Benjamin James

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

We took Ben trick or treating last night. It was his first time going as last year on Halloween he had bronchitis. He dressed up as a lion and he looked so very cute as you can see.

We took him to my in laws house first. He was fascinated with all the Halloween decorations they had up. My mother in law had lined up Halloween baskets like the one Ben had up and down the driveway. Ben kept picking them up and often would be carrying 2 or 3 baskets at a time. We went to two or three houses on their street. Every time we brought him to a house we'd hear "Oh, he's so cute!" At one house, I heard the man inside say to his wife "You've got to see this one!" After the first house or two, Ben started making the connection that people were going to give him stuff to put in his basket. He was really getting into it. We didn't spend too much time trick or treating outside. It was starting to get cold and Ben's asthma has really been acting up this last week. He started coughing and I just wasn't comfortable with him staying outside for a long time.

We ended up heading the mall since it's inside and nice and warm. There were a lot of people there but it wasn't unbearable. Ben wasn't afraid to go up to anyone at the stores and soon started holding up his basket for them. He was so funny. A couple of times he sat down on the floor in the mall and started trying to dig into his basket. He wanted his treats right away! They were having a costume contest while we were there. They showed the kids in Ben's age range. They were cute and I know I'm prejudice but I think Ben would have still won. :)

We left there around 6:30 and just made one more stop at our neighbor's house. They were so happy to see them and spoiled him rotten with candy. He did get to have a few pieces when he got home. I honestly don't let him have a lot of stuff with sugar or chocolate in it so the basket is probably going to disappear since he's had several pieces yesterday and today. Oh well. He'll never remember.

All in all we had a great night. It was just so fun to see him get into his first Halloween. I can't believe that next year we'll have two to take trick or treating! Hope everyone had a great Halloween. Enjoy the pictures!

27 Weeks and counting

2008-10-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

So in case you don't know, we are having another little boy! His name will be Zachary Daniel. Zachary just because we like the name and Daniel after Jason's father. I had a gut feeling that the baby was a boy. I don't know why but I did. So it wasn't too much of a surprise when the ultrasound tech told us the news. I am very excited for Ben. I think he'll make a great big brother and it'll be nice to have two boys so close in age.

Ben is understanding so much more now. He's 18 months old and it amazes me what he comprehends. We talk about Zachary being in my belly but I didn't really think he understood. Then the other day I said "Ben, can you give Zachary a kiss?" and Ben leaned over and kissed my belly. It was so very cute! I don't think he realizes there's a baby in there but he knows when we talk about where Zachary is that my belly has something to do with it.

Ben loves to talk now. He says so many words although I'm grateful he hasn't learned the word no yet. He says "Yeah" and "Yes" a lot when we ask him questions. He also loves to roar like a lion. He copies so much of what we do. It really makes me aware of what we're saying and doing as you know he's always watching. Not long ago, he took my mom's deodorant and started trying to put it under his arms. It was very funny!

I am 27 weeks pregnant now and to be honest I can't wait to be done being pregnant. Don't get me wrong. I am very grateful that I'm able to be pregnant and be blessed with this baby. I'm just not a person who enjoys being pregnant. I love feeling the baby and I do love my belly. What I don't love is the back pain, the heart burn and now because of my anemia the heart palpitations and shortness of breath. But I also know it's all worth it in the end. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I'm hoping he'll schedule my c-section for sure then. I think they'll be doing it the 20th of January but it'd just be nice to have a date that's more for sure.

Well, I just wanted to give an update since it's been so long. We did take Ben for his pictures a couple of weeks ago. I'll try to post his pictures this weekend. They came out great and he looks like such a little man! Until then! :)

Guess who's going to be a big brother?

2008-06-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a really long time but I really can't believe that it's been 4 months! I was told that I should update my blog and I totally agree with that person! :)

We have some very exciting news to share. Ben is going to be a big brother! It's all a little weird right now to be honest. This baby was a TOTAL surprise! We're very happy about it but it's taken some getting used to. I found out 3 weeks ago and I am 9 weeks pregnant. I'm excited that Ben's going to be a big brother but sad that he's no longer going to be my only baby. I don't know. I think it's just a lot of mixed up feeling right now. I'm feeling very lucky that I'm feeling ok. I'm tired but other than that I'm doing great. No morning sickness like what I had with Ben. I'm really hoping that it will pass me by!

I think the other weird thing about this pregnancy is that we pretty much know when our baby's birthday will be. We're going to be having our baby at St. Marys and it'll be a c-section this time because I had a c-section with Ben and St. Mary's doesn't do a regular delivery after a c-section. That's fine with me because I love my midwife and St. Mary's. Anyway, it looks like the baby's birthday will be January 20th. We are very excited. I just think my mind is trying to catch up and realize that I really am pregnant! :)

Well, let me tell you some things that have been happening with Ben. In the last week, he's said some new words. He's been saying momma and dadda for a long time now. This week it started with uh oh, then turtle, kitty, bye bye, and up. It's so funny to hear him repeating the words we say. He is so close to walking but either doesn't have the motivation or confidence to do it on his own. He does, however, climb on everything! He climbed on top of our sofa almost onto the windowsill! It was a little scary and he can move fast!

Anyway, just wanted to give that quick update and our good news. Please keep Ben's cousin, Grayson, in your prayers. He is having seizures and his poor mom and dad are under a lot of stress and anxiety worrying about their little man. Please keep them in your thoughts as I will be doing.

Yet another snow day and Book Meme

2008-02-06T17:32:00.000-08:00

So we had yet another snow day today. I am SO tired of snow days! This is our 9th one so far. We won't be getting out of school until June 19th and it's not even the end of February yet! Today was the worse for snow days so far. I was almost ready to leave and almost ready to pack Ben up. My daycare lady called and said that another one of her parents works at the high school and had been told that they were canceling school. They canceled so late that they had to send kids home. This was at 7:15 and I hadn't received a phone call from our calling tree. So I had to try to call people to make sure that this was actually true. Called our school secretary and she hadn't heard anything and I couldn't get a hold of our principal. So I decided that I had to go since I didn't know for sure that there wasn't school and I had a parent meeting at 8am. I get to my daycare and they came out of the door and said "There's no school." I was getting emotional and not knowing what to do. I brought Ben in and told them that I couldn't find out anything. I decided to just go to school and come back if it had been canceled.

I headed off to school. I got a bad feeling when I saw a lot of cars coming from the other direction. At that time in the morning, they are usually headed the way I was going. I got to my school, started taking out my bags when my principal pulled in. She told me that there wasn't any school and that she couldn't believe it either. I was so mad! There was no announcement on the t.v. before I left or on the radio. Poor planning on someone's part!

I went back and got Ben and then the day just got worse. It took me 45 minutes to go from my school to home and usually it takes me 15 minutes. I tried to get up the hill before our house and couldn't. I backed up which ended up making my car turn around and I ended up in a snow bank. That's scary enough when it's just you but when you have a baby in the car it's 10 times worse. A friend stopped to help me and I got my car back on the road. I headed in another direction to get home. It was so slippery at that point. Luckily, Ben fell asleep so I didn't have to worry about him crying. There were a couple of cars off the road and it was slow going.

The other way I went there was one more hill to go up. Wouldn't you know that there was a bus stuck on the hill? Do ya think they should have called school off earlier?? I do!! I managed to get up the hill but barely. I was burning rubber trying to get up and not hit the bus at the same time. I was so glad when I got home and so furious with our school district. I know other teachers who travel more than 30 minutes and were already on their way to school. It was just really bad planning.

************************************************************************************
All right onto a happier topic. My cousin, Linda, did a fun little book meme thing. So I thought I would do it. I'm in a silly mood now. Must be lack of sleep!
This is from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizbeth Gilbert.

" Our whole business therefore in this life," wrote Saint Augustine, rather Yogically, "is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God may be seen."

I just thougt this was such a nice quote and a reflection of how we can grow mentally and spiritually.

I'll post Ben's 43 weeks pictures tomorrow. It's gone by so fast!!

Photobucket Survey

2008-02-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

I thought that this would be fun and it was!

1. Your Age

2. A place you would like to travel to

3. My favorite place: Home

4. My favorite food

5. Your favorite animal

6. Favorite color

7. Where I was born: Lewiston

8. The town in which I live

9. The name of your pets
Jack

Zoe

Classy

10. Your nickname

11. Your middle name

12. Your last name

13. Bad Habit of Yours

Yay!

2008-02-05T17:58:00.000-08:00

I am so excited! I won the contest over at MamaBlogga for the "Me Time" piece I wrote. Now granted the winner was picked at random so it wasn't because of my fabulous writing :) but I won a $30 amazon.com gift card! Things have been so tight money wise so I am really excited about the idea of being able to spend $30 on myself. I love reading what other people have written and other blogs. If you do too, check out the other entries from the writing contest.

Me. Me. Me! by Shawn
Dear God, Why Me? by Megan Toney
I’ll take care of me, one way or the other by Daisy
Me Time by Jill
I’m a person, not a calculator by Tracy
Simple Things by Ursula
Just Like Brigitte Bardot by Mama Zen
Work IS My Time for Myself by Believer in Balance
What Time is It? by Mommy Zabs
Me-Time Is All in My Head by Marta Pelrine-Bacon
Searching For My “Me Time” by Amanda
Who Are We Kidding? by mumple
Me Time by Lisa
I Need Some Me Time! by Lynnae
My Time on the Throne by Candace (Mama Mia)
Did Wonder Woman Ever Cry? by Julie Arduini
Me Time! by Joleene Libby
Me, myself and I by Deb - Mom of 3 Girls
Don’t Just Do Something - Sit There! by phyllis
My “me time:is what I make of it by MomOnTheGo
Me Time for Moms by Jordan (MamaBlogga )

Ben and I had another snow day together. At this rate, I'll be going to school until July! It was nice though to have today. Ben has come down with a cough and it has kept him (and me!) up for the past 2 nights. He has just been miserable during the night, the poor little guy. I'm hoping that tonight is better for his cough. If not, I'm going to take him to the doctor's. But today gave us some time to relax and catch up on things. It was just a nice day. But I'm still praying for no more snow days! :)

What I've Learned

2008-02-03T14:59:00.001-08:00

My little boy is now 9 months old. Did you notice I said boy, not baby? He no longer seems like a baby. He looks and plays like a little boy. It is amazing to me that this 21 pound little boy is the same 6 pounds 3 ounces baby I held in my arms on the day he was born. He has grown so quickly and I've learned so many things as a mom. Here are just a few of the things that I have learned as a mom.

* Your heart has a capacity to love such as you have never known.

* You will start to worry about what school they will go to even though they have 5 more years to go until they enter kindergarten.

* Poop stains. Enough said.

* Remotes and phones make great toys or at least that's what baby will think.

* They say the fastest animal on the earth is a cheetah. Yeah, right! The fastest animal is a baby who is going after something they want!

* Cheerios can somehow make it into a baby's diaper and you will never figure out how they made their way there.

* At first you are excited about the teeth they are getting in. Then you remember that you are still nursing. Do you see where I'm going with this?

* Baby food stains are AWFUL to get out. How can this be? They're just vegatables and fruits!!

* If you have something, the baby wants it.

* No matter how tired, irritated, or grumpy you are, when you look at his face, your heart will melt and you will fall in love all over again.

