A Candid Life

I want to be someone who likes change, I really do, but it is still a struggle for me.  I hate making decisions, I don’t particularly like transition — overall change stresses me out. Interestingly enough we have had a LOT of change lately.  It feels like our entire marriage has been transition with short seasons of consistency, but lately we have really piled on the changes.

Hank changes:

He is changing ALL THE TIME!  I wake up to a new skill, expression, interest, etc almost every day.  Some of the biggest changes lately include eating solids, rolling from his back to tummy, talking a lot, drooling a lot, and cutting his first tooth.

He started on rice cereal which he was not a big fan of so we moved to oatmeal which he seems to like more.  He is know also eating bananas, sweet potatoes, applesauce, and newly added sweet peas.  I love his faces when a new food or texture is introduced.  He is hilarious.  He loves to talk while he is eating, which means he sprays food at mommy’s face.

He is so stinking cute and loves to smile!  He is interested in everything; I have especially loved watching him discover his hands and fingers…he has been chewing on them for a while, but now he just holds his hand in front of his face and watches his fingers move – it is AMAZING!

Just some of my favorite photos from the past while.

He is just not an newborn anymore…he is full on baby!  He is changing and I am learning to embrace that!  I miss the newborn phase, but I am loving all the new things that come with each new stage he enters.

Job Changes:

Jason and I both have taken on new jobs in the past month.  I have accepted a part-time job at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in their outpatient rehab department.  I am excited and nervous about the new position.  God provided for us in such an amazing way providing me with this opportunity.  It will be an adjustment in many ways, but I am feeling energized about how this new position will impact my life and our family’s life.  I worked 3 days this week; I really missed being with Hank, but when I got home I had a new purpose to my time with him. We walked, read, bathed, ate, etc and I loved every minute.  I am not a very structured person and I have struggled with organizing my day and prioritizing since I have been off work.  I found myself watching a lot of television and struggling to get house stuff done; feeling somewhat directionless at times.  I  think that working part-time will really help me to gain more of a sense of purpose and priority.

Jason accepted a job at Sweetwater Community Church as their Artist in Residence.  We are currently raising support for this position which we are realizing is going to be quite a faith stretching experience.  You can check out what an Artist in Residence is by clicking here.

So change really isn’t my thing, but I am learning to embrace that life is all about it.  I have been reminding myself of this verse lately:

“Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” Matt. 6:26

and

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jer. 29:11

Well we have a very talkative 3 month old (almost 4 now) on our hands.  Hank continues to be a delight to have in our family.  His 3 month birthday was on Christmas day, which we spent in Fishers, IN with Jason’s family.  Of course he had no idea what was going on around him, but he smiled a lot and was festive, dressed in his new Christmas PJ’s.  He got some rice cereal, passys, and the next size bottle nipples in his stocking…SO exciting!

Indiana was quite snowy while we were there…more than this Georgia girl normally sees in a suburban area.  Needless to say, they are MUCH more prepared for snow than we are here…as we learned after being snowed in for a week.  We actually drove home on Christmas day…which was kinda nice in a weird way.  Very little was open, so stopping to feed Hank was an adventure.  Our first stop was at Shoney’s Restaurant…we ate and Hank nursed then we were back on the road.    We managed to find an open Starbucks just outside of Nashville for stop #2…that was a nice surprise.

Less than a week after returning from Indiana, we were on the road again to celebrate my family’s Christmas in Louisiana with all my Dad’s side of the family.  It was so fun to introduce Hank to my family.  My brother got another chance to spend some time with his favorite (and only) nephew and Hank finally got some SEC gear.  Now I just need to get him some UGA gear and we’ll be set.

Hank is sitting with support these days and he also loves to put weight through his legs.  He still spends most of his play time on his activity mat, but we have also added the bumbo seat, his swing, and a bouncy activity station to his activities.  Jason is loving that he holds his head up more and can do more “play” things.  Hank is starting to giggle and is talking up a storm.  He talks to baby einstein on TV and mostly to his toys on his mat.  He seems to giggle most when I am changing his shirt or when we give him zurburts on his neck or tummy.

I’m a little behind on the 2 month post.  We just went for his 2 month visit so it seemed a suitable time to update the blog about the boy.

