Sweet Yet Sour

Henry’s 1st Update

Monday, May 10th, 2010 | Henry | 5 Comments

This is Henry:

Henry

His full name is Henry Thomas, and like Anna he is named after people in our families.  I have a Great-Great-Great Grandfather named Henry who brought his family to Denver from England in 1880’s.  He was a shoemaker and had a store in downtown Denver that sold shoes, mostly to the miners.  My grandfather on my mother’s side, who is still alive, is named Thomas and Mike has a beloved uncle named Thomas (Tom) as well.  We’ve always liked the name Henry, it’s classic – and we hope he likes it too.

This being our second time around with a newborn, we were prepared for the sleepless nights, fussiness, frequent diaper changes, etc. that are associated.  However, as with any child, this one has a few tricks up his sleeves.

After weeks of a pretty fussy baby I’ve learned that there are a lot of foods that don’t go down well with Mr. Henry.  A few hours after I eat any of these foods Henry refuses to eat, has a lot of gas and is just plain fussy.  To alleviate myself from suffering these consequences I have so far cut out of my diet the following foods: chocolate, pork (especially bacon), all colors of bell peppers, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower and citrus.  I am of late a little suspicious of his behavior after I have a cheese laden meal, like mac and cheese or quesadillas, so I may need to cut those things out too.  Uggh.  I knew to cut out spicy foods, but I had no idea how many different foods would bug the little guy.  Chocolate and bacon are the worst; once I’m done nursing I’m going out for breakfast and ordering a slab of bacon, two chocolate croissants and some hot cocoa…

It is this experience that has caused me to decide that evolution should come up with something really cool to somehow help me with this.  Perhaps if when I ate one of these things I would gag, or feel a burning sensation on my tongue or something, that would remind me that I should not eat that or suffer a fussy baby.  For weeks I would mindlessly pop a piece of chocolate in my mouth only to regret it a few hours later.

For the first few weeks Henry did the usual newborn things, sleeping, eating, pooping, spitting up and crying ( a lot of that).  These past two weeks (he’s now 7 weeks old), Henry has finally started being a little more awake and alert, granted not always during the day.  He’s looking around, finding things he likes to focus on and even smiling and cooing at a few things.  Henry especially loves the bright toy I hung above his changing table, but he’s also partial to the striped curtains in his room and the ceiling fans.  All of these objects generally elicit a smile and sometimes some joyful baby noises.

Here is some video I took of Henry making eyes at his toy:

Lost in Chaos

Monday, May 10th, 2010 | Updates | 2 Comments

If you’ve been wondering where I have been well, mostly lost in the chaos of two kids – a two-year old and a newborn are the handful I expected them to be.

I used to have spare moments during the day, a moment to prepare dinner, a moment to nap, a moment to blog, etc. and all that is gone – for the time being.  This is the first spare moment I have had in weeks – and I doubt it will last long.  Phone calls and emails go unanswered, thank you notes go unwritten and blog posts go undone.

I’m going to do separate posts for family updates, since there has been a lot that has gone on with each of us in the past few weeks.  I’ll post first about Henry when I have a moment.   I promise to include pictures… Updates coming soon, I promise!