I'm writing this post while we (not so) patiently wait for Ben to be out of surgery! This seriously gets worse every time, but hopefully this will be the LAST time. We had a fun weekend in preparation for the not as fun days we are anticipating this week.
The weather wasn't as warm as it could have been, so we didn't get to hang out outside too much, but I wanted to try and avoid indoor locations that are on the germy side (the beloved children's museum.) Thus, we went to the mall. Hah! I'm sure Ben loves the mall. I had wanted to get Ben some sandals, and what do you know, they were totally on sale at the beginning of the season. And we had a gift card so we paid, $1.11 for 2 pairs of sandals. They weren't the light-up ones he was eyeing up, but cute nonetheless.
After the mall we went and grabbed a quick lunch. Ben slept through lunch for the first time since he was a little baby.
He did wake up in time for some frozen yogurt. I had big expectations that he would LOVE it, but alas, he was more interested in the stickers and a scooter that a kid had brought into the store. Oh, and the girl next to us who had a can of Pringles. "Chips? Chips?"
Perhaps the highlight of Ben's day was hanging out with his BFF, Maddie. I seriously think he has a crush on her. Probably because they both share a love of slides.
Although it was a whole 3 minute ride to the restaurant for dinner, it must have seemed longer to be Ben because he was saying, "Maddie! Maddie! Maddie!" literally the whole time. Unfortunately Ben didn't try to keep up with Maddie's eating, but he, along with the rest of us, were all smiles the whole meal.
Sunday was supposed to be rainy, but it actually turned out to be kinda nice. It was warm enough that we were able to play outside for a bit. We were cleaning out the garage and Ben saw the bike carrier. Although he hated this (well, the bike helmet) last year (see picture on the left), he was in heaven as I pulled him (on foot) around the driveway. I'm sure it will be another story when he has to wear the helmet though. (He cried big tears when it was time to get out of here.)
Ben is kind of in love with watching birds, so we bought another bird house for him. Here's hoping that another non-bird animal doesn't take over.
Daddy was doing a little painting on Sunday afternoon, and since monkey see, monkey do...
Ben and I went out and got him some water colors. He was so excited and kept saying, "PAINT!" Love my little artist.
That's it for now! We just talked to the surgeon and Ben did so well! He has a belly button! Can't wait to see that angel boy!
It is Thursday night and I'm finally getting around to starting this post. It was such a fantastic weekend that I know it will take me awhile to write it. I think I am going to stick mostly to pictures, to see if that will make me more efficient. Ben participated in SIX(!!!) egg hunts this holiday season. Needless to say, he is a professional egg finder.
The first one was at the library where he has story time on Thursdays. Unfortunately, I had to work, but daddy and both Nanas got to go, so I received plenty of pictures. :) Note the picture of Ben chowing down on his goodies.
We kicked off our Saturday morning with an egg hunt at the park. Daddy and Benj came with their game faces on. (It was cold!) There were a ton of kids there, but Ben kept up with the best of them. ;) There were even (indoor) kid activities after the hunt, so of course we had to wait in line for the guy making balloon animals. He didn't even cry when it popped before we got to the car. Note the picture of Ben chowing down on his goodies, again.
Ben snuck in a quick power nap before it was time for egg hunt #2 of the day. Side note: he loves wearing leg warmers! I love it too because it keeps him extra warm under his pants. :)
We got a little more dressed up for the second egg hunt of the day. Partly because Ben had chocolate all over his Ben the bunny shirt, but partly because it was a fancier affair. This egg hunt was at the racquet club Nana and Papa John belong to and it included an awesome brunch. Look at how nicely Benji cleans up. Who am I kidding? He looks cute no matter what! I love his little poses as we waited in line.
The egg hunt itself was a bit chaotic and since there were no limits on the number of eggs you could find, some kids got a ton of eggs and some kids got zero! (I was mad at the moms who didn't make their kids share!) Luckily Benji is an Easter egg finding master (and he had 4 adults looking out for him) so he was able to get a few eggs. :) Believe it or not, Ben was NOT afraid of that creepy Easter bunny. He didn't seem so creepy in real life, but now that I'm looking at the pictures, I realized that he always looks like he is staring at Benji.
After another power nap it was time for egg hunt #3.
