A blog trail of our adventures as a family; learning, laughing, and loving as we go. It is also a look at our daughter's (and family's) journey with Cystic Fibrosis.
Almost 14 months after becoming parents, we FINALLY took a trip that resembled life pre-Benjamin. Not that we were itching to do that at all, but let's be honest, when the opportunity presented itself, we just couldn't say no. Booking the trip was the easy part (minus the serious pinch on our pocketbooks - ouch!), but when it came time to leave our little man, I was not quite prepared!
We are so grateful that Matt's parents could come out to watch Benjamin while we were away. They are amazing grandparents, and I'm pretty sure they couldn't love the little beast any more if they tried! He is blessed to have them, and we are blessed to take advantage of their generosity! :) For our first nights away, we knew we couldn't have left the baby toddler in better hands. {I was also extremely grateful for the regular flow of photos and videos we were sent!}
Before we left, I took a bunch of random pictures and video of Benjamin to keep me company while we were away. I'm SO glad I did this, because our flights were especially nasty, and it was nice to try and zone out looking and laughing at the little guy on my phone. I'll have to remember to do this every time we get a little getaway!
Just a few samples:
And by the time we had to leave, I thought I had prepared myself for saying goodbye, but I was wrong. I cried when we got to the airport. And then five minutes later. And then when I got on the plane. And generally any time I thought about his sweet hugs, I teared up.
At any rate, I just wanted to confess all of this before I post about our fabulous trip to New Orleans. I will keep the Benjamin-love-fest out of that post as best I can. We had a ridiculously good time and I can't wait to weed through all the photos and videos. The city was unbelievable. And that's all for now!
Thank you, Mimi, for taking such great care of me!!
Here was a little video she sent of them playing hide and seek... I love this boy!!
The past few weeks have flown by, I'm not even sure how in the world it's late February already! To be honest, I can barely remember what's been keeping us so busy, but thankfully my trusty camera/phone captured at least a few things or else it might be a complete blur... I've been working a couple days a week back at my old office (I can't remember if I already mentioned that, sorry), and that makes the week seems to pass by extra quickly now. And with Benjamin going through an extended bout of sickness (some sort of nasty cold) and a subsequent and brand new (and very un-fun) clingy/needy phase, I feel like we've been exhausted on top of everything. But, here are a few things we managed to do in the past few weeks...
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Matt's awesome Aunt Suzie and Uncle Steve stopped over for a visit on their way to their new condo in Palm Dessert. It was so fun having them here, even if only for 20 hours! We got to catch up, play with Benjamin, eat a tasty dinner (and breakfast) together, and (of course), play some Trivial Pursuit. And since our version is out on loan to my sister, we had to improvise with some OLD travel cards (circa 1994) that Suzie had on hand and a board we printed off the internet. What can I say, we're resourceful.
It was so fun seeing them and we can't wait to make a trip out to the new place in Palm Dessert. Hopefully sooner than later! I hear the hot sun and 43 pools calling my name :)
We also got a quick visit from my cousin Carrie and her boyfriend Jay this past Friday night. It's always fun to see them, plus we always love having overnight guests (hint, hint, all of you far-away-friends!). I just forgot to pull out the camera much at all. But trust me, we had a blast.
Since we're heading out this week on our first no-baby vacation since BW was born, we decided to keep it simple on Valentine's Day. Matt was sweet enough to make me a tasty breakfast before he had to leave for work (complete with turkey bacon, very WW-friendly!). And our super-exciting evening involved debating delivery options for literally 2 hours and ending up with some decent/mediocre Chinese food. It's an exciting life we lead!
Benjamin's buddy Boaz celebrated his first birthday yesterday, so we spent the morning celebrating at the Westra home. We loved getting to spend time with them on the very happy occasion, and of course we love getting to see Boaz grow up with Benjamin - we're so thankful for fun, shared experiences!
happy birthday big guy!
Today's weather was unbelievable... we tried to take advantage of it by walking to a nearby park and playing a bit in our backyard. These warm days are teasing us, but now all I can think about is spring and summer! We are SO excited to finally have a great backyard to enjoy the hot temps in. And keeping Benjamin busy (or tuckering him out) will be much easier with some outdoor adventures!
just some neighborhood goats waiting for their dad outside our local market... totally normal
That's it for now... we're off to New Orleans on Thursday while Matt's amazingly kind parents come to watch Benjamin! Such a treat, we still barely believe it's happening!
Benjamin is officially in his 13th month, which is crazy, and I'm learning also means that he's growing and changing every single day at a rapid rate. His brain must seriously be working in overdrive all the time the way we see him learning new things. This is awesome, of course, but also very very interesting/trying/funny/tiring/etc for us.
