Congratuations to Rbelle who is the very first winner in the Reader Appreciation Month Trivia Contest! :) Don't forget to enter the second chance contest by posting a comment down on the trivia post! Thanks to everyone for playing! It was a close game for awhile there! Look for Round 2 next Monday! :)

**update** 12:20p.m. - WE HAVE A WINNER! !!!!!!!!!!! (new post coming)

**update**11:30a.m. -- Still NO one has all the right answers! Thanks for all the emails! Keep trying! :)

**update**9:30a.m. -- two emails arrived almost simultaeously! Both had two wrong answers... so far, we have a tie. But if you answer them all correctly YOU could still win! Keep playing!

**update** 8:30 a.m. -- no winner yet, but I can see from the stats that a reader in Herndon, Va and another reader from Easthampton Mass are busy busy busy in the archives! Who will win? The suspense is killing me!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to Reader Appreciation Month! I really hope you all will play!

Below is the first round of questions. The answers are ALL here on the website somewhere. :)

1) What date did I find out I was pregnant? July 15, 2003

2) What day did I first experience morning sickness? August 27, 2003

3) Was my first guess that Ben was a boy or a girl? Girl

4) When was my first doctor's appointment? August 25, ,2003

5) What was my #1 favorite thing about being pregnant in the first trimester? Elastic Pants. (this really was a hard one)

6) What was the name of the baby in the crazy dream I had the night before the ultrasound? Rosie

7) What date did we find out we were having a boy? November 3, 2003

8) What was our first choice girl's name? Madeline

9) What is Benjamin's real first name? Thomas

10) What was the theme for our nursery? Guess How Much I Love You

11) What is one thing we bought for unborn Benjamin during our trip to Disney World in November 03? Hat and onesie that said "Disney World Baby", mouse ears, mickey mouse bear (the famous "Bear" who always appears in Ben's month pics)

12) How many pictures are in our 3-D ultrasound album? 50

13) What was Stage 1 of "Operation Evict Ben Now!"? Eggplant Parm (didn't work)

14) What day of the week did we decide to have the induction? Wednesday

15) What was Benjamin's length and weight when he was born? 19-3/4" and 6 pounds, 15 ounces

Wait! Don't go hunting yet!!! I need to tell you about THE RULES OF PLAY:

When you think you have the answers, G-mail me with the following:

1) Your name (first name or whatever internet name you go by is fine)
2) Your general location
3) How you found my blog and how long you've been reading
4) What keeps you coming back?
5) The answers to the questions (of course!) ;)
6) If you are feeling particularly chatty, feel free to add anything else! :)

The first person to respond with all of the above will be this week's winner! The prize is a copy of Benjamin's Birthday cd (packed full of good music and lovingly created by Benjamin's mommy!)

In addition to your pride, your name on my blog, and a pat on the back from me, here's what you're playing for!


I'll email you if you are the winner so I can get the address information for where I should send your prize.

Even if you aren't the first to email, you could still win! For a second chance, just make sure to post a comment to this post with your name, location, and how you found my blog yada yada and whatever other witty tidbit you'd like to share. One winner will be chosen at random from all public comments received on these trivia posts.

Thanks for playing! :)

Tomorrow is the first round of Benjamin Trivia! The questions could be up and fair game anytime after midnight. (that is, if I happen to wake up with Ben in the middle of the night, I'll go ahead and post them then)

I finished the cd prizes tonight and they are very cool. :) I did this in lieu of laundry and another more-pressing creative project I should be working on for someone. But, it was worth it. They turned out so cute! Each has 26 tracks of music (real music, not 26 songs about how cute my kid is, I promise), a very cute cover, label and track list! Fancy! ;) They are all packaged up and ready to send out to the winners...

I hope you all are feeling competitive! :D

Benjamin has started doing some of the funniest little things the past few weeks! We just sit around and laugh at er.. with him.

He has a few toy phones (one of which is actually one of our old cell phones... yes, my kid has his own cell phone AND TiVo remote control. We start the techy indoctrination early around here). Anyway, just recently he started putting it up to his ear and walking around while babbling into it. He usually starts his conversations with, "Hiiiiii!" which is just crazy adorable. I remember my friend Jen talking about Ryan doing the exact same thing months and months ago while Ben was still a non-walking, non-babbling blob of baby hanging out in his Kick and Play. It sounded so cute... now I have a little phone talker of my own. See exhibit A below. The best is when I'm ON the phone and he goes and gets his and starts carrying on a conversation.


"... so, I'll tell my mommy to call your mommy, mmkay?"


"I can't find Ryan in my phonebook... what does an "R" look like?"

He has another new game he plays where he will yell out "ma!" or "da!" and I'll turn around really suddenly (which sort of startles him) and yell out the opposite. He laughs so hard at this he almost throws up... and I'm SURE he pees a little, but who can tell? I mean, he wears diapers that could hold a river. This exchange can go on for ten, fifteen minutes. He'll wait until I turn around again and then go, "mmma!" Man it's funny... guess you have to see it. I'll work on that. ;)

I have decided to do something extra special here on the blog for the next four weeks leading up to Benjamin's first birthday. Here at Tale of a Baby Human we're going to throw ourselves a little party!

