I Love My Little Man

Oh, how I love him!!  I wake up on mornings like today with a lot of gratitude for him.  Do you know why?  Because he sleeps.  Not all the way through the night, but I only wake up once to feed that cute boy.  Then, he sleeps till 8:00 am or even longer (like right now).  I should probably wake him up, but I think I'd rather blog right now.

Not a morning goes by--when I get a normal amount of sleep--that I don't think, "He is sooooo wonderful!  I LOVE him!!"  Not that I wouldn't love him if I only got four hours of sleep, but my appreciation for his sleeping habits runs very deeply.  I am consistently getting around seven hours of sleep.  That's right, S.E.V.E.N.  From the girl who decided to nix being a nurse after realizing their sleeping patterns are thrown way off, I thoroughly appreciate sleep. I have always added up the hours I sleep for as long as I can remember, either when I get into bed or after I wake up in the morning.  I just like to tally the hours.  The more the better.  Six hours doesn't cut it.  And four to five hours makes me a zombie, an emotional ball ready to burst, a mess, really.  I have been longing for nights full of 7-8 hours of sleep for the past couple months.    Sleep is a beautiful thing.  And my day (or night) of getting plenty of rest has finally come.  At least, I hope this sticks.

Thank you, Little Man!  I love you...and your sleeping habits!

Like Brendon Does It

One day in nursery, Brendon noticed one of our cute, rambunctious little boys' long-sleeved shirt seemed to be bothering him. To preface this story a little better, Brendon and this boy were (they have since moved) BUDS! They always played--or rough housed--the entire play period every Sunday. Kasen adored Brendon. They had a very cute relationship.

Back to the story...Brendon decided to roll up Kasen's sleeves so they would be out of his way. The following Sundays, Kasen would ask Brendon to roll up his sleeves near the beginning of class. One day, Kasen's mom came in and told me that while she was dressing Kasen that day, he requested that she put on his shirt "like Brendon does it," and when he started to try rolling up his sleeves, she realized what he meant. Kasen came to church every subsequent Sunday with his sleeves rolled up.

A few months ago, I received a package in the mail from Kasen and his mom. I opened it up to find a cute church outfit for Henry: a button-up white shirt with a cute sweater vest. But it wasn't just a white shirt, it was a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

Here's our cute Henry sporting his Sunday clothes "like Brendon (& Kasen) does (do) it:"

{Not so happy about getting his picture}

Thank you Kasen & Janae!

Just for Me

I realized at the starting line this morning that today was my first 5k race. I think I did things backwards, starting with a marathon (three years ago), then running a 10k (last year), and a 5k today. I like to spread things out a little.

I love running...a lot. It was one thing I thought would be really cool to be able to do up until delivery. But 25 pounds and a hanging belly doesn't quite make the "fun" list. Not to mention it's rough on the knees, the tummy, & mentally difficult. At 6 months pregnant, I quit running and started walking and doing the elliptical. {Do you "do" the elliptical? "Walk" the elliptical? "Sway on" the elliptical?} I learned to love walking & the elliptical, something I never thought I would enjoy.

After delivery, I thought I would be anxious to exercise. I thought I'd want to get out of the house. Looking back, that's pretty funny. Little did I know. I came home from the hospital, happy I wasn't supposed to do anything but eat, sleep, & feed a baby. After a few weeks, though, I was ready. The annual Osteopathic Fun Run was scheduled a little later this year, which made me really excited that I just *might* be able to run in it. My doctor said I could run when my baby was 4 weeks. At 3.5 weeks, I felt good and headed outside for my first run.

The 5k today was somewhat of a symbolic run for me. A new start. Just for me. I'm back. It feels good; actually, it feels great!

So I Never Forget

I can’t count how many times I’ve heard, “You forget how small they are” over the past six weeks.  Just about everyone who has children has told me they have forgotten how small their babies once were—even the parents with small children.  That’s so sad!  Out of fear of forgetting these precious days, I have taken pictures.  Lots and lots of pictures.  I have taken more pictures in the past six weeks than I have in the past two and a half years of marriage.  I will already claim guilty for being a parent who takes a million pictures of their first born and maybe not so many of their other children.  But, just for the record for my future children, it isn’t because I love them any less.  I probably will never have the time like I do now.

Henry is already growing so much and way too fast.  He is no longer my newborn babe.  He gained almost a whole pound in one week, making him nine pounds eleven ounces (and I'm sure over ten pounds by now).  He grew out of his newborn clothes and his newborn diapers.  It made me a little sad.  I swear, every time I look at him, his head is a little bigger.  His “man hands” as I like to call them even seem a little bigger.  So…to make sure I never forget how small my baby once was, here's pictures from the past six weeks:

Love this nakey body

 Sleeping in Grandpa's arms

 

Happy Easter...poor kid!  We had a lot of good laughs with this photo shoot.

 

First day of church

A Real Smile...I Think

My baby smiled at me today. For real. Not the air-bubble smile or the falling-to-sleep smile, but a real smile. He looked at me for awhile as I talked to him and he smiled…at me! At least, I’m pretty sure it was a real smile. If he had a baby book, I would write April 7th as his first smile. I tried to make him smile at me again all day. No such luck. We’ll keep working on that.

 

My favorite picture of Henry's going-to-sleep smile

The Magic of Family

A few weeks ago, Brendon came home from school for dinner a bit exhausted.  It was Thursday of finals weeks.  I could tell he was stressed by the silence at the dinner table.  We ate our dinner and talked a little bit.  I asked if he was stressed and he said he was.  I hate when he’s stressed with school.  I know, it’s part of life and definitely part of medical school.  But I hate that there’s not a lot I can do or say to remedy the stress.  I can sing Bob Marley’s “Everything is gonna be alright” (which I do…often), but that doesn’t help much, other than an occasional smile.  But this Thursday of finals was really neat:

Brendon finished his dinner well before me (as usual).  Henry was asleep on the floor of the living room.  Brendon got Henry and came back to the dinner table.  I ate and watched as Brendon stared at Henry.  Henry began smiling in his sleep as he often does and Brendon immediately followed with a smile.  I smiled.  I finished dinner and the three of us headed upstairs and hung out on our bed.  We talked and stared at Henry some more.  An hour later, we woke up from a much needed nap.  Brendon had stayed home longer than he had planned, which I thought would make him more stressed.  I asked if he would be okay and he didn’t seem worried at all about the lost time.  Brendon told me he was doing better and, attributing it to the time with our little family said,  

“That’s the magic of family.”  

Grandma & Grandpa's Visit

Grandma & Grandpa came to visit last week. They couldn’t have timed their visit any better. My sister said it would be nice to have them come a couple weeks after the baby because of hormones and such. Definitely the most emotional week since the baby. It was nice to have a mom to cry to in person. (All is well now.)

Grandma and Grandpa met Henry at 13 days old and couldn’t wait to hold and love this baby boy. He was spoiled the entire week, being held about 18 hours every day.

Henry spent a lot of time cuddling with Grandma

(Grandma gave him extra “gramma lovin’” for his other Grandma who is so far away),

watching NCIS episodes with Grandpa,

and napping with Grandpa.

While the grandparents were here, Henry’s “belly button fell off,” which I was really happy about so grandma could show me how to bathe a tiny baby. Baths are much more pleasant now.

Brendon and I enjoyed our nightly Spade competitions with my parents (guys vs. girls; we had fun…that’s all that matters), shopping in Columbia, going out to eat, and grocery shopping (three times in one week). Our cupboards and fridge are fuller than they’ve ever been and we have lots of treats! Seriously, so cool!

We love you, Grandpa & Grandma & and can’t wait to see you in June.