Had some down time while Ben was napping, so I put together this little clip. The past couple of days, he's been dancing when the music plays on his Leapfrog Table. It makes me laugh outloud. Not sure if the clip conveys how funny it actually is...

Wouldn't you know it? I desperately need to get to the grocery store today. The cupboards are bare. And will Ben take his nap so we can go? Not yet. Any other day, he wants to go down for his first nap an hour or so after he wakes up (it's weird). But nope, not today. No siree! It's 11:30 and I think THINK we might just now be making some progress toward napland.

On another topic, since I'm stuck here, have any of you ever used one of these? Supposedly it's the most accurate thermometer you can buy and let's face it, it sure beats some of those other methods of taking baby's temperature. You just swipe it from the middle of the forhead back toward the ear and voila, instant reading. Cool. Very cool. So futuristic and weird! Anyway, just wondering if anyone's tried it, liked it, has anything to say about it.

Ah silence. Sleeping baby. Angels are singing, bells are ringing. I wish they'd be quiet though, they'll wake up the kid! :

The baby shower today was interesting... the poor mommy looks like she is going to pop. Her original due date was March 10th, but now, based on ultrasound measurements they are thinking it may be more like February 18th. That's a BIG difference. They think the baby already weighs about six pounds. Induction is a word being tossed around. I'm not hyping it up like I did with Leslie because she ended up with a c-section and I have felt guilty about being all rah rah induction since. :
I was the official gift writer downer person, which I took very seriously. ;) And I was quite thorough, unlike my friend Kristi, who was the official gift writer downer person at MY baby shower. I sat down to write thank you notes and had to decipher scrawlings that said things like "Yellow Pooh doo dad" and "Stuff with puppies on it."

Dear Great Aunt Blahblahblah, thank you for the lovely yellow Pooh doo dad. I
love it and I'm sure it will be very useful/warm/cute/fun.

Hopefully, Jenn will have an easier time with her thank you notes.

She got like five afghans and four handprint kits. C'mon people! A new mommy needs DIAPERS. DIAPERS DIAPERS DIAPERS. She got ONE pack of diapers. I like handmade baby blankets and all... in fact, I have two and they are among Benjamin's collection of baby treasures, but really, you only need so many. And did I mention... you need DIAPERS! If diapers don't jazz you, oh intrepid gift giver, how about a jumbo box of wipes? A baby bathtub? Washcloths? Towels with hoods! Onesies! I restrained myself from making notes on the giftlist about which things were useless and should be returned for DIAPERS or any of the above. ;) She also got her infant seat, but not her stroller. Uhh... I think if the four people who bought expensive framed handprint kits had gotten together, they could have bought her the stroller AND a pack of diapers. Just a thought.
*~*

Wow. I just got home and Tom isn't home with Ben yet. House to myself. Haven't had the house to myself since Ben came. Weird. Very. And so quiet. I think I just might like it a little.

I'm going to that previously canceled baby shower today so Tom and Ben are headed to my inlaws' house for the afternoon. I gave Tom a carseat lesson earlier and now I'm watching from the window as he struggles to get Ben in the seat.

::snicker::

We're going on five minutes now... maybe I should go out and help. Nah.

Tom and I were out to lunch today. Maybe it was the red meat talking, or just the fact that Ben was 6 miles away at his grandparents' house, but the man lost his mind.

He said to me, "I am so excited to have another baby."

(crickets chirping)

Me: (cough) Excuse me? What did you say?

Him: I'm really really excited to have another baby. I wasn't before, but now I am. When are you going off the pill?

(more crickets)

Me: Uhh...

Doesn't he realize I'm all talk? I'm not ready to be pregnant again? I just like to talk about it, roll around in the idea once in awhile... wear it and see how it fits.
I refreshed his memory of my current plan, which is to go off the pill in September, give it three months to clear out and see what happens.

Him: "Sooo... we're talking like December?"

Who took my husband? Seriously. Because this is not the same man who I have lived with for the past ten months. It's amazing what a few weeks of decent sleep can do to someone's outlook. Only one word is appropriate here...

GAH.

After you all posted you've had the same dream(s), I thought maybe some googling was in order.

Neglected Pet Dreams
Another blogger who blogged about the pet dream

More later, baby fussing...

Now that Ben is sleeping really well at night, I seem to be dreaming a lot. I don't normally dream (or remember what I dream, either/or) at all. But lately I keep having the same two dreams over and over again and waking up all in a panic.

Dream #1: I have a pet, it's usually some kind of hamster or a bird. I realize I have totally forgotten I had it... for MONTHS or even years. I go to the basement and find the neglected cage with empty food and water dishes. Somehow the animal is still alive, underneath a bunch of junk. I'm relieved but feel HORRIBLY guilty and I clean out the cage and give it new food and water.

Dream #2: I'm back in school -- sometimes high school, sometimes college. I go to all my classes the first day, then I lose my schedule and have no idea where one of the classes is. I spend the rest of the semester looking for the classroom. Then, near the end, I remember that I haven't gone to this class the whole time I start to panic about what's going to happen with my grade. A variation on the dream is that I completely forget about the class entirely until the end of the semester, then I panic.

It doesn't take Sigmond Freud to analyze these, I don't think. Ack!

I've always thought that I'd like to have all of my babies in the spring. My reasons being:
* I didn't have to be super-pregnant in the summer
* I wouldn't have a newborn or very young baby in the wintertime, when all the nasty germs are passed around

I think I would still prefer to give birth between late February and early May, but since reading some of your blogs (the ones with babies born at other times of the year), I'm seeing some advantages to some other months too, and I have experienced some spring baby disadvantages... like:

* The baby is really REALLY young in the summer. You have to worry about keeping them out of the sun because you're not supposed to put sunblock on them yet (though I did). You also have to worry whether they're too hot, because they don't really complain much. And it's not really all that fun having a tiny baby poolside or at the beach. I didn't get out much this past summer.

* The baby is old enough at Christmastime to wreak havoc on your tree

* The baby is mobile and independent enough in the winter to really need some time outside and it's too cold most days.

