Reflecting on my year and Giving Thanks...

Thanksgiving was, as always, a wonderful time for us.  I remember last thanksgiving being anxious wondering if I may be pregnant.  Wow, how time flies!  It makes me think of everything that's happened to me (and to this family) in the last year...  We found out we were pregnant, I taught middle school religion while I watched my waistline expand beyond all expectation, dealt with morning sickness, ate lots of potatoes and chocolate shakes, went to numerous appointments, unsucessfully tried to keep my ankles from becoming beach balls, walked around the neighborhood listening to "faster, stronger" by kanye in anticipation of being in better shape for labor, going through labor and delivery (life-changing), days in the hospital full of challenges with jaundice, breastfeeding, possible infection prompting monitors, IVs and a lumbar pucture for a 2 day old son; then came going to the pediatric urologist and waking up for night feedings. 

I'm most thankful this year for the life that God has shared with me.  Me of all people has been given the gift of this little person, this little soul that needs cared for and taught- a little one that needs love and has love to give.  I am ever saying those words that came to me in a prayerful way at 4am Aug 6th when the nurses brought Benjamin to me to snuggle because his temp wasn't going back up...  I rested in the hospital bed with Joe's sleepy breathing coming from the corner and the dawn light softly illuminating the twin spires of the Cathedral outside my window, and most of all the feeling of the warm little body moving ever so softly and steadily on my chest with tiny breaths... I couldn't help but just keep repeating.. "Who am I that God should give you to me?"

Home again, home again, jiggety jig...

Phew, it's been awhile since I've posted!  Benjamin and I took quite the vacation to my parents' house this past weekend.  Being that I "stay at home" now I can travel on Thurs and Mon. when the roads are free and the sun is out.  It gets me max time with my family.  I'm there when they come home from work, stay for the weekend and then leave after they leave for work.  I'm blessed to be able to make the trip so often! 

This past visit also included time with my grandmother which is always wonderful.  She is such an example to me.  She's always told me that I'm special... that's something that many people may say, but one look at grandma when she's saying that to you eye-to-eye and you know she truly means it.  Her faith and prayers has been and continues to be a source of inspiration and support.  If I'm half the grandma that she is when I'm a grandma I'll be happy.

You know what, as I typed the above paragraph I started to realize that I could say the same thing about my Nana too.  Her faith is also deep and integral to her life as well as something that makes me admire her.  My gosh I am blessed with amazing women in my life!!! 

Halloween 2010

Trick or Treat!

Don't you wish you could have this happy little Tiger on your doorstep? This one comes with a pacifier :)
Obviously Joe is a Zookeeper and I am the Tiger Trainer.  Dressing up in cute and clever costumes and seeing all the neighbor kids in one night are my 2 favorite things about Halloween.  The dark and scary stuff need not be a part of our day.  We got to spend ours with Joe's family socializing and eating great food.  Then we handed out candy when we got home and I watched part of the Addams family marathon as usual.  (and by usual I mean, that's what happened last year)




Three months old!

We've come a long way from this:



8-6-10

To this:

11-4-10

What have I learned in 3 months?  This vocation of motherhood is going to be an exhilarating ride, albeit difficult at times.  I'm doing my best to enjoy having one baby right now seeing as how I feel like if God graces us with more children the difficulty rating will go up with each one.  Right now my difficulties are, "he's awake already," "this shirt's got spit up on it too," and "Joe, it's 4am will you please help me with the poopy mess our son has become." 
Sometimes I feel like my time spent teacher jr. high was extremely beneficial in preparing me for this job- the need for endless patience, the knowledge that I'm not in total control, the need for a loving and compassionate heart even when I'm tired, flexibility, and I could probably go on... any teacher-moms concur???

It's a me... Benjamin!

Custom made onesies anyone?  See my crafty sister-in-law!  This is just one of many tees that Benjamin received and wears all the time.  Do not fear, Halloween pics coming very soon!

Need I say more?

Adventures in Ba.. king! (Pumpkin Edition)

Get it?  Adventures in Baking instead of the hit '80s movie: Adventures in Babysitting?... yeah, I thought you would.  Anyway, I made a pumpkin pie for Joe's bday since he likes them and it's October.  I think the more I eat it the more I like it!  Well this year as I was making it I thought about what else I could make with pumpkin.  Well, i got online and found a recipe for pumpkin cupcakes- with cream cheese frosting!  They're great! 



I LOVE baking!  I've never done cake mix from scratch before.  It's not that bad!  I do see the need to make it smooth.  The great thing was that I could just set my stand mixer to on and then keep adding ingredients so that nothing could clump up. 

Now I gotta send any leftovers to work with Joe on Monday so that they don't stick around too long :)  Bit by bit the scale numbers seem to be going down (overall, but the fluctuation is agonizing) so I don't need anything to throw it off.  If you were here I would make you eat one! 

So far so good...

We went to see the Pediatric Urologist on Friday last week and got some good news.  Since it appears that the connection between Benjamin's navel and bladder has healed up from the outside (navel) then we'll continue to wait and let it close up.  He'll be on a low dose antibiotic til January when we have an ultrasound to be sure that it has healed up at both ends and there's nothing stuck in between.  I have a feeling that at that point all will be fine, but should it not be healed like the doctor wants then we'll proceed with surgery at that time. :(  Keep those prayers up if you can, they NEVER hurt!

Got to spend some time at my parents' house this weekend- what a joy!  I missed my brothers, but as usual the house was crazy with people anyway.  My cousins' car wouldn't start so we had her, her husband and 13 month old M. on Friday night.  Then another cousin came with my uncle showing up the next day along with open house guests all Saturday afternoon.  My parents are such an inspiration in the "more the merrier," "let us know what you need" kind of ministry.  Their example of patience is why I have any that I do now and the fact that I desire to have more.



so peaceful





On a different note- Ben slept through the night on Friday night- from 8pm to 6:30am!!!  Too bad I was downstairs highlighting my hair with my mom til 2am... so I got a good 4 hours instead of the 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep that Ben got.  I hope he'll do that again sometime soon, I hope it's not just an "at Grandma's house" sort of thing.

What a way to spend the Day...

I caught this act a couple of weeks ago.  He's NEVER this calm unless he's either about to sleep or just coming out of sleep.  I caught him doing mental telepathy with the Hippo and Monkey connected to his swing.  What would life be like if this was your job... to stare at your toys all day...

Getting Bigger every day



my little man



First off... Adorable, no?  ---->

I had a CT scan on Monday with some dye to see if things were going where they are supposed to, etc. and was told I couldn't breastfeed for 24 hours afterward.  No problem I thought, I have a nice little supply in the freezer for just this occasion.  Well, for whatever reason (i'm looking into it, doing experiments etc) none of the freezer milk smelled or tasted good- Ben wouldn't take it.  So I dug out the formula samples from the hospital and pediatrician.  I'm so glad I saved them just in case.  We had enough to get through the 24 hours although Benjamin alerted me to the fact that he didn't like the taste of it either, but at least I knew it was good for him. 

 

do I have to?!



When I don't like it, i don't care
 how much runs down my chin!

I'm sure babies that start on formula don't even think about the taste of it.  For a kid who takes vitamins and medicine well, Ben acted like this formula was disgusting- it took 30 min to convince him to drink it and he just spit some of it back out at me.  And just to quell my curiousity, I tasted and smelled it- I wouldn't want to drink it unless it was the only thing I had on deserted island!  I can't tell you how nice it was to finally have him back nursing, both of us felt SOOOO much better.