Day 4: Hershey, PA

Day 4 of our trip started uneventful in Somerset, PA. We slept in and had a delicious free breakfast at the hotel. I had a fresh made waffle from on of those machines they have in the Cannon center and it was FANTASTIC.

After breakfast we got on the road, destination: Hershey, PA. I wanted to a) see Penn State med school (where josh interviewed last go round and is applying again) aka Hershey medical school, b) see where Hershey chocolate is made and c) smell for myself if the city really smells like chocolate. It does. Pictures below.


These two are pictures we took on the one free ride that described how Hershey chocolate got its' start.



Henry after we left. He loved it.
After Hershey where it was a million degrees hot, next stop was Philadelphia where there were two food destinations, as seen on Man vs. Food. We had an authentic philly cheese steak from Tony Luke's and finished off at The Franklin Fountain with a gigantic sundae called the Mt. Vesuvius. The best part, besides the hot fudge on that sundae, was that our last destination was in historic downtown Philly, so we got to see some awesome old buildings. It was Josh's first real experience with old Americana history, and my first religious experience with it since I just finished american history. We loved it.

Day 3: Trek to NYC: Chicago

Chicago is the city of Joshua's birth. He's never been there before. It just so happened, that our hotel in Davenport was maybe 3 hours out of Chicago, and we didn't get outta town until 8 that morning. So, we decided we had to hit up Josh's homeland and see Wrigley field so we could cross that off the bucket list.

About 30 minutes before me arrived Henry started letting us know he was hungry. By the time we got to Wrigley, he wasn't very happy. I pumped so we could get food into him as fast as possible to shorten the crying time. Unfortunately, Henry also had a masterful blow out down the right side of his leg, in his car seat. Josh walked around feeding Henry (yes you read that right) because there wasn't any where to sit with him without getting mess everywhere. It was a wonderfully memorable experience, changing Henry's diaper in the parking lot of Wrigley field. Then we got these pictures so it was all worth it.

Sooo...I'm not sure the neighborhoods surrounding Wrigley field count as "Chicago", but we reeeeeally loved it there. The streets were clean, the people were nice, and the weather was gorgeous. I want to go to there for forever. We really got to see the streets all nice and such on our drive to Gino's East. Gino's East is Terri and Randy (Josh's parents) favorite pizzeria from the days when they lived in Chicago. In fact, Josh had actually eaten the pizza before because you have buy it frozen and his parents have done that before on very special occasions. SO we went there, me with not very high expectations because the pizza sauce is on top (weird) and it's deep dish (yuck) and the crust is not normal (double weird). Let me tell you now.

I WAS WRONG.
It is so good.
I can't stop thinking about the gooey cheesiness.
Yum I would go back tomorrow if there were a Gino's East within a day drive.




So, that's that. It was delish. Also funny because there were 3 families in the restaurant (including us), and three of us had babies around the 4-6 month range. Pretty unique.

Day 2: Trek to NYC

Day two we left Cheyenne, WY at 4:45 am, stopped across the street for some gas and food, then got on the road at 4:55. We stopped once or twice but in general tried to hurry up and get some road under our belts cause we only did 8 hours the day before. Nebraska was underwhelming and boring. This is the only picture I have that may be in Nebraska. Henry got sorta impatient and this was how we kept him entertained. Notice the toy hanging off the end of the umbrella? It saved Josh's shoulder.

Near the end of the day we made a stop in Iowa. The people there are a classy type, classy enough that Henry was overdressed in just a onesie. It was INSANELY WINDY there. It was also very sunny and actually warm, where it was freezing cold in Wyoming. Henry got a tiny little sunburn. It was so sad.





This whole time I decided we'd stop at Choice hotels, because they had a special for buy 2 nights get a third free. Bummer part is, you have to book online or by calling the phone number hotline, so every day I called the line when we were about 2 hours away from a destination. Long back story for this bit. I called and made a reservation in Davenport, IA when we were about 3 hours away. Then an hour away from destination, it started raining about the hardest I've ever seen. THEN it became absolutely the craziest storm I've ever seen. Hail and pouring rain, and suuuuuper fast winds. I didn't think we were going to get to Davenport. The storm let up enough for us to get to the hotel and in our room, swim a little bit, then get Henry to bed. Then the storm started up again and we watched the torrential rains from our window. The sky was orange. I was working on 4 hours of sleep from the night before, and a 2 hour nap in the car, so I was exhausted and fell asleep and slept through the tornado sirens that woke Josh up about 2 AM. Obviously we didn't take it very seriously though because we kept sleeping, and a tornado missed us by 20ish miles or something. Later we found out this was the same storm that produced the tornado that killed 80+ people in Kansas. That was our near brush with death, but we were thrilled to be done with the most boring part of the trip. Also, I was exhausted and not in the mood for waking up early, so we slept in and made plans to leave Iowa around 7.