* It's really hard to put a snowsuit/winter coat on a 9 or 10-month old, I envy the moms I see at the store with the newborns all zipped up in those infant seat papoose things

* Though I wasn't super pregnant in the summer, my summer still pretty much ended right after I found out I was pregnant. I got all bloated and gross by 8-10 weeks or so and couldn't fit in my clothes. I had to wear pants and long shirts when it was still 80 degrees out in October because I had nothing else that fit.


I've been thinking that I wouldn't so much mind having a summer baby, or even early fall. I was at Old Navy two days ago and saw some CUTE summer maternity clothes, which helped this opinion along. In fact pretty much any month other than December and January wouldn't be too bad... I just would like to avoid a Christmas season baby. They get so jipped.

So what were the advantages/disadvantages to being pregnant/having your baby when you did?

Actually, in our case, it's not so much of a battle, which is weird. I keep hearing and reading about how hard it can be to wean your kid from the bottle (or breast, actually). Benjamin couldn't really care less about the bottle. Or the cup. Or food at all for that matter. I'm frankly astounded that he's growing at ALL. We offer him any of the above and he's like, "Food? Who's hungry? Not me... oh fine, if you insist... I'll humor with you three sips/bites then will you leave me alone? I have WAY better things to do."

"They" also say that the bedtime feeding is the hardest to get rid of. "They" may be right, but not for the same reasons I'm thinking it will be the hardest. I'm 100% sure that Benjamin would go right to sleep without the bottle. I can be so confident of this because that's how we get those last five ounces into him every night. We put him in his crib, he falls asleep, Tom gets him out and pops the bottle in his mouth and in five seconds, he drains it.

I know this sounds horrible... why would any sane parent get a perfectly wonderful sleeping baby out of the crib to make him eat? Well, in our case, it's because we're BARELY getting him to eat 13-15 ounces a day and he's supposed to still be getting 20-24! However, once his first birthday comes, all bets are off. The formula fairy is going away (and leaving us in the poorhouse), so we won't be giving him a bedtime bottle. What we're wondering is if he'll wake up hungry. (I can't get him to eat much for dinner at ALL). We could ditch the bedtime bottle NOW but I don't feel like finding out if he's going to wake up in the middle of the night just yet... I would like a few more months of good sleep please.

Sorry if this is so rambly... I'm kind of just thinking outloud. How are the rest of you doing with the bottle battle? (Those of you to whom it applies right now...)

Also, does anyone else have a bad eater?

Ben was ten pounds of pissy in a five pound bag last night during that evil hour between dinner and bedtime. The first order of business was to strip him down to his diaper because he was covered in tomato sauce. This improved his mood exponentially. Then he settled in to watch Sesame Street with dada. How cute is this?!

We went outside for a little fresh air this afternoon. I let Benjamin walk by himself so we went very S-L-O-W-L-Y... mostly because he needed to stop approximately every two feet to touch the snow/grass/dirt/mud/newspaper/mailbox/leaves/sidewalk.


Here he is gazing out into the big, big world. ;) Someday little man, SOMEday you will cross the street. That day was not today.

After the onslaught of toys at Christmas added even more to the insane collection we already had, I put a cap on any toy buying for Benjamin's birthday. But that seemed to make his godmother and his grandparents sad. So, for them and anyone else who insists on helping to further turn my home into a toy store/daycare center in a couple months... here are a few toy ideas. They are just general ideas based on what he is doing these days. As I mentioned in my 10-month post, he likes banging things, shaking things and putting things into things. Also, his mommy likes things that are small and easily put away. (which applies to all but one thing on the wishlist)Anything free of noises and lights would also be welcomed, but I know that's wishful thinking because you all like to torture Ben's mommy and daddy. Without further adieu... Ben's wishlist.

I've noticed a lot of Ben's baby blog friends hanging out in dishwashers lately.
Isaac in the dishwasher
Mo in the dishwasher
Babybeaux in the dishwasher

I guess it's the in thing to do. I'm always the last to know these things. ;)
Call it peer pressure, but I thought I'd contribute a picture or two of my little dishwasher "repairman" for the collection.



And after the dishwasher, he's off to fix the vacuum cleaner. (I didn't have the heart to tell him that it wasn't broken, it was just unplugged)



He was on a roll, so I asked him to run upstairs and take a look at the bathroom sink...

I just handed Ben my checkbook so he'd let me check my email and the bank balance.
It has Elmo on it (yes, I have Sesame Street checks... and I got them pre-Ben) so he squealed, grabbed it and ran. Now he's eating it... so I guess I should go take it away. Hrm... At least he doesn't know how to write or I might have a couple bad checks out for formula and Elmo toys.

Benjamin is TEN months old today! TEN months! Crazy, I tell ya. This last month featured his first Christmas, learning to walk, first pair of real shoes and tons of bruises. He has eight teeth, with 9 and 10 still working their way out and causing problems and sleepless nights.

He has broken two TiVo remotes and the DVD player this month and now he's working his hardest to take down the baby gate. He is also very interested in the lid to the toilet seat and likes to gross mommy out by racing over to it, opening it up and splashing in the water... "no" from afar is not effective in deterring him, neither is having the lid slam on his fingers once or twice.

He says hi, he waves, and he'll give us things if we say, "Ben will you give mommy/daddy the (insert toy name here)." He won't bring in the newspaper yet though. Heh. Oh and he also gives kisses when you ask him to. It's too cute.

His latest baby experiments involve:
* balancing things on top of other things, like toys on top of the baby gate (but not blocks on other blocks, all towers built by mommy or daddy MUST be destroyed IMMEDIATELY)

*tossing objects outside the gate, crib or highchair and waiting for mommy or daddy to pick them up, crying when we don't oblige

*Putting things INTO things (saw this over on Isaac's blog too, must be a milestone or something)

*Shaking and banging things... anything and everything. He especially likes to combine putting things INTO things and shaking them. Our house has gotten much louder lately.

