Snuggles 4 Days

This will NEVER get old!

 

 

Growth Spurt

While Ben may have had a slow start in the eating "real food" department, he definitely is not having much of a problem with it now.  This past weekend, he must have been going through a growth spurt or SOMETHING, because dude was a bottomless pit!

On Monday morning, when I picked him up out of his crib, I SWEAR he felt a couple pounds heavier.  (While this may be a slight exaggeration, I'm not even kidding - I could FEEL that his density had increased overnight).

Here is a list of some of the things I have been feeding him lately:

• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Bananas
• Peaches
• Banana Pancakes (totally copying the Ochiltree's after we devoured them one morning at their place)!
• Happy Baby Organic Puffs - banana flavor
• Multi Grain Cheerios
• Mum Mums
• All beef nitrate-free hot dogs
• String cheese
• Zucchini
• Yellow Squash
• Cottage Cheese
• Trader Joe's gnocchi
• Halibut and chips
• Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
• Whole wheat pasta and pasta sauce
• Bread (any and all kinds)
• Peanut Butter on toast

I'm sure I am leaving a few things out, but I am so proud of how well he has (finally) adjusted to solids!

Morning Walks to Starbucks

During my friend Robin's maternity leave, and then all throughout the summer break (she's a teacher), we took advantage of:

1) Our (almost) next door neighbor status
2) The similar schedules we and our babies had
3) Our mutual love of Starbucks

Nearly every Tuesday and Thursday morning, as soon as we were up and our babies were up and fed, we would meet outside in our complex and take a stroll down to the Starbucks down the block while we caught up on the latest.

Today marked what may have been our last morning coffee run.  With her headed back to school this Thursday and with our upcoming move, I will be really sad that we no longer can get up/get dressed/throw our babies in a carrier or stroller and walk out the door before starting our days.  I have SO enjoyed having this time together and watching Graycen grow up!

I hope that we can still regularly get together during winter and summer breaks - even if one of us will have to drive to the other to make it happen :)

 

Baby Graycen, Robin and Ben

 

This is Ben's "I'm just 'illin in my stroller with my binky" pose.

"And Goodnight, Mouse"

On Monday, my mom was over taking care of Ben.  Before his nap, she read "Goodnight, Moon" to him - one of his favorites!  When I came home from work, she said to me,

 

"The part where it says, 'Goodnight, mouse"?

 

 and I said,

 

"Yeah, he always points to it, right"?

 

and she said,

 

"You used to do the exact.same.thing".

 

Woah. 

 

 

More fun with Karen and Chris

We had a fun extended weekend spending more time with Karen and Chris! On Friday, I worked in the morning and then the group met me for lunch at Ivar's in Mukilteo.  It was a beautiful day to sit outside and enjoy lunch, and Ben was SO well behaved!  We went through a rough phase for awhile when going out to eat was NO FUN - but as of late, he seems to be doing much better and enjoys eating and "chatting".  That evening Greg made us a delicious steak dinner and we spent the rest of the night chasing Ben around the living room and listening to him laugh his face off.

On Saturday, Karen joined me for a hot yoga class - and she loved it!  It was fun to show her what I have been doing all these years :)  That evening we got a babysitter for Ben (my coworker, Shauntel!) and the four of us went out to Tablas for dinner followed by Menchies for dessert.  (We know how to PAR.TY).

Sunday was our "tourist" day.  We walked through Pike Place, had lunch at Cutter's, checked out the new City Target, and then went home so Ben could get his nap on.

Today Karen, Chris, Greg and his friend Steve are hiking on Mount Rainier!  Part of me wishes I had joined them, but at the same time, I think I would have slowed the entire group down.  My endurance level is not at all what it used to be!

 

Poking the eye of his new cow from Aunt Karen

Bronson is 1!

Ben's buddy Bronson turned 1 last week, and this past weekend we celebrated one of our favorite little guys.

Shauna put together a super fun BBQ and swimming pool bash for the little ones.  The weather cooperated with the nicest weather of the week landing on the day of his party!

I cannot believe it's been a year since we first met Bronson.  He is one of the happiest babies I have ever met and has brought unimaginable amounts of joy into his parents' lives...and ours!  And because I can't help but be sentimental, here is a look back at these two guys over the past year:

 

 

Happy Birthday, Bronson!  We cannot wait to see all of the fun things you learn this next year!

