I don't have much time to write full blog posts lately. So I've decided that I will copy and paste information from emails to my husband, facebook messages, and online chats with my mom (like this one) so that I can still keep this information and update you (whoever you are) on baby Henry! Good idea?
So just so you have some background.. Henry is now 4 months old and I am finally admitting that he is too big for his bassinet. :( I've started trying to have him sleep in his crib in his own room, which is right across the hall from mine. ...This is how its going so far:
[Me]
ok seriously i am having issues with the whole crib thing!!
he doesnt like it!
:(
gahhhh
he is crying right now... i am REALLY hoping he'll just go back to sleep
[Mary Schumacher]
oh no
[Me]
it really sucks.
[Mary Schumacher]
what if you sleep on the futon while he falls asleep
[Me]
.... why would that make any difference
[Mary Schumacher]
then you'd be in the room while he falls asleep and he'd sense you are right there
[Me]
LOL
idk mom..
i put him in his crib to fall asleep. he fell asleep, then woke up 10 min later and started crying.
i rocked him to sleep and put him back
he is now awake again crying.
is this going to just continue forever?? i rock him to sleep, set him down and 15 min later i am doing it again??
[Mary Schumacher]
give him your sweaty tshirt to sleep with
then he'll smell you and feel comforted
[Me]
YOU HAVE THE MOST RIDICULOUS SOLUTIONS!
[Mary Schumacher]
LOL
people do that!
[Me]
i hold him and he's instantly sleeping again
grrrrrrr
[Mary Schumacher]
oh just sleep with him. He'll move to his own bed in a few years.
Gracie and Libby sleep in their own beds now. (sometimes)
[Me]
LOL
uuugh...
& just so you know I really did give him a tshirt.. not sweaty, but i wore it! Wish me luck!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Grandmas, Food, Babies, etc...
Pretty much everyone uses facebook now. Its just convenient for staying in touch with friends and family who aren't close by. And even the ones that are and are just too busy to catch up on a regular basis! Anyway, the other day I asked my grandmother over facebook what her mom (my great grandmother) eats on a regular basis. I have watched a few food documentaries lately and since my great gramma is 103 (or is it 104 now?) I decided it was a good question!! I have also recently decided that I would love to stay alive to see my children's children's children's children!!
Please ignore the fact that I look like a giant whale. This is my gramma, my great gramma, my mom, my sister, charlie (her baby), and me and Henry. So it is all five generations!
Anyway, this was my Grandma's response to my question about what Great Gramma eats:
"Gma eats ordinary food. No nuts, or anything hard to chew. She has her cold cereal every morning with a little milk and sugar, and her cranapple juice. We eat our big meal at noon. Then usually just have a bowl of Moose Tracks ice cream for supper with a cookie. She eats a lot of chicken and fish with potatoes and gravy and a roll. Some mornings we fix eggs and sausage with toast, or pancakes or frozen waffle thingys. Sometimes we fix those things for lunch just for a change. She eats hamburgers now and then. She likes lamb chops but we don't have those often. She doesn't care for Mexican foods, Italian, or Oriental. When she doesn't feel well she eats burnt toast to help settle her stomach, or milk toast with tea. In other words she eats whatever she wants and ignores anything she doesn't care for at the time. She has no special diet."
I thought it was funny for some reason. :) And also a bit relieving.. because I have been so concerned lately about organic foods and what is healthy for Henry, whats not, that its nice to know that you can live a long healthy life just by eating foods that you like and that make you feel good. I will just try not to purchase too many foods with pesticides, growth hormones or too many "enhancements" and I think we will all be fine!
Please ignore the fact that I look like a giant whale. This is my gramma, my great gramma, my mom, my sister, charlie (her baby), and me and Henry. So it is all five generations!
Anyway, this was my Grandma's response to my question about what Great Gramma eats:
"Gma eats ordinary food. No nuts, or anything hard to chew. She has her cold cereal every morning with a little milk and sugar, and her cranapple juice. We eat our big meal at noon. Then usually just have a bowl of Moose Tracks ice cream for supper with a cookie. She eats a lot of chicken and fish with potatoes and gravy and a roll. Some mornings we fix eggs and sausage with toast, or pancakes or frozen waffle thingys. Sometimes we fix those things for lunch just for a change. She eats hamburgers now and then. She likes lamb chops but we don't have those often. She doesn't care for Mexican foods, Italian, or Oriental. When she doesn't feel well she eats burnt toast to help settle her stomach, or milk toast with tea. In other words she eats whatever she wants and ignores anything she doesn't care for at the time. She has no special diet."
