We interupt this holiday...

As I sat down this morning I started to think about all the amazing things that has happened over the past year and wondered what exciting things are going to happen in 2009.   Benjamin enjoyed his first Christmas in Ohio & especially loved being spoiled by all his aunts & grandparents! 

Unfortunatley it wasn't all snowflakes & candy canes this Christmas.   I managed to catch something while traveling & and lost my voice on Christmas eve which spun into a raging ear infection.  After a quick trip to urgent care and prescription for antibiotics  I am hopefully on the road to recovery.   Unfortunatley that is not where the illness raging through our house stops...   Benjamin came home from daycare Monday with a fever and is now on antibiotics himself for a double ear infection.   Tom is still questionable, he doesn't seem to have the ear problem (yet) but he is congested & is coughing along with the rest of us.  Here is to hoping that 2009 is healthier!

I hope you all have a safe & warm rest of 2008 and a Very Happy 2009!

6 months and growing...

I can't believe my little peanut is 6-months old  already.   He was at the doctor's last week for his regular check-up and the next round of shots (yuck).  He now weighs 15 lbs 13 oz and is 26 3/4" tall.    Ben's had a cold for about the last month, thank you daycare, so I was a little concerned because he's become more and more congested lately.   After we got the we don't give antibiotics for every cold speech, he checked Benjamin's ears and guess what we have a another first - Benjamin's first ear infection!  So he ended up on an antibiotic afterall.

1st Thanksgiving - Keeping up with family tradition, Benjamin slept through thanksgiving dinner but was more than happy to share both Mommy's & Grandpa's pumpkin pie!   He's actually started eating more and more solid foods - currently his favorites include carrots, squash and sweet potatos.    Boy oh boy do those solid foods make some interesting diapers...  He's also gotten pretty good at rolling over and at the moment it's his favorite mode of transportation (besides Mommy & Daddy of course).   He's trying to crawl or so we think but it still looks more like swimming in place... he's started sitting up and  is getting better every day now he only topples over when he gets too excited.

Well I think that's it for now... 

Tricks & Treats!

Well we survived our first Halloween with our favorite pumpkin.  His daycare had a really nice parade for all the kids.  Benjamin's class (without any pre-planning) had a great group costume - 7 pumpkins in the pumkin patch!

Our favorite Engineers!  Saturday we spent most of the day hanging with the trains and all our favorite train enthusists.   Of course Benjamin was a hit at the ETE dinner that night and flirted and smiled as he does best!

Benjamin & his cousins Liam & Conor

So I said tricks & treats... above was all our treats for the weekend, now on to the tricks.  Poor Benjamin caught his fist bout with the flu.   He's had a fever on and off all weekend - Friday night he was sick, Saturday he was fine, and then BAM it hit again Saturday night & all day Sunday.  We went to the doctor's again Sunday and they think it's just a viral thing... but needless to say no one in our house got much sleep... but all is well now and I think we are all finally on the mend.

Pick your favorite pumpkin...

So Benjamin has 3 pumpkin outfits to pick from for Halloween and of course he looks adorable in all of them, so pick your favorite! We're not sure which one he will end up wearing for the daycare parade and which one for trick-or-treating, but this is for sure - he's one cute pumpkin!

I promise to post the pictures from his first trick-or treating event! Happy Halloween Everyone!

We made it...

So we've all survived the week... I survived my first business trip away from my guys, Tom survived being in charge and 3am feedings and Benjamin sat back and continued to be his cute laid back self! He is still the flirt of daycare smiling and cuddling with anyone who wishes to hold him... I think we do need to start working on learning to use inside voices though! His latest trick is to come home, lay down on his play mat and then talk/ yell as loud as he can :) It's actually pretty cute but can get annoying when you are trying to have a conversation with someone - but I guess this is just the start of interupted conversations!

Here are some new pictures to enjoy:

Nap Time!

Funny Hat Day at DayCare

Go Dawgs!

