The Challenge

I have been seriously delinquent in updating this bloggedy blog. I guess you could pretty well figure out that we survived the chicken pox without permanent damage. None of the kids from his birthday party came down with anything either--serious answer to prayers on that one!!! Life has pretty much returned to normal at our casa.

Except for the ridiculously fun weekend we just had!! Keith has been training for a couple of months for a boat race, the Blackburn Challenge. It's a crazy boat marathon around Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Something like 25 miles out in the open ocean in only human powered craft. There were some wacky dudes there. The race itself is to honor a wacky dude. Some fisherman named Blackburn was out in his dory when the fog moved in and he lost his orientation back to his ship (this was way back before fishing was done with nets from the main ship). His dory mate died and Blackburn was so afraid of losing his oars overboard that he actually froze his hands to the oars--on purpose--in order to be sure that he could continue to row to land. He ended up rowing 60 miles to Gloucester, Mass and they do this race now every year starting in Gloucester to honor crazy ol' Blackburn.

Enter crazy ol' Keith... Somehow I can imagine some wacky event being named in Keith's honor. Anyway, that's beside the point.

We had a really great time even though we actually had a string of bad luck. We managed to get stuck in the worst lightening storm I have ever witnessed. When I mean stuck, I'm serious. We were cooking dinner in the campground when we heard a whooshing sound. Keith and I looked at each other and suddenly, the heavens opened up. We only had time to grab Bennett and run for cover under our tent. And there we sat for the next hour--right next to our metal tent pole--while the lightening literally danced around us. It rained at least 4 inches in that hour. It was insane!

Bad luck #2 was that the friggin race got cancelled after all. I guess crazy ol Blackburn was trying to make the 20th annual Blackburn Challenge a little too realistic. The fog turned out to be so thick that the Coast Guard pulled the plug. Obviously, we were really bummed but we made the best of it. We took a family boat ride around the bay instead.

Then bad luck #3. After our fabulous family boat ride, we were unloading the boat only to find our camera floating around in some of the water we took in. Sweet.

So, no fun pics of our family bike ride, the beautiful New England coastal towns, beaches, boat ride, crazy dudes...

Luckily, I had downloaded pics off the camera from our last family bike ride so these will have to do for now. And maybe for a pretty long time.




Honestly, could the B-man be any cuter?????

The Pox

This has been the week of the pox. Poor kid. It started out looking so innocent. Just a few light spots on his face Saturday morning...

Then spreading to his neck and back later that day....



The next day a few more...


Then just flat out miserable...


But we still celebrated the 4th of July in style. We went to the Lansdowne parade and got loads of free stuff. If you thought Kaysville was small town, you've gotta come check out Lansdowne's parade. It's about 10 minutes long. Still fun though!


The chicken pox have cleared up a TON so we are definitely getting better instead of worse. Despite the itchies, we had a great week at home!!!

Happy Birthday Baby!!!

Look at my big birthday boy!!!

Yesterday was Bennett's birthday. I can't believe it's been a year! What a great year it has been. He is the sweetest little guy and every single time I look at him, I am amazed by how much I can love the little monkey. He has been the most amazing addition to our lives! We had a few friends over last night for some cake and ice cream. Here's a couple highlights....











We had a great day. It would have been even greater if Keith could have been home!! :( He had such a busy day at work that he missed the cake action. Bummer. I guess we'll have to do it again with just us!

Happy Birthday Bennett! Here's to many more happy birthdays!!!!

Isn't there a stigma about regrets on the morning after? Well, we've got a serious case of it here. Bennett woke up today with a few spots on his face. After his nap this morning, there were more on his face and neck. I'm afraid the pox came. Now that we've infected the whole neighborhood....

For the record, daycare stinks. Thanks for the chicken pox, daycare. That was a fabulous birthday present. Really. Thanks.

Growing up so fast!!!

This kid has so much stinkin hair. If he were a little girl, his hair would be halfway down his back by now! He has had a half dozen good haircuts and has needed a few more than that. I've stopped saving his hair when I cut it because I could make a good wig by now. But last week, he REALLY got it cut. One of Bennett's teachers at school cuts hair on the side and she gave him a good summer cut on Thursday last week. When I picked him up after work that day he was looking all dapper with his new do. He looks like such a big kid!