I got copies of my OB records in the mail yesterday so I can take them with me to the new doctor. Even if you AREN'T switching doctors, I think everyone should do this! It's really REALLY interesting. The OB writes up a full account of your labor, delivery and recovery... mine is two pages long! It's typed so it's actually legible, unlike most of the rest of my records.

I learned, for instance that my stage 1 lasted 13 hours... wow, it didn't seem THAT long until I saw it spelled out. Stage 2 lasted an hour and a half and Stage 3 lasted four minutes. Now I can hold it over Benjamin's head every year on his birthday for the rest of his life. "It took me 14-1/2 hours to bring your giant head into this world, you better show some appreciation!" ;)

I also learned that apparently, I was "progressing well" until the epidural fell out. I wasn't aware of progressing at ALL... I felt like I was a big woosy-pants who couldn't even push for 10 seconds at a time.

What else... oh, she used the vacuum due to "late decelarations" (Ben's heartrate slowed down) and maternal exhaustion. (THAT's an understatement!) With the vacuum, he came out "easily" (her words, not mine) with one push.

What follows all that is the most awful description of ripping, tearing, stitching and swelling... Eaaagh. I'll spare you. Apparently, all that was worse than I remember it too. It even says the nurses called her back to my room three hours after I had Ben because they were so concerned. (didn't know that!) There were also issues with the placenta (they sent it off to pathology)... something about blood clots. I want to get some more information on that because it sounds like it's something that could have harmed the pregnancy at some point and that I just got lucky.

Anyway, all very interesting. Maybe not everyone would enjoy reading this stuff about something they lived through but I love all this medical stuff... Discovery Channel junkie and all. ;)

In other news, Benjamin didn't nap AT ALL yesterday. It was AWFUL. I hope this isn't a precursor of things to come. He can't POSSIBLY give up napping altogether... right? Don't answer that.

No news on the labor front for my very very pregnant friend. (even with a full moon last night and snow all over the road)

And the weather report is slowly becoming available for our trip! March 6th (the day we arrive) is going to be 75 and partly cloudy! ::happy dance:: We're going to have so much fun! Hey, the no nap thing might even be a plus, at least for that week!

My baby is such a little boy now! He has started babbling NONSTOP over the last couple weeks and really seems to think he's making sense. He points to everything now and says, "Dat?" This usually means he wants you to name it. His favorite things to point to are lights, which he calls "Ahduns." (don't ask, we don't know) Lights in the car, lights in the kitchen, lights in the bathroom... even the sun is an "ahdun."*

We think he's also trying to say "gorilla." One of his favorite books has a gorilla in it and he will flip to it, point and say, "gah?" Then he laughs hysterically when we say, "Gorilla!! Oo oo oo!" (we make total fools of ourselves for this kid).

He's busy busy busy. Anyone who spends any time with him will tell you he NEVER. STOPS. MOVING. On the rare ocassion, he will still snuggle, which is the sweetest thing ever.

One more month until the big day! :) I can't believe how fast this year has gone!

*His grandmother swears he also says kitty cat. I think she's hearing things.

There isn't any swimming happening here today. Ben fell asleep before we were about to walk out the door. Actually, as I was putting his coat on, he rubbed his eyes and then put his head down on my shoulder. I put him down in the crib and he was out like a light. Of course, now that it's too late to leave, he's in there babbling. NICE.

Today is our swimming day. But there's a problem... you see, THIS is on its way. There are flurries coming down already so I'm trying to decide if we should venture out or not. My worry is that we'll have a fun time swimming and then walk out into a sea of white. Since I do not drive the standard-issue mommy SUV just yet, that would be a problem. :: sigh :: This is the ONE big thing I was looking forward to this week.

Once there is a nice layer of snow on the roads, this will also probably be the day my very pregnant friend's water breaks. LOL. We'll see about that.

Today is Benjamin's 11-month birthday... official pics later, of course. :) But happy monthday to my little man! Only one more month until you are the big 1!

I'm slowly figuring out the keys to cooking with a baby around. The biggest tip I have is to make things you can prepare earlier in the day while the baby is napping and then just pop in the oven at dinnertime.

Some recipes that work great for this are on the Cambells Soup website and the Bisquick website.

Tonight we're having Slow Cooked Pulled Pork Sandwiches.

Last night we had this enchilada casserole.

And tomorrow night we're having this garlic mashed potato beef dish. (ground turkey in our case)

From the Bisquick site we like the hearty chicken pot pie, the salsa chicken fiesta, the cheeseburger pie (spiced up a bit), and the taco bake.

They are all super easy and really good! Go take a look! :)

I hab a code. Yes, I seem to have caught Benjamin's cold. I sneezed ALL day yesterday but felt okay so I assumed it was my allergies. (which are ever-present in one form or another) Then in the span of about an hour last night I went from just the benign sneezing to an oh-my-gosh-where-is-the-Nyquil-I-think-I'm-going-to-die headcold.

GAH.

Although in some ways, it's been helpful as far as taking care of Ben and figuring out what it is he wants. Around ten last night, I lifted my head off the pillow and said to Tom, "If Ben wakes up crying, it's because he's been breathing through his mouth all night and he's REALLY thirsty... by the way, can you PLEASE bring me a drink?"