Things I'm learning with 1 year old:
* they are way smarter than they appear. All of a sudden Benjamin seems able to follow instructions (well, pretty basic ones), put away all the socks he's so casually strewn around the room, bring us his favorite book when it's time to read, put the correct ball in the correct toy, press on/off switches to his favorite gadgets, tell us what a monkey says ("ah, ah, ah" in case you were wondering), point to his nose (70% of the time), and occasionally use a few signs we've been teaching him (eat, more, all done). I mean, are babies just geniuses in disguise, secretly laughing at all the stupid things we say/do because we think they don't understand? I know, for now, I'll be toning down all the ridiculous nonsense I say/do around the house just in case :)
{here's a little video of him telling me what a duck says during bathtime last night, you know, "caow, caow" does sound a lot like "quack, quack"}
* bruises are a new part of life. Now that Benjamin is on cruise control most of the day, he takes some nice face plants here and there after tripping on books, toys, clothes, air... I think he had four separate ones appear in one day last week. I promise it's not from abuse, just a lack of picking up his feet to actually cross over items on the floor. He instead chooses to power through hoping he'll make it to the other side. Thankfully, we only get the screams/cries from falls if he's super tired. Otherwise, he usually just picks himself back up and carries on.
* my life revolves around nap time. When did I become this person? Every single thing I do involves trying to calculate when the beast will be awake, asleep, or needing to be one of those things... Hmm, should I shower today? Well, it depends on what else I have to get done during my two very precious nap-times of quiet. (Yes, that's right, finally down to only two naps and I already miss that third one) Can I run to the store today? Well, if I don't want to be that mom with a screaming child in the cart, then I have to perfectly plan a time to go between naps to maximize my "happy benjamin" time. A friend wants to meet for lunch? Well, let me see what time Benjamin actually wakes up from his first nap to see if I can make it anywhere at a reasonable lunch hour. And lest you think I should just skip a nap to go to lunch, I dare you to be stuck with an almost-13 month old who hasn't taken his nap... May God be with you.
* teething and sickness change everything. Just when you think the routine is down cold, naps are running smoothly at about the same time every day, the beast is sleeping 11-12 hours per night without so much as making a peep, and he's as social and happy as can be during the day.... in comes the movement of 1 year molars or a not-so-fun new cold to turn life upside down. This happened to us in the last few weeks. First, molars... and let me say that I hate you molars. HATE. Those molars (which aren't even through yet) turned the poor little guy into a miserably sad, cranky, and no-sleeping wild man. And to top it off, he got a nasty cold making him extra sad, cranky and sleep-averse AND super clingy to his mom. No, not clingy to his parents... just ME. Needless to say, things have been rough!
* big boys eat a lot! Aside from dairy, Benjamin loves just about everything. He is almost always willing to try something new and generally eats a pretty large dinner. **and of course we have edits to this discovery since being sick - now Benjamin is picky and likes to throw things on the floor. Dinner is no longer easy but more a prolonged task and adventure in cleaning. Seriously, we are tired of picking up food he's thrown angrily on the ground. Hopefully this changes!**
* toys are so much more fun. No longer is Benjamin just carrying toys from one part of the house to another or merely using them as chew toys... we now have a little man who actually tries to use toys appropriately. Well, he tries. It's so fun watching him figure things out and understand which pieces go where... though it makes me think he'll be doing math and writing book reports all too soon! Certainly not ready for that. :)
At any rate, these are a few of my random observations and thoughts about life with our 13 months old these days. He's a wild boy, but we love him!
Since we of course want to expose Benjamin to as much as we can (and also because we're trying to be extremely frugal these days...), we took advantage of a couple free excursions this weekend to the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Zoo. We feel very lucky to live in a city that promotes cultural education and makes sure everyone has the chance to take part in it. It was SO cool to see hundreds/thousands of people at the museum on Saturday and at the zoo on Sunday. The attenders represented a great cross-section of the city, and though it was certainly crowded, I felt extra happy getting to take in the "free days" with people from all across the city/state. (Way to go, Denver!)
The Denver Art Museum is certainly no MOMA... but it was fun to peruse their collections (there's a Georgia O'Keefe exhibit coming in a few weeks) and it was extra cool to see all the children's areas they provide to keep the kiddos occupied and learning. We'll definitely be back when Benjamin can take a paint brush in hand and not try to eat it. :)
First, some pics from the museum visit:
getting swept up with the trash... oh no!
interactive light exhibit
getting to play dress up
cool fox exhibit!
Sunday afternoon we headed to the zoo (luckily not far from our house!) and were met with thousands of other people taking advantage of the free day and decent weather. The zoo was a zoo! (hehe) Benjamin, however, didn't seem to care and loved seeing the animals. He started pointing every time he saw a new one! I have a feeling he's going to be an animal lover! (PS - if you've never been, the Denver Zoo is WONDERFUL!)
Hippo photo bomb!
And if you listen closely, you can hear him tell us what sound a monkey makes (he generally only does it when not asked, so we're trying to work on that!):
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