Don't Worry, Be Happy

Well, it's finally here.  Less than 24 hours from now and I will walk my son into his PeeSchool building on our church's campus.  He's now convinced that instead of PeeSchool, it's Bible School.  He's rather confused about preschool, Sunday school, and Vacation Bible School...and he has a right to be as they are all in the same place.  Some say that's boring but I call it security and a near perfect guarantee that Benjamin won't be one of the ones having an emotional breakdown come 8am tomorrow morning.

I'm not worried about how he'll do, I'm happy he's able to go.
I'm not scared that he won't fit in, he has my personality and he'll make friends.
I'm not sad that this day has finally come, I'm eager to pick him up and hear how his day went.
I'm not going to have an emotional breakdown, he and I will both enjoy some ice cream afterwards.
I'm not going to forget my camera, I'll remember to charge it tonight.

Here's to the first day of preschool at Georgetown Baptist Preschool!
Oh, and to the Schindler's, I'm stealing your tradition of breakfast on the first day :-)

Repurposing

I like to say that I repurpose or reuse items instead of saying that I'm Going Green!  Unfortunately there are some extremestis out there that go so green and then make the rest of the population feel like worthless, heartless, mean human beings.  I guess I'm somewhere in the middle on the whole thing.  I usse pesticides when needed, I don't buy organic exclusively (note on that later on) and the list continues. 

However, in the last few years, mainly since I started staying home to raise Benjamin, I've realized how much waste I have....both good and bad.  So slowly over the last 3 years I've been trying to tweak alot of what I do, how I do it, and mainly how I keep it.  Here's a very small list of some of the things I've changed or repurposed!

• I don't have a plethra of storage area so hanging Benjamin's clothes are best for us right now since they are relatively small.  I take old large polo shirts and cover about 5-8 items in the hangers to keep the dust and random crayon marks off of them.  If I need more, I go to a thrift store and pick up a few.  This is perfect for storing coats and out of season items. 
• I rotate Benjamin's toys.  I have a large tub and I rotate his toys from time to time to keep them clean, new, and exciting.
• I use paper plates.  After staying home I realized how much time and energy I used in washing dishes....paper plates for the simple stuff.
• When I made my vegetable garden this year, I planted small.  4 onion plants, 3 tomato plants, 1 cucumber plant.  And it's been the right amount for us and nothing is going to waste. 
• Also in the garden, I haven't need to use any pesticides this year but I have used soapy water...that has never happened!

• To prevent weeds in my garden, I didn't kill the grass prior, I just layed about 4-5 layers of newsppaer under about 2-3" of soil mixed with sand.  I have pulled one weed out of the garden.  ONE!
• Instead of buying a trellis for my plants, I used the old wire shelving that we removed from Benjamin's room earlier this summer.  Anchored them to the fence and they haven't come down.
• My entire garden was constructed out of materials lying around the house.  It may not look purty but it sure is functional!
• Instead of buying clothes for dusting, mopping up those 'accidents' and other little jobs, I cut up old t-shirts of ours and even keep some of the toddler shirts whole and use them as a mit to dust the blinds.  Haven't bought rags since Benjamin was born.
• Benjamin's old crayons.....take the stubs and melt them in a oven appropriate container or even a 'bowl' made of tin foil to make one large crayon.  I remember this from preschool and enjoyed doing it. 
• I use liquid fabric softner in my washer but I only use it every other week.  I normally wash the same clothes week after week so I only add the fabric softner ever other time and never for towels. 
• Since I use liquid fabric softner, I can cut all of my dryer sheets in half and they work just as well.  By my estimate, I go through a regular sized box of dryer sheets about every 4-6 months.  Sometimes longer.
• I don't buy face scrub, I use cornmeal and if you have some lavendar you can use that too!

It's not a life changing list but I do find that it has made good changes for us.  And for my note about organic food.  Benjamin can't eat organic eggs because he breaks out in welts and his face swells.  That's a new one on my but trust me, it's happened enough to make me never buy organic eggs.

