All We Want for Christmas . . .

is Ben's first tooth!!! Shortly after I posted my laments about the horrors of cry it out I discovered the source of our problem. Ben was finally teething!! His first tooth broke through on Dec. 15th. It was such a relief to know that there was a reason for his crappy sleeping, but also a horror to realize I was about to get an education in sleepless nights with a hurting baby. This last week has been pretty horrific at night, but I know that he is waking up in pain, which makes it easier to take care of him. It does feel like I am starting over and going back to his one month sleep schedule. Poor little guy. Any secrets about teething from you expert moms?

1st Trip to See Santa

Once again Ben has proved to be my offspring. We went to see Santa and he was terrified. Oh man. He hated it, but we have really funny pictures of it. I don't have the picture from the mall up yet, but I will. He saw Santa again at a family party a couple of days ago and that is the one you see here. Enjoy!

Christmas Came Early!

Since we will be in Texas on the big day this year, we celebrated Christmas with my family before we left. We had a lovely dinner where Ben discovered Grandma's yummy rolls. Then we opened a few presents, went to Erik's choir concert and came home to finish up opening gifts. Ben was all about the presents, but mostly all about the bows! My favorite gifts are still family secrets so I can't spill the beans yet, but don't worry. You will know soon!

Missing My Pooch : (

My last post reminded me that this will be the first Christmas in 14 years that our little wiener dog Reeses won't be with us. So sad. Who will open the stuffed Barney doll and steal all the chocolate? Tear. Sigh.

Who Needs A Tree . . .

Since we are going to Texas this year for Christmas and our broken Christmas tree is a HUGE pain to put up and we won't be able to enjoy it on the big day, I figured that this will have to do.
Pretty much this is amazing! I LOVE this kind of dog. Scott thinks they are ugly, but I think they are beautiful. (Thanks Kim for posting this pic. It made my day!)

Nine Months Old!!

How did he get so big and grown up so fast?! I have tried to memorize him every day to make sure I don't miss anything, but it feels like I have missed it all!! Every day he is becoming more of a little boy and less like my little baby. He is so funny right now. Some of his favorite things to do are kick and scream with dad, anything involving water, splashing in the bath, eating broccoli stalks and quesadillas, talking on the cell phone, pulling all the magazines off of the coffee table, picking up very tiny objects, singing in the car, playing the piano, and being attached to his mother. He has always been a momma's boy, but lately he has taken it to a new level! Nobody except mom is okay. Which is wonderful and horrible at the same time.

Ben's First Hair Cut

Before . . .


During the Main Event . . .


After . . .




Wow. That was hard, and turned out incredibly uneven! So I had to get the barber kit and even it out later, but at least he doesn't look like he has a haystack attached to his head!

Eternal Cry It Out . . .

I am sick to death of cry it out. I can't stand it any more. It isn't working for Ben anymore. He is just constantly hysterical. I am at a complete loss of what to do. Stick to my program, because once I change it I have ruined everything? Keep listening to Ben scream? Or find a new approach. Any suggestions from you veteran moms out there? HELP!!??!

Goodbye Hair!

Well, not completely. Ben's hair is getting quite out of control. So I am attempting a trim today!! Wish me luck!

Ben Update . . .

Here are some of the hilarious things that Ben has been up to lately

This is Ben's "Engineer Face." He is always trying to figure things out. We call it his engineer face because we believe he is following in his dad and grandpa's footsteps already.
I had a quesadilla the other day for lunch and Ben was very angry he didn't have one. So I gave him part of mine (complete with spicy taco sauce, Thanks Davis). And he devoured it! I couldn't believe it.

I was chopping up broccoli for dinner the other night and when I was finished I noticed the broccoli stalk was missing. I looked up and Ben had it jammed in his mouth and he was going to town!! I laughed so hard because the only other person I know who likes to eat the stalk is Grandma Linda! (Sorry about the end of the video, I realized I was so distracted by Ben that dinner was boiling over!)


Ben has been SO into other kids lately. Everytime he sees a big kid running around he goes ballistic! It is so funny. He tries so hard to get their attention. My friend Kim has a beautiful little girl named Jane and we go play with them whenever we can. This last time Ben and Jane had a scream off! It was hilarious. Ben launched into his usual screaming spell just to show off his voice, and when Jane responded with her own voice Ben was shocked! So funny.

