Something I Love

After very little thought and a spontaneous craving to share my opinion with the world, I have decided that every once in a while, when I think of something I just love, I will let everyone know about it.

The other day I was reminiscing about my pregnancy and I remembered this great lotion and oil set I used. It is called MamaMio. This stuff is great! I used it religiously throughout pregnancy and immediately post-partum.

The OMega Massage Oil was my favorite and I used it every day.


The Boob Tube was pretty great too. Actually, that will probably come in handy again just around the corner whenever Ben decides to wean. My boobs will likely go back from my awesome breastfeeding Ds to my less flattering, regular Bs, and this stuff will probably help my skin a lot.


I also used the balm, but I didn't use it very often so I can't say how great it was.


If you're expecting or know someone who is, this is a must-have, and a great gift for someone who likes to pamper herself a few minutes each day! I love it!

**PS. Here in Tulsa, I bought my set at Baby Bump on Brookside!

Ben's Favorite Christmas presents!

This year Ben received these things from Grandmas, Grandpas, and mom and dad for Christmas:

A Rocking Horse


A Blue Ball


A Car (Shame on Grammy for only having pink bibs! haha!)


A Puppy


A Big Boy Chair



He loves them all!! Thank you, everyone, for making his first Christmas special!

Christmas Eve Tradition!

I just love these things: Christmas. Family. Tradition. Food. Celebration. Babies. Snow on Christmas Eve.

This Christmas Eve I got to have them all together!

Ever since I was teeny tiny we have been spending Christmas Eve with my mother's family in St. Louis. We always go to Mass and then to someone's home for food, drink, togetherness, and to exchange presents. I always have so much fun... I just love this family so much and the tradition has made this time together so valuable to me.

Benjamin got to experience this tradition for the first time this year! So did his cousins, Greyson and Jackson! (Well, Greyson in my cousin Emily's son so technically they're not cousins, but let's keep it simple. I hope they grow up seeing enough of one another to feel like they're cousins anyway! And, really, this is Jackson's 2nd year of it all, but he doesn't know or care either!)

Seeing the three of them together reminds me of me and my cousins when we were little!

This is my cousin Jennifer, myself, and my cousin Courtney.


This is Ben with Greyson and Jackson

And my other cousin and his wife announced they are bringing another baby to the family in August! Yay! I am so excited for them!!! Once you're a mommy, you just get so excited for other mommies because you know how much joy they are getting to experience. So fun!!!


This is another one of the 3 girls and my cousin Michael, the one who just annouced he and his wife are having a baby!

What's worse than being sick all day?

Watching your baby be sick all day! Poor Benjamin! Poor, innocent, little baby Ben was sick all day Tuesday with a nasty stomach (bah hum-)bug.

Most people would not consider me an over-reactive parent, but watching Ben get sick over and over made me eager to get to the doctor to have him checked out.

We had an early morning visit and the doctor sent us home with instructions to take it easy, nap, to offer water two hours after he got sick (allowing time for his tummy to settle) and to call back if Ben got sick more than once again.

Ben got sick in the car on the way home. I pulled over, cleaned up what I could and comforted him, then we resumed our journey. The little guy fell asleep in the car seat but I wanted to move him to his crib for more restful sleep. He got sick when we walked inside.

After clean-up and our nap routine he was down for a nap. He woke up after 20 minutes and got sick. I went to his nursery, picked him up, and he fell right back asleep in my arms, exhausted! So I held him while he slept and he woke up after another 20 minutes and got sick on me. But since he went right back to sleep I just let him finish his nap. The life of a mother is glamorous! ;)

After his nap and clean-up, Ben was ready to play so we played and after 30 minutes of play I gave him 2 teaspoons of water. 15 minutes later he got sick again.

Sitting at 15 hours since he held down a drop and 8 pukes later I called the doctor. They wanted to see him again. While he smiled for them and looked fine in general, they were worried about his hydration. He was crying when the doctor looked at his ears but Ben wasn't making any tears. The options were to go straight to the children's hospital for fluid or take the doctor's cell number and call if Ben failed our next attempt at holding down water. I chose the latter. Who wants to hook their baby up to IVs if it isn't totally necessary, ya know?!