* Seeing your husband with his son makes you love him all over again and appreciate him in a new light.

* It is amazing how fast a cat will run when a baby boy is going after him.

* Rice cereal tastes really awful.

* Poop can shoot out at you at amazing speeds!

* If your baby is a boy, eventually they will pee on themselves, you or on the family cat!

* A baby passing gas is much louder than you could imagine.

* Wet kisses are one of the best treats ever!

* Anything that can be put in a baby's mouth, will be put in a baby's mouth!

* The baby will be in their winter jacket, strapped into the car seat and you are ready to leave the house to go to work. Then you will smell that smell that tells you what the smile on his face was really all about!

* Grammies and Aunties are around to save your sanity!

* You will worry over sniffles, coughs and anything else you don't think is normal.

* Leaving the baby for the first time is brutal!

* Toys have the ability to multiply and take over your house!

* Burp clothes are a neccesity!!

* Seeing your baby crawl for the first time is one of the most exciting times.

* Eventually your excitement over the crawling turns to regret as you realize that the baby can now get into almost everything!

* The baby will leak out of his diaper at the worst possible time imaginable.

* One of the best sounds in the world is that of your baby's laughter.

* You will never be able to imagine your life without them and that is a good thing.

I still have a lot to learn but those are just a few that I've learned so far. We took Ben to Kiddie Kandids to have his 9 month pictures taken. I think they came out really great. Hope you like them.

Me Time!

2008-02-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

In the last 6 months, I have discovered a love of reading other blogs. I have found so many great tips and advice through doing this. One thing that I thought sounded fun was a writing contest over on MamaBlogga group writing project The writing contest this time is "Me Time!" So here goes my first try at a writing contest.

"Me time" has taken on a whole new meaning since I became a mom. My "me time" occurs after my 9 month son has gone to bed. After he is nursed and rocked, he finally surrendors to sleep and it's mommy's time. "Me time" before motherhood would have been me reading a book without interruption. These days it is not so simple! Here is what my "me time" looks like now. The baby has gone to bed. He's sleeping on my bed right next to me as I play on the computer. I look at one blog and then another. Oh, no. My heart stops. The baby is starting to stir!! May day! May day! Houston, we have a problem. Me time has been interuppted! Quickly I put my hand on his back to quiet him. Phew!! Disaster averted! My heart slows down and I go back to relaxing. Do some research on the internet on such important topics as "How to get poop stains out of baby clothes" and "Do solids really make poop look like THAT?!?" Then the baby starts to stir again. The hand goes back on his back but this time to no avail. We're sorry to interupt your regularly scheduled me time due to an important nursing conference. Please be patient until we are back on schedule. That's right. My son, the comfort nurser, will not be appeased with a hand on the back and a shh, shh, shh. He wants to nurse. We nurse for a little while and then down he goes again. "Sigh. It's just you and me again." The me being me and the you being my laptop. There is silence once more other than the pitter patter of the keyboard. And so our night goes on like this. Mommy me time, baby time, mommy me time, baby time. Finally, Mommy's eyes can no longer stay open for the me time without propping them up with toothpicks or hooking some Dunkin' Donuts coffee through an I.V. I finally cave into sleep and look forward to my next brief and interrupted "me time."

*About the author-This "me time" piece was written by a first time mommy who is at this moment having a hard time keeping her eyes open during an actual "me time." She wouldn't trade her interuppted "me time" which includes snuggling with her little man for all the uninteruppted me time in the world.

Hope you enjoyed my silly little writing. I had fun doing it and hope to do it again.

Long time, no write!

2008-01-20T16:37:00.000-08:00

I think I just need to accept that I am not good at keeping up with my blog. I try. I really do but things just seem to get too busy. I don't know how good my excuse holds up considering we've had 5 snow days in 3 weeks but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I wanted to post some pictures of when Chris was here for Christmas. I miss him so much. I know he probably doesn't believe that but it's true. When you get used to having someone there, you kind of take it for granted that they'll always be in your daily life. We really miss Chris but know that he is doing great in Florida. I'm really proud of how much he's grown. Ben can't wait to see his uncle again soon. He loved seeing him!

Ben is crawling everywhere! It seems he is constantly into everything. I'm always saying, "No, Ben, no." We now have to close the doors when we're upstairs because he tries to go out the door. He always wants to be moving. He's furniture walking too now. He's got a lot of bumps lately because of it. He's pretty tough though most of the time. He'll fall and then get right back up. He has a lot of toys to play with but wouldn't you know that the things he most likes to play with are not toys! He loves the remotes, phones and magazines. He LOVES anything paper!!! He is so quick and can get into so much trouble so quickly!!! Yesterday I was folding laundry in the living room. I guess I must have been in my own little world and not paying attention. Ben had taken the cheerio box and turned it upside down. There were cheerios all over the carpet! He was just as happy as could be. It was so funny to see him sitting on the rug eating cheerios. You could have left him there all day and he would have been content.

I came down the same day from taking a shower and saw the cutest thing. Ben was curled up with his daddy fast asleep. Ben doesn't fall asleep easily so I was impressed that he had fallen asleep with his daddy. I just had to take a picture.

