One of those days

If you're a mom, you can tell by the title of the post what my day was like :-)

You know, one of those days where 8pm can't come fast enough.

One of those days where everything your child says is in that oh so fun "whiny" tone.

One of those days where your child thinks you're speaking in tongues when you tell him it's time for a nap.

One of those days where you're meeting your child's every need and he's still not content.

One of those days.

And yet, I have to remind myself, that's it is JUST one of those days.  That most days are incredible days where I can hardly stop smiling because my son is so wonderfully goofy and ornery and chunky and lovable.  Most days I beg Peter to let him come sleep with us because I just want to snuggle his sweet little body.  I guess it's the "one of those days" that makes us appreciate the wonderful every other days that much more. 

Even tonight, when Benjamin woke up crying 40 minutes ago needing his mom, I sighed out of exasperation when I heard him on the monitor.  But when I go to comfort him and he snuggles into my chest and falls asleep instantly, it's hard not to melt into his cuteness.  He didn't want to let go of his mama tonight and cried when I finally put him down 30 minutes later.  While I was holding him I just cherished his sweet, perfect face.  I cherished how lucky I was to be his mom and how blessed I am even on "one of those days."  I rocked him and sang to him and prayed for him.  And I prayed for myself....that I'd be the mom of patience and wisdom and love that he will need.  Because I know there will be many more "one of those days" in my future and that I will fail him miserably without the Lord's strength.

I sure do love my little boy, even when he makes me want to pull out every one of my freshly cut hairs, ha! :-)  And yes, I want to be a mom of patience but I'd still LOVE it if he'd sleep through the night tonight.

I should have known today was going to be a long day because yesterday when the weather was beautiful, we went to the park, and let him play.  But he wasn't overly happy.  He whined on the swing.  

Who whines on a swing?  On a beautiful 60 degree day in January?  Really Benjamin, really? :-)

He at least sort of enjoyed climbing the steps of the slide!

Here's a few pictures from the park.

 my cutie....yogurt lips and all!

 swinging away

 having some yogurt parfait for a snack

 at least one of us enjoyed the swing

 looking so big in his new Target clearance shoes!

 he's cute even if he wouldn't smile

 getting re-acquainted with this grass stuff

 "from up here, you all look like little ants" thought Benjamin

 my little monkey climber

 I think I captured at least a partial smile

 made it to the top!

riding on the merry-go-round for a minute!

Here's to hoping tomorrow is one of the other kind of days :-)

Simple Saturday in Spring?

The weather was beautiful today.  Sunny and 60 degrees.....awesome, I loved it.

This morning was low key, and after Benjamin napped we headed to Salem.  We stopped at Costco to eat samples for lunch.  Is that cheap?  The samples are the perfect sized lunch for Benjamin, especially since they have so many on the weekend.  And Peter and I never want a huge lunch because we usually have a bigger breakfast than normal on Saturday.  So we didn't buy a thing, just ate samples.  Okay, so maybe it's a bit cheap, but I prefer to consider it frugal :-)

Afterward we went to the mall so I could get my haircut.  I got it for 1/2 off thanks to a Groupon Coupon, woo hoo!  I went back to a gal who had done my hair before and I had really liked it.  I've gone to other random people since then and have had some pretty lousy haircuts, so I thought I'd check to see if she was available.  I'm pretty happy with the haircut!  Of course it never looks like it does now after you wash it and have to style it yourself, but for a day you can pretend you're kind of put together, ha!

though I'm pretty sure this picture confirms the fact that my forehead is the size of Montana.

Anyway...

We headed home where Benjamin did not nap because we got home too late.  But he was happy enough so we decided to walk to Wal-Mart since it was nice out and we're only about 1 mile away.  It was nice to get out a little bit and get some fresh air.

We came home and ate dinner...

Peter worked on taxes...

I sorted through Benjamin's 6-12 month clothes and replaced them with 12-18 months...

(it's really almost embarrassing how many clothes I have for him, this isn't even 1/3 of them)

and Benjamin played and acted goofy like he does best...

 practicing for the SuperBowl next week.........TOUCHDOWN!

 yep, he's crazy

 he's always holding on to his puzzle pieces

 I sure do love this precious face........he is going to be 1 on Thursday.  This Thurdsay.  I'm kinda freaking out.

 he walks around and whips his walker with the spoon like you would a horse to get it to giddy-up.  It's hilarious

 I'm going to get you mama!!!

 Just playing in my corner with my toys

 When I saw this picture it made me think that Benjamin had been naughty and Daddy was having him carry his own spoon up to his room to get a spanking.  HA HA HA!  Trust me, that is NOT the case....Benjamin just didn't want to leave his spoon before his diaper change :-)

 Daddy comes up with the best activities!

 Nice legs Benjamin, nice legs.

 We couldn't resist.  We had to put the Pooh costume back on!

 he once again thought he was hilarious and danced around on his changing table!

 just a little Daddy/Son bonding time

 How fun!  Daddy let me watch some Elmo tonight

He loves it and claps and claps when it comes on.  It's pretty cute.

Now, it's movie time and perhaps a slice (or two?) of strawberry cake.

It was a simple Saturday in what felt like Spring and I loved it.

The dreadful sound

Oh, that dreadful sound.

The sound that makes your heart drop.

BONK.  BUMP.  CRASH.  THUD.

to be followed by a moment of silence and then real tears of pain and sadness.

Today, Benjamin had his first real bonk/bump/crash/thud.

He has been doing great on his walking and must have gathered the courage to try going from the ottoman to the coffee table by himself, because I turned around for a second and out of the corner of my eye I saw him walking.  He made it all the way there but fell right at the end.  I heard the BONK and my heart stopped.

I think the hardest part is that there was nothing I could have done.  I rush to him to see where he's hurt himself and try to comfort him with kisses and hugs and as many "it's okay, it's okay sweetheart"'s as I can say.  It's then that I see that he's got himself a little cut right above the eye....

It didn't take long to realize it wasn't a huge cut or anything terribly serious, but come on, I'm a first time mom....anytime he's even a bit hurt it makes me want to cry!  It bled a little bit and after 5 minutes he finally stopped crying and just buried his precious head onto my shoulder.  We snuggled and I made an exception to our normal morning routine and we watched a bit of Elmo while we ate some Cheerios.

It is hard seeing your children suffer, even if it is a relatively minor bonk that he received because he's trying to learn the new life skill of walking.  It was a weird feeling of helplessness that I felt today knowing that I won't be able to protect him from every bonk or cut or bruise or protect him from getting his feeling's hurt or a broken heart.  It sort of hit me that while I will do everything in my mighty Mama power to protect him, I ultimately need to trust God with him, knowing that Benjamin is in His hands and His protection and nothing will ever happen to him that is not in God's perfect plan.  There's a real peace in that, and it's a peace I hope to know and claim more in my life as a Mom.

So, today we survived the first of the dreaded sounds that I know will be frequent in the future of my active little boy.  But don't worry buddy, Mama will always be here to kiss your owie's away, I love you!

P.S.  Don't worry Nana, he's recovering just fine!

He's Off!

I would say today is Benjamin's official "walking" day!!!!

He is now leaving whatever he's holding on to (like the coffee table or ottoman) and walking to what he wants.  It is SO FUN.  Of course, he still topples over and is still needing more confidence to walk all the time, but it is crazy how much changes in a day.  He is loving it too....his expression is so full of joy as he realizes how quickly he can get from point A to point B.  It's pretty awesome to watch.

Today was a good day overall.  I babysat my friend's little boy Micah for a few hours this morning.  Micah was born exactly one year before Benjamin, within 15 minutes.  We're going to be celebrating their birthday's together this year which is awesome.  Benjamin was SO excited to see Micah this morning....it's fun to watch them "recognize" each other.  Wal-Mart, dinner, more walking practice, and a bath capped off our day.

 Benjamin and his buddy Micah

 playing a duet together (yes, Benjamin weighs more than Micah, ha!)

 Benjamin loves cars.  Lately, he's been obsessed with this fire truck and drives it all over the house.  It's adorable (thanks for the truck Aunt Nita)

 does this look say "guilty" or what?

 oh mom, I'm just doing a little pre-washing :-)

no Benjamin, you may not tickle your mama with the spoon!

I'd better go to bed early tonight, I have a feeling this newly found walking ability is going to wear a mama out!

Caught on camera!

Here's a quick video of our little guy taking some of his very first steps!  He's still a little leery of not having something to hold on to, or something to grab in front of him, but he is doing SO good.  I'm a proud mama.  I didn't realize how fun it was going to be to watch your child hit each milestone :-)

First Steps!!!! (and our weekend)

Oh, Benjamin is SO close to walking.  Tonight he took his first real steps.  4 in a row!!

 I took a friend's advice and was using socks or a onesie or other clothing item to have him grab onto while I was holding the other end, then I would let go once he got going.  And he took his first steps.  SO FUN.  :-)

Now, when he's running away from me in Wal-Mart because I won't buy him the Elmo toy he wants....remind me how fun it is to have him walk, ha!

I'm pretty sure he'll be officially walking this week, but who knows, my son has a mind of his own :-)

 (I'll have to post a video later)

On another note:  Benjamin discovered the toilet tonight.  Peter was "watching" him tonight but somehow Benjamin found the toilet water.  Oh joy.  There goes my slight possibility of getting a shower with him awake now.  So Peter was washing his hands and decided to let him play in the sink full of water.  It was cute!

Benjamin reading during his bath tonight.

The Missions Conference weekend was awesome.  We went to the group session on Friday night after eating dinner at Subway.  They had a worship team with members from around the world so we worshiped in a few different languages and it was amazing.  The girls really enjoyed it (not to mention they thought the lead singer and bass guitar player were cute, ha!)  Late Friday night we headed to Heather's house to crash for the night.  She had fresh Pioneer Woman cookies (I both love her and hate her for making those) :-) and she was super gracious to open up her home to us.  Benjamin had a late night but slept really well.  The girls had a midnight "curfew" but I'm pretty sure a few of them texted into the wee hours of the morning!

We ate a fabulous breakfast (again with the whole love/hate relationship, ha!) and headed off for the day.  We went to another group session with worship and another speaker then broke off to attend a workshop.  The girls all wanted to go to the Hip Hop for Missions class.  It was a great way for them to see how normal "teenage" activities can be used to witness to their friends and a great way for them to stretch their legs after sitting for so long.  I was really impressed with how they just went for it while they were dancing.

We ate lunch at Sweet Tomatoes and headed back for another group session.  Afterward we started another workshop but the girls were slowly losing steam (quite honestly, we all were!)  So we had a pow wow and decided to leave an hour early and hit the nearby mall.  They shopped for a bit, ate dinner at the food court and we headed home, getting back about 8:45pm.  We had 9 girls and 4 adults and it really was a wonderful time.  I'm praying God will take the words/teaching/music they heard and have it planted as a seed in their hearts, not only burdening them for missions but to just draw closer to Him in their lives.

Benjamin was a trooper.  It wasn't easy keeping him entertained during the long sessions but thanks to all the non-rattle toys I could fit, lots of Cheerios and Ritz crackers, and a pretty amazing "Cherub Comfort" cry room the church had, we did pretty good.  I was exhausted at the end of the weekend because well, he's 26 pounds and I had no help from Peter, but it was so worth it.

While I was gone Peter worked 21 hours of overtime.  He worked from 8-3 on Friday, then went back from 4pm on Friday after we took off and worked until 7am on Saturday.  He slept for a few hours and went back to work at 10:30am on Saturday and worked until 8pm.  He's insane.  But such a hard worker.

Today was church, then our annual business meeting.  So we didn't get home until 3:15.  Benjamin slept from 4pm until 6:30pm so........we slept too!  It was awesome.  And yet, I'm still ready to go to bed so I probably will soon.  It was a full, full, full weekend but so fun.

Nine

Nine random thoughts.  Nine pictures of my little cutie.

1.  Is it just me or is gas expensive again?  I think I filled up today for $3.11 a gallon?

2.  I didn't realize American Idol was back on.  I haven't watched it yet but I'm not sure if it'll even be the same show without Simon.  We really don't watch that much tv anymore, maybe a show a week.  We just signed up for Netflix and have checked out a few DVD's.  We're watching Cranford, a BBC movie, as I'm typing this.

3.  I really wish Thin Mint Cookie ice cream would make you thin.  I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

4.  Swagbucks is a pretty cool deal.  Fairly easy way to get free amazon gift cards.

5.  Side note - when did my baby decide to start looking like a little boy?  STOP GROWING!

6.  Target had a very small selection of baby stuff on 75% off clearance.  I got the cutest little dress shirt and pants with a sweater vest for Benjamin next year.  And I may have bought some adorably sweet girl bibs.  No, I'm not pregnant and am not planning to be but a little girl would be fun.....someday.

7.  Benjamin loooooooves Costco.  I think "sample" is going to be one of his first words.  I'm pretty sure he is going through a growth spurt because he is eating like a horse.  A blue-eyed, blonde haired, fabulously adorable horse.

8.  Benjamin and I are going to a Missions Conference from Friday to Saturday in Portland.  It's an event for our Girls Night group at church and we're really excited.  We'll be staying at our friends house for the night and I'm super excited to see them.  There's 9 junior high/high school girls going and a handful of adult sponsors so pray God uses this time in all of us.  Peter will be working overtime to try to chip away at the massive amount of projects building up at work.  And yes, like I always do, I am completely avoiding packing.  

9.  "Let's Make Music" is the best DVD ever.  It's Sesame Street with the musical group Stomp.  The group that uses random objects as musical instruments.  Benjamin love, love, LOVES it and I'll admit, it's pretty cool.  He was watching it tonight while Daddy was on the phone and Mommy was at Worship Team practice.  He is becoming so grown up! 

 

 (you can see the weird hole next to our fireplace where Peter is going to make a built in bookshelf)

I'll post about the conference when we get back!