Harder Than I Thought

After the initial post-pregnancy weight loss, I am at a stand-still. Have been for weeks and weeks. I still have about 15 lbs. to lose to get to my pre-pregnancy weight but it's not leaving easily. I thought that if you breastfed, pounds just flew away like little birdies. Alas, they do not. Also, I'm not at work anymore and although I have healthier foods at home, I also have limitless access to snacking. I'm trying to be more conscientious and intentional about exercising but I think it probably comes down to the snacking. We don't have junk food in our house and I prepare healthy meals but eating wheat thins and feta cheese spread and cliff bars just because they are there probably isn't best.

It's not about the number on the scale, it's also about the practicality of fitting into my clothes...not squeezing. I am seriously limited in the number of pants & shorts that I can button without having a muffin top. I currently have a workout journal and I think, for now, I probably should start a food journal just to be mindful of mindless snacking. Sometimes it just happens when I have Henry on my hip and I'm walking around and I make a lap through the kitchen, grab a bite, loop through again. ANYWAYS, just something I'm going to work on. I think I grossly overestimate the amount of calories that breastfeeding burns. Turns out- it's not a get out of jail free card.
The end.

Parental Anger Management

Adam & I have noticed that, since having a kid, we suddenly have some rage issues.  Specifically two scenarios:  One is when we are walking or jogging with Henry in the stroller and some dude comes hauling tail by in his car way too close to us for comfort.  Mind you, we're walking in our neighborhood...residential neighborhood. I have wanted to jump through the driver's side window and crack a skull or two.  Seriously, it makes my blood boil. 

Scenario number two is when we are driving with Henry in the backseat and some nincompoop runs a red light or swerves too close to us or whips by us.  Again, it's difficult to control the rage you feel when someone is even semi-endangering Henry.  These two scenarios would've never really bothered us much before the little guy came along but now we shake with fury...not literally but still.  Is this the righteous anger of a parent?  What about when Henry is older and some little punk slights him or teases him?  Will I want to physically slap some random child?  I think we're seeing that this love others thing and demonstrating grace may have some added difficulty in these situations.  

Big Weekend

This has been a big, busy weekend. We had Bethany's baby shower over here last night & it was a success! It was a garden party in the backyard so we hung lots of lanterns and covered the four tables with fun, whimsical tablecloths that Sarah found at the flea market and had a good ol' time. Bethany's mom, sister, and grandmother were all able to attend and I discovered that Bethany's son will be not only the first grandbaby on her side but also the first GREAT grand-baby on both her mom's and dad's side...can you believe that? What a kid.

Aubrey, Sarah, Brooke, and I all hosted this shower and the girls all left the house about 11 last night. This morning I had a text message that said that Aubrey's water had broke(n?) and she now has a beautiful son named Roman. This has happened twice in the past year- people hang out at my house weeks before their due date and then BAM! their water breaks that night. So, if you're wanting to go into labor, come hang out over here...apparently it's one of those things to try like going on a long walk or eating spicy mexican food.

Adam had baby duty during the shower and took Henry & Powers to the Peninsula to go fishing...which I thought was a bit optomistic but he made it work...
I'll add pictures as soon as I steal some from Brooke...our local photographer extraordinaire...It was a special, fun shower though and we can't wait to meet little Baby G...and little Roman!

Quickie Postie.

So, we just got done picking up our little buddy Brooke Ackley from Africa.  Well, we picked her up from the airport...not Africa.  She's got lots of amazing stories to tell that I'm sure she'll be posting on her blog soon- overall, seems like a life-changing trip.  We're so glad she's back- I missed her.  Freeland will be there another 2 weeks with a medical team and so keep praying for him and his time serving there. 

Henry James had his 2 month shots today.  He weighed 12 lbs. 6 oz. (68th percentile) and was almost 24 inches long (85th percentile) and his head was in the seventy-something percentile so overall a good check-up.  The shots were not near as bad as I'd thought they'd be.  Two nurses tag-teamed and each gave two shots in each leg so we got it over with and done quickly and I was able to nurse him right after which helped.  Poor kid was just taking a nap and all of a sudden, BAM!  I had to hold down his legs... that part was kinda sad.  But now he's got 4 rockin' Charlie Brown bandaids.  He's been a little sleepy today but pretty much the same ol' Henry.  Hooray!

I'd post more but I need to go get the little guy ready for breakfast.  I mean, what?  Why did I just type breakfast.  For bed...get him ready for bed.  Ok, farewell.

Man's Best Friend

What's all this smiling about???






Oh.


I mean, here I am singing "I'm a Little Teapot" for the 9th time to get a smile and all the stinkin' dog has to do is walk by!

