The Wilsons

Though the journey seems long...

2012-01-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

I had to laugh when my faithful TomTom told me that it was going to take nearly 1.2 million hours to make an 85 yard trip. Sometimes I have days that feel like this though, so I couldn't blame it.

It's a... GIRL!

2012-01-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

In case you're not on facebook, or haven't heard through the grapevine yesterday, you read right, we're having a little GIRL!

Our ultrasound was yesterday and it took FOREVER. Maybe Bennett's took that long and I just don't remember, or maybe our tech this time was less experienced and it took her longer to get everything she needed. Or maybe, as Justin seemed to think, she spent some of the time just "looking around for fun." I'm not sure what it was, but we were there for more than an hour. I might post a cute profile picture at some point, but the pictures we got this time around weren't great, and they don't do a 3D one for free there either (we were spoiled with Bennett, I guess). So most of the pictures of our sweet little one's face look like... well, to be honest, they look like this:

Thank heavens we're pretty confident she'll outgrow that stage.

To make an already stellar day even better, we were finally able to pick up a rug we had ordered for our front room. We have been wanting a rug for the hardwood floors ever since we moved. I wanted one for pretty-ness sake, and Justin wanted one because when we moved here and he realized he couldn't wrestle with Bennett on the floor down here, he was pretty devastated. I do wish it was one foot wider, but hey, we got it as a remnant and for what we were willing to pay for a rug right now, it will be perfect.

The sun never came out today, so no Pottery Barn-worthy photographs. Ok, let's be honest, this would never be in a PB catalog, but we like it anyway. And with our scrimping on the rug, I've saved enough to get a really lovely ottoman. If I can ever find one I like (I've been looking for 5 months and haven't settled on anything yet that really fits this small space). Feel free to send any ottoman ideas my way.

It's that time again!

2012-01-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

So I'm 17 weeks along. We had a change in insurance, so I switched doctors. I was actually glad to do it, because I didn't click at all with the practice I was going to originally. I went to the new doctor today, and I am so glad I switched. He is fantastic! Well, I shouldn't judge too quickly, since it's easy to be good at rubbing that little doppler-heartbeat-finder on someone's stomach and telling them to come back in 4 weeks. We'll see what happens when he's actually delivering the baby. But I have high hopes!

Another pleasant surprise of my first visit was that the new doctor likes to do the second ultrasound closer to 18 weeks than 20. So instead of being able to find out if this babe is a he-babe or a she-babe on the 24th of this month, we're looking at sometime next week. So ladies and gentlemen, it's time to get thinking and cast your votes (to the left side, there). Before you vote for a girl, I'll tell you we think it's a boy. Before you vote for a boy, I will tell you that Bennett has been telling us he's going to have a little sister for about 9 months now (yes, before we were pregnant at all).

I feel like I probably should have a lot more to say about being pregnant at this point. I mean, I'm almost halfway done, for heaven's sake! But seriously nothing has happened. I have NO symptoms. No cravings, aversions, morning/evening sickness, or super-sensitive sense of smell. Nothing. I'm only barely starting to feel this baby move, and only occasionally at that! Truly there is nothing to report. I suppose that means the second half of my pregnancy is bound to be entirely too exciting, but we'll see. I'm really just hoping to avoid the crazy swelling this time around.

What swelling, you ask?

(my ankles/feet September 2009)

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Early Christmas

2011-12-21T07:43:00.001-07:00

Since we're heading to Utah tomorrow, we wanted to do our own little family Christmas this morning. Sadly, we'll have to spend tonight taking down our Christmas tree so it doesn't dry up and catch on fire while we're gone!

Bennett was thrilled when we told him we'd get to open presents this morning. He surprised me by making sure that Justin opened his present first (Bennett helped me wrap it and I'm really surprised he didn't tell Justin what it was before he opened it!), even though he was so excited that there were presents for him. I took a few videos, but figured I'd just post this one for my family mostly. My mom made Bennett this darling quilt & matching pillowcase and he was so happy to have it!

We probably won't be mailing Christmas cards this year, so do be offended if you don't get one. I meant to get on it a lot sooner, and even got some cards printed, but then got too busy with the rest of life that I didn't get addresses and didn't have time to write our little newsletter thing til yesterday. Alas. There's always next year! So if you read this blog, know I probably wanted to send you a card, and here's one for your viewing pleasure!

A trip to NY

2011-12-16T13:00:00.006-07:00

This last week, Bennett and I had the chance to trek up to NY to surprise Melissa Maughan as she returned from her mission. The trip had been in the works for months & I did have to tell her some flat-out lies so she wouldn't suspect my trip. Poor Sharon (Melissa's mom) and Eric (Melissa's brother) and I spent a few months stressing about not ruining my surprise, or Eric's surprise (he flew out to Cleveland from BYU during finals to surprise Melissa when her family picked her up.). I'm sad my trip is over, but so glad I don't have to keep that trip to myself anymore! It was almost impossible!

Anyway, I didn't take many pictures of Melissa and Eric and I, but I did get a couple. For those of you who don't know, I grew up with these two & I consider them siblings. My family moved to NY when I was two (and Eric was two) and our families have been best friends ever since. I've known Melissa since she was born (even though I was too young to remember her actually being born, of course). Love these two. Welcome home Melissa!

So besides seeing Melissa, I also got to spend time with my wonderful parents and sister! I had such a good time with them, and Bennett was in absolute heaven, of course. We got home on Wednesday night, and all day Thursday, he kept asking me to "see Grandma and Grandpa a minute" and "drive a car downstairs." It broke my heart. He sure did love the time we spent there.

The "drive a car downstairs" is a reference to my parents basement which is basically a mecca of toys. One specific toy won Bennett's heart completely. In fact, I can't believe I didn't take a picture of him driving it. But I DO have a movie of him parting with it.

Granted, this only shows about 2 seconds of crying, but the crying part usually lasted much longer. Every meal time, every errand that had to be run, every person we had to visit, (not to mention when we actually had to *gasp* leave and go back to our house) brought on the big-time waterworks. He was heartbroken every minute he spent away from the Cozy Coupe. And it was the first thing he would ask for every morning and after every nap. The only thing we could come up with that made the parting more bearable was for Bennett to give the car a hug and a kiss.

My dad took some pictures of Bennett driving the Cozy Coupe one night and printed one of them out for Bennett to keep. Bennett kept it on the desk right by his crib, and every time he woke up, he would tell me, "Look! Grandpa gave a present to Bennett! Drive a car!" The picture alone was a heavenly reminder of the best toy ever made. (psst. Mom or Dad. Want to send me those pictures?).

Anyway, I really didn't take enough pictures. I don't have any of me or Bennett with my sister or my mom. Sad. But I do have one of my dad with Bennett.

I was really grateful to be able to take this trip up to NY. I'm so glad to have my family close enough to get to them in an hour on a plane (with $35 tickets, even!). We'll be spending Christmas in Utah this year, but it was fun to be able to have a little Christmas fun with my family, too! We decorated the tree and made Worthen Peanut Butter Fudge--a Christmas tradition. I get Christmas fun with both families this year. Lucky me!

Love you Mom & Dad & Lauren!

Oh yeah... one more thing! Bennett dancing along to the "Just Dance" video for the Wii. We had some good times playing this game. Of course, this movie culminates with him getting back in the Cozy Coupe. Can't stay away too long!

Here's a collection of things for you

2011-11-30T18:14:00.010-07:00

There is no order. Or necessarily any captions telling you what's what, but this is all a collection of stuff we've done.

Bennett's second birthday

(Justin made him this car mat. It is of our neighborhood)

(Bennett's line of birthday cars. He always makes these perfect little lines. Sort of OCD. Sort of cute, too.)

Fire Museum of Maryland

"Parking Day"-- a national event to take over a parking space and turn it into green space. It's to support the idea that green space & urban space can coexist. This day was BEAUTIFUL, and Justin's work took over this parking space & turned it into a place to sit & eat, and a little dog park, too.)

Bennett's birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa Brooksby's house

Lake George (30 mins north of my house in NY)

This is good for now. Phew. More to come.

Halloween sneak peek

2011-11-03T11:51:00.002-06:00

Bennett was Max from "Where the Wild Things Are" this year for Halloween. I'll post more pictures soon, but my Mom sent me the following picture and I just had to post it. She made the "Max suit" from me when I was almost 2. It's held up pretty well for being 23 years old and having gone through 4 kids already! 5, now that Bennett has worn it!

Baltimore Zoo

2011-10-26T11:08:00.008-06:00

So you would think that a lack of blogging would indicate that we've done nothing. On the contrary, we have been doing so much I haven't been able to muster the courage to tackle the blogging on which I'm now behind (you're welcome for the correct grammar).

So, in the past 3 months that we have lived here, we have made 2 trips to the zoo, a trip to the Science Center, 2 aquarium visits, celebrated Bennett's second birthday, gone to a Fire Museum (a museum about fire-fighting, not actual fire, as the name would lead you to believe), taken a trip to NY, and about a million other things that might usually be blog-worthy, but let's just face it: I'm not going to get to them here. But I did want to at least start. So over the next few days (ok, probably weeks), I will give you, in no particular order, the events of the last 3 months.

Starting with...THE ZOO!

Do not be fooled. The zoo is not a place for smiles. This is before we saw any actual animals.

Bennett spent our entire "fun trip to the zoo!" clutching desparately to me, head buried in my shoulder, cowering in fear and refusing to so much as look at any of the animals. The only parts he actually enjoyed (with the exception of one exhibit, which I'll show at the end), were the things that didn't really involve animals at all, such as this thing you could spin that talked about how zebra camouflage works.

Even the fake animals were terrifying.

All new experiences and fake animals had to be approached with extreme caution. Bennett did not appreciate me putting him on this turtle for a "cute photo-op."

He's only standing here and smiling because I told him he had to. He was terrified of this bird's nest.

Ditto here.

Bennett talked about two things after we got home from the zoo that day. His favorite exhibit (coming up-- just wait), and the giraffe. He insisted that the giraffe went "neigh" (like a horse), and I can't much fault him for this misconception considering he refused to actually look at the giraffe while we were at the zoo.

Now, his favorite exhibit.

Finally, a calm face.

There. Can you see it?

You got it. The wildly exotic duck.

Other good parts of the zoo:

sticking your head through the holes where you look like an animal

going through the chains that kept the ducks from escaping

By fat the WORST part (among the many bad parts) of the zoo:

Oh the horror!

Don't you love taking your kid to do something "so fun" and having it completely backfire?

Juggling

2011-09-29T09:28:00.002-06:00

I don't usually post random videos, but I saw this on my sister-in-law, Brighton's blog and all I could think was NO.WAY. I could never do that. And not just because we don't have 5 basketballs.

Also these new dynamic views for Blogger are amazing. And quite overdue. I'm actually always surprised how outdated blogger has seemed, especially since Google is the one who's in charge and they're usually pretty cutting edge. I'm totally switching my blog over (to the Magazine view, if you're curious) as soon as I can figure out how to add my own header to the new view.

2011-09-16T13:36:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures from the wedding. Ignore the watermarks. I can't pay for all these prints!

How come I can't ever get him to look at the camera?!

I just think this one is so cute! Not a pose I would love normally, but I just think it fits them and they look so happy in it haha.

And a couple from the open house for good measure:

Hopefully I'll get a few more from the open house soon! I have a feeling there will be some more good ones.

Blessing

2011-09-15T12:18:00.004-06:00

So a quick funny story. Yesterday, I decided I was finally going to go through the last 2 boxes from our move which have been hiding in our bedroom while I made the rest of the house pretty. I was sitting on our bed picking out a podcast to listen to while I cleaned. Bennett was jumping on my back trying to wrestle. Suddenly, he stopped and put his hands on my head and said, "Jesus Christ, Amen!" which is the only part he knows to prayers so far. I thought it was so strange that he would put his hands on my head & say a "prayer." So, I asked him if he was giving me a blessing (I'll put a little more info on blessings at the bottom for anyone who's not familiar with the role they play in our Church), and he said, "YEAH!" I was so baffled because we haven't really taught him about blessings at all, and I couldn't think of a time when he had even seen one! So I asked him where he learned about blessings and he said "Grandpa. Brett. Blessing." Then I remembered that the morning that Brett & Brighton left after their open house in NY this past weekend, my Dad gave my brother a father's blessing for the start of the school year. Bennett had seen at least part of it and I guess it really stuck with him! Anyway, all of you with small children out there, just know that they are watching you. All the time. Don't pick your nose.

More on blessings. I found the following in a talk given by one of the Apostles in our Church, Elder Dallin H. Oaks. The whole talk can be found here, but here is a quote from the talk that summarizes what blessings are.

"In a priesthood blessing a servant of the Lord exercises the priesthood, as moved upon by the Holy Ghost, to call upon the powers of heaven for the benefit of the person being blessed. Such blessings are conferred by holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood, which has the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the Church (see D&C 107:18, 67).

There are many kinds of priesthood blessings. As I give various examples, please remember that priesthood blessings are available for all who need them, but they are only given on request.
Blessings for the healing of the sick are preceded by anointing with oil, as the scriptures direct (see James 5:14–15; Mark 6:13; D&C 24:13–14; D&C 42:43–48; D&C 66:9). Patriarchal blessings are conferred by an ordained patriarch.
Persons desiring guidance in an important decision can receive a priesthood blessing. Persons who need extra spiritual power to overcome a personal challenge can receive a blessing. Expectant mothers can be blessed before they give birth. Many LDS families remember a sacred occasion where a worthy father gave a priesthood blessing to a son or daughter who was about to be married. Priesthood blessings are often requested from fathers before children leave home for other purposes, such as school, service in the military, or a long trip.
Newly called missionaries often request a father’s blessing before they depart. I have a friend who is blind. He remembers how his father blessed him that despite his physical disability he would be able to complete the mission, be successful in his calling, and develop a great love for the people. I am a witness to the fulfillment of that blessing in the life of a wonderful Latter-day Saint.
Blessings given in circumstances such as I have just described are sometimes called blessings of comfort or counsel. They are usually given by fathers or husbands or other elders in the family. They can be recorded and kept in family records for the personal spiritual guidance of the persons blessed."

