resolutions.

deciding what should be on my list this year.

trying to figure out my word. i believe breathe and be were previous words. not sure if i did the first year... should really check my archives!

contemplating this project. sounds different and involves scrapping. always a bonus.

known tons of people to do this one. not sure i need an excuse to take more pictures!

hoping to figure it out soon!

no ben pics yet. he's  sick. fingers crossed for tomorrow! yay days off!

merry christmas.

started our christmas festivities with ben's christmas party. his daycare did a really cute job. all the wee ones had to wear their christmas jammies.  totally forgot to send him onstage with his hat. oh well. beaner wasn't feeling too good here. he was still having hives. i tried to pick the picture with no noticable ones! {and i'm pretty sure that the hives are tooth related. he is now the proud owner of two}.

ben after christmas program. no we did not plan on the coordinating binky!

hanging with miss/aunt laura!

saturday we drove to indy to be with nick's dad's side of the family. didn't take a whole lot of pictures. this was one that nick happened to snap.

then with jerbear and gramma shell.

we bought these last christmas. had to guess on the size... little small but not bad!

 

fast forward to christmas eve...
hanging with my parents. chilling with great grandma.
yes, bows on our heads are required at all holidays. i'm pretty sure i have a picture of ben with a yellow bow on his head... maybe not on the blog, but i have it!

uncle kevin had some strings on his sweathshirt. ben loves strings!

 

chilling. gut out. happy. ;o)

presents!!
mister rolled over there while we were opening our gifts. total stealth mode.

 

 

christmas morning.
cute picture with jerbear. totally posting this for the two bottom teeth shot. click on photo to enlarge...

tried to get a cute shot of the cousins. idea stolen from daycare. this was the best of like 15 pictures taken!

love our camera timer. don't use it enough. forgot to use the flash with these. doh.
wanted to start a christmas jammie tradition. so we kinda coordinate. didn't want to be all matchy matchy. you got this version for ben's face. who cares if i look silly and nick is missing part of his head!

christmas evening/day with nick's mom's side...

cute reindeer bib courtesy of gigi.

a meltdown when we took away something. wrapping paper maybe...

all better.

nick and megan. just because...

ben finally figured out he could play with the ornaments on the tree.

busy, busy few days but so worth it.

thinking i might update flickr. that way if you want to be bored with more pictures you can.  still deciding.  thoughts? you can email your comments if you don't want to post here. ;o)

i owe you.

a christmas recap and a nine month beaner review.
hoping at least one of those will come tomorrow.
in the meantime, enjoy ben bouncing.  ignore all of us crazy adults talking in the background. was taken while we celebrated christmas with the coopers. so miss braiden makes an appearance and you can hear jas and chris in the background. i believe jason is referring to the steelers/green bay game. yay steelers! okay back to the video... 
;o)

 

pink glove dance.

got this in an email...
close to my heart.

Our daughter-in-law, Emily Somers, created, directed and choreographed this in Portland last week for her Medline glove division as a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. This was all her idea to help promote their new pink gloves. I don't know how she got so many employees, doctors and patients to participate, but it started to really catch on and they all had a lot of fun doing it.


When the video gets 1 million hits, Medline will be making a huge contribution to the hospital, as well as offering free mammograms for the community. Please check it out. It's an easy and great way to donate to a wonderful cause, and who hasn't been touched by breast cancer?

Ann Somers

dear santa.

ben's daycare had santa visit. so nice. didn't have to deal with the chaos of the mall. however, i hear st. john had a pretty nice set up too. maybe when he's older and can enjoy all the other activities that are going on in st. john, we'll venture out. but for now... this was perfect. in and out in like 10 minutes. {we visited with his teachers} got a cd of the pictures and only paid $3. sweet!

wee man was sick. ignore the glazed look in his eyes. started on antibiotics not too long after these were taken.  here are some favorites.