I thought it was funny for some reason. :) And also a bit relieving.. because I have been so concerned lately about organic foods and what is healthy for Henry, whats not, that its nice to know that you can live a long healthy life just by eating foods that you like and that make you feel good. I will just try not to purchase too many foods with pesticides, growth hormones or too many "enhancements" and I think we will all be fine!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Henry update.
In one week, my little Henry will turn 4 months old. This week he's suddenly making so much progress developmentally! His hand-eye coordination is really good now. He can pretty much grab anything within arms reach, and quickly too. I can tell that his depth perception is getting better because when I hand him a toy his hands used to try to grab in front of or behind it and he'd have to search for it through the air a little before actually grabbing it, and that process has almost been eliminated now. He can also ROLL OVER now!!! Yay! Two days ago he rolled over from his back to his tummy (over his right arm) and has been practicing ever since! The only problem is that he can't roll from his tummy to his back, which is funny because I've read that most babies figure out how to do that first. He has always hated tummy time until this week, after he learned to roll over. And now that he doesn't mind, we play on the floor all the time! In fact, I am laying on the floor with him right now.
I just measured him from the top of his head to his heel - 27 inches! Wasn't expecting that! According to the internet that's well above the average baby's 4 month weight. And I don't know his exact weight but I'm going to guess its around 16 pounds. He has a doctors appointment in a few days so I guess we'll find out then. I also purchased a high chair and I've fed him rice cereal with a spoon three times now! He seems to like it. I will probably just stick to breastfeeding while he's sick though.
We are both sick today. My poor Henry is teething, has a runny nose, and plenty of boogers. :/ And I can only assume he has a headache, because I sure do. I'm pretty sure he gave it to me actually, because I noticed his runny nose before I felt a thing. I'm going to go to the store and buy this "vapor bath" stuff for him and some cough drops and chicken noodle soup for me! If I make it out of the house, that is...
And Daddy is gone. He's been gone over a week and we've still got over a week to go, but I've been emailing him a lot. I think he'll be really excited to come home to Henry since he has so many new tricks to show him! And of course he is always growing. growing growing growing. Why do they have to do that anyway??
Monday, July 11, 2011
Rambling...
In three days my little lovebug will be TWO months old! Even though he has grown SO much (and I've shrank so much) its still hard to believe that 2 months ago he was still inside me. Time is flying by SO quickly! Its really getting to me, the fact that he is growing so quickly. Just stay little for awhile!! Being a baby isn't so bad.
He has been really great about sleeping. He stays up until 11:30 or midnight (sometimes later) and then sleeps in until about 5. Yesterday he took a nice long evening nap, giving Andrew and I enough time to make a FEAST of food for dinner AND watch almost half of a movie! I had to hold him and feed him during the movie and once I was done, BOTH my boys were asleep and I watched the end by myself, haha. Today he woke up more around 4am but he'd gone to bed a bit earlier than normal so I expected. Anyway, it was nice to have some time with my husband! I feel like I never get any time with him anymore. He is always working on our album in the band room or playing a video game or working out or helping clean the house, and thats when he's not actually at work! And when we do have time to spend, the baby is awake and wants attention... But yesterday was good. And I'm glad that it was because it was the last day of stand down (dont ask, its navy talk), so starting today, he goes to work every day. I dont know how long his hours will be, don't even know when he is coming home tonight, but he said he'd call at lunchtime, so thats good.
Although the sleeping has been going wonderfully, my little muffin has suddenly become a crabbier baby this week! I dont know why, maybe he is gassy or has more boogers than usual... not sure. But he's been crying more often during the day and its making daily chores and errands more difficult! The only way I can fix the crying is by holding him close, rocking him, talking to him, and walking around with him. Its like he just wants extra attention. No setting him down to do the dishes or laundry! Luckily the moby wrap that my mom handed down to me has been working for an hour or two at a time.
Today I opened a new package of three pairs of socks for him. They were sized 3 to 12 months old, but he didnt have any others clean. To my surprise, they are quite snug!! He has giant feet more being almost 2 months old. He is about 23 inches long and 12 and a half pounds. But maybe I should weigh him and measure him today, because when I picked him up this morning I swear he was bigger than when I laid him down last night!