He recognizes tons and tons of words, among them: cheerio, shake, mommy, daddy, breakfast, lunch, dinner, bathtime, ducky, kittycat, doggy, froggy, sleepy, Elmo, binky, diaper, block, ball, up, bottle, milk, juice, all done, light off, and most definitely, "NO!" (though whether he chooses to listen to it or not is a different story altogether)

He also babbles like CRAZY now and looks at us as if to say, "Guys, I'm making total sense here... what is the problem?!" We're in super-listening mode now waiting for more words. He seems to be imitating our sounds a lot more lately, so I think more real words are on their way soon! For now, we are happy with, "hi." ;)

Eating is going to be a fight for years to come, I can tell. He is still eating a lot of baby food... I try to offer him table foods, but he's SO picky. Other than sweet potato, he will not eat a vegetable of any kind that is not pureed and out of a jar. Diced carrots, peas, green beans... they all get spit out and tossed on the floor. He does like Nutrigrain bars, goldfish, Beech-Nut spaghetti rings, shredded cheese (but not cubes, oh no no NOT the dreaded cheese cube) yogurt, Jen's turkey chili, grilled cheese sandwiches, and waffles. Not the greatest variety or the most nutritious selection. We're still working on this. ;)

Official 10-month pictures below... (he's a little beat up right now, ignore the scratches on his chin and forehead) ;)

Why does the baby wait until AFTER you've had your first cup of coffee to let you know he wants to go back to bed?

40mph winds + snow = COLD COLD COLD. I doubt we're going anywhere today. The baby shower was canceled, though I'm sure I could have gotten there if I had to.

Ben woke up last night around 11:30 SCREAMING. I picked him up and he didn't stop. After I rocked him for awhile he stopped but when I tried to put him in the crib he started with the screaming again. I tried putting him in our bed. More screaming. I brought him downstairs on the couch (haven't done this since he was 5 months old) and he fell asleep (fitfully) but back up to the crib and... you guessed it. Screaming. I gave him some Tylenol. (off button #1) Then I rocked him some more... screaming on and off... high pitched and painful. In between the screaming I could hear his stomach making the most AWFUL sounds... so I gave him a small bottle of formula with some gas drops mixed in. (off buttons #'s 2-4 -- to nix, hunger, thirst and gas all at once). I was hoping this would work because I was out of ideas. He didn't have a fever or anything! Finally... FINALLY after the bottle and gas drops he fell asleep and stayed in the crib. Obviously something was wrong, and I've spent all morning wracking my brain about what could have bothered his stomach.

My current theory as to the cause is the rice cake I gave him while we ate dinner. He was NEVER able to tolerate rice cereal and it always seemed like four or five hours after he ate it, he deteriorated into this writhing, screaming red-faced kid. He ate the rice cake at 7p.m. and started being upset around 11:30... can you BE allergic or sensitive to rice? Has anyone else ever heard of this?!

Bored bored BORED. I baked some cookies a little while ago. Little chocolate tea cookies with buttercream icing. I have a LOT, so if you want some, please come get 'em. ;)

The snow has stopped. I heard a rumor it might start up again tonight, but I don't know. It's hard to function on a snowy day without the wall-to-wall "snow show" coverage that they reserve for when it snows on school days. I don't get to hear all the people who ventured out to 7-11 in their SUV's talking about how bad it is out there!

So far today we have played with Ben a ton, watched Man on Fire, made lunch and started our taxes. (okay, Tom did that part)

Here are some more pictures from our day.

Measuring the snow on the deck. (I think this must be wrong, it seems like WAY more than four inches everywhere else I look)


Our Christmas tree. Yes, I said Christmas tree. Doesn't it look nice with snow on it? Tom keeps telling me he'll "take it out to the trash tomorrow." Now I think we should just keep it out on the deck year-round. Sorry the pic is crooked. I wasn't about to go all the way out in the cold, so I had to just sort of hold the camera out and shoot.


Benjamin in his "Party at My Crib" onesie. He is so hip.


He's 2'4", but he can dunk... Leapfrog style. ;)


Daddy's circle o' Peek a Blocks. Notice the baby is nowhere to be seen...

Get ready to watch Maryland FREAK out! (the other Erin called it the white death LOLOL!) It's 8:47a.m. and we're just starting to see some flurries, the very beginning of our "major weather event." Oh boy oh boy! Quick! Go get toilet paper! Go get milk! We won't get out for days! It's going to turn into scenes from The Day After Tomorrow! (I hope to be out by tomorrow afternoon for a baby shower, btw)

I'll post pictures throughout the day as the snow takes over, most recent at the top.
(view from the bedroom window)
3:30p.m.

1:35p.m.

11:50p.m.

10:00a.m.

8:45a.m.

I'm waiting for Tom to finish putting the boy to bed... so I stole this little quiz from Madeline Monkey. My results are pretty accurate! Which one are you?

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

I finally got the boy calmed down after a clean diaper, some Tylenol and an ice cube in his Baby Safe Feeder. Now he's a happy camper.

In other news, our very first NetFlix rentals showed up in the mail today. We finally gave up and joined after the last three times we rented movies from Blockbuster we ended up owing 5 rentals worth in late fees. I know Blockbuster doesn't HAVE late fees anymore, but it'll still not worth the hassle, at least during the winter, to get in the cold car and drive the half mile up the road to rent and return movies. The less I have to leave the house when it's freezing, the better. Plus, now we have two movies to watch tomorrow when we're snowed in. (as the weatherman keeps claiming we will be)

Does anyone know how to add your NetFlix movie queue to a blog? I've seen other people do it... does it work on Blogger? Not that it's Ben-related, but I might want to do it someday.

My old boss called a little while ago. (the same one who liked to sneak out the backdoor on snow days and leave us stranded there until 5:30) He wanted to know if I could find the origin of the term "nooks and crannies" I'd love to know why, but I didn't ask. When I worked there, I had a reputation for being able to dig up just about anything on internet. I haven't had any success yet. Any ideas?

He also wanted to know if I knew where we used to keep new business database. Uh... if any of you happen to know the answer to this, I'm sure he'd appreciate it... because I have no clue.