Brett & Brighton

2011-09-08T08:27:00.003-06:00

My brother got married this last weekend! They are now officially reigning tongue-twister champs Brett & Brighton Brooksby! Can't wait for their kids Bridgette and Brent and Brittany and Brock and so forth... I'll give them a little time, though, I guess : )

All the pretty little pillows

2011-09-07T13:00:00.004-06:00

Things we still have to get: new lamps, rug, ottoman, possibly a small tablecloth for the weird end table we have to use right now (part of the furnishings here that we can't change...). BUT! It's looking better already with just the new couches and pillows (I have two of the yellow flower pillow, but I just wanted to show them all on one couch for this picture, so I ditched the second one). Wall decor and all that jazz is still to come!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2011-09-07T11:58:00.004-06:00

You might wash our house away. Amazingly, this is not from the hurricane. This is just a fun little rain storm we are having today! The hurricane did absolutely nothing at our place (though several people we know were without power for a few days, including Justin's work-- he got 4 days off! 1 of which we had already planned to take off to go to Portland for my brother's wedding.).

Stairway down into our parking lot

Walkway that goes by our back door

Public path behind our back walkway (you can't even see the path! It's a river!)

Our (usually) very little stream right next to our townhomes

A second little river forming at the base of the trees!

A picture of what this stream looks like usually!

Yum

2011-08-21T19:18:00.003-06:00

These pictures tell you exactly how yummy my chocolate chip cookies are. And just how sad you are that you haven't moved to Balitmore yet so you could have some, too.

I haven't forgotten my blog

2011-08-16T19:00:00.001-06:00

Here. Have a picture. Good bloggie.

Why we love Baltimore

2011-08-05T12:23:00.011-06:00

This post is eternally long. But if you care, you'll read it, and if you don't, oh well!

When we got to our new house, it was partially furnished. This was both great and terrible. Great because when we had to live here for 6 days without our stuff, we at least had something to sit on and a few dishes to eat off of. Terrible because the owners (and previous occupants) had two large dogs which had shed all over the area rug, all the upstairs carpeting and all the furniture. And I am allergic to dogs. Additionally, the furnishings included chairs that looked like this:

That's right, get a good look at that fabric.

Yikes.

Well, it's taken until now to get rid of most of the furnishings that we didn't need (the landlord just picked up the two ugly chairs), so it's looking a little less crowded and a little easier on the eyes now that all we have in here is furniture that we want/need. So far they have removed:

dishes, cups, pots and pans, cookie sheets, a crock pot, a rice cooker, silverware, a sideboard, a bizarre two-tiered round table of some sort, a vaccuum, a very large and dog hair-covered area rug, and two ugly lamps.

The front room used to look like this (sorry for the junky cell phone picture):

Blech.

So I decided I'd celebrate by taking a couple pictures, which I know at least some of you have been dying to see.

Dining Room

You can't really tell in this picture, but the walls are a light blue, which is sort of a nice change from white, though blue wouldn't have been my first choice. And yes, the chairs all all mix-matched. The house was furnished with 4 dining chairs, including the two very tall ones and two like the one that Bennett's high chair is on. All have woven seats and are particularly uncomfortable. Since I took this picture, we have gotten two more chairs like the one that's second from the left. Thank you craigslist. We are hoping to get another set of 3 from craigslist for cheap (sets of 3 don't sell for much) and then either paint or stain them all to match each other. And we'll get rid of the original 4. Also, yes, that very small thing on the wall that's almost next to the ceiling is the only light in this room. Hence the floor lamp in the corner. Anyway, moving on.

The kitchen

(fridge is to the left of this picture) Yep, that's all our counter space. It is a little inconvenient, but I'm going to get some burner covers for the stove so I have a little more space for prep. Other than the lack of counter space, this may sound weird, but I LOVE having a small kitchen. We got rid of so many excess utensils and appliances because we knew we'd be short on space and now what we have left is all we really need. Plus, everything is really close by when you need it. Don't mind all the stuff out on the counters, either. I am in the middle of cleaning EVERYTHING in our kitchen, because we have had a MAJOR ant problem since we moved in (exterminator comes Tuesday- please pray for us that it works! In the meantime, pluses are I'm learning a lot about ants, and also, our kitchen gets completely cleaned like 6 times a day, so it is super clean.)

As you walk in
Stairs on your left, and our computer, which I actually love having in the front room, as opposed to having an "office." Makes skyping so much easier (Bennett can still play while we all chat) and even if Justin or I have to do something on the computer, we can still be in the same room as the other person.

The front room from the front door

You can get a good idea of how this room is laid out by connecting the piano in this picture with the picture above. That couch is another part of the furnished apartment. We agreed to get new couches when we moved, so as soon as we can settle on a pair, that baby's OUT OF HERE. And thank heavens, because it's also not my fave. The TV and the thing that runs across the wall (what would you call it?) are permanent fixtures. They're not my favorite either, but it did save us from having to buy our own TV right now, and I can live with that across-the-wall thing.

Other strange quirks about this house. You may have noticed some interesting color schemes. The stairs have blue carpet, but orange and greenish paint work. The closet door is green and yellow, and the walls are yellow and blue. The front door (on the inside) is also blue, and the windowsills are gray, along with the radiators. The dining room walls are blue and the kitchen has a very strange wallpaper. We have major big time ant problems, and instead of spiders, we have crickets (it's ok, think Jimminy Cricket and you won't be scared!).

But the pitfalls of this place are no match for the benefits. We have a huge courtyard out front in a city where hardly anyone even has a yard. Also this courtyard is professionally maintained, so no yardwork!

-We have a designated parking space (ahhh the luxury, I know! But most people in the city, again, don't.)

-We have 1 1/2 baths!

-It's a clean house.

-We have a washer and dryer in our house.

-It's just the right size for what we need.

-The rooms are enormous (really, our bedroom is as big as the whole front room! It's awesome)

-Our neighbors couldn't be more friendly, and since these townhomes are all owned, not rented, everyone really knows each other here.

-We are in Roland Park, and this part of town is filled with green space, huge & beautiful single-family homes (many Johns Hopkins professors live here), and there are walking paths built in through the forest all through Roland Park.

-The library is literally 2 blocks away.

-We live right across the street from a shopping plaza that has a farmers market every tuesday night (the plaza also has offices and our new pediatrician is there too).

-Since we are on the far end of the complex from the road, it is SO quiet- we haven't heard anything from the outside besides soothing nature sounds (for real!)

-Our walls are (get this!) a FOOT thick of plaster and brick. We don't hear ANYTHING from the neighbors. Such a change from Logan.

-The storage space is amazing. I'll have to take a good picture of my closet soon, but for now, I can show you this:

This is from before we moved in. You can see about half of the clothes rod, and look at all that shelving. It's amazing. And I don't even have to share, because Justin has his own closet. Yep, two closets in our room!

-The landlords are fantastic. We've had this ant problem right? Well, they told us to keep track of how much we spend on supplies trying to get rid of the ants til the exterminator comes so they can reimburse us. The third day we were here, they bought us a brand hew 10,000 btu window unit to replace the 6,000 btu one they had in the front room just to "make sure we were comfortable." The 6000 one was working just fine! It is just such a change from our previous landlords who were trying to put forth the least amount of effort they could and still get people to rent from them. Not to mention trying to nickel and dime you for every little thing (example: our cleaning list for check out was a page long, single spaced. It went so far as to tell us specialty cleaning chemicals from a local cleaning store that we should purchase to get the house clean enough. Every black mark on the walls/in the closests/anywhere else in the house must be removed entirely. It took 10 people 7 hours to clean the apartment, and it's not like we are filthy people. RIDICULOUS.). Anyway, needless to say, I'm grateful for attentive landlords. They've even offered to let us plant a garden at their house next year.

Well, as you can see, I could go on and on. We really love it here. REALLY love it. I love the variety of people and backgrounds. I love that Bennett gets so much attention for being the only kid in a sea of (mostly) adults. I love that it's still easy to find kids to play with, even when there aren't tons of them. I love that it is green here! I love the thunder storms. I love the ward. I love that we're 15 minutes from downtown, and aquarium, multiple science museums, and beautiful old architecture. I love that we're 30 minutes from the airport. I love that I'm only 6 hours (driving) from my family, who I've spent 7 years away from. I love that the Church is foreign to most people here, and that I can share bits and pieces about the Gospel with others all the time.

One final word on why I love it here. Most people know that I am not a huge fan of Utah. But most people don't really know the main reason. There are several, but the main one is this.

When I first moved to Utah 7 years ago, one of the very first things I noticed was the air of competition. At first, I thought, eh, we're all college freshman, of course all the girls are competing for the same boys, so everyone's going to try to have the biggest, the best, the fanciest name brands, the best hobbies, the prettiest hair, etc. I got lucky (ok, blessed) with 5 great roommates who never really cared about any of that (and were all at the same time beautiful in every possible way), and that's probably the only thing that kept me sane as time wore on.

Months went by, and then years went by, and I noticed nothing changed. Even as people got married, the competitive feeling was still there. It wasn't for years that I finally realized that the competition didn't stem from trying to get the cutest boy, but that it stemmed from the fact that because so many of us were LDS, from similar backgrounds, with similar interests and life goals, with similar ideas about the "right" way to live, we were all just too... similar. Especially since the wards are so small that basically everyone you know (since your neighbors are also your ward members)- are in the same basic socio-economic status. In order to stand out or be different, you had to have something better- better clothes, better taste, better home decor, better vacations, a better wedding, a better blog, better pant size, a better birthday party for your kids.... you can fill in the blanks.

Maybe I'm the only one who ever noticed this, but it drove me absolutely crazy. It was completely different from where I was brought up. I had never experienced so much comparison! And it was a little rough on my self-esteem, I'm not going to lie. It made a lot of people seem so superficial, and sadly, the majority of the relationships I had with people in Utah were just that- so superficial. There were very few people who I actually had genuine friendships with. Who didn't care if I had makeup on and who wouldn't judge me (not even just in their head) if I had gained 5 pounds or looked terrible pregnant (I did-- also not great in a land of ever-pregnant young women who look great pregnant and snap back to a size 2 just minutes after giving birth).

Now listen, in my head, I know none of that stuff matters. And I know it's pride if it's looking down on people, or looking up at people and down on yourself. So obviously, that's a problem from my end. But I can't help but put some stock in what I felt in Utah when I had never experienced it before moving there and also felt it instantly melt away upon leaving.

Now obviously, I'm generalizing here. There are plenty of people who are from/currently live in Utah and are perfectly wonderful and sincere and caring. So if you're reading this and you're from/currently live in Utah, please don't feel like I've lumped you in a category of "shallow people from Utah" just because Utah is where I knew you. If you're reading this, you're probably one of the few people that made my Utah years enjoyable! And congratulations to you if you can live in Utah and not feel the pressure to be bigger and better. You are doing better than I did there! I can just say without an ounce of lying that since we have moved here, not once have I checked my hair in a window before going into the grocery store. Not once have I worried about whether I should be late to something just so I could throw some mascara on. Not once have I gotten together with someone and then thought afterward how they had cuter clothes than I did. And not once has someone looked at me with "that look" that says they're sizing me up, or made a comment that made their comparison of themselves to me crystal clear. Not once. I feel so much more comfortable being just plain me here. No expensive clothes, no fancy car (and yes, we only have one car), renting a house (heaven forbid!), one child (and no we're not trying, thanks for asking!). And loads of friends already. And our neighbors brought us cookies and a fruit basket and ice custard when we moved in and told us where are all the good grocery stores are. All with no hope of being known as the most generous person in the ward. And that, my friends, is just another reason why I am a true east coaster at heart and why we are LOVING Baltimore.

Interwebs

2011-07-25T13:21:00.001-06:00

Internet's connected (finally!). How I feel about this: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Baltimore

2011-07-05T21:49:00.003-06:00

So we're moving to Baltimore. The job truly can't be beat, and as much as we love Saratoga, the job there just wasn't the greatest. And since this is Justin's first job, a solid start at a well-recognized firm that will give him some great mentorship and an opportunity to be a part of some really big projects will be infinitely beneficial. From there, we can go anywhere, or else, stay in Baltimore, since I have decided we will love it.

Before Justin had an interview there, my knowledge of Baltimore was pretty much based off of this:

Sounds like heaven! Every night's like a fantasy?! Every sound like a symphony?! There ain't no symphonies playing on the streets of Logan, that's for sure!

We've heard so much about Baltimore- how it's sort of sketchy, how it goes from nice to terrifying in the space of a block or so, how it's nickname is (don't read this next part, Mom!) "Bodymore, Murderland," but we've got a lot of great people there who are working to find us a good place, and we're confident we'll find a great and safe area where we will enjoy it. We'll probably end up very close to the Johns Hopkins University undergrad campus and we've made some good contacts in the area. The ward sounds amazing and honestly, there's tons to do in Baltimore. We're really excited and can't wait to try to laugh at all the bad parts and revel in the good parts, like you should do with anywhere you live! We'll be packing up a moving truck on the 16th of this month, so it's coming fast! Justin is in Baltimore right now finding us a place, and we'll have just over a week from when he gets back to get everything ready to send across the country. We'll then start our own drive across the country on the morning of the 18th. If Bennett only knew what awaits him 2 weeks from today...

So! Now that we're living in such a thrilling area of the country, we can't wait for visitors. Here's a short list of things to do. Seriously, google that last one: Bookthing. It sounds amazing and I can't wait "to go to there". Not to mention the art, the arboretum, free movies, the history, the farmers market and everything else. Also, we're only a short hour away from Washington, D.C., one of my favorite places of all time! Can't wait to see you all there!

Sisters

2011-06-13T08:00:00.010-06:00

My new sister-in-law Allison just posted some photos from her wedding and I am just in love with this one.

Have I ever mentioned how lucky I feel to have married into a family with brother-in-laws so smart that they picked these girls to be my sister-in-laws! I was so excited to marry Justin, for many reason obviously, but I was super excited to get Andrea as a sister. I have truly loved watching her grow up from dorky freshman to the beautiful young lady she is now. And ok, you're right, she was never dorky. She was always way cooler and smarter than I was.

And I could go on for days about how thrilled I was when I realized that Kalen was going to marry Jenell (about 3 months before actual proposal), and when I knew Brandon would marry Chelsie (like 3 years before actual proposal... haha, just kidding!). Really, I couldn't get along better with these girls and I'm so happy to have lived so close to them all while we were here in Utah. They were a huge part of my family away from family. Thank heaven they are all going to move to the East coast in a couple years, right, girls? That's what I thought.

That top picture is from Riley & Allison's wedding and I only wish Allison was in it too! But we do have this one. This is more like how we usually act. Weird.

It was a gorgeous wedding and I'm so thrilled to have Allison as a sister, too! What a great group of girls!

And as long as I'm talking about sisters, what about this awesome one! My only for real sister, Lauren!
Yep, that's her! We've had some pretty wacky times, and I have loved watching her grow up, too, albeit from afar! Heck, when I left for college, she was only 7!