Such a Slacker

It's been a whole year since I've posted.  I'm not sure if it's because I've been slackingly lazy or if it's just because I have no time....maybe what little time I do have, I want to take a bubble bath or watch tv, not type about my day.  Regardless, it doesn't matter.  Too often moms 'beat' themselves up about what they don't get accomplished instead of what they DID accomplish.

So, for the last year, what did I accomplish?  Hmmm, that might take a minute but I have to say it's not just me that accomplished it, it was my whole family and of course the Big Guy upstairs (Hi God!).  Looking back over the last year, I see that I was accepted to a local college into their Teacher Education Program and survived my first year in a college with nothing but girls.  Did I mention that a majority of them were 10 years younger?  That's a whole new post all in it's own!  We took Benjamin for his first zoo trip to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden....it's where I grew up and I wouldn't have taken him anywhere else.  He also went to the circus for the first time, hit a huge growth spurt....I'm talking about 3.5 inches in less than 6 months.....

Oh!  Probably the biggest accomplishment was that Benjamin has 'graduated' from speech therapy.  Our speech pathologist gave our son a roar to speak with.  If you have ever dealt with a speech delay/impairment, then you know how frustrating one. single. question. can be.  We couldn't even communication basic needs for him and I got so frustrated, not with him, with me because I'm Super Mom and I understand everything.  Benjamin is now at the cusp of succeeding without any other intervention or severely regressing but I am confident that August 11th brings us a whole new light on the 'situation' at hand.

So what's August 11th?  PRESCHOOL!!!  Benjamin doesn't really have a concept of what it does but he knows that peeschool (as he calls it) is on the same property as Sunny School (Sunday School) and Bible School (VBS).   We are sending him to our church's preschool where I am so blessed to be sending him.  I'm on the board for the preschool and this past year we hired an amazing director.  Sitting in the interview my heart just screamed HIRE HER.  I knew that her vision for what preschool should be was the exact thing that Benjamin needed.  Even our pediatrician said to get him into preschool...asap. 

Benjamin has become the typical boy.  Now in some ways I hate saying that because there is a very negative sterotype about boys out there.  They are all gross, messy, wild, loud, bouncing off the walls, exceptionally rough, stinky, and the list goes on.  And yes, my son is all of those things but let me also add that he is so compassionate, loves to be affirmed, aware of others feelings, sees life through positive eyes, makes friends wherever he goes, he's not intimidated by others, especially older boys, he finds life, loves his PopPop and his Sadie Bugs (our dog), and he touches my heart like no one else ever will. 

I will always remember the day at the local water park where in one part of it, is the spray yard where the water comes shooting out of the ground and out of pipes. Benjamin learned to love this thing this year and it's also where the older boys hang out.  One time, some older boys were standing over one of the stronger sprays coming out of the ground and they were taking their turn standing over the pipe and making the water come out of their shorts in every possible direction.  Benjamin just walked right on over and much to my surprise, the older boys helped him stand on top of it and showed him what to do.  That right there is the essence of boys.  They don't care about age, how you talk, or what you wear.  They just want to have fun.  Those boys could have shoved him away or have been rude but they weren't, they took him like a younger brother and showed him what boys do.  That has made my summer!

Anniversaries and Potties

Rob was on vacation all last week and we accomplished two things.  They may be only two but it was accomplished very well.  First, we repainted the entire kitchen for only $5...talk about a deal!  Second, we celebrated our 5th anniversary and went all out.  We got a babysitter...thankya Kandice!......and then went to The Holy Hill Inn in Midway, Kentucky.  I don't think we have ever spent that much money on just a dinner but oh how it was sooooo worth it!  Chef Ouita prepares food that's locally grown and her menu reflects what's in season at the time and what's ripe in the garden.  Out back. Literally. 

It's this beautiful old home with a neat history and the food is delicious.  Visit their site at http://www.hollyhillinn.com/ to see some pictures and to read their menu. 