Blehhhhhh...

Kids are dangerous! Pre-Ben I can't remember the last time I was sick. Now, I'm two-for-two with the colds he has had.

::sniffle::

Some days, it just feels like all my efforts do nothing to move me forward, they only keep me from drowning that day. Today is one of those days. It took four tries to get Ben to go down for his first nap, which thankfully, he is taking right now. I have laundry everywhere and no matter how quickly I fold it and put it away, new laundry keeps appearing. I think we have gnomes.

My downstairs bears all the markings that Tom was home all day yesterday. This means there are glasses, plates, various papers, socks, and baseball hats everywhere.
:: sigh ::

Ben is suddenly and mysteriously waking up in the middle of the night this week and wants a bottle. (as is evidenced by the fact that he downed eight ounces at midnight in the span of about two minutes) Tonight we're trying water instead, because this middle of the night eating crap is SO ten months ago.

I have a baby gift for my cousin that I have been trying to get to the post office to send off for weeks now. (it's coming, I promise!)

And I still haven't managed to get out of my pajamas yet today... OH and Ben is now crying again. So much for that nap. Can I cry too?

Boring day. It's been nice though because Tom is off... that's always a pleasant break for me.

Tom's parents stopped by this morning to play with Ben for a bit and talk about Disney World. While they were here, Tom's dad took a look at our now VERY broken deck door. Prior to last week the problem was just a little water damage (annoying, but just cosmetic at the moment), now it's just completely useless. The doorknob totally broke while I was trying to get outside last week. Tom's dad even took it off and tried to open the door using screwdrivers, wrenches and pliers and STILL no luck. We have NO access to our deck right now. (not that we need to get out there, but still). So we went over to Home Depot this afternoon and ordered the new doors. Yay! I can't wait, they are going to be SO pretty and will go a long way toward making it feel like our first floor is really "finished." (it has taken three and half years!) Now if I could just get the upstairs and basement whipped into shape... of course that'll take lots more time, and lots more $$$. :(

Little by little, we're getting things done around here... in a couple years it'll be all spruced up. Sadly, by then our family will probably have grown out of this house. But, I try to keep in mind that that's why we're upgrading and fixing things in the first place...to be able to sell it easily someday.

What else... let's see, we took Benjamin to the free zoo this afternoon (a.k.a. PetSmart hehehe). He likes looking at the fish, birds and kitty cats. More accurately, he likes banging on the fish tanks, trying to grab the birds and taunting the kitty cats. It's great baby entertainment and I highly recommend it.

The boy seems to be feeling better. Less snot, less crying, more nighttime sleep. Double yay!

Benjamin has a cold. This is actually a big relief since it means he hasn't just decided that sleeping through the night is boring and that he'd rather watch Elmo at midnight everynight. I consider us lucky... this is only his second cold and we emerged from the last one relatively unscathed (read: no ear infection)... so I'm optimistic about this one. I have to be because we are flying in two weeks and if he gets an ear infection... well, that could be a problem. :
SO... for now we are just dosing him up with baby Tylenol/Cold every six hours and cuddling him a LOT. (not like we have a choice, he gets VERY testy when we try to put him down)

My brain is especially scattered today. I have made two separate trips to the grocery store. The first time, I stood in line at the deli counter forever, got all my stuff, made my way to the checkout and realized I left my wallet at home. I tried to do it the second time too, but luckily only made it to the end of the street.

Tom's brother Taylor is over and he and Tom are watching Dodgeball. It's lame. I think I'm off to clean out a closet or two while the little sicky poo is napping.

Hope your weekend is better than mine! Oh! And there's snow coming too! Grrr...

Bad night, little sleep
How many teeth are coming?
Torture for me too!


**update**

Sneezing cranky boy.
Is this a cold on its way?
Tiny nose runs lots.

Well, me made it to the bookstore just in time to see Froggy exiting stage right. Ben pulled a few books off the shelf, made some noise and showed Mandy that I really am not exaggerating when I say my kid is non-stop busy.

After that, I took him over to the cafe and got myself a mocha. (btw, Mandy, they REALLY shouldn't let the bookstore people work in the cafe, they don't know how to make coffee) Benjamin had his sippy cup and a Nutrigrain bar and we people watched for awhile. He was actually relatively docile for a change. A grandfather at the table next to us asked me how old Benjamin was and said his daughter had a six-week old. Apparently, she is discovering what life with no sleep is like (and complaining about it, rightly so). I told him Ben just started sleeping through the night not too long ago. He said he wasn't going to share that information with her, it might send her over the edge. I hear ya, buddy! No one should have to know in advance just how bad the bad mommy days can be... it's just not nice! It helps you cope better if you are totally ignorant.

Now I'm sitting here waiting for the window lady to get here. I hope she doesn't need to get out on the deck, because even after removing the doorknob, I still can't open the door. :~*~

I was hoping to make it to storytime at Barnes and Noble today. (and get myself a mocha) My friend Mandy, who is the event queen of our local Barnes and Noble, gave me the inside scoop on a costumed character reading today. (Froggy!! Ben loves froggies!) Sadly, it starts at 10:30. It is currently 10:14 and Benjamin is SOUND asleep. I even went into his room and made some noise but he didn't budge.