The third and final hunt of the day was at Andy's parents' house. His big cousin/buddy was there, so Ben was all smiles. J, on the other hand, was getting mad that Ben was finding more than him. They both did pretty well in the end, and some of the eggs even had $$ inside. Ben sure loves feeding his piggy bank!
Finding eggs did not get old for Ben, and watching him get so excited for each and every egg he found did not get old for me. We also celebrated Easter with Andy's family on Saturday night. It turned in to a beautiful day weather-wise, so we were able to hang out outside after dinner. It was so nice!
On Sunday morning, the Easter bunny had hidden Ben's Easter basket. We were going to look for it after mass, but he was magnetically drawn to it, so we did that first. I don't have pictures of him looking at his basket because I was taking a video of all the sweetness. Although it seems like all we care about is egg hunts, we did take time to acknowledge the real reason for Easter. As usual, Ben was a complete angel during mass. For timing reasons, we went to the church I went to growing up, and it brought back such happy memories. It was the perfect way to start our day.
After mass, we went to my mom's house for the next Easter celebration. Although my mom had an awesome spread last Easter, she really outdid herself this year. The food was seriously amazing, even Ben agreed.
I'm mad at myself that I didn't take pictures of everyone that was there for Easter. :( Andy's parents plus my siblings and cousins were all there. I heart my family. Super Auntie Anna hid some more eggs for Ben to find, so he did just that!
We did manage to get a family photo, even though he doesn't look like the happiest little bunny in this picture.
I am also bummed I didn't take more pictures at our final Easter celebration of the day. We went to my cousins' house (my dad's side of the family) and Ben got to spend time with his buddy "Emmy!" The girls hid more eggs for Ben and they entertained him for hours. So sweet! When Ben wasn't hanging with his cousins, he was entertaining great-grandma. She gets such a kick out of him.
As you can see, it was a jam-packed weekend, but it was absolutely perfect and I feel so blessed. I just love my little family and my extended family so, so much. They are seriously the BEST.
Happy Monday! Not only did we have a great weekend, we also had a great week. Ben is LOVING being outside, and aside from the SNOW we had today, we've had some pretty gorgeous weather. We've even been using getting to go outside/on a walk as an incentive to get Ben to eat, and it has worked SO well. Between spending time outside and playing with his new HOOP, we can get Ben to do a lot of things. This might be a long post, but I have so many pictures it was hard to narrow down my choices. I'm going to try and briefly summarize our week. It was off to a great start when Ben had another fantastic day at school. There were minimal tears at drop off and the teachers had glowing reports. Of course, we praised him like crazy and told him that we were so proud of him. The other day, I had this crazy idea of taking Ben to Chuck-E-Cheese, so we decided to celebrate Ben's great day at school with a trip to see the mouse. (Because I'm sure he linked the 2 events...) Andy and I hadn't been there since we were kids, and it is quite different these days. While the restaurant itself appeared clean and nice, the longer we were there, the less comfortable I felt. There were not a lot of people there, but the few kids that were there were brats! We didn't stray far from our table, but Andy caught a girl, approximately 10 years old, going through our stuff. It was just the diaper bag so there wasn't much to take, but still. I think she even took some of the few tickets we had. Then, Andy saw 2 guys looking through the windows of my car. Like, face up to the glass looking (snooping.) What the heck?! Since it was hard to watch Ben, the diaper bag, our table, and our car at the same time, we decided it was time to go. Ben had a blast, but I don't think we'll be back until Ben is actually old enough to ask (BEG) us to go there. Although I was questioning my "great idea," I loved seeing how excited Ben was when he saw a new game and I couldn't get enough of him screaming "hoop!!" and asking for "more money!" over and over again.
Ben has been snotty, junky sounding, etc for the past few weeks, and when he woke up saying that his ear hurt the other day, I thought it was time to take him to the pediatrician. His symptoms haven't really slowed him down, but he just hasn't been getting better. He did not have an ear infection, but he was started on amoxicillin because of the duration of his symptoms. He doesn't love taking his medicine, but when given the choices of taking his medicine or having his beloved hoop disappear, he typically sucks it down pretty painlessly. I was a little hesitant to buy him a basketball for no real reason, but I'm so glad we did. He is obsessed. When we aren't taking walks or playing at the park, Ben is shooting hoops.