Hank was 2 months old on Thanksgiving day.  We had a lot to be thankful for, not the least of which was Hank getting to meet my brother, Aaron, that week.  My parents, Jason and me, Hank, and Jack (the dog) all piled in my parent’s SUV and drove 9+ hours to Farmerville, LA to spend the weekend with my brother at our family’s lake house. Hank was a trouper in the car sleeping most of the way and crying very little considering the amount of time he was confined to a car seat.  It was so much fun for Aaron to get to meet Hank and was worth every minute we spent driving to get there.

As for the results of our 2 month check-up; Hank is growing steadily with his currents stats being:

Weight: 13.14 oz (90%), Height: 25 in (97%) and Head Circumference: 16.5 (90%)

He got his first shot today.  We decided to alter his vaccination schedule to decrease the number of vaccines he receives at a time so he is just now getting started.   He did great with the shot.  The needle went in and out and he was still smiling; however a second later the pain registered and he was wailing.  He calmed down fairly quickly and took a good nap on the way home.

He is such a sweet boy.  He smiles all the time and is often content to play on his own on his play gym or in his bouncy seat; he definetly prefers that someone be in the room to engage with him. When he is not content playing on his own he loves to be held upright over our shoulders and we are discovering that he really likes music.  Jason was playing a song on iTunes when Hank was fussy and Hank immediately stopped fussing and shortly after fell asleep.  It is really funny how quickly he will respond to this song over and over again.

He has been a pretty good sleeper only waking up once at around 3am; but last night he was a rockstar and slept from 9-6 when I had to wake him up to feed him so we could make it to an appointment we had.  Even though he slept through the night, I woke up twice wondering why he hadn’t cried.  It is funny how I have gotten used to hearing him and now my body is working on an internal clock.

Here are some pics from month 2

Meeting Great Granddad for the first time on his 90th Birthday!

all smiles !

Meeting 2nd and 3rd cousins

Looking so big!

Still momma’s baby!

I love waiting until after Thanksgiving to really embrace that Christmas is coming.  Taking one holiday at a time is important I think and I am trying to embrace that.  I was reminded of this at the mall of all places; a place notorious for decorating for Christmas after Halloween.  Nordstrom had put a sign in their window stating that they would be celebrating one holiday at a time and would not be decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  It was that Nordstrom sign that reminded me how I (and I believe we as Americans) tend to always be thinking of the “next” thing and forget to live in the moment.This year especially I want to take each moment for what it is and enjoy them in their own time.  I know that Hank won’t really remember this Christmas and he won’t know all that is going on around him, but I still want to create special memories for him even in his very young age.

One thing I love about the Holidays are the picture Christmas cards that come from friends and family.  I love seeing how people have changed, new additions to their families, and the sharing of a special memory or snapshot from their year.  I have always wanted to be more consistent about sending out cards, but never can seem to get my act together.  Then there is the cost of buying cards and stamps and that does me in. I used Shutterfly for our baby announcements this year and found the price to be much more reasonable than I originally thought.  Having just sent out baby announcements I was looking for a deal for Christmas cards. I discovered a generous offer from Shutterfly for 50 free Christmas cards for writing a blog about their site.  I was thrilled.  As I looked through the numerous options of cards that they have available I got even more excited about creating a card to share with friends and family this year. I especially liked their new stationary photo cards.  They have a very professional and artistic look to them that should really make any photo shine.  Take a look, I think you will agree with me about the cards that Shutterfly offers.  Happy creating 😉

Getting time to blog has not been the easiest in these first few weeks of having Hank around.  He is a worthy distraction, but limits my free time a good bit.  So here I am to catch up on some of what has been happening in our lives.

Hank is definitely not a small child, at his 1 month appoint

ment he was up to 11 lbs and 23 3/4 inches in length.  He is primarily wearing 3 month clothes right now and most of the newborn outfits are too short for his long body.

Hank is smiling a lot more now, but I am having a hard time getting it on camera. He is also starting to coo and “talk to us” a little bit.  In a later post I will include some videos of these talking noises, but for now take my word for it, they are CUTE!

He loves his play gym and entertains himself there for more than 30 minutes at a time.  It is a really great break for me and a fun time to see his little personality.  These are the times he coos and smiles the most.

