February 15, 2025

 February 15, 2025. 18:51

This week was a rollercoaster, once again. I can not remember but I feel like I've said that before. Alas, here I am. I started the week great on Sunday, with a wonderful lesson at church. I fell short of my goals and missionary prep on Monday, but quickly picked it back up and was doing great until friday; however, I am back on track and wait with great anticipation for the sacrament on Sunday. I was greatly relieved when I saw the small workload for this week. I excitedly got to work and thought I would be able to get it all done in the first half of the week. How foolish of me. I experienced troubles with BYU login. And on top of that, my blogger account has not been letting me in; therefore, I have had an extremely stressful time working out all the technical details of getting back in, and ironically, despite the small workload this week, I am still turning in assignments on Saturday night. Aside from all these troubles, I have had a pretty good week. Seminary was extremely uplifting spiritually, and I made more progress in my missionary portal. Reflecting back on the whole week, one lesson stands out to me in particular. That is, the Lord offers the saving power of atonement, truly as many times as it takes us. But on the other side of the coin, we should not abuse this free gift. Meaning, if we sin, planning to just repent later, only to do the same thing again, this is abusing the gift of repentance. Of course, as humans, we are bound to fail over and over again. However, we stray away from abusing, and lean towards using the atonement when we fully, and sincerely turn our hearts to God, when we sin, and promise to do our very best to never fail again. Of course as humans, we will. But when we are faced with the choice between right and wrong, if we think about it, and decide willingly to do wrong planning to repent later, that is abusing God’s gift of repentance; however, I have found that even when we do this, multiple times, God still forgives us. Oh it is truly wonderful that He would care for me, enough to die for me. I marvel that He would extend His great love unto such as I. But, I am grateful. And I will do everything in my power to make sure I live up to God’s standards. And I will do all I can to use, not abuse, the atonement of Jesus Christ. I anxiously look forward to next week, where I will prove I am ready to make the next steps in planning to serve a mission for the Lord.  

3 months!

Henry is growing like a weed!

On the 25th he was officially 3 months old.

We all just adore him.

I feel like I'm starting to feel this 4 kid thing is normal. Not easy- but normal. Although the first time I accomplished a big shopping trip to the commissary with 4 kids by myself I was expecting some sort of trophy as we left. Nobody even offered me a high five. Such is life.

Back to Henry!

At three months:

-Goes to bed between 4:40 and 6 p.m. Every night and sleeps for 6-7 (once or twice it has been 8) hours. He then gets up every 2 hours Til morning. It's a manageable schedule. 

- Took a bottle a couple weeks ago when I went to the temple and left him (45 minutes away) with Mike and has taken a couple since. 

-Still has a nights when he will be up every 90 minutes. Yikes!

-Isn't a great nap taker. Most days you can count on 15 minutes at a time.

-Finally decided he likes to be carried in my carrier (thank goodness!) he will even fall asleep in it.

-Doesn't really enjoy the car. The drive home and to Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago was not awesome. 

- We put some toys on his car seat handle and a mirror- he LOVES THEM!

- Loves to be talked to and played with. He smiles at most people now. He 'talks and coos all the time. He is happiest first thing in the morning.

- Doesn't like loud noises or yelling and is easily spooked.

-Cute as a button! He will be weighed next week at the doctor but if I had to guess I would say around 12 lbs.

6 months young!

I cannot believe my baby is 6 months old! Talk about going by in a flash- I feel like I blinked and here we are. 

6 month memories:

Henry is really just the sweetest thing. He loves to be talked to and never wants to be left alone in a room. He knows there is always something going on and he wants to be a part of it. 

His first tooth broke through just this week!

He can sit up- my first baby to do this by 6 months. I never leave him without pillows around because he tips backwards still- but I'm impressed anyway. 

In perfect Greenstreet baby fashion he doesn't sleep all night. Not even close. Most nights he gets up twice. Sometimes he gets up 5 times. The latter is not my favorite.

He rolls/scoots all over the place. We are in big trouble when this kid can crawl- which I predict will be in about a month. 

He is a little better with the naps. Usually he will get one good nap- over an hour- once a day and the rest are 10 minute cat naps. Keeps me on my toes. 

He has never enjoyed his swing. Not once. When it swings he cries. The swing is for sale on Craigslist with the infant play mat. Tiny baby stage is coming to an end. 

He has decided he's quite fond of Daddy. Until now he's pretty much tolerated him but in the last couple weeks he has decided they can be friends and it is SO CUTE to see him get so excited to see Mike. 

I can't update his stats because his check up is next week- but I do know he's perfect.

He loves food! He's been eating fruits a d veggies for almost a month and doing it daily for the last week. He loves everything I've given him except peaches. 

