Mother's Day

I officially celebrated being a mom today. I haven't exactly celebrated Mother's Day since 1996. My mom died a month later in June. I can't recall what I did for her either. I often feel really guilty about that. I do have wonderful memories growing up of Mother's Day and I spent a few minutes thinking about that this morning as Benjamin and I played after he got up.

Each year, my mom and I would join my grandma and aunts and cousins for Mother's Day mass. I can remember us doing this as early as first grade. After mass, we'd attend a breakfast with other mothers and daughters. It was something I looked forward too each year. That tradition stopped when I got into high school but each year, I'd buy my mom flowers to plant in her raised beds. After she died, I would plant flowers in her honor until I moved to Bend. Mother's Day is just too early to plant here.

This morning, I got up at 6 am with Benjamin. Brian wanted me to sleep in but I was wide awake and let him sleep for a bit. He's really been into books. He can sit for minutes, occupied by looking at board books or by being read to. We then snuggled up in our blankets and watched Curious George learn about tadpoles. Brian made us French Toast and then we went for a hike. Many asked "what did you get?" As I've gotten older, materialist items are just things -- they pile up. My husband has been installing a deck for two weeks and he plans to put some planters of flowers out when the weather cooperates. I realized not only today, that I asked for something my mom would want.

I have everything I want. Why would I want more things? Esp when I have the cutest little boy ever born.



Happy Mother's Day!

All done or more?

We've been teaching Benjamin baby signs since 6 months old. At first it was silly, making the signs for milk, all done, more, mommy, daddy and sleep but then he totally got milk and so when he wants a bottle, he makes the sign and all is well. Our next step was teaching him more and all done and this week he's been using them and it's been hilarious because I don't think he gets when he's supposed to use them. Here are some examples:

Super cute, huh? I love that he's trying to communicate.

Oh, he only cried for 20 mins tonight. WOO HOO. Progress!

Sleep training ... again

Back in October, we gave the Ferber Method a whirl. It was tough but we got through it and it worked like a charm until I stopped breastfeeding. The past few months we've rocked Ben to sleep. Most of the time, he has sleep through the night (4 a.m. is through the night for us) until he gets another bottle. Then we started to notice he was getting pretty attached. He started waking up at midnight, 2 a.m., 4 a.m. and most of the time he wouldn't go in his crib. SO, we knew what to do. The most awful thing in the world ... time for the old cold hearted cry it out method.

Last night he went down, not problem but at 11 p.m. he woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep without laying on Brian. So, we decided, it was time. And for an hour I laid there listening to the crying while Brian snored away. When he awoke again at 4 a.m. for his bottle, drank it and went fast asleep and then woke up at 5 a.m. crying. After about 2 mins, he was fast asleep again until 6 a.m.

Tonight, the same thing -- bath, lots of cuddling, books, rocking and then down in his crib. This time, it took 10 mins and he was out. Granted, he had 4 binkies in his crib because he has a tendency to get more upset about his lone binky he dropped on the outside of his crib. I'm happy to report, he knocked two of them out of the bed. One was at this foot, the other in his mouth.

They say the second time around it goes fast because they've been through it before. Some say they don't believe in this method but it's works for us and that's all that matters.

11 months!

Dear Benjamin,
Today you're 11 months old. You're babbling! You're standing and cruising around! You have 4 teeth. One thing we've realized is you're no longer a baby. You're a little boy.



You have your dad's eyes and double colic. You love to travel as we went on two road trips and you didn't complain much. On Easter, you got a taste of chocolate and you were instantly in love. You're also in love with your blankey as you have to clutch it in your hands while sleeping.



Your sleep is all over the place. The only constant is you go to bed at 7 p.m. and wake up between 5-6 am. Sometimes you sleep all night. Sometimes you wake up every hour.

The month, you experienced another ear ache and the croup with was pretty scary. The croup then turned into a mild cold but you're still as happy as can be.

You'll be walking soon which is scary because you're super fast at crawling. I love you little man. I'm amazed at how fast this first year is going.