In other Bennett news, he is finally getting his first tooth! I've been wondering if he even had any teeth and I'm glad to know that he'll at least have one! If he doesn't get any more teeth, I offically give everyone permission to call him Waltbob for the rest of his life...

Also, it's looking like Bennett is coming down with the chicken pox. It's in the real early stages but they made me pick him up early today because of suspicious looking red spots on his back. There has been an outbreak of it at his school and six kids (out of 12) have already been confirmed with chicken pox. Mind you, he is already scheduled to be vaccinated for chicken pox one week from TODAY. What stinkin luck. So much for planning his birthday party..... :(

Coolest Dad EVER

When you love your baby, you want nothing but the best for them. Of course, Bennett is no different. I love him so much I can't stand it. So, how lucky is he that he has the best Dad EVER??? As a mother wanting the best for her child, I couldn't ask for a better Dad for the B-man than Keith. He's the coolest ever.

Babies and bikes

I've been meaning to post this pic since Memorial Day--the day Bennett got brave:



He's going to be walking before long!! This week, Bennett discovered the stairs. He had been curious about the stairs before but this time he really got serious. He checked them out for a while then got to business. He learned to climb not just one stair--but ten!!! He went 3 steps shy of going the whole way up. Of course, I was spotting him once I realized what he was doing. We will have him on belay before too long!

In other news, we went to the Liberty Classic this weekend. This race is the National Championships for cycling and it is always a huge deal in Philly. It is on a beautiful course and it has the famous "Manayunk Wall", a super steep 17% grade climb. It is always a blast to watch and the partying Philly crowd is always a trip too. We got Bennett a seat for our tandem and cruised around the course on our family bike. It was a good time...





But in the life of a baby, all good things will come to this end...

Relaxed?

Aaahhhh....home from vacation. Had a FABULOUS time. We just spent 10 days with the coolest people (thanks fam) in the most gorgeous places.

Portland, beaches, bikes, Tillamook, sea stacks, bikes, beaches, California redwoods, fish tacos, beach house, bikes, beaches, San Francisco....






WE LOVED EVERY MINUTE!!!!

But, going back to work? Sorta feels like this.....

First Pet

Bennett's first pet? A squirrel. You see, we don't get sissy dogs from fancy breeders, the pet store, or even the pound. Not here. We like to catch 'em wild and domesticate 'em. How can to you take a pet huntin' if it ain't never been out in the wild?

So, we set a crazy trap to catch ourselves a good pet. We were just waiting for the right animal to be crazy enough to lift the chimney cap off, fall 30 feet into the fireplace and survive. Now that there's a good pet.

We discovered "Squeeker" the other day---about needed a diaper myself when I saw him---running around in the fireplace. I don't think he was used to his new environment but he obviously liked it enough that when we built an escape route for him, he decided to stay right where he was. That Squeeker. Sure is a loyal little bugger.

We didn't realize he was still there until the next day. He found a little nook up above the fireplace door so we didn't see him for a while. But, sure 'nuff. There he was the next day. Keith wasn't at home that night though so we didn't try to play with him. Then, when Keith did get home the next evening, he found Squeeker had gotten trapped in the vent and, well, we'll just say that now he's in pet heaven.

So, that's the story of Bennett's first pet. Such a tragic ending. Now he just has to play with his same old toys.....

Tough Guy

He thinks he's such a tough guy....but I know better.

This little man LOVES his blankies. He can't sleep without them. Any super soft, sluggly, silky thing will do. The other day Bennett was going down for a nap. He had just eaten, had a binkie, he was really tired. No reason to fuss, right? Not so. He screamed and cried. Then I realized what was missing! Stupid me! I gave him his blankie and he immediately stopped crying, rolled over and hugged his blankie and fell right to sleep. Tough guy.

Tag

Thanks for the tag Shannon--here's some random info...

5 Things in my fridge
-Milk
-One piece of two-week old pizza. (I keep waiting to throw it out until I am taking out the garbage. Then, I keep forgetting about it. That's so disgusting!!)
-String cheese
-Mustard
-Probably some other nasty moldy thing. No leftovers, no real food. It's a wonder we ever find food to eat at home...