:: sigh ::

What to do what to do. I'm thinking I might go over anyway whenever he wakes up and just get a coffee and wander around. Then again, Ben often makes coffee sipping a less-than-enjoyable experience, so maybe not.

Hum dee dum.

I'm all packed.


Is it time to go yet?


Love,
Benjamin

ohMAHgah... swimming did not go as well as I expected it to. Hence there are no pictures. I spend about half of the session trying to get Benjamin to STOP SCREAMING HIS HEAD OFF. My current operating theory is that he associates getting stripped down to his diaper in a strange place with going to the doctor. Good memory. BAD association.

SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM.

Even after I got him out of the changing room and into the "preshow" holding area. (got Disney on the brain sorry) he kept screaming. Even when he saw 12 other babies who were happily toddling around and giggling. Even when I took him over to watch the Mickey Mouse video they had put on for the babies.

SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM.

Other mommies were looking at me like, "What the hell is wrong with your child?" I kept smiling and saying, "I think he thinks he's going to be getting shots." They thought that was funny... but then the joke wore off and he was still screaming. SO unbelievably uncute.

He continued to cry in the pool for about 10 minutes. Then we blew bubbles and he thought that was pretty funny. Then he started to scream again when I tried to lay him on his back like we were supposed to. Then he got happy again when we played Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and he got dunked under water. Who would've thought THAT part would be the high point for him?

So yeah. No pics. He fell asleep in the car and is passed out in his crib now. I really hope he realizes we're going SWIMMING next week and not to the doctor. Of course, then we'll go to the doctor at the end of March and he'll be all screwed up again.

::sigh::

I worry my kid is going to make me the outcast mommy no one wants to have playdates with. I so don't wanna be the outcast mommy. :(

This morning Benjamin and I start our mommy and me swim class wtih Hannah and Amanda! It's 8:30 and we are both up and dressed and our bag is packed. Can you tell I'm excited? I love love LOVE swimming and I know Benjamin is going to love it too! Not to mention it will be SO nice to do something different!

Interesting background tidbit, for those of you who don't know...Amanda (Hannah's mommy) is actually Tom's high school girlfriend. Heh. It's kinda funny. She started out as my stalker (like ten years ago, when Tom and I first started dating), then was just someone I talked to once in awhile for my personal entertainment, then she got pregnant (AND WAS DUE ON THE SAME DAY AS ME...) and we've actually really become friends over the past year. Kinda twisted, eh? I agree. But it is what it is. Despite the obvious "she dated my husband" initial strike against her, I have found she is a good, kind and a very genuine person... and I like that in a friend. Oh and she also doesn't use the internet EVER... so be assured those kind words were not merely for her benefit. I'm as baffled by the friendship as most others are. But, sometimes God has plans for people in our lives that aren't always easy to understand, so I'm just going with it.


But enough background... almost time for swimming!

I'm taking my camera with me, so check back for our water-fun pictures later! :)

Poop! Poop! Lots of poop! Though I think it may be slowly improving. Seriously though, the boy seems fine with it. Still no fever. Eating and drinking plenty. I'm putting off calling the doctor for three reasons:

1) He really does seem fine AND I think there's toothage, which would probably explain the poopage

2) The doctor has a very thick Filipino accent and I really dread having to talk to him over the phone, especially about poopy and baby gas.

3) Ben has a bruise under his ribs (from ???) and three really big ones on his forehead. I don't want to have to explain that he falls into the coffee table 10 times a day and then get that look of disapproval. LOL.

A funny non-Ben-related story... I've been playing phone tag with this chick from Andersen Windows. We need to have the french doors that lead out to the deck replaced because they are old, there's some water damage and they are just generally crappy looking and of course peer pressure -- everyone else in the neighborhood is doing it. ;) Yada yada.

Anyway, so Andersen chick finally gets me on the phonethis morning. She was asking me some questions about our current doors before she comes out to give us the estimate for the new ones. She says, "What do they look like on the exterior? What color are they? Are the crossbars on the outside too?"

Honestly, I have no idea. That's how infrequently I go out there.

So I go to open the door and the doorknob makes a sort of popping sound and then just keeps turning around and around in my hand. I say, "Umm... the doorknob just broke. I can't get outside to look!" I can totally hear her thinking to herself, "ChaCHING!"

She says, "Oh! Well I guess you really DO need new doors then!"

D'oh.

So much for playing it cool with the salesperson. LOL. Basically yes, we need new doors and pronto. Please, charge me the highest price possible. Thanks!

The Poopcapades continue over here. Why oh why? The diaper genie desperately needs a refill and I can't seem to motivate myself to do it. Stinky. It's just that when you open the bottom of that thing to take out the big diaper sausage links (anyone who uses a diaper genie knows whta I'm talking about), the smell literally hits you in the face. I'm just not in the mood for that yet today.

Ben woke up this morning at 6:30a.m. This is entirely too early. He started acting tired almost immediately and I said to him, "Duh. You're tired. See? You should have just stayed in bed." So now he's in his crib talking to himself. I'm hoping he'll fall back to sleep because I'd sure like to!

Hey, have you checked Benjamin's Disney World countdown lately? (way down at the bottom right) 19 days! We are so excited! Tom sometimes can't sleep at night because he is so looking forward to the character breakfast. ;) Benjamin is all stocked up on shorts and t-shirts, he also has some swimming trunks, sun glasses and a bottle SPF50. Gah! I need to start making my crazy baby checklists and packing soon... some grocery shopping is in order when we get there so I don't have to take more than we need.

::sigh :: It sounds like the boy is not making any sleep progress... argh. I suppose I should go get him and build some block towers and chase him around the coffee table for awhile. My life is so glamorous! ;)
~*~

Because that's what it is in our house today. Benjamin just keeps pooping. I think it's teething related since there is no fever, he's acting normal and he keeps chewing on his hand and drooling everywhere. Whatever the reason, it's gross. And it stinks. BIGTIME.

I realize it is Valentine's Day. Like the Flingers, Tom and I have never done much to celebrate Valentine's Day. It's always seemed like such a cheeseball holiday to me. Our fourth wedding anniversary is in a month and that seems like a better time to get all money-spendy mushy lovey dovey, no? We left the boy with with grandmom and aunt debbie yesterday afternoon and went out for coffee together. I sent him a card at work, that's about the extent of the party here.

How about you?

Just in time for Valentine's Day...


Don't let the innocent look fool you. That shirt speaks more truth than you know! ;) He's just trying to figure out what to get into next!

I was reading this thing that said the show Airline is looking for people traveling with Southwest airlines from BWI airport between January 2005 and August 2005. LOL!

Well, slap me silly and call me Frank! That's us!

For five people in our party, this is like their 10,000th Disney trip. That's sorta interesting, right?

We also have seven people (big crowd!). We're celebrating one birthday, one wedding anniversary AND the first birthday (and first airplane ride and first trip to Disney World) of a REALLY cute baby who already has his own mouse ears. AND we all have dorky matching t-shirts for the trip. That's good tv right there! ;)

Guess it all depends how desperate they are. If they call, I'll pee my pants!

We managed to get ourselves up, dressed and out of the house by 8:30 this morning! Why you ask? What would motivate us to do such a thing on a Saturday?

Stuffed french toast.

I have been seeing this Bob Evans commercial for months now. The one featuring the stuffed french toast with vanilla cream cheese filling. I have obsessed over it. I have had dreams about it.

Today, I tasted it.

And it was heaven.

Ben liked it too. Which brings me to the other point of this post. He was SO good while we ate breakfast. He ate his Cheerios, had some milk, tasted my yummy toast, tasted Tom's blueberry pancakes and read a book. This bodes well for our upcoming trip where there will be MUCH eating out. I also think, while we're there, I'm going to order him all real food and see how we do. Maybe going almost entirely cold turkey on the baby food will help us finally make the transition to table food. We'll see.

Anyway, breakfast was yum. I am stuffed. I am never eating again.
~*~

I just signed Benjamin and myself up for mommy and me swimming starting next week at the kiddie swim school down the road. My friend Amanda is signed up with her baby too... I'm trying to recruit Jen and Ryan but it seems Jen hasn't checked her email yet today. ;) I'm excited! My kid needs to burn off some serious energy and I think he'll love swimming. We may have to sacrifice some naptime to be there, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. :) Now, as long as I don't blind people with my sun-deprived skin, it'll all be good.

... they sure don't make it easy to actually carry on a conversation. I made myself go over to Grace's house last night. (the neighbor who was having the Pamperered Chef/various other things party). When I got to the door, I saw my two-doors down neighbor in the living room and immediately felt better because I knew someone. Yay. She had also brought her three-year-old, Andrew. Andrew had brought his really big Legos and was happy to share with Benjamin. (but not happy to receive a big wet kiss from Benjamin... ack).

Unfortunately, Ben only wanted to play with the blocks for about a quarter of a second, then he was off trying to explore. This particular house happened to be the exact same layout as ours, so I think he felt a little too "at home." The biggest problem is that Grace and her husband don't have any kids yet, so the house was so far from babyproof it wasn't even funny. I spent the whole hour I was there wrangling Ben and keeping him from pulling glass things off of shelves and putting his fingers all over her expensive, glass-filled china cabinet.

I did get to meet my across the street neighbor, who is also my age, and her two-year-old daughter Sophia (Sophie?). GAH. See, that was the other problem. I don't remember much about what people said to me.

Before I knew it, I looked at my watch and it was 8:00... an HOUR past Ben's bedtime. He was starting to deteriote quickly and I realized I hadn't purchased anything yet. I actually really needed a Pampered Chef Apple Slicer to replace one I accidentally launched across the kitchen a few months ago when I was a little to vigorous with my slicing. But the Pampered Chef girl (who is apparently also a wedding makeup person) was off discussing wedding makeup with a girl who is getting married in a couple months. So I found the girl selling the lotions and bought $27 worth. I figure if I end up developing real friendships with any of these girls, the $27 will have been my initial investment. LOL. ;) (kind of like the $16,000 I paid for my freshman year of college at the school where I met Tom... then I transfered to the cheapy state college) ;) More later... but I'm really excited about this! I've been really wanting to meet some more people lately.