 

i'm pretty sure he asked for his first tooth. and santa is working on delivering... thinking it might be all the way through the gums by christmas!

and he hasn't been a fussy teether. nice! just turns his binky to gnaw on the plastic for some relief!  well, unless these crazy hives are part of his teething ritual. then i'll consider him high maintenance. ;o)

they're back....

some cute little boy decided he should have red spots for the holidays.
had a few last night before we went to dinner with my godparents. thought they would resolve on their own. was some fluke thing. nope. woke up this morning with a few more. his poor little belly button was so red! called the ped. has no clue what it is. doesn't think it's the augmentin. phew. but keep wee man home anyway.
the thing about these... some are perfectly round. some have a random edge and a small bump in the middle. almost like a bite. so strange.
ben is acting normal. no fevers. so who the heck knows!

will update with cute pics soon!

apoptosis.

yes, i'm a nerd.
was listening to a teleconference this evening and heard apoptosis. and apoptolytic.
every time i hear apoptosis i think that it is such a cool word. i love how it sounds.
i told you i was a dork.  just thought i should document my strange love of medical terminology for future generations...

yay.

for friends. old and new.
for birthdays.
for fun nights out.
for fondue.
for chocolate cake shots.
for lasting memories.
for babies who sleep til after 730 when mommy and daddy had a late night!
for grammies who babysit til the wee hours of the morning.

looking forward to seeing the pictures from yesterday. surprisingly, i didn't pull the camera out once!

they're here!

got our christmas cards.
so cute. then again, i'm partial to the subjects.
hope to have them all out by monday.
so excited!

makes me feel like i'm 10 again.

okay. the age might not be right... but whatever.

when i was younger, i was obsessed with super mario bros. loved all the games. remember staying up super late at slumber parties trying to pass all the levels. bubble bobble is another one and another story! burger time. sigh, i love nintendo.

saw that there was a new mario and knew we needed it!! haven't had much time to play it. only one night where we stayed up way too late!  so fun that it's multiplayer. so awesome that i'm better than nick!

would be a suggestion for anyone looking for a good game for their wee little ones for christmas. a bit tough. but cool.  well, maybe i think it's cool because it remind me of my childhood.

k. gotta go play. have a date with nick since ben's sleeping! ;o)

here we go again.

ben has an ear infection.
not sure if it's the one he had a while back that never resolved due to the whole hive/antibiotic fiasco. or if it's new. poor wee man.
only took him in because of a cough. had progressively worsened over the past few days and mister has been waking up with watery/crusty eye.
decided to see our ped's partner... like her! bonus.
took her two seconds to say it was an ear infection. so glad it isn't anything worse. so not looking forward to this round of antibiotics.
last time ben had some diarrhea from the amoxicillin. supposidly, amoxicillin is a gentle antibiotic. now he's on augmentin. had to change it up because of the possibility that the infection was old... and had been exposed to the amoxicillin. augmentin is a bit more rough of the tum tum.
fingers crossed that the diarrhea stays away and ben tolerates this with no problems!

maybe his name should have been billy.

the kid loves paper and blankets. loves them even more when they are in his mouth.

today nick told me not to worry when i saw a hole missing out of his day sheet from daycare.  said ben snatched it right out of his bottle bag and immediately put it in his mouth! said he ripped a chunk out after he made it nice and soggy! this isn't the first time that ben has done this to dad... maybe dad will watch that paper a little more closely.... maybe.  was gonna scan the paper and show you exhibit a.  however, i'm feeling lazy.

so i'll give you exhibit b.

the blanket is crammed into his mouth. sometimes he tries to figure out how to have his binky and the blanket it in his mouth at the same time.  there are some strange noises that are produced when this happens!  silly boy.  

has now earned yet another nickname... benny goat. lame, but it works. ;o)

boo snow.

not a fan of snow today.
sure it's pretty to look at. and the sparkly kind... even better!! but it is so not pretty when i have to drive in it. sucks.
took me almost an hour to get to work today... not sure why since there was only a dusting of snow. i know there was ice underneath that dusting, but where was mr. plow? he could have put out some salt the roads so much better.
i am not looking forward to snowy commutes. makes me want to move, convince my office to close at any sign of wintery precipitation, or get a note from my doctor saying i'm not allowed to drive in snow!

is it spring yet? ;o)

enjoying the tree...

was playing with the rebel as my two favorite people hung out by the christmas tree. {picture taken 11/30/09}

maybe one day i'll know all the tricks to that camera!!  would help if i would read the manual and all of those books i've collected!

kicks.

