Santa! Sort of...

I need to be a pushy mom.

Yesterday my only goal was for Whit to see Santa. After a few mishaps, mainly me driving all over town to find a new car seat because the cat annihilated Whit's, we finally got to the mall... right as Santa took his break. I was thisclose to having a break down at that point. Thankfully Ben calmed me down and we did a little shopping until Santa got back. Go through the line in about 45 minutes, get to the big guy and he was sooooo weird! He even called my child a "ball buster". WTF?! I was so boggled and drained we took the picture, and I didn't ask to retake it even though Whit's jeans are up to his knees and it's driving my OCD crazy. Oh well. At least my little man has made the picture worthwhile...

I don't think he's impressed.

Happy Four Months!

At four months, Whit...

...is now in size 3 diapers. No more swaddlers :(

...is a growing boy! This week he grew out of some jeans I had just bought last week. He's now mostly in 6 months clothes. His 3 month old onesies are pretty much only used as undershirts now.

...laughed! We've heard a couple of hearty laughs and a few real giggles from him now!

...is consistently rolling over from belly to back. And has started a new thing where he looks like he's trying to do a backstroke on land. It's quite hilarious.

...loves for me to sing "The Christmas Song" and "La Cucaracha" to him.

...is going to bed MUCH easier and, with the exception of a couple of nights, still sleeps the whole night through.

...is MUCH better at the ride home from his grandparents now. But I think the Christmas lights along the way may be why.

...has a tooth coming in! We noticed it Tuesday and are so excited there's progress on all this gnawing and drooling.

...had a great time at his first Thanksgiving. While we ate he was entranced with the chandelier and babbled at it all through dinner.

...babbles so much more. He's stopped saying consonants in favor of "oohs", "aahs" and the occasional "WHOA".

...is very adept at blowing raspberries with and without his tongue.

...loves to dance... a lot!

...also still loving walks (and occasional jogs in our new jogging stroller), bath time and his puppies. Now loves playing "little bunny foo foo", "itsy bitsy spider", and holding anything that makes noise.

...is a big fan of our Christmas tree, his bumbo, and a new color-spinning toy I got for his high chair.

...went to his first storytime at the library and it was a huge hit!

...found out who he really looks like. My mom posted a picture of my youngest sister visiting Santa for the first time and if it weren't for the girly clothes, you would have thought it was Whit.

...is such a funny kid. His expressions slay me. For instance...

I think someone didn't feel like having a photo shoot today.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Yesterday was Ben's 35th! Wow, that sounds... not old, but... grown up. When I first met Ben he was 26 and I was 19, so every year at our birthdays I am amazed at how much we've changed. Although, Ben hasn't changed much. He's still the funny, handsome, kind, way too intelligent, considerate and PATIENT man I met ten years ago. It's me that's changed so much and because of him (and in this instance it's a good thing). Because of him, I've learned when bad things happen it's not the end of the world, way too much about astrophysics, and that together we can take on anything. We have taken on lots of adventures together: a long distance relationship, college, moving in together, marriage, many many moves (two across the country), dropping everything and living in California to pursue my dream, buying a house, starting a business, starting a family. 

I can't remember what we were laughing about the other night, all I remember is that it's because he and I are the same kind of crazy. Ben joked we should write a song called that. And we are the same kind of crazy, I think that's why we work together. We understand each other and our terrible jokes. There's nothing I could say that would scare him away and there's nothing he could say that would scare me away. When I was at my lowest after having Whit, I bared my soul to Ben for an afternoon afraid of what he would think and he just hugged me and told me that everything was going to be fine and that I wasn't crazy, my hormones were. By the way, husbands, sometimes we need to be reminded of that.

Whoa, can you tell how old this picture is? I think this circa 2005? What was this taken with, a 3MP camera?

Did I mention 'handsome'?

Our "happiest place on Earth" picture. The day we visited Disneyland was probably the wettest, coldest day ever while we lived in Anaheim.