And last on my list of things to talk about - MUSIC! 50/90 started but idk if I will participate. If I write anything I suppose I will post it. And thats only if I get a decent recording, which is not looking too good since Andrew got all this new recording equipment. Our home studio is really looking awesome! I am so happy with our band room. I wish I had more people to play music with in there though. I'm picky about who I like (personally & musically) and who I trust around our music stuff. Anyway, I started performing again!! First time was just singing back up for Celia at House of Blues downtown. Next I performed my own set a couple days ago at The Stage (also downtown in the gaslamp). It didn't go all that great! I didn't practice because it was a very last minute invite and Henry was fussy. I almost didn't go but Andrew made me. I forgot my song book, and since I didn't practice, I really wish I would have had it! I did probably 8 songs, but after 5 I was ready to be done... But Celia and I got $15 each in tips so I couldnt have been THAT bad! haha. More music - Scott West asked if I wanted to sing back up in the Scott West Band at his next few headlining gigs, but I can't really say yes, (1) because he never told me what dates he's playing and (2) because even if I knew the dates, who am I going to get to watch Henry from 8pm to 1am on random nights, probably weekends!? And thats not even considering the fact that I am NOT okay with anyone except me & drew watching him!
Well, the baby's awake! Gotta go.
He has been really great about sleeping. He stays up until 11:30 or midnight (sometimes later) and then sleeps in until about 5. Yesterday he took a nice long evening nap, giving Andrew and I enough time to make a FEAST of food for dinner AND watch almost half of a movie! I had to hold him and feed him during the movie and once I was done, BOTH my boys were asleep and I watched the end by myself, haha. Today he woke up more around 4am but he'd gone to bed a bit earlier than normal so I expected. Anyway, it was nice to have some time with my husband! I feel like I never get any time with him anymore. He is always working on our album in the band room or playing a video game or working out or helping clean the house, and thats when he's not actually at work! And when we do have time to spend, the baby is awake and wants attention... But yesterday was good. And I'm glad that it was because it was the last day of stand down (dont ask, its navy talk), so starting today, he goes to work every day. I dont know how long his hours will be, don't even know when he is coming home tonight, but he said he'd call at lunchtime, so thats good.
Although the sleeping has been going wonderfully, my little muffin has suddenly become a crabbier baby this week! I dont know why, maybe he is gassy or has more boogers than usual... not sure. But he's been crying more often during the day and its making daily chores and errands more difficult! The only way I can fix the crying is by holding him close, rocking him, talking to him, and walking around with him. Its like he just wants extra attention. No setting him down to do the dishes or laundry! Luckily the moby wrap that my mom handed down to me has been working for an hour or two at a time.
Today I opened a new package of three pairs of socks for him. They were sized 3 to 12 months old, but he didnt have any others clean. To my surprise, they are quite snug!! He has giant feet more being almost 2 months old. He is about 23 inches long and 12 and a half pounds. But maybe I should weigh him and measure him today, because when I picked him up this morning I swear he was bigger than when I laid him down last night!
And last on my list of things to talk about - MUSIC! 50/90 started but idk if I will participate. If I write anything I suppose I will post it. And thats only if I get a decent recording, which is not looking too good since Andrew got all this new recording equipment. Our home studio is really looking awesome! I am so happy with our band room. I wish I had more people to play music with in there though. I'm picky about who I like (personally & musically) and who I trust around our music stuff. Anyway, I started performing again!! First time was just singing back up for Celia at House of Blues downtown. Next I performed my own set a couple days ago at The Stage (also downtown in the gaslamp). It didn't go all that great! I didn't practice because it was a very last minute invite and Henry was fussy. I almost didn't go but Andrew made me. I forgot my song book, and since I didn't practice, I really wish I would have had it! I did probably 8 songs, but after 5 I was ready to be done... But Celia and I got $15 each in tips so I couldnt have been THAT bad! haha. More music - Scott West asked if I wanted to sing back up in the Scott West Band at his next few headlining gigs, but I can't really say yes, (1) because he never told me what dates he's playing and (2) because even if I knew the dates, who am I going to get to watch Henry from 8pm to 1am on random nights, probably weekends!? And thats not even considering the fact that I am NOT okay with anyone except me & drew watching him!
Well, the baby's awake! Gotta go.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
baby update!