**update**
Found the nook and cranny info after looking in every nook and cranny of AskJeeves.com:
"Dear Word Detective: Recently when I was looking for something and couldn't find it. I said, "I've looked in every nook and cranny and still can't find it." My niece asked me why we say "nook and cranny." Can you help? -- Jackie Clayton, via the internet.

Certainly. In fact, I may actually be an expert on the subject. Many years ago I was working for a large corporate law firm in New York City when one manufacturer of English muffins sued another, a newcomer in the market, for patent infringement. At issue was whether our client had stolen the patented "nooks and crannies" (the little ridges, crevices and holes within an English muffin) boasted by the plaintiff's product. It was a genuinely idiotic lawsuit, and, not surprisingly, research in preparation for court was a bit unorthodox. I vividly remember wandering into a conference room and finding a half-dozen of our high-priced lawyers huddled around a toaster, eating muffin after muffin, taking notes, and, of course, billing by the hour. As I recall, the parties eventually settled out of court. All those carbohydrates probably made them sleepy.

To say that we have looked in "every nook and cranny" is to say that our search has been painstaking, overlooking no place, however small or obscure. "Nook and cranny" as an idiom dates back to about 1836, but the constituent words "nook" and "cranny" are both much older than the phrase.

A "cranny" is a crack, small hole or narrow fissure in something. "Cranny" has a convoluted history, but it is probably rooted in the Latin "crena," or "notch," and first appeared In English around 1440. A "nook" is a little out-of-the-way corner of a house or any sort of secluded, sheltered spot. "Nook" also has a somewhat obscure history, but dates back to about 1300 and is thought to have been borrowed from a Scandinavian source.

Put together, "nook and cranny" is thus equivalent to saying "remote corner and small crack," places that only a very thorough search would reach. And as for your search, don't give up now. I'm sure whatever you're looking for will turn up in the last place you look, especially if you plan to stop looking once you've found it."

As SJ was asking in her somewhat frantic post yesterday... where oh where is the OFF button on my child?

He is SUCH a wreck today. We wouldn't nap ALL morning (up since 6:30) so I gave up and took him out to the store. Then we came home and three tries later, he finally went down for a nap. He woke up after an hour and was NOT happy about it. Now it doesn't matter WHAT I do he just whines and cries and rubs his eyes.

*I* know he needs to go back to sleep. But he feels otherwise. So he is currently in his room thinking about what he needs. (read: crying) I told SJ that the off button for baby Ellie was probably in the medicine cabinet and labeled "Tylenol." Now I'm thinking maybe I should take some of my own advice! Could it be more teeth making an appearance round these parts? #'s 9 and 10 have been hanging out just under the gums for weeks now...

Make it stoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop... someone puhLEASE make it stooop.

Fun with the camera this afternoon... crazy expressions! My kid's a big ham... how on earth did I get a ham? I HATE having my picture taken...

I was going to try and demonstrate the left-handed/right-handed experiment at the request of Diana, who commented on my first post. But Ben wasn't exactly cooporating. While we were playing though, the FedEx guy showed up with the stuff I ordered with my Gymboree GymBucks. Hooray! These cool shades were among the loot. (I needed to add like $5 to my order to get free shipping)


Aren't they great? ;) Benjamin isn't sure what to make of them...

Anyway, since I couldn't photograph the experiment, I'll try to explain it as best I can.

First of all, the baby has to be old enough to know what a spoon is for and know how to grab it and get it to his mouth reasonably well... You put a little bit of baby food on a spoon and then offer the spoon to the baby with the handle facing to one side or the other. Babies between 9 months and a little over a year, will automatically reach for the spoon with their dominant hand, even if the handle isn't facing toward that hand and try to put the food in their mouth. (resulting in a mess if they grab the part with the food on it... ack)

After about 15 months or so (according to this show I saw), they will think about it for a minute and grab whichever side the handle is facing toward, even if it's not their dominant hand. So there is a limited window for this little test. ;)

Oh, also I discovered there HAS to be food on the spoon for them to try to get in their mouth, at least with Ben. Otherwise, he'll just grab the spooon with whatever hand is closest and wave it around or bite it... (thus making you question if this experiment is total crap) Ha! Enjoy! :)

The baby is napping, the laundry is folded, the living room is vacuumed and I just put a batch of brownies made from scratch in the oven. The from scratch brownies were born of a sheer need for chocolate and there is none in the house -- except of course, for the unsweetened kind that you bake with... voila, brownies from scratch.

My friend who I was supposed to meet up with today called and her baby has a cold and didn't sleep all night. She couldn't go out anyway... so that worked out well. But now I am actually sort of lonely... so if anyone wants to come over and share my brownies, you are more than welcome. Jen? What are you and Ryan doing today?

Benjamin and I got out to run a couple errands yesterday before the snow started. Then we got to spend the rest of the day playing in our warm little house while the snowflakes fell outside. It was incredibly nice not to have to go anywhere!

We played with every toy we own, explored the kitchen and bathrooms, he took two long naps and I drank some tea and watched a lot of Discovery Channel and TLC. Did I mention this was nice?

I even e-mailed my old boss and joked that, although there may be one or two things I miss about working, having to drag myself out into the snow is not one of them. My old office never had a snow policy and for those of us who hate driving in the stuff, this meant having to sit at our desks watching snow cover the streets and wondering if we were going to be allowed to leave before it got dark and iced over. The boss got a real kick out of watching us bite our nails while standing at the windows and shouting out weather updates. Then he'd sneak out the back door two hours early. Matt, I like you and all, but that SUCKED.

I was feeling all cozy and warm so I made a crockpot dinner. I completely made up the recipe and it was SO good. Chicken breasts, green and red bell peppers, an onion, some carrots, garlic, tomatoes, cream of broccoli soup, mozzarella cheese, salt, pepper and a little bit of water in the crockpot for 6 hours. Then I served it over some noodles. Tom was a happy happy man when he got home from work. :) Even Ben ate some! I was excited because I got to christen my new knives I got from Tom's parents for Christmas. I've never had really NICE knives before... whereas I used to have to practically saw through vegetables to cut them, now all I do is brandish the knife at vegetables in sort of a threatening way and they just fall apart. Seriously though, they woare crazy sharp. I had no idea what I was missing.