I've been doing some things that I am very proud of!! I haven't exercised in a long time. Really since before I was pregnant. I decided to start up again around the new year. I've been unhappy with the weight I had gained before I became pregnant. I know it might not be noticeable to some people but I'm not happy with it. The other thing is that I haven't been eating healthy at all since Ben was born and I hate that! I found a website that I really loved called spark people. It's really helped me gain some motivation to eat healthy and lose weight. I've been exercising for about 3 weeks now. I'm really getting into now and enjoying it. I hate it if I go a day without doing it. I can't go to a gym because it's just too hard with Ben and he's too little for me to feel ok with leaving him at a gym daycare. So I've been using exercise dvds. Some of them are ones I've had and some I've been renting through Netflix. I love getting them through Netflix! It's fun to get a dvd that you have no idea what it's going to be like and just try it out. If I don't like it, I just send it back once I'm done. It's a lot better then taking a risk buying a dvd that I might not like. I figure if I do like one, I can always go out and buy it. It's nice having that time to myself to exercise. I usually go up to my room and exercise for at least 30 minutes. It gives me some time away. So far I've lost 6 pounds. I'm hoping to keep it up. One more pound and I'm going to reward myself with a piece of clothing from Steve and Barry's. Who knew getting fit could be fun? :)

I wanted to ask everyone to keep my family in your thoughts. Jason's job has taken a turn for worse. It's not what we thought it was supposed to be. We thought we were going to essentially have salary with commission for a month. We were expecting a check last week and never got one. Jason then found out from his boss that the salary was for only 1 week. Now he is on straight commission and with the economy right now, it is not going well. Right now, we are living just on my income. We are trying to make ends meet but it's getting harder and harder. It was a real blow to us when we found out this job was not going to work out. We've been dealing with bad luck from Jason's job for the last 18 months. We are trying to keep our chins up but it's hard when you keep feeling like you keep getting beat down. I started talking to God last night. I've talked to him a lot in the last 2 years asking him for help. I actually thanked him last night for this opportunity to become stronger. I am trying to look at it that way. Other wise I'm afraid that this will break me. So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Jason is looking for another job and we are fortunate that my mom and Sue live with us. They have been so incredible and have helped us out so much. I will never be able to repay them for it. I'm not writing all of these to get sympathy. It just gets so tiring not telling anyone and I just feel I need to reach out to people for emotional support. Thanks for listening.

Ben's First Christmas

2007-12-27T08:13:00.000-08:00

Ben had a very nice first Christmas. We spend Christmas Eve getting last minute things done. Then in the evening, we ran to Walmart to get a couple of last minute things and stopped at Sam's to get spaghetti sauce and meatballs for Christmas dinner. Our family tradition is to have Chinese food on Christmas eve and then look at the lights. We all went to China Wok and had a great dinner. Their chinese is always very good. Then we went to look at lights but only for a little while as Ben has very little patience for the car these days.

When we went home, we each opened a present. Jason got Spiderman 3 from me. I got a wonderful gift from my mom and Sue. They worked with Ben to make a Christmas tree out of his hand prints. The Christmas ornaments on the tree are made from his thumbprints. I love it. It is so unique and made by my little boy. I gave Mom a ducky frame with a picture of Ben in is duck bath tub. The funny thing is that she got the same exact frame for me! Sue also got a picture of Ben. Can you tell what our theme this year was? :) It was all about Ben!

Ben wore a new pair of Christmas pjs to bed. We got up around 7 and let him open his stocking and some of his presents. I found we needed to take a lot of breaks with him because he would get over tired. Around 10am, Jason's parents and brothers came over for Christmas. We had a nice brunch with an egg strata, coffee cake and fruit. It was a nice way to spend Christmas morning. Then we began opening the rest of the presents. A couple of my favorites for Ben were a push cart from Jason's parents. Ben can either use it to stand and walk with or he can sit in it. He look really cute walking with it. They also bought him a nice wooden sled. I can see it lasting a very long time! Mom and I both got him trains which he loves playing with on the wooden floor. He's very cute chasing them around. Auntie Sue got him a toy farm with animals. All in all, I think he was a little spoiled this year. I know we went overboard but it's his first Christmas. We also got very good deals on everything we bought for him. It was a fun Christmas.

When Sue, Chris and I were little we would take pictures every Christmas with our Christmas presents on my parent's bed. I decided to do this with Ben. I just remember as a kid organizing everything and being so excited. It's nice to be able to look at those pictures now and see the toys that we had back then. I want Ben to be able to do the same thing and to see the difference in every Christmas.

We had a great Christmas. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have my brother, Chris, here for Christmas. He was able visit before Christmas and to see everyone. Ben loved seeing his uncle! I'll try to post pictures of his visit with us tomorrow. I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Here are some pictures of our Christmas.

Benefit Supper

2007-12-20T17:27:00.000-08:00

Ok. I know I haven't posted about Ben in a long time. I promise I will try to put some pictures on really soon.

Ben and I did have a great day together. It was a snow day for me so we stayed in our pajamas all day. We had a lot of fun just playing and hanging out. He's such a funny little man now!

This week at school has been rough. We lost a little boy on Sunday because of burns on him. I've never experienced losing a student and I have to tell you that it was tough. Monday was quite hard. I've never had to explain to children that someone has died. I hope I don't have to do it for a long time.

In the tragic accident, all three children were burned. The little boy that died was the most severe which brings me to the title of the posting. Some people at my school are putting on a benefit supper to help these two families out. Neither family has a lot. It is tough time of year and to deal with this extra burden is just too much. Please consider coming to the benefit supper and/or sending in a donation to help them. I think in life we are giving opportunities to pay it forward and this is one of those times. I'll be there volunteering in some capacity. Hopefully not as a cook since I'm not very good at cooking!

Here are the details.

BENEFIT SPAGHETTI SUPPER PLANNED
FOR DAVIS and BIRNEY FAMILIES
whose children recently experienced fire tragedy
DATE: SATURDAY, JANUARY 12th
PLACE: Boofy Quimby Memorial Center
Intersection of 219 and Quimby Road
North Turner, Maine
TIME: 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Come and enjoy a delicious spaghetti dinner and homemade desserts while supporting the Davis Family in their time of need.
*Donations will be accepted at the door.
If you would like to make a donation, a memorial fund has been started at Community Credit Union in Auburn.
Make checks payable to: Davis/Birney Memorial Fund, C/O Community Credit Union, 40 Stanley Street, Auburn, Maine, 04210
Volunteers will be needed to help set-up, cook, serve food and clean up. If you would like to help in any way, please feel free to call Sherri Jordan at home #225-5295, cell #212-7111, or email her at turnerbenefit@yahoo.com

Thank you and I hope to see all of you there!