Daycare woes...

So Benjamin started Daycare last week and it was a good week for all of us... Benjamin had fun meeting all the teachers and all his new friends, and Mommy & Daddy finished up projects! Of course some how in the course of the week Benjamin managed to catch a cold from one of his new class mates and now we are all sick- Benjamin has a stuffy nose & Tom and I have sore throats. I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting year of sicknesses for all of us...

What I did on my summer "vacation"

Ok, so it's been awhile since I updated my blog but as you can see below Tom & I have been a little busy... Besides the obvious (getting used to life with Benjamin), Tom and I have been fairly busy this summer catching up on all those projects we wanted to do since we moved into the house 18 months ago. Here is a glimpse of what we've been up to in our "spare" time...

Project #1 Backyard
We contracted with one of the local garden centers (Sollecitos - http://www.sollecito.com/) to design a garden for behind our house. The layout they came up with is amazing, it's part of their "we design it, you dig it" program. Here are some before & after pictures. Honestly I don't even recognize our backyard anymore! I can't wait to curl up with a book and sit back and enjoy...

Before:

After:

Project #2 Organize "craft" room/ basement

Tom & I decided to turn my "craft" into some actual usable space. First we moved all the boxes out of the room, cleaned the carpets and then purchased the bookcase & cabinets from Home Depot. We then moved the futon that was sitting on Tom's side of the basement to the empty wall (this way we can actually use it when we have guests) and replaced it with Tom & Sophia's chair that was in the loft at his old house. So now all I have to do is finish "organizing" the various craft stuff that I have - but at least now I have room to work on stuff and it won't require me to clean the kitchen first!

Project #3 Organize the Storage Room

This was yet another must have for our house - Tom & I purchased a bunch of black metal shelves and put them along the outside wall of the storage room. It was pretty fun going through all the boxes that never got unpacked... it was fun to find all the stuff that I either thought was lost or never remembered having in the first place!

Project #4 Refinish the Hardwoods

The first step in this project was removing my "wall of boxes" that occupied one wall of the kitchen. It's amazing how much room it looks like there is now. We contracted with a local company (NHance; http://www.nhance.com/) and they did an amazing job over this past week to bring new life into our floors. Now we just have wait until tomorrow to put the first floor back together.

Project #5 Organize the Garage - still in progress

We are still working on this one, but we are about halfway done. The plan is to finish putting up the garage cabinets we purchased at home depot and then empty all the boxes labeled "tools", "camping gear", "sports" (yes we have a box labeled sports - not that either Tom or I are coordinated to play sports but we have fun trying), "garden stuff", etc.

We are really excited to have all this stuff done finally, we had been putting it off for some time now and since we both go back to work next week (boo hoo) we have been in hyperdrive to get the rest of "the list" done. Looking back at everything we've done I think our theme for this summer should have been- EMPTY THE BOXES!

... and since inquiring minds want to know here's a quick Ben update- Ben started DayCare this week and has won over the hearts of all the ladies there. The last two mornings we are barely through the door when the teachers are pretty much grabing Ben out of our arms saying "I'll take him!". Needless to say, Benjamin is loving all the attention & adjusting quite well. Mom & Dad are adjusting ok too, but next week will be the true test! I'll let you all know how it goes - wish us luck :)

Zoo Tour 2008

So Benjamin has embarked on a Zoo Tour this summer hitting not only the Syracuse Rosamond Gifford Zoo (pictured in previous blogs) but also the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (Cleveland, OH) and the Sceneca Park Zoo (Rochester, NY).


Of course both the Cleveland & Rochester zoo's have polar bears - which I am sure everyone reading this knows is my favorite! But as my niece Emma reminded me there are other animals we can go see too besides polar bears :) Here are some shots we got of the various animals.

Here are some shots of some of my other favorite "animals" from the Zoo:

I wonder which zoo we will head to next...