She is a beautiful, smart and super talented girl who I am so lucky to call my sister. She is almost better than me at the flute (right Lauren? Almost better?), can you believe it? Me neither, since I am the best (other sister-in-laws, remember how music never comes up in conversation? I am able to remedy that easily when it is my own blog). I hope we get to move closer to my family soon so Lauren and I can spend loads more time together.

Here's a wedding picture with Lauren, since she wasn't in any of Allison's. (Can you believe this was 4 1/2 years ago?)

And here is a super funny picture I found on my family's blog. HA! Look at Lauren! Look at that suit! This picture is amazing!

All around, I've got schweeet sisters (right Andrea?). Love you guys.

Believe it.

2011-06-11T23:05:00.001-06:00

There may be some out there who think it is physically impossible for me to run faster than, well, a brisk walk. I can't really blame you, since pretty much no one has ever witnessed this happen.

However, be it known that I can do it. When my redbox is due at 9pm and I don't want to pay an extra dollar and I went to the redbox across the street on time but their machine was broken and now I am running late and I pull up to Walmart at 8:59pm on a Saturday night when every Mormon in town is stocking up before Sunday and I have to park in the next town over. Then, I will run like a bat out of the opposite of heaven.

And yes, if you were at the Providence Walmart tonight at 8:59pm, I was the crazy lady booking it through the parking lot. I would say I hope you timed me, except that my car clock timed me. I was back in the car and driving away at 9pm.

$1 saved. Ca-ching!

Happenings

2011-06-10T14:36:00.004-06:00

So much has been happening lately, I couldn't even hope to write about half of it. Justin has been looking for a job, and I, by association, have been looking at a lot of apartments and imagining our life with a job in one of them. It has been taking up a majority of my time. We've also attended my sister-in-law's graduation, competed in a spelling bee lovingly thrown for me by a few of our Logan friends, sent my brother off to the MTC (2 year mission to Honolulu, Hawaii, the lucky dog!), and now that I'm thinking about it, we also went on a cruise. Haven't blogged about that yet, I guess. But right now, I'm not here to write about any of that important stuff. I'm here to say that Justin has TWO interviews next week. One is in Baltimore (Rachel Rushforth, we could practically be neighbors!), and one is in Schenectady, NY (I could for reals be neighbors with my parents). Both jobs have pros and cons, but we are really hoping one of them works out. Justin is one of two people being interviewed in Schenectady and one of three or four in Baltimore. So, pray for us, cross your fingers for us, make voodoo dolls of the hiring managers and make them say "you're hired!" for us, whatever you feel will help the most. We're really really REALLY hoping this is the end to about 8 solid months of job searching.

Additionally, Bennett is finally talking. Like real words, no more of this baby babbling. He's still got a long way to go, but he can say pretty much anything two syllables or less in a semi-recognizable fashion now. We're, of course, beaming with joy and think we have the cutest baby who ever lived. I would upload a video, but Justin has the camera right now. Instead, I'll just put some pictures of Bennett and a hilarious video from back in April. Ok, a moderately funny video. You will enjoy it.

(no editing on that one either- isn't he just darling?)

Graduation and Mothers Day

2011-05-09T13:02:00.005-06:00

This past weekend was pretty eventful. Justin graduated with his Masters in Landscape Architecture. I was so happy for him- I remember graduating and just thinking "Wahoo! No more tests! No more class! No more homework!" I was thinking his thought process would be kind of the same, but he is much more mature and rational and knows that he a) still has 2 hours of corrections to do on his thesis (not much, but he doesn't feel the relief of having nothing to do, yet) and b) still doesn't have a job. So he doesn't quite feel relieved yet, but hopefully he will soon. I have a feeling that our 7-day cruise will help. (p.s. we leave Saturday. oh my gosh!)

After graduation, we went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant called Kamin here in Logan. I know my parents probably can't even believe that I would think about ingesting Thai food, but believe it, because I did. There are actually a couple of things that I really like there, namely the sweet and sour chicken and the pad thai. But I also enjoyed the curry and drunken noodles, so yeah, my tastes are officially branching out at the ripe old age of 24. After dinner, we spent 45 minutes or so in the parking lot letting Bennett run around. It was such a beautiful day (only the second day we haven't needed jackets all year) and he was absolutely thrilled to death to jump off the curb with dad and grandpa over and over and over and over....

Also, it was Mothers Day! I got breakfast in bed, and an exercise ball and a pair of 8-lb weights. Courtney Lewis and Heidi Madsen are probably laughing at me right now. It may sound ridiculous, and usually when I get exercise equipment, I wonder if the giver of the gift is trying to give me a hint as well, but I asked for it. I've got one pound to go (I know, I know, I only had 3 pounds to go like a month ago. The pros and cons of building muscle.), and my goal was to do it by the time we left on our cruise, so wish me luck this week...

Anyway, we had a mini photo shoot for Mothers Day and got a couple decent pictures. Bennett was actually incredibly helpful for the 10 minutes we were taking pictures. He smiled when it was time (and with the camera on timer, that's hard!), and he was really good about sitting in our laps as long as we showed him each picture on the camera after it was taken. I only wish the last one was better quality! But I will love it forever anyway. It was a great Mothers Day.

Just for grins, a picture of me with my Mom (and Dad!). I love you, Mom!

Yipee!

2011-03-29T10:21:00.002-06:00

Does "yipee" have two p's? Should I be concerned about spelling a word that isn't much of a word in the first place?

Ok, so since I never post anything but the good stuff, this is becoming one of those blogs I hate. The kind where nothing bad ever happens to the writer and life is nothing but a series of good news. Well, I promise, bad stuff happens, just I don't write about it. I sit and watch TV and eat cookies about it.

But I am thrilled to announce I only have 3.5 more pounds to lose until I am at my goal weight for the end of the semester! I have dropped a pant size and a half and about 13.5 pounds so far this semester! I couldn't believe it this morning when I got on the scale and the school. My neighbor Heidi was with me and she probably thought I was a little crazy, but I am so dang excited! I am working on losing the weight I had to lose before I even got pregnant. Still a long ways to go until I get to my wedding day weight, but I'm not too worried about it. I'm in the healthy weight range for my height, so YIPEE!

Anyway, I'll blog about something bad later. Or realistically, probably not.... I need to get better at this!

More more more

2011-02-22T14:32:00.003-07:00

I know. I go practically a month without posting and then two in the same week. I guess I'm an all or nothing blogger. Eh, so be it.

How can I resist posting these pictures of Bennett from the past couple weeks?

Some pictures

2011-02-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

We spent Christmas in NY. I know it's two months past Christmas, but give a girl a break! Anyway, here's a flashback, picture-style.

Justin went ice climbing with James and Eric Maughan on the 23rd. It looked pretty cool from the pictures and Justin said he had a blast and liked it more than rock climbing, because you don't have to look for a hold, you just make your own hold with the picks.

Justin came through the door looking like this. I was terrified, of course. Justin assured me it was just dried blood because they hadn't had anything to wipe him clean with. An icicle had broken loose when he was climbing, and sliced his nose open. I told Eric he should probably not bring home people's husbands in this condition. Justin actually has a pretty decent scar from this now!

On the 28th, Justin and I celebrated our anniversary early by taking an overnight trip to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, home of the Norman Rockwell Museum. We love Norman Rockwell, and the area around Stockbridge is completely lovely and charming. I kept telling Justin I felt like we were in one of those towns in a snowglobe- everything was decorated all Christmas-y, the town was so small and old, everyone was friendly, it was just perfect.
The entrance fee for the museum is $15 a person, or $10 for students. Justin had his ID, but I didn't, so we had managed to find a $5 off coupon for me. Well, when we got there, we came inside and this guy and his adult daughter were waiting in the doorway. They said, "We saw you pull in at the same time as us, and we have two extra admissions on our pass and were wondering if you would want to come with us." It was SO nice. Really, we were so taken aback. So, instead of paying to get in, we bought a little book with all of Norman Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers. We love his art.

This is the town of Stockbridge. What you can see in this picture is pretty much the entire town. It really consists of probably 10 buildings on each side and that is IT. It is one of the most charming and old-fashioned feeling places I have ever been.

We stayed in a Bed & Breakfast called the Federal House Inn. We would totally recommend it- our stay was fantastic and the innkeepers were so friendly and helpful. The breakfast was amazing- stuffed french toast, orange cranberry and apricot mini muffins, bacon, poached pears, mmmm, just thinking about it makes me want to go there again. They even made us hot chocolate special since we don't drink coffee : ) The house was built in 1824 and most of the interior is all still original. It was gorgeous. Oh and I forgot to mention that they do hors d'oeuvres at 5pm every night, too. It was really wonderful.

An old Church in Stockbridge.

The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge.

Main Street in Stockbridge.

This is Norman Rockwell's painting of Main Street in Stockbridge. It still looks identical (check out the pictures above again if you don't believe me). Rockwell once said, "I just love Stockbridge. I mean Stockbridge is the best of America, the best of New England. There's almost nobody in town I haven't painted." A lot of the people he painted actually still live in town and sometimes go to the museum to sign autographs of the pictures they are in and tell stories about working with Rockwell. It was amazing.

This is where Bennett spent a lot of time over the break- "downstairs!" He loved downstairs. My mom found tons of our old toys and had them all out and ready to play with. They definitely saw some good use while we were there! Bennett would go with anyone who would take him downstairs, even if it was a complete stranger!

One of his favorite things was this little pretend checkout stand. He only really cared about the microphone. He always wanted to talk into it!

Bennett and Bradley. Bradley is my littlest cousin- he is 10 days older than Bennett!

New Years kiss!

Dad and Lauren!
Grandma Brooksby.

Awww, my parents.

Brett and my Mom.

My mom and Bennett.

I went through a bunch of my old stuff when I was at home and this was one of my elementary school projects (4th grade) that bit the dust. I had to take a picture though, because I remember being so proud of it when I first made it! Does anyone from BHBL remember making these at Pashley?!

Our family bowling! It's my family's New Years Day tradition to go bowling. I'm not sure how it started. We probably did it one year and then us kids remembered the next year and begged to go, claiming it was "a tradition." But it's always fun to go and try to break 100!

Christmas break was amazing and we were sad to leave, though it's always nice to come home and sleep in your own bed (and have your child sleep through the night again in his own bed). New York is one of my favorite places on earth. I miss it a lot in between visits and hope we'll be able to go back soon and see more friends and family!

Snow

2011-02-17T12:26:00.001-07:00

Pros of our 10" snowfall that fell in about 2 hours last night: our house is filled with the most pure and beautiful white natural light today.

Cons of same snowfall: everything else.

Visit & Anniversary

2011-01-25T14:27:00.004-07:00

These two are here and I am so excited!

More to come about our Christmas trip later!

Also, 4 years ago, we did this. Happy Anniversary, Justin!

It was a terrifically fun day, and it's been a terrifically fun 4 years since. Love you!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-17T15:32:00.003-07:00

The Christmas season has been so busy, I have hardly had time to think, let alone update this blog. We are all doing well and really looking forward to seeing my family for Christmas this year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone, since let's face it, I probably won't update again until after the New Year (hopefully with some good pictures from the holidays!)!

Snowstorm

2010-11-23T23:24:00.003-07:00

Well, today we got a snowstorm. It is apparently supposed to continue all night, but it's dark out so I have no idea how bad things are currently. All I know is that between about 3:30pm and 5pm (when it was too dark to see), we got 2-3" of snow. Can't wait to see how much is there tomorrow. I'll post pictures and video of the storm once I have a complete beginning to end set.

Because it was supposed to practically be a world-ending snowstorm today (or so they made it seem--they closed USU and BYU campuses, probably others in UT, I don't know), we planned to stay inside. Luckily, I had a craft to do during Bennett's nap today.

Yesterday I was looking for a cute ipod case and I was browsing etsy. While looking around, I decided that all of the ones that I liked couldn't be that hard to make. I spent the rest of the night writing myself directions and drawing a pattern to make one. I got the materials this morning (managed to get all my fabric in remnants, so I only paid $5.49 for fabric, felt and snaps! And now I have enough fabric to make about 50 of these things...great), and when Bennett went down for his nap, I started. The whole thing ended up taking me about 6 hours (I am NOT a seamstress), but honestly, it went really smoothly. I only had to use my seam ripper like 3 times! Pretty awesome for me. And I cannot get over how proud of myself I am, despite the many imperfections. It will work exactly how I need it to, and I MADE IT! I am still kind of in awe of myself (humble, I know); I can't believe I pulled it off without any huge mistakes! Anyway, if you've ever tried to photograph something at 11:24pm, you know that the lighting isn't ideal. Just trust me that the colors are cool and fashionable and match each other. But I am too darn excited to wait to take better pictures or even to wait to write this post! BEHOLD!

BAH! I made that!

Cinnamon Rolls & late Halloween & other stuff

2010-11-22T12:29:00.010-07:00

Told you I would post a picture.

These are to die for. I could eat a million of them.

On a completely unrelated note, Bennett was Tarzan for Halloween this year. I made his costume (no huge feat) and I think it turned out just right, albeit a little short. But that's ok, he would have had to wear pants under it anyway since it was so cold, and it probably made it easier for him to walk in anyway!

We couldn't resist having him be Tarzan since he has been able to beat his chest and do a little tarzan yell for months now. Bennett also cut 5 (yes, 5) new teeth on Halloween day- two top molars, two teeth on the sides of his bottom front teeth and one tooth on the side of his top front teeth (he already had the other tooth on the side of his top front teeth. Maybe I should learn teeth names so this isn't so confusing...). He ran a fever all day and pretty much sat in our laps and acted completely wimpy when he wasn't napping (napping took up more than 4 hours that day). It was a VERY relaxing Sunday!

In other Bennett news, in the last week, he has started signing to us regularly! He has done the sign for "more" for a few months now, but only if we would say the word first. Now he will do it all by himself. He also learned the sign for "please" in literally a day and the same with "thank you." He signs "help" a thousand times a day, which would be really helpful, if only it was always clear what on earth he wanted help with. Sometimes he will just sign help over and over and over and very clearly be trying to tell you something, but we just can't figure out what he's trying to get from us.

On another unrelated note, we went down to visit my brother Jared at BYU on my birthday a few weekends ago. Here are some pictures. Bennett loved playing with him and they had so much fun kicking around the pool table balls!

While we're on the topic of birthdays and since this is already the world's most disjointed blog post, I thought I would post a couple videos of the birthday trauma that we put Bennett through. This is the second birthday party we had for him with our extended family and, well, now the internet knows what bad parents we are.

What the!?

2010-11-18T15:27:00.002-07:00

World's worst blogger! How come I can't snap out of it! Stuff happens in our life, I swear!