He finally loves bath time. He was my first newborn to cry in the bath....and he cried every bath for the first 4 months or so. I'm so glad he's decided baths are fun. 

He's had about 3 bottles in his life. Which means he and I are always together. It a curse and a blessing depending on which day you ask me.

6 Weeks Young!

 Tomorrow Henry is 6 weeks old......or young.  He is absolutely the center of the universe in this house.  The kids always always always want to know where he is and hold him, read to him, sing to hin or otherwise just be in his face.  In the last 6 weeks Henry has been busy gaining weight (a.k.a. eating at all hours and not sleeping).  He's just starting to give us little smiles and I'll be honest it helps with all the not sleeping.  For the first 4 weeks of his life he absolutely refused to sleep laying down which mean I slept sitting up in a chair.  It was as lovely as it sounds.  And while I still do spend most of my night in a chair at least I get 1-2 hour stretches in my bed now.  I never realized how much I loved my bed until now.  So far....Henry's our worst sleeper which is saying a LOT because our kids aren't sleepers!
  As of last week Henry weighed 8 lbs 8 oz which is up from his bottom weight of 6 lbs 3 oz.   This feels like a major accomplishment!  He's outgrowing his newborn clothes and starting to fit nicely into 0-3 month size clothes. 

Henry sitting in his chair is a rare occurrence.  He generally likes to be held- end of story.  He has just started sitting in his swing or chair- and every 5 minutes counts!

The classic after meal drunken sleep.  I love this look. 

Such sweet soft eyes. 

Perfect- my mountain of laundry and the reason I may never have my laundry done again. 

Mr. Muscles.....losing that super wrinkly newborn look. 

Hanging out with big brother and sis.  Scotty was already asleep. 

Henry's thought:  "Um, excuse me, can anyone tell me why I wasn't invited to play Star Wars Guess Who like everyone else?"

Love his face!  Love this baby. 

A He who is 3!!!

It is truly blowing my mind that my Scotty boy is 3 years old.

As I hold and tend to Henry and I see Scott speaking in full sentences and jumping off the trampoline and eating whole apples I just think "wasn't he JUST this big??"

His birthday fell on Sunday- and since he's not old enough to ask for a day of fun on another day yet- we just had a lovely day at home.  Decorations, presents, cake and spaghetti.

Scott really does have the cutest personality.  I know I'm his mother and all- but really- he is just precious.  He is so observant of everything.  He is sharp as a tack and boy does he think he is big!  He wants to do everything Andrew and Emma do.  He spends his days popping whatever boots he can find on his feet and scurrying to keep up with those big kids.  He is a lover of anything electronic and we are sometimes surprised at what he is able to do.  I will admit that there was a time when I would silently judge people who's 3 year olds were playing Mario.....but now mine is and he's actually really good at it! (and for many reasons- Im sorry ive ever judged anyone!!) I've seen him beat more than one level boss in the game.  Pretty impressive!  Scotty has recently discovered the game Memory and he is in LOVE.  We play Mario Memory or Superhero Memory at least 5 (more like 10 most days) times.  He can be persuaded to play another game sometimes- but Memory is by far his favorite.  His memory is either very impressive or mine is very very sad.  It's probably a little of both at the moment since I'm dealing with the amount of sleep allowed to prisoners of war.  Anyone who will play Hide-and-seek with him is his best friend and when he wears his Superman pajamas he loves for Daddy to hum-dum-dum the Superman music and fly him around the house!  He is full of little quips that are too old for him like "what in the world" and "you are the meanest!"  He is quick with a sweet "I'm sorry" when he's in trouble and he loves to say "yes ma'am" when I ask him to do something (although there is the occasional NO as well-he's 3!)
Scotty has become a sweet big brother and I'm sure Henry will have so much fun with he and Andrew as he grows.  Andrew could very well make Scotty into his own little minion as he thinks whatever his brother does is absolutely the best, funniest, silliest, whatever.  They laugh for hours about the most ridiculous things! 

While Scott is certainly our most death defying child and I've had the most near heart attacks because of him- I cannot imagine our family without him.  He is rocks, and snails and puppy dog tails and we all just love him to bits!

Henry's Tale

Our sweet Henry Allen Greenstreet was born on March 25th at 7:58 a.m.  While he is our fourth baby in so many ways his birth was full of first time experiences. 

For starters his birth was a SCHEDULED c-section.  We KNEW the date we would have a baby!  We even knew the time (surgery was scheduled for 7:30 so we knew it would be before 8 a.m.).  In the weeks leading up to his birth I was both calmed and made anxious by knowing the date of the surgery.  While I was excited to have the baby with us and not be pregnant any more I was anxious about the surgery.  I was very well prepared (mentally) for what a c-section and its recovery entails and I wasn't exactly excited about that portion......but I tried to focus on the excitement to have our little man. 