 

Ever since having Whit, daily I am reminded what a wonderful man Ben is. I always thought he would be a great father and boy was I right! That little man reserves his biggest smiles for his papa. Yesterday morning when I came in from my run Whit was standing on Ben's lap, holding his hands together and giving him huge gummy smiles and almost-laughs. So far Ben's the only one who can get Whit to laugh on a regular basis! For instance:

After having lots of playtime with Whit, the little man went to spend the night with his grandma and we had Chipotle for lunch since we were both craving it for a while, went to visit our friend who runs a comic book shop in town and played a few games. Then we went to the Melting Pot for supper, which is always good, but this new Memphis BBQ pork they have is amazing! Afterwards we came home and celebrated Ben's birthday and Prohibition Repeal Day with a bottle of riesling. As a bonus we both got to sleep in today and it was so wonderful! 

Since we only get the strawberries and banana for the chocolate course, our server had to improvise, haha.

So Happy Birthday to my husband and best friend, I look forward to many many more together. And those gray beard hairs that are coming in look so distinguished! ;-) 

Whoa!

Just had a friend's status hit me like a ton of bricks. She asked if anyone had a paper with her recently born son's birth announcement in it. I never even thought about that when Whit was born! You know though, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not exactly sure we have a local paper here.

Wow, newspapers just aren't a normal piece of our lives anymore. I'm a little sad that I didn't get a birth announcement in, but at the same time why in the world would I have thought of it? Aside from the little freebie we get on Wednesdays, I haven't bought a newspaper in over two years? And none of the numerous websites, books, and blogs I read ever mentioned putting an announcement in the paper.

Well my mind has been blown today!

CPR certification

Yesterday at work we had CPR certification and it was actually fun. I didn't have to get certified, since I'm really just a glorified receptionist, but the office was paying for everyone and the class covered infant and children, so I thought why not? Boy am I glad I did! I had no idea how often or how much the rules change in CPR from year to year. The last time I was certified over ten years ago and apparently none of those rule apply anymore!

The office and our stylish dummies. Can you tell I work for an optometrist?

I was a little worried that I would get upset when it came time to learn about infant CPR and rescue breathing, but thankfully I kept my cool. Until the instructor starts telling us stories! The guy was super nice, but he's an EMT so death doesn't shock him anymore. He would tell us stories and you going along thinking everything is fine and then he ends the story with "two weeks later he died." I could barely keep my mouth from hanging open the entire time. 

As we were going over the choking infant portion I realized that I had heard or read this information while I was pregnant and had just forgotten it since then. Thankfully I haven't needed to know it, but Whit did give me a scare once choking during a bottle. But now I feel confident if something happens I can handle it and I'm so grateful. I tried to show Ben last night when I got home, but his eyes got so big and worried. He asked if I'd try to show him again tomorrow.

It's funny how well Ben and I complement each other. In every day life I'm the one getting flustered over the little things and quick to lose it and he's so calm. But in emergencies or even planning for emergencies, I'm the calm one and Ben gets a little freaked out.

Anyway, if you have kids (or even if you don't - the instructor did point out all of us are just ticking timebombs walking around) take the time to get CPR training! You may never need it, but I feel so much better knowing what to do just in case.

Oh my gosh!

Whit laughed! A real, hearty chuckle with a couple of giggles! And what made him laugh? Me nagging his father. ::face palm::

But it was so cute!

As is this!

"Hidden Mothers"

I LOVE old portraits. There's something so strange that these people had such different lives than us, and yet look so similar. For instance, have you ever seen the evidence that Nicholas Cage is a vampire? Now my interest has turned to antique photos of babies, of course. So I was baffled when I found this:

Apparently back in the day it was common for women to hold their children while covered (with curtains, blankets, whatever) and just be kind of cropped out afterwards. Wth?! If you'd like to see more weirdness, you can find it here.