Past events:
- My birthday was on the 6th. It was fab and I got four amazing presents. Scrapbooking paper from Brandon & Chelsie, a darling pair of boots that I have been fawning over for some time now from Justin, a gift certificate for a massage at a local spa from my in-laws, and *drumroll* and IPOD TOUCH! I can finally stop sinning, since I have been coveting Justin's since he got it last Christmas.
- Winter has arrived. I've never lived through winter with a baby who does much more than just stare at me adoringly. Needless to say, my creativity is being tested. Also my patience, because Bennett's favorite new activity is yelling.
- Bennett has been sick. It is pathetic, as always, but he acts normal all day and just coughs a lot during naps and at night. It's kind of cruel, really, because he's not extra snuggly (the only plus of having a sick baby), and yet, I still can't go visit anyone because he's sick, so my adult interaction time is seriously lacking.

Upcoming events:
- Tomorrow evening, I will be traveling solo down to West Jordan to see Andrea (my sister-in-law) in her play, West Side Story. Two exciting things about this: one- Andrea is in a play (and a decent play, too!) and two-I will be traveling solo. Justin offered to let me go by myself while he stayed overnight with Bennett here at home. If you'd like to guess what time I'll be waking up on Saturday, I'm sure we could get a good pool going on here. To help your chances, I'll remind you that Bennett has been sick and on Tuesday night he was up 4 times, and this morning he decided to wake up at 6am.
- Thanksgiving, followedshortlythereafterby CHRISTMAS! We'll be in NY this year- will we see any of you fellow New Yorkers there?!

Immediately upcoming events:
- I think I am going to make some cinnamon rolls right now. Pictures to follow (if they turn out).

One day

2010-10-21T15:54:00.003-06:00

One day I will have my own house. And therefore, I will have my own water heater. And it will warm my shower, not my downstairs or upstairs neighbors', even if I am showering at 10am (which seems to be a perfectly reasonable time of day to expect that you would not be competing with someone else's shower).

I heard once that rinsing your hair with cold water would somehow make your hair more awesome. If that is true, why doesn't my hair look more awesome today?

Bennett's how old?

2010-10-21T13:14:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's true. This little guy is officially a year old.

All I can say is, no one's lying when they tell you that time flies.

We had a little family celebration on Bennett's actual birthday. Justin stayed home an extra half hour in the morning so he could be there when Bennett woke up and we could give him our present- A Radio-Flyer "Retro Rocket."

It was a great choice- Bennett seems to really love it. He hasn't yet figured out how to push himself around on it, but he sure does love climbing on and off of it, pushing all the buttons and pulling it around with him.

We also blew up a ton of balloons so that he could just play with them all day (while being carefully watched so I could pick up any pieces that popped! I know! Choking hazard.). He only popped 3, actually, and they all popped slowly, so there was no traumatizing! Success!

That night, we let Bennett open his present from my parents- a Little Tykes lawnmower. Another toy he completely loves. The day after his birthday, he was pushing it around the front room, and I had to grab him for nap time and he threw a holy fit that I would DARE take away his lawnmower and make him take a nap. He has never done that with a toy before!

After he opened the mower, we tried to let him eat his birthday cake. I got him a free one from Maceys and made one for Justin and I to eat (since we didn't want to eat slobbery Bennett cake). Justin's not a huge fan of cake, so I made it a brownie cake. I've got to toot my own horn (what kind of an expression is that, anyway?) for a second and say it turned out pretty awesome. It was pretty much the first cake I've ever made that wasn't just in a 9X13 pan, and I did two brownie layers with chocolate frosting in between and then frosted the whole thing like this:

Not bad for using store-bought icing (and store-bought everything else, too). And I honestly frosted & decorated the whole thing in under 30 minutes! Confession: I would truly love to take a cake decorating class, and I have almost signed up for one a few times except that second confession, I HATE baking. On occasion, I don't mind making a pan of brownies (how elaborate!), or maybe chocolate chip cookies (ooooh! aaaah!), but the thought of taking a class that would require me to regularly make my own cakes AND frosting.... well, I just can't get myself to do it. It's not even so much the baking as it is the dishes afterward. Boy do I hate dishes.

Anyway, giving Bennett his cake was a complete and total disaster. From the minute we sat him in his high chair and sang the song, he was in tears. He wouldn't even touch the cake, not even after I gave him a taste of the frosting off my finger. He just kept crying and reaching for Justin and I (while my family looked on via Skype). Every time he would reach, his arm would go through the frosting.

Oh, did I forget to mention the bright blue frosting? Well, take note, fellow mothers of children who will one day turn one: DO NOT order a cake with blue frosting. Your poor, sobbing baby will be like a sticky cookie monster, reaching out for you pathetically as if to say, "Mommy help me! This cake is scary! I don't want it! Hold me!" And you will be like, "You are sticky and stained blue! I will hold you at arm's length!"

And he will just cry harder.Anyway, after scarring our baby boy once (Happy Birthday!), we figured, "Why not try it again?" We had little family party down in West Jordan over conference weekend, and we figured we would do it in the middle of the day in case sleepiness was the cause of the above meltdown.

Nope. We got the exact same reaction. And he loves eating cupcakes (which I made the next day for his little friend party), so I don't know what his deal was. I don't think he liked everyone staring at him with his shirt off (Mom... you're embarrassing me!).

We still can't believe he is actually one. It is hard to pack up toys and clothes and bottles (yep, we took his bottle away cold turkey on the day after his birthday. Worked like a charm!) and admit to myself that he will never be a baby again. Honestly, though, it's hard to admit at the end of the day that he will never do things exactly like he did that day again either. But we are enjoying every minute of it and trying to take lots of pictures and videos. Most of which I do a shameful job of getting on the internet. Sorry, family.

Here's our little family on September 28, 2010!

Bennett on his birthday

Also, here is a sneak peak of some family pictures we got taken over Conference weekend!

And for the record, here are some of Bennett's frequently used words:
-this (his absolute most-used word. He pretty much says it all day long and it is how he asks for everything)
-that
-fish
-socks
-shoes
-hi
-dog ("dih")
-Dad (sometimes "ad")
-David ("deh-DEH"- he loves the David Goes to School book-it is his absolute favorite, and we only got it about 2 weeks ago. He can point to David in every single picture and sometimes "yells" at David just like the book does. If we tell him to go get "David," he will go find the book and bring it to us. It is the only book he will let us read more than once. Usually, we read it through 5 or 6 times before he is done. We'll shut it at the end, and he will just reopen it for you and yell "deh-DEH!")
-Animal sounds: dog, sheep, horse (suspiciously similar to the sheep), and elephant.
-No, I didn't forget "Mom." He never says mom or mama or mother (ha!). He doesn't call me anything. We are working on this first and foremost. Hopefully I will hear a "Mama" soon!

There may be others, but this is just off the top of my head and I wanted to make sure I have it written somewhere.

I am hoping to post more pictures and videos soon, but I have been working on this post for, well, about 3 weeks now and I just want to post it already!

Just a reminder

2010-09-21T21:37:00.001-06:00

Not to be lame, and I know that by now, you are sick of hearing my desperate pleas, but voting ends tomorrow on the design competition that I mentioned in my last post. We would LOVE if you would vote for Justin's design if you like it.

Go here to vote. You can count it as your Christmas present to us. (this offer does not apply to immediate family members who should be voting out of the loving kindness of their hearts anyway)

Not to proud to beg

2010-09-15T17:00:00.000-06:00

Justin entered a competition to design an entrance feature for the City of Logan. We'd love it if you'd take a minute to vote for his design! The one with the most votes by September 22nd wins! Look through the designs-- some are great ideas, some... well... if you want a laugh, you just might get that, too.

Once you see which one is Justin's by following the link, you can go to the "vote" tab and submit your vote.

Anyway! Vote for Justin's! You do have to create an account, but you know you wanted to anyway.

Well, I was right about the pencils....

2010-09-15T14:39:00.003-06:00

No, "Kellogg's," thank you.

Sincerely,
"Girl"

Coming soon....

2010-09-09T21:59:00.000-06:00

What was in the basket!

Guesses anyone?

What are the chances?

2010-09-09T14:38:00.002-06:00

I don't know if I ever posted about this, but a few months back, our local Macey's had a drawing for a bunch of prizes. Since I once won a free bottle of Sprite from underneath a Sprite cap, I naturally feel like I always have a chance at winning things and put my name in far too many drawings.

But this last time, luck was with us! Justin won a $25 gas card. Much better than a free bottle of Sprite.

Well today, I was waiting at the bus stop trying to juggle holding Bennett (so HEAVY) and folding the stroller while I watched the bus come barreling toward us. My phone rang, and for who knows what reason, I decided to answer it (making me look like a crazy person, I'm sure- huge babe in arms, giant stroller in other arms, phone in other other arms... wait, how did I even answer it?).

It was Macey's.

Justin entered me into another of their drawings a couple weeks ago and I WON! A gift basket! I asked the employee on the line if she knew what was in the gift basket, and she said she didn't- she had just been asked to make the call. So, if you can, hold your horses til about 5:30 tonight and then you and I will both know what is in my awesome* prize!

*I am trying to tell myself that the gift basket is only a can of kidney beans and some back-to-school pencils or something so that I am not disappointed when I see what's actually in my "awesome" gift basket.

Why I dislike going to Walmart for groceries

2010-09-02T20:20:00.003-06:00

Went for a block of cheese. Found this.

ZERO cheese of ANY kind.

Also, their lines are ridiculous. Get another checker up front, would you?! There are like 15 of us waiting in a line that wraps around the store! Curse you, Walmart!

Napping

2010-08-24T11:46:00.000-06:00

Thanks to everyone for sharing how napping goes for their little ones! I should have known to just be patient and wait it out-- I always get antsy thinking that Bennett's little phases are his new habits just because he does something for a week or so. He is back on track-- the past two days he is back to two, 1 1/2 hour naps. Right now, he's currently been asleep for two hours and I haven't heard a peep out of him!

Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but my MOM and BROTHER are coming to UT today!!! I am so excited (look at the exclamation points, if you don't believe me!)! They are getting in around 1:30 and I absolutely can't wait to see them! Jared starts his first semester at BYU on Monday, and I am so excited for him. BYU will always hold a special place in my heart (everyone from Logan can stop giving me daggers now.). Anyway... only an hour and a half til I get to see them!

Question for Moms!

2010-08-20T15:52:00.001-06:00

When did your babies switch to one nap a day? Bennett has been the WORST at taking naps lately- they are both less than an hour, no matter how far apart I space them. At first I thought it was because he was teething, and then he was sick, but it still hasn't gotten better, and he's been feeling a lot better. He is sleeping fine at night- goes down sometime between 7:30p and 8p and gets up around 7:30p. I am just wondering if his napping issues are because he's in a weird funk, or because he's ready to just do one nap a day....

A day at the park

2010-08-14T16:09:00.001-06:00

p.s. I'm pretty proud of that second picture, because I didn't edit it at ALL! Not bad for a point-and-shoot camera used by a non-photographer.

Run Run Run

2010-08-12T11:38:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, Bennett was booking it around the coffee table, and I said, "Run! Run! Run!" He let go of the table, and hasn't looked back since. He used to only walk between places where he could hold on, but no longer! He must have done this same circle at least 35 times yesterday afternoon!

I posted

2010-08-06T15:23:00.002-06:00

I started a post at the end of July. It took me until right now to FINALLY get all the videos uploaded. Kid you not. Anyway, it posts as of the date I started it, and I'm not sure how to change that, so this post is to let all those who are on google reader know that I posted movies. I know! Movies! Check 'em out.

Bennett is 10 months old!

2010-07-29T10:19:00.018-06:00

I can't believe how fast the time is going. Cliche, right? Bennett has officially learned how to walk. I should also mention, he learned how to crawl, which he still uses as a form of transportation. But as of July 26, he can walk across a room on his own, catch his balance more often than not, and voluntarily lets go of furniture to walk somewhere, which in my mind, makes it pretty official. I have a walking baby.

We have taken lots of videos of him learning to walk (and a couple with the learning the crawl). I'll put them in chronological order below so you can see the progression.

June 11- First Steps ever! Obviously, not the greatest., but when this happened, we were so excited! He was only about 8 1/2 months! You can hear him laughing in this video. At first, when we were having him practice walking, he just thought it was the greatest thing on earth and would laugh and laugh the whole time.

June 12- This is how Bennett "crawled" for about 2 months before he actually learned to crawl at the beginning of July. It looks like he is swimming!

July 3- More practice.

July 4- Walking much better!

This is also a good time to mention that Bennett never learned to sit down when he would fall backwards. He would always fall straight back, head first. We tried to catch him at first, and then figured maybe he would never learn if we were always catching him. Mostly we wondered this because he got to the point where he would laugh as he was falling backwards to certain headache. So we stopped catching him. Well, even after hitting his head so many times, he has still never learned. Luckily, he has enough control now to fall forward onto his hands and knees most of the time.

July 4- He also started crawling for the very first time this day. I caught it on camera, too! You can tell he is kind of upset about the fact he is crawling over the rough edges of all his books and toys (ouch!), but he did it! And then he goes right into his "swimming" again at the end. So funny.

July 11- Bennett went through a phase where he would only walk clasping his hands together. I think it started when we would clap and say "yay" every time he would walk between us without falling. He started clapping with us, and then next thing we knew, he was perma-clapping when it came to walking.

July 25- The first time he did "Tarzan."

Last one! July 28- His 10 month birthday. We made him show his walking and crawling. For posterity. And the grandparents.

As you can see, Bennett is getting pretty good at doing things on command. He will wave hi (since 7 months), bye (since about 8 months), he knows where his head is, he will "bang" on things with his hands if we say "bang bang bang," he will blow kisses (which he does with only one finger and it actually looks more like he is gagging himself... we've got to work on it some more), gives high fives (since about 5 months), he's starting to put his fingers to his lips when we tell him "shhhh," and he will fold his arms when we say "time for prayer!" and keep them folded until we say "Amen" about 70% of the time. He has started babbling a lot since the end of July or so, and I think he finally is associating a meaning with "Dada." Not the case with "Mama," yet, though. (boo.). And of course, there is "Tarzan." It is pretty hilarious.

Since he is just getting mobile, he points out things to me every day that I haven't babyproofed yet. Yesterday, he almost pulled the coat rack over onto himself, but I caught him before he did. We are all quickly learning what life is like with a mobile baby. Mostly, I am learning that the only times I will ever be able to get anything done are during naptimes (which are getting progressively shorter). Doesn't it seem like cruel irony that the only time you get to yourself to do something you want like shower or read or eat a meal uninterrupted are also the only times you have to clean anything? So some days, either the house is clean, or I get to shower and do my hair. Some days, neither of those happen. I think that's the adventure of being a Mom!

