Sort of sitting up

This is how Henry has practiced sitting up. The pillows help him to rebound a little bit if he leans too far in one direction. As you can see, however, he can't always catch himself. Then you should see how he strains those tummy muscles to try and right himself! Too funny.

The Garden

George and I bought a new camera because the old one was having difficulty. Here's a few pictures George took of our garden to test out the new camera!

We've had a couple of batches of green beans, but are anxiously awaiting our first tomato. It looks like our roma tomatoes are faring the best. We also have a "volunteer" that sprang up from garden's previous owner. So we'll have a surprise variety in addition to our "Wisconsin 55" tomato.

This is my first experience growing peppers. This is supposed to be an "early" red pepper plant. These green ones have been hanging out for a little while now. Does anyone have advice on how to get them to turn red? Do we just continue to wait patiently?

Where did July go?

Oh boy, aside from the guest blogger for that last post - those aunties who love to tease - I haven't been very diligent about keeping the blog updated. Then again, given all that has happened recently, I'm not surprised!

Quick notes about Henry:

• He has started having pureed solid foods and absolutely loves the taste of everything we've fed him from sweet potatoes and carrots to applesauce, pears and bananas. Now we just need to find a good balanced diet for him so he doesn't struggle so much with gas and other tummy troubles. (I'm sure that when he's older he'll love that I've posted information about his GI system on a semi-public forum!) That's what happens when he has a nurse for a Momma. We nurses are always concerned with that sort of stuff.

• He figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy. Then he forgot how to get from tummy to back. I've gone into his room in the middle of the night when he wakes up for feeding only to be very confused by what body part I'm grabbing as I sleepily try to wrestle him from his bed because he landed face down. As soon as he gets all this rolling over coordinated, I have a feeling we'll begin the "chasing" phase of parenting.

• The "Henry safe" zone has grown considerably. Gone are the days of holding him on my lap during meals. His range is impressive as he's discovered that these opposable thumbs are incredibly useful for snatching up anything within a 12 inch radius. And his most recent trick is switching objects from hand to hand. It is fascinating to watch him do these things - yay milestones!

• Henry almost sits by himself. Its so funny to see him in a position besides lying down. He is trying very hard to stay upright by himself, but when the balance gives way, the weebles wobble and over he goes.
  

Our most exciting development lately has been navigating the housing market to buy our first house!! We are working on finalizing paperwork to purchase this home, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, we will close September 30th.

Tired Henry

Story behind the video: Stephen was telling his kids to go to bed and to stay in their bed, so Jennifer was using the "fatherly" voice to tell Henry to go to bed and stay in bed. The results speak for itself. (No babies were harmed in filming this video.)

The first week

So, the first week of being an intern on the wards has been interesting. I am on a peds rotation. Our patient census has been low which makes things easier in terms of learning the ins and outs of a new place. The hospital has gone 90% 'live' on the computers and Monday starts physician order entry, a fancy way of saying we residents get to enter the orders into the computer instead of writing it down and then having the unit clerk enter it into the computer. Everyone's balking at it, so it should be an interesting transition...

Henry is changing so much - he is so interested in all of his surroundings! This means he is reaching to grab for things before I'm even aware. I pulled out my wallet and he reached for it. 4 months old and already trying to take my money. Geesh.

Also, we've been generally silly with him - singing goofy songs and such. One of my favorites is this one from an old Tom and Jerry cartoon. It's a bit loud, and apparently when I sing it too loud he doesn't like it so much. Guess I'd better sing quietly...

Being super busy this week has really made me miss Charlotte and him. I was in the hospital Friday night watching fireworks from the 8th floor call room :( She and Henry managed to catch some of the festivities up close though. I'm sure she'll write about it.

We had a nice day yesterday at church and then rode around town a bit looking at neighborhoods. Today also did a bit of neighborhood searching. Two houses for sale next door to each other? Funny you say? The folks across the street blasting their Metallica (For the record there is nothing wrong with the song 'Sanitarium' but blasting it across the street from my house when I'm trying to sleep would not be cool). Also the revving of the motorcycles and general trashiness of the place got our attention. I'm sure you can imagine the sight - those are the things online photos just don't capture about the neighbors!

So, back to the hospital tomorrow to see the kiddos...wish me luck!