Depending on the moment, we are either doing well with the potty training or it's on the fast track to a migrane and loads of laundry.  The last two days have been successful so maybe we're on the upswing...I don't know.  He could care less about M&M's as a reward, he'd rather have a hug or look out the window. 

Our MOPS year is getting ready to go into full swing and I'm excited this year because our team is full of fresh ideas and ready to make it great this year.  Did I mention that school starts that same week?  It's going to be crazy. 

I tried to tell him that those shoes don't go with that diaper.

Pee-pee in the Potty!

Somehow, in the last few weeks, we have started potty training Benjamin.  I didn't plan this, wish for this, or expect it at his adventurous 22 months but here we are.  It all started with him telling me when he had/or would pooped and about that same time, I found the potty that I wanted at a resale store for dirt cheap.

So we brought our little yellow Baby Bjorn potty home ( I love how it's all one piece) and he pretty much put it on his head and danced around.  He kinda reminded me of a Green Bay Packers fan with a cheese wedge on his head....quite similar.  Most nights prior to his bath, I would place him on it and go from there.  Then the other night, I got courageous. 

I noticed that immediately after a bath, Benjamin would run into the closet and pee in the corner.  I didn't exactly discourage this because at that point I knew that he had no clue about how that sensation meant pee.  I mean our carpet is fuschia pink.  It's getting ripped up anyway.  So fast forward a few days and I got my smarts on and placed the potty in the closet and voila!  Pee-pee in the potty!

He has to have the curtains drawn and he loves to dump the potty in the bathtub.  I give him an M&M every time succeeds, no scolding or frowns if he doesn't.  I mean M&M's cover everything for us as a family....Kyle Busch and the #18 M&M's Toyota Car, NASCAR.....  Today, Benjamin had 4 M&M's and he also discovered that his Hot Wheels fit in the potty as well.  Lovely!


I'm not sure where to go from here, but I'm just placing him on there when I realize that it's been 2 hours and he's dry.  He's actually a bit excited about it. 

This is the first stop in parenting where I'm really unsure of how to proceed.  Everything up to this point has been rather easy and I knew how to handle anything.  Potty training is totally new.  And I feel for moms at this point what with all kinds of non-traditional ways of raising their child, I'm thinking that there are going to be some seriously jacked up teenagers in about 15 years.  This one blows my mind: Elimination Communication.  I don't get it, I just don't get it.  Google it....it's interesting to say the least.

Off to bleach the potty....and a few Hot Wheels.

Donde esta?

Yep, it's been a while, a real long while.  I'm a horrible blogger but let me focus on what I am good at:

1. Keeping Benjmain from killing Sadie
2. Juggling MOPS, House Committee, back to college, being a mom and a wife. 
3. Laundry
4. Killing mice
5. Keeping Benjamin alive

Benjamin is ALL boy, no doubt about that but where some moms might be pulling their hair out, I'm taking it in stride. So far this summer he has managed to:

1. Open the doors and escape.
2. Flush the toilet
3. Push a chair to the dining room table and successfully walk on it.
4. Can operate his VCR without my help.
5. Lock me out of the house.

You read it right, he locked me out of the house today.  Luckily, Rob had just woke up so while he enjoyed a good laugh, he did let me back in.  I can truly say that I'm enjoying every minute of being his mom...he's an excellent son.

Myself, Rob, and Benjamin at the Scott County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner

News!  Rob and I are both going back to school!  He was accepted to Liberty University's Online College to complete a BA degree and I was accepted into Midway College's Teacher's Education Program.  I'll be studying Secondary Biology.  We are finally being able to reap the benefits of his VA/GI Bill and me receiving a nearly full ride to Midway.  God is a very gracious God.

Enough for now, I'm heading to bed and then it's off to Cracker Barrell in the morning for breakfast with some of GBC's finest. 

Sheesh, it's been a while.

So obviously this thing has not been a priority to me the past few months but I hope to change that. Life's been so busy and our computer went belly up for a while to do anything 'high tech' like a blog or facebook.