Karen and Chris are Here!

Guess who is SO excited to have his Aunt and Uncle here to visit???  We are having so much fun already :)

 

 

11 Months Old

 

Yikes.  We are getting much too close to his birthday for my liking.  There is some stupid commercial out right now (I think for Dreft?) that says something like,

"You have a child forever, but a baby for only 1 year".

Um, no.  Baby4Life.

Unfortunately, I have to face the facts - Ben is totally and rapidly developing into a little person more and more and as sad as it can be, he is a joy to be around every day and I LOVE all of the things he is learning.  My friend Charisse and I were talking a few weeks ago.  I mentioned to her how exhausted we had become as Ben started to get himself around at a much faster pace, and she told me that for her, it would take a couple weeks to adjust to each new stage with Drayk and then she would be good for a month or two until things changed again.  I am happy to say that I completely agree with that.  Now that we have adjusted to Ben and his new energy/mobility, things feel manageable again.

A new fun change from my last post is that Ben has become SO CUDDLY!  I attribute this to his increased binky usage.  There must be something about it that pacifies him allows him to chill out for a few moments and rest his head on us.  I LOVE IT.

We have a WALKER!  These next few weeks are bound to be interesting as he learns to master his new skill.

Nap time continues to be the same - a shorter nap  (45 minutes to 1 hour) in the morning followed by a much longer afternoon nap.  He still goes down at 8 pm and wakes at 7 am. 

We have successfully eliminated Ben's mid-morning nursing session, so YAY for not pumping at work anymore.  I used to kind of enjoy the forced 25 minute break to pump, but I am not sad to see it go.  Ben now nurses at 7 am, 12 pm, 4:30 pm, 8 pm and then usually once between 4-6 am.  We also offer him a "real" breakfast, lunch and dinner now - whether he eats much of it is another situation all together.  I have decided that I can't really stress much about this though - seems to be a common thing with babies from what I'm told...(except with Bronson "hungry-man" Broady, of course).

Ben is in 12 month and some 18 month clothing.  We broke out some of his 18 month old PJ's a few weeks back along with some pants (that are a little long).  With our upcoming move, I did spend some time organizing and boxing up all of his clothes that no longer fit and it was fun (read: sad) going through all of his teeny-tiny gear of the past.

There have not been any new words out of him lately, but there are a few new tricks he has learned.

• Waving - You can ask him to "say hi" or "wave hi" or "wave" and he will usually do it almost instantly.
• He loves to turn the pages in his books now when we read.
• I had been putting Ben on my lap with his legs on either side of me and would bounce him (like a horse).  He LOVES it.  So now, when he crawls up on me, he will look at me with the funniest expression and start to bounce himself until I do it again. 

WALKING!!

For the past few weeks, Ben has been taking 3, then 4, then 5 steps.  For the past few days, he has walked several steps between things...and today, he walked all the way across the living room.  CRAZY!

Crawling still seems to be the preferred method of transportation, but the man has skills!

 

Foot Fetish

Don't play with your food

Or do.  Whatever.

Bath Time Fun

Artie and Stacy's Wedding

On Saturday, Greg and I attended Artie and Stacy's wedding!  It was a fantastic day for a wedding - the weather had cooled off just enough from the super hot week we have had so that we could enjoy the ceremony and reception without melting :)

I met Artie in the 7th grade at Brier Terrace Middle School.  From the beginning of our friendship, I knew without any doubt that he would be in my life forever.  Artie is one of the kindest, most loyal, genuine people that I have ever met.  His smile will light up a room and you can always count on him to cheer you up with one of his hugs.

The wedding was a BTMS/Brier Elementary reunion of sorts - it was such a blast for the group to get back together in one room and dance the night away.  It makes me feel old to think that many of these people I have known for more than half of my life.....but it's a great feeling to have been able to watch my classmates/friends grow up into adulthood.


The ceremony was SO touching - both Artie and Stacy wrote their own vows.  A lot of thought went into it and the personal touches were beautiful.  The reception was full of throwback jams, which was hilarious and appropriate considering I have known the groom since these songs were popular.  Everyone had so much fun and I really didn't want to leave!

Congrats, Artie and Stacy!  Happy Honey-mooning!

