Sweet Summertime

We've been pretty busy lately. My friend Chari, who I taught with back in VA, has been visiting for 2 weeks. Gentry has really enjoyed the extra attention and I've enjoyed the company. Gentry had his 2 month check-up on Monday. He now weighs 11 lbs 9 oz and is 23 inches long! According to some, we've got a little guy. But of course we think he's just right :) He is so much more alert now , following Mommy and Daddy's voices, watching the ceiling fans, and even watching Caleb and Molly. He is also "talking" more. His little oohs and aahs are very cute. All three of us will be in VA from July 24-July 29. We are looking forward to seeing all the family at Jacob's wedding.

Happy baby at church.

Gentry's first day at the beach. He thought it was too bright! He slept the majority of the time we were there. I guess the sand makes for a comfy bed.

All dressed for the beach!

This is not a statue, it is a real live person! Mommy, Gentry, and our friend Chari went to Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Santa Monica on Thursday. We hit a ton of traffic trying to get there so by the time we parked and got out to walk around it was already 3:00 p.m. We walked up and down Hollywood Blvd and saw the Walk of Fame, Grauman's Chinese Theater, The Kodak Theater, the Hollywood sign, and many other exciting sites. There were people dressed in costumes and things like the man in the picture above. However, if you wanted a picture with them, you had to "tip" them. This guy was very nice and gave Gentry a gift for taking a picture with him...his very first slinky!

Though Gentry has been to the pool a few times now, today was his first time getting more than his feet wet. He was a little skeptical at first but we moved slow and eventually he began to enjoy it. I'm hoping we have a water baby on our hands!

Guess who's smiling?!

Sorry that it has taken me so long to update the website. The following are some pictures that I did for Father's Day. I wanted a nice picture of Gentry for Mitchell to have for his desk at work and also for us to display here at home. Surprisingly, Gentry was patient with me while I took about 50 pictures of him with the American flag, Mitchell's uniforms and dog tags. I thought it would be a nice way for him to honor his Daddy and to show how proud he is of his Daddy. I was really pleased with how the pictures came out. This was all done here in our living room. I got the idea from a picture I saw at my doctor's office back in VA and thought to myself, "I can do that!" So here's what I came out with...
Gentry is 6 weeks old in these pictures.

I was FINALLY able to catch Gentry's smile with the camera! He was a happy boy this morning. Since it was Mitchell's first Father's Day and also his 24th birthday we spent the day at a Tractor and Steam Engine Show. Mitchell was in heaven and it turned out to be pretty interesting for me as well. Here's our happy little man:

Play-time with Mommy.

This was when he was just beginning to smile. He hadn't quite figured it out yet.

Taking a nap on the quilt that Grammy Genge made for him.

UPDATE COMING SOON...

For those of you waiting...TRISH!!! I will be updating the blog soon. The pics that I want to post are part of a Father's Day gift so I have to wait until Sunday. Don't worry, Gentry is doing well. He's getting over a cold but other than that he's just a growing boy! :) He is now 10 lbs. 14 oz.

How Time Flies...

It's hard to believe that our little man is almost 4 weeks old. He's definitely a growing boy! He's still wearing his newborn clothes, but I'm sure he'll be in the next size very soon. Not much has been going on around here since Mom left last weekend. However, Mitchell was promoted! He is now a First Lieutenant in the United States Marines. We are all so very proud of him! The ceremony was on Wednesday afternoon. I was glad I was able to go and that Gentry could be there as well. He was even awake for the photos afterwards!
Mitchell's parents will be arriving this Thursday and staying for a week. I'm so excited for them to meet Gentry. We're hoping to go out and do some of the many exciting things around San Diego.
Also this past week, I attempted another photo shoot with Gentry in hopes to get a few "good" pictures for his birth announcements. He was very cooperative (but that could be becuase he was asleep)!
Other than that, not much has been going on. Gentry and I have just been hanging around the house with Caleb and Molly while Mitchell's at work. Caleb has already grown very protective over Gentry. We were surprised at how quick he went into that roll. Molly is being well, Molly. She has stolen quite a few pacifiers and has taken many burp clothes out to the backyard. I'm not sure if she is doing this out of jealousy or if she is just excited because she thinks they are new toys. Needless to say, I hope it stops soon! We're running out of pacifiers!