Date Night

Scott and I attempted a date night a couple weeks ago, and it was an adventure worth blogging about! My family invited us to go to a Jazz game with them and Scott being the Jazz fanatic he is was all for it. It all starting with me rushing rushing around the house to make sure Ben was fed and had a clean bum and I was dressed in real people clothes with makeup on. April arrived and began the process of leaving Ben. He freaks out if he goes from me to the babysitter. So I hand Ben to Scott and then I leave and then Scott hands him to April and then he leaves. We finally get in the car and we are running about 30 minutes late. And the car won't start. Totally dead! So we squeeze April's car into our garage with inches to spare and jump our car. Do the pass down (again) with Ben and leave. We thought it would be fun and economical to take Trax downtown to the game. We were purchasing our tickets as the train pulled up. Scott put a $20 into the machine, not thinking that it would give him roughly $16 in changes. So we are scrambling to gather all the coins before the train pulls away. We made it. But as we approach downtown there is a train backup and we are stuck about six blocks away from the game. We discussed the option of making a run for it with the other passengers, but decided we still wouldn't beat the train. We finally made it to the ESA and went to the door to wait for Wayne who had our tickets. We waited and waited and finally called him and realized we were on the wrong side of the building!! So we book it to the other end and make it in just in time for tip off. Whew!! The games was a lot of fun and the Jazz were victorious. We had a little girl sitting behind us who was probably seven who was an absolute crazed fan. She knew all the players names and almost all the rules (she was about seven), and she would not stop screaming at the top of her lungs the entire game. The German tourists in front of us kept looking back and giggling about how ridiculous it was. All in all, great game. After the game Scott and I headed back to Trax. Luckily we made in onto the first train, of course there wasn't really room to breathe until the 21st South stop. We made it to our stop and went to our car. It was freezing. Scott tried to unlock the car, but realized his keyless entry wasn't working becuase once again the car was completely dead. And we had no jumper cables. Awesome. We started calling people to bail us out and then a very nice man offered to help. Bless him. On our way home we realized that Scott had to drive carpool in the morning, and the odds were high that the car wouldn't be charged up enough and we wouldn't have anyone to help at 5 am. So after we got home April followed Scott to WalMart so that he could get jumper cables and a car charger. We made it to bed around 1 am. No shortage of adventure for us!

May I Proudly Introduce . . .

DUMBO!!!!!!


Thank you Grandma Linda for the best Halloween costume ever! Everyone who came to our door on Halloween thought he was the cutest thing ever!

Captain Jack Sparrow

Witchy Mommy and Dumbo

Halloween Birthday Party!

The Decor . . .





The Guests . . .

Captain Jack Sparrow (aka Scott)

THE HULK (aka Jason)

The Itsy Bitsy Spider (aka Ben). He is the most spoiled kid ever with two Halloween costumes!


The Itsy Bitsy Spider with Witch Gwenya

From left to right: The Itsy Bitsy Spider (aka Ben), Witchy Woo (aka Britta), Captain Jack Sparrow (aka Scott), Hannah Montana/Firecracker (aka Amber), Wench (aka April), Beth (aka Beth, she is always dressed up!), and front and center THE HULK (aka Jason)

Witchy Gwenya with her Boy Scout (aka Wayne)

Witch Becky and Witchy Gwenya

Wench (aka April) and Pebbles (aka Kara)

Wench, Hannah Montana/Firecracker, and Witchy Woo

Hannah Montana and Hulk

Pirate in Training


The Fight . . .

Captain Jack Sparrow VS. The Hulk

The Hulk came out swinging . . .

Captain Jack tried to run away from the awesome force of the Hulk . . .

But in the end the Hulk was no match for Captain Jack's steel. Better luck next time Hulk!

The Food . . .

What is a Halloween party without Witches' Brew?

I made a "monster" chocolate cake for myself! Complete with a monster hand grabbing the cake!


I made creepy brownie mummy cupcakes for Scotty. This is as "Martha Stewart as I get folks so enjoy!

And withes hats filled with Scott's favorite ice cream!