Weekend Recap: Daddy Is HOME!!!

Both Ben and I are equally excited that Andy is home!  He was in San Antonio for work all week and I gained a new appreciation for single moms.   Just when I was starting to feel like I was doing a good job, my poor little guy got sick.  At around 3:00AM on Friday morning, I woke up to Ben crying, and I could tell he was MAD.  I went in his room to find that he had his first case of what appeared to be the stomach flu.  I cleaned him up, changed his sheets, and snuggled him before putting him back to bed.  About 10 minutes later, I heard the same intense crying and realized that he had thrown up again...except a lot more this time.  :( I felt soooo bad for him.  At this point, he was still throwing up and I really didn't know what to do, so I texted my mom at the slim chance she was awake at 4:15 in the morning.  She responded nearly instantly and came to my rescue, as she always seems to do!  BEST MOM EVER!  I ended up taking my first sick day (in the 7 years at my job) to stay home with my sweet boy.  I may be a pediatric nurse, with a Master's in pediatric nursing for that matter, but I was so nervous taking care of him.  I just hated seeing him so sad and was so worried about him.  :(  Thankfully it was short-lived and he was back to his old self by the end of the day.  Actually, he was back to his busy, playful self in between episodes of vomiting, and even had time to make a "welcome home" sign for daddy.  Such a trooper!

By Saturday morning, he was essentially back to baseline Ben.  We ended up going to music class before picking up daddy from the airport.  He was so so so happy to see daddy!!  He looked for Andy every single day and just didn't understand where he went.  He has been extra attached to daddy now that he is home again!  Although I was going to attempt making Andy a welcome home dinner, I was off the hook when we decided to take up an offer for dinner at a new restaurant with some friends.  ;)

Andy was quick to put the oven/stove/kitchen utensils back to work on Sunday morning, after they were on break while Andy was gone. ;)  Ben LOVES cooking with Daddy.  They whipped up some delicious pancakes before it was back to playing with his ($9.00!) sunshine balloon from Nana.  That darn balloon sure seemed to contribute to his speedy recovery.  

We spent Sunday afternoon eating at one of our favorite brunch restaurants and checking out some fish.  Between the fish and his daddy (& momma!) being home, Baby, I mean, Big Boy Fish was in heaven!  I was too.  Love weekends with my little family!

Unfortunately, yesterday my mom came down with whatever Ben had and today it seems that the bug was passed on to Auntie Anna.  :(  I am hoping and praying that no one else gets sick!  Ben had his 2nd day of pre-pre-school yesterday, which did NOT go as well as day #1.  Poor little guy!  I know it is good for him, but I was so sad after I heard he was sobbing and clinging to Andy when he dropped him off and then was crying a lot all day and refusing to eat.  Thankfully, when I came home from work last night he was laughing and spinning around on his bottom on the hardwood floors.  I think he (temporarily) forgot about his rough day.  He was in bed by 6:45 and we, Rosco included, got lots of snuggles.  Can't complain about that!

Hopefully I'll get around to writing a 17 month post soon!  Happy Tuesday!

Weekend Recap: My Valentines

I have the best Valentines ever!  Unfortunately Valentine's Day isn't a "real" holiday, so I had to work, but I did get to hang out with my boys during Ben's 3 hour doctor appointment.  I won't go in to details because that would take forever, but to summarize, he has made a lot of progress but he is still not quite at the weight we want him to be at.  We got some good tips though and I'm feeling good about it!

Although Andy was going to make a nice dinner for us, we decided to go out to celebrate Andy getting in to grad school!  So proud of him!  I was pretty confident he would get in, but of course it was nice to get the official acceptance letter.  Such a romantic Valentine's gift!  I bought these mini mailboxes on clearance at Target last year, and we've had fun "sending" mail and goodies to each other the past week.  The Nanas even joined in the fun, ie spoiled us, too.  My dad and Andy also spoiled me with flowers.  Ben gave me a million hugs and kisses.  I felt so loved!

Ben's hair was getting a little long, so it was time for haircut #3 on Saturday.  He loved the first one, but he was just not a fan of this one.  He went back and forth between crying and being interested in the toys, so thankfully it only lasted about 5 minutes.  I'm not sure why they always cut his sideburns like that, but lucky for him, he looks cute no matter what his hair looks like.  

We had a lunch date with Auntie Anna, Uncle Joe, and Grandpa before it was time for Andy and I to have a Marquette bball date.  One of Andy's friends works for a law firm that has a theater box and he kindly invited us to join him and his wife.  First of all, I didn't even know there was such a thing.  Secondly, it is definitely an awesome place to watch a game!  Open bar (actually, we had a server bringing us drinks) and food galore!  I'm not typically a big dessert person, but they had this s'more cake thing that was amazing.  Oh, and Marquette won too.  Note to self: need to invest in MU attire for Andy and me.    

On Sunday, Ben had a little play date with the son of my friend from work.  I love that they both have reddish hair AND that they weigh the same even though Ben has a whopping 13 months on the little guy. :)  Ben was good at being gentle and he thought he was pretty cool when he was sitting in his chair with the baby.  

And although I hardly consider Monday part of the weekend, I have to document Ben's first day of pre-pre-school.  That picture on Ben in his winter gear with his lunchbox is definitely one of my all-time favorite Benji pics.  I know he had no idea of what was in store for him, but I made sure to prep him by telling him how much fun he was going to have at school.  I am so so so proud of how well he did!  He was extra clingy this morning, so I was afraid it was going to be a rough goodbye, but he did so well!  There were a few tears and "mommas" but he was easily distracted by a cool toy.  I used a crazy amount of will-power in and refrained from calling to check on him, but I was dying to know how he was doing all day.  My mom got to pick him up and the report was that he did great!  He made an art project and ate a good lunch.  As expected, he didn't sleep much, but he did manage a quick cat nap in while being held.   The teachers loved his sweet personality and said that he is a special guy.  He sure is!  I love this big boy so much!  

Weekend Recap: Family Fun

Happy Monday!  I'm feeling beat already.  It's certainly not from our weekend though, because it was a perfectly low-key one.  I got a lot of one on one time with Ben, because Andy was out of town for an interview for grad school!  Andy has been going back and forth with wanting to get his MBA, so he decided to apply and now he's (we're!) waiting to hear back.  There are obviously pluses and minuses to him going back to school, but we've talked about it a lot and I'm sure we'll make the right choice.   We'll wait until he hears the (GOOD) news before doing too much planning.

Although it is nearly impossible to clean when Ben is present, silly me attempted to do just that while Andy was gone.  My innocent little ragamuffin thought he had hit the jackpot when I decided to clean out the food cabinets since the lower ones are usually locked.  No sooner did he find the popcorn seeds did I realize that this is not a job that gets done while Ben is awake.  Luckily he enjoys putting things away too, so he did help me clean up his mess.  

Surprise, surprise, I didn't want to cook when Andy was gone, so we went out to eat with grandpa.  Actually, Ben seems to eat better when we are out at restaurants than when we are at home.  It's still fruit and goldfish central, but I think he likes the audience and distractions.  He is becoming such a big boy lately and I realized that he is totally and officially overdue for getting a bigger boy car seat.  I've been a bit emotional in recent weeks watching Ben grow before my eyes.  (And I'm not talking about his HAIR.)  Today one of my co-workers/friends watched Ben for a few hours in the morning and since he never met her before I thought he would cry when I left.  On the contrary, he just waved and said, "bye, mom!" Waaaaaaaa!  I had to beg for hugs and kisses!

Don't get me wrong, I'm so proud of him and I love watching him grow, but man-- time is going way too quickly!  Andy and I went to look at a little pre-pre-school for him this afternoon.  Ben seemed to love it, even though he kept his distance from everyone.  I often feel bad that he doesn't get to interact with other kids very much, especially since he really seems to like people his own size.  :)  Speaking of growing up, we got him his own little DESK this weekend.  More cuteness.  More big-boyness. 

And although he is getting smarter and wiser by the second, I am obviously regularly reminded of the fact that he is still indeed a one year old.  For example, he was both mesmerized and totally confused by the giant Captain Morgan statue at the restaurant the other night.  He ultimately had to touch his eyes, ears, mouth, etc. to make sure it wasn't real, and he then decided that he prefers his momma and daddy to the captain!  Hopefully it will always stay that way. ;)

Eating, shopping, cleaning, and playing pretty much summaries our weekend.  As always, looking forward to the next one!

Weekend Recap: Omphalocele Awareness & Playing

I feel like I should dedicate an entire post to omphalocele awareness day, but to summarize, it was amazing!  Andy and I were seriously blown away by the outpouring of love and support for Ben and all of his omphalocele buddies.  As I write this post, the "Super Ben" YouTube video my dad created has 325 views!  I cannot even count the number of people who wore black and white on Friday.  It was a humbling day.  After last year's omphalocele awareness day, 2 different people gave my name to moms who were expecting an omphalocele baby, and one of my facebook friends even said that she had been born with an omphalocele.  I had no idea!  I can't wait to see what this year brings!  I really feel like we educated a lot of people and definitely raised awareness of these tough little cookies.

I don't know if it was all of the emotional excitement of O-awareness day or what, but Andy and I were tuckered out on Friday night and didn't even make it to the end of Dateline.  :)  Ben slept like an absolute rockstar on Friday night: 7:15-5:00, quick bottle, and then slept until 7:30!  That never happens!  He must have known he had a big day ahead of him.  My bff Sarah had the brilliant idea of going to this indoor playground of sorts on Saturday morning.  Ben was in heaven.  He loves balls, and since there was a new ball everywhere he turned, he never stopped moving.  I knew he was fast, but seeing him sprint across the open floor was something else.  You better believe there were tears and a dramatic throwing of his arms in the air when it was time to leave.  I'm lucky I snapped this lunch shot when I did, because he truly did not want to be bothered with eating.

Luckily for me, I was too short to lift Ben up to the tallest hoop, aka Ben's favorite hoop, so Andy helped him slam dunk about 75  times.  I don't know about Ben, but Andy and I were tired after chasing him around for 2 hours.  I'm sure we will be back there soon!

We had a fairly low key dinner with some friends before we headed home for another early night.  I know, I know, we are so exciting.  I wouldn't have it any other way!

Today was a lazy yet productive day.  Who doesn't feel accomplished after hours of organizing?!  Ben and I opted for dinner with my mom over the Super Bowl.  Ben was trying new foods so I obviously had to capture these moments on camera.  I nearly fell off my chair when he acted like he was going to take a bite of my chicken.  He chickened out (did I just write that??) at the last second, but I'm feeling confident that he'll go for it next time.

Back to the grind tomorrow.  Have a good week!