Maeve's First (Blizzard) Birthday

On Saturday, January 14th, Maureen's daughter Maeve turned 1 year old!  It's impossible that she is a year old, as it seems like just a week ago I was visiting her when she was 5 days old!

The morning of her birthday, snow began to fall at our house - which is about 20 minutes south of Maureen's house.  Rachel was coming up to carpool with me and Ben, and when we got on the road, the snow was only falling lightly.

As we got closer and closer to her house, the snow seemed to be falling harder and harder.  The ground was covered with it! 

Maureen had decorated her house beautifully for the party, and had amazing food and beverages set out for us all to enjoy.  (I of course failed to take pictures of both - but I will try to steal some later and post here).  Ben even got his first party gift bag! 

Due to the fact that I don't have 4-wheel drive, we were only able to stay an hour and half or so before we made the scary drive home. 



I was especially sad to miss Maeve eating her first birthday cake.  It was fun to see everyone and to introduce Maeve to Ben!  She seemed to be very interested in the "baby" :)

Here is a blurry picture of Maeve, Maureen's dad and Ben.

Adorable owl cookie!

Snow Bear

Our friends Jamie and Collin got us this little bear suit when Ben was 8 days old. It seemed HUGE. While its still a little big on him, it is the perfect size for him to wear now and grow into over the next few cold-weather months.

It snowed here for the first time this year, so we had to take Ben out of course! He was all toasty and warm and seemed to be very curious about the entire experience.

Hands -------> Mouth

For the past couple weeks, Ben has become increasingly fascinated with his hands.  I will notice him with his hands joined together, just staring at them, seemingly trying to figure out what he wants to do with them next. 

He is a big fan of putting one, (sometimes two) fists up to his lips and then trying to cram them both into his mouth.  The slober that is generated by this activity is impressive.

Grandma Ingle is Here!

On Monday, Greg's mom arrived for her (almost) 3-week stay!  When I had my daycare meltdown, I had asked if she would come visit sooner than we had originally planned and stay for the full 3 weeks she had offered to.  She agreed!  Ben seemed to immediately fall in love with her, as he was all-smiles ALL day!  Having Marcia here has been such an enormous help.  I had hoped that she would help me cook a meal or two (as I am not big into cooking and Greg has been so busy with his new job), but in addition to cooking nightly, she has taken over our laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping duties as well! 

My Little Bear

When I was pregnant, I always had visions of walking around Seattle on a sunny and crisp winter day, with Ben in the Ergo, enjoying the day as a family of three.

Last weekend, that vision became reality! We took Ben to see the fountain show at the Seattle Center, for a ride on the monorail, and then a super exciting (quick) shopping trip at Nordstroms ;)

It was a good day.

Soothe and Glow Seahorse

I'm mentally preparing another list of our "must-have" items, but for now I thought I would share one of our new favorite things.  The Soothe and Glow Seahorse.  My mom bought this for Benny, and he freaking loves it.

This thing lights up (with a soft glow) and plays about 5 minutes of bedtime tunes, intermixed with some bubbly/ocean sounds.  Ben will just stare at it and 9 times out of 10 will fall asleep before the music ends.

In other news, and yes this is a terrible picture, I now allow Ben to have 1 arm unswaddled.  He really likes to suck on his fingers (and sometimes attempts the whole fist), so it's nice that he can self-soothe when he wakes up throughout the night.  He is not ready to be completely unswaddled yet, though, as with both arms out he becomes a flailing mess.

2012! New Year, New Schedule

First post of the year!  I am so happy that I chose to start a blog last year, as this has served as a personal journal AND baby book all at once!  My fellow blogger- friend, Maureen, told me about a website called Blog2Print, where you can print out a hard copy of your blog - and my first book, 2011, is on its way to me now.

Yesterday was my first official day as a working mom, and my first day working at the office and away from Ben.  I would be lying if I said this was easy.  I cried when I put Ben down in his crib on Sunday night, knowing that I would not have much interaction (other than feeding him) until after work the following day.  (Little did I know that Ben would choose that night of ALL nights to wake up 3 times). 

So on Monday morning, I drove my very tired self to work (stopping at Starbucks and participating on a conference call along the way).  I was the first to arrive at the office.  As I sat there at my desk, changing my voice mail greeting, removing my "Out of Office Assistant", and hanging my "Ben" calendar, I have to say I felt okay! 

The day really did fly by.  I had 2 meetings, I pumped in my office (so awkward), I got a bunch of paperwork done, and made a massive to-do list!  I got a few picture messages (and all kinds of text messages) from Greg, updating me on the day at home.  Ben did a great job taking his bottle!  I coordinated my lunch time around Ben's feeding schedule, AND Greg brought Ben in for his afternoon meal :) 

I received all kinds of supportive text messages, emails, and Facebook posts - and Rachel brought me brownies and a card!  This type of outreach is what makes the hard times manageable. 

And today was a work from home day!  I was able to get up an hour before Ben this morning (who, by the way, was nice and let his mom SLEEP last night) and got some work done!  I also was able to work a ton today during his naps and while he was otherwise occupied, and spent some good quality time with him reading books and snuggling when he was up and alert.

What's next on our to-do list, mom?

Here is Ben in his Jumper/Activity Station that Hil and John bought for him.  He is still not at the required age (4 months) and is definitely not quite tall enough....but while supervised, he seems to be SUPER into it!  So cute.  So focused.