Thanks to the Discovery Channel yesterday I figured out that Benjamin is left-handed. We've thought this for some time now but I think I was able to really find out for sure yesterday. Yay for lefties! :) It will so much easier for me to teach him how to tie his shoes now. More on this later!

Lastly, we think Ben has more words that we didn't realize were words. We're not sure exactly what he's saying, but when when he wants us to hand him something, he says "ah da!" We figure it must mean something to HIM, so we're just going with it.

That's all for now. I was supposed to meet a friend and her baby at the mall today, but my car is covered in snow and frankly, I don't feel like cleaning it up. So it looks, tentatively at least, like another fun snowy day inside. :) And I'm pretty happy about that... :)

It just started snowing here... it's the first snow of the winter and also Benjamin's very first look at the white stuff. He's pretty interested in it too! He keeps stopping in the middle of what he's doing to go look out the window and press his nose against it.


We're only supposed to get an inch or so... apparently the "major snow event" is going to happen Saturday and Sunday. Greeeeeeeat.

We're leaving for Benjamin's first trip to Disney World in seven weeks! I'm getting excited now, though a little overwhelmed at all the stuff I have to pack to keep a baby clothed, fed, happy and not sunburned for a week. I've also rediscovered my fear of flying somewhat... I still am WAY better than I used to be... I think in this case, I'm just a little nervous about flying with a baby. It's going to change the experience, BIGtime. But then again, I probably won't have time to worry about it because keeping Ben occupied will probably take up the full 2 hours. ;)

I've completely changed my tune about this trip from last year. When I first got pregnant and my inlaws were starting to plan it, I told them and everyone that "NO way was I bringing a one-year-old to Disney. Now I can't imagine going without him. He won't remember it, but he's going to have SO much fun even just looking around at everything. One of the things I can't wait for him to see is the jumping fountain that they have at Downtown Disney. If it's warm enough, I'll let him run around and play in it. I KNOW he'll giggle his little head off when the water shoots up at him.

He's also going to be getting his first haircut there, on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom.

"Harmony Barber Shop - Children who receive their first haircut at the shop will get complimentary Mickey Ears with "First Haircut" stitched on the back and a certificate of the unforgettable event to take home."

So, another artficact for the baby book. :)

... and the countdown begins... we're all pretty excited, so you'll be seeing a lot of these kinds of posts in the next few weeks. ;)

Okay, we're going with it. Since Benjamin waved at me again three times this morning while I was changing his diaper and said "Hahhhhheeee!" it's officially, for the baby book,

"Hi."

My next mission is to get it on video. And you know how it goes when you try to get baby to do his tricks on demand. This could be awhile.

There is a blank line in Benjamin's baby book waiting for his "First Word." To avoid what happened when I tried filling out the line that said "Slept Through the Night" (10 crossouts, which will actually be sort of funny to look back on), I have been holding out to make sure we get the actual very first word.

He started saying mama at 6 months... but not to me. He started saying dada at 7 or 8 months, but not to Tom. We're pretty sure he knows who mama is and who dada is now, but he still never really says the words directly TO either one of us. More like, when he's upset about something and needs to be comforted, he says mama and he babbles dada when he's really happy and wants to play. So are these words? I don't know!

This morning, while I was dressing him, he waved at me three times and said, "Hahhhhee!" So if I count anything, it will probably be that, because it was definitely an actual word used in the right context.

I also thought he said banana once a month or so ago. I was feeding him a banana and saying "ba-NA-NA" with every bite and he came out with "nananana" But he babbles that a lot, so I could have just been reading too much into it.

I also worry that he's just going to start spewing tons of words out of nowhere and we're going to have a 15-month-old on our hands who walks around the house saying, "Stupid cat!" "Damn cat!" and "Anakin NO NO!" (those would be our most frequently used phrases around here)

I sometimes have The Disney Channel on in the background while I'm playing with Ben. It makes for some nice background noise, if nothing else. He doesn't really watch it at all.

Anyway, Friday I happened to catch a "mini show" they run called Go Baby. Ben went NUTS! He practically RAN up to the tv and stood there, giggling his head off at the baby on the show. I TiVo it now (it's only about 5 minutes long)because I want to see if Baby Go (that's what I've named him) can teach Ben how to say "Bah Bah" when he waves. ;) It would also be amusing if he'd learn to do the Go Baby Dance. Hee hee...

Check out Go Baby here. I think it's hysterical. My husband, however, doesn't. So, to each his own. ;)
~*~

The total honesty exhibited by the Sarcastic Journalist on her blog just makes me laugh out loud sometimes. Today, she has posted a bit talking about how people brush like crazy the day they go to the dentist to try and make up for months of neglect and how people also ummm... "primp" for the OB/GYN.

HAHAHAHAHA!! This is so true! I also hide my underwear. Come on, you do it too, don't you? There you are, naked as a jaybird (except for the oh-so-fragile paper gown) in front of the doc and, like me, you've buried your underwear under your clothes on the chair, haven't you? Why do we do this?

Oh and once I was there for an OB appointment but there was some confusion on the part of the nurse as to whether or not there would be an exam, so I stayed clothed. The doctor came in and was like, "Um...why are you dressed?" I explained that the nurse told me not to undress and so she says all nonchalantly, "Oh, well, go ahead and get undressed." I was mortified. "Right here? Now? In front of you? I cry foul!" (keep in mind this is the same woman who, two weeks prior, pulled a kid out of me while I pushed in a not-so-modest fashion) I'm used to having the time to situate the paper gown before she gets in there... you know, positioned all casual like, "I SO wear these every day!" So not only were my underwear left exposed (GAH!) but there was whole undressing thing... ick ick ick.

Don't leave me hanging here with my embarassing story... share!