Day 3 tomorrow!

Day 1 of the trek to NYC

Alright alright. So the original plan to get outta Provo was to wake up and leave at 3 AM. But, with packing/cleaning until 11:30 the night before, I was not prepared to wake up and leave that early. Instead, we set our alarms (5 of them) for 5:45, woke up on time, and got out the door by 6:45. First stop was Grandma's for a surprise goodbye (not really a surprise) and to pick up a paycheck. It was sad, but both Grandma and Mom couldn't wait to get us out the door on the way.





The drive into Wyoming I had 2 sleeping boys. We made our first pit stop and got these gorgeous pictures of Henry with the blue skies. I couldn't get over how close the clouds were in Wyoming! It felt like if we were in a tall building we could've touched the clouds. It was gorgeous. I wouldn't mind living in Wyoming someday.

The first day we really only drove for 8 hours. We landed in Cheyenne, WY for the night. Henry got his own bed (awesome) during awake time, and slept in his pack and play in the bathroom during the night. We ordered Chinese takeout for dinner. FYI-If you ever have the option to get Ginger Chicken, DON'T DO IT. We're still trying to get the taste out of memory.





Best part about being in the car 12+ hours a day? Swimming. We took Henry for the first time in his life. He was freaked out at first, but by the end, really liked it. He didn't even mind when water got in his eyes because of his vigorous arm pumping/inadvertant water splashing.

So that night we tried to get to bed early but really just went to sleep around 10 and set our alarms for 4 am.

TO BE CONTINUED......

5 Months and month 4 in retrospect

Hurray for more than one reason. #1- Henry is 5 months old! Though this is happy, it's also sad. My favorite baby is growing up. But he's adorable.
Hurray #2- My new card reader came! So look forward to a series of new blogs coming up.

Month 4 was great. I'm pretty late in the game for really getting a feel for Henry's personality, because I feel like it really started to show this month. Rex is a very happy baby. He's quick to smile when he sees me or Josh, and he's great about smiling back at strangers. Everyone finds him so charming, and though I think it has a lot to do with his adorable big bald head and chubby legs, I think it's the smile back that gets 'em. Henry isn't really a laugher which is sorta sad, but at the same time, I love his smile so much. And it's kind of fun to really work to get a laugh out of him. He started laughing when I make silly faces. It is ADORABLE. Henry is extra ticklish in the armpits and hips, so pretend gnawing on those ensure a baby giggle.

Henry likes to stand. It's near impossible to get him to sit like a real boy and he screams when we prop him up with pillows. He either likes to lay or stand. He also started liking tummy time. He is SO CLOSE to rolling over from his back to his stomach, and every once in awhile rolls from tummy to back. He's content to just hang out for tummy time though and look at whoever's feet are closest. He also reaches and reaches for things. He's fascinated by cups and glasses and definitely knows what to do whenever one is near his mouth. He tries to grab food and silverware from out of our hands. We actually decided to let him try some rice cereal! It was definitely more liquid than cereal, but he liked it and ate it all up. Pictures below.

Now that's all for month 4. I'm looking forward to month 5 and hoping Henry gets used to this humid heat here. For now, he'll be sleeping in his tiny bedroom (closet floor) in our 1 bedroom 3rd floor walk up in Brooklyn, NY. Cheers!

I FORGOT! Henry also started grabbing his feet. All the time. He grabs them, pulls off his socks, sucks on his toes, and it is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. I shouldn't deny you pictures of that.



ps. In case you're worried about poor H's gums, we got tiny baby spoons today. So he doesn't have to eat off giant sharp metal ones.

Alright, alright

We made it to NYC. I have tons of pictures to upload. Unfortunately, the SD card reader thing didn't make it here, so I had to order one off amazon. Stay tuned because in approximately 2 days THERE WILL BE PICTURES.

And for now, here's a small update.

Henry is 5 months old
Today Josh and Henry rode public transit (THE subway to be exact) went to Times Square, Grand Central Station, and the NBC Studios for the first time in his life. And also ate Junior's Cheesecake (heaven in a slice) and did lots of other rambling around the city. Today was awesome. And now I'm off to shower as the 90 degree with 60% humidity was great.
Also, this week Josh, Henry, and I stayed in Boston with Nat for a heavenly, carefree weekend. Natalie works in the COOLEST building of all time and one of the prettiest cities of all time. It was darn near impossible to get Josh to leave. More on that when the pictures arrive.

