A quick note

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Two weekends ago Grandma and Grandpa came up for the weekend and took Ben away on Saturday so J.R. and I could do some spring cleaning. Every night after work, last week, I had something to go to...Jazz Band concert, RSA Awards, Kissing and Petting (aka. doggie day at work - woo hoo), Singers concert and The Masque's formal. It was busy. Saturday I went up to Alvernia for their spring fling, and after 2 1/2 hours of making cotton candy, I was beat. The runny nose I had on Friday turned out to be more than just pollen..I've been sick since then. I stayed home from work today. I figured I had the time so why not. I could have stayed in bed asleep all day, but I actually did some work for a couple of hours. Sunday was Nora's first birthday party. I haven't seen my yoga friends since December so it was so great to see them! (Thanks for reading my blog guys!)

Ben's been a little sick too. His nose is running just a little, and he's had a small cough since last Friday -nothing really to worry about though. He's been really fussy at daycare. He hasn't had a nap all week and today I guess he just whined and fussed all day. Of course, it might be because he only had one bottle all day!!! but, then again, it could just be that I have a fussy baby. I mean, he never smiles, and is always in a bad mood....can you hear the sarcasm? Whatever. I'm seriously thinking about putting him in daycare for 4 days a week this summer and working one day at home. It would save me the gas money for driving into work one day, and I'd save for only paying for 4 days of day care. In Sept., I can bring Ben to the day care at work which is much less expensive. I need to look into all that this week.

Here are some cute pictures/videos from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy.


A week ago last Friday - Daddy pushing Ben in Mommy's office chair up and down the hallway at work.


Same night.. this is what happens when Ben feeds himself. Note the mac and cheese on his
forehead.


He's done eating, now it's Chloe's turn. She tries to help him clean up.


That night, wearing his big boy jammies.


Last Friday before daycare - standing on his own.


All dressed up at The Masque formal.


Taking his morning nap this past Saturday.

Storing Old Clothes

I read a survey question one day in my Parenting magazine...is it harder to give up my pre-baby clothes that don't fit anymore, or the baby's clothes that don't fit anymore. For me, it's definitely the baby's clothes! Anyone who knows my closet, knows I never get rid of my clothes. Unless it's too small, ripped, stained, or something else is wrong with it, I keep it. I don't shop for myself very often, but I get clothes as gifts for Christmas and birthdays. I'll get hand me downs from my mom too. But, I don't throw anything away. So my wardrobe gets bigger and bigger. I once had 42 sweaters! I'm getting better though. I gave 5 trash bags full of clothes to Salvation Army after Ben was born. I have another trash bag and a box ready to go now. So, little by little.....

However, now I'm finding I need to get rid of Ben's clothes. It's a little different though. He's outgrowing his clothes. He's getting bigger! He's growing up! Argh! He's barely worn some of these really cute outfits. It kills me to take these adorable outfits, that other than being too small, are in fine shape. I'm still trying to get him to wear onesies that are 3-6 months, even though he's probably ready for a few 12 month things. I need to snap out of it though. I need to think positively. If I get rid of his old cute stuff, I can bring in more of his new cute stuff. He definitely has some cute bigger clothes that are just waiting to be worn. The hat in the above picture came from going through his hat basket and picking out the small hats, including hats he's never worn, and seeing just what he has for bigger hats. He has a lot of hats, so I forgot he even had this one. When I saw it, I just had to take a picture of him with daddy wearing his similar hat. This weekend I'm going to be good. We're doing spring cleaning and one of the things on my list is to go through all Ben's clothes and pick out everything that is 3-6 months, and maybe even his plain 6 months stuff, and put them away. With the weather turning nice now, I may even be able to put away some of his heavier items.

I have come up with a couple of ways to preserve some of that cuteness. One - I'm taking lots of pictures. I'm trying to get a picture of him in every outfit - at least all the really cute ones. Sometimes I'll just sit him on the bed and take a picture of him before we leave for the day. Crazy, I know, but I'm sick I tell ya. Another way - scrapbooking! I'm writing down a description of most of his clothes. I'm noting the color scheme, the sayings, the cute animals. No...I'm not going to keep records of every piece of clothing he's ever worn. I'm going to use that list to inspire my layouts. Some of the prints on his jammies, for example, would be cute designs on pages. The colors used in the fabric can be joined as a pallet on a page. This way, I'll be able to keep all those outfits around, with actually having them around.

As for the actual clothing, it still is around, however, I'll save them for baby number two.

Pasta

So, Ben is very into eating things he can pick up. He even tries for spilled fruits/veggies on his high chair table. He loves bread, and we've tried to give him pasta a couple of times but he hasn't taken well too it (although he does like the jar mac n cheese). Tonight we had spaghetti and of course he was up on his feet trying to get at everything on my tv tray (yeah, yeah, we were eating in front of the tv, what else is new). To keep him quiet and busy I gave him some spaghetti. He loved it. The cutest part - he was slurping it! So funny! We didn't get any pictures, and we tried to get some slurpping noises on video. This is about the best we could do.

J.R. had the camera and it was on video mode -so watch out. Everything becomes a video. I didn't realize there was anything to this video, except a funny scream, until I watched it just now. I think Ben is trying to tell us that his diaper is full. Glad I spent the money on the sign language class - instead of giving me the sign for "change my wet diaper" he decides on another sign of his own. (Pay no attention to "Charmed" on the tv in the background.)

Playing and Sleeping

Sorry it's been a while. I feel like nothing new is happening, but I've been busy all the same.

The Masque's show opened this weekend, so I've spent a lot of time at school. It's Picasso at the Lapin Agile. It's a comedy by Steve Martin. Once again...The Masque kicks butt. It's a funny show - it's very Steve Martin. My students were great in it. Many of the lines just rolled of their tongues like it was natural...like they weren't acting...which I guess is what should happen in a good show, right? I'm proud of them, all of them; the actors, the techies (the set was beautiful) and the rest of the crew who made it all happen. I'm proud to be their adviser.

Ben is as cute as ever. He's been going to bed (mostly on his own, partly our doing) between 8:00 and 9:00 PM for the past week. It's been great. He's sleeping through the night better too. Note the word "better". Some nights he's slept all night, some not, but when not, he's only up long enough for one of us to soothe him, then he's down again. Last night he was up for about 45 minutes, but that's been the worst for a while. Phew!

J.R. saw Ben standing by himself a couple of times towards the end of last week. I finally saw him do it Saturday. It was pretty cool. I don't have a picture of it yet, but I'm working on it. His daycare report said he stood by himself today, too. Then tonight, he stood alone for about 10 seconds. I'm excited. I think he'll be walking before he's a year old. Daycare thinks so too. The other cute thing he's been doing is grabbing whatever he's standing against, and rocking side to side. He's doing it sitting on my lap too (my nose has been hit more than once when I try rocking opposite him) but when he's standing it's really funny. He's even picking up his feet now when he does it. He's going to be quite the dancer I think!

I've been sick for the past couple of days so today I slept in a little and brought Ben to daycare late. All the babies were playing on the floor. I gave Ben over to the teachers and put all his stuff away. They were teasing, telling Ben I should have called to say he was going to be late because they were sad thinking he might not be in. Friendly Ben they called him. What a switch, hey? What a relief I say. Then the director told me Ben is on his way to being Infant of the Month. I have no idea what that means, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. When I was leaving, Ben was booking it across the floor, under the table. Pretty cute.

TTFN

Raspberries, Zerberts, and Sleestacks

Ben has begun making raspberries and giving us zerberts. The cutest thing is that he's communicating with J.R. in Sleestack-ese. He is making this raspberry-ish hissing noise. J.R. makes it back at him, then Ben does it again. It's pretty funny. Other than that, he's saying "Da" alot. He says "Ma" and "Ba" too, but mostly "Da". I think he's starting to call for me, but he's calling me Da Da. Oh well.

Here are a few cute pictures from daycare.

Chloe got a big treat this weekend. Her friend Apollo gave her a big bone.