Grown-up Dinner Party

On Sunday evening, Rachel and Peter decided to throw together an impromptu dinner party and invited us and the Ochiltree's over!  They had recently purchased a new dining room table (and a fancy gun safe) so it was the perfect excuse to have a few people over to check them out :)

Everything looked SO nice - the table, the place settings, the flowers - it felt very put together and grown-up.  I guess I have become used to eating cereal on the couch in my pajamas....

Peter grilled up some delicious flank steak, Becca made an amazing summer salad, Rachel made a mouth-watering pineapple upside down cake, Greg (not pictured) made tequila lime tiger prawns, and Cam and I relaxed and drank ;)

It was nice for Ben to be able to crawl around on the grass too - although, it seemed as though he didn't like his knees touching the ground, so he revised his method of getting around:

 

Practicing!  Next year this time, this will be Becca and Cam's little guy!

Greg decided to put on Peter's horse head (!!??!!) to see what Ben thought of it...:

Becca and Cam

Peter, Cam and Greg

Me, Rachel and Becca

and Ben

It was a super fun summer evening!  Ben did pretty darn well for skipping out on his afternoon nap for the second day in a row.  I am mad at myself that I didn't throw the pack and play in the car because if I had, I would have put him down to sleep and extended our night a little longer.  We attempted to put him to sleep inside Rachel's ottoman, but he wasn't having it ;)

Thanks, Cougans, for a wonderful evening!  And I can't wait to re-learn Settler's next time!

Bill and Kelly's Wedding (and Ben's First Ferry Ride)!

Last night we had fun celebrating two occasions!  The first was our first opportunity to take Ben on a ferry ride - but more importantly, we celebrated our friends Bill and Kelly's wedding!

The wedding was on Whidbey Island at the Useless Bay Golf and Country Club.  It was SUCH a beautiful day for a wedding, and also a fantastic day to take the ferry across the water!  We missed the 4 pm ferry by just a few cars, but it gave us the chance to walk around a little on the Mukilteo side and the chance for a few photos.

On the ferry!

Once we made it to the venue, we had a great time enjoying the evening with many of Greg's old Canyon's coworkers, some that he had not seen for years!  One of the girls, Jen, ended up having a little boy born just 1 week before Ben was!

This was at the end of the night - 30 minutes past bedtime

Shermen's Beard = Fascinating

After the toasts and cutting the cake, we let Ben "run" loose on the green outside the venue.  Greg was delighted to watch him chase a golf ball around and play with the flags :)  He is hoping his love of golf started this weekend.

Take One

Take Two





Banging Around

Greg, Hard at Work

Rad Sleeping Positions

Can I tell you how much I LOVE the opportunity to wake Ben up in the morning?  It's extremely rare that this happens.  Usually, Ben wakes up as I am in the process of getting ready for work.  On a good day, he will hang out in there for awhile by himself - playing on his crib piano or just looking around his room as he becomes more and more alert and ready to start the day.  On a not-as-good day, he will stand up and cry for me and I will begin the process of juggling him around as I apply mascara and get dressed.

Today was the rare morning where I got to go in and wake HIM up - but not without taking a few pictures of my little man in the most amazing sleep position ever.

I think he gets this characteristic from his dad.  (Although Greg doesn't quite sleep like this, unfortunately)!  I have teased Greg for years for the way he will take two enormous pillows, fold and stack them up as high as possible, and then use only a corner of the surface space to rest his face on them.  Like, how completely uncomfortable does that seem to you?

10 Months Old

Jeezzzzzzzzzzze.

We have a 10 month old!  This past month has probably been the busiest and most exhausting one yet.  For some reason, we had expected the exhaustion to be overwhelming us instantly the moment he was born.  However, for us - it really has not been an issue until he starting moving around more.  I DREAM of the moments months ago where he would stay swaddled up and cuddly (because he didn't have the option to arch his back, roll, or crawl out of my arms).  These days, moments of stillness are few and far between.  He is constantly on the move and is SO curious about his surroundings.  We joke about his "baby cage" (pack and play), but really, we sometimes just have to plop him in there so that we can get a few minutes to just sit down and relax.  We also have perfected a "living room barricade" where we block off his access to the hall, the front door, the fan and the fireplace.

Ben loves to crawl around (quickly!) and all the way up the stairs (with us following behind, of course).  He makes a really cute sound when he is super excited about something he is crawling towards - kind of a breathy grunt.  He still will only crawl with his left knee and right foot, but hey - it gets him where he needs to go!