I have a couple girlfriends I can't live without, but it's always nice to get to know other people who are in your same stage of life, especially people who live within walking distance. :)

I've learned over the last few years too that while your husband may be your best friend in the world, he doesn't know anything about what it's like to be a girl (at least I hope that's the case!)... he doesn't get all hormonal every month, he doesn't have bad hair days, and, though he may have suffered through pregnancy by proxy, he has NO IDEA what you went through to bring his child into the world... ;)

I'm working on a cd for Benjamin's first birthday. (the slide show proved to be way too much of an undertaking at this point in time, maybe later). I've got almost all my songs gathered. They are all songs I've used in my videos/slideshows over the past year, songs we sing to Ben, or songs I wanted to use in a video/slideshow because they have great lyrics but just never got around to it. I will unveil the whole playlist all in good time... but for now, I need you to help me make a decision about one of the tracks.

Rainbow Connection -- the Sarah McLachlin version or the original Kermit the Frog version? Tom says it just wouldn't be right if I didn't use Kermit... but the Sarah version is really great too!

Thoughts? Opinions? I can't decide!!! ;)

Benjamin's Grandmom a.k.a. Benjamin's Mommy's mommy, is celebrating her 50somethingish birthday today. I'm sure she'll appreciate me sharing that with my blog-reading public. She hasn't picked her official grandma name yet. I think we're waiting on Ben to make the decision. Since he hasn't piped up with any ideas yet, for now, she's just grandmom. Happy birthday grandmom! ;)



Crazy as the odds are, it is also Benjamin's paternal great-grandfather's birthday today. So also a big happy birthday to Great Granddad -- also known as Tom G., version 1.0.
~*~

I've kind of been a recluse since having Benjamin. Oh, who am I kidding? I've always had reclusive tendencies. I'd rather be home than anywhere else. With Ben around though, I'm starting to see the advantages of having a support network of girlfriends with babies. I started talking to my neighbor two doors down last spring, but other than that, I don't know anyone else my age in the neighborhood. The thing is, I KNOW they are out there. And some of them are even stay-at-home-mommies like me.

So this afternoon, I was outside with Benjamin and hippo taking a little walk and Ben spotted a puppy across the street and started pointing and squealing. The puppy's owners were putting flyers on everyone's doors about a Pampered Chef/Lotion/Funky Jewelry happy hour party they are having tomorrow night. We started talking while Ben was kissing the puppy... The girl's name is Grace and she's MY age! She lives just a few doors down and she is SO sweet. One of those totally outgoing people... the kind that do my introverted self a world of good.

She and her husband are going to start trying for a baby this summer and she was telling me about her next door neighbor who has a two-year-old and the people across the street with a 1-1/2 year old and THEIR next door neighbors who are pregnant! They are all going to stop by her party tomorrow night with the babies... this is SO not like me, but I think I'm going to go!

I knew babies were fun, but I had no idea they were so handy to have around! ;)

I solicited recommedations for OB/GYNs earlier and Valerie came through for me with the name of an OB that my current doctor is actually really great friends with! I had considered trying her on my docs recommendation, but wanted to hear what some of her patients had to say first. Anyway, it sounds like people love her, so I'm going to give her a try. My consultation with her is in April. I have so many questions! Like, for instance, "Are you planning on practicing OB for at least the next five years or so?" LOL. Yay. Now I can feel free to get knocked up. (eventually) ;)

I'm working on a slide show for Benjamin's first birthday. (hence the lack of substantial blog content lately)

A year's worth of pictures (just a small selection) and some music... but holy COW my computer is hating me. It's grinding and whirring and growling and spewing blue screens of death at me. I think I may need to rethink the scale of this project. GAH!

Who lives near me and wants to recommend a good female OB? I'm going to my old one soon for my checkup, but she's not an OB anymore in case you missed those posts. :( So I'll be on the hunt after that. I'm looking for someone who has privileges at St. Joe's or GBMC. Anyone? Anyone? Beuller? Bueller? I know there are local people who read my blog and never comment, so now's your chance to delurk.

My cousin had her baby yesterday... it's a boy! I don't know the whole name yet, just that the first name is Travis. My grandmother has more than doubled her total number of greatgrandchildren in 2004-2005! I guess you could say we had our own little family baby boom... :)

In other news, my pregnant friend, the one whose baby shower was canceled and then rescheduled a couple weeks ago... well, she is SUPPOSEDLY a month from her due date and the baby already weighs over 8 pounds and is gaining a pound a week. ACK! She is getting the results of a blood test this afternoon to find out if the his lungs are developed because they want to induce next week! Hooray! More babies!

My other cousin's wife is due in June... so Benjamin is going to have LOTS of new little friends this year!

I have a love/hate relationship with this baby product. (Johnsons and Johnsons Lavender Baby Lotion)

I got about twelve bottles of it at my baby shower. In fact, on the topic of baby showers and baby toiletries. I haven't had to buy ANY of that all year, except for baby shampoo, ONCE. Public Service Announcement: If you are going to a baby shower, add a bottle of baby lotion/shampoo/wash to your gift. It's inexpensive and really helps the mommy out a LOT. End of Public Service Announcement.