In my Closet
-Work clothes - slacks and shirts.
-Jeans
-T-shirts
-Sweaters
-Tons of shoes I never wear

In my purse
-Wallet
-Cell phone
-chapstick
-a dum-dum sucker that's been there since about Halloween
-mints

In my car
-carseat
-chapstick
-comb
-cd's
-sawdust from Keith's last project he worked on in the garage

On my TiVo
-What's TiVo? Is that like some sort of TV? Hmmm, guess I don't have either. You would never think Shannon and I are related based on this response....

I'm tagging
-Anyone reading this blog, since I know there aren't even five of you out there!!!! (Or at least people that comment!)

Crawling

Bennett is crawling!!! He's been SO close for the longest time but he's just to lazy to actually DO IT!! He's had this bum scoot thing going on for a while and he's really good at pushing himself backwards on his tummy. But mostly, he's just pretty content wherever you put him. So yesterday morning (Keith's birthday!), Keith and I were in the bedroom and Bennett was on the floor. He was reaching for a toy and got into crawling position and acutally moved forward--a whopping couple of inches!! Not much, but no mistaking, this was the real thing. It was cool that Keith and I were both there to see it. We think it was Bennett's b-day present to Keith. He's been practicing his new skill all weekend. SO CUTE!!! Except, now I have to actually watch him. And childproof the house. Dang, I think I'm over it. Stop crawling Bennett! Can you un-teach a baby to crawl?????

On another note, Bennett also learned to draw today. He drew a self portait on Keith's whiteboard at work.




We call it "Self Portrait of an Angry Young Man". This kid has talent.

Still sick

I'm so sick of being sick!!! In the last two weeks alone, we have had to deal with the nasty stomach virus that Bennett had (so disgusting--and by the way, I did eat the pizza after he threw up), and we both came down with more this weekend. Although this time, Bennett has a cold in his eyes so they are swollen and gooey. They were so crusty this morning that he couldn't even open them. Poor kid! Plus, I have strep throat--AGAIN!!! This is the second time this year!!! This is getting seriously ridiculous. Is it all from the daycare or do kids normally get sick all the time? Do I need to get a bubble that Bennett and I can live in? Honestly, this has got to stop.

Sick

We've had a rough week. Bennett has been sick and puking at least once a day. So sad. Tonight I was at the mall and was in line to get a slice of pizza. I was busy paying and then looked down at Bennett in the stroller and saw that he puked ALL OVER himself. He didn't make a sound and he just sat there like nothing had happened. GROSS!!! Poor kid.

On to a happier thought....fat kids in diapers. Now that's happy!

My little man

I don't have much to say today. Just wanted to post these cute pics of my little rock star.

Crazy

I must be crazy. In fact, I think I have no doubt in my own mind that I am. Crazy. You see, I went on a business trip last week to Columbus, Ohio. Ok, no problem--been there, done that. But this time, I took Bennett. Crazy.

I think this was the most insane thing I have ever done. IT SUCKED. I can't believe how hard it was to get on an airplane by myself! I had so much STUFF! I had my bag, Bennett's bag, car seat, stroller, diaper bag, laptop, purse, plus coats, not to mention the baby himself, AND I always had to know where my ID was! I had to park, haul my stuff out of the car, get it in the shuttle, get it out of the shuttle, get it to the check-in counter, check it in, haul other stuff to security, basically strip naked and with one hand (baby in the other) pull my laptop out of the bag, collapse the stroller, take off my shoes, our coats, neatly pack them into the plastic bins, and not hold up the line at the same time. Then, I had to reorganize myself on the other end 15 seconds later! All this and I haven't even gotten on the stupid plane yet! Without going into more painful detail, I will say that the plane was a small commuter plane where 55 people are crammed into something no wider than my Honda Civic and about as long as our big old family van--or at least it seems like it. Needless to say, all this was a bad idea. I was throwing out tips at the airport like a celebrity just to get people to help me. I hope I NEVER have to do this again.

Oh, wait. It's March. I'm going to Utah this week. By myself. Oh no......

See all ya'll on Thursday!