It's actually pretty cute. Right now, Powers doesn't really pay much attention to Henry but I'm sure it won't be long before Henry is terrorizing Powers on a daily basis.

A literal slap

I saw this morning on the twitter home page that a dude from Black Eyed Peas is being accused by Perez Hilton (gossip blogger) of attacking him (Hilton). It's this whole big mess of he said, he said. Now, I don't know what happened and not to be quick to judge but when you make a living off of not only reporting gossip but slandering and defaming others then I think that a punch in the face might be commonplace, no? The funny part is that Hilton twittered to his fans from his cell phone requesting that they call the police because he'd just been attacked by Will.i.am. (dude from black-eyed peas) instead of using his cell phone to call the police. Then once authorities arrived, he twittered to let his fans know that the police had arrived and that they could stop calling the cops.
*Edit- just read the it was Black Eyed Peas dude's manager that hit Perez Hilton after Hilton called Will.I.Am. an ugly name.

Yes, at last the sun is out and I have good news to report on the Henry sleep front. On Friday morning, I reported that he had slept 6 hours. WELL, Friday night he slept 7 hours and 15 minutes (9 to 4:15) and on Saturday night, he slept 6 hours and 45 minutes (9 to 3:45)!
On Friday night, I had to plie on down to the living room and relieve the pressure at 3:45. Holy Cow, Batman! Last night was off, he only made it 4 hours and 10 minutes but his schedule was pretty off yesterday as we kept interrupting his naps to do fathers' day activities...whoops. I haven't been doing the dream feeding yet but I may try that soon- thanks for all the great advice!

Getting to sleep makes such a big difference and I'm shocked at how I've adapted to less sleep. Before Henry, I was a HUGE baby about sleep. I really, really wanted to get my full night's rest and I was pretty cranky if it was interrupted or if I didn't (especially for silly things like WORK!). Now, I get 4 or 5 hours and I am jazzed! Welcome to parenthood?

Adam's Summer Drink

+
1 scoop of frozen

=
Wine-a-Rita

Fathers' Day

To three wonderful Fathers,
Thank you and happy fathers' day!

I just love "So You Think You Can Dance". Adam & I just crack up at Mary (Yes, I make Adam watch it with me...I think he secretly kinda likes it). And it makes me want to go back to college and do SING again. (What's SING? click here for SING 2009 gallery.)

Moving on, Henry slept from 9 to 3 last night! Woot Woooooot! Here's my question- should I be dream-feeding him at like midnight or will he push 3a.m. to like 6 a.m.? Also, I'm having problems with him staying asleep napping for longer than 30 or 45 minutes. Any thoughts? Just curious, thanks.

Have a great weekend! Next weekend is Bethany's baby shower over here and the NEXT weekend (July 4th) Henry and I are headed to Florida...on a jetplane.

C.M.S.

I had my shoes laced up when he stepped through the front door. The past couple of mornings had been rough. Well, make that the past couple of nights. So, I felt like a zombie walking around on Tuesday and Wednesday. So, yesterday afternoon when Adam walked in, I handed Henry off to him and took off on a run with Powers. No walking warm up. After all, it was pouring down rain. But I had to get out of that house and the fresh air and the exertion did me good. See, yesterday it rained all day so we couldn't go on a walk and my car was blocked in by the work truck from the fellows who are working on the windows. So, I was feeling a bit cooped...coupled that with serious sleep deprivation and ba-da-bing, you have yourself a combo for C.M.S. (crazy mama syndrome). The result of which is that I ran the best run I've had since little Henry came along!

Last night was wonderful- we are getting serious (as of my CMS episode yesterday) about getting scheduled and about Henry learning to fall asleep more on his own. He slept like a champ (for him) last night 8:30 to 12:50, 1 to 4:20, then I had to WAKE HIM UP at 8. I don't think I've had to wake that boy up in years, well weeks! Praise the Good Lord for lots of sleep. Now he's napping in his little chair and I am oh, so happy that he is rested and happier. And I feel like I have a goal, some structure, some direction.

On a side note, nothing has made me a more constant prayer than having a son...Lord, what do I do? and Thank you Jesus, he had a good night!

Henry was staring at Powers and smiling this morning and it was really sweet. So far, Powers hasn't shown a whole lot of interest in Henry aside from an occasional lick on the face (sanitary!) but he better get ready because I can imagine Henry will be pulling on those ears and tail pretty darn soon.

Rico Suave

These Jennings men just really grow facial hair quite quickly...

Thoughts on this being our birth announcement picture? Classy, right?