Christmas Tag!

2007-12-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

I found I liked the other tag games so much that I am initiating my own tag. I will update about Ben very soon but I just need to get my mind off other things tonight and do something fun for me!

Wrapping paper or gift bags?
I do both depending on my mood. Gift bags are easier but I sometime I enjoy wrapping presents too. I volunteered at a wrapping booth when I was in band in high school and get really technical about how the gifts should be wrapped.

Real tree or artificial?
Definately a real tree! Fake trees just are not the same. I need to have the smell of the tree even if I find pine needles for the next 6 months.

When do you put up the tree?
We usually put it up a week or two before Christmas although this year I'm realizing that I would like to put it up sooner so we can enjoy the decorations longer.

When do you take the tree down?
A couple of days after Christmas.

Favorite holiday theme?
I don't know that I have one. I really like Rudolph though and snowmen. Those seem to be my favorites.

Favorite gift received as a child?
That one is really tough. I think maybe when I got my cabbage patch kid although I've loved every Christmas regardless of what gifts I got.

Do you have a nativity scene?
No, but I would like one. They have a great nativity seen with the willow tree angels. I think it is just beautiful.

Hardest person to buy for?
My mom

Easiest person to buy for?
Ben

Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A radar detector. (I won't mention who gave it to me!)

Mail or email cards?
Definately cards although I always find them to be a bit of a pain. But I love receiving them and seeing everyone's family pictures.

Favorite Christmas movie?
I love Christmas movies so it's hard to pick only one. My top favorites are It's a Wonderful Life, Rudolph, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I usually start on Black Friday. It is my favorite day of the year to shop! But I do keep my eyes out through out the year for items I think someone in my family will like.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yes but I'm not saying who I gave it to! :)

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
This may sound odd but anything with spaghetti/pasta sauce on it. I don't know why.

White lights or colored on the tree?
Colored lights. White lights just don't have any personality to me.

Favorite Christmas song?
I love Christmas songs too so it's really hard to pick just a few. My favorites are Mary, did you know, Have yourself a merry little Christmas, where are you Christmas and Oh come all ye faithful.

Travel for Christmas or stay at home?
Stay home. Traveling is not the same.

Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Yes, but only with the help of the rudolph song.

Angel on the tree top or a star?
Sometimes a star but this year it's an angel like what we used to have when I was a kid.

Open the presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
We open one present on Christmas Eve and then the rest on Christmas Day.

Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The gimme gimme attitude of some kids at this time of year. I don't always think that parents tell their kids what Christmas really means.

What I love most about Christmas?
The surprises-mine and my families. Being able to help others at this time of year.

Ok! Now it's your turn. just copy and paste my answers in your blog and modify the answers for yourself. I'm tagging my mom, Sue, Stacy, Mary, Sarah, Jessica, and Linda to tell about your feelings on Christmas. I know this is a busy time of year but I'm expecting some answers! :) Merry Christmas everyone!!

Happy News!

2007-11-26T09:13:00.000-08:00

I don't have much time to write as I'm at school right now but I wanted to share the happy news. Jason accepted a job today! Yeah!! He'll be working for Sears as an outside salesman. Now we just have to wait until they start the training class but there is finally light at the end of the tunnell! Just wanted to share!

Black Friday Fun!

2007-11-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

Well, Black Friday was a mixture of ups and downs. I love going shopping on Black Friday. Sue and I always get a lot of good deals and have a lot of fun. We got up at 3:30 this year to go to Kohl's. We were supposed to get up at 3:15 so that Mom could ride in with us since she had to be at work for 3:45 but we both overslept. So we threw clothes on and headed off in the dark for Kohls. We got there a couple of minutes after they opened. We immediately headed for the toy section. We got the Little People's Noah's Ark that Mom wanted to get for Ben. Sue got this Fisher Price animal set that plays music for Ben for Christmas. I also got something there for Mom but since she reads my blog, I can't say what it is! :)~ Checking out at Kohl's was actually pretty quick. They did a nice job of directing people. We were out of Kohl's at 4:20 and headed to Walmart.

When we went to Walmart, it was about 4:30 so we had to wait outside for 30 minutes. It was a little cold but not too bad. We had fun talking to the other people in line. When we were finally able to go in, it was a mad rush. I went one direction and Sue went in the other. I was looking for Spiderman 3 and Fantastic Four which were advertised as the secret deals for $12. I couldn't find them anywhere! It was so frustrating! I must have asked 4 or 5 people. Either they sold out or they were in a place no one seemed to know about. In the end, we got a dvd for $3, a HUGE bag of megablock for $10, a set of 2 pajamas for $6 and 2 dvds for $10. We had fun but we were so frustrated about the $12 dvds! I really wasn't impressed!

We finished at Walmart at about 5:30 and went over to JC Penney's. They had these picture coasters for $6 that I wanted. You can put a picture in them which I think is really cool. After that we went to Bath and Body Works. No great deals there which was a really big surprise. Usually they have a lot of great stuff. Big disappointment there.