To sum up the last few months, Benjamin has turned one, spent the night in the hospital for croup, learned to walk and climb everything and I mean everything. Rob is moving up the chain at TMMK, I became the coordinator for our local MOPS group (check us out at http://www.gbcmops.webs.com/ and on Facebook), and now I have signed up for a local 10K in Lexington this coming July.

Things are in constant motion here at our home. If you can't find me and Benjamin, we are probably at the gym. I've dropped 2 sizes, lost a few pounds and have almost radically changed my life. I have three things/people to thank for that: One, Carol M. she's my trainer that pushes me to the edge and is my cheerleader. Two, Benjamin. I'm wanting him to grow up in a family that is healthy and active. Three, the TV show Hoarders. If you have never watched in on A&E, you need to watch it this Monday at 10pm. I've dramatically changed my habits and I hope to constantly making a positive stride.

Basically, my life is on detox right now and I'm being extra careful about what goes into it. I'll write more later, sleep is calling my name.

10 Months

Little Blue Eyes, he's just too handsome!

Benjamin is now 10 months old and it's very surreal to think of what I looked like and felt like this time last year. He's doing all kinds of things and it seems like his arms grow an inch every night because there is always something that he couldn't reach last night but is having no trouble reaching today. He has started to let go of things while he's cruising and will stand there for a short moment and yesterday he found the stairs. I'm surprised that he hasn't shown an interest until now.

Rob has been on vacation all week and tonight is his first night back. It's always weird for me that first night that he goes back after a vacation....very quiet around the house! I've been working hard on my new endeavor which is being the Publicity Coordinator for our local MOPS group here in Georgetown. Take a look at some of the work I've been working on and for those of you in Georgetown, if you're interested in MOPS let me know and I'll give you a call. For those of you who know someone who could be involved, give me a call about them.....the more the merrier! http://www.gbcmops.webs.com/ to learn more about MOPS International visit http://www.mops.org/

Benjamin had fun at our church picnic a few weeks back...this picture is priceless.

I don't know what's funnier, Benjamin or the fact that Rob has the same expression on his face...

The Space Between

I've been having major difficulties with my computer now uploading the pictures that I really want to put on here but somehow the videos upload. I know it's been a while and soooo much is going on.

Benjamin had his first official VBS at our church the first week of June and that went very well. I also had the honor of teaching in the preschool building and had a blast with my fellow rockin' teachers and awesome kids. These past two weeks, Benjamin has been involved in Water Babies at the Pavillion and they exhaust him! He has learned how to blow bubbles in the water, hold onto the side of the pool, how to 'swim' in the pool....as much as a 9 month old can! It's been a great exercise time for myself! I never thought I would be getting a workout for his swim 'lessons'. There are only four of us in the group and it's a close group. We've been having fun!

Father's Day was great and Rob loved his presents from Benjamin and Sadie. When I can load the pictures, I'll place some on here!

Sadie has had a hard time adjusting to the new stages of Benjamin. She sort of freaked when we brought him home, especially when he pooped or cried. Then it was him rolling around, then onto sitting up but she has had the hardest adjustment with him crawling and pulling up on everything. I think she's finally coming around since we've made a few places in the house that only she can get into and Benjamin hasn't found them yet! She loves to play with him by running around the house and then stopping abruptly and licking him-he of course loves it.

Today is Ben's 9 month appointment and I still remember very clearly this time last year being pregnant. It's a very odd feeling! I'm excited to go to the doctor and share about his milestones. The ones that I will be reporting since our 6 month checkup will be crawling perfected, pulling up, cruising, 2 TEETH, 3 words (mom, da-da, and ba (bottle)), pincher grasp, claps hands when asked.

Probably one of the most important events that has taken place was our Child Dedication service held at our church Georetown Baptist. It was a wonderful day with the sun coming through the gorgeous stained glass and Benjamin was dedicated with some of our best friends. We had 9 little ones total and it was a wonderful day.

