Meet Henry!

Hi friends! This is Henry! My son! A child that I have! So so crazy. This picture was taken when Henry (aka Super Meat Boy) was one month old. But let's jump back a bit:

Nine months in 15 seconds :) Also, please forgive the horrible punny-nature of the accompanying audio selection! It happens to be a song that we like very much.

Ok, so a few people have requested to hear how the birth went down, so imma tell you about it.  If you're thinking, "Hey- that's way more information than I'd like from a food blog," you should probably stop reading now. Or skip to the end for some bonus baby photos!

This is me in labor! On the eve of my last day of work, I woke up at 1:00 in the morning with my first contractions.  I labored at home with my amazing sister and husband (we played Rummikub!) until my wonderful mom flew in from California.  Around 9:00 at night we went to the hospital, and they said I was dilated 5 centimeters.  Andy and I had taken hypnobirthing classes to prepare for a natural birth, and I was still feeling pretty good at that point. I labored all through the night, with the contractions (very slowly) getting faster and stronger.  By noon, I had only dilated up to 7 centimeters. That's when I cried. Then I drank a lot of gatorade and kept going.  By 4:30 in the afternoon I was ready to start pushing.  Now, in hypnobirthing, you're taught that you don't need to push- that if you are relaxed you can just breathe deeply and let your body do the work.  I said hells no to that philosophy.  I was going to push with everything I had- it had been 39 hours, and I was really ready to be done.  Two hours later, my mom, Andy, and my sister were all around me and Henry was born.  They all put their hands on him and lifted him onto my chest.  I sobbed at this point- from relief and elation. That was the most amazing feeling- I'll never forget it. Andy and my mom and sister were so wonderful.  They didn't eat or sleep or leave my side the whole time. They're amazing!

So now we have a baby! Here are some fun facts about Henry:

This is Henry's preferred sleeping arrangement.  He loves to sleep/pee on his papa! So relaxing. Andy has taken to solving cryptic crosswords and the Enigma aloud with Henry.  Henry so far seems unimpressed, but Andy enjoys it!

Henry started smiling this week (what we believe to be legitimate smiles, not the gas variety)!

Here's a list of some of the firsts in Henry's life:

Song: Dog Days Are Over
Movie: Tremors (ouch, I know)
Symphony: Dvorak's New World
Video Game: Portal 2
Restaurant: Mother's (I love that avocado classic sandwich and their cashew tamari dressing!)
Book: The Bat Poet (this story is so beautiful, and I had never read it before- thanks, Abbie!)
Social Event: food52 Rhubarb Preserving party (we made pickles and compote, and I learned to can!)

So you're all caught up! That's all for now, but I will be posting about Henry and family stuff here periodically, amongst the food-y bits :)

Thanks! Bye!!