Okay, so back to the Lavender stuff. It's really *in* now. All the cool babies use it. Supposedly the scent calms them and helps them sleep. So it was the first bottle I busted out when we brought Benjamin home. The whole house smelled like it for the first few weeks. I stopped using it for awhile because it doesn't really smell like "baby" to me. You know that baby smell... I've since discovered that the secret to the baby smell is regular baby shampoo/Baby Magic baby wash/a clean diaper and those Pampers chamomile-scented wipes. But I digress again...

So I stopped using the Lavender stuff for awhile. But now it's all I have left, so it's back out again. And that smell... oh my GOSH. As soon as I open the bottle it takes me back to the first two weeks with the baby. These are good memories, uh sorta. It reminds me of my teeny tiny baby with his skinny legs (those are no more), wearing those little baby gowns and the teeny tiny newborn diapers.

It also reminds me sleepless nights, complete delerium, and making bottles at all hours.

So I'm torn on the Lavender scented lotion issue. ;) Probably not good since I have six more bottles to use. Also, I'm not convinced it has a calming effect, at least not on MY baby. I had to laugh last night while I was putting it on him while he twisted and turned then finally tried to crawl away while I was still holding onto his legs.

... to beat my head against. I have had a headache for two days. Sooooo out of it. My MIL actually may have correctly diagnosed the cause tonight and I it's something I hadn't even considered. (pill, period, hormone drop) I used to get headaches for that reason all the time, just haven't had one like this in awhile. Anyway, this might be cause to go off my current pill a little earlier than expected, like tomorrow. (No, this doesn't change my plans for baby #2's timing) Blah. Nothing new to write about today other than that... Tom is watching the Superbowl by himself. We watched (he watched) the first quarter at his parents' house, but with Benjamin around, we generally can't stay out past 7:30 or so (and that's REALLY pushing it.) So we are home, I'm in my jammies nursing this headache, he's watching halftime. Paul McCartney is still cute. Fun fun.
~*~

Benjamin: whine whine whine, cry cry cry
Me: Ew! What is WRONG with him?
Tom: I think he just must be tired...
SILENCE
Me: Hey, what time is it?
Tom: 6:15, why?
Me: We forgot to feed him dinner...

I am in a foul mood today. My dress has no bids and there are only three days left. I am going to be out the $160 and that sucks. Talk about flushing good money down the toilet. Lots of other things suck right now too... But my baby is still cute. :)
~*~

My kid loves your goldfish...


A lot...


He especially likes to to dump them all over my floor and pick out the ones he likes best...


This one is attempting to pass inspection...


He really likes eating them while he watches Sesame Street...


But if you could maybe make a box he couldn't dump COMPLETELY out, that'd be great.


Sincerely,

Benjamin's Mommy

No bids yet, but you know how these things go. I posted messages about the auction on all the city boards on The Knot (lots!), so hopefully someone will bite. I hate The Knot. It's incredibly annoying to navigate, so hopefully I will knot (heh, get it?) have to return anytime soon to post another for sale message. A bidding war would be exciting, but I'll settle for my reserve price. There is one person watching it. I'm hoping it's an actual potential bidder and not just the bride or one of my bloggy friends keeping an eye on it out of curiousity. I'd be all excited over nuthin'.

Sorry if I have been blog stalking you today. ::blush:: Benjamin has been napping like crazy for some reason and I've been bored out of my mind. I exhausted all the sales over at Gymboree and I think Ben has a good headstart on his whole 18-24-month wardrobe now. (Great clothes cheap cheap cheap, people! I know Rachael agrees with me, as do some of my other readers.) Oh and Jen, the monkey sweater is down to $14.99! THey have it up to 24 months, so it would still fit Ryan! :)

Okay, that's all... another Ben nap has just begun, so more blog stalking is in order. Bored bored bored...

Know any brides?
Are you in an upcoming wedding?
Planning a wedding?
Want to pretend you are planning a wedding?
Searching for that perfect prom dress?
Have a little girl who likes to play really fancy dress up?
Husband like to cross dress?
Debutant ball coming up?
Need an expensive dust rag?
Collect purple clothing?


Whatever the occasion, I have the dress for YOU. Visit my Ebay auction for this lovely bridesmaids dress. It's brand new, size 6, unaltered, still has the tags on it. There are four days left on the auction so you've got some time to think it over. C'mon bid, you know you want to. My baby needs summer clothes and you totally need this dress. ;)

This morning, I documented how breakfast has been going (or not going as the case may be) around here lately... it's a biggie file (8.5MB) so if you decide to watch, if you wouldn't mind right clicking and saving as, my bandwidth would certainly thank you. :)

Breakfast with Benjamin

I finally tracked down my Richard Scarry book. For those who care, it turned out to be called "Busiest People Ever." I thought it was something else because I recognized a title in someone's comment on my earlier post, but no, it's definitely Busiest People Ever and I found a nearly new copy on half.com for like three bucks. :) Yay! Thank you all for sharing your favorites! Some of those were favorites of ours too. Erin W., Tom says he can't read the "The Giving Tree" without tearing up. ;) How cute is that?

