Monday, July 30, 2012

Uncle Justin Arrives!

Henry had a fun weekend of spoiling by Grandpa and Uncle Justin.  It was so fun to introduce him to Justin and see the two of them together!

A nice introduction
The weekend was basically a men's bonding weekend.  Henry had his first trip (of many) to Home Depot, watched Grandpa and Dad reseal the toilet, and heard a lot of computer talk.  It was good for Henry, who has attended a lot of ladies' lunches and gatherings in recently weeks, to have a little man time.
All the Small Men

I, meanwhile, was alone in the house for the first time in 11 weeks.  For the first five minutes I couldn't decide what to do--read a book?  do a project?  clean the bathroom?  I quickly opted for eating lunch without interruption and falling asleep in front of the TV without fear that someone would start crying.  Heavenly. 


Uncle/Nephew bonding

Henry is looking forward to getting even better acquainted with Uncle Justin (and his girlfriend April) when we head to Mount Vernon in September!


Friday, July 13, 2012

Lately, around here

Summer is in full swing here, complete with life-sucking humidity, a long string of 100+ degree days, and thunderstorms, some of which knocked out power to most of the region for days (100+ degree days, no less).  I miss Idaho the most in the summer.  But I digress.

Henry was two months old last week, and suddenly he looks much less like a newborn and more like a baby.  I had him in the Baby Bjorn today for the first time in a while, and he was holding his head up and flailing his arms and acting like a great big baby.  He loves to smile and I swear I heard a giggle from him the other day...and then he suddenly hits a point where smiles turn to full on screams.  At least he's predictable.

Henry loves loves the bath...until it's time to get out and get his pjs on.

He's also mostly sleeping through the night--like, he slept nine and a half hours the other night (wheeee!).  Then again, he woke up three times last night, so I'm still nursing a coffee cup pretty closely.  I'm still nervous that he's not eating enough, even though the pediatrician specifically said not to feed him in the wee hours.  I wonder how long that lasts.  That, and worrying that he's not breathing, and questioning our every decision...
Snuggling with Dad

Other things going on around here include:

A growing garden.  Dad planted the most spectacularly beautiful garden this spring.  I can't tell you how pretty and perfect it is...or, rather, was, until rabbits devoured our green beans.  Three times.  It's mid-July, so we've given up on green beans for the summer (SO sad), but the tomatoes are coming in and we're eating lettuce and green onions.

Spinach (which is way bigger now AND going to seed, of course...)
Netflicks.  I know, we are, like, the last people in America to get Netflicks, but we finally pulled the trigger.  Since it's so hot, and since we're still sleep deprived (because sleeping through the night is new and not consistent, and since nursing an infant takes hours and hours of the day, we've become fans of new shows--namely Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.  Sometimes that is the highlight of the day.

Crazy storms.  Weekend before last, Jason had just left for hockey and I was at the computer, and suddenly the lights flickered and it sounded like a freight train hit the house.  Luckily for us, the flicker was as close as we came to losing power in the storm and all the fallen tree branches went the opposite direction of the house.  Lots of our friends weren't so lucky--a good chunk of the region was without power for days.  We got to host the Gambills and the Harveys until their air conditioners came back on, which was fun.  Somehow we have this magical spot that never loses power (Jason conjectures that it was a former spy hideout), and we'd like to keep it that way!
The extent of our storm damage.  So glad it didn't fall on the new addition!

Running again.  It appears that a routine is starting to emerge from the chaos that has been our lives for the past few months.  Henry seems to like to wake up at 6, which means I can feed him, go running, and at least get out of the shower before Jason leaves for work.  This is only the second week this has worked, so I'm still holding my breath, but oh.  So good.  While I run, I have never loved it, but watching people out running all beautiful spring while I was huge and swollen has given me a new appreciation for it.






Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Four Kings

We paid a long overdue visit to Steven and Amy in North Carolina last weekend.  We loved meeting darling little Rusher, who is about three and a half weeks younger than Henry, and it was fun to introduce Henry to Hudson and Rusher, who will undoubtedly be long-distance playmates for years. 

Henry and Rusher--look at those arms and legs moving!

Reading buddies
We remarked on the way home that it's a good thing we are such good friends with the Kings.  The weather was unbearably hot, so we spent most of the weekend sitting around and visiting--which is what we do best!
Sweating it out at the farmer's market

Dads and babies
The other thing we do best is eat, and the Kings gave us a full introduction to southern food--fried chicken, barbecue (we both loved Carolina BBQ sauce), fried green tomatoes, peach cobbler, fried okra...  Mmm, mmm!  On Saturday, we even braved the heat and visited the local farmers market.  There were tubs of blackberries there that I would have paid $22 for if I'd been within a few miles of home...
I could eat all of these...
It was so great to see where the Kings live and get a taste of their lives. Now I can better picture it when Amy tells about how she woke up from a nap at 2:15 pm in labor and had Rusher at 3:36 pm--yikes!  Plus, it's nice to know that even though they no longer life mere minutes from us, we can still share a really special friendship.

Friday, July 06, 2012

Sad, Again

Henry and Nora, enjoying Sunday School
The worst thing about DC (worse than the traffic, the heat, the price of housing) is the way people you've grown to love move away...which is what has happened to us again this summer. Hardly any time ago Brent and Tilly told us he had accepted a job in Arkansas (home for both of them), and already they are gone!

I am so sad. The Gambills have been our dear friends for years, and we already miss them dearly. And oh! We were so looking forward to raising Henry alongside Carter and Nora! This picture, taken in Sunday School a couple weeks ago, is so precious...and makes me sad.

One bonus of the horrendous storm last weekend was that the Gambills, who had lost power during the heat wave, stayed at our house Saturday night, so we got some extra time with them. We're already looking forward to our first trip to Little Rock one of these days!

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Happy Fourth!

We celebrated by hanging out our flag and watching the Capitol Fourth and the fireworks over the Washington Monument...on PBS, like most of America.  We also watched the "Independence" chapter of John Adams, just to make up for the fact that we are in Washington, DC, and stayed inside all day.  It is hot, people.

Henry celebrated with this fun onesie, through which he pooped within one hour.  Good times were had by all.  Happy Fourth of July!