Cutest little bum and feet ever!

Stretching out after a long photo shoot for his birth announcements.

"Mom, that flash is kind of scary"

"Ohhhhh" I think he's trying to whistle :)

Pinning Mitchell as a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.


After Mitchell's promotion ceremony.

Taking his first "nap" in his crib (it only lasted about 30 minutes).

Gentry is 2 weeks old today!

Mom and I took Gentry in for his 2 week check-up this morning and he is a growing boy! He is up to 8 lbs 7 oz and is now 20.5 in long! So he's gained over a pound and has grown 2 inches in just TWO weeks! He is a great eater and is still feeding every 2-3 hours, for the most part. The sleep deprivation isn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. It's been great having mom here. She's been such a big help! Here's what we've been up to lately:

My first attempt at a photo-op with Gentry. He completely froze!

Sleeping in Mommy's lap. Just a lazy Sunday afternoon.

We gave him his first tub bath on Saturday night. He wasn't as fond of it as he was of the sponge baths. I think he felt like he was going to drown. Poor guy.

Gentry went to Sea World with Mommy, Daddy, and Gramma Genge on Friday. You can tell he really enjoyed it!

My second attempt at a photo-op...he got bored quickly.

Gentry at 2 weeks old (well the day before, but close enough).

Sleeping on his boppy.

Update between Thursday, April 30 and Monday, May 5th

Well, Mitchell surprised me and came home from 29 Palms on Saturday. The weekend went by with a few contractions that came on Saturday night at about 6 minutes apart but then subsided. It was the same Sunday night. We decided to go out to dinner at Olive Garden. I chose to eat 3 jalepeno peppers while we were there (just to see if it did anything). Monday was another day, we went to the commissary and stocked up on food for everyone's upcoming visits. Deciding to keep trying the spicy "old wives tale" we had buffalo wings for dinner. Right about dinner time (7:45ish) I began to get strong contractions. They began at 6 minutes apart and stayed there until 9. After calling the hospital at 9 and asking when I was supposed to come in, we were told that the contractions needed to be 2-3 minutes apart. Thinking about how much pain I was already in, I wasn't sure I'd make it that far. By 9:30 they started coming about every 4-5 minutes. We left for the hospital at 10:30 with contractions coming 2, 3 and 4 minutes apart and very strong. When I got checked at the hospital I was told I was 4 cm. The doctor came in about 5 minutes later and checked me again and said, "Oh no, she's more than 4 cm. She's 5 cm."
We got checked into a room and were getting settled. All this time, I was waiting for my epidural. Within 40 minutes of checking in, I had dialated to 7 cm. The doc said he could break my water and this baby would be here very soon. I chose to wait for the epidural....which came an hour and 45 minutes after we got checked in!! I was NOT a happy camper until that time. Acccording to Mitchell, I was like night and day from the time I got to the hospital to the time after my epidural :) Unfortunately, the epidural slowed my contractions down. By about 3:30 a.m. I started pushing. After 3 hours of pushing the baby was still far up and hadn't made much progress. I got a reboost on my epidural and also got a narcotic. I was very worked up and anxious after pushing for 3 hours and not making much progress. In the end, I wound up pushing for 4 hours and they had to use the vacuum extractor to get Gentry out. And that brings us to....

Guess who's here!??!

Gentry Mitchell arrived Tuesday, May 5th at 7:38 a.m. He weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz and was 18 inches long. He has a little bit of hair/peach fuzz that is dark blonde. He's such a cutie and has been a very good baby so far.

Happy family of 3 :)

Proud but TIRED Mommy with Gentry.

Proud Daddy with his son.

Who does he look like?? (I think Daddy)

Our little baby burrito :)