After that I dropped Sue off at work. I wanted to check out CVS but they weren't open yet so I headed back over to Kohls to see if I could find something for Sue. I found what I wanted then headed to stand in the line which was MUCH longer than it had been there when we were there last. I started to talk to Sue on my cell phone. This was when my day started to take a turn for the worse. Sue was interested in the Little People's Circus set so I told her I would go back and get it for her. While I headed back there, I ran into my cousin, Mary and her daughter. I told Sue I would call her back and stuck my cell in my pocket. I talked to them for a minute and then got the toy. I went back in the line and then went to call Sue. My cell phone was gone! I looked everywhere-in all my pockets, in my pocketbook. I mean everywhere!
So I started thinking that maybe it was in a toy that I had given my cousins because they were interested in it and my mom had already bought it for Ben. I thought maybe somehow it had gotten in the box. So I looked all over the store for them. I finally found them and the cell wasn't in the box. I was in tears! I was so upset knowing that we didn't have money to replace my cell phone. I know it's more of a need than a want but it's nice to have it if something goes wrong. I looked all over in the areas I had been. I stood back in line to pay for my stuff. When I got to the front of the line, I asked the lady directing people where someone would turn in a phone if they found one. She said customer service and called back there for me. Luckily someone nice soul had found it and turned it in. I was so relieved! I went back there to get it and got out of there before anything else happened!

I then went to CVS to get these digital photo chains that had been advertised for $17.99. They display your photos so you can show cute kids like Ben off. :) When I got there, they didn't have any left. I asked them to call the Lewiston store for me which they did. Lewiston had 2 left. I needed 4. I asked them to hold them for me since I wasn't going to be right over. They said they wouldn't since they were in such demand and they were also going to be limiting it to one a person which was ridiculous since the flyer said the limit was 4. I was so mad! I rushed over there and the two were still there. I figured I would try to buy both of them and the cashier didn't give me a hard time. But I still needed two more. So I called Sue and had her call to different CVS stores around the store. She found one in South Portland that had a lot of them and asked them to hold them for me. They were wonderful! They said no problem. So I went home, got Ben and headed down there. Of course I got lost since it was an area of South Portland that I didn't know. It was awful. It took me forever to get there but I finally did and got the things I needed.

Ben and I then headed towards Toys R Us. I wanted to get him the Baby Einstein Santa which was on sale for 6.99. I found the last one. Yeah for me! We were in and out of there in 5 minutes.

Then we went to the Christmas Tree Shop. I love the Christmas tree shop. I found a present for mom and some other stuff for Christmas and then we finally headed home.
It was a long day and mostly a good day. A little frustrating but I still love getting all the deals and going out.

On another note, my new passion has been cutting coupons. Jason lost his job about a month ago so we have been all about saving money where ever we can. I have found some great sites for ideas about coupons and deals like
Being Frugal,Freebies for mom and the grocery game. It's helped us save a lot of money. Sue and I went to Shaws last night. My original total was 38.45. With coupons and sales, I only ended up spending $10. We are stocked up on pasta and cheerios for a long time! It is so much fun finding these deals. If we've got to scrimp, we might as well make it fun, right? :)Sorry there were no pictures of Ben this time but Momma had too much fun yesterday and even Moms need days off! :) We're on our way to a family get together so I'll say goodbye for now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I've last posted. It's been a couple of very busy weeks. Ben is feeling much better. His bronchiatis is all gone and we've been able to stop the nebulizer treatments. Yeah!! The only problem right now is he has a diaper rash but that is minor compared to the bronchiatis.

Ben turned 32 weeks the day before Thanksgiving. We took a picture of him while he was playing on the kitchen floor. On occasion, I let Ben sit on the floor and bang a pot with a spoon. He's not too loud and it let's me get some things done. It's really funny too when he does it!

This Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving at our house. My mom and sister were there of course since they live with us. Jason's brother, Kyle, is staying with us for a couple of days and Jason's parents came over for Thanksgiving, too. My brother, Chris, is in Florida so he wasn't able to be here with us. We really missed him. We're hoping to see him for Christmas. (Chris, if you're reading this we tried to call you today. Call us when you get a chance. We have a plan for Christmas!) We had a lot of fun. There was a lot of great food and it was nice to see everyone. Ben was dressed in a button down white shirt and blue cordoroys. He looked really cute and like a little boy! For our meal, Ben tried out mashed potatoes. He did not like them! I think it was the consistency. He tried a couple of times and wanted nothing to do with them. Oh well! There's always next year! :)

Here's a slideshow of our week.

Sue and I are going shopping tomorrow on Black Friday. It's our favorite day of the year to shop. We have so much fun finding deals and fighting the crowds. We mapped out our plan tonight of where we're going first. It should be a lot of fun!

A trip to the doctor's

2007-10-30T07:53:00.001-07:00

Ben has had a bit of a cold for the last 3 days or so. Well this morning when he woke up, his cough seemed worse than it has been. He also had some gunk in his eyes and they looked pinkish. Jason and I thought he might have conjunctivitis and we were also worried about his cough. Jason is going to Portland today for an interview so we decided that I would stay home with Ben today. I love staying home with Ben but it kind of stank because I was supposed to go on a field trip with my class. My class is going to Fort Western in Augusta. This is off the subject but if you have never gone there you should. They do a great reenactment of colonial times and the kids have a great time. I'm sad that I missed it but at least I get to spend some time with my little man. So I brought him to the doctor's this morning. It turns out that he has bronchialitis. If you don't know what that is, here's a website that does a great job of explaining it.

http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/bronchiolitis.html

They used a nebulizer on him at the doctor's to get all the mucus out of his lungs. We have to use it every 4-6 hours for the next 3 days. We go back to the doctor's on Friday to see if it's better. The doctor couldn't tell if he has conjunctivitis or not but we're using some ointment just in case. It's so awful seeing your child sick. I hate it! He's in such a good mood for someone who is sick. He was smiling at everyone at the doctor's and laughing. It's absolutely amazing! :)

I used the nebulizer on him last night and Sue took some pictures of the poor little pumpkin.

