in love.

with zappos.
seriously. i have a problem...

after my one shoe debacle, i've just decided to go with reliable. and free shipping. and free return shipping!
somehow i became a vip member. i think it was when i called about my slippers mentioned in the squidward boots. however it happened, i couldn't be happier.

i have since bought one more pair of boots. ;-)
i think it's my british obsession. and of course now that i have them, it is warm and not rainy. oh well, i'm prepared!

then we bought ben two pairs of shoes last week. well, one pair are already destroyed...okay not totally but the white is now black on the toes. which is fine by us. it means homey is having a good time at daycare and crawling like crazy and playing outside! and even better for me because i could indulge in shopping! i'll use any excuse.  true shopaholic, right?

so he had these and these{well, of course there are no linkies for this pair... whatever} i did take a picture, maybe i'll upload the pics from the camera some day.

anyway.

yesterday at like 7 in the evening i ordered these. and they were here today! for free. free overnight shipping! pure awesomeness and that is why i'm totally in love with zappos and will be buying from them forever...

i already have some sandals picked out for beaner. just have to take him to be sized in like june-ish and then will order from my second favorite online shopping site. of course amazon has to win!

is it sad?

that i just want to color in one of ben's birthday gifts?

seriously, it is distracting me as i try to finish up in the scraproom. it's gonna feel sooo good to cross something off the list! actually, it's the last two things! woohoo!

we made it.

through the weekend.
no bottles!
he's only fussed a few times. and has gone to bed rather smoothly.  surprising since we haven't stuck to much of a routine this weekend... 
hoping he isn't too terrible at daycare tomorrow.  fingers crossed.
and we've officially packed up the bottles! only sippy cups for us. think we scared grammy with that one! she asked about bottles when she babysat this evening. told her he hadn't had one since friday. i think i saw her eyes bulge out of her head a bit. ;o) but they made it!

tried to take the 12 month pictures today. not sure i got anything decent. will try again and share that post someday! am really kinda relieved that this project is over. thinking i will do monthly-ish updates with a photo from that month. did i already post that here? if so, sorry. i'm babbling...

have been working away on my projects. feels so good to clean. to purge. thinking that i'm on track to finish by may! hoping, hoping, hoping.

and a ben pic.
playing with gigi's christmas gift.
his facial expression cracks me up!!

he bought me

daffodils.
sigh. i love him.
love that he thought to grab some when he was at home depot/lowes {home improvement store} buying me containers to hold my wrapping paper.
such a sweetie.
;o)

cold turkey.

saw the pediatrician today.
lots going on.
we are quitting the bottle and formula cold turkey!
i am so not a fan of crying. had the hardest time with we let him cry it out during the night. so much so, i had earplugs. ;o)
hoping this isn't too terrible.
i'm thinking the hardest time will be the goodnight bottle. nick's upstairs with him now. bless him. and no i don't have the earplugs in... yet!
today he did have one bottle. i gave it to him around 10. i know. i said i don't have the patience for crying it out! he hasn't had one since and he did great with solids and milk.  he's been drinking milk for a few months now and he loves big people food. loves it. so i'm thinking it shouldn't be too much of a problem during the day. it's that new bedtime routine that we're gonna have to figure out!

and he still has an infection in one ear. say hello to zithromax. again.
thinking we are holding off on tubes. for now. considering three different antibiotics have all been within this month. it's technically only one infection. not three. just a really resistant one. spent a ton of time with the doc on this topic: research on speech, hearing and development, risks of all these antibioitics, no more bottles... so cancelling those appointments monday. hoping that he can hang on a month or so.  hoping we are making the right decision.

and saw some strung out mother while we were there. she walked into the waiting room and nick said 'whoa' and i agreed. she just looked rough and high. then when nick is walking around with ben he turns and looks at me all big eyed... mouths that there are two cops back there with them. nice. saw her outside by herself when we were leaving and the cops were still there. wondering if it is some dcfs thing or what. but freaky nonetheless.  and i love that our doc always apologizes for his crazy friday afternoons. totally understandable by me. i find that i'm so much more patient when i'm at doctor's offices now that i work at one!