These Happenings

About to run out the door to some friends house for supper but just wanted to share some recent pictures of Big Henry Boy!

Zack Attack

Oh holy cow. Please watch Zack Morris on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Click here.

This does my heart good.

To Love

Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not quick to anger, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

I recently memorized these verses in an attempt to, prayerfully, become better at loving. To not just appear loving but to really love others in a way that is honoring to the Lord, who sees and knows my heart. It's amazing that He has really recalled these things to my mind when I have a bad attitude or am being selfish or am throwing a pity party or enjoying gossip or trying to look out for myself. Jesus called us to live so counter-culturally- "Consider others as better than yourselves...look not only to your own interests but to the interest of others." I heard a preacher on the radio say the other day that humility wasn't self-depricating...it's not thinking less of yourself, "oh, I suck." But it's thinking of yourself less.

So, I hope that his word, through the power of the Spirit, will transform this heart and mind of mine.

Indian Food and Simple Seasons

Friday night, we took a recommendation and tried Raj Mahal in Erie. Can we say, delicious? It was incredibly good. You can get your orders mild, medium, or spicy. We were with Brooke and Freeland and we all ordered the samosas, chicken curry- medium, chicken palak- spicy, and the chicken makhani- medium. They were all delicious and were delightfully spicy- cleared your sinuses right up!

Henry is grunting while he takes a nap right now in his little swing. Last night was his 3rd night in his crib. It didn't go as well as the other two nights but hey...variety is the spice of life. I am hopeful that he will have another night like Saturday night where he makes it at least 5 hours...that would be wonderful. Meanwhile, though, I am thankful to have a newborn and I realize how special this season is when I'm at the grocery store and see a toddler sprinting away from her mother yelling, "Nooooo!!!!" Newborns are pretty sweet and, really, this season is wonderfully simple in a lot of ways. Aside from the sleep deprivation, I am enjoying snuggling and holding and seeing him smile and interact with the world more and more.

National BFF Day

In case you didn't know, today is national BFF day.


BFF stands for Best Friends Forever. It was written on the bottom of practically every note passed in junior high school in the mid 90's. I have been blessed with lots of great girlfriends but my best pal is Mary Lou Kavanaugh Oswalt.

Mary Lou organizing my refrigerator.

Our mothers were in lamaze class and sang in the church choir together. We were in the church nursery together, went to elementary school together, ran cross country together, went away to college in Texas together, and are still best pals.



Even though she lives in New Orleans and I'm up here 1,100 miles away in Erie, Pennsylvania, she remains my closest friend and I love her to pieces.

She is super thoughtful, organized to the max, driven, funny (even though she doesn't know it), and loyal. She is beyond loyal...uber-loyal-infinity-plus. She has shaped me in so many ways and I hope I'm more like her as I grow up.

Looking lovely after our 13 mile run at Presque Isle.

Love you Lou!

6 HOURS!

Well, 5 hours and 50 minutes but still...

I'd like to give a big shout-out to, first of all, the Good Lord, and second of all, Henry James Jennings for sleeping 5 hours and 50 minutes last night after the worst week of sleep yet.  We left a cookout early to get home by 9:15 and then Adam swaddled the stuffing out of a sleepy Henry, I fed him, and then we put our little baby burrito down in his crib and he was a little awake but we turned out the lights and he drifted off to sleep on his own, baby.  No crying.  I went in at the 4 hour mark- scared that he wasn't okay...but there he was...sleeping like a baby... He is a baby. 

Thank you, Lord!

I have a little funny:  The night before, Adam and I had decided to tag team.  Now, I never ask Adam for help in the middle of the night because I'm already up to feed Henry since I'm the one who lactates and Adam has to be at the hospital early.  But since it was the weekend and we were trying to move him to his crib, we had decided that we would both participate.  WELL, we got home from B & Free's house later than usual and Henry just slept in his carseat so we didn't want to wake him up so we just let him sleep in it.  Well, once he woke up around 1:30, I fed him and then tapped Adam. 

Me:  Adam, do you think we should try to move him to his crib like we'd talked about tonight?

Adam:  I don't know, let me think about it.   (Closes eyes)

Eyes still closed..

His mouth gapes open...

15 seconds pass. 

Me yelling:  Oh my GOSH, I'll just do it myself!  (Sometimes I'm kinda cranky in the middle of the night)

Adam:  (Shoots out of bed like a bullet) What?  Wait, sweetie...I was just thinking...Wait!