The day after

George and I had a wonderful, quick, get-away dinner out last night. We made a visit to the Harmony Bar at George's recommendation (having been there in September when he was here for a rotation) and another blog I read to get the scoop on local Madison restaurants. I'm now quite certain this is going to be a favorite spot for us. The tofu walnut burger is the best burger I've eaten in a long time. Vegetarians, take note. I think on the review in the blog I just linked, carnivores agree!

On a muggy Madison summer night we walked into the "neighborhood hang out." The bar area was full and the tables and chairs in the next room accommodated people of a variety of age groups - a table of Scrabble players, noted. Wait a minute, children? in a bar? Henry is about to be storming the public restaurant scene when we get a burger craving. The large, flat screen, high definition television came into view with a baseball game on and I squinted from across the room as I attempted to read the name on the uniform. Pedroia was up to bat. I paused before excitement set in. Could it be just a clip from a highlight reel? Nope. In disbelief I grinned from ear to ear. I couldn't believe it. The perfect date night. George and I caught a Red Sox game, ate great burgers, and I indulged in a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I'm still floating on cloud nine, despite the sad turn of events in the Red Sox game. (Just as we finished our meal the station was changed to a Brewers game, so we left thinking the Red Sox had a good chance of holding on to their 4-1 lead. The final score, however, was 6-7 Rays.)

Maybe I am ready to become a Brewers fan. It sounds like Nicholas might be on board, too, as his away message reads "glad I'm NOT watching the Sox over the 4th of July weekend." Seems like every year he has a little falling out with the team. They generally play well in the post season when that happens. Here's hoping.

Author's Note: a little creative writing exercise on the blog. just keeping it interesting. :)

Happy Leather Anniversary!

Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary, which apparently is "leather"- you know, first is paper, second is cotton. Not sure exactly what all of those categories really mean, and since this is a "rated G" blog, we'll just leave it at that! George and I have taken a few moments to reminisce about our special day and we can't believe that three years of wedded bliss have already passed us by.

We are planning on a dinner out tonight, trusting that George will finish at the hospital at a reasonable hour, and Henry will cooperate with bedtime and a babysitter. We are looking forward to being "out on the town" without entertaining a 4 month old!

My friends are your friends

A song I learned in preschool or kindergarten has been in my head today. It has a line about "my friends are your friends and your friends are my friends, the more we get together the happier we'll be." Of course, I just returned from Story Time at the public library with Henry, where we sang some songs, clapped our hands, and read books. So, with good reason, I have nursery rhymes and children's songs on the brain.

The lyrics, however, are a good theme for us right now as we are becoming reacquainted with old friends and making new friends! In the photo are (from L to R) Jess, Eric, Dave, Stacia, Mia, Charlotte, and Henry. Jess traveled with me from Madison to visit the McDermotts (Dave, Stacia, & Mia) in Dubuque. We had a wonderful lunch, then followed it with a nice walk through the prairie and a few woods. It was a beautiful summer day in Iowa as we relaxed under a tree and played with the kiddos on a blanket. We look forward to making many more memories, especially while watching Henry and Mia growing up.

And so it begins...

George's first day of residency is upon us.

He was lucky enough to be chosen to be the very first intern on call! That means that Monday he went to the hospital for his final day of orientation and the first day of his Pediatrics in patient rotation, stayed all night, and returned home Tuesday at noon. This month he'll have call every 4 nights, so Independence Day this year will be celebrated in the same fashion. On call 4th of July! I pray (not just for George's sake) that all the little children are not playing with fireworks this year!

It sounds like George has been enjoying his orientation to the family medicine program and has been impressed not only by their organization, but also by the warm welcome he has received from all the staff and faculty for the program. There were a few social gatherings that Henry and I attended and we were equally pleased to meet George's colleagues.

Henry at Lake Mendota

One of the nice things about where we live in Madison is our proximity to the park and Lake Mendota. Here is a picture of Henry on one of our walks. You can see the Capitol building in the background peeking out behind the trees. (Around the time of the flood this spring, the rocks behind Henry were mostly covered, with some water lapping at the edges of the sidewalk.) This is a great path to walk and its fun to see the anglers along the way. Who knew so many people in Madison liked to fish?!

Henry has a little cold (cough, sneezes, and a runny nose) so he's been a little crabby during the day and not sleeping well at night. Which, of course, means Momma doesn't sleep at night.

Parent Lesson #5: Another tactic to be sure baby gets a nap. Take a walk!