With weather in the 50s-60s, it was hard to abide by Ben's 7:30 bedtime. We were out there as much as possible, soaking up the warm weather and daylight! I love that is is light out when I get home from work these days.
Another one of Ben's favorite things lately is our new bird feeder. He is simply amazed that birds can fly, which is pretty cool if you stop to think about it. :) I think we've had more squirrels than birds thus far, but luckily Ben isn't picky.
Alright, on to the weekend! We convinced some friends to join us at our Friday night lenten restaurant of choice--all you can eat pizza and salads! I'm pretty sure I could survive off of these foods. We had our typical Saturday morning music class before it was time to dye eggs. (Ben was such an angel at music class. He is getting to be so independent and doesn't cling to me as much as he used to. I'm such a proud momma. Ridiculously proud!) The EGGS--where to I begin?! This ties back to my theory that kids make holidays infinitely more fun. We had SO MUCH FUN. I took a million pictures because I want to remember how excited and proud (and bossy) he was forever!
I don't know where he was getting these faces and poses from, but I loved each and every one of them. We should have made another dozen; he was loving the "eggs! eggs! eggs!" so much. It was a surprisingly clean process and he only threw one of the eggs like a basketball.
I think the final products are pretty darn pretty. Well, they were pretty until Ben got his paws on them and made them "FALL! Uh oh."
In case the pictures weren't enough. ;) (Pretend he doesn't get super angry at the end of this video. ;) )
As if that wasn't enough excitement for me in one day, I went to a casino night fundraiser with some of my co-workers. I really don't gamble so I didn't know what I was doing, but it turned out to be really fun. My friend Maya and I were the newbies at a table, so we weren't quite as blown away when Maya had 4 Aces while playing Blackjack. The whole table was going crazy though, so I thought I better take a picture. :) We seriously had a blast though and we even went out afterwards. I didn't get home until after midnight! I seriously cannot remember the last time I was out that late. Believe it or not, Ben was still up with the birds on Sunday morning. Being the awesome boys that they are, Ben and super daddy kept busy making pancakes and playing with his HOOP! until it was time for church.
Although we were hoping for some awesome tailgating weather, we still had fun eating on/in the car before the Brewers' game on Sunday afternoon. Some friends organized a group trip, and although we were nervous Ben wouldn't last too long, we stayed the entire game!
The keyword is "stayed" the entire game, not "watched" the entire game. Ben and I spent the majority of the game in the kids play area. I didn't even know this existed, but thankfully it was right near our seats! It was photo op after photo op after photo op. Ben only made in about 1.5 innings the last time we attempted a game, so we were pretty excited that we were able to stay the whole 9 innings! And the Brewers even won their 8th consecutive game.
And last, but certainly not least, Uncle Joe and Auntie Anna came to visit on Sunday night. He loves them both so much! He also loved that they were vying for his attention. We have been talking about doing "Sibling Sunday" dinners for a long while now, but now that it is actually nice out, we have more motivation to entertain.
And it's now Tuesday as I wrap up this lengthy post. Oop! Ben is on Spring Break (hah!) so no school this week or next week. Looking forward to celebrating Easter this weekend!!
I love having time to blog on a Sunday night! :) This nicer weather just makes everything better. Another fabulous weekend has come and gone. I love, love, love weekends with my family. We had a relaxing Friday night with homemade pizza and Dateline. That's my kind of night! After music class on Saturday, we headed to my friend's parents' farm for the day to see some 2 week old goats and other animals. Since Ben loves the zoo, I thought that this would be equally fun for him. What I didn't take into account is that it is actually scary when you are up close and personal with the animals! We were in the barn for a whole 2 minutes when one of the goats stood up on the side of its pen and it scared me which in turn scared Ben who started crying. Things were a little better when the goats were out in their play pen. I still tried to keep my distance, but Ben was eager to feed the little kids!
Ben was loving life as long as he was being held, which was totally understandable since even the baby goats were bigger than him. He kept saying "down," but as soon as a giant animal came his way, we couldn't pick him up fast enough. He was so excited to see the horses. Again, I was afraid of the horses, but luckily they were retired horses that kids used to ride, so they were pretty gentle and slow.