We are continuing to love being parents and watching a little person develop everyday. Jack even seems to be getting a little more used to having Hank around.

Here are some of my favorite pics from the past few weeks.

This past weekend Jason’s mom and brother came to visit and got to meet the newest Giger, Hank.  It was a really nice time and although Hank wasn’t always in the best mood while they were here, he did show of his smiles, coos, and plenty of cute outfits.  We really appreciated the visit and the time they took to drive down from Indiana to spend a few days with us.

Yesterday was Hank’s 1 month birthday.  It is hard to believe that a month has passed since he entered our lives.  I was journalling yesterday about how on one hand it feels like just yesterday I was in the hospital holding him for the first time and on the other hand it feels like it has been a lifetime; it is a strange feeling.

Having Hank in our family has been such a joy.  I have always known that I wanted to have the opportunity to be a mom.  I have loved babies since as early as I can remember. During my pregnancy, I was concerned that maybe I wouldn’t really enjoy being a mom or that I wouldn’t feel bonded to my son the way I thought I would;  I also wondered how I was going to do emotionally in general after having the baby.  All I can say is that God has been SO good to me.  I am IN LOVE with my son and I love being his mom!  Also, I have felt better emotionally than I even normally do.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I don’t like be woken up…I love my sleep more than the average person and can become quite unpleasant if it is disturbed.  Needless to say, I think both Jason and I were nervous about how it would go having to get up in the night to feed a crying baby.  I couldn’t believe it when I actually got up and was generally OK with the fact that I was awake in the middle of the night.  Again, God has been SO good.  I won’t say that I never get frustrated when I am woken up yet again, but it is far better than what I would have imagined knowing my tendencies.

We have been out and about quite a bit with Hank since he arrived.  He has been to church, the mall, the farmer’s market, the post office, Harry & Son’s Sushi, Yoforia, Babies-R-Us, Target, a fall festival, The Highland Games, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and a few other places.  He has seen his dad’s band “Squinting Patrick” play 2 times and is by far the coolest band groupie.  He loves the sling so we alternate between being in that when we are out or staying in the car seat.  Overall he tolerates both pretty well for now.

In his first moth he has started to roll over from his tummy to is back and he is starting to smile responsively. He is a great eater (eating every 2.5 to 3.5 hours) and is getting be a decent sleeper (still room to improve there) sleeping about 3.5 hours at a time at night. He likes his infant seat that vibrates and plays music (mom likes it too as it gives me a brake from holding the little guy) and he is content laying on his play mat (not sure what he can or can see right now, but he seems to like the toys and mirror). We go to the doctor on Friday and I will post his “stats” when we get them.

Here are some of the pics from Hank’s first month.

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Our little man is finally here.

Paul Henry Giger “Hank”

Born: September 29, 2010, 12:12am

Weight: 8 lb 15 oz

Length: 21 3/4 inches

We are truly blessed!

I took the biggest step of faith I had ever made and started the greatest adventure of my life!

The quote below was a part of the “theme” for our wedding ceremony.  I often come back to it when I need a reminder of what it was I committed to on that day. It has been a challenge to live this out day to day, but an amazing reminder of who gave us to each other and taught us to love!

“I will love you like God, because of God, mighted by the power of God. I will stop expecting your love, demanding your love, trading for your love, gaming for your love. I will simply love. I am giving myself to you , and tomorrow I will do it again. I suppose the clock itself will wear thin its time before I am ended at this altar of dying and dying again.

God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together, we will learn to love, and perhaps then and only then understand this gravity that drew Him, unto us.”

A sweet friend came over yesterday and took some pictures of my enormous belly. I have often found it hard to find the beauty in my ever growing belly and have all too often focused on my discomfort, inability to find clothes that fit, frustration over not being able to bend over, etc. While I don’t look at these photos and think “wow, she’s hot” I am thankful to be able to se the BEAUTY that God sees in his creations. I look forward to having the memory of the miracle that God created in my belly (and evidence how absolutely enormous it was here at the end).

Warning: these photos are not intended for sensitive eyes;)

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Our family of 2 plus dog will soon be 3 plus dog…we are blessed!