Thankfully Ben held down his diluted Sprite and he even ate a mum mum later that night. Before bed he wanted to nurse, so I let him have a little bit of milk and he kept it all down!! The bug was history....

Until the next day!!! Luckily the vomit was done, but the diarrhea had begun. The doctors office called us to check on Benjamin and said that was actually a good thing because it is clearing totally out of his system! Yay!

Iended up with the bug the next night and let me tell you... it is one UGLY stomach flu! I haven't ached that bad since having Benjamin! I know it is everywhere right now, running around Tulsa knocking out anyone it can get to. I hope you all avoid it and if you just can't keep it away, I wish you a quick recovery!

Christmas photos!!!

We had our family photos taken so I could send out pictures in our Christmas cards. I couldn't choose just one, so I picked four and randomly put them in people's cards.

The matching outfits had been planned for a long time. I purchased them from Hannah Andersson. Then, at the last minute, I decided we should all bring pjs as well (erik had red plaid bottoms but they were all cut out of the pictures) and I am so glad I did!! The PJ pics ended up being really cute even though Ben was ready to call it quits!

Merry Christmas!

9 month checkup

Benjamin had a fabulous nine month checkup!!

He is healthy as usual (well except for the things I previously blogged about!) and growing like a weed!

His stats were: 20.5 lbs (50%), 30" (90%), and head was 50%, but I don't remember the measurement right now. I was happy that his head is proportionally bigger because it was always smaller before!

Our string bean is meeting all the regular milestones, but he seems to be early with his feet and right on time or maybe a little behind with his hands. Who can walk before they can clap? This guy!

His daddy got to see his first steps, just a couple days after 9 months, and I got to see a few steps about a week later. I'm guessing he will be walking by ten months??

But the hands... I'm going to have to focus on teaching him how to clap and other arm movements so his upper body doesn't get stuck way behind his lower body!

The other things they did were give him one vaccination shot (we are on a different schedule than most) and draw blood to test him for anemia since I am a vegetarian and I really haven't given him much in the way of iron-rich foods either.

I asked questions about the solid foods in his diet and the pediatrician eased my fears that he doesn't have enough variety and told me I could give him a multi-vitamin if it would make me feel better. I haven't decided yet.

I used to call him my baby and lately I have been calling him my Bubba... I can't believe he is 9 months old!!! Love you Bubs!!

The dog bowl hijinx!

Edited: Written in December, but finally uploaded the proof!

Ben just absolutely cracks me up sometimes!!! He is so freaking smart already! This is something he has been doing for a while now, but lately he has added a smirk to it.

You see, as I have mentioned before, he loves water... However he can get it. So he likes to splash in the dogs' water bowl. He is not allowed to do this and he knows it, but as any child would he tries and tries again.

This is his routine:
1. Crawl down the hall when mom is trying to do something.
2. Realize she is chasing me and crawl faster.
3. Since I know she is going to stop me from the water bowl, crawl right past it and pretend to observe the door stop.
4. **the new one: look over my shoulder and smirk.
5. When mom looks away quickly crawl to the bowl and stick my hand in it!!! Success!!

Ummm... Just checking out Mia, the doorstop, and this pretty wall here...


Hi Mom! No Trouble Here!


Success!

What do you do about the nap time poo?

Well, 2 days after Benjamin got over the roseola he came down with a cold. I'm sure it was easier for his body to pick up a virus when it was already being bogged down by another one. Ben was nice enough to share this bug with Erik and me. We were all sick with majorly stuffed up sinuses and massive pressure between the ears. Yuck!

About 10 days later we are all better!!! Yay! There's still the random cough and sniffle but I think the illness itself has cleared out.

Anyhow. The 2 weeks of sickness has ruined Benjamin's sleeping habits. While I'm trying to get it all back on track we are still have a rough go of many of his naps. He is actually putting himself to sleep pretty well again (this was hard for him to do when he was clogged up because he still likes the paci at night and he couldn't breathe when he had it in his mouth... The struggle noises crushed my heart!) but when he wakes up in the middle of a nap he has to whine or cry a little before he goes back to sleep and finishes it.