I was IMing with Rbelle briefly yesterday and we got to talking about housing prices. It's really REALLY amazing how different the amount of house you can get for a given price varies from city to city and county to county.

She sent me a link to a picture of a house that was $219,000 and was HUGE. Here, you are lucky if $219,000 would buy you a condo in a decent part of town. It's CRAZY. Yet just about a half hour and one county away, our friends Jen and Jay have a perfectly lovely single family home in a nice neighborhood. (a little out of the way for us though guys! Sorry! ;) We're going to be looking to move in the next few years and I cringe when I think of how much a single family home might cost by then. We have a good bit of equity in our townhouse thanks to the housing market insanity and our crazy, greedy neighbors who keep one upping each other by $10,000 when they put their houses up for sale. But still, it's going to be an expensive upgrade.

I should consider us lucky that we don't live closer to Washington, D.C. A townhouse like ours (End of group, average size, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths) would probably sell for $350,000, maybe $400,000. The bigger, luxury ones can sell for WAY more. I used to proofread real estate ads for that area, and my jaw would drop when I saw some of those prices. A townhouse for $700,000? Who PAYS that? So, yeah, I guess it could be worse.

I'm curious, dear readers, what do houses cost where you live? Post a link to a house for sale in the $200,000 range in your town... (or close by if you don't want to reveal where you live) It'll be interesting to see the contrast from place to place!

...approximately 32 sucks on an Avent #3 or #4 nipple = 1 ounce of formula.

How sad, yet useful that I know that.

Oh! It's lavender-scented baby bath that Ben just dumped all over his bedroom floor! Hooray!

With the crib bumpers back in place Ben sleeps just like a regular human being now and less like a goldfish. (sleep, swim, food food food, sleep, swim, food food food).

But I never saw this NEW development coming. Now he gets up for his morning bottle around 6a.m. goes BACK to sleep. It's 8 and I haven't heard a peep. I don't know what to do with myself! I slept to my heart's content, made some coffee, had some breakfast, did the banking and checked my email. Um... now what? That's my whole morning routine! Oo! Shower! I could shower! Alone! Without peeking out of the curtain every 10 seconds and saying, "Peekaboo!"

Benjamin just toddled across the room with a book in his hand. (Count with Maisy, if anyone cares) He handed it to me and obviously wanted me to read it to him because he got all smiley when I opened it up. Then he helped me turn the pages.

::melting::

Yeah yeah, I know I haven't updated all weekend. I was taking some time away from my computer, as strange as that sounds.

I was not, however, taking time away from obsessing about my kid. I spent part of the weekend trying to catch up with Benjamin's scrapbook. I had been stuck in Month 4 since August. Yesterday, I managed to finish up all of July (July 4th, christening, first swim) and make some headway into August. I really hope I can find the time to continue my picture taking, journaling kid obsession with kids 2,3, and (if I get my way) 4. It's amazing to look at the scrapbook from the very beginning and see how much Ben has grown! I already find myself forgetting certain details so I'm REALLY glad I've been writing it all down and taking pictures like a mad woman. If I can't find the time to do this for Ben's brothers and/or sisters, he'll have to keep it hidden from them because it will practically scream, "Mommy loves him more!" ...especially to my crazy future middle child, I'm sure.

As for those #2, #3, and #4 kids. OhmyGOSH will someone PLEASE help me reign in my hormonal baby obsession? It is completely out of my control and only serves to prove that God screwed with our heads in order to make sure we keep populating the earth. I was away from Benjamin for TWO hours yesterday and ALL I could think about was being pregnant again. It's like this incessant whiny voice in the back of my mind...

...and it gets worse by the day. I thought I was pregnant this past month, and other than being disappointed with messing up a couple of Disney trips, I was TOTALLY okay with it. That scares the living daylights out of me. But it also pretty much cemented for me that I'll give up my resistance to my hormonal baby yearning sometime in the fall. Ideally you should be off the pill for three months before you try. Last time, I went off of it in October and then sort of half-ass didn't NOT try for a few months. Ben was conceived the month BEFORE we had planned on really paying attention to cycles and eggs and yada yada yada. Eeps. More fertile than I thought. We'll see if that holds true the second time around. You are all forbidden from asking me, "Are you pregnant yet?" It will take me awhile to dive headfirst into pregoland again, so don't hold your breath for me to actually turn up pregnant in the fall, or even in the winter. The budget conscious mommy in me is hoping not hit the jackpot again until sometime between May-August, 2006. (read: baby born between February and May... means I can reuse my maternity clothes and if the baby is a boy, most of my baby clothes) I also enjoyed having a spring baby and not having to be my whale-sized pregnant self in the middle of the summer.

And now on to the original subject of this post... I put the crib bumpers back in Ben's crib last night. The mommy safety police say this is a no-no... I think it's less for potential smothering reasons and more because at this age the babies try to use them to stand on. But I don't care because the bumpers serve a purpose I never thought about before it became a problem. They keep the binky IN THE CRIB at night. The only reason we have been having to get up at all anymore is because the precious binky falls through the crib slats. Tom and I do a quick rock, paper, scissors to see who has to go use the plastic toy golf club to retrieve the binky(s) from under the crib. Bumpers back and voila, no problem. Not one trip out of bed for us last night. If anyone has any better suggestions, I'm all ears. But I already considered velcro. ;)

Oh, and last but not least, here is a gratuitous pictures of my cutie pie from last night.

I just found a comment on my last post from one of my high school teachers! I haven't seen her since probably, oh gosh... 1997? Yeah, I was one of those dorks who went back to my school for a couple years for visits. I probably would still be one of those dorks, except that all but one of my favorite teachers have long ago transferred elsewhere.

What a voice from the past to hear from out of the blue! I was so excited!

Mrs. Cawthorne's classroom was one of my "safe places" in high school. I had her all four years and it was in that very classroom during 5th period freshman English class that I decided I wanted to be a writer. I saw an assignment for her journalism class she had written on the chalkboard next to my desk. I remember thinking, "I could do that! That might be fun!" The next year, I sweet-talked my advisor into making me exempt from a physical education credit so I could take the journalism class. And there, I found my place in a high school of over 2,000 students.

