Unfinished Business

I realized today that summer is quickly drawing to a close. There are quite a few things that were on my "to-do" list for the summer... and I haven't quite gotten around to them. Here they are:

From 2009... still not done!
-Do a triathlon
-Mountain bike (at least once!)
-Get the pictures hung in the house

Fun
-Swim one morning at Fuller
-Go to a Mothers and More event
-Learn to use the flash on my camera
-Try photoshop using the book Dave got me

Ben
-Go to storytime at Border's or Nicola's
-Visit the Hands-on-Museum
-Swim at Buhr Park (and go to Tot Splash time there)
-Catch up on his photo albums
-Catch up on his baby book
-Do art projects (originally a weekly goal... we've used crayons so far)

House
-Do crown molding in the basement
-Stain and polyurethane my flower boxes
-Clean and file all of the office paperwork
-Re-landscape the backyard

Computer
-Get Facebook caught up with pictures
-Update my reading blog

19 things... 20 days until we leave for Vegas. No doubt some of these will carry over to another time. Hopefully not the fun ones!

Ben Today! Another video

Here is the big accomplishment- he started doing this yesterday and is almost a master at it.

Ben 12 months- Walking!

Video #2

Hmmm... I'm re-evaluating whether these should be posted for the public. Awfully grainy, interesting sound bites... But I love watching him grow! He was so bald, and his head was awfully funny shaped!

Ben Nine Months




Ben Ten Months





Ben Ten Months #2





Ben Ten Months #3




Ben Eleven Months




Ben Eleven Months #2

Video

We don't have a video camera, but my old digital camera does take some video. I started taking little snippets of Ben every month to help remember his growth. I didn't really want a lot of material to plow through later, as I prefer pictures and memories to remember things. I do wish I had started doing this earlier, though!

Almost 4 Months



Just Over 5 Months




Ben Six Months




Ben Seven Months




Ben Seven Months #2



Ben Eight Months



Ben Eight Months #2

What a Night

Things I've internalized tonight (I would say learned, but some of these things are apparently taking more than one experience to actually learn from):

1) Unpack everything completely after a trip in a timely manner
2) Kids get sick a lot
3) Usually they get sick when you are also sick, or at another inconvenient time
4) When you need something urgently for a sick child, you will have to go to four stores to get it
5) When you do find said item, buy enough that you will have a supply in many places
6) If you send your husband for something urgent, it is a given that he won't accomplish the task
7) Target is the best store on Earth

Ben is sick. Again. There is a recall on Tylenol and Advil, of course, so no stores are carrying medicine. A week ago I had to run out to get medicine, and went to three stores. Unfortunately, I only bought one bottle of medicine. Today, when we needed it again, it was nowhere to be found. In addition, our thermometer isn't working. Dave says that it could be because he immersed it in water. He went to buy batteries for it. Those didn't work. He went to buy a new thermometer. That didn't work. I went to exchange the thermometer. The people working at the store got it to work, so I couldn't exchange the $50 that Dave found with the $35 variety I found at the same store. Or the $20 one I found at Target. I went to four stores looking for the generic version of acetominophen. At Target (duh), I bought two bottles. One to stay at home, one for the diaper bag. I'm doubting that it's enough.

A picture to show why I go through all of this:

Breaking the Silence

Here I am. I've been busy.

Of late: Spring Break in St. John

Looks to Be a Late Night

He's only two months old, but already Ben has my number. For 20 minutes, Dave and I tried to put Ben to bed (because, you know, it's bedtime) and he cried and screamed through it. After 20 minutes, I looked at him with a sigh, saying, "You're supposed to be in bed, you know." His response? A big sly grin. End result: I give in, Ben gets more playtime, I don't get to sleep yet.

I will go back in time to post some May and June happenings... Someday.

**Update: Ben slept from 11:30 p.m. until 7:00 a.m., and then again from 7:30 until 10:00 a.m. That would be sleeping through the night, during nighttime hours, for the first time. So 20 minutes of screaming was totally worth it!