Ben's favorite animal was definitely the kitty, probably because she was soft and smaller. He kept petting and hugging the cat--such a sweetie pie. He liked the chickens and Golden Retrievers too but NOT the huge New Foundland (who barked in his face.) After we were farm animaled out, we got some food and did a little shopping and walking around outside.
Ben was pretty pooped after our adventures. After he went to bed, we watched a little Final Four basketball and our friend Maggie came over too. We always love when she comes over! Unfortunately, Wisconsin lost by a point. Boo!
On Sunday morning I did some crazy cleaning. I am happy to report that my closet has over 100 fewer items! I emptied my whole closet and got rid of everything that I hadn't worn for awhile. It felt so good! We went out for lunch after my surge of productivity and got to go on a little walk while we waited for our table. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL today! "Noses" from Benji and a walk in the sunshine with my boys? Life doesn't get any better!
We topped off our weekend by grilling out and having our parents and Auntie Anna over for dinner. Ben loved having the company and cried when they all left. I am sad that we have to go back to work tomorrow. :( I miss Benji (and Andy) SO MUCH when I'm at work. Until next weekend...
Have a great week! Hoping and praying that Ben has a great day at school tomorrow! Maybe I will finally finish Ben's 18 month post this week since he will be 19 months in a week!
It was just a typical Friday night at our house until we got a surprise visit from some of our cousins. It was close to Ben's bedtime, but you would never know it because he was so excited to have guests. We hadn't seen them since Christmas, so it was nice to catch up a bit. Ben was acting extra silly and was of course loving the reaction he got from acting goofy.
We really didn't have any set plans for the weekend. Although I was looking forward to it, I realized that I like to actually do things versus just stay at home, especially since it was nice out! We did some cleaning in the morning, but then we went to the park with Ben's girlfriend, Maddie, and her parents. Although the sun was shining, it got cold after awhile, so we went to get some food instead. Love these kiddos!
Some of Andy's (our) friends who moved out of state about a year ago were back in town for the weekend, so we hung out with them and some other friends for the night. It was nice because Ben is starting to play more independently. He loves kids and was so excited to tag along with them. I may have wanted to cry when one of the kids said, "Ben can't play with us, he is going to wreck our fort!" I totally get it that no one wants to play with the baby, but still! They were all so good with him though. We would have stayed for hours, but had to leave before Ben ate the entire can of cool whip.
Sunday was even more beautiful than Saturday, so we spent the afternoon at the zoo! Ben loved the zoo the last time he went, but he really LOVED it this time around. First stop was the cow barn and he was just in awe.
He was so sweet and waved/said goodbye to every animal we saw, and he was sure to wave to all of the kids on the "choo choo."
I can't find the picture from Ben's first trip to the zoo, but I remember he was smaller than the monkey. He is much bigger now and was even able to label the monkey's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
We still had plenty of daylight after the zoo, so we went on our first outdoor run of the year. We went about 3.5 miles with Ben in the stroller. It was awesome and it got me so excited to sign up for some runs this summer! We did take play break half way through the run. Someone was obsessed with the slide...
We were heading back home and had just finished our third hill in a row and we (well, I--I was pushing the stroller) decided to stop to walk for a bit, but Ben was not a fan. He kept saying more and pointing forward, and we finally realized he meant more RUNNING, not walking. He ultimately fell asleep though once we started running again. Whatever it takes to get a napless boy to sleep!
My super awesome mom just got back from New York on Sunday, so she stopped over to see this cute little face. She offered to stay with Ben so Andy and I could have an impromptu date night. It is hard to say no to that! We love date nights! We had a nice dinner out while Benji had some quality Nana time. :) Thanks, mom!! It was such a fabulous weekend. It made me excited for more warm weather!
School Update: Ben was a little sad when my mom dropped him off, but she spied on him through the one way window and he was up and playing within a few minutes. He loved going on a walk outside and he napped for 1 hour and 45 minutes, so I would consider it a successful day. Plus, he looked extra cute in his Brewers outfit for opening day!
Finally, I want to throw in a quick surgery update. We met with Ben's surgeon today and we scheduled Ben's surgery for the end of this month! I am excited yet nervous, and I am REALLY hopeful that this will be the last one! We won't know until he is actually in surgery, but praying that this will be the end of surgeries for this sweetie pie!