Integrity

2010-07-10T14:53:00.003-06:00

I can't stop thinking about how much more I would love my living room right now if I didn't have integrity.

Today we were at a huge community yard sale to benefit a little boy in our area who was run over by a riding lawn mower. He has lost most of his left hand, and his right forefinger and has already undergone 14 massive surgeries with more to come. People from the community just dropped off things to be sold at this sale and all of the proceeds went to this family. There was a silent auction, a bake sale, and a TON of garage-sale items. Truly, thousands of things. It was the biggest sale of it's type to which I have ever been.

Justin needed a new belt, and we found some hanging on the chain link fence enclosing the tennis courts (the sale was at a park). He found an older-style black one. When putting it around himself to see if it was the right size, he noticed it had a zippered pocket on the inside of the belt. Opening the zippered pocket, I saw him take out some money. Not just a couple of ones or a five, but a $50. Then another $50. Then another, and another. Then one more.

And then, two $100 bills.

All of the bills were clearly old. The dates were from 1950. If $550 is a lot now, imagine how much this guy had stashed in his belt then.

We found someone with a helper's shirt on, who we later found out was the hurt little boy's uncle. Justin gave him the belt and money and explained what happened. Since everyone from the whole community had donated items for the sale, there was no way to know whose the money was. Clearly, whoever donated the item had forgotten about their little rainy day savings stash (or, possibly, never even knew it was there. A woman donating her deceased husband's belt, or maybe someone else picked up the belt from DI and donated it to this sale later on, or a hundred other "maybe" stories). The kid's uncle looked so grateful.

So even though I do not get to buy my new sectional today (which is on sale at Edward's furniture so they only have one left, and I am lusting after it, and I could have bought today with the money and still had money left over!), I am really glad that the money went to help a sweet little boy who was in such a terrible accident. I guess this is like one of those stories from the Young Women's manual about "how much your integrity is worth." $550 and counting.

I'll admit it.

2010-07-03T14:08:00.002-06:00

I have been truly awful about blogging lately. Is it weird that I am kind of getting bored of the internet? Does this just mean I am becoming old and boring? If so, how depressing.

Bennett has been growing and changing so much lately! He had his 9 month appointment last Monday, on his 9 month birthday. 21.5lbs (he has lost some weight due to being sick ALL June with a cold, cough and then a sinus infection), and 29 inches. 76th percentile for height, 66th for weight. He pulled himself up for the first time ever on a toy in the doctor's office that day (but has yet to really do it on much else). He gets around a LOT these days. He can finally get to a sitting position on his own from laying down. I have been waiting for that for so long, because he hates getting stuck on his belly. He can get to his knees from sitting in approximately 4 milliseconds as far as I can tell. He still refuses to crawl, though he has been attempting it more often. He still prefers to "crawl" via a strange swimming-like motion which I will have to post a video of sometime soon. It is so funny. He will cruise around on furniture now, and loves to practice walking and balancing.

Today, I laid him down for his nap and for about 10 minutes, he was absolutely squealing with delight- singing, talking, moving around a lot. Justin and I were just laughing about it until we realized there is only one thing that could make him that happy. I checked on him and confirmed my fears- he was standing up in his crib, happily looking out the window. Good thing we lowered the mattress about a month ago!

As for Justin and I, it's same old, same old. We were really excited recently when we found a great headboard/footboard combo at DI. We have wanted one since we first got married, but could just never bring ourselves to shell out the money for one. It needed a little touch up painting in a few spots where the wood had been chipped, but overall, it was definitely great for us. Mostly because it was cheap. Anyway, I touched it all up, and one night about 9:30p, we decided we'd take down our old frame. Our first mistake was starting at 9:30p. Well, technically, our first mistake was buying a queen headboard/footboard that came with twin-size bed rails, but we didn't know that yet. We took down our old frame, stacked the mattress and box spring against the wall, emptied out what was underneath our bed (it had been on risers to maximize storage space) into the hall, put together the new frame, and went to put the box spring on. That is when we discovered that there is a 6 inch difference between twin rails and queen rails. I just tell you this so you never make the same mistake. Needless to say, that about 11:30pm, when we finally admitted to ourselves that there was no way to fix this that night, and that we would have to sleep on the floor, we were a little grumpy.

So now, we are in the process of trying to a) find queen bed rails at yard sales, b) find bed rails at DI, c) determine if we can alter our previous bedframe so that we could bolt a footboard onto it (the frame is about 8 inches shorter than our box spring. I don't know why that is, but it is), d) weld new bits of angle iron into the twin bed rails to make them each 6 inches longer and make them have a center support beam for the box spring, e) convince ourselves to pay almost 50% more for bed rails than we paid for the headboard/footboard. All of this has turned our little cheap & fast headboard/footboard project into a definitely not quick and possibly not even cheap endeavor including daily trips to DI and committing ourselves to go to almost every yard sale we can stomach on Saturdays. Happy 4th of July weekend!

Any other summer DIY projects not going exactly as planned?

Sneak Peak

2010-06-16T20:04:00.000-06:00

So the month of May was pretty exciting around here. We have done so much and Bennett has grown up so much in just one month! We moved him to a bigger carseat (past 22 lbs!) at the end of May, and he's now waving hi, "wiggle-wiggling" all the time (especially when he's excited), giving awesome high-fives, feeding himself Cheerios (and anything else) with his hands, moving all over the floor via various combinations of army-crawl moves, standing unassisted for a few seconds at a time, and on June 2nd, he started saying "Mama." Be still my beating heart! He doesn't say it intentionally referring to me yet, so I can't be too thrilled, but hearing him babble "Mamamamamamamama" from the other room still melts my heart. He also took his first steps all by himself on June 10th! A couple in a row between Justin and I! I can't believe it. He has always loved to stand and walk, and even though all you moms with walking children will laugh when I say this and think, "She's so ignorant," I am so excited for him to be able to walk on his own. It is all he wants to do all day long. I am exhausted from walking around with him all day and tired of hearing his complaining if he's not walking! I know we still have a while before he'll be able to all on his own, but I really can't wait.

I don't have a lot of time to blog about our AMAZING CRUISE that we went on last week of May, but I thought I would at least put up some pictures (couldn't get the videos to load!) from our last month of adventures! More to come....

On his 8 month birthday!

He never cuddles like this. Needless to say, he therefore never sleeps like this. I think this was the second time it has EVER happened, so I had to document it. I was all by myself at this point in Puerto Vallarta, so I had to one-arm photo myself. Not the most flattering, but look at him!

Playing in the portacrib on our balcony on the cruise.

His absolute favorite toy. He loves the (kind of obnoxious) music it plays! He will dance almost all day to it. And as you can see above, sing along, too.

New York

2010-05-18T10:12:00.008-06:00

We came. We saw. We surprised my siblings!

As you know, my brother, Brett, returned from his mission on May 5th. On May 8th, we flew out to NY to see him and the rest of my family. My siblings didn't know we were coming, and were at an open house for a friend who is leaving on his mission this week. Well, my parents knew they would never be able to get my siblings to leave the open house early and come home without spilling the beans, so my Dad feigned stake business and came to pick us up at the airport and then brought us over to the open house. They were all so surprised. Jared stopped dead in his tracks when he saw us and Brett kept saying how it was the most surprised he had been in a long time. Justin hadn't been out to NY since Christmas of 2007, and I hadn't been in over a year, so needless to say, it was good to see my siblings! They also got to see Bennett for the first time, and Bennett loved them. He warmed up to Jared and my Dad particularly quickly, but got along with everyone just great.

While we were there, Bennett learned a few new tricks. He waved his first hello on Sunday the 16th, to my neighbor, AnnMarie Warren (let's be honest, Mom and Dad. I don't know how to spell her name.). He also started doing this head wiggle a lot on Friday the 14th, so I started saying "Wiggle wiggle!" every time he would do it, and it only took 4 or 5 times of that before he started doing it on command. I'll have to upload a video. It is the funniest thing. He also learned how to blow raspberries with his tongue hanging all the way out. He has been able to buzz his lips for a long time, but he just learned the slobbery raspberry. When we were trying to take family pictures, he did it for probably close to an hour straight. It goes without saying that almost every picture we took has his slobbery tongue hanging out. He has been blowing those raspberries for a good portion of every day since Sunday, too. It's his favorite new trick.

When we got home Monday afternoon, I feel like we came home to a different house! EVERYTHING was in bloom- tulips, crocus, more tulips, some purple flowers that are really tall... don't know what they are, and a whole ton of other random flowers. It is truly beautiful. When we left, it was still so cold, so it was nice to finally have some warm weather and beautiful flowers! Also, the city planted three flowering trees in the park strip in front of our house on Saturday while we were gone, so we came home to those, too. They look great. AND, our landlords cleaned our carpets in the dining room and front room! The carpets are so gross and old, but at least they look better when they are freshly cleaned. We didn't even really ask them to do it, and we weren't expecting it at all, so it was a great surprise.

We did so much while we were in New York that I couldn't hope to mention everything. We saw so many people I love and needless to say, I was heartbroken to leave. I love New York. But at least we had a great time while we were there and will be seeing my family again in NY this year for Christmas! We can't wait. Here are some photo and video highlights from the trip!

Bennett with my cousin (his first cousin, once removed), Bradley. Brad is 10 days older than Bennett! Brad is crawling and Bennett is still stationary : ) Yessssss.

But he is starting to push up onto his knees occasionally.

He loves to kick his feet when he's on his tummy. I think he will make a good swimmer.

Doing "Wiggle Wiggle" just a little bit. Not the best video of him doing it, but you get the idea.

Sitting on the kitchen floor.

He hadn't seen a lick of TV until we went out to NY (we don't have TV at our house in Logan). But we were watching the Office and he was loving it. He was also obsessed with the knobs on the entertainment center. He was standing on his own pretty well there. He still doesn't always remember that he is holding himself up when he stands on his own, and will let go of his prop and fall down. But he is getting better every time. And he recognizes the command "hold on!" well enough that if you say it over and over while he's standing on his own, he will generally keep himself up.

Us at the Saratoga Historic Battlefield. This is where the momentum of the Revolutionary war shifted in favor of the Colonies. It is only about 30 minutes from my house.

With Grandpa at the Battlefield.

With Grandma and Grandpa.

This picture seriously cracks me up. He is riding the canon like a bull. And his eyes are all squinty and he's looking at me out of the corner of his eyes. He just looks awesome.

They have Revolutionary War uniform replicas for kids to try on. Only a little big for him.

Ya scurvy dogs! Argh!!
Sometimes my Dad gets the Revolutionary War and Pirates of the Caribbean mixed up.

Bennett swinging for the first time! I can't get the video of this to upload, so I will have to do it later.

He LOVED the trampoline!

Blowing the notorious raspberry.

Pretty much every picture from this day is going to have a raspberry in it.

Jumping with Dad (we had just taken family pictures, hence the Sunday clothes on the trampoline)

He went in the swing for the first time ever on May 10th and LOVED it. He's swinging with my brother, Jared, here.

I love the drool just pouring down his chin!

Family picture. None of these photos are edited, by the way. Once I get around to that, I will post the edited ones. I just realized that Justin looks really short in this picture. We were on a slope! He is as tall as my Dad normally haha. Lauren will love this picture because she looks taller than my Mom and I!

The three of us. (Look! No raspberry!)

Baby Animals and Bennett's Creative Side

2010-05-06T22:11:00.007-06:00

A few weekends ago, we took Bennett to Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center. We thought he would love looking at little furry, moving creatures in his lap, but turns out he was less than enthused. This is about as interested as he got all day.

I know! The excitement in those eyes is unbelievable!

Needless to say, I think next year he will be a lot more interested. At least I enjoyed holding the cute little animals.

Bennett is becoming more and more creative in how he plays with his toys. It cracks me up. Just how he holds things, or the ways he manages to move himself over to things he wants (the latest is scooting on his bum). Here's a few videos of new tricks he's picked up over the past couple weeks:

Favorite Toy. New way to Play.

Grooving to the beat.

(love how he's holding that ball)

Sucking through a straw.

Update

2010-05-05T13:05:00.001-06:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. Things are going better with Bennett- his second tooth just cut through today, so we probably have a few more days of terrible naps ahead of us. But he is doing well otherwise. He might be getting sick though, I am not sure yet.

In other far better and more exciting news, my brother got home from his mission today! So awesome. I can't wait to see him on Skype!

Please tell me this will end.

2010-04-23T11:02:00.003-06:00

Teething.

Oh my gosh. Where did my sweet little good-natured baby go?

Did teething turn any of your children into cranky monsters? How long did it take for them to go back to normal? He can't be like this the entire time he's getting his teeth.... right?

Did any of your kids start waking up in the night again when they were teething? What did you do about it? Bennett's first tooth just cut through on Tuesday, and the week before that, we had been working on getting him to put himself back to sleep in the middle of the night. About a month or two ago, he started waking up occasionally in the night and so I would go in and wrap him back up and he would go right back to sleep. Well occasionally turned into twice a week, which turned into every other day which turned into every night. So we decided that was that, and when he woke up in the night, we just let him cry himself back to sleep. He cried for 25 minutes the first night and 16 the next. After those 2 nights, we figured out that if we wrapped him with one arm out of his blankets, he slept better, so we started doing that. That also made it harder for him to get completely out of his blankets, which is what seems to bother him so much in the night. He slept great for probably 4 nights in a row, but now he is getting out of his blankets that way, too. He HATES it. But he has to learn to sleep not wrapped up because a) that's how people sleep and b) he won't stay wrapped up even if we tried.

So the wrapping him up battle was raging, and we were just letting him cry (but we thought he was getting better). Now he's teething and last night he woke up at 1:18am and wasn't asleep again until almost 2:30am. I finally went in about 2am. I would be fine letting him cry it out, except that now that he is teething, I worry that his teeth hurt him and that he's not just needing to cry it out, but that I should be giving him tylenol or something. But at the same time, I don't want to go in there if nothing is wrong because I don't want him to learn that if he just cries for 30 minutes, Mom will come in. I am sure I am not the only one who has fought that battle.

The two nights before when we had let him cry himself to sleep, he got really wound up with his crying, and then spent about the last ten minutes of crying winding down. Last night, instead of winding down, he just kept getting more and more wound up. He was completely hysterical by 2am when I went in. But then, when I went in and picked him up (thinking I would check his diaper), he immediately stopped crying. His diaper wasn't messy, and he didn't seem to want anything besides to be held. NOT WHAT I WANTED!! I was so frustrated. Then when I went to lay him back down, the screaming started again. I was so mad that I just gave up and held him til he calmed down and then put him back down. I mean, we have neighbors above and below us, and I feel bad just letting my baby scream all night, too, because I know they can hear it. The insulation between our apartments is practically non-existent.