Henry has been smiling for quite a while now. When he was only a week old he started smiling in his sleep. He did it often and sometimes would even giggle! Always made me wonder what he was dreaming about. :) For the past couple weeks he has been smiling while he's awake, smiling at people, mostly me of course.
We have TWO games to play together! We play peek-a-boo, and as of today we have a new game. Don't know what its called... I think I'll call it Stinky Feet. He lays on my lap with his head near my knees and I lift his feet to my nose and smell them and say "PEW!!" and he smiles!! Can you believe that my days now consist of quieting cries and finding ways to make
Its strange, I've never loved to see a smile so much before! The closest feeling I guess would be seeing my husband smile on special days. Really special days like the day he proposed, or the day we got married, or the day we found out I was pregnant, or the day HENRY was born! Or any time that Drew smiles at Henry. I just love my family! Its amazing. Its like one second I have a boyfriend and the next I have a beautiful, concrete family. Sometimes I wonder how it all even happened!
Anyway, its been very exciting to see some smiles. There's an emotional tole of suddenly having to spend EVERY second taking care of someone else, someone who cries ten times a day and can never tell you what they want. An appreciative smile sure is nice to see after hours of holding, cuddling, singing, bouncing, feeding, changing, and any other thing I can think of to cheer up a grumpy baby!
Some of my favorite things about Henry:
- he falls asleep during car rides
- he started biting & sucking his fists, which might not seem like a big deal but its self-soothing and it means he's gaining coordination.
- he started sleeping through the night.. kind of. He now sleeps from midnight to 6, give or take an hour.
- his eyes looks prettier every day
- he looks so much like his daddy's baby pictures
- he smiles for his dad
- he has so much hair!!
- the moby wrap puts him to sleep right away
- he's starting to stay awake for longer stretches during the day
- likes staring at dangling toys and kicking
Well, time to change his diaper and put him to bed. Its a "duty day" which means Andrew will be working all night and come home in the morning. I let Henry sleep in our bed on duty days. He likes to sprawl out and take up as much space as possible. No swaddling for this little guy! Goodnight.
We have TWO games to play together! We play peek-a-boo, and as of today we have a new game. Don't know what its called... I think I'll call it Stinky Feet. He lays on my lap with his head near my knees and I lift his feet to my nose and smell them and say "PEW!!" and he smiles!! Can you believe that my days now consist of quieting cries and finding ways to make
Its strange, I've never loved to see a smile so much before! The closest feeling I guess would be seeing my husband smile on special days. Really special days like the day he proposed, or the day we got married, or the day we found out I was pregnant, or the day HENRY was born! Or any time that Drew smiles at Henry. I just love my family! Its amazing. Its like one second I have a boyfriend and the next I have a beautiful, concrete family. Sometimes I wonder how it all even happened!
Anyway, its been very exciting to see some smiles. There's an emotional tole of suddenly having to spend EVERY second taking care of someone else, someone who cries ten times a day and can never tell you what they want. An appreciative smile sure is nice to see after hours of holding, cuddling, singing, bouncing, feeding, changing, and any other thing I can think of to cheer up a grumpy baby!
Some of my favorite things about Henry:
- he falls asleep during car rides
- he started biting & sucking his fists, which might not seem like a big deal but its self-soothing and it means he's gaining coordination.
- he started sleeping through the night.. kind of. He now sleeps from midnight to 6, give or take an hour.
- his eyes looks prettier every day
- he looks so much like his daddy's baby pictures
- he smiles for his dad
- he has so much hair!!