If I remember correctly, L to R are: The Singers, The Hisels, The Schindlers, The Johnsons, The Wrights, The Powers', The Whitcombs, The Sextons, and I can't remember the last family....Amy can you help me on that one?!

Needless to say that the space between 7 and 9 months, he's grown in so many ways and it's bittersweet. I love to see him grow and find new things but I relish the earlier days. I think everyone knows what I mean there.

Crawling-check! Pulling up on things-check! Getting into everything we own-check! Says "ma-ma", "da-da", and "ba-ba"-check! Growing out of the carseat-check! Recognizes Sadie's bark-check! Meghan ran her first 5k-check! Found the coolest toy ever!-check!!!!

You Know, One of Those Days

Yep, it's been one of those days. Benjamin pulled over my mug of coffee on me this morning, hit every red light in town, it started raining as soon as I pull into the gym parking lot, the lady at the gym that's a 'gym freak' was all in my space at the gym...you know, one of those days. However. It was totally worth it because after my heart pumping workout, I go to pick up Benjamin and here's what he's made for me: TOTALLY WORTH IT!

I just love Melanie & Liz who watch Benjamin at the gym!

Easter & Cookouts

Easter was great! Benjamin and the rest of us were dressed up spiffily and it was nice to have good weather all day. Benjamin opened up his two Easter baskets (one from Grandma W. & the other from us and Grandma & Grandpa D.) Seriously, he opened them and of course had more fun with the tissue paper than the toys we bought him.

The following week we visited Cincinnati and I was able to take this picture of Benjamin with his Great Uncle Kenneth. It was so nice to take this picture because of what my uncle Kenneth has meant to me all of these years. He's always been around for my important life events and it was wonderful to see them together.

While we were there, we were able to see the brick that has my father's name and Naval service info at the almost complete Springdale Veterans Memorial. We of course had Benjamin take his picture with next to the brick.

Not too much is going on with us at the moment. Mainly just figuring out if we need the AC or the heat on in the house and today it's definitely the AC. We are also in a battle for space with a family of wasps. This hasn't been fun to say the least but we have to thank Sadie who attacked the wasp that was in Benjamin's playpen the other night-She's a good dog.

My mom has these two pictures hanging up at the house. That's me in 1982 and Benjamin in 2009. I think it's cute.

Benjamin's growing up. He's thinking about crawling and maybe a tooth...I'm not so sure. He rolls EVERYWHERE and chews on EVERYTHING. He's such a happy baby and so easy to take care of...he makes life pretty darn good. See why I love him so much?

Is it winter or is it spring?

This weather is the pits! Yesterday I was in shorts and a t-shirt, today I'm in sweatpants. Global warming my tooshie. Honestly I don't mind it that much but what gets to me is the sickness that comes with the drastic weather changes. This is our first official family illness. It started with Benjmain a few weeks back with a respiratory infection (he's fine now), then it went to me with strep throat (I'm getting there) and now Rob has a combo of everything. Bad thing too is that I was on penicillin for the strep and now Benjamin is recovering from the allergic reaction that we now know he has to penicillin. GO FIGURE.

I now truly understand that the whole family can get sick and it isn't fun. I have to admit I used to think that some parents would use their kids colds as an excuse to not do anything but now I see that I was totally wrong. I think I've been maybe 3 places in the past 3 weeks and that's not counting the doctor's office. I think we are paying for our pediatrician's kids educations now.

I felt good enough this morning to venture out to the gym and I was throroughly embarrassed at how out of shape you can get in 3 weeks. Luckily, the group of high spirited women that I run with made me feel like a million bucks with the encouragement. I can't complain there!

Benjamin has learned to shake his head no. Well I guess I should say that he shakes his head like he's saying no-he can't talk back yet. It's cute and of course I can't capture it on video, he just won't let me. I think he's getting ready to crawl so I'm trying and trying to 'babyproof'. I use this term lightly because I don't think it's 100% possible to do so but you get the drift. Picking up the obvious stuff and storing away what's just not really needed at a moment's reach.