Normally I know just what to do, but every once in a while he has a mid-nap poo!!! Oh my gosh, this drives me crazy. He can't go back to sleep with a dirty diaper, so his wimper will turn into major tears, I'll go check on him and bam, I'm hit by the whiff of a full diaper. Changing him just wakes him up even more, plus even if he has only slept 30 minutes (as opposed to the usual 1.5 hours we have worked hard to regularly achieve) he thinks he is now well-rested and ready to go after getting out of his crib.

So what do you do when your little one has a nap time poo?? Do you put them back in the crib and let them cry if they need to in order to finish the nap? Do you chalk it up to a bad nap and get on with the day? Do you try to get them back to sleep with your assistance by rocking or nursing?

Please share what you do... I never really know and end up doing something different each time based on how the day is going. Each time I'm thing man, this stinks!

All better?

It turns out that Benjamin's fever was due to something called Roseola. It is when an infant runs a fever for four or five days and then breaks out in a rash for a few hours or a couple days.

The incubation period is five to ten days so I cant even trace back to where we might have picked it up. Not that it matters... More important is just that we didn't spread it to anyone else. We had been around Benjamin's cousins quite a bit right at the end of his contagious period (what I learned a little too late) and we have our fingers crossed that they didn't pick it up.

Roseola is a strain of the herpes virus, just like chicken pox, shingles, and quite a few other things I didn't realize were connected until I was doing research on this one. So I didn't ask the doctor, but maybe like the pox he can only get this once??? I'm not sure, but that would be nice!

He is over the Roseola now but now he has some major congestion and we are still catching up on lost sleep so he has had a little case of the cranks in the afternoons. Hopefully we can sort that out over this long holiday weekend and get back on track for Monday!

Another first

Yesterday I would have told you that I know what Benjamin's next 'first' would be. I would have said it will be his first step. He has cruising down and he stands for quite a while on his own. He walks all over in his walker and does a pretty good job of moving those legs when he is lightly supported by my arms. Yesterday I would have been wrong.

Today Ben has his first fever. Booooo!! This is a first I was hoping not to see for a long time. He is such a happy, healthy little guy that I forgot he is capable of getting sick. This 'first' sucks. I don't like it at all and I wish he didn't have to feel like yuck.

Our baby is handling it like such a big boy. He has been tired all day but not really fussy or upset. At 4:30 I took his temperature and it was 102.5. After two warm baths, a small dinner, and a dose of acetaminophen I put him down for the night at 7:00 with a temp of 100. I'm sure we will be up a couple (or several) times tonight but I'm just going to cuddle him back to health.

Up until this point I really thought breastmilk would keep him safe from everything illness-related. Joining in a kids' music class and having more play dates (though so much fun!!) has apparently proven me wrong, as somewhere along the way Ben caught a nasty bug.

Keep Benjamin in your prayers. He needs to get well soon!!

Baby to Big Boy

I was just e-mailing my cousin and telling her how Ben had somehow, overnight, transformed from a baby to a little boy. It is insane how much older he looks and acts, and it just snuck up on me over the last couple weeks. Benjamin has been fondly called "Baby Ben" by several friends and relatives since his birth. I'm afraid this nickname isn't going to hold much longer. It's going to have to be "Big Boy Ben" pretty soon. Our little guy has recently started letting go of furniture when standing up. He doesn't even realize he is doing it, but it is happening more and more. That first step is just around the corner... Even though he is soon to be a toddler, I know he will always be my baby.

Here are a couple pics of him with his look alike at the TU game!

Halloween Recap

I realize I'm a week late. But, seriously, I don't know how you mamas do it... I mean, I have no clue how Halloween night all these posts were up showing off costumes and telling your stories of Halloween fun. You gals are awesome. Or I'm just a lazy blogger. Or both statements are true....

Anyhow, I really didn't do a very good job of taking pictures this Holiday. So I just have a couple pics of Benjamin as a Jayhawk and as a kangaroo:


With Grandpa Bush




With Grammy Block, very "late" on Halloween (9:00 pm, 1.5hr after normal bedtime!) so the 'Roo wouldn't hold still!