The happy couple!  (Snagged this one from Facebook).

Shauna, Kim and Me

The bartender was having some trouble with the kegs, so after a few minutes of waiting and watching the drink line get longer and longer, Greg hopped behind the bar to help get things moving :)

Brandon and Greg showing us how it's done.

 

 

Kim, Me, Janina and Heather

 

Becca, Emily, Janina and Me

 

Group shot!

 

My mom was awesome and came up to watch Ben for the evening.  She brought with her new books and homemade cookies.  To show his appreciation, Ben was a snuggling "delight".  I'm not sure where this new behavior has come from (out of the blue!) but I will TAKE IT.  Here he is giving me a snuggle before we left.

And side note:  The man is ALL ABOUT his binky these days.

Sounds and Tricks

I love him.

Home Sweet Home

This is a post that I have been anxious to write, but have been too worried that if I put it out there too soon, something might fall through.  But we are now OFFICIALLY owners of this home in Bothell :)  Yippie!!!

It has been a longgggg process (as it is for all homeowners).  Stress and loans and inspections and appraisals and negotiations and official documents (with a "fun" mix of last minute demands, refusals to sign documents, and all sorts of ridiculousness that I won't bother rehashing here) and then FINALLY having it processed and recorded at the courthouse today!  There were several times, particularly in this last week, when I wasn't even sure if it would all come together, but after all of our waiting and worrying, the end result is a house that we are SO happy to call our home. 

I felt it immediately when we took our first walk through in early July.  I had visions of Ben running around in the back yard.  I imagined what it would be like with a Christmas tree (room for a REAL ONE!!) in the front room.  I loved the fact that we would have an extra room for guests to come visit....and who knows, maybe another kiddo to add to the mix one day?!?

I cannot wait to get settled.  Cannot wait to unpack, organize, decorate, buy things for our home that we know we will be in for a long time, cook meals (or, you know, heat things up) in our beautiful kitchen, have friends and family over, celebrate holidays and birthdays, have BBQ's.....and on and on and on...

....but unfortunately, we do have to wait.  Moving day is not scheduled until late September....so until then, I will do what I do best - plan and organize and just enjoy the remaining time we will spend in the first house that Ben has called home.

Thanks to all who helped us make this happen (you know who you are) - it would have been impossible without you and we will be forever grateful!

The Soothing Sounds of Nap Time

I don't know about you, but after a long day, I sure like to scream myself to sleep.  And apparently, so does Ben.

Another fun and sunny weekend!

When summer finally arrives in Seattle, it definitely does not disappoint...(unless you are like me, a true Pacific Northwest girl who melts when the temp reaches above 75).

Callie and her family were on vacation last week, so it gave me the perfect excuse to take a few days off from work and enjoy my time with Ben! 

On Friday, my mom took a vacation day and we took him to the Forest Park Animal Farm in Everett.  It was fun to see his (non)-reaction to all of the animals - he was far more curious and excited about the other kids that were surrounding him.  He did, however, enjoy the rooster.  Every minute or so when the rooster would crow, (crow, right?) he would jump and get a little startled!

That evening, we called up our friends Dan and Jeannette to see if they were, by chance, having an infamous Christensen Happy Hour (margaritas in their front yard).  Not surprisingly, they were - and when I asked when we should come by, they said, "30 minutes ago"!  Gotta love friends you can count on for an impromptu cocktail!  They invited us to stay for halibut tacos for dinner (fresh halibut, BTW, from their recent fishing trip to Alaska), so we made an evening out of it.  So much fun!

Laryd, their 4 year old son, did a great job of entertaining Ben.  I could tell he was annoyed that Ben wasn't playing back, but we assured him that given some time, he would get up to par.

On Saturday, we took Ben to PEPSaPalooza, a kids music festival that took place at The Bowl at Redhook Brewery.  When we arrived at 11 am, it was BLAZING HOT.  We enjoyed Casper Babypant's performance, (say what you want about the music, but dude puts on a cute show for the kiddos), ran into our friends Denali, Kylie and Oliver, and then were out of there by about 12:30.

On Sunday Morning, I was able to escape for a few hours for brunch and mani/pedi's with Rachel, which was super fun and relaxing :)  The rest of the day was spent napping, snacking, taking a dip in the pool - generally trying to escape the heat.  (I'm a wimp).