Picture Dumping

Today, I was accused by Nason of being a "hoarder"...of pictures. This comment was preceded by an attempt on our part to snap a cute shot of Gunnar, using my phone, and not being able to, because there was no available memory. Nason is right...I am TOTALLY guilty of hoarding pictures. Here's the thing: I have this irrational fear...a fear most likely shared only by people 80 years old and up....that if I don't KEEP my pictures (preferably in an actual, old-school album, but if not that, then at least on my phone) that they won't be "safe"..like, maybe this "newfound, internet-thing" won't be around forever, and when it goes away, I'll no longer be able to access all the pictures I had safely saved (or so I thought) on Facebook, my blog, etc. Ok, I know that obviously that won't really happen, but it IS the method to my madness. Anyway, as I scrolled through ALL the pictures on my phone, I came across quite a few that apparently were never deemed "Facebook worthy", but also were just too cute and/or too sentimental to delete, which is why they are now availalble on here, for your (and my FUTURE) viewing pleasure....

Reasons Why I Shouldn't Have a Blog...and Why I'm Gonna Have One Anyway

I'm baaaaaack. I haven't "blogged" since...like...forever. Over a year for sure. Basically, I had decided I wasn't going to do the whole blogging thing. Here's why:

1) I don't have any amazing recipes to share, or DIY sewing tutorials, or insightful book reviews, etc etc (I'm kinda talking about you, Beth Carroll)

2) I don't have tales from my super amazing, life-changing journey to Uganda, to adopt my super precious, Ugandan son (Krista Box)

3) I don't live in a different state than the rest of my family/friends, thereby NEEDING a blog to keep everyone posted on our family (ummm...April Lamb?)

4) I don't take have an awesome camera, that I take amazing pictures with, wowing everyone with how beautiful my family (and photography)skills are (I don't know who to mention here)

5) In my old age, I pretty much have started to suck at technology. I don't know how to do anything "cool" on my blog. I don't really know how to do some of the most basic things really. You should be so impressed that I was able to mention people above, and link you to their blogs. That being said, my blog is completely dull, and really, evidence to all who see it, that I am technology impaired.

Those are some pretty good reasons for not having a blog, right?? So why did I decide, against all reason, to keep it, AND begin updating it again?

1) It sounds fun, so why not?

2) It's a good way, if nothing else, for ME to keep track of our lives, and all the sweet memories we're making now, while Gunnar is still young. I feel like even if no one else EVER reads the blog, it still won't be a waste of my time or energy, because I'll have a virtual scrapbook of our life, and for my sentimental self, that matters A LOT.

I know blogs are boring without pictures, and lord knows, mine needs all the help it can get, so all future blog entries (or at least most) WILL have pictures!

Peace out!

Gunnar's 9 and 10 Month Update....Long Overdue!

Well, I have COMPLETELY disappeared from the blogging world for the last two months. No updates, no pictures, nada. However, as I browse through friends' blog's, I feel a little bit better, realizing I am not the only one who has turned into a blog slacker (I mean YOU, Beth Losurdo, Krista Box, Michelle Hunt, and Mary Magee!).

Clearly, I am not a NEW new mom anymore...for the first six months of Gunnar's life, I faithfully posted a monthly update on the very DAY of his month birthday. Months 7 and 8 were posted a few days late. Now here we are at Month 10 (almost 11!!), and I'm two months overdue. It's not that the excitement or newness of having a baby has worn off, it's just that said baby is MOBILE now, meaning that mama has very little time for anything other than chasing after him!

At any rate, Gunnar has changed a lot in the last several months, and so has our life in general! As far as Gunnar is concerned, I refuse to do a list of every single milestone and skill he has achieved/learned, as I know that every single one of your kids have done the exact same things. It's not exactly groundbreaking news to anyone but me, that my 10 1/2 month old can crawl, pull up on things, wave, etc. (I guess I just DID kind of spout out a list). Suffice it to say, Gunnar hit 8 months old, and all of the sudden, he seemed to morph from "tiny baby who can't do anything", to "semi-toddler who seems more and more like a little boy than a baby". We are enjoying him more and more and more every single day. He is so much fun, and is really starting to show his little personality.

So what all as the Hengst Clan been up to since we last "spoke"?

- We moved into our new house! (Pictures below). We are loving it here! It's kind of weird to be in the same neighborhood, but in a totally different house (it feels really different, and really similar, all at the same time). I was sad to leave our other house, but the people who bought it are a really cool, young couple, and may just end up being our new friends! One strike against them- they painted over my beloved yellow walls on Day 1 of moving in. I loved that yellow so much!!! I can't believe they have the nerve to not share my same taste. Ha ha.

- We changed churches. We left Hill Country Round Rock, and are now at Hill Country Northwest. Still a Hill Country Bible Church, just a different location. Hey....kind of like staying within the same "neighborhood", just moving to a different "house". Ha ha. Apparently we like the idea of change, just not TOO much change. We changed churches simply because the location is drastically closer to our house. We miss HCBCRR, and all the people there A LOT. We are really liking our new church though, and Gunnar absolutely loves his little class. He actually cries when we pick him up, most weeks.

- Nason is working from home full-time now. That is, he doesn't have an office at Keller Williams anymore. He still isn't actually HOME full-time, as the nature of his job requires him to be out and about quite a bit, but as far as his actual office-work goes, he does it all from home. Last week was really his first week to do that, and it was a horrible week for him to use, to judge how he's going to like it. Gunnar was sick all week, and therefore, NO napping occured. In it's place, we had a surplus of crying/fussing/whining/overall loudness. Let's hope next week goes better, or Nason may start to rethink his decision.

- I'm still hard at work, training for my half-marathon. I'm up to 7 miles (should be up to 8), and I definitely still can't say it's gotten "easy". I just don't think my body is really meant to run. I pretty much hurt everywhere when I'm done. However, I'm going to keep going with it. I've gotten this far, I'm not stopping! I will say this.. once the race is over, I think I am hanging up my running shoes for a while, and switching gears. Yoga is sounding good to my poor aching bones right about now.

8 Months...What?!?

Gunnar is 8 months now!! I am tired, and ready for bed, but I am determined to do his 8 month update tonight. So here goes:

Gunnar crawls now. Gunnar eats all kinds of "solid" foods, and I am still making them myself, and still having lots of fun doing that. Gunnar's funniest moment this month was on vacation, when we had his pack n play set up in front of a mirror, and in the middle of the night, he sat up by himself for the first time (from laying down) and terrified himself half to death by staring at his reflection in the mirror. Gunnar STILL hasn't stayed overnight somewhere without us, and I am STILL not sure how I'm ever going to be ok with that, even though Michelle is adament that we need to do it SOON (and I admit, the idea of sleeping late while Gunnar chills with his grandparents sounds heavenly). Gunnar is napping like a champ, and has even taken a few 3 1/2 hour naps lately. Gunnar is still the sweetest, cutest, most wonderful little person that I know!

THE END

Vacation!

We just got back from our first vacation as a family of three. We went (of course) to South Padre Island. That is definitely our most frequented vacation spot. Nason's parents own a condo there, which they graciously allow us to stay at when we go, so it ends up being a pretty cheap vacation. Last year, around this same time, we went for our "Babymoon", and I vividly remember saying, "this will be our last time to come here before we have a baby". In fact, I think I posted a blog entry about it. If I was a bit more blog-savvy, and knew how to post that link into this entry, I would do so. But I'm not. Anyway, this vacation was interesting. Better than past trips to Padre in some ways, not as good (well, just different) as past trips in other ways. Better, because we had a perfect mix of "alone time" and "friend time". We were there for 10 days, and for four of those days, we had the Box's and the Hunt's join us. For three of the days, we had alone time, just me, Nason, and Gunnar, and for the remaining three days, Nason's parents joined us. DIFFERENT (or not as good) in that we maybe didn't have the right expectations ahead of time, about what a beach trip would be like with a baby. Gunnar just did NOT like the beach. Not at all. He didn't like the sand, he didn't like the heat, he didn't like the sun, he didn't like the ocean. We tried all kinds of creative ideas, trying to get him to enjoy it more, and he just didn't. He did enjoy the pool, but only for about 20 minutes at a time, and then he grew bored of it. What DID he like to do? Play inside the condo with his toys, and play in his baby pool out on the balcony. Both things he could easily do at home. Oh well. We knew ahead of time that going on vacation with a baby (or with kids in general) is definitely a different kind of fun than going on vacation without. However, we thought it would be an even trade off, getting to watch GUNNAR have fun. We didn't factor in the possibility that he might not. Although we should have..I mean, he is only 8 months old after all. What can you really expect?? Anyway, here are some fun pictures documenting our adventures is SPI....





Andrew and Michelle were staying at a hotel down the road from us, so we got to take full advantage of their hotel's nice, kid-friendly pool.



The Lovely Box Family




Nason and Jake made a rule that for 24 hours, they could only drink beer or milk. Here they are at 9 am one morning, drinking beer and smoking cigars.


All in all, it was a fun trip, and I think we've decided to try to make it an annual tradition. Hopefully, in subsequent years, Noah won't be scared of the sand, Camp won't be scared of the water, Gunnar won't hate everything about the beach in general, and the Losurdo's can join us!!

What Is Hayley Reading?

Anyone out there need book suggestions? All 5 or 6 of you who read my blog, that is?? I thought I'd start posting some of the books I'm reading, along with my opinion on them, and a brief (I do mean BRIEF) summary of what they're about, just in case anyone is looking for ideas of something to read. Also, if you are reading this, and have any books you would like to recommend, please comment and let me know! I am a hopeless bookworm, reading as much as I possibly can, and am open to reading any genre of book.