In other news, I let Ben feed himself yogurt tonight with a spoon. It was messy. And as I was telling RBelle on IM a little earlier, I've decided we either need a splat mat or a dog. The dog is out of the question. I don't need one more thing to clean up after, even if it's cleaning up after Ben. So splat mat it is. Maybe that will be tomorrow's expedition. Today, after a quick grocery store run, I took Ben to the aquarium shop next door to get an algae eater for our disgusting fish tank. Talk about free fun! He LOVED seeing the fishtanks and I think he definitely knows the word "fish" now after seeing a million of them and hearing me say it over and over again. ;) You can't really so much SEE the fish in OUR nasty fishtank, so this was really a first for him. ;)
~*~

It's a book, have you heard of it?

Tom loved it when he was little. I just picked it up from half.com. This has sparked the inspiration to collect all of our favorite childhood books. I also just got "A Chocolate Moose for Dinner", one of Tom's absolute favorites. It actually appears in several family pictures of his with him reading it to his younger brother(s). But we can't have that original copy because they actually fight over it. (apparently, it's THAT good... uh, yeah)

For me? I'm looking for a Richard Scarry book that I THINK was called Busy Town, Busy People. (which is how this all started, we got to arguing over which book was which). Busy Town, Busy People appears to be a hard-to-find one. :\

What are your favorite books from when you were little? I'm still trying to remember some of my other favorites, so maybe you'll help spark my memory. :)
~*~

OHMAHGAH... my kid is SINGING along with Elmo's World. Elmo just came on introducing it with his "lalalalalalala Elmo's woooooooooorld" song and Ben looked up and started SINGING (there was definitely an attempt at a discernible tune) "La la la la!" That seals it. The kid's a genius. ;) Or maybe he's just seen too much tv. Hrm.

My cousin is a III. His wife is pregnant and if they have a boy, she does not under any circumstances want him to be a IV. I think her reason is that she just plain doesn't like the name. I'll remain neutral on that topic. My aunt and uncle are flipping as it seems the legacy is about to end abruptly with this new generation.

At any rate, I can sympathize. And my in-laws probably can too. My husband isn't TECHNICALLY a III. In his family, they switch around the middle names, so they don't have that roman numeral at the end. Nevertheless, my husband is Thomas, his father is Thomas and his grandfather is Thomas. I actually really, really like the name Thomas and it probably would have been near the top of my list if there weren't already three of them running around at every family event. I also don't particularly like Tommy as a child's name, but whatever. Blah blah blah, there are lots of whiny, hormononal posts about it if you feel like digging through the 2003 archives. I was all, "I'm NOT naming my kid Thomas!" and they were all, "But you have to!" and I was all, "No way! And by the way, I'm hungry, give me food so I can stuff my hungry pregnant face please!"

Tom (the husband version) and I decided well before we even found out we were having a boy that we would name him Thomas Benjamin and that he'd go by Benjamin. It was a beautiful example of marital compromise. Hubby had his namesake, and I got to give my child his own name. The fam wasn't happy at first. We were all, "We're naming him Thomas Benjamin, but we'll call him Benjamin." And they were all, "We'll call him Tommy anyway." And I was all, "You better not. And anyway, he'll correct you when he's old enough to talk. And by the way, are you going to eat that 'Cause I'll take it."

It was a sore subject for a bit.

But then we all got to meet him.

And it suddenly didn't matter any more. He was everyone's little Thomas Benjamin. Tommy Ben. Benjamin. Ben. Benjamin Bunny. TeeBeeGee. He has lots of nicknames. And guess what? Everyone calls him Ben or Benjamin most of the time. Sometimes Tommy Ben gets thrown around and I actually really think it's cute. I also love that he has his daddy's name. I never thought that would matter to me, but now I think it's pretty cool. It's especially cool when all four of the TG's are in a picture together... it feels very significant, like we are really a part of something kinda neato.

I don't know if my cousin, his wife or my aunt and uncle read my blog much, if ever. But if they do... might I suggest compromising? And keep in mind that no matter what the name ends up being, once you see his/her face, it won't matter, that's who they are and you won't be able to imagine them being anyone else. And hey, maybe it will be a girl after all and it won't be an issue until next time. :)

Just my two cents.

...because this is a mommy blog and everyone knows mommies don't have time to watch the news.

But seriously I couldn't let this go without comment.

...about the Iraqi militants trying to pass off an action figure for an American soldier... "Liam Cusack, the marketing coordinator for Dragon Models USA, said the figure pictured on the Web site is believed to be "Special Ops Cody," a military action figure the company manufactured in late 2003." I had to check out the picture when I heard this on the news... Um... how STUPID do they think we are? This is just funny! I just looked at it again and noticed they even have a toy gun pointed at him.

Not much happening here today. Jen inspired me to clean one of my bathrooms. So I did that while Ben napped. It's all sparkly fresh now. Hooray.

After that, Ben and I headed off to the mall. I wanted to check out the sale at Gymboree. They had a lot of great stuff but it's nearly impossible to REALLY shop with Ben and the store was kind of crowded. Ironically, even though it's a BABY clothes store, it's impossible to navigate with a stroller. And if there are nine or ten OTHER strollers in there, forget about it. So we wandered around the mall for awhile, leaving a trail of Cheerios and goldfish. We talked to some old people, waved to some other babies, and watched the fountains until it was time to come home for lunch. :)

I'm off to go retrieve Ben from the crib... failed after-lunch nap attempt.
~*~