The days leading up to Halloween, we went around to visit people who would want to see Ben dressed up. Benjamin brought goodie bags of homemade cookies and candy to lots of people and left it with a note that said "No tricks... Just treats! Happy Halloween! Love, Benjamin" The note had a photo of Ben at the pumpkin patch stuck to the bottom. I thought they were really cute (Ben is sooooo crafty) and I hope the recipients liked them as well!

On Saturday we took my family to the Cedar Ridge Trunk or Treat and Boogie Man Buffet. We had a lot of fun, decorated our trunk as "The Spooky Zoo" and pigged out at the buffet.

On Sunday we went to our friends' home and trick or treating with a whole bunch of kiddos. This night was SO much fun. Even though Ben didn't go door to door, he enjoyed being with all the other children and watching hundreds of people run around the neighborhood.

Happy Belated Halloween!! I'm going to try and figure out how to post more timely before Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around! :)

Catching Light

Babies do hundreds of thousands of really cool things as they grow. This is one of my favorites!!

Benjamin has been trying to catch light for about 6 weeks now. I have been wanting to post about it, but wanted to have a photo to go with the post. Well, my mother-in-law caught it on camera, so here we go!

When light shines through our family room windows in the morning, there are spots of light on the carpet... Ben tries to grab it. I think this is so cute, because he tries, and tries, and tries again. Eventually he just gives up, but a few days later I'll see him doing the same thing. In the afternoons, the light shines though our front door windows and leaves rainbows on the hard wood floors and the office walls. He tries to catch the rainbows and pick them up, and it is so, so cute. I look forward to the day that he notices the rainbow moving to his hand as he puts it between the door and the wall. I think he is going to be amazed that the rainbow just "jumped" to his hand!

More pumpkins!

We went on a couple trips to the patches this year... One with Ben, Mommy, and Daddy; one with Grandma Bush, Aunt Carly, and Jackson. And we still have a couple more trips with friends on the calendar! Yay for free outdoor activities to do with friends in this beautiful fall weather we have been given!

So, here are some photos of trip #1:







And, here are some photos of trip #2:

Sweet as Pumpkin Pie

I love pumpkins. That being said, I had never cooked one until last Sunday. Two pie pumpkins were purchased and I baked them for two reasons: 1. To introduce pumpkin to Benjamin. 2. To bake something with fresh pumpkin in the next couple days.

So I slaved away Friday while Erik was out golfing and Ben was napping. When he came home he was curious as to what the mess was and I told him how excited I was that I had cooked my first pumpkin.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I hadn't done anything with the pumpkin yet, but had it chilling in the refrigerator so I could puree some for Benjamin to try... or so I thought. We went to the kitchen at the same time that morning and all I could say was : "Oh No!" Erik was concerned and saying "oh no what??? what?!?" And I held up my bowl of pumpkin that had been sitting on the counter all night. Apparently when Erik got his regular glass of bedtime juice he forgot to replace the bowl of pumpkin he had taken out to reach the carton. So there went all my pumpkin into the trash, never to be tasted or baked into awesome pumpkin muffins!

Okay, fast forward more... to Sunday night. I went to the Carrie Underwood concert with some ladies and Erik took care of Ben. The concert was awesome, but thanks to the openers, the real concert didn't start until 9:00. I roll in to my house at 11:30 expecting Erik to be watching TV or reading, and ready to go to bed...but what do I find?

My sweet, sweet as pumpkin pie, husband was standing in the kitchen where his 35 lb pumpkin we bought a few days prior had exploded into several pieces. He felt so bad about leaving my pumpkin out that he took on the task of baking pumpkin... but obviously had no idea what he was doing or what he had gotten himself into!

The pumpkin tasted like pumpkin alright, but there was a ton of it! He had cut his prize "Daddy" pumpkin into eight (8!!!) huge pieces and was baking them 1-2 at a time. He had been cooking for well over 4 hours! I couldn't help but laugh. A lot.

Since I had to stay up and pump anyway, I took over kitchen duty and finally made it to bed about 1:00 a.m. I didn't get much sleep that night but I did get a lot of chuckles, a great memory, and a very big reminder of how very sweet my husband is!!

From pumpkins

Erik and Ben at Carmichael's Pumpkin Patch last weekend, picking out Ben's pumpkin