So I have kind of a "system" I stick to, when it comes to what books I read. I try to cycle through four different genres of books:

1) Totally easy, mindless, just-for-fun book (think the equivalent of beach trash)
2) Something still fictional, BUT a LITTLE more "quality", if you will (think, bookclub type material)
3) Something educational (biographies, parenting books, books about politics or current events, books about nutrition, cooking, etc. etc.)
4) Something in the "religious/spiritual" genre (that's really not even a good descriptor, but I can't think of anything else to categorize it as)

So, here's what I've read recently:

1) Cry Wolf by Tami Hoag: definitely mindless, just for fun, and an easy read. I think I read it in about 3 days. I love her books though....always very suspensful, and the setting, for whatever reason, usually takes place in Lousiana (New Orleans), which, for whatever reason, I really like. For what it is, I give it "4 stars".

2) The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini: Love love loved it. I held off reading it for a while, because I loved A Thousand Splendid Suns so much, I was just convinced that this wouldn't be nearly as good. I think I ended up liking it even more though. His books give me a much different picture in my mind of what Afghanistan is (or, at least WAS) like...a much more DESIRABLE picture.

3) Baby Wise Part 2, Gary Ezzo: I've already given my soapbox speech about Babywise. I'm a fan. Part 2 was good....just practical information about feeding, disciplining, and sleep training your 5-8 month old. It was also a pretty easy read, as the majority of it was really just kind of common sense information, anyway.

4) The Reason for God, Tim Keller: SUCH a good book. It addresses so many questions, concerns, doubts, and hesitations that Christians, non-Christians, atheists, and everyone in between may have concerning God, Jesus, the Bible, the Church, and Christianity. Just because I have been a Christian for the majority of my life does not mean that I don't have my own set of doubts and questions. This book addressed them in a way that made perfect sense. It addressed readers on a very intellectual level, but was still relatively easy to read. Read it, people! If nothing else, I'd love to hear someone's take on why they DON'T think the book adequately answered the questions it presented. Could make for good conversation....

What Do Head Injuries and New Houses Have in Common? (Oh, and Consider This Your 7 Month Update)

I am done with whole the "Top 5 List" thing. It's getting too hard each month to think of topics. I DO, however, want to continue with the updates on Gunnar's monthly "birthdays".

The title of this post pretty much sums of two of the biggest events that have happened in Gunnar's seventh month of life. Number one, we bought a new house! It is only two streets away from our current house. We love our neighborhood SO much, and are pretty sure this is where we want to stay long term. We also LOVE our current house, but we feel like once Baby #2 comes along (and Baby #3, if I get my way) we will need something with a little bit more space. So a few weeks ago, when the salesperson who sold us our current home, called us to let us know that a deal had fallen through on a house a few streets away from us, and that he could give us a really great price on it if we moved forward quickly, we decided to go for it. The house is about halfway complete, and will be done in late July or early August. We are very excited, but surprisingly, very sad to be leaving our current house. We have loved living here, and it's the house that Gunnar was born in, which makes it very special. I am so sentimental, even about things that are dumb to be sentimental about, so I KNOW I am going to cry when we have to leave, but I am looking forward to making lots of new memories at our new house.

So what does all that have to do with a head injury? Well, last week, when we were still in the decision making process about whether or not we wanted to buy the house, we strapped Gunnar in his jogging stroller, and took a little walk over to the house to check it out. We were standing on the back patio (which is perfectly flat, no slope whatsoever) with Gunnar next to us in his stroller. We'd been standing there a good ten minutes talking, and we turned our heads for one second to look at something in the side yard, and when we turned back around, Gunnar's stroller had somehow, on it's own, gone from a standstill, to careening off the side of the patio. Neither of us could catch it in time, and Gunnar ended up flat on his face, on a piece of broken brick, with the stroller on top of him. It was the most horrible looking thing Nason and I have ever seen. We had to lift the stroller off of him, and there he was, lying face down in the dirt. We rushed him to an urgent care clinic, and he ended up being perfectly fine. He barely even had a bruise the next day. Nason and I, on the other hand, were traumatized for at least the rest of the week. It ended up being a minor injury, yes, but it still taught Nason and I how FAST accidents can happen. Good lesson to learn, I guess, and luckily we learned it with not-too- horrible of a consequence.

One more notable event, that is not reflected in the title of this post, is that I think we are done breastfeeding. (If any guys read this blog, sorry if that's TMI). I am actually pretty sad about this. I had orginally intended on just going through month 6, and then stopping, but when six months came, and it was still going smoothly, I thought, "well, I may as well keep going another six months). However, nature decided for me I guess, as I recently discovered I have next to nothing left, in regards to milk supply. Sad. Just one more thing for me to feel sentimental about!!!!!!!! I was washing my pump parts today, and I actually got sad thinking it may be the last time I have to wash them!! Ha ha. What a dumb thing to be sad about!!

Here are some pictures of our new house, as well as my sweet 7-month old:



Gunnar and "Joe Joe"




Head Injury : (




Handsome Boy!




Front of House




Backyard




Kitchen