Secondly this was the least dramatic of all pregnancies I've had.  I was pleasantly surprised at each appointment to check out all well.  I never needed non-stress tests or multiple appointments each week.  No extra visits to labor and delivery and no extra lab tests.  I was in a constant state of disbelief at how smoothly it was really all running.  I was lovely to have a "boring" pregnancy. 

I was sure this baby would be our biggest- after all it was my ribs he was moving.  My guess was 7 lbs 3 oz and 19 inches.  (It's almost scary how close I was!)  We arrived at 5:30 a.m. on March 25th.  It was cool and springy outside.  I was registered and set up to get ready for surgery.  This was the first time every someone had a hard time getting an IV going in my hand.  The nurse had to move the location twice and that was not my favorite part.  Blood drawn.  Funny socks on.  Mike had his paper gown and instructions on where to wait for the nurse to come get him.  (WHY is this the system I will never know).  I walked to the operating room enjoying the last couple moments of pregnancy.  Grateful for how well it had all gone so far.  Grateful to be full term.  Grateful to have a baby I would be taking home with me when I left the hospital.

The spinal as usual is the most stressful part for me.  It makes me nervous that the anesthesiologist (same one I had for Scott by the way) is talking about skiing and Olympics while he is putting things in my spine.  The medical student assigned to be his helper (holder of my shoulders so my back is nice and curved for the anesthesiologist) would literally not stop talking.  Maybe this constant chatter relaxes some people.  I would prefer silence while people are numbing 75% of my body.....but that's just me.  I started feeling nauseous pretty quickly this time and was thankful for quick medicine to help.  Finally the doctor was in and the sheet was hung and then my sweetie came to sit by me.  Only moments later- cries filled the room and the doctor hung Henry's little body over the sheet so I could see him (dripping all sorts of blood and fluid on me).  He was Henry.  I wouldn't agree to a name til I saw him but his sweet little face practically demanded the name.  Mike brought him to see me and told me he weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 19 inches long.  Just like that the boys were gone and I was being sewn up.  Mike drifted back and forth from the nursery to me in recovery so I could see pictures.  People pushed on my belly and I was thankful I couldn't feel it.

After a couple hours Henry finally joined us in my room.  He was a little "grunty" after being born (which I guess they watch in case he has fluid in his lungs).  He was as sweet as he could be and shortly after he joined us the kids came to meet him.  There really is nothing like having your older kids meet a new baby.  The feeling is priceless.  They have a club almost and when they meet a new sibling it's almost like they're there to say "hey buddy, welcome to our club!"  All of them were thrilled with him.  As were we.  He is the perfect little caboose to our family!

Literally his first seconds- not even detached from me yet....(I'm under the blue sheet)

Puffy newborn face

Proud Daddy

Must feel good to stretch out after being balled up. 

Hello there

So thrilled to add another minion to his throng

This picture is blury but it is the most hilarious picture I've ever seen.  The look on Scott's face is priceless and Henry being almost upside down is just a perfect prelude to what life as the fourth child will bring. 

You have never seen a prouder big sister.  Ever.

His hands are always at his mouth.  He loves to be held upright.  He loves to be held.  He mostly loves Mama to hold him but he was content in this moment with Daddy. 

Reborn!

After almost a year living on the farm- and learning how to manage limited Internet access (I do not recommend) I've decided I can start to blog again.

I know.  It IS exciting!

I cannot possibly recap what has happened sufficiently in the last 9 months so we will start from here and move forward.  Thinking about trying to recap has been something that has kept me from starting to blog again.

In 6 days we will welcome our fourth baby!  We are excited to say the least.  We are as ready as we are going to get and the kids are ready to smother this poor baby with love and everything else siblings smother babies with.

This baby being born will hopefully SPRING us into a brighter state as this winter has just been dismal beyond belief!  The highlight has been the quick trip Mike and I took to NYC without any kids!  We've never been away from our kids together so this was a long time coming!  We relaxed, moved slow, walked around and visited Steve and Emily and new baby Harper- which was just so lovely.  We're excited our babe will have a cousin so close in age.  We got to see Les Miserables on Broadway which was something I've always wanted to do.  It really was a dream trip.  Since we've (I really) am never away from the kids two nights was the perfect start.  I'm so grateful my Mom was here to keep them while we went.....especially since the weather was wet and grey and not lovely for keeping 3 energetic children!

Tonight Aunt Hayley will arrive in anticipation of the baby being born- many hands make light work and all!  I am getting the house as ready as I can to be out of commission for a bit.