He pulls up onto everything he can.  He will now let go with both hands and stand for several seconds.  He has attempted to take a step, but will immediately fall after that.  If he is very far from something he wants to go towards, he will crouch down and just crawl there.  I feel like we are very close to walking - but really, who knows?  I think the leg strength is there, but the confidence is not 100% yet :)

We have FINALLY figured out nap time (knocking on wood).  He takes his first nap between 9 and 10 am, usually for an hour.  His second nap will start between 1 and 2 pm, and will last from 2-3 hours typically.  And bed time - well, it's heaven.  He goes to sleep at 8 pm and sleeps until 7 am and rarely wakes up throughout the night these days.  Oddly enough, now that we are getting complete and uninterrupted nights of sleep, we feel more tired than ever :) 

Ben has 6 teeth now!!  He uses them to eat a LOT of different things now!  We definitely feed him 3 meals a day - I feel like I'm starting to get a hang of this.  Ben nurses 5 times a day, and I'm hoping over the next month or so to reduce that to 4.  I am completely and totally OVER pumping at work - and I think my body is too.  I rarely get enough for a full feeding now.  While I definitely have mixed feedings about being near the "end" of breastfeeding, I am certainly looking forward to eliminating all pumping sessions.

I think that it is time for me to go through and remove all of his 9 month gear from his closet.  The onesie's are getting way too tight, and the pants reveal way too much "diaper bulge" for my liking.  The bin of clothes that no longer fit is getting to be overly stuffed, yet, I cannot bring myself to go through and determine which items to keep and which to give away.

Ben now says "dada", "nana" (nah-nah), and occasionally will say "mama".  He is great at mimicking.  His latest trick is to wave "bye bye", but this only occurs after we stand in front of him waving like idiots for a lonnnnnng time.  It is SO awesome though :)

He enjoys playing with his toys.  We received a new Citrus Lane box this month (still LOVING the montly boxes, BTW) and it had a toy car in it.  Ben will sit and spin the wheels and "drive" it along the fireplace.

Love the cheek angle in this one.

 

He is actually starting to get into using his binky once in awhile, which is so strange to see.  I have mixed feelings on this too - do I allow him to use it, and then potentially get super attached to it this late in the game?  Or do I enjoy the fact that he can use it to self soothe (particularly at nap time) when he sometimes is needing a little consoling?  I think for now I will let him have it - he looks so cute when he has it:

Except for when he looks like this:

Which totally reminds me of this:

Anyway...

Here are a couple more pics from the month:

Enjoying some spaghetti squash

Out for a walk

Excited when dad got home!

Our bedtime story routine.  He especially likes to smile at the pictures of the mama and baby in, "I'll See You in the Morning". 

No Pun Intended

Me: Greg, will you change Ben?

Greg: But he's great the way he is!

Me: His diaper, Greg.  But nice try.

Pimp Crawl

Ben ALWAYS crawls with his left knee and right foot.  Swagger.

Mimicking

Jumping around at Naptime

The binky is making a rare appearance in this one. 

Mama? (Nope)

First Annual Cougan/Ingle Family Vacation

What a fun weekend we had!  On Friday afternoon, we packed up the car (with wayyyy more than was necessary for less than 48 hours) and got on the road to head to Easton, WA.  Peter's longtime family friends have a "cabin" on Lake Kachess that they graciously let us use.  And by "cabin", I mean "beautiful, enormous home in the woods that is fully equipped with everything you could ever possibly need for a weekend away with a baby".

The minute we walked in, I (along with Ben) spotted toys galore!  He was in HEAVEN.  The rest of us marveled at the beautiful views, the peaceful atmosphere and were stoked to spend the next couple days away from home and in the company of friends!

The only downside (for me) - the vacation gods apparently hate me, and for the 3rd straight trip out of town, I immediately came down with a terrible sore throat and head cold.  Aside from having to go to bed early and miss the chance of destroying Rachel at a round of Settlers of Catan, (she won all three rounds this weekend), I didn't let it get me down too much :)

First, we stopped for a quick bite at a nearby diner while waiting for Rachel and Peter to make their way over the pass.

Check out the cabin:

Over the weekend, we enjoyed:

The views:

The deck:

The downtime:

The toys:

The story time snuggles:



The food:

The drinks:

The Settlers of Catan:

And, most importantly, the company: