lunch with ben.

looks like this...
well, when we eat at tgi fridays.
and ignore mom talking and mom and dad laughing. we're easily amused. ;o)

first his veggies.


then washing it down with some water.

productive.

so uber productive this weekend.
found and bought a new tree. prelit per nick's request at a super deal. bought some extra ornaments too. also nabbed some lights to decorate the outside for cheap. i swear, nick is mister christmas. he has WAY more spirit than i do!

today we decorated. tree is up. with ornaments. mantle is done too.
i even wrapped presents. all the ones i have, and put them under the tree!  i only have four gift cards to buy and some liquor. woohoo!

this means, no ben pictures. seriously, i'm the worst at these! tomorrow. i hope!!

i did take some pics while we were decorating today.

not decorating. just chilling. ben loves kobe...
yes, he is secure in his manhood. he rocks that purple binky. ;o)

can i help?

look the ornaments are longer than ben!

 

enjoying a different biter biscuit while mom and dad decorated.

best. face. ever.

and reading his new christmas book with dad.

he likes windows.

provided lots of entertainment. however it resulted in some cold little hands!

a little family photo.

hoping for 8 mo update tomorrow....

i'm thinking next time i'll make sure nick's hand is under his doopa. not in his junk. ;o)

10 questions.

first let me say that i'm so thankful for my healthy family and friends. ;o)
happy thanksgiving to everyone!

1.What are the traditional favorites?
mashed potatoes and gravy. 

2.What new recipes will you try this year?
cranberry orange upside down cake.

3.What part of the meal do you never compromise?
green bean casserole and mashed potatoes.

4.Who gets to carve the turkey?
my dad. and the servers at white hawk where we will be dining out this year...

5.Family style around the table or buffet style and everyone sits wherever there's room?
buffet style.

6.How many will be at your table this year?
my side: 7.
nick's side: 12, i think.

7.Three best pies for Thanksgiving dessert?
cherry cheesecake. pecan pie. anything not pumpkin.

8.Cranberry sauce...yeah or nay?
eh.

9.What time do you eat Thanksgiving dinner?
once with my family and once with nick's. time always varies.

10.Favorite leftover?
cheese potatoes if my mom makes them.

really?

now let me preface this by saying this is not the best picture.
and i'm not gonna mention who did it... wasn't nick or myself. honest.
but someone dressed my kid like this.

i don't mind the mismatched outfit. nope. i mean hopefully ben will dress himself and pick out all kinds of crazy combinations. so i'm gonna get used to it now.
the part that concerns me is the tail. yes, tail. really. who would put the tail over his peen? really. i had no clue what to say when i saw this. none. and there is a tag there too! maybe they didn't notice when they dressed him. but if you looked at him at some point you have to think that the tail on the crotch really wasn't right. don't you?

and i know ben is going to be so excited that his mommy documented all this crazy stories when he was younger. ;o)

little scarecrow.

i'm realizing that i didn't share halloween pictures. mine stunk. was a bit chilly when i tried to sit mister outside.
got a copy of some that robin took. she did a much better job. but hey, it's her job, right?! seriously. they make me smile everytime i look through them.
having a super hard time narrowing down our christmas pictures. they are oh so cute!
and yes i realize i should be posting his 8 month pictures. thinking that will happen friday. i know, i know... bad mommy.

so ben the scarecrow...
of course we did naked baby pictures. mister chubola. ;o)

 

 

 

ahhh...

all done with projects for rsc.
phew.
now i have to clean the scrap room again! ;o)

ben meet teething biscuit.

holy crap are those suckers messy. ben almost needed a whole bath to get tidied up from that lone biscuit!

yes, that's biscuit on his nether regions. don't ask! i have no clue what he was doing!

picture post...

tomorrow.
busy tonight. just didn't want to skip a day!

wedding band.

i finally got one. have joked with nick about it for years. should have something simple to wear to work.
am soooo excited.
we were going to order something completely different online but went to a local jeweler to verify ring size and decide on what mm we wanted. and then we found this...

perfect. nick picked it up on his way home from work.
wearing it now!!
trying to figure out how to wear this and my regular set!

true lemon.

is my new favorite.
so good. have been carrying around some samples for a while and finally decided to use it tuesday. why on earth did i wait? tastes just like lemon in your water.
also tried samples of orange and lime. not as good as the lemon but i'm thinking the lime might go well in my coke. especially with some rum. ;o)
nick even thought they were super tasty.
if you think you might like it, there's a coupon here. and samples here!

sytycd

normally nick and i are huge, huge fans of this show.
this season is just not doing it for us. don't have any one person that we absolutely love. and are so sad that mia isn't a choreographer any more!
k.
maybe a non tv post tomorrow. ;o)

merry madagascar.

so excited to watch it.
hoping to get to it by the weekend.
here is a link...

in the mood to scrap.

crazy what a clean space and a deadline will do!
thinking of sharing some layouts from the last issue of rsc tomorrow.
tonight is a lame post again, gotta get back to scrapping.
and woohoo for keeping up with nablopo month! over halfway done.

who does ben look like?

mom...

or dad...

and in case you forgot...
it's a six month shot. that's about how old we are in these pictures, i think. hmm, maybe that's nine. oh well. we can do it again then if needed. you get the point. ;o)

productive!

good day.
got lots and lots done.
now i'm tired.
had a good post planned but now i'm feeling lazy.
tomorrow.

longest week ever.

not sure why. it just dragged on forever.
didn't think today would ever get here.
love having fridays off. playing catch up with chores around the house. visiting nick for lunch. running errands. sleeping in and being lazy with mr. ben. ah, so nice.
and i'm pretty sure i got a shout out on mummy deals. her post on operation christmas child.
maybe i'll have an interesting post tomorrow!

a lovely dinner.

had one tonight. can't beat good company and good food and good wine. especially when you didn't have to cook.
definitely need to figure out how to do it more often. maybe if we did, we wouldn't stay as late!
and ben was a trooper. have some hilarious pictures that i have been told might not be suitable to share on this blog. we'll see. might just have to make copies for a few certain individuals that would appreciate the humor in it.
so to the lockes, thanks so much. we had a blast and are looking forward to our next dinner night. hopefully, before ben's one! ;o)

back to school.

happy to say ben went back to school today. and i think he was excited to be there. beaner only napped twice for a little more than an hour total! of course, he passed out when he got home.
so yay for resolved ear infection, hives, and diarrhea. hoping he {we} stays healthy!

so true.

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.”
―Phyllis Diller

note to self: scrap this with some crazy, messy house pics! ;o)

dj hero.

lame.
i want it.
why?
the damn mashups. 93 to be specific. sigh. i love them.
here's one of my favs.


well, crap. sorry it's ginormo. you only really need to hear it...
was showing nick some of the mash ups on you tube. he is now obsessed as well. and after we looked at the reviews at ign, i think owning this is in our future.
we are such dorks.
and i'm afraid it will be in my family room when i get home from work tomorrow. thinking dad and lad will take a fieldtrip to buy it since ben's home sick from daycare....
darn amoxicillin side effects. yay for a dad who was able to stay home with him today. and got coverage for tomorrow. however, i'm on duty if he can't go in wednesday or thursday. our jobs are gonna love us! ;o)

weekend in review.

in photos.
well, except for today. i didn't take any of the terrible bear loss which we only kinda watched since we gave up and cleaned the windows!

so...
trouble. in three glasses. nick didn't realize when he ordered the larges that we were getting fishbowls. pfwhoa.

yogert with his. we went out for his going away party. we missed the one with all of our friends last weekend thanks to both ben and i being sick.

 dude. there's no way i'm finishing this. i'm so out of shape...

seriously, you could drink for an hour and it didn't put a dent in the darn thing!

and this is what happens when yogert finishes two. ;o)

 saturday was my cousin's 21st birthday festivities...
cheers to matt.

ben had to join the fun and wear a party hat. it's good practice for his 1st which is fast approaching!

chillin with grampy.

 great family photo, right?!

then there's fun with party favors and family love...

 

had the darndest time not cutting off kevin's head in these pictures. 