ben's not walking. but i finally convinced nick that we needed to buy him some shoes! had to use the weather as my major bargaining point. home skillet needs warm tootsies.  ;o)
met nick for lunch on friday after running some errands and we headed to big and little shoes.

was so much easier than i anticipated. we were out in less than 30 minutes. and i used a coupon! woot woot!

not a fan of robeez. well, not for the size he's in now at least. wanted something he could wear with everything... so they were out.

tried on some stride rites. first shoe {size and style} we tried fit and looked cute... thought, it can't be this easy.

the pedipeds were cute. but ben likes to curl his toes under and putting them on was a bit of a chore, so those were out.

so it was as easy as it seemed. only tried on 3 different shoes. and ben was so cooperative. even let us walk hiim around the store like a zombie or something!!

brought these cute guys home...

i think i might have a problem when he's a bit older though. i have a shoe obsession and i think it will apply to baby shoes too! ;o)

and it makes me laugh... ben's shoe size is double wide. {i thought of a trailer every time the sales lady said it!!} homey has some chubby feet!

8 months!

late is always better than never, right?

-had a major growth spurt. 2 inches in 1 month. and i think one pound.
-had those crazy fun hives.
-took his first antibiotic which resulted in crazy diarrhea, missed school, and killer diaper rash.
-still toothless!
-had his first trip to lighthouse mall!
-also experienced his first breakfast out with mom and dad. {ben is a fan of lemon rice soup!}
-experienced a teething biscuit and many more table foods.
-is a fan of blocks and his new discovery toys {snail -you can see here-, try-angle and cups}.
-can turn the pages on books.
-tries to feed himself.
-will take sips from a cup.
-is scooting all over the place but still not crawling.
-loves to look in mirrors. one of the greatest purchases...
-taking 30 oz of formula and 3-4 solid feedings a day.
-was taking ridiculous naps. 6-930 at night. then back to bed around 1030. and up about 630 for school.
-grabs for everything!
-love to tear up newspaper ads or anything paper. {did that just make him sound like a dog?}
-finally found his feet. i think it's because he thinned out and the buddha belly doesn't interfere!
-is so much fun!

the bear ones are getting trickier... especially when ben is laying next to him!

 

 

 

aw, the rolls are thinning out...

his feet are still super fat!

 

grabby mcgraberson.

is still mister happy pants.

his favorite flower. {off the discovery toys snail...}
and that hair is for you michelle. ;o)

love those rolls and dimples.

 

found the sticker again this month.

tried to eat the sticker this time.

top chef.

am diggin this season.
haven't had a chance to watch last night's episode. doing that after this post.
have a feeling jennifer is leaving. really don't want jerkface volt. bro {michael} to win. so i'm gonna hope for bryan or kevin.

so addicted to cooking shows. it's sad.
even started watching chef academy... hoping to learn something here and there!

20 bookish things about me.

1. i'm a huge bookworm. have been for as long as i can remember.
2. i hate writing. part of the reason i became a nurse... incomplete sentences when charting!
3. i collect cookbooks.
4. i love bookstores. really i could spend hours in one.
5. libraries aren't bad either!
6.  i tend to finish a book even if i don't like it.
7. i am not a book rereader. only harry potter and twilight.
8.  i love brit lit.
9.  there's nothing better than a bubble bath and good book.
10.  i have never read a stephen king book.
11. i never read the required summer reading in high school.
12. i now want to read some of those required books!
13.  i believe reading is for entertainment. not learning. ;oP
14. would someday love to cross all the books off the big read.
15. my baby shower kinda had a book theme.
16. to find time to read since ben was born, i now read on my lunch breaks.
17. i've debated getting a kindle for quite some time. but not sure i could get used to not reading a book!
18.i think i'm gonna start reading sookie stackhouse.
19. i just read a book sorta about jane austen and i have never read one of her books.
20. am completely addicted to goodreads.

30 in 30.

yay. some days were trickier than others. but i did it!

thinking i might try to do it in december too. well, maybe every other day if it gets really busy...

no ben pics from the 8 month shoot. why? i haven't taken them yet. not sure when it'll happen either. silly shannon. tomorrow evening i think is out. thursday too. so i'm thinking friday. unless he wakes up from this late night and is super cheerful and feeling photogenic. ;o)