Saturday night, Ben went with my mom and sister to a harvest party at my cousin, Stacy's church. Ben dressed up as a scarecrow. They had a lot of fun visiting with everyone.

Jason and I went to our own Halloween party with our friends, Tom and Melissa. Jason dressed up as a monk. I dressed up as a tired mommy. :) It wasn't a far stretch! I took an old t-shirt and put some baby food on it. Then I melted some chocolate chips and put them on the shirt to make it look like poop. I also put on a baby carrier with a doll in it. The party was a lot of fun and it was nice to have a night without the baby.

Jason and meTom and Melissa

Sunday was Ben's Halloween party for daycare. He dressed up in his scarecrow costume. It was cold so we put a sweatshirt under it to keep him toasty. We got to see all of his friends. They all kept coming up to give him loves.

I'm hoping Ben will feel better in the next couple days with the help of the nebulizer. We'll let you know!

What a big boy!

2007-10-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

My mom and I took Ben for his 6 month check up on Monday. He now weighs 18lbs 14oz and is 26 1/2 inches long. The doctor said that he is in the 50th percentile for his height, 80th for his weight and 95th for his head! The head one struck me as funny because he doesn't seem like he has a big head. Oh well. He also got three shots. He didn't cry when they did the first two but then the third one seemed to push him over the edge. I hate when he gets shots! I know it keeps him healthy but it's still tough to watch. The funny thing about Ben is 5 minutes later he'll be smiling and laughing and you would never know he had shots! He always flirts with the receptionist when we leave. He is a funny boy!

Ben has started to eat food at daycare. He is a messy eater even at daycare! We are going to a Halloween party on Sunday for his daycare. It'll be fun seeing all the kids dressed up in their costumes. Wait to see what Ben's costume will be!

Ben turned 28 weeks on Wednesday. He didn't want to stay still. After we took his picture, he went after the paper with the number of weeks on it and started to try to eat it. He likes to go after anything paper like these days. He also likes the remote and phones. Typical man going after the remote! :)

I love making Ben laugh. It is the best feeling in the world! Here is a video I took of Jason making Ben laugh.

A Playdate!

2007-10-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

We had a play date on Wednesday with my friend Morgan and her son Nolan. Nolan is 9 1/2 months old. He was born 6 weeks premature but you would never know it now. It was so funny watching them together. Nolan really likes to scream and Ben really likes to talk so they were a good pair. Ben was particularly funny when Jason was holding Nolan. He realized his daddy was holding another baby and he was not happy! He started to make all kinds of noises and reaching towards Jason. It was so funny!

Ben turned 27 weeks on Wednesday. He was so tired that day after his play date. We started taking his 27 week pictures while he was sleeping. Then he started to wake up and be grumpy. Here are his pictures.

We stopped at Jason's parents' house yesterday to visit. We put Ben on the rocking horse that they bought Ben last Christmas. It's still way too big for him but it's really cute. When you press the horse's ear, it makes galloping sounds and the tail and nose moves.

Ben goes for his 6 month appointment. I'm curious to see what he weighs but I'm not looking forward to him getting his shots. It's never a fun experience!

Toes, toes, toes!

2007-10-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

So Ben has discovered his toes! He loves playing with them and putting them in his mouth! i know, it's gross but it's so cute watching him! We took video of him putting his toes in his mouth. If you listen, you can even hear him sucking on his big toe like a nuk! It's so gross but so hilarious and he loves it! Once he saw the camera he started reaching for it and rolling toward Mommy. Then he moved his attention to the ball in the corner. He's a man on the move!

We took some pictures of Ben near our pumpkin. He looked much cuter in real life but I love the pictures anyway. We bought the onesie at the Fryeburg Fair. I love the tie dye!

Ben rolls all over the place now. I was working on my room one day and set him on the carpet. He rolled from one side of the room to the other. Then he made his way to a pile of clothes I had on the floor. He is such a funny guy!

Last but not least here are his 26 week pictures. My little baby is turning into a little boy! It's happened so quickly!

Pruney Ben!

2007-09-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

Ben turned 24 weeks on Wednesday. He keeps trying to move around so much. I know he can't wait to crawl.

Mom and Sue moved in on Thursday. Everyone did a lot of work to get them in. Ben was so excited to see his Grammy and Auntie early this morning. It was such a surprise for him!

I gave Ben prunes for the very first time last night. I know. What was I thinking? At first he made the most awful face and I didn't think he was going to eat them at all. But then he dived right in! :) He kept trying to grab the spoon and feed himself. Every time he let go of the spoon, he would touch his face or his leg or some other body part. He kept getting progressively messier and messier! It was awful but so funny!

Mom and Sue bought Ben a Rainforest Jumperoo. Sue put it together tonight and Ben tried it out. He was so funny bouncing around it. He loves to move!

Ben's Pictures

2007-09-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

Ben and mommy hanging out

Here are Ben's 23 week pictures.

We took Ben on Sunday to Kiddie Kandids to have his pictures done. They did a great job! I will definately go back.

I've been tagged

2007-09-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long. I finally have my laptop back so I'm going to be able to keep up with the blog better, I hope. I was tagged by my cousin, Stacy, so I'm going to start with that. I'm supposed to come up with 8 interesting facts so here they are.

1. When I was a little girl, I loved Cinderella. I loved the movie and the book and everything about Cinderella. I loved it so much I used to call myself Cinderella Jo-Jo.

2. At 13 months and 18 months, I stopped breathing due to a seizure caused by a high fever. The first time it happened my mom was holding me. The second time it happened I was with my Aunt Jeanne. Both times I was rushed to the hospital. My mom tells me that the second time they went to the hospital with me, she refused to leave until they told her what was wrong with me.