He has also been very clingy during the day, so I think part of it is the beginning of separation anxiety. Is this just a horrible bunch of events make each other all worse? Learning to sleep unswaddled and teething and separation anxiety all just combining to make the perfect storm?

Do you guys have any tips for getting your baby to get used to sleeping without being covered up? How warm do you keep your kids rooms? Is he just cold once he's out of his covers and that's why he hates it so much? We have had a space heater in there and generally keep the room between 70 and 72. Are we freezing him? He's in a onesie and long-sleeved, footie pajamas.

Did teething turn your children into rotten little grumps who are almost no fun at all?

What would you do in the middle of the night with your baby screaming, if you were in my situation? I know that he knows how to sleep through the night just fine. He has been sleeping 11 hours or so every night since December. We always put him down awake and he puts himself to sleep. Every night. Every nap. I know he knows how to do it. He sleeps for about 4 hours every day- usually split between 2 naps, sometimes 3. WHY THE MIDDLE-OF-THE-NIGHT meltdowns?! Help me!

End of the year awards

2010-04-19T14:19:00.002-06:00

On Friday, Justin had an end-of-the-year awards ceremony for his department. Kids weren't invited, so Brandon and Chelsea were nice enough to come watch Bennett. A true night out! What a novelty! It was really nice. The dinner was catered by Elements Grill in Logan, and you already know how much I love their food from the post about our anniversary! It was so yummy.

Right before we left for the banquet, Justin got a call telling him he won a design competition for a subdivision they are putting in in Ogden. He won $500! I was so excited for him. That is now 3 things that he has designed that are actually being built in Utah. The first was the layout and landscape for Eagle Mountain, which he helped design with Northland Design when he worked there a few summers ago. Then he won the Taylorsville Veteran's Memorial competition (which will finish going up in November 2011) and now this "Jacob's Hollow" subdivision in Ogden. Awesome.

Then at the banquet, he was recognized as "Outstanding Student of the Year" for the second-year graduate students (he was "Outstanding Student of the Year" last year for his year, too), and he received the David R. Jensen Scholarship. The scholarship includes a tuition waiver and a cash award, plus a chance for a paid internship in Colorado! We don't know how much tuition the "tuition waiver" waives, and we don't know how much the cash award is. And we are not sure that we will take the internship, since Justin has work here for the summer and it would be a pain to move. So basically, we don't have many details. But there are only 5 scholarships given in the LAEP department, and only two go to graduate students. Out of the three years worth of grad students (about 15-20 students in a year), Justin was selected for one of them. I am so proud of him. He works really hard and it is nice to see his hard work get recognized by the faculty in such a big way. I am really excited for him. The head of the department announced that he won the scholarship and he said all kinds of great stuff about Justin, but one of the biggest things he talked about was that Justin was one of the most purely natural presenters that he has ever seen. Big compliment for Justin, since he works really hard to present his projects well.

Every day I am more and more amazed at how talented Justin is. When we got married, I knew he was good at what he did, but I don't think I knew enough about his work of the field of landscape architecture to realize how GOOD he was. The more I learn about landscape architecture and the more I see him interact with students, faculty and LA firms, I realize he is truly gifted at what he does. He is getting singled out as his year's best student at a school which is ranked number 15 in the nation for his program! And best of all, I see how much he loves what he does, which is really the most important, anyway. How lucky we are to have him in our family.

Now don't mention this post to Justin. He would be embarrassed.

Clarification

2010-04-19T13:58:00.003-06:00

I've had a couple people say they read my blog and couldn't believe I hadn't been able to get Bennett to take a bottle before. I should clarify- it was his first bottle of formula a couple days ago. He has always taken a bottle-- he was 5 days old is when I gave him his first. It just always had to have breast milk in it. Now it's just nice that I don't have to keep what seems like a year's supply of milk in the freezer!

Also, today in the shower, I was thinking how much I really don't like when you get in the shower and the bottom of the shower is cold under your feet. I let the water run to warm up before I get in, and usually, it has been warm for long enough that the floor of the tub is warm. Not today. And I remembered how much I don't like it.

Bennett cried this morning for about 25 minutes and I could not for the life of me figure out what was wrong. He even cried when I tried to nurse him which he NEVER does. It was bizarre. And after about 25 minutes, he just stopped, and started gooing. I hadn't changed what we were doing, or even positioned him different or anything. He was just suddenly smiley. Do your kids ever mess with you like that?

Success!

2010-04-16T12:26:00.002-06:00

Bennett took his first bottle of formula ever today. That is a huge step.
Usually, when we would try to give him formula, he would take one suck and just give us this horrible face. He wouldn't even swallow it, he would just let it sit in the bottom of his mouth, and then when you sat him up, he would let it dribble out of his mouth.
I'm certainly not actively weaning him or anything, but it would just be SO nice if I could give him formula sometimes-- at Church, when we leave him with a sitter, when we're driving, when we're out shopping, etc.
Wow. I guess this is probably one of those things only moms get excited about. Sorry for the rest of you whose brains are probably melting with boredom. Your fault for reading. HA.

New suit

2010-04-14T14:34:00.003-06:00

We wanted to get Bennett an Easter suit, but Easter comes late at our house (our Easter Bunny gets all the goods at post-Easter sales. And we don't care, and Bennett isn't old enough to know any better!), so we just got it this past weekend. Justin took Bennett shopping while I was at a friend's baby shower, and I am in love with the suit he picked out! We took these pictures on Sunday, and they are my favorites yet of the little guy.

And then, one with Grandpa.

And one with Mom and Dad!

Funny Face

2010-04-08T20:03:00.003-06:00

This is the new face Bennett has been making pretty much 24/7. He makes this awesome shaky-voice noise every time he does it. It's like a shiver in his throat. We can't even imitate it; we don't know how he gets the "shiver" going so fast! Anyway, this face is cracking me up! Just look at him!

Also, I don't think I ever posted his latest stats, but at his 6-month appointment at the end of March, he was 27 inches long and 18 1/2 lbs! A big boy! I'm appreciative, though, as the shapeliness of my arms is definitely benefiting (slowly but surely).

Buh-Buh-Buh-Benny and the Girls

2010-04-02T14:33:00.004-06:00

Benny and I went to an Easter party with some of our Logan friends. Shelley and Thad had to leave early, and that left Benny as the only boy amongst all the little girlies! Go Benny! Go Benny! Too bad they are all older than you...

I love the picture and how all the kids are mad and squirming and crying and trying to get away. We are mean moms.

The party was a blast. We did an Easter egg "hunt" (with eggs out in plain view, as the oldest kids are about 18 months, and most are younger). Bennett had no idea what was going on, but as soon as all the girls were up walking around and picking up eggs, he wanted to stand up too. He even bent over and picked up an egg. And then gummed the egg pretty much the rest of the party. So.... complete success! Thanks to Jocelyn for having us all over!

Recent pictures and videos that make me smile

2010-03-26T13:21:00.006-06:00

Rocker

Afro

Happy screaming

More screaming

Big smile for Mom. Also, some screaming.

Chomping

Wednesday night, 3/24/2010 about 6pm. First time eating carrots.

Same night, about 3 bites after the previous video ended. Not even kidding. This kid cracks me up!

Adventures on the Bus

2010-03-17T20:41:00.003-06:00

Three early teen-aged boys with shaggy hair and skateboards get on the bus just after I sit down in the second row.

I hear one of them yell, "Dude, stop cursing. We're on the bus now. Nobody on here wants to hear that."

I roll my eyes as the first two pass me, making a bee-line for the back row, I'm sure. Isn't that where all the cool people sit? Why am I not sitting on the back row?

"Grandpa Young? Hey, Grandpa, it's me!"

The third boy of the group is talking to the grandpa on the row in front of me. Grandpa has hearing aids in both ears.

The boy leans closer and speaks louder. "Grandpa, it's me. I'm Cody's son."

He gets a puzzled stare back. Grandpa is trying really hard to remember. "Cody?... Cody... oh, Cody's son!" The words come out slow like he is trying to remember a foreign language.

"Yeah, Cody's son." There is a pause. Grandpa mumbles something neither his grandson or I can understand. The boy kindly gives a chuckle anyway. Another pause. "Hey, it's good to see you Grandpa!" The kid smiles a really beautiful smile, pats Grandpa's shoulder and takes off for his friends while Grandpa looks after him.

"Dude, my Grandpa's on this bus!" he yells, and he sounds sincerely excited.

Is it weird that this exchange made me feel really good inside? Blame it on the hormones (I blame a lot of things on hormones these days), but I almost teared up. I think that boy was more genuine in those 5 or so lines he exchanged with his Grandpa than most of us are in a day. Patting his Grandpa on the shoulder? What teenage boy does that? It was so grown up.

I hope that Bennett will love his Grandparents like that. I also kind of hope that if he bumped into his Grandpa on a bus one day, he would sit by him, too. But hey, let's not get to ambitious.

Rough Housing with Dad

2010-03-14T10:01:00.004-06:00

Spring break has officially started here and we are in HEAVEN. Yesterday we spent the whole day together (all 3 of us!) and had loads of fun playing with Bennett. It just cracks me up the things he thinks are funny. He was loving this game with Dad.

Thank heaven for spring break.
Also, as a side note, we are all cured from our various ills. Hurrah.

Help me!

2010-03-12T12:18:00.004-07:00

Bennett is like a foreign baby to me the past few days.

He hates his normal naps. He used to take 3 naps a day- one that was almost 2 hours, one that was about 1 1/2 hours, and one that was an hour. Then he got sick. And that could be the problem, I don't know.

He usually goes down for naps just fine. Maybe a little whimper because he likes being held (big surprise) but nothing terrible. Now he hates going down for naps. He SCREAMS!! He is SO tired, he will just lay there and alternate screaming with moaning (all with his eyes shut- he is so tired!) for about 5 or 6 minutes until he falls asleep. What the heck?! Then he will sleep for like 30 minutes (if I'm lucky) and be awake again (worst nap ever. I would almost rather he didn't nap than take such short ones).

If he doesn't do the screaming thing, he will sometimes just lay there and fuss and be cranky until I finally just guess that maybe he doesn't need 3 naps after all and I go get him after like 30 minutes. Then he is perfectly happy to be awake.

So I don't know if he needs 3 naps or 2. Or 4?! He is just confusing me so bad right now. And it could be because he is sick that he is extra irritable, and maybe he will go back to normal. He has been mostly better from his cold yesterday and today, though, and this is when the screaming has really kicked into full gear. I don't know. He sleeps from about 7:30 or 8pm to about 6:45 or 7:15 am, if that helps. For all you moms out there, how many naps was your baby taking at 5 1/2 months? How long were they? Did you have any issues going from 3 naps to 2? Did you ever feel like a crazy person? Ha. Please help me!

Anyway, any ideas you have would be helpful.

Look at him when he's happy! Such a sweetie!

Happy 5 month birthday, Bennett!

2010-03-02T10:53:00.004-07:00

So Bennett's birthday was really last Sunday, so I'm almost a week late posting. But I have good cause. Bennett celebrated his 5 month birthday by getting his first cold! BOO. He started coughing on Wednesday and when he woke up Thursday morning, I could tell he had a cold. It has been a sad few days around here--today being the worst by far. He is really congested and has a nasty hacking cough (but luckily no wheezing and his chest doesn't fall with his breaths and he doesn't have a fever, so we've been able to avoid actually visiting the doctor). It has been breaking my heart to listen to him cough all day and even all night! It doesn't seem to bother him as much as it does me, though. For the most part, he has been his normal self. And happily, he seems to have learned to breathe through his mouth at some point between our 911 call and now! Go Bennett!

I celebrated Bennett's 5 month birthday by making an appointment to get his picture taken (which I had to cancel because he got sick), and committing myself to decorate his room this week. I am ashamed to say he's been living with the good ole white walls since birth! Well, NO MORE! We finished putting everything together tonight and I really like the way it turned out.

Here are some before and afters! Enjoy!

Before:

blah........

After:

What a transformation, right? And I'm proud to say that the total cost for all the decorating was under $20. Yeah, go me. I still have a couple more things I want to do, but this might be where I rest for a few days. We'll see.

Also, I'm looking at how the pictures uploaded on here, and some of the things (one of the poms and two of the letters on the pennant banner) look pink! They are NOT pink. Bennett is a boy. No pink for his little boy room. At least not in my house!

Bennett loved the new additions. He kept reaching for all of them wanting to touch them. As I walked toward Justin getting ready to feed Bennett, Justin tapped him with the measuring tape and he just started going nuts. It was so funny. You'll like this one. Swear.

So I am a bad blogger

2010-02-27T12:34:00.003-07:00

How has it come to be that I hardly ever blog anymore? I have been too busy being crafty (pictures coming, I assure you.) I definitely need to get back in the blogging habit.

Here's a movie I like. It is REALLY long (like 5 minutes), but you can watch like a minute of it at any point to get the idea. Bennett really loves to talk all.day.long. Lately he's been squealing more than talking. This is him with his favorite toy.

More to come soon. Pinky swear.

BAH!!!

2010-02-16T15:55:00.003-07:00

My little brother Jared just found out he got accepted to BYU!!

I AM SO HAPPY!!

Way to go, Jared. I am proud to have a guy as smart and cool and handsome as you as my brother! Too bad I've been away from BYU for too long to have any cute girls to hook you up with : )

Love you.

I've been waiting for this day

2010-02-15T12:21:00.006-07:00

Today, I wanted to wear brown pants. But, I don't have any except maternity ones. I figured I'd throw them on anyway, since they only had elastic in the sides, and a normal waist otherwise. Plus, I've worn maternity pants on a couple of occasions in the past couple months, and they fit ok, so I figured why not. Nobody sees the waistband anyway.

They felt loose going on, which made me happy, but it wasn't until I looked in the mirror that I saw just how loose they really were. I looked like a full blown clown for heaven sakes! They are probably 4 sizes too big. Did those pants ever seriously fit me?

*shudder* Yes. Yes they did.

Looking at this picture brings back so many memories. I was about 35 weeks along (this is at the Antiques Roadshow-- August 15). Just seeing this one picture, I can feel what it's like to live in that body. I can feel those fingers- like little sausages, my ring on my pinky finger (and it wouldn't even fit that finger when I went in to deliver. I had to wear it on a chain around my neck!). I remember the feeling of those hair ties cutting into my swollen wrists. I remember trying to walk around with that giant belly. I look at my face and realize just how much water I was retaining. You can't even see my legs, ankles, and feet, but I remember them. Oh, how I remember them. I had to wear doctor prescribed support stockings on this trip to keep the swelling down. I was huge in every way.

