A Little Sunshine

I wish I could say everyone in our household is happy and healthy but that's not the case. Sick Mom....possibly sick Dad. Finally a healthy baby.

So as a ray of sunshine for everyone...here's a video of Ben in his Halloween costume. Enjoy!

All Out

Well.....apologizes again for blog silence but there's good reason for it this time.

Ben's personality is starting to shine through and we're starting to get glimpses of what he'll be like when he's older. His obsession with pesto makes me think he'll have a refined palate. His constant wave to everyone he sees and the giant grin he gives them makes me think he'll be super social. The fact that in the last few weeks we've found all manner of items hidden in his toy barn (shoes, various toys, Brian's American Express.........) makes me think he'll be clean and organized. Another thing that's shining through is Ben's desire to go "all out." When he commits to something he commits and does it 100%. For example, when he was younger, he didn't just poop like a normal baby......he exploded and destroyed outfits. When he decides he wants to eat....down goes 2 pieces of pizza. Well...another example in our household. When Ben finally decided to get sick.....he went all out.

Ben hasn't been sick until now. We made it 11 months with no illness but he finally succumbed. It started about 10 days ago when daycare called saying he was running a fever. Then the nose started running. Fussiness set in. Saturday morning consisted of several rounds of vomiting. Sunday it was coming out the other end. Monday we developed a cough. Tuesday we went to the pediatrician and walked away with amoxicillin for double ear infections. Misery all around. No sleep for anyone. Blaaaaah.

So we've had our hands full with sickness....both Ben and Mommy. Luckily Daddy avoided it and was a wonderful caregiver to us both. Also, Grandma and Grandpa Roelofs were in town for the weekend and not only played nurse but also cleaned the house from top to bottom. Thank you!

We're disinfected and on the mend.....we're hoping for some decent sleep tonight :)

Dancing Ben

Ben is doing a little dance for you. We discovered his love for this song when we were watching TV and the IPad commercial came on with this song and Ben started laughing and dancing. You can't really see his feet in this video so you can't see him stomping his feet...but he's doing a little dance for you all.

By the way- HE IS WALKING. More to come on that.

Updates!

Things Ben has done in the past week or two....

- Eaten 2 full pieces of pizza in one sitting

- Walked the distance of the room without holding on to anything

- Gotten used to have shoes on his feet

- Gotten his two top teeth (FINALLY....they took FOREVER)

- Packed up all the 12 month clothes and even some of the 18 month clothes

- Got a haircut

- Has learned how to "dance" to music. (Videos to come)

-Been invited to his friend Clare's 1st birthday party!

-Climbed the stairs about 10 times a day

-Taken many rides in his first car....it's pink

Things Ben has NOT done in the past week or two.....

SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT. Boo

Haircut

Forgot to mention.......

Mission #1 of the week while Mom was here was to find shoes.

Mission #2- haircut. See why????

Let the Artwork Begin

I'm now officially a mom. Ok...I was a mom from the moment Ben was born. Through the rite of passage of over 24 hours of pitocin induced, epidural failed labor I became a mom. Through the hazing/initiation of 9+ months of sleepless nights I became a mom. From the moment I looked at this tiny perfect human being who grabbed my finger, who knew my smell, who was at his happiest in my arms, who I realized I would sacrifice anything in this world for, I became a mom.

But now I'm really a mom. I now have my child's artwork hanging on the refrigerator. I've entered the phase of hanging awful yet wonderful pieces of "art" all around the house and displaying them like original Picassos. I still remember the hideous dog treat Christmas tree ornaments, and drawings of people who were built like ladders with purple stick hair proudly displayed in my house growing up. I remember how much pride I took in them and how much I loved it when my parents gushed about how great it was....and now I'll do the same for Ben.

Ben is too young to even realize what is going on, but it's never too early to start. Here is Ben's first "artwork."

Note: The flower stem is actually 3 of his footprints. Because of the previously mentioned "lack of arches" in his chubby feet, you can't really tell that they're footprints but look closely for the toes and you'll see them :)

Shoes?? Who Needs them??

Greetings and sorry for the delay in posting. We've had a busy busy last week and there just wasn't time to do everything. We had a wonderful week with my parents, who flew out from Denver last weekend and stayed with us for the weekend, then left in the middle of the week to head to Amish country, then came back again towards the end of the week and stayed until this afternoon. Our week was filled with fun- lots of good food, shopping, beautiful weather, a stroll in downtown Annapolis, the golf park (driving range and mini golf) and of course lots of playing with Benjamin. Thanks to Mom and Dad Ritsema for a wonderful week!

Mom and I had a mission this week- find shoes for Ben. I had one of those "bad parent moments" when the daycare kindly alerted me that Ben really needs shoes and is at the age now where he should be wearing them most of the time. He spends most of his time on his feet or crawling now- no more laying down in a play gym kicking around. So we needed to buy him some shoes. Normally this wouldn't be a problem- we could have gone out to any store that sells baby stuff and found tons of really cute shoes in any shape, size or color. BUT- not all children have feet like Benjamin's......

Ben has "bubble feet." From the bottom they look like normal feet.....big for his age and kind of chubby with a lack of arch, but normal. From the top, they almost look normal too. But if you look from the side, you can see our dilemma in buying shoes. He has this chub on the top of his feet....almost like they are stuffed with something soft and squishy. This chub makes it impossible to find shoes that will actually fit on his feet. Length- no problem. Width- no problem. Height- major problem. So we looked all over creation and this is what we came up with. The ONLY shoes that will fit him for now. Not extremely fashionable....but at least Ben has shoes and warm feet for the upcoming winter.