I have to give some serious kudos to our pediatricans' office. They are absolutely wonderful and have taken care of Benjamin since day one. Those of you who live close to Scott County and need a new doctor, try Dr. Joel Knight and Dr. Andrew Balbaugh @ Bluegrass Pediatrics and Internal Medicine. They are next door to Western Elementary/Chevron/Givoannis on 460. Anything that we have ever needed or wanted, they have gone above and beyond!

All's quiet on the Homestead Front. Sadie, Benjamin, and Rob are asleep and now I'm going to go get into something. Not sure what yet but if it's exciting enough, I'll write about it later!

6 Months Old!

We had Benjamin's 6 month visit this week and we are so THANKFUL that we received a very good report. His respiratory infection was gone, his heart sound fantastic, and the new feeding routine has put back the weight that he lost. He's also a little 'advanced' with his coordination despite the weight issue we encountered recently. I can brag about that can't I?! If we keep up the work we've been doing with the feeding schedule, he should get right back on track weight wise in about 2 months, ideally.

Yesterday afternoon he started this shimming/crawling backwards thing. It's almost like he's crawling but he goes backwards and it's funny to watch. This morning, Carrie Underwood's video of her singing the old Randy Travis song "I Told You So" came on GAC and as soon as she started singing, Benjamin stops what he's doing and just watches her-the entire video! I guess he's got a thing for blondes!

We've made it outside the past few days and we have two new additions to our backyard, a pretty umbrella and a new grill! The grill was a gift from my parents for our anniversary since ours was destroyed last year. How did it get destroyed? Well, Memorial Day last year, our neighbors daughter and son had a little 'unsupervised' party and they have a huge trampoline. All of a sudden I hear the bang and Sadie goes ballistic and so does Lady, the dog next door. I run downstairs because I'm thinking something's hit the house. Nope, what do we see? One of the kids at the party had went a little crazy and jumped over our fence and landed directly on our grill, reducing it to a piece of charcoled junk. I will say that it was only one of those $30 grills, nothing fancy. The kid sprained his ankle pretty good and the daughter and son begged me not to tell their parents. I did, but only a few months later-they are REALLY good kids.

Anywho, back on track. So today it's raining so it looks like we won't be outside. Benjamin and I go to book babies on Thursdays at the library and we have an awesome library. He really enjoys it and Ms. Mary Lou who runs the infant book babies program.

We also bought a new bathtub for Benjamin. He was getting too big for the one we had, which I loved because it folded up and was super convenient. He loves the new one though, it's that blow up rubber duck looking one. He likes sitting in it and splashing around with the rubber ducks that we have.

Well it sounds, and smells, like it's time for a diaper change so we will have to go for now. Enjoy the pictures and as always, leave a comment if you can!

Oh! If any of you gals want a good workout, check out Shimmy on FitTV. It's this belly dancing stuff and it is a serious work out. I of course look like an albino chicken trying to belly dance but who sees me doing it beside Benjamin and Sadie....they don't care!

Oh, The Month of February

I don't really care for the month of February, it's never really been a favorite of mine. First off, Valentine's Day is stupid and I'll leave it at that. Secondly, it was this time last year that Rob and I were fighting for Bejamin's life as well as mine. As I look outside and see the wet snowy weather my mind rushes back to the gut wrenching day in which I was admitted to the hospital for the weather was the same that day. I felt awful to say the least. By this time I had a medical pump installed into my stomach that I had to repoke myself every day and fill syringes with the medicine that would eventually save me and my little person inside. At this time we didn't know we we're having a boy.

With February behind me, I enter a mind of thankfulness. Sheer thankfulness and joy. This time last year, these feelings were unthinkable and I am so blessed to have been given such a sweet healthy boy. I catch myself smiling in a little bit of disbelief everyday that it all turned out so, so good.

Benjamin is growing rapidly and doing something new everyday. Lately he loves talking all the time, pushing up on his arms, and now he's starting to draw his knees up under his belly. I took this a few days ago and now you can see why I'm so thankful.

