Wow, tomorrow is August? Where did the time go? Oh wait, it’s summer and I’ve been crazy busy beyond belief. Between going out of town twice in July, my husband’s band Kousefly playing a ton and it being the busiest time at work, I come home each day completely exhausted. My house shows it as I can not muster the thought of cleaning. My currently unemployed husband does a great job at vacuuming but when it comes to picking up after himself and Benjamin, well, let’s just say I spend a few minutes each evening wiping the kitchen down and putting away toys.

So how is life with a toddler? It’s official, he’s walking –he is no longer a baby. It took 13.5 months but he’s doing it and has even mastered walking with shoes. He definitely is more aware of things as of late. When I say “give mama a kiss,” most of the time he will come over and kiss me with a closed mouth. It is rather sweet and heartwarming. Since he was tiny, I have always showered him with kisses all over his face. The other day as I laid on the ground with him rough housing, he returned the favor, showering me with kissing and making a “mwah, mwah, mwah” noise. It brought tears to my eyes.

I’m worried about his speech. About a week ago I decided that Mr. Binky would only make appearance during naps and bed time. He doesn’t seem to be missing it. He babbling more but since learning to walk, he’s forgotten how to sign so we’re back to square one. Sometimes when he is really hungry and I don’t quite get what he’s upset about he’ll burst out “nanana” which means he wants food. Otherwise he’ll say mama, dada and sometimes mimic the sound of “kitty cat.”

Benjamin has become quite picky at dinner time. He hates vegetables unless covered in cheese or sauce. He eats tons of cheese, fruit but turns his nose up at meat. I swear he drinks 2 gallons of whole milk a week. I hope this is all normal and a phase.
My health has been in question lately. It seems I have high blood pressure. I’ve known this since giving birth but I started feeling a ton of anxiety lately so off to the doctor I went. I’ve been running lately but my left ankle would swell up and I went back to walking. Then I started back up running and twisted my ankle so my office visit consisted of talk of my blood pressure, my twisted ankle and my weight. The verdict: don’t run for at least 10 days to let my ankle heal, wear a pedometer and start getting in 10,000 steps five days a week and eat better. I need to get my blood pressure down by the end of October or face the fact I’m going on medicine. My focus when walking has been “getting healthy for my family.” It doesn’t help lunch seems to be catered everyday where I work and I’ve been baking nice treats as well. BUT I need to get healthy for my family and gosh darn it, if I want to have another child, I need to get that weight down too.

OK, enough babbling. There’s your update.

Running, the croup. Just a normal week in our house

Well, there is no photographic evidence but I'm running. I have been scared to write about it in case I wimped out. A few weeks ago, I was inspired by Jen's efforts to get off the couch and get running a 5K in 9 weeks. So, three times a week, we meet up or if I can't I hit the dreadmill at work.

At first, we were really winded after running one min. Friday, we ran 20 mins straight around Farewell Bend Park and only felt winded after 18 mins. Today, at week 5, we ran our first 5K where we ran 5 mins, walked 3 mins, ran 8 mins, walked 8 and ran another 5. The most rewarding thing is that we finished and did I mention, the baby weight is coming off?

I feel horrible if I miss a day of running because I feel so great after. It's helping my mood and sleep (unless interrupted by the baby). Eventually, I will have to switch my running to the morning when it's cooker which is OK since I get up at 5 a.m. anyway with Ben.

Did I mention that Benjamin has croup? Seriously, it's pretty scary to hear your baby wheezing in the middle of the night. It's also pretty scary when you have no idea what croup is and two days later you're being told he has it. He was his smiley, giggly self the whole time too. He's on the mend and was out of day care all last week. Now he has a nasty cold and is popping three more teeth I think.

Thursday he will be 11 months old. Where has the time gone??

Mr. Googly Eye

Today, we took Ben for his second eye appointment with Dr. Desmond at BMC (disclaimer: if you didn't know, I work at BMC). Ya see, I swear that Ben's eyes are not aligning right and he is often cross-eyed. So when my pediatrician (who also works at BMC), Dr. Vaughan, said if I was seeing something, we should have it checked out, he referred us to Dr. Desmond.



A few weeks ago, we had a visit and did a quick check which then turned into a follow up appoint where Ben's eyes had to be dilated. Fun times. All he could see was that he had a little droop in the left eye but it wasn't impairing his vision so we'd watch it. Dr. Desmond was great with our little guy and Ben was his happy self.

After finding out that we went to the wrong location (the appointment was at the westside location and we were at the eastside location) the receptionist called and let them know we were running late. My guess is that I did make the appointment at that location and forgot. An hour later, Dr. Desmond did a few checks in which he was very gentle with Ben and Ben was his sweet little self. For now, his vision is good and his eