A Week Away Recap

Okay, so I didn't blog while I was gone to Idaho.  But I was actually with 5 of my 7 blog readers so I figured the real live Benjamin was better than pictures!  At least that's my excuse.

We got a later start than we wanted heading off to Idaho on Friday but we made it and Benjamin did pretty well on the 8 hour drive.  We had a nice low key day with a bit of shopping on Saturday with my family.  We went to church with Peter's family on Sunday and spent the rest of the day with them.  Monday we spent half the day with each family, ending with a picnic in the park with most of my siblings.  It went by too fast though because right afterward Peter had to take off to come home :-(

Monday morning Benjamin had woke up with a fever and was super fussy.  For the next 2 days his fever was somewhere between 101 and 102.5 most of the time and he was very clingy and just not his normal self.  I finally took him to Quick Care on Wednesday morning but they didn't see signs of an ear infection, strep, etc so it was just a virus.  By Thursday afternoon his fever was gone, but he was still super needy and clingy.  But that was due to the fact that he was incredibly sleep deprived.  This is how my sweet little darling would take naps....

Seriously.

He would absolutely refuse to lay down.  I tried discipline, I tried being rational with him (um, yeah, that really worked with a 19 month old), I tried songs, I tried begging....nothing worked.  My son is incredibly stubborn so I finally left him to cry until he fell asleep.  Only he fell asleep standing up.  And it lasted for a 1/2 hour at the max before he'd wake up and cry until I came and got him.  At night he woke up about every 3 hours crying and though I didn't have to get up each time, I was still woke up.  And he was up crying most mornings at about 6:20am.  So the quality sleep I was hoping for apparently didn't make the drive to Idaho with us.  Between the interrupted sleep and a very clingy child, I was close to putting him up for auction on ebay.  I'm only joking.  Mostly.  His demeanor made the week a bit long.

However, we did have lots of fun in between.  We shopped at thrift stores, ate at restaurants, played with Elmo, went to play in the river, played at the mall playground and lots more fun outings.  In my sleep deprived state I didn't take any pictures except for the last day I was in town when I was packing my camera and realized I hadn't used it at all.  I stole a few from my sisters facebook but I don't have any pictures of Benjamin with his Poppy and GongGong which is sad :-(  Next time for sure though!

 This picture makes me laugh because Benjamin loved this book (thrift store for 25 cents)  He insisted that Grandfather read it over and over.  He kept saying "again, again, again"  Eventually my dad hid the book so he could at least read something different to him.  Ha ha, love it!

 Benjamin adored spending time at Nana's house

 so much love for Auntie Amanda

he's a great Grandfather to our little boy!

I stole these pictures from my sister....

 Benjamin is smiling in this picture but he hates it when I'm holding another baby/toddler like I was with my niece Azalea.  He just gets sooooo jealous......and it really makes me nervous for when his little brother or sister comes this winter!

all the cousins!  Benjamin, Azalea, Alexander and Aiden.  Not easy to get a picture of these 4, but they're sure cute :-)

We flew back on Saturday and Benjamin was SOOO excited to see his Daddy.  And so was I!  It was so good to be back with him.  We got home at 8pm, I quickly unpacked while Daddy got Benjamin ready for bed and we all went to bed early. 

Sunday we went to church and then afterward our EPIC girls group went hiking at McDowell Creek.  We had a fun time!  I came home and went for a bike ride with my boys, then after Ben went to bed Peter and I crashed with a pizza and watched some football and tv.

Today (after Benjamin finally slept until 7:30.....Hallelujah!) we headed to WinCo to restock our fridge.  The rest of the day was low key, a small walk, dinner, picking from our garden and a few stories and songs on the piano.  It is great to be back home with my hubby!  I think he's kinda glad I'm home too....if only because I just made him some fresh brownies and chocolate sauce, ha :-)

Here's a few more cute pics of my little guy who is growing up soooo fast. 

And notice that he's not wearing a bib?!?!!  You can see in the pic that he still drools a tiny bit but he's not soaking his shirts so he hasn't had a bib on for about 5 days now.  It's so fun to actually see the front of his shirts now.  Apparently it's the little things in life that make me happy :-)