and now nick is downstairs and our little bean is asleep. only took about five minutes of crying and i think that was because he was so overtired from our busy afternoon. after the ped's office we got him two new pairs of shoes at big n little and ran to target for his antibiotics and some other random items. i <3 target!

k. off to watch purdue lose... sigh. i am such a pessimist. ;o)

i hope he's right...

being the pessimist that i am, i don't think he is....
but.
how cool is this?

okay... i think i'm done with the tourney. no promises tho! ;-)

happy first birthday bean.

he got a muffin today. ;-)

think he was confused at first. totally trying to find the frosting! and i'm not sure what he thought of the candle!

here are some fun muffin shots.

i'm thinking the last one would have been hysterical from another viewpoint. oh well. still cute!

and uncle kevin making ben laugh... so adorable.

one year post coming sometime this weekend...

recap.

the party went by quickly. smoothly, but quickly.
so thankful for everyone who helped. you know who you are! ;o)
and much, much love to the wonderful miss robin who came and took all the photos for me.
my apologizes for the photo overload...

the cake. nothing fancy. and apparently when you order a marble smash cake, they substitute yellow. whatever that is...

the mandatory balloons. ben LOVES balloons. aka 'loon.

a quick shot of the inside...

told ya he loves balloons. he carried one around with him for most of the day. that's how we always knew where he was!

with daddy. love ben's face!

mommy kinda sorta snapped the band of his hat on his chin. made for a not happy ben!

some cake shots.
not so sure at first and then you'll see he had no problems tearing into it!

opening presents.

chilling with cousin megan.
oh and his new thing is to stick his finger in his nose... lovely. and check out that crazy hair. gotta love frosting gel. ;-)

with gigi.

with jer bear.

with my fam.

i'm tired.

and a random shot. my godmother pointed it out. the placement wasn't planned. but super cute! love the bits of chaos behind it.

boiler up!

so excited for purdue. who thought they would have made it this far without hummel?

nick and i have been really into the ncaa tournament this year. nick even did brackets. i'm not sure who he has in the finals. i didn't have a chance to actually do my brackets... i'm thinking kentucky.

anywho.
the obsession started last year after ben was born. there was almost nothing on television so we always had the games on in the hospital. not that we aren't basketball fans, we just were always doing something else. i remember being at the hospital and complaining that i didn't get epsn! who does that?

side note: i've been looking back over the posts from the past year.  i posted this one year ago today. i totally remember the grimace post!!

hoping to share some party pictures tomorrow. countdown to the big day on wednesday!! ;o)

he likes cake!

longer birthday post soon! ;o)
and pardon the not so great picture. this was courtesy of my iphone...

poor ben.

he's gonna be sick for his party tomorrow. we were so hoping that with the two rounds of antibiotics he would be feeling better. no such luck. he is mr. snotty. even with almost 7 days of his second round of antibiotics on board. called the ped this morning thinking maybe the antibiotic wasn't working. thinks it is just something viral. boo!
hoping he's a trooper tomorrow and not too fussy! was thinking he would be alright with no nap since he has only been taking one a day for the past few weeks. fingers crossed all goes well!

to do list.

would love to have this list done by may 1. but i will also be pleased if it is completed by june 1.
gosh, i'm such a procrastinator i even extend my own self imposed deadlines.
hoping if i write them down {even if it is in cyberspace} i will be more likely to complete them all!

- clean and organize spare bedroom. this includes the closet!
- fold and pack away all of ben's outgrown clothes. {halfway done!}
- go through our closet and donate to goodwill.
- clean out garage. {this is nick's!}
- organize recipes/cookbooks.
- reorganize and purge scrapbook room.

considering the craziness of the next month, this might be kind of ambitious. i think i can. i think i can....

our first.

real walk of the year!
felt so good to get out of the house. i think ben enjoyed it too.
disclaimer. these photos were taken yesterday. i was just too lazy to upload them then hence the lame post yesterday! ;o)
and yay for kevin joining us. love family time. especially chatting over dinner and long walks. gosh, that sound like a dating ad or something...

green river.

in honor of the day, i made another batch of pop cupcakes.
yellow cake + green river = tasty!
they weren't super green which was good and had a very light green rivery flavor.

lame post, i know.
this time change is making me tired! that and work is super crazy this week.
less lame post tomorrow. ;o)

i just realized.

he looks a little like elton john in this picture! ;oP

this is my favorite-est picture i referred to yesterday. did some cropping and added a border because of how the picture was cut. happy to say it is proudly hanging on my bulletin board at work!

and now.

back to our regularly scheduled blogging. ;o)
that was one doozy of a week. lots and lots on the plate. not gonna bombard you with our craziness.. might highlight a few areas in my 15 on the 15th since i obviously missed 12 on the 12th again!!