3. I was so homesick when I went to college for the first time that I decided to try to drive home on my first weekend there. I thought that I93 north would take me to Maine. I ended up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and then proceeded to get stranded there when my clutch on my car burned out. My mom received a call from the New Hampshire state police and had to come get me at 3 in the morning.

4. I have such small, bad veins that the only time I tried to give blood I was turned away. I was told to come back when I grew veins.

5. I love cooking shows. I don't know what it is about them. I love watching all the food that they prepare on the shows. I never make any of them and I really don't like to cook but I love watching them and thinking about how the food would taste. :)

6. Near my 22nd birthday, I decided to go to the dealership and trade in my perfectly good automatic Cavalier for a new car. I got talked into a shiny red car that I loved but that was a standard. I hadn't had a standard since burning out the clutch on my very first car and really didn't know how to drive a standard still. I left that day with a car that I couldn't drive. I don't think my mom has ever been so mad at me as she was that day.

7. My husband and I worked on our house together while I was pregnant with Ben. I ran wire, cleaned, hung electrical boxes and god only knows what else. I worked on the house with Jason until right before I had Ben. There were many times when I had moments of hatred for this house because of all the work we had to put into it. But now I'm grateful we did so much work for it and love my house.

8. I would love to have a big family. I love doing family get together types of things and would love to have a bunch of kids. Jason jokes that he would like a baseball team of kids. I'll stop at 4 and that will be enough for me. I love being a mother and hope that I have the opportunity to be a mom to at least 3 more kids.

I love being a mom to my little boy. I never realized how amazing it would be to have a little boy. I always imagined my first child being a girl. I'm so glad that I had a boy and wouldn't trade him for anything. He continues to amaze me with how he grows and changes.

We watched the Toy Run last Sunday. We go every year and watch it. Motorcycle riders ride with toys to Augusta for needy kids. We love seeing the bikes and wouln't miss it. It was a little noisy for Ben and I had to cover his ears. I couldn't believe that he fell asleep during it even with all that noise.

After the Toy Run, we went to an annual family picnic that is held after the Toy Run every year. The Bauers are long time family friends of Jason's family. There is always a lot of food and is nice to visit with everyone. It poured during the picnic. That part was awful. We tried to keep cozy with blankets so it wasn't too bad but I couldn't believe how much it rained.

Here are Ben's 22 week pictures.

I have a friend who's mother made Ben a beautiful sweater with mittens and booties before he was born. It's just become cool enough for Ben to wear them and I took a couple of pictures of him in it. He looks so cute!

My sister bought Ben an orange pumpkin hat a long time ago. I put it on him today and his eyes look so blue in it!

I promise to update sooner this week! I will get better at this! :)

We survived!

2007-09-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

So we survived our first week of going back to work and daycare. It went better than I thought it would although I missed my boy like crazy! I love working with my kids at school but I wish I could spend all day with Ben too.

My mom and my sister bought Ben an excersaucer to play with. He loves it! He moves himself all around to play with all the different toys. He loves hearing the animal sounds. It's so fun to watch him.

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ben turned 20 weeks last Wednesday. He is such a character now!

Create Your Own

Ben tried sweet potatoes for the first time on Sunday. Surprisingly, he didn't like them as much as he liked the peas! He made all kinds of funny faces but he still at them.

Create Your Own
My friend, Julie, dropped off some clothes for Ben today. Her son, Matthew, will be a year in October so Ben will have a little friend in the future. The clothes were so cute! We played dressup and here are some pictures of Ben.

It looks like I'll get my laptop back by the end of this week so hopefully I can be better at updating. I'm trying and I hope that people are enjoying hearing about Ben.

Sigh!

2007-08-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long but my laptop crashed and I have been without a computer to update Ben's blog. I'm using my mom's computer right now and hopefully I'll have my computer back soon.

Sigh! That's about all I can say about the last week or so. Ben caught his 1st cold about a week and a half ago. He was all congested and sneezing and coughing. Well then his cold moved into his eyes and he got conjuncitivitis. We went to the pediatricians to take care of his eyes and discovered he had the start of an ear infectiion. So now Ben is on medicine for his eyes and for his ears. The poor baby! On top of that, my little guy managed to pass along his cold to me, his dad and his grammy. What a good little sharer he is! We're all starting to get over our colds and Ben is feeling much better. The conjunctivitis cleared up after only a day of medicine. I have to say he was in such good spirits the whole time even after being so sick. He is such a good baby!

Ben spent two mornings at daycare the past couple of weeks. It went really well. They are just all in love with him there. He's the youngest baby and getting spoiled! They are keeping a journal of what he does while at daycare so I won't feel like I'm missing everything although I probably still will.

I took a couple of pictures of Ben with a teddy bear my mom bought for him. It's really cool because the bear lights up with different colors. It also has a remote wand that you can use to change the colors.

My brother, Chris, came up from Florida to visit for a couple of days. He's living down there now and hadn't seen Ben since he was about 3 weeks old. It was nice to see him and nice for him to see how much his nephew has grown. Chris bought Ben a couple of onesies as well as a little stuffed moose. Ben was so cute playing with it the other day.

Benjamin James

Happy Halloween!

27 Weeks and counting

Guess who's going to be a big brother?

Yet another snow day and Book Meme

Photobucket Survey

Yay!

What I've Learned

Me Time!

Long time, no write!

Ben's First Christmas

Benefit Supper

Christmas Tag!

Happy News!

Black Friday Fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A trip to the doctor's

What a big boy!

A Playdate!

Toes, toes, toes!

Pruney Ben!

Ben's Pictures

I've been tagged

We survived!

Sigh!

What a big boy!

A long update!

Our week so far

Oops!

15 weeks and still growing!

Too cute!

The Movies with a Baby and a Hot Day!

Ben is 13 weeks old!

On our own!

Baby Shower

Benjamin's Introduction