- the moby wrap puts him to sleep right away
- he's starting to stay awake for longer stretches during the day
- likes staring at dangling toys and kicking
Well, time to change his diaper and put him to bed. Its a "duty day" which means Andrew will be working all night and come home in the morning. I let Henry sleep in our bed on duty days. He likes to sprawl out and take up as much space as possible. No swaddling for this little guy! Goodnight.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
My baby is SEVEN weeks old today. He is so precious. I gave birth to him on May 14th. I had a very long labor. On the afternoon of May 13th I went to the hospital after two and a half hours of contractions that were three to five minutes apart. They checked to see how dilated I was and I was only ONE centimeter. It wasn't good news, but I wasn't too surprised by it. I was, however, a bit more effaced, so it was good to hear that after all those contractions SOMETHING was happening... My contractions stayed very close together all night long and got way too strong to sleep or even rest. My husband, Drew, started massaging my back through the contractions after they got too strong for me to get through on my own. I labored ALL night with him and finally went to the hospital around 10am the next morning. When I got to the hospital they checked my cervix again, this time I was four centimeters dilated and completely effaced with a "bulging water bag" (which I guess is why it felt like I couldn't even sit down). Amazingly the day flew by. The contractions were very strong but it seemed like once they had me all set up in that labor delivery room, time was flying by and I was making lots of progress with each contraction. I had terrible back labor... My poor husband gave me a 24 hour back massage. My back hurt so much that my tummy didn't hurt at all, or maybe it did, but the back pain was so strong that I couldn't feel anything else. I kept waiting for the pain to get worse and be "unbearable" but it turns out I can tolerate quite a bit of pain! There weren't any contractions that I couldn't breathe through or talk through, and once the "pushing contractions" started, the back pain seemed to be going away. The pushing contractions were relieving after all those hours of doing nothing but laying there in pain! I wouldn't say I was any more comfortable, just a very different kind of uncomfortable than I had felt before I guess. And after an hour of pushing, Henry was born! My husband and my mom were both a HUGE help. I also had a FANTASTIC nurse (or maybe midwife, helper, idk, titles arent important!). She was only in the room for half the time and when she was she seemed very understanding and only gave helpful suggestions, never sounded bossy or irritated. And everyone seemed pretty impressed with me for doing it without any meds!! I didnt even take a tylenol! Afterwards she put something in my IV though because I had to sit there for a LONG time getting stitches and whatnot. Another amazing thing about Henry's delivery was that immediately after he was born, when they handed him to me, he was very clean looking. He looked like he has just come out of a bath tub, not all slimy and nasty like most babies in movies look. He was also HUGE... eight pounds and fifteen ounces! Almost a full nine pounds! It was strange to be holding a baby that looked too big to have ever been in my tummy! I wasn't expecting to have a little five pounder, but with everyone telling me I looked "small" through my entire pregnancy, NINE pounds was not expected!
Interruption: Henry is laying next to me on the couch and Andrew is sitting on the other side of him. Drew just had a MASSIVE man sneeze and scared little Henry half to death! Poor little guy jumped and started crying!
Well, Andrew is transferring files to a new computer so I have to go! Lots more updates to come. :)
Interruption: Henry is laying next to me on the couch and Andrew is sitting on the other side of him. Drew just had a MASSIVE man sneeze and scared little Henry half to death! Poor little guy jumped and started crying!
Well, Andrew is transferring files to a new computer so I have to go! Lots more updates to come. :)
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
A Quick Rant....
As a songwriter, I try to respect other songwriters - no matter how talented or famous they may be. So naturally, one thing that really bothers me is when a musician plays a song by someone else, and doesn't give that person any credit for the song! Lately I've been noticing more and more people performing covers at open mic nights and letting the crowd think that it is an original song, or even worse - leading them to believe that its their own original song - and never mentioning later that it was a cover! Why does this seem to be a growing trend? In fact, it has probably happened more times than I've realized since there are so many songs out there that I'm unfamiliar with. I'm not against people covering songs; in fact, I think it can be beneficial for musicians to learn covers.
It should be common sense to acknowledge the original artist and give them the credit they deserve. Its the least you can do if you are using their creation to benefit yourself, whether it be compensation, popularity, or the personal joy and sense of accomplishment you got from learning it. As a songwriter, I would hate for someone to use my song for their own gain and then not give me credit for creating it!
Its gotten to the point where I have come very close to exclaiming, "Nice COVER of that song! Gotta love *insert band name here*!" because leading people to believe that a cover song is your own is a very selfish thing to do. Lets all learn some manners and stop stealing, please.
...with that said, here is a cover song that I decided to record today!
It should be common sense to acknowledge the original artist and give them the credit they deserve. Its the least you can do if you are using their creation to benefit yourself, whether it be compensation, popularity, or the personal joy and sense of accomplishment you got from learning it. As a songwriter, I would hate for someone to use my song for their own gain and then not give me credit for creating it!
Its gotten to the point where I have come very close to exclaiming, "Nice COVER of that song! Gotta love *insert band name here*!" because leading people to believe that a cover song is your own is a very selfish thing to do. Lets all learn some manners and stop stealing, please.
...with that said, here is a cover song that I decided to record today!
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