I was really quiet then... never said much. I just worked as hard as I could in that class. I wanted nothing more than to earn the praise of Mrs. Cawthorne, who was a notoriously tough and critical teacher. She was one of those teachers students either loved or were completely petrified of. A compliment or an A from her, especially in journalism, was a BIG deal. Did any of you have teachers like that? Teachers who just made you want to REALLY excel?

One day at the end of journalism class, everyone was just sitting around chatting (it was the last class of the day). I remember I was having a horrible day for whatever silly, high schooly reason. I had my head down on my desk and was just waiting for the bell to ring. Amidst all this end-of-the-day chaos, Mrs. Cawthorne pulled a chair up next to me and said, "You know Erin, you are so quiet... but you are such a talented writer."

I remember these words and the way she said them like it was yesterday. I felt like I had really accomplished something by earning a compliment like that from a teacher like her. She could have given me a million dollars that day and I wouldn't have been happier.

I spent the next two years working on the school newspaper and I got over the quiet thing. In the journalism room, I was a different person. I did a lot of growing up in that classroom. And when I graduated, I left high school school a different and more self-assured person because of Mrs. Cawthorne and teachers like her.

Her words stayed with me through four years of college writing classes and five years of a career in copywriting. I heard them in my head everytime I started to feel my confidence falter. I always knew that there was one person (other than my parents) who thought I was talented.

Today I only write for fun. Just this silly little blog and an essay here and there. But even now, when I've taken some time and written something I'm proud of, I hear her words again.

Ya know, I don't even know if she just knew I was having a bad day that day... saw a quiet kid who could write a decent feature article but needed some encouragement... or if she really thought my writing stood out from the rest. Whatever the reason for her words, she made me feel special that day... and it lasted.

I hope she's reading, because I think every teacher deserves to know the impact that they have on their students past and present. Thanks Mrs. Cawthorne for making my day that day... for four years of being a teacher and friend and for inspiring me for always. :)

We are on the third try for this morning's nap. But I am in the room next door to the nursery and things are sounding promising for this latest attempt.

Guess what I caught the boy doing during nap take 2? He was piling up the blankets in the crib into one big mountain in the corner, then standing on them to scale the crib rails and try to escape. Luckily, he's pretty short, so any actual success at this latest endeavor is probably months and months away.

I hope.

What do you do when they start climbing out?! Anyone? Anyone?

Don't laugh, but I told Tom what I would really like for my birthday (March 16th, btw, in case you want to start shopping now) ;) is a tour of Sesame Street. It's filmed in New York, which is only a short train ride away and it would be such a fun daytrip. I'd love to see the Muppet Workshop and the Sesame Street set.

I've been a Sesame Street fan forever and now that I'm watching it again with Ben, I've started getting curious about how they do certain things on the show. I'll bet the people who work there are SO creative and fun to be around. I've even decided that if I had to pick a dream job, working for the Sesame Workshop would be a top choice.

Anyway, so I was doing some research to find out if they offer tours... and I found this among the FAQ's on Sesameworkshop.org:

"Is it possible to see a taping of Sesame Street?
Sesame Street does not have a studio audience, and the set is not able to accommodate guests. "

I killed my dream with one click.

::cry::

I have had a system with baby clothes since Benjamin was born. I take all the ones that fit him and put them in the dresser drawers. All the stuff that doesn't fit yet stays hanging in the closet. (except for coats, sweaters and the fancy stuff like the christening outfit and suit, those all hang in the closet)

So anyway, up until recently, the closet was pretty packed full of clothes I could never envision him being big enough to wear. But today I moved the last of the 6-9 month stuff to the drawers and now there are just five or six little things hanging in the closet, all 12 months and 18 months. I remember getting some of that stuff back before he was born and thinking how HUGE it all seemed. Now, it still doesn't fit him, but I can definitely foresee a time in the very near future when it will.

How weird.

Of course, now that the closet is empty, I really want to fill it back up again. So I see a baby clothes shopping spree in MY very near future. ;)

By the way, for someone like me (crazy, obsessively organized wannabe but not quite), the speed at which babies grow out of clothes is strangely satisfying. I really like being able to take mass quantities of smaller sized clothes and just neatly put them all away, and then move a whole new set up in their place... I need help. :\

I was just checking out Gymboree's new Valentine's Day line. Umm... I clicked on the infant boy category and this was among the selections.



Perhaps to go with the Cherub Cardigan


or Ruched Cherub Pants that are also listed with it.


And I love the description for the pants:
"Love is in the air! A stitched cherub with soft boucle curls aims her arrow at pink and white hearts on the legs of these sweet pants. Ruched ruffles down each side seam are pure girly fun!"

Dude. Gymboree people... you might want to look into this.

I discovered yesterday morning that Benjamin will now hand me things if I hold out my palm and say, "Will you please give that to mommy?" He'll do this with any toy... pretty much whatever he has in his hand at the time... except for one thing.

Cheerios.

I tried to get him to give me a Cheerio yesterday afternoon and the internal conflict in his little baby head almost made it explode. I can practically hear what he's thinking.

"oh oh! I Want to give mommy the Cheerio! She'll make that silly yayyyyy sound and clap! I like that!"

(He reaches his hand with the Cheerio in it toward me)

"But, on the other hand, I really REALLY want to eat this Cheerio."

(Pulls it away)

"Oo! But mommy wants the Cheerio..."

(Starts toward me again)

"Um... but I really want to eat this Cheerio."

(Shoves the Cheerio in his mouth and says, "Mmmmmm!" like he's rubbing it in that I don't get to have the Cheerio, nice.)

Ultimately it never fails, mommy always loses and he always eats the Cheerio. Even if there is a whole pile of perfectly good Cheerios sitting right next to him on the table.