Cheers!

Giggle and Shout (the new twist and shout)

Our sweet little almost four month old started giggling yesterday, 4/25. He's been doing this adorable sucking in/breathing fast laugh thing for a couple weeks, but yesterday he actually giggled! I love it so much. I think world peace could be achieved if terrorists listened to more baby laughter. Ps. The giggle doesn't start until 20 seconds. Before that it's just screaming and me making noises.

Also, Josh and I are finished with school for the summer. And I finished American Heritage. And we're going home next week. And there's more exciting news in case you haven't heard. It deserves its own blog.

Night!

This makes me excited.

As a mother, I should be watching less television. I hope I kick the habit when I start having a toddler who roams around (crawling or rolling and whatnot) but as a mother right now who spends a lot of time cleaning and talking to her baby with the TV on in the background, this makes me really excited.
2 Soap Operas (the bane of my daytime tv existence) are getting canceled and being replaced with health shows! Yay!

The Chew will "focus on food from EVERY angle – as a source of joy, health, family ritual, friendship, breaking news, dating, fitness, weight loss," according to the press release. Mario Batali will be one of the hosts.

The other show, tentatively titled The Revolution, will focus on health and lifestyle transformations.

My midday just got a lot less dramatic and a lot more exciting.

Read the People's Magazine article here if you're so inclined.

On a different note

I can't believe I ever accomplished anything when I was this big. Did I use to fall over a lot? This was only 36 weeks, too. I have much bigger pictures from 41 weeks but they have actual belly skin showing, and I'm not sure how comfortable we all are with that. So...36 weeks. Goodness.

3 months old!

Technically it's his 4th month of life though, so I'm torn on calling this month 3 or 4. I guess I have to stick with 3 months though or else his birthday will come one month too soon.



I had to post this second one even though it has my feet in it cause I think it's hilarious. I love Henry's face. He's just so stinkin' cute!!



See you at month 4!

Baby Blessing

Henry Rex was blessed on March 6, 2010. We were lucky to share the day with Jacob and Abbey's little girl, Kate. She was born exactly 2 weeks after Henry. It's sort of awesome, because Henry's birthday will be first, then exactly a week later it's Josh's birthday, then exactly a week later, it's Kate's birthday. I won't be forgetting the second two for sure anymore. But sorry, no promises for you, little Henry.


The prep for his big day. He had to wear gloves because we had a host of scratching incidents during nap time in the days leading up to the blessing.


Henry's "Before" shot.


These babies and their red eyes. If I could fix it without making them look demonic (hello black eyes) I would.


We blessed Henry in the lobby/common room of my Grandparents' building. It was so perfect to bless him there! This is the same lobby where my parents had their wedding reception and Mallory had her baptism after-party, and where many many other family events have taken place. The room was also renovated like a month earlier, so it was completely gorgeous.




My wonderful grandparents holding "Cute little baby Henry" (Adrie's name for HRex)


These babies are best friends already. And that is their Grandpa holding them both!



I don't have any pictures of the food, but we had some crazy good lasagna and jubilee jumbles (affectionately referred to as "jubes") and chocolate cake, lemon cake, fruit and veggies, you get it. It was the perfect celebration. Thank you to everyone who came, helped, or wanted to come/help. And to the people who don't fall in that category.....hi.

So anyway, my son is blessed. And he's now 3 months old. And I love him. And also, I just wrote 1300 words of American Heritage essay so that is why this reads like an essay instead of a blog. Cheers.

Growing, growing, growing

I figured I gotta blog before the 1 month mark of the last time I blogged, or before the 3rd month of Henry's life is over. Can you believe it's been 2 months? I have so many pictures to post and share and I haven't even told my birth story yet. I am so sorry.

Ready for Henry's growth chart?
Months 0, 1, and 2.




His list of accomplishments now are: almost holding his own head up, sleeping for 8 hours each night, smiling nearly on command, an almost laugh, wiggling and moving his arms and legs, not hating tummy time (sometimes), a small bald spot on the back of his head, and sleeping in a big boy crib. He is so freakin' cute. I never expected myself to be as in love with a small child as I am and I seriously believe he's the cutest thing to ever live. Blessing day was yesterday! You can look forward to a post about that soon since I have the pictures loaded anyway.