Fence

This weekend we are excited to put up a chain link fence in our backyard. Hopefully that will stop any issues with people messing with Chelsey's garden. The other day someone came into our backyard and ripped out the tomato plants that Chelsey had worked hard to plant. They just threw them against the house. Chelsey then re-planted them and sometime in the next 2 hours they came back and did it all over again. Needless to say this was upsetting. Thankfully it hasn't happened a third time and we are very hopeful for our tomato plants. We are very grateful to Chad and Linda who gave us a bunch of fence for free. Hopefully we will be able to put in the fence without too much hassle.

Next week comes the door!!

Bruises

This morning Bentley decided that he was going to be a little more adventurous and explore our home. For the most part he has just been crawling around in the room we set him down in. So while I was in the other room picking things up, I hear him talking to himself. Then I could tell he had made his way to the kitchen because when he talked, his voice had that little echo. And then he was silent. And we all know that silence is never a good thing with children because it means they're getting into things or being sneaky. Luckily I stopped what I was doing and started for the kitchen. I arrived just in time to see my baby land his head on the floor. It was pretty loud and he cried pretty good. Usually Joel and I try to react in such a way that he can "shake it off." But this time I could tell he'd done a good thing of it. About thirty seconds later a nice bump had already started. My poor baby's first bruise. And definitely not his last. So after being distracted, I went back to what I was doing and Bentley followed me. He crawled right to the gate and started pulling himself up. I've caught him standing in his crib only once so far and neither Joel or I has seen him actually stand by himself. But at that gate he acted like he'd done it a thousand times and then gave me the wicked little grin he has. And of course... topples over.... He's destined for multiple bruises today. It's the start of little boy-hood.

Bentley is crawling

Two days ago Bentley started really crawling. We have it on video. It was very exciting to watch.

Yesterday we were sitting together in our family room and Bentley was going crazy trying to catch Zedd (our cat). Zedd was very well behaved and let Bentley chase him for a while. Zedd would move away just a little bit and Bentley would chase him. When Bentley would catch him, Zedd would move away just a little bit again. We both enjoyed watching them a lot :) Bentley would get so excited that he would lift his left leg up too high and put his foot on the ground and push off of his foot. It was super fun to watch him get so excited.

Now that Bentley's crawling Chelsey went out and bought a gate (without measuring how wide our hall is). It is a little too small, but it should work ok with a little bit of cardboard or wood or something to make it fit.

Chelsey, I hope that I wrote enough for you :) I can't think of anything else to write.

Updated finally.

A lot has happened since January. Spring is finally starting to make its appearance. And yet- so is winter... ugh. I wouldn't mind if it stopped snowing every other week! Joel and I are planning so fun home renovation things for this spring. A door to our back yard, some lights in the family room, a garden, a fence and no more dead trees. Lets hope we can afford it all!

Bentley is getting all grown up. At his 6 month check-up, he weighed 15lbs 13oz and was 28.5" tall! A tall one! He has learned how to make his mouth say dada and mama even though he still has no idea it has meaning. I made a goal for him- sitting up by himself by Easter. At first I wasn't sure we were going to make it. (because last year, easter was the first sunday of april and I was under the assumption it would be close to that time again... not the 24th nearly the end of april) But then he surprised me and just started to not fall over as much. And now he can sit up for a long time before toppleing over. It's not even april yet and we've almost gotten it. So now I might make a new goal for him. Roll onto his tummy from his back. He's got tummy to back down... just isn't as excited to be on that tummy. Plus, with that comes crawling. When he sees other little children running around him all hyper like, he gets excited and kicks his feet and laughs. You can just see in his eyes that as soon as he can figure it out, he will be right behind them.

Being able to be a stay at home mom has been such a blessing in my life. From the time I was little I just LOVED those babies. And sad to say that as soon as I was married I was pestering Joel with "now?" "now?" "now?" Finally my baby boy arrived and I am one happy camper. I have this child to devote all my time and energy to. I love watching him grow and being able to show him off. My mother in law said it perfectly. "If you could have picked all the traits your child would have, you still wouldn't have picked a baby as perfect as he is." He is such a joy in my life. He has been called a flirt many times now by family and strangers. He is just so quick to give out smiles. Not weak ones either. The kind that just suck you in.