So this morning, when the maternity pants were falling off my body, I was feeling really good. So I pulled down the laundry basket full of the pants I wore before I was pregnant. I've been wearing all my shirts for a while, but the pants... oh man. Who knew hips could get so wide?

I pulled out my pair of brown pants. I bought them only like a month before I got pregnant, and loved them, but, well, then I was pregnant and couldn't wear them anymore.

Crossing my fingers, I pulled them on. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles-- THEY FIT! I tried on pair after pair of pants that have been stowed away since about this time last year. They all fit! I am up like 6 pairs of pants!

I feel so good about myself today! I have really been trying to eat healthy and we are in the middle of February and I am still going to the gym at least twice a week (I shoot for 3, but sometimes things get too crazy, and I have to work out at home). That is the longest I have ever stuck with it (I started at the beginning of January. Pathetic that 6 weeks is a good as it gets, but hey, it's the truth!). And better yet, I am starting to want to go to the gym. What?! Who am I?!

Today rocks.

Tummy time isn't so bad anymore...

2010-02-05T15:35:00.002-07:00

Today was a first. Bennett laid, willingly, and awake, on my chest with his head under my chin for a full 7 minutes. This is 7 minutes more than he has ever done that before. He has NEVER wanted to snuggle--he always looks around at the room and will do everything he can to keep his head from touching you. It always made me a little sad, but I was getting used to the fact that he just wasn't a snuggly baby.

Now I think I appreciate it even more. I rubbed his back while he laid there, hoping to make him like it so much that he will do it again someday. Here's hoping.

Word on the street

2010-01-30T10:03:00.008-07:00

There have been a few complaints about my lack of blogging. Who knew anyone enjoyed reading this stuff?

On the mastitis front- I am healed! It was a rough couple days though, but the antibiotics helped a LOT. The worst part was that on the day I found out I had mastitis, I spent 2 hours at the doctor for Bennett's 4 month check up, and can you believe it, another 2 hours at the doctor for myself trying to get diagnosed! And then the next morning, I burned myself on our waffle iron and had to ice my finger for about 4 hours before the pain died down. But again, I am healed now from all of those things, and eventually, I trust that my fingerprint will grow back (if not, catch you later, FBI! I'm off the grid!)

Something about the antibiotics I'm on-- I have to take them on an empty stomach-- so at least 2 hours after I've eaten and at least 1 hour before I'm going to eat again. Who plans out their eating that much? Not me, I learned. It has been really hard to not snack during the day. I have to take the antibiotics 4 times a day, too! So I resorted to taking one right before I go to bed, and waking up at 3:30a every night to take one so I only have to work 2 pills into my day (one between breakfast and lunch and one between lunch and dinner).

Anyway, enough about me! BORING! We all know you're really here for this guy:

Yep, he's still cute. Look at those eyes!

He has remained in the 77th percentile for weight and weighed in at 16 lbs. 3 oz. at his four month visit. He's now 25 1/2 inches- about the 75th percentile if I remember correctly.

His four month mark meant he was finally big enough for his bouncer! He is still getting used to it, and mostly just walks himself in circles, sucking on the edge of the bouncer (see picture a, above), and refusing to put his arms on top of the seat part. He just enjoys slouching inside that seat, I guess.

We also tried to feed him cereal for the first time and it was a no go. He didn't hate it, but he didn't really enjoy it either. He just kept looking around like "whatever, Mom and Dad" while we basically put on a whole song and dance routine to get him to look in the direction of the food. So away the rice cereal goes for a few weeks. We'll try again one day...

So here's a video for all who want to see this guy in action. He is really talkative lately, especially to me, and two of his toys: one arch thing that he lays under and a stuffed animal Lorax (anyone read that Dr. Suess book?). Here's a movie of he and I chatting it up one day. You are welcome to ignore all the parts where I talk. I sound ridiculous. But he sounds darling.

(p.s. to all those who heard me say he is in a walker, and have had their pediatricians tell them that walkers are basically evil, I know! No more walkers! I learned this at his 4 month visit, and have the ok from the pediatrician for him to sit in it as long as his legs can't really touch the ground.)

Seriously?

2010-01-29T09:09:00.002-07:00

As if I needed another reason to dislike breastfeeding, I have mastitis. Excellent.

We had a sitter lined up so we could go to the temple tonight for the first time since Bennett was born. Now we have to wait another week...I am so mad!

In celebration!

2010-01-25T12:21:00.004-07:00

This past Thursday, we decided to celebrate our anniversary early. Justin doesn't have classes on Friday and it's always cheaper to stay somewhere over a weekday than on a weekend, it seems.

I have a friend who works for the Springhill Suites here in Logan. She hooked.us.up. Thanks so much Jamie. Because of her, we got to have a delicious dinner at Elements, which wouldn't have been in our budget otherwise, and we got to stay in a super nice room, which also wouldn't have been in our budget otherwise. Basically we owe her big time. For anyone who hasn't been to Elements yet, save your money and GO. the average entree price is between $16-25, but they have things under $10, too, like a bunch of woodfired pizzas and the most heavenly thing I have ever ingested: a filet mignon quesadilla. I know, it sounds lame. But it was DELICIOUS, I tell you, DELICIOUS! I am still fantasizing about it and trying to figure out how I can save enough money to get back there and eat it again. It was only $9 too (it's technically an appetizer, but it was plenty big for an entree for me)! Anyway, definitely go for a special occasion. The food was fantastic, the atmosphere was awesome (it is brand new and I like how it's decorated), and the service was great, too. It is attached to the Springhill Suites at about 600 S. Main in Logan. (Elements, if you are out there reading my blog, can I have a free quesadilla for plugging your restaurant? I even linked to your website!)

Anyway, we had a great time getting away. The room we were in was a suite, so it had a separate living room area with a fireplace and a huge wall mounted TV. That worked really well because it was separated by a wall from where the bed was, so Bennett could sleep in by the fireplace, and we could stay up later enjoying all the beauty of dish TV which we miss so much, haha. And yes we brought Bennett. Even though he sleeps through the night, he needs to eat at like 8pm and 7:30a, which makes it hard to leave him anywhere overnight. But it was so fun just playing with him, we were loving it.

We went swimming after dinner (a big thanks to Heidi, who bailed me out with a swim diaper! I didn't realize until the the day before this little trip that swim diapers are seasonal, and they don't sell them in the winter for people going to hotels... BOO!), and it was so fun. Bennett was a little cold unless you were holding him right next to you, so we didn't stay for very long. It was his first time swimming, and when he was in the pool, he did pretty much the exact same thing he does in his baths-- stay almost completely motionless and bite his fingers. Haha. One day you will splash and play, buddy. One day....

It was so fun to get away and celebrate our marriage. It was also fun to not make the bed or have to do the laundry from all the towels from swimming, showering, etc. Also fun to not have to put things away when you get them out.... I guess that mostly just goes for the towels, too, but HEY! It was awesome.

On an unrelated note, yesterday, we put Bennett in a sweet baby blue, three-piece suit that was Justin's when he was little. It was disco-licious! Haha. So here's a couple pictures of that, too.

Bah! I can't get enough of that bow tie!

3 years ago today...

2010-01-25T11:43:00.005-07:00

Because blogging wasn't quite as cool when we got married, I figured I'd take this opportunity to post way too many pictures from our wedding day. I still can't believe this was 3 years ago.

What a good choice that was.

It was time for a change!

2010-01-19T10:14:00.001-07:00

Out with the old and in with the new!

A preview of more darling pictures to come!

2010-01-17T21:25:00.002-07:00

This morning, he was just being so cute, so we got out the camera. I am so glad we did! We got some real keepers.

Cloud 9

2010-01-06T12:23:00.006-07:00

That is where this video sends me every time. Last night was the first time he's ever done this!

What a year...

2009-12-31T12:50:00.009-07:00

I can't believe that this year is gone! We started the year off by finding out we were pregnant on our second wedding anniversary! What a present! From there, the year just flew by anticipating the arrival of our little one!

Can I just say how much I love this little guy? He is getting so big! The week of Christmas, he got diarrhea, and because he's still so little, we had to take him to the doctor. He was fine, but they weighed him while we were there and he is 15 lbs.! He gained 2 pounds this month, I couldn't believe it. I can't get my fingers to touch around his chubby little thighs anymore!

He loves to sit and stand and is getting pretty good at both. We only really have to support him with one hand when he sits and he can stand just holding on to our fingers. He is still just days away from all out giggling- he will give us little giggles every other day or so if he's in a really good mood. He is really finding his voice-- he loves to talk to Justin and I and will carry on whole conversations. Here's one from the other day.

Anyway, we absolutely love having Bennett as a part of our family. He is such a fun little boy and we love him so much. Here's a photo recap of our time with him-- the best part of our 2009!

At the hospital waiting to have him!

Just born!

One of the first family pictures

First bath at home. NOT happy. And not loving that we tried to quiet him with the binky. We soon learned that he hated baths so much because, um, he was FREEZING in the kitchen right next to the window! What were we thinking?

Two weeks old!

27 days old

One month birthday!

7 weeks-- some of his first smiles on camera!

Two month birthday! This is another of the pictures we got taken at the studio... I guess I can post them all at some point, now!

December 27th in (half of) his new Christmas outfit! One day away from three months in this picture.

3 month birthday. Check out those baby blues!

We love you, Bennett!

Yes!

2009-12-30T14:53:00.004-07:00

Look what I taught myself today (with the help of a book I got from Justin for Christmas and some youtube videos...)I can crochet! I am so proud of myself! Now to learn all the rest of the stitches....

Bennett tells a scary story

2009-12-14T12:53:00.006-07:00

I originally recorded the video at the bottom of this post to recount a scary experience we had on December 8th. Bennett was talking a LOT during the video, though, so you can watch it to hear our little chatterbox, too.

Here's a preview of our story-- we made the Logan, Utah police blotter! (See 12/08 at 1:08pm)

Bennett is doing just fine, and you can watch the video for more details, but the summary is this: woke up gasping for air, nostrils clogged by boogers so far back we couldn't suction them out, called 911 because he wasn't breathing well, he sneezed out the world's largest booger (gross, I know), by the time the paramedics got here, he was returning to normal. And he has been his same happy self ever since this happened. As my friend, Jess, said, one day I can laugh about this and tease him by saying, "When you were little, your boogers were so big, I had to call 911!" Until then, I am still a little freaked out by the whole thing! It is not fun to watch your baby gasp for breath!

I'm raising a weed.

2009-12-05T15:09:00.005-07:00

His name is Bennett. But he's only a weed in terms of his growth. Saying he's a weed makes it sound like I don't want him. How could you not want this little guy!?

Birth stats: 8.0 lbs, 20 inches

Two week stats: 8 lbs. 8 oz. (36 percentile), 21 inches (55 percentile)

Two month stats: 13 lbs. 1 oz. (77 percentile), 24 inches (82 percentile)

He's practically a GIANT. Or at least he seems that way to us! I already find myself wondering where my baby went! But he's just as cute as ever, and getting more and more fun each day! There's no feeling quite like going to get him up in the morning (or from one of his naps) and having him go from crying ("Get me up this INSTANT!" he yells!) to smiling and gooing in the moment he sees me. It's the best.

I see you.... ALL of you

2009-12-02T08:29:00.004-07:00

Google analytics is a fascinating thing.

I've had 297 unique visitors in the last 2 weeks! WOW! And 600 total visits. So thanks to each of you for coming here roughly twice. Haha. I'm just kidding. Only 15% of you came here twice. 9% of you came here between 9 and 14 times. And a little over 44% of you came here just the once. That's ok. I'm not too offended you didn't come back.

Most of you didn't stay long-- probably just to see if I had any new updates (usually no). For the 1 person from EGYPT, the 1 person from ISREAL, and the TWO people from INDIA, the length of your visit was probably because my blog is in English. Sorry. If I had realized you were reading, maybe I would have tried to learn some words in your language.

10 of you got referred to my blog by a search engine. Wow. I come up on search engine results!

Most of you only visited one page of my blog during your visit; probably the most recent one. But to the one person out there who read 20, you count 'em, 20 pages of my blog in one visit, I commend you. I couldn't read 20 pages of this! That's 140 posts! There are only 205 posts total (so, now that I realize that, congratulations to my post "Yesterday" on this page for being my 200th post! I didn't even realize! Go me!), so you read more than half of all my internet- published musings. Good work. How long did that take you?

Anyway, needless to say, I've been fascinated by these results. I can't wait to see how many new visitors I get in the next few weeks! And how many of you will come from search engines (what are you typing in that my blog comes up?).

To any of you with blogs, I highly recommend looking into having google analytics track your blog. It's easy, free, and, as you can tell, completely fascinating!

Also....

2009-12-01T16:10:00.002-07:00

This should have made it on the "two months old" post, but I forgot. I don't know how that is possible, considering the fact I am about to reveal is probably the most blissful thing that has happened to me in the last 2 months, excepting Bennett's actual birth.

Bennett is sleeping through the night. He hasn't slept less than 7 hours in the past 2 1/2 weeks. Mostly it's about 8 1/2 hours. I feel like a sane person again. I can actually stay awake all day and not be tired!

Additionally, I am at my pre-pregnancy weight again. Not my pre-pregnancy shape (that is going to take a lot more work!), but at least the weight's gone. Hooray!

2 months old!

2009-11-29T12:42:00.007-07:00

Bennett is growing and growing. He has his 2 month old doctor appointment next week, so we'll see what his stats are then. I am guessing he weighs between 11 1/2 and 12 lbs. I have no idea how much longer he will be, all I know is he is definitely rounder. He's getting bigger and bigger every day.

We love playing with him. He is starting to talk more and more and he will (almost) always smile for Mom and Dad (especially Mom, lucky me!). He still hates snuggling and will only snuggle with Dad when Bennett is getting tired (BOO!). We thinking that his hatred for being up against people or things is part of the reason he is so good at holding up his head (also why he hates tummy time). We hardly ever even have to support his head and neck anymore and he can sit in his Bumbo chair quite well for a few minutes at a time.
He started watching his mobile intently the past two weeks or so. Instead of being background noise while he falls asleep now, sometimes it is a distraction.
He still likes being bundled up, but we figured out pretty early on that we just can't bundle his feet in because he can (and definitely does) kick out of his blankets. We'll come in and he's freezing. And half the time he's only whimpering. He is such a quiet baby. I've accidentally nipped his fingers two times when trying to cut his fingernails (why is that so HARD?), and he doesn't make a peep. He just keeps smiling like always.

He rolled from his tummy to his back 6 times on the night of November 25th. Once to the right side and 5 times to the left! I couldn't believe I was watching him roll already! He did it one more time to the left the next morning, too. He won't do it all the time, but I think he does it when he really wants to get out of tummy time. Like I said, he hates it, so I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.

Yesterday, on his two month birthday, we got our pictures taken at a studio. We would have loved to take outside pictures, but it is just too cold for how little he is still. We would have had to bundle him up hardcore. So we're saving our outside pictures for spring. He is such a good smiler, but, of course, we had to do everything we could to just crack a few smiles out of him when we were there! It was even his smiliest time of day, usually (planned that on purpose), but I guess I should have expected he would give us a hard time. He was at least pleasant most of the shoot, though-- no screaming crying or anything. I can't post many of the pictures from the shoot here yet because lots of them will be Christmas presents, but I will put up a couple of the ones we didn't get prints of as a sneak peak (some of them are from in between shots, so don't worry! We are looking at the camera in the ones we ordered, even though we aren't in some of these!). Not our favorites, but we'll put the cute ones up after Christmas!

For every mother out there...

2009-11-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks for this one, Dad.

Now he's really got us wrapped around his finger...

2009-11-16T11:41:00.009-07:00

First smiles were captured on camera on November 4th (they are the last 3 pictures here). Over the past couple days, he's let me catch some really good ones! You'll have to excuse the quality on some of them. It's like trying to hit a moving target, so some are kind of blurry.

Yesterday

2009-11-12T15:02:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was awesome. Firstly, we got to take a day off school to go down to Taylorsville where Justin was honored as the winner of the Veteran's Memorial design competition. He gave a speech in front of probably 150 people (or so) and it was awesome. He also finally got his award money! Just in time for Christmas : ) Pictures will come in another post once I have the time to get them off the camera.

We also had fun taking the whole day off from school and seeing family while we were down there. We celebrated my birthday while we were there. I got a piano book of Elton John songs. How cool is that?! With some practice, Bennett's theme song of "Bennie and the Jets" will be blasting from our front room. We went out to dinner and we had my favorite, carrot cake, for dessert. It was awesome.

After dinner and dessert, I fed Bennett and we went to make the trek home. He fell asleep as we got in the car at 8pm. Now here's the good part.

At 5am, I awoke of my own volition to find a still peacefully sleeping baby. I wanted to scream with delight!! He slept through the night! 9 hours and 15 minutes!! He woke up at about 5:15, ate, and then went back to sleep around 6:15 until 9:30am. It was incredible. I feel FANTASTIC. I can't believe he is only 6 weeks and 2 days old! I also can't wait to see if he will do it again. But I am encourage by the fact that he hasn't slept for less than 6 hours at a time for the past week. Here's hoping!

"Wow!"

2009-11-10T15:05:00.003-07:00

That's what a normal person would say after seeing a 6 week old child burp so forcefully in your face that it blows your hair back.

"Wow! Good job buddy! What a good little burper you are!" is what I said. Which shows that I, like most other moms do with their children, find joy and cuteness in nearly everything that my baby does. No matter how disgusting (Except the poop. That is still not cute to me. And it never will be.)

It was seriously like a cartoon, though. I wish you could have seen it.

There, that's better

2009-11-05T16:31:00.003-07:00

Awwwwww.

Life lately

2009-11-05T15:23:00.004-07:00

Firstly, a big thanks for everyone's advice. A lot of it was helpful, and I really appreciate you taking the time to give your two cents. I always thought in the back of my head that I just had too much milk, but being a first time mom, you don't really know how much is really too much, or if you just feel like you have a lot because you've never been full of milk before! But the more reading I do, the more I realize that I do have an oversupply and that all of the problems I have described link back to this oversupply. You can google oversupply + forceful let-down if you want to read more. All I can do is hope it resolves soon. Most of what I'm reading says I should be ok by the end of 3 months (if I live that long!). So we'll hang in there for a while longer...

Anyway, we have been having a lot of fun around our house lately. Bennett is getting to be more and more interactive, and we are loving it! I caught a couple smiles on camera yesterday, but my batteries are dead, so you'll have to wait to see how cute they are! I have gotten out of the house at least once or twice every day this last week. I finally just decided I wouldn't worry so much about if he'd be hungry or not, and he was fine. And it felt GREAT to be out doing things. I went on walks, went shopping, went to Institute, went to a birthday party for a little neighbor girl, revisted good old Olson & Hoggan (shoutout!), amongst other things. It was grand.

So I'm re-reading this post and... well... it is really boring. Sorry. I'll just stop now and go think of something better to write about.

Alright, I give in.

2009-10-29T20:14:00.004-06:00

[WARNING: This post includes a somewhat frank and lengthy discussion/brain dump about breastfeeding. Do not read if you don't want to read about breastfeeding. There. I warned you.]

It is not often that I write a post where I directly ask for help or ideas. In fact, I am not sure I have ever written a post where I asked directly for help or ideas. But the time has come where I need good ideas from people who have been there. Or who have spouses who have been there. Or who have ever known anyone who has been there. There, that should include every reader of this blog.

I am a prisoner in my own house. A prisoner of breastfeeding.

There. It's out! To all of you mothers who nursed their babies and EVER left your house, I all out salute you. I have no idea how you did it. And I BEG you to tell me. I also beg you to tell me how you ever made plans for people to come over. Or made plans to go out at a specific time.

Here is the background on a typical nursing session. Nursing is going well. When Bennett gets hungry, we are now capable of getting him fed. I am proud of us.

However, the little guy doesn't often remember to breathe when he eats, causing him to jerk his head back at least 3 or 4 times a side, leaving... [don't finish this sentence if you are fainthearted]... milk spraying everywhere. It gets messy. I can usually handle it with a burp cloth, no big deal.

Also, Bennett is a ravenous eater (I swear, I feed the kid. He hardly ever even goes three hours between feedings!), and insists on gulping air. This makes him really uncomfortable about halfway through nursing on one side, and he needs to be burped.

So here is my problem. No, wait. Here are my problems:

1) The ravenous eating + lots of burping time makes it nearly impossible to nurse discreetly under a nursing cover. I have one (I actually have two!), and have tried to use it. He kicks it, jerks his head back into it, and needs to come out from under it probably ever 4 or 5 minutes to burp! How is it possible to nurse under a cover under those circumstances? Am I just inexperienced? Will I get used to using one if I do it more? I mean, I could maybe see myself having a friend over or going over somewhere if I thought I could nurse discreetly with a nursing cover. Though, that's still kind of awkward...

2) I feel like I can't make plans to go anywhere because I am so worried that I will get there, and he will start freaking out hungry and I will have to feed him and not be able to discreetly, or not be able to at all (like in the middle of a restaurant or something). I mean, sometimes he goes 3 hours between feeds, but sometimes it's like an hour and a half. Or 40 minutes. It's a complete guessing game! So I feel like I can't have people over, because heaven knows, even if I plan to have them at a time that happens to be right after he has finished eating (which, who honestly knows what time that will be!! Please!), maybe he will be hungry again in 30 minutes. And what do I do with the guest? "I'm sorry, but you'll have to excuse me for the next 30 minutes to an hour. My baby is hungry and I have to go nurse in a back room." Yeah right.

I am basically terrified to go back to Church this Sunday because I know that at some point in the 3 hour block, he is bound to get hungry and I am going to have to feed him. And we are in a building with 3 other married student wards, so I KNOW there will be other moms in the mother's lounge. I hope I can get that cover thing working.

I have lunch plans tomorrow. I will only be out for one hour, but what if, during that hour, he decides he's STARVING and can't wait another minute to eat? WHAT DO I DO?!

Ok.... deep breath.

I know this post is not a good example of really coherent writing, and honestly, I'm not even going to proofread it much. I just need to get the situation out there for suggestions. I know people nurse their children. And I know they are not all home bound forever. How these two things happen simultaneously, I do not know.

Maybe he is just still really young and will eventually settle into more of a routine where I will be able to predict when he will need to eat. If that's the case, PLEASE! Reassure me he will settle into a routine! I need to hear that. Also, I do have a breast pump, and can pump a bottle to take with us if I have to, but if this is a good solution, when should I pump it? Because let's say he's hungry now, and I feed him. Well, then I don't have much to pump right after the feeding, obviously. But if I wait til I have something to pump, say an hour and a half or so, I wouldn't be able to pump as much as he usually would eat (because it hasn't been a few hours), so whatever bit I do pump won't fill him up if I do have to give it to him, and then when I go to breastfeed him again when he's hungry (let's say an hour and a half after pumping), I only have half of what he would eat anyway, so there's still not enough.

Ok. Hopefully this gives you enough information on my situation. Obviously, I will live. It really isn't the end of the world, but I am at kind of a loss right now.

To all of you who are mothers and surviving to the least degree, really. GOOD JOB. I completely admire you all. I had no idea how draining this would all be physically and emotionally. I don't know how you all do it so well! And to my mother, who lived through 4 children that all survived and thrived, WOW. If it helps offset some of the pain I'm sure you went through, I appreciate your hard work a LOT more now (and not nearly as much as I'm sure I will in years to come).

Ok, end rant. Let the comments flow freely.

It has begun

2009-10-27T14:36:00.004-06:00

This morning, I opened the door to go outside and move our car (can't park in the same spot for more than 21 hours on the streets of Logan!), still in my pajamas. The special feeling of hatred I felt sweep over me comes but once a year.

Yes, the first snow in the valley.

The morning we left the hospital with Bennett, there was snow in the mountains. This is always disconcerting--a little reminder that we aren't going to be able to escape the worst season of the year this year either--but I can handle it when it's not in my yard. Once I have to think about scraping the snow off my car, it takes a great deal of self-control to not just sit around the house moaning and drowning my sorrows in hot chocolate all day.

Right now, I've got a full on snow storm happening here. The above picture was from 10 minutes ago, and it's snowing twice as hard now.

BOO on WINTER. I HATE YOU.

Time Warp

2009-10-26T12:32:00.004-06:00

So as far as my life is concerned, October 2009 is going to go down in history as this month that didn't exist. I seriously don't feel like this month even happened. I spent so much of the month just trying to survive from one feeding to the next (or one nap to the next), that the entire month blurred into one huge time warp. Yesterday, Justin and I went for a walk with Bennett and I wished I had worn gloves. The last time I was spending any kind of real time outside, it was hot, hot summer.

I have been having a lot of fun inside with Bennett, and this week he will be one month old and the stay-at-home-away-from-people edict will be lifted! Hooray! We will still be trying to avoid being around lots of people (especially kids), just because of the flu, so please don't be offended if we seem a little reclusive. We just can't afford to get sick! The poor little guy is barely getting good eating habits as it is, haha.

One of my favorite times of day is tummy time. Bennett is really not a huge fan of it, but he tolerates it at least. Currently his back muscles are a lot stronger than his neck muscles, so as he gets more and more tired of lifting his head, his legs will flail up into the air. It is such a crack up.

Also, that is the first movie I have ever posted on my blog. I guess my life was pretty boring before Bennett came along!

Good

2009-10-21T20:27:00.002-06:00

Today was a good day.

Bennett slept during the day some, which is a sharp contrast to yesterday (when he was the Crankster, as we call him in his bad moods). I hope those of you who have been in my shoes understand that the following list of accomplishments is really a big deal. Well, let me restate. I hope everyone understands, but I know that before having Bennett, I never would have been impressed with someone who listed the following as "accomplishments:"

I got dressed for the day before 10 am.

I went through all the mail from the past... 4 weeks... and organized it into our filing cabinet where it belongs.

I sorted out an insurance debacle with the hospital (thankfully!)

I took Bennett to the pediatrician (he has a goopy eye).

I cleaned off our counter-- there was a lot of stuff that had accumulated there over the last week.

I did the dishes.

I cleaned all the countertops with Lysol.

I made a dinner that required more than 5 minutes of cooking!

I made a dessert.

I attribute a lot of this to the fact that Bennett spent a lot more time napping than he has the past few days, but still, I am happy that I felt good enough and rested enough to be up and about when he was sleeping instead of sleeping myself! Go me.

Wrestling

2009-10-20T12:32:00.005-06:00

So my little guy eats efficiently. Once he decides he's going to actually crack down and eat. He gets really (really) excited about eating, and begins flailing his arms and head. He then makes this face:

which those of you who have nursed know, does not make for a good latch. It is an adorable face-- eyebrows raised, eyes wide open, the smallest hint of a smile-- but there is no way I'm letting him try and latch with his mouth only open that much! Cute doesn't get you everything, buddy!

Eventually, I can manage to get his lower arm under control, and I then try to get him to open wide enough. He eventually will start opening really wide as he gets more and more excited, at which point, his upper arm (which I have taken to calling his rogue arm) will start flailing worse than ever and will actually push his body away from me while his mouth is trying to get to me. I keep trying to tell him that that's not the most effective way to eat, but he doesn't listen.

He will eventually latch on, and immediately begin gulping as if this was his last meal, and he had to finish it in the next 30 seconds. Invariably, this causes him to forget to breathe, despite my constant reminders that this a crucial part of nursing (and, well, living). He will then yank his head back (ouch!) and gasp for air and relax for a few seconds before the whole vicious cycle begins again. Eventually, he gets what I call the "magic latch." He will latch on in the same way, but for some reason, manages to calm completely down, remembers to breathe, eats slower, and generally seems to enjoy what he's doing. I have no idea what it is that prompts him to decide it is finally time for the magic latch, but I am really working at figuring it out. Because sitting in a room for 30-45 minutes fighting a newborn who eats for 7 or so minutes is really not the way I'd envisioned nursing my sweet little baby.

Oh well.... we'll keep working. He is darling, after all.

Two week checkup

2009-10-15T16:53:00.004-06:00

Our little guy is apparently a really efficient nurser. I had worried, because he only usually nurses for between 7 and 12 minutes every 3 hours, but, he is gaining plenty of weight, and the doc says he looks great. So apparently, I just have a fast eater, which is actually awesome. Also, I got permission to let him sleep for as long as he will during the night (before, I was supposed to wake him up every 3 hours to feed him during the day and night). This wouldn't usually sound that awesome, since most newborns aren't giant sleepers (or at least that was the impression I was under); however, the other night, I slept through one of my alarms to feed Mr. B and he slept for 5 1/2 hours. WOW. I felt SO good. I can't wait to see how tonight goes!

Just as I suspected...

2009-10-14T23:25:00.002-06:00