-it's almost 7 pm and it's daylight. i LOVE it.
-nick and i have seen alice in wonderland the past two weekends. so good. i want it on dvd now.
-made the post cupcake crispy treats. didn't do it in fancy cupcake form. too sick. but did frost them. yum!
-ben is now starting his 6th round of antibiotics for ear infections.... since october. we have an appointment regarding tubes wednesday.
-this will be my first 'full' week at work in almost two weeks due to illness.{we aren't counting the fact i'm leaving a bit early on wednesday for ben's appointment}
-nick and i watched minute to win it yesterday. within the first five minutes he said, 'i want to have a minute to win it party!'
-at one point over the past three weeks all three of us were antibiotics at the same time.
-today was ben's first day back at daycare in two weeks.
-am not sure that i like my new haircut. love the new color though...
-percy jackson and the olympians is getting better with each book. {i'm currently on number 3.} thinking it might have something to do with me not expecting it to turn into harry potter...
-i think by his first birthday ben might actually crawl and not 'crawl' gi joe commando style!
-got my most favorite-est picture that daycare has taken of ben today. must scan and share!
-these stickers are great! like i might need one of every set. well, almost. they're featured in the upcoming issue of rsc.
-nick steamed 3 pounds of crab legs for himself last night. i ate leftover taco dip from our saturday night festivities!
-am wearing my flips proudly. and have even pulled out my slipper flips!

okay, i think that was 15. hope so, if not, someone yell at me! and yes, i could number them but i didn't....
and i promise to blog regularly from now on. i'm willing the sickies out of our home! ;o)

shoot. i missed one.

i suck. can't believe i missed a day.
it's been a bit too crazy around here.
hoping this are back to normal soon.

and have you heard of these?!? apparently, you can make cupcake crispy treats. it's on my list of things to do. not sure if i'll get to it today but hopefully by the end of the weekend.

everything

goes in his mouth!
here's a few silly moments, pre haircut.

 

  

 

i've been wearing...

flips for the last two days and i cannot tell ya how happy that makes me!!

i'm in love with spring....  {i know it's not spring yet, but whatever.}

love the melting snow!
can't wait for the buds on the trees.
love the daylight!
have been spring cleaning. itching to do more. {helps that i'm home with beaner a few days this week due to his lovely side effect from the antibiotics.}

and i'm planning on rockin this flips to the best of my abilities... fingers crossed we don't have any more snow!!!

first haircut.

;o(
i'm becoming crazy, sentimental mommy.
he did great. freaked out towards the end. but what do you expect when the lady made him sit there for 30 minutes and the other staff insisted on using the shop vac. regularly.
he was a trouper. and i was the crazy mom. not as bad as the people in front of us. who had four adults and video taped and took pictures the entire haircut!
sheesh.

look at that long, long hair.

 

 

first snip. sorry it is blurry.

during...

  

almost all done!

 

the final one was taken by the place and i haven't scanned it yet. sorry!
in hurry to go see alice!! :o)

out takes take two...

and another set of random ben pics from our failed photo shoot!

pardon the dark first picture. i thought about editing it, then remembered how lazy i truly am. and decided against it... ;o)

 

  

  

  

 

a few out takes.

we weren't sure that we were going to be able to use the photo we wanted for ben's birthday invitations, so we had a few photo shoots to try and capture something we liked. a few days and a zillion pictures later, we used the originals!
here are some from one of the days...

 

  

  

 

 

that last one is for you michelle, i know how you love his long hair! 

speaking of, with all the sickies, he still hasn't had a haircut. maybe it's just not meant to be! ;o)