 

the maturity level between these two is mind boggling. ;o)

 

again, no pics today.
just nice and sparkly windows!
oh and our butts beat in volleyball. but eh, that's okay. we had fun. and jill got to play shoeless which was hilarious. thanks to jerbear and grandma shell for babysitting on such short notice. ;o)

hi.

i got nothing, this time change is killing me. well, us. ben likes to try and fall asleep at 7. nick wants to too. and i hate the dark. so i want to too!
lame post. whatever.
here's ben thoroughly enjoying his most favorite toy...

i blame

yogert and his going away dinner for my uber lame post.
that and nick deciding we needed the giant effin margaritas from la caretta. ooof.
fingers crossed ben sleeps for a bit tomorrow morning. mommy and daddy would really appreciate it. ;o)
and oh so thankful for grammy and granpy who watched ben on short notice!
less lame post tomorrow... maybe. if my cousin's 21st birthday party doesn't do us in!!

right now.

i love that ben has been hive free for 24 hours and afrin.
however, i have taken afrin for three days so now i have to kick the habit which totally sucks!
all i want is to breathe through my nose again!!
hoping some retail therapy tomorrow helps. headed to lighthouse with coupons to shop for wee man. homey cannot wear long sleeves. he's a sweat machine. and what can you only find this time of year? long sleeves which means pantsless baby at daycare. so i'm hoping to remedy that at the outlet mall.
back tomorrow with a less lame post... maybe.

pw love.

i've posted about our obsession with pioneer woman before. nick's a huge, huge fan.
did you know that pw was on bonnie hunt last week? i love getting to hear what people i 'know' from online sound like! she was super cute. and she was there promoting her cookbook. i totally want one but am worried that most of the recipes are online... but still $15. i don't think i'll hold out much longer!

so we've made some more of her recipes. thought i would interrupt the ben posts {he still has hives} with some food.
k. back to pw. and her yummy recipes.
we've recently made the following:

• ribeye with blue cheese sauce: totally yummy. the cheese sauce can be a bit much. but yum. oh and we've used alton's way of cooking them. i love cast iron skillets.
• drumsticks: totally moist chicken. can't say that always happens. will absolutely make this again.
• mac n cheese:  who doesn't love a good mac n cheese? i know, my father in law. he prefers kraft. ;o)
• seasame noodles: might be nick's all time fav recipe of hers. it was tasty.
• spaghetti with artichokes and tomatoes: delish. so good. and wasn't like crazy flavorful, just so good.
• steak bites: for all you local peeps, three words. house. of. kobe. yup, enough said.

then pw decides to start an online recipe site. sigh. you can find it here. yes, i've made stuff from here too. all good. but that's another post! 

and for those of you here to check on ben. he had hives again this morning. we gave him the amoxicillin and he went to school. one hive while there so they gave him some bendaryl.  he's been hive free since.  he'll get another dose of amoxicillin tonight and we'll see what happens. ;o)

bzzzz.

get it.
the hives are still here. stayed home with ben today.
had hives when he woke up. doc said give him benadryl. nick had to run to walgreens before work so we could give beaner a dose. thankfully, that was all he's needed today.
woke up from two naps with red splotches.
have to call pedi in the am and we're gonna give him some more amoxicillin with the benadryl and kiddie steroids on standby.
thinking it cannot be med related since he's still having hives/redness and hasn't had a dose of it for over 24 hours now.
who knows!
here's a fun video for you. still can't figure out the hd camera and uploading. and i can't rotate the damn videos either. so you are stuck with one of the four i took today. wah.
okay. maybe i'll share a rotated one too. just turn your head to the side and pretend it's normal. ;o)



and pretend it's the right direction...

the one where ben rides in an ambulance.