Lions, Tigers & Trains - Oh My!

This was another week of firsts... Benjamin had his first trip to the zoo this week and as you can see from the pictures he was REALLY excited about going.

Katie made a new friend in the large male lion at the Syracuse Zoo - it's actually quite scary because he is usually sitting right at the glass door staring out looking like he is watching for his next meal to run by...

Benjamin also had his first ETE (European Train Enthusiast) Meeting with Daddy & the guys this week too!

My Favorite Time of Day...

I love the quiet of the morning when it's just me & my peanut...

Of course I prefer getting up for the 6-7am feeding rather than the 2am feeding, but overall I have to say Benjamin has been rather nice to us letting us sleep in 4 hour blocks - we just have to remember to sleep when he's sleeping and that would probably help. But it is amazing how quickly an hour or two goes by when I am just watching Benjamin! He's just too darn cute! He's almost three weeks old now, and it's amazing the changes that have happened already... he's gained back all the weight he lost plus a few ounces, he was 7lbs 10 oz last week at the doctor's office. I know it's pretty soon to be thinking this, I can't believe my peanut is growing up already, but I also can't wait to see what Benjamin learns this week!

This week has been full of a lot of firsts - his first trip to church, his first Father's Day with Daddy & Grandpa, and his first trip to the mall. Of course I think his Mommy & cousin Katie were more excited about going to the mall than he was - he slept the whole time.

What a difference a week makes...

Wow... this time last week I was trying to be patient and this week I am trying to stay awake. Last tuesday I remembered to check my blood pressure since it had started creeping up during my 3rd trimester and it was a little high (138/85) but not to the point I was supposed to call the office. Wednesday when I checked it before Tom left for work it was higher, 140/90, and I promised to call the office when they opened. Of course when I got ahold of the doctor they wanted me to come in to check it out. Repeat at the office was 140/87 (or so), so he decided to run some blood work, hook me up to a fetal monitor to check the baby and finally do an internal exam to see where we were... well once he checked me out he said "How do you feel about being induced, tomorrow?" Wow I definately wasn't expecting that one.

Tom & I arrived at the hospital at 7:30am did some inital paperwork and I was hooked up to an IV & fetal monitor by 8:30am. Not much happened after that... they kept coming in about every 30 minutes to check my IV and increase the dose. I did start having some contractions pretty soon, but they weren't all that bad and I kept thinking to myself - heck, I can do this, I guess I have a pretty high pain tolerance... but as I would find out soon those were only "practice" contractions.

Around 4:30pm the nurse said that since things hadn't progressed there was a strong possibility that we would be sent home and told to come back the next morning to try again.... Tom & I both agreed that we really didn't want to sit around again, but if that's what we needed to do I guess we would deal. While we were waiting for our doctor to arrive, around 6:30pm my water broke and then the real fun began... we'll just say the epidural was a life saver and in 5 short hours my life changed forever.

Benjamin Thomas was born May 29th at 11:31pm....

Ready and Waiting...

Ok, so I am new to this whole blogging thing, but thought I would give it a try since I really enjoy reading my family's blogs, so here I go...

I am currently 38 weeks pregnant with my first child (due June 1st), and trying to patiently wait for my little boy's arrival into this beautiful world. Although being patient is not one of my strong points, but I am trying & for the most part just sitting around waiting not knowing when he's going to come is killing me. I wasn't offically put on bed rest, but my ankles have been swelling so my doctor & husband agreed that I should spend more time on the couch with my feet up! I finished up work this week & I am now offically off for the summer... While I do realize I am going to be busy adjusting to my new life, I am actually excited about having the summer off - I think the last time I was off for 3 months in a row I was still in high school!

Here is a picture of the baby's room:

As you can see we (mostly my husband, Tom) are hoping he likes trains! My husband is a HUGE train nut, so I have been having fun telling/ reminding Tom he needs to share with the baby. Well I think this is it for now... wish me luck!