moving.

Guess who is moving again...

Nowhere exotic, just a few blocks away. But oh! To have more space! And to leave the dreaded basement!

When i was younger i moved around a lot more. I was much more mobile and enjoyed being able to pack up my car with all my belongings like a turtle, and drive to a new place. Utah, Alaska, New York, Virginia...I was a free spirit.

And now...well, now I'm married. And I'm turning into this adult with stuff. We bought this huge couch. And this table for having dinner parties and stuff (which happen far too few times). Fitting all these things into a one bedroom is a very tricky thing. Plus, this baby has seemed to have made our house shrink to half its size. Acquiring any new piece of furniture or clothing is like a delicate game of Jenga, ready to topple at any moment.

So, we move. We move on, we move up, and we move the hell out. Hopefully I'll know more in the next week, but I've got my fingers crossed for good things!

waking up with henry.

so this is how our 6:30/7:00 am goes.

henry: meh.

...ahhhhaaameh....

...

...

MEH!

me: it's the baby.

mark: wha?

me: the baby.

mark: hmph?

me: the BAYbee.

mark: oh! ok i'll get him...(rolls back over to sleep)

henry: rrrmphhhh....maaaahhh!

me: mark! can you get the baby?

mark: (waking up suddenly) what?

me: henry is awake. can you help him?

mark gets up and shuffles over to henry's bassinet. and i roll over and go back to sleep thinking i can sleep for at least another half hour before mark leaves for work.

henry: MEH!

mark: j, i think he's hungry.

me: meh.

then we snuggle for a little bit while he eats, then he falls asleep on me. and it looks something like this:

(don't worry, he can totally breathe during the faceplant. but this photo makes me laugh so hard.)

the days are long but the weeks are short.

how was he ever so little?

baby is asleep.

he stirs and i want him to stay asleep, but i also want him to wake up so we can cuddle.

laundry is folded.

kitchen is clean.

errands are run.

flowers are on the table.

...a pile of papers are sitting on the table like the leaning tower of pisa.

...a million things to do before the inevitable return to work in a few weeks.

my brain is kind of jumbly right now.

but guess who got a babysitter so she could go on a hot date with her husband tonight?! (thanks papa mickey)

happy weekend!!

10 weeks old: fat baby.

10 weeks of Henry. It's been a TRIP. a terribly fun, lovey, crazy, sleep-deprived, hilarious trip. my heart grows every day i spend with him.

what is henry up to these days?

at his drs appointment today, we found out he is already 14 lbs 6 oz, which is the 90th percentile. yes, he is larger than 90 percent of other babies his size. are you kidding me? height is 50th percentile. i love having a fat baby.

he is really talking a lot lately. sometimes he'll let out a roar so loud, i think wild gazelles will come pouncing through the living room. he wakes up in the morning so happy and babbly. i love it.

he smiles at me, and i die.

he chews on his knuckles because i think he can't seem to find his thumb.

he can't seem to hold onto his pacifier, but he sure does try. same with bottles. he smiles and tries to eat, like it's a game, but it takes him awhile to figure it out.

he is almost out of his 0-3 month clothes. hello, fat baby.

just in the past few days he has started to hold onto my shoulder when i hold him. it's like a constant hug. ugh, crazy love.

he also scratches my back with his little tiny hands when i'm holding him and i'm like, oh you are definitely my baby. he knows mama loves scratchies.

his eyes are looking more blue every day.

he sleeps about 4 hours straight at night time, and takes a few naps during the day. two nights ago he slept for 6 1/2 straight hours and i swear i almost died of happiness. yay.

i'm feeling more confident and connected to him as my baby. he knows me, and the way he looks at me, i mean just stares at me -- it makes my heart burst. we totally have a love connection. this little boy is our life.

all i do is baby stuff.

i didn't think i'd be just writing about henry all the time, but guess what? i don't really do anything else besides being his mom right now, so i really don't have that much else to write about! it's crazy how all-consuming having a baby is. i am still the same person, but i'm no longer just a "me", i'm an "us". even when you're married, you can still end up spending days or even weeks apart. but when you have a baby, good luck even going to the bathroom when you have to. i didn't realize how much my life would completely change. sometimes it is so frustrating, like lately where he's had some gassy-fussy-waking-up-screaming-every-night nights, but i always feel proud to be able to take care of him. to raise him. babies are such interesting beings, and they seem so wise in their simplicity of life. they just want to eat, sleep, and play.

i'm used to life being busy, but babies force you to just...sit.

and make faces.

and bounce.

and do things you never thought you'd do in public. haha.

last week i went on an elimination diet to figure out why henry is having such a miserable time in the gassy department. i went meat-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, corn-free, and cruciferous vegetables free. which pretty much means i ate a lot of potatoes, carrots, beets, and brown rice. the good news is i lost a little bit of weight cutting out breads and cheese, and the other good news of course is that henry is feeling a lot better (minus a mashed potatoes IKEA adventure. sorry henry). i'm pretty sure it's the dairy, so i'm going to start eating bread again. oh, i miss bread. and maybe one of these days i can have brie again. for the love of pete.

sick. sadface.

well, winter has descended upon us and so has cold season. and henry has his first cold. it is the saddest thing to see a baby struggling to breathe with a nose full of stuff! i feel so bad for him, and he just looks at me like, "mom, what the heck is going on? help me!"

we're just laying low and trying to help him get as much rest as possible. pobrecito. i missed out on meeting my newest nephew, jake, who was born the day after christmas. i really want henry and jake to meet while jake is still little tiny newborn because i'm sure the difference will be hilarious. henry is so big already, nearly grown out of his 0-3 month cloths and i'm buying him a briefcase tomorrow so he can get a job and start contributing to this family. seriously though, i can't believe how quickly he's growing up.

any tips on getting through that first baby cold? and helping them get better?

new years eve.

we had the busiest and most fun new years eve!

started the day with mark running a 5K with his sister out in boondocks, virginia.

then we took a little drive out to beautiful skyline drive and ended up in sperryville, va where we found THE best BBQ sandwich i have ever had at high on the hog. even better than willards. i want to go back right now.

we came home and had a little family photo shoot and celebrated the evening with a scrabble game once little man went to bed.

i think it was the best NYE i've ever had. spending so much time with my two boys was a dream, and it was a perfect way to close out the holiday season.

skype date.

today henry and i had our first skype date with my sister laura and her babies. it was so fun to talk with her and elijah and hear evie tell us "no!" for everything. the only thing she said to me besides "no" was "i love you" at the end of the call. i guess she likes playing hard to get. the funniest part of the skype date came when within about 15 minutes, i looked down at my quiet baby sitting on my lap and henry was asleep! what?! you're telling me that the same baby who wants to be bounced to sleep for an hour every night will just fall asleep within minutes on a skype date? that's it, i'm lining up skype dates starting now. so who wants in for tonight?

new year, new us.

my eating theme for this year is grains, beans, and greens.

this is the year i finally learn how to use different grains than just rice and quinoa (does rice count as a grain?)

this is the year i stop eating iceberg lettuce with tomatoes and cucumbers because i'm too nervous to be creative with my salads.

this is the year i start learning how to cook with kale, swiss chard, and all those other crazy leafed greens in the produce section.

and this is the year i finally learn how to cook a pot of beans and stop using all those high-sodium cans. i mean how hard can it be, really?

follow my progress at my food blog to keep me honest. my goal is to cook one new thing a week, and bake one new thing every other week. that is 52 new recipes and 26 new baked goods. i cannot wait to get started!

i have lots of other goals, most of which center around being happier with life. this is a good year, isn't it? twenty twelve. i like the sound of it.