We laughed about that a lot the next day.  He ended up in bed with us Friday night but last night, Adam was a great help once Henry was up and it was Henry's best night EVER!  I didn't even know what to do with myself after those 6 hours...it seemed like a lot of sleep comparatively!  But I managed to sleep some more.  I do think that the swaddling helped a lot...I'm glad that we brought that back last night (Thanks for the suggestion, ML)

Short-Sighted

We had a girls' group farewell last night at the peninsula. The husbands came too and we ate and played washers and frisbee and talked and had a good time til the sun set. We will miss Sarah, Elizabeth, and Lauren. Here are some of the girls:


And here is Will (Lauren's son- in the blue), Addy (Sarah's daughter), and Henry (in the cowboy suit).



Please note that Will is 3 months older than Henry. Henry is a big boy, eh?

This week has been a bad sleeping week for little Henry James. I find myself short-sighted in the middle of the night because of exhaustion and I end up putting him into bed with me to get some shut-eye. If we put him down in his crib awake, he cries after no more than five minutes of laying there, sometimes sooner. If we put him in his crib asleep, he's been waking up pretty quickly this week for some reason...

I want him to sleep well and we do pretty well during the day- eat, awake time, nap, repeat. Yesterday, he fell asleep in his carrier outside, yes!, and then took a nap upstairs in his crib on his sleep positioner (which is getting entirely too small- he's big!) When he fussed, I went and patted him and put his pacifier in his mouth and he miraculously fell asleep for about 40 minutes and I didn't even have to pick him up. So, nighttime-

So, my main issue is the crying it out thing. I tried it once for 5 minutes on the timer and it was really sad. It's so back and forth and maybe I just need to try it but then people are like...hey, he's too young to cry it out. He's not the kind of baby you can just set down and he'll go to sleep. I don't mind him sleeping with me but I know that's not very conducive to either of us getting good sleep right now. He's also digressed this week from sleeping 3 and sometimes maybe 4 or once or twice, 5 hours- to not ever making it 3 hours during the night. I think maybe when he's sleeping right with me, he can smell the milk? I don't know. ANYWAYS, that's my vent session. He was 6-weeks- old on Tuesday and I'd like for him to be getting closer to sleeping through the night...not further away.

Hair Did

My salon gal had said...Hey, come on in and bring Henry with you. So, I did it. Adam was on his rotation so I just packed up and brought little Henry along. He did pretty well...one diaper change and a little bit of pumped bottle feeding and a lot of jiggling:) . She colored my hair my natural color (plus a little red) so that I don't have to come back as often (as opposed to highlights of lowlights) and chopped it off. I gave her complete creative control. Seriously, my hair was a brassy nap of disaster so this was a very welcome (and overdue) visit to the salon. Here are some previews with my own arm extended.

It's going to be nice not to have to wear my hair in a ponytail everyday with 3-inch roots.

You're so vain...you pro'bly think this song is about you...

Ducktape Socks

Student-Dr. Papa and Henry in his jammies.

Adam's first day of rotations is today! So, of course, we took the obligatory first day of school picture. I'm so proud of my sweet husband and am confident that he's going to rock those rotations...like a rocking chair. ...Yeah!

Pappa Bob left yesterday morning. It was such a wonderful surprise for my dad to get to come too (and of course, my mom's coming was wonderful but it wasn't a surprise). Dad basically had Henry on his chest for the 42 hours that he was in Erie and slept both nights on the couch with Henry on his chest. The first night, Mom & Dad fed him with a bottle of pumped milk so that Adam and I could sleep longer. Plus, since Henry was on my Dad's chest, he slept much longer stretches than normal (try 5 1/2 hours!!) Needless to say, I sprinted downstairs like the wind to the pump that first morning at 5:30 a.m. with quite a pain in my chest...ahem. Hard as rocks. The next night, Henry slept again on my Dad's chest on the couch but I went downstairs at 3:30 to feed him.

Now, he's gotten used to sleeping right on top of someone and so last night, after Pappa Bob left, was LOTS of fun...he did make it one 3-hour stretch last night in his crib but for the most part, he was not happy to be back in the confines of his own bed.

I'm going to ducktape his socks to his feet.
Is that frowned upon?

Mama Lulu babysat Henry so that Adam and I could go on our first date. I even DRIED MY HAIR and put on makeup! Whaaaat? We did look pretty cleaned up, I'll admit. But I didn't take any pictures ot prove it. Oh darn.

It was a very successful first date and we talked about a lot of topics besides Henry...oh, and a little Henry too I suppose. I was ready to see my little man though once we got home. Miraculously, my mom had kept him alive and he seemed to be pretty happy! Wow! (just kidding- I always remind my mom things about Henry and she tells me that it's a miracle that she was able to raise three kids.)