What's IN those things? I'm beginning to think that Cheerios, not formula or binkies, are the REAL baby crack. ;)

I am redoing my hall bathroom. This will be the third attempt to get this bathroom looking a little less like a dump and more like a cute, cozy, pretty little place to take a shower.

Actually I should have never embarked in this project to begin with. When we moved in, it was wallpapered with totally unoffensive wallpaper. I went out and bought rugs and a plain off-white shower curtain. It was lovely and functional.

And then I decided it needed to be cute.

I took down the wallpaper (NEVER again will I try that), painted the room bright white and I went out and bought all this Target bath stuff. The shower curtain is printed all over in light blue handwriting-looking letters "Shower" "Bath" and "Wash." The little hand towel is embroidered with the word "hand," the bath towels say "Bath." I even put matching border up that was printed with a bunch of words too. I had a couple of rubber duckies around. It was all just over the top cute. Until the border started peeling off. Argh. I got so annoyed with it a few months ago that I tore it all down and that's how it has been ever since. Little border remants hanging off here and there. Ick.

So yesterday I decided to fix it once and for all. I went out to Home Depot and got primer and paint and paint trays, rollers, brushes... the works. This time I got semi-gloss paint instead of high-gloss. (learned that lesson the hard way last time). Last night I carefully taped everything off. And a little while ago, I went in to start trimming out with the primer. (which is tinted the same color as the paint I bought). The problem is, under the bathroom lights, the color, which I thought was just a simple, neutral off white, turns out to look like the color of masking tape. Ew. I figured maybe it's just seeing it against the bright white that is making it look so awful, so I'm going to finish priming and live with it for a day or so. May have to go out and get a slightly different color paint though.

And so goes another home improvement project at our house. They never go well and are almost always left unfinished. :( Oh, and as my subject mentions, they are so much more complicated now. Ohmahgah. First of all, the stupid cat is in and out and ends up with paint in his fur. Then there's the simple matter of the baby. He can't be in the bathroom while I paint, so I have to wait for him to nap. BUT, his room is right next to the bathroom, so any hammering, drilling, sanding etc has to wait until he is both awake and Tom is home. SO annoying.

I think I am a little bit high on paint fumes right now. I'm also feeling a little queasy. I'm sorry if this is long, rambly and boring. I just had to vent. Speaking of which, I probably should have vented the bathroom while I painted. :\

... is watching babies check each other out and try to communicate. It's hysterical.
Yesterday we made an appearance (albeit very brief) at my friend Mandy's party and Benjamin's little friend Conner was there. Ben and Conner go way back. (to April) ;)



Anyway, it was very cute. When I took this picture, Conner's mommy, Meghan, was in the background saying, "Uh oh Conner, looks like you're gonna make the internet again!" ;) How did she know?

More teeth!

This makes 8,9, and possibly 10. It also makes for a sleepless baby. The past two nights I've lost count of the times we've been up and down to replace lost binkies and/or rock a screaming Benjamin back to sleep. (this is NOT a regular occurence, which is what made me stick my finger into that dangerous little mouth and go spelunking.)

So if you've noticed the sleep streak counter at a standstill. That's why. It's not that I haven't felt like updating it. Because let me tell you, nothing gives me MORE pleasure than updating that sleep streak counter.

I'm juggling too many plates today. I finished some baby shower invites I promised I'd do for my godmother and so I have to go deliver those. I'm also depending on the boy taking a decent nap sometime between now and 12:30'ish so that I can make an appearance with him at my friend Mandy's holiday party. My tiny tornado is currently whirling through the downstairs at top speed, so I'm optomistic. After that, we've got Tom's family stuff... in-laws, grandparents... dinner. (yum)

I want to try and go to Home Depot today and get some paint and supplies to finally get the hall bath looking halfway normal again. (It's been a pit since I tore the border down months and months ago and haven't had time to finish the project.) Also hoping to talk Tom into going to purchase our bedroom furniture today. It's getting to the point where we have no choice in the matter... three drawers of the dresser are broken and so is the bed. It's time, my friends, it's time. But purchasing bedroom furniture brings with it a host of other things to do... like figuring out how to purchase a new mattress and coordinate it with the delivery of the furniture... and getting new linens for the bigger sized bed AND taking down a border, repainting, getting new blinds and window treatments. (both of which are broken, old and just plain icky) It's overwhelming. And as exciting as new bedroom furniture sounds to me, all that other stuff is not going to be fun.

I'm rambling. This is what I do when I don't get enough sleep. I'm also blogging when I just mentioned all those things I wanted to be doing today. Going to go check on the status of the tornado downstairs... see if the winds are dying down or what.

Tom got home from golf at 1:30 as promised. I forgave him quickly for the whole golfing on New Years incident, hence the missing post. (for those of you who got to
read it)

Some random thoughts from today:

I took a fussy boy outside for some fresh air a little earlier (since it was so weirdly April-like here today) The sunshine did him some good and he walked his Peek-a-Blocks hippo all the way to the end of the block, stopping to lick the sidewalk several times along the way. We also had to stop and feel a tree, pick some grass and eat some dirt. He's so great. ;)

One of the cats piddled on the bed today. He does that when we make him mad or change his routine. I haven't yet figured out what it is we did this time. I'm starting to REALLY not like our cats. They just create more work for me and lately, they don't give much back in return.

I just found out my cousin's wife is pregnant, due in June! I'm so excited! :) One of my cousins on my mom's side is due in February. And my friend Jenn is due in March. Looks like 2005 is setting up to be another baby boom year! (hopefully not for our immediate family)

Tomorrow I'm trying to work a visit to my friend Mandy's holiday open house around one of Tom's family things. Ben wants to see his friend Conner and I want to see Mandy, Conner's mommy, etc. We'll have to see if Ben cooperates with his naps.
:: sigh :: And THEN then then...after tomorrow, the holidays will be over. Can I hear a "hooray?!"

If I sound kind of blah, it's because I am a little. Actually, I'm SERIOUSLY tired. Like, I may not be able to make it up the stairs to bed tired. And it's only 5:30. What's with that?

Uh oh... baby care calls. Happy 2005 everyone! :) :) :)