackberry fields and picked a whole bunch. I've never had blackberries before, but they were delicious. Unfortunately, the ones that made it home with us had some fungus growing on them before we were able to eat all of them. Sigh. We did better with the produce we bought at a road side stand on the way home, though. Yummy! Thanks for cooking for us, Sarah!  

The football game was a little disappointing, but that was to be expected, I suppose. That's ok... it was Henry's first game and he's well on his way to being a superfan.  

Monday morning brought us a quick visit from our friend Kara, along with her fiance and her brother, as they drove through on their way home from Baltimore. Since we can't get back to MI at this point, it was great to have Kara fill us in on all the news. And we had fun imagining a couple years from now when Kara and Steven may have a little one of their own!