I have started making a 2 week meal plan for Joel and I. You see, before I got married, I was the kind of person that would buy lots of groceries of things I liked and when it came time for dinner I would stare into the fridge and cupboards and eye out what I wanted. What ever I was in the mood for. This carried into my marriage and worked still.. but I began to see how expensive this was. There were too many items of food expiring because I didn't feel in the mood for them. SO, I've changed my ways. I plan out in advance what we will eat each day and make my grocery list accordingly. It's been fun for me. In doing this I have discovered how few meals I make and have decided to expand my horizons. (This is all about me because Joel will eat anything I have prepared. He's just happy if it isn't take-out.) 3 new soups, a pasta dish, and a meat dish have come from this. Oh how I love cookbooks. In my opinion, when you go to the doc's or dentist or hair care person, they should have cook books laying around instead of magazines. Love them things! So if anyone is interested in what I make or how I make my meal plans, let me know. I'll even do it FOR you if you don't want to. It's like a hobby of mine now :)
I'll add pictures a little later. Bentley is SO SO adorable though. You'll have to take my word for it.

Winter

I had the most wonderful realization this morning. Winter is almost over! There was this part of me that kept expecting it to come (even though it had) and I thought oh man, spring!! It's funny too because it snowed a lot this year compared to previous years and it has been really cold. After thinking oh ya winter has already started, I remembered these things. It was one of those moments when someone should have thumped me on the head and said "duh!" But only a month-ish more of this aweful weather and then spring will be here. I'm very excited to take bentley outside and to do fun outdoor things with him. Soon he'll be big enough that I can take him to the Rec Center and go swimming :) ahhhhh so happy about my day now.

January

I seem to have a hard time writing more than once a month on my blog. My apologies to those who read this (if there are any).

I dread the beginning of school for Joel again. I have enjoyed having my dear husband home and I miss him a lot when he goes back to school. He leaves before I get up and gets home just in time for dinner, homework and bed. Not a lot of "us" time in there. But the good news is that he only has 3 semesters left and then he will have a BS in applied mathematics. woot woot.

Bentley has grown so much in the past couple weeks. He has changed from being a blob with likes and dislikes, to understanding his own actions an abilities more. He now reaches for objects held infront on him. Twice now he has stuck his little fingers into scalding hot food that his parents were trying to eat. He has discovered how to make different sounds and also that if he skips his whining cry and goes straight to his bloody murder cry that mommy comes right away. He is a very good sleeper. And by that I mean, lay him in his crib and he would put himself to sleep... But as learning goes, he has also decided that he doesn't want to do this anymore and resists the temptation. He will lay and cry and cry despite everyone knowing that is it well past his bed time. We think we're sneaky in putting him in his swing at this point. He still can't fight off the lulling motion and it takes all of 30 seconds for those little eye balls to shut. :)  Ah parenthood. The battle to be in control.

We gave him his first bites of cereal a couple nights ago. Baby cereal that is. He did NOT like it. He put up a good effort of covering his face as if to say "No more!" The squished dislike face was also a dead give-away. Is it bad that we enjoy seeing all these new reactions? "haha! give him another bite so I can take a picture" :) Gotta say... I think babies are meant for entertainment!

Oh boy, Christmas!

Somehow, (I'm not sure how) December has already started and Christmas is 5 days away... ? Where did December go? I'm pretty sure that last I looked it was still November. I mean, crap, I still vividly remember Halloween and I know it wasn't that long ago. So I guess it's almost christmas. I'm very excited for this year because it has brought with it a lot of fun things. Two of these things being our baby boy and our new house. I know Bentley is still small, but I still look forward to watching him interact with his new things. Joel and I are very happy to be in our own home now. Especially since we can now envision to an extent, what our future holidays will look like.

With the joys of Christmas also comes the stress of Christmas. I don't think it's going to get any easier trying to juggle families. Joel and I LOVE our families SO much! It's important to us that our children know their grandparents and aunts and uncles. Neither of us has a desire to move away or to have to travel long distances to be able to see any of them. But with being so close to everyone comes the challenge of balancing time. Unfortunately I have not quite mastered this skill. I try very hard to spend time with family. I hope they know that and can see my struggle to make ends meet. I love you all! With my mistakes come learning and hopefully a lot less sadness. I'm trying my best.

It's strange now that I have Bentley to see that Christmas doesn't hold as much magic as it used to  for me. When the roles switch and you become Santa and the parent... it's a little sad. I know what all the presents are and did all the shopping. There's less excitement waiting for it all. It makes me a little sad. I'm sure once our baby gets old enough to be excited about it that I'll be more excited to see him enjoy everything. I still look forward to going to my parents house. There's still mystery and magic there.

And a new year is about to begin... 2011.. I'm sure it'll be here before I can catch up!