Top 15 of the New Year

So I realized today that I am way overdue for an update and I can't believe that this much time has passed. Since today and the rest of the week Benjamin and I are running all over the place (he sleeps so much better at night when we're busy!) I'm making a Top 15 List. Enjoy!

Top 15 Things of the New Year

15. Introducing cereal has been fun and Sadie cleans the floor for me when we're done

14. Benjamin rolls over all the time, everywhere we go.

13. Duncan Granparents bought us a new carseat that goes into a stroller that we love!!! If only it would fit into the tiny Sunfire.

12. Our Sunday School class is growing and is so much fun.

11. Benjamin has stopped nursing EVERY HOUR.

10. Giving prune juice to Ben has made for lots of laundry.

9. Our pipes didn't freeze during the ice storm.

8. Benjamin reaches for us noe.

7. He also reaches for Sadie and loves to watch her.

6. I've been going to the gym and hope to go even more when the weather clears up.

5. We survived the winter storms and only lost power and telephone for about a day.

4. Benjamin has started to push up on his arms when he's on his belly.

3. He now has to be in bed by 8:30pm-his decision.

2. Every morning is a surprise since I don't know where he'll be in his crib. Sometimes completely covered by his blanket, sometimes he's at the end with a toy in his hand.

1. Rob still has a job.

So far, so good and that's how we hope to keep it.

This is Vacation?!

It's the pits when your sick over vacation. It's downright revolting when your entire household (minus the dog) is sick over vacation. It all started with Benjamin on Christmas and just went from there; luckily Benjamin recovered quite quickly. I'm also finding that it's hard to treat the winter yuckies when you're still nursing, nothing good is safe to take. Yuck!

On a much happier note. Rob has an extended shutdown this year due to the economy so he has been here all week and for one more and it's been quite nice. He's been able to see what Benjamin, Sadie and I do all day and I think he was a little surprised at how much effort it takes. In this picture, both Sadie and Benjamin needed something and I remember Rob saying, "I can't take care of both of you at the same time! Meghan!!" Too funny I say. I just had to take a picture of this tough moment!

I've always heard that when your baby starts sleeping through the night and then suddenly is up at all hours and wanting to eat every 1-2 hours that he's probably getting ready for a big step. Well, I guess they're right. About 2 weeks ago Benjamin started that and you get so spoiled by them sleeping through the night and it's just soooooo hard to go back to the I-just-came-home-from-the-hospital stage. It was worth it! He's always had his hands in motion but this week he can really grab things that he wants, not just what's around that he happens to find. He's found my nose and glasses this week. He's also starting to enjoy laying on his tummy. This took a while but he really seems to like it after his morning bath when I lay him on the soft flannel sheets. This little clip is cute to me and please forgive my 'mommy banter', I can't help it. He also produces a you know what sound at the end of the video but I'm going to post it anyway because it's cute.

I made a list but didn't check it twice.

Believe it or not, this is the first chance I've had to write in a while, Amy, I'm sure you understand! Christmas has come and gone and we had a good first Christmas with Benjamin. The grandparents came to our house on Christmas day where we enjoyed my festive spice drink that's been a tradition for us, good ham with the trimmings, and great dessert. Benjamin was a bit fussy since he had a cough but overall he was a trooper amongst the craziness that goes with the holidays.

Do you ever have a good idea in theory but come to find that's it's really a bad one? This year I thought I would get the grandparents those mold impressions of Benjamin's hands. Can we say disaster? I either got the mold way to wet or way to hard and I think I ended up sticking Benjamin's feet in it thinking that might work easier, once again I was wrong. Rob was holding Benjamin while I put his feet into the mold. Needless to say Benjamin loved the squishy feeling on his feet but Rob did not like it when Benjamin started to kick in it which resulted in Rob's arms being coated with plaster. Anyway, I quickly gave up this fantabulous idea and opted for sticking Benjamin's feet in blue ink and making a nice little token on his inky feet. This went MUCH better but he still has one blue toe. I'll take this one as a victory.