got a phone call a little after noon. ben has hives. what do you want us to do? uh, i freaked. call nick! so nick tells daycare to go ahead and call the ambulance since they say his face is swollen, he has hives to his face and body.
neither one of us were expecting an allergic reaction four days after starting antibiotics. but apparently, this is common place in kids. ah, the joys of parenthood. always something. always learning.
leave work. get to er and tell them i'm here for ben. the 7 mo old coming from daycare with hives. uh, there's no ben here. and they haven't called it in from the ambulance. what? it's almost 30 minutes after the original phone call. so i call daycare and yup. they're in the parking lot. getting ben situated, will be on their way shortly. aunt laura is keeping him company. ;o)
nick meets me there and we chill in the ambulance bay. dude, was it nice out or what? anyway.
the ambulance pulls in and we go through the er. i tell the lady i'm back and my kid is coming in now. she sends us back. nick goes to meet the ambulance while i deal with fun insurance stuff. then i hear them right outside the door. keep thinking to myself, why are they here if he's have an allergic reaction? shouldn't they be giving him something. finally the little old lady finished taking my info and i walk out to the nurses station and here's mister ben chilling in his car seat like nothing is wrong.
he has a killer hive on his right elbow. see a little bit of a splotch from where there was one on his thigh. apparently, they were all over his face and resolved on their own. strange.
the triage nurse keeps asking why the ambulance and even the emt's were like he did have hives and facial swelling. nurse gives him the once over and sends us to a different waiting area. i decide to take off his onesie and find these lovelies...

not hives. just strange rash. by his right shoulder and ear too... strange.
we chill in the waiting area for quite some time. ben is awesome. just a bit fussy. we fix that with a bottle and he's mister happy and observant.
i told nick to take some pictures. why  not, right? i'm sure the staff thinks we are nuts. whatever. i don't care.
cheese...

the rash is resolving to his shoulder. can see a bit of red on his ear...

 

so we wait some more. then the doc comes over and checks him out. says it is an amoxicillin reaction. great. our kid is allergic to penicillin. sigh. they give him some kiddie steroids by mouth. boy that was fun and we wait some more. finally get ben to take a nap and they discharge us.
yay. until we go to put him in his carseat and he has three tiny hives on his right cheek/jaw line. um, i thought he got meds for this? what is going on? ask the nurse to send the doc back.
doc says that it could just be sensitivity to his saliva. one of his kids had this problem. thought we were okay to go home since the trunk rash resolved.
no problem. i'm a nurse. i can handle it.
those three little hives turned to this by the time we got home.
not the best pictures but you get the idea.

well, no kidding daycare freaked out if he looked like this. and here is ben all chill like nothing is wrong.

 

why you taking my picture mom?

oh, more hives. on my leg... yeah, what is the problem?

get him changed and settled and he naps. and what do i see? more hives. oy. this could get old.  ben just needs to get better. no one wants a sick beanie.

finally after he woke up from his nap he was relatively hive free. yippee!!

isn't that a great 'i just woke up and you've got that gd camera in my face already? come on mom!' face?

so he's been hive free for about 2 hours.
nick has talked with our pediatrician. not sure that it is a true allergic reaction. holding off on the amoxicillin for the evening. no kiddie steroids as prescribed by the er doc. call pedi in the morning and give an update.
phew.

oh and it's nablopomo.

i'm trying it again this year. we'll see how i do! ;o)

7 months.

and i'm only just over a week late. with all the chaos that has been this past week, i'm pretty stoked. ;o)

-is digging solids. his favorites: zucchini, squash, and carrots.
-his first taste of any food whether he's had it before or not, is a look of pure disgust.
-sits unassisted!
-can roll from back to tummy and vice versa.
-likes to say daa daa daa daa. we are working on mama and kitty.
-is a complete pro at taking his binky out of his mouth and putting it back in. he'll even pick it up off the floor or high chair!
-still toothless!
-got his h1n1 vac {well, the first part}
-still enjoys his activity center and jumper
-is now at daycare four days a week. monday - thursday
-loves blowing raspberries. they are even funnier when he's eating.
-claps. sometimes when we clap with him. also likes to clap when we wave at him.

and for the pictures...

playing with a green bean. some of the shots are hilarious. i'm only sharing one for now...

in my mom is hot t shirt from joan...

my super cute new monkey hat. i'm gonna be a model. purchased here.

again with this sticker thing... i will remove it one of these days mom...

come here panda. yeah, panda shots are looking slim....

i want to eat panda....

hi mom.

i crack myself up...

oh, mom's hair. i love it.

hmmm. no hair. well, i'll grab the camera.

looking out his bedroom window.

clapping.

again, in my hat. because i am so darn cute in it!