Wednesday, October 27, 2010

We're still here....I meant to write an update on Monday to keep that pattern going but we were a little busy...

Henry got to go on his first trip to JMU! We went up last Friday and showed him around campus. Even though I know he's too little to know what's going on I loved having him see the Quad, the James Madison statue and watch the MRDs rehearse.



On Saturday we helped out with the Parade of Champions high school marching competition that JMU hosts. We had a great time up in the pressbox all day watching bands and helping out. Henry was a good boy and did really well for a majority of the day. I loved that he got to meet so many people that have been so special to me, including my high school and college band directors and the woman that I student taught with.

We drove back to Newport News on Sunday to attend a birthday party for the son of our friends. It was a lot of fun and it was Henry's first birthday party! We also took him Trick Or Treating in the residence halls for their annual event. So much fun to see the halls decorated and to see the students in costume. Henry was a hit in his costume:


Eddie and I flew up to New Jersey on Monday morning and back to Virginia Monday night. We did the quick trip to look at seven houses in hopes of finding "the one". Unfortunately we did not. But we are not discouraged just yet. We're going to take it easy on the home-front (haha) and get back to it once Eddie is up in Jersey which is next week already!

Tuesday brought us two going away parties for us at work. It's a little weird because my last day isn't until December 1 but Eddie's is Monday. (I'm remaining on for Health Insurance benefits because Eddie's won't start up for 60 days after he starts his new job...lame.) I'm going to be using a lot of my leave, which means I can be in New Jersey and then Wisconsin (to have Henry meet family!) and then finish up work after Thanksgiving. It's not ideal but it gives us health insurance coverage that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, I can collect my bonus and also spend more time prepping things for my departure.

It's been bittersweet preparing to leave...I am so excited for us and our new adventures. Eddie's new job, our first house (eventually) and getting to stay home with Henry. But we're also going to really miss the wonderful people that we've had the pleasure of working with over the last few years. We've been very lucky to work with many truly great people.

In Henry news...
-He weighed in at 12 pounds at his check-up last week.
-His sleeping has gotten much better and we're trying to be good about keeping his bedtime consistent. It seems to be helping.
-He's starting to "talk" more and it's pretty much the cutest thing ever.
-He continues to be a really great baby. We got lucky!

Monday, October 18, 2010

First Class Baby

So far in Henry's life:
-JMU Dukes always win against Virginia Tech
-Flying in first class is normal

Yep, we got to upgrade on our flights to and from Jersey this weekend. It turned out to be nice (not because of the free beer) because we had more room to operate with him...including a diaper change on the tray table! (Don't worry, we had our changing pad over it.)

Here is a photo of Henry and Mommy:



We traveled up to Jersey this weekend to look for a house. It was pretty interesting to see the various houses and to feel like a big snoop looking at people's things. We ended up really liking a house but couldn't get the seller down in price to our pricerange. We're not discouraged yet and are continuing our search.

We took a break from house hunting to check out a local pumpkin patch. Once again Henry slept through a fun activity...but was still super cute.


Today Henry is 9 weeks old. Hard to believe time is going so fast. This week he has started to really smile, which is incredibly cute. It makes me so happy to see his little smiles and I especially love it when he coos a little. He's such a sweet and patient little boy. I hope he stays that way!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Week 8!

I can't believe that eight weeks ago we were hanging out with a Henry that was only four hours old! Now he's a whole eight weeks old and is changing and growing every day. It's amazing.

He is currently resting in my lap and we are listening to a Youtube video with white noise and rain. Henry has been extremely fussy tonight, which is very much out of character for him. After walking, singing, and swinging I took a shot with Youtube for some relaxing sounds. It seems to work and he's calmed down a lot. (I'm about to fall asleep too!) I have bookmarked a good rain and cricket one for future use.

To mark today's 8 Week birthday I snapped a few shots of him with his friend Toby the Turtle.



It was fun to go back and look at a similar shot I took when he was just 8 days old:



Here are two more from today:



Friday, October 8, 2010

Made it!

Well, we made it through the first week of both of us being back to work. We were lucky enough to have my parents come up for the week to take care of him. It was such a chore for them to take him for walks, read to him and show him off in Colonial Williamsburg... :-) They will be back next week. I am glad that they are able to be here, both for us to have a piece of mind that he's home in good hands, but also because it's such a neat time in Henry's young life. He is growing and changing so much even day to day and I like that they are here to see it.

I am looking forward to the weekend, especially the thought of maybe catching a nap at some point!

The house is in a bit of disarray as we prepare for our move in just a few weeks. Our friends are being nice enough to allow us to bring some of our stuff over to their yard sale in the morning. We aren't out to try to get tons of money..just hoping to get rid of some stuff we don't need anymore. I've been trying hard to really go through my things and purge a little. I get sentimental over all sorts of stuff and it's hard for me to get rid of it. I am, however, doing a good job with actually sorting and tossing some papers, photos, etc. that I clearly do not need anymore. It's been hard not to get distracted by things like my high school yearbooks, college class notebooks with professor's ridiculous quotes in the margins, old photo albums, etc.

Henry has been asleep in his swing for a little bit now and I've been able to sort through some papers and clothes. Once he wakes up he'll eat and then hopefully he and I will both go to bed. Nighty night!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Halfway Through...

Well, I have survived the first half of my first week back to work after being home with little Henry for 7 weeks. I have been surprisingly "okay" with being back. I think really loving my coworkers helps...as does knowing that I'll be back home full-time with him at the end of the month.

On Monday, Henry stayed home in the morning with Uncle Kevin and then had adventures with dad and Uncle Kevin in the afternoon. (Baby's First Putt Putt!) My parents have been generous enough to come stay with us for the rest of the week. They took Henry on a walk yesterday and have continued my routine of "Morning Music" in the morning (obviously). Morning Music is something that I started with Henry when I was home with him. It just consists of us listening to different pieces and genres of music each morning. I think he likes it, or at least tolerates it well.

Tonight after work we will have some Azzurri pizza and then go to Eddie's kickball game. My parents haven't seen a game yet so I'm excited for them to see what all the fuss is about. Eddie is sad that his Peninsula WAKA days are numbered. He mentioned yesterday something about adult baseball/softball leagues in Jersey so I have no doubt that he'll find something to fulfill his need to be competitive!

It is my hope to do post consistently, at least on each Monday to chronicle Henry's week "birthdays" and keep track of what he is doing, his development and all that fun stuff...and post photos of course.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Welcome to Our New Blog!

As some of you may already know, Eddie very recently was offered and accepted the position of Associate Director of Student Development and Coordinator of the Student Center at Ramapo College in Mahwah, NJ so....we'll be heading north at the end of this month!

With all of our new experiences in the last 7 weeks with the birth of Henry and the adventures we are sure to face in the coming weeks and months we thought it was a good time to start a family blog. This will allow our friends and family to keep up with us and for us to share moments big and small with all of you. (Plus we'll have a pretty neat record of this time in our lives!)

I (Beth) will probably be the chief blogger though I suspect with Henry's clearly advanced mental abilities he'll be posting in no time!

So...welcome to our new blog and...enjoy!