Sadie loves Christmas. She got a football for Christmas, the other 8 footballs that she has in the backyard are frozen and are waiting for garbage pickup.

It's funny and so nice to see how my father is totally taken with Benjamin. I don't think that Benjamin could do wrong in his eyes and he loves taking care of Benjamin. Don't get me wrong, his grandmas love him too but my father is just floored by him. Of course it doesn't help when Benjamin lights up like a Times Square Christmas tree when he's with him. In this picture, he's looking at his grandpa even though I'm holding him.

Christmas was great this year and we're thankful that our family as a whole is healthy and happy. Sometimes I can forget about that and it's the most important.

We Saw Santa!

We saw Santa and we barely waited in line. Of course it didn't hurt that we were first in line and then Benjamin fell asleep, hence the sleepy look on his face. I was so proud of my Little Man that he didn't cry or anything, he seems to be good with strangers.

I love consignment shops, I really do. I love the fact that I can go in, spend about $20 and walk out with 10 outfits-it's magic! They're in great shape too!

Tomorrow, Rob and I will attempt to make plaster molds of Benjamins hands but we're thinking that maybe his feet will be easier to do. Rob says I don't know what I'm talking about since I was completely out of it in the hospital when they inked his feet and hands. Apparently Benjamin didn't take to well to this. Maybe this is why it looks like he only has 4 toes on one of his feet....

It snowed soooo much the other night, it was quite pretty and I caught myself fast forwarding to next year and how Benjamin will be able to enjoy the snow, well at least experience it.

We're ready for Christmas, we're hosting it this year as Rob and I have done since we were engaged in 2004. I really do like to host Christmas, it's quite fun and it fabulous that the Grandparents take care of Benjamin so we get a little breather.

We've mastered two things in the past few weeks. One, Benjamin officially sleeps through the night and two, he's going back to falling asleep on his own at night. Even though I miss the snuggle time we always had at night, having him fall asleep on his own is quite nice.

It's going to be a great Christmas and I hope that all of my family and friends who read this will also have a wonderful Christmas. I know a lot of folks are down this year since money is tight but let's be thankful that we live in a free country, we have family and friends, troops who fight for us, healthy kids, and a God who loves us no matter what.

Merry Christmas!!!!

One of Those Moments

Today I had one of those feel good moments that have made the last few emotionally draining days fade away. Benjamin was sick again with a high fever and no other signs besides being absolutely miserable. No ear infection, strep, congestion-nothing. So as it was a few weeks ago with the same symptoms, minus the diarrhea, we headed to the hospital for some more tests. In the past 48 hours, Benjamin has endured a cath urine test which was unsuccessful so we had to put a bag on him to catch the urine, multiple sticks for blood, and me shooting saline in his nose. He's been miserable and yes, I've been exhausted.

Everything came back negative which is really, really good but still leaves the question as to what he's been fighting off. He's better now but next week we have to go for an echocardiogram on his heart to check out his cyanosis. If you look cyanosis up it gives a scary description of a condition that you just don't want. His is not that grave. He's always had the blue coloration to his lips and feet and hands but the feet and hands have since returned to normal, his lips have not. Our pediatrician whom we love, was not happy with the fact that it hasn't gone away so he's ordered this test to rule out any underlying problems. We would really covet your prayers on this one.

Okay, so I got a bit sidetracked but here's my moment that Benjamin shared with me this morning. He likes to take a bath but it takes him by surprise at first so there's always a whine or two. Today he had a poo poo explosion as we like to call them so off to a bath he went. I put him in slowly and he started fretting really loudly and he was looking away from me. Suddenly he turns his head to face me, locks his eyes with mine and I say something about how it will be okay and he smiles and stops fretting. This was the first time that he seemed like he meant to look for me for comfort. I know he's always done this, that's what I do, I'm his mom and I comfort him but having him actually look for me for comfort almost made me cry.

I love those moments and I know that there are more to come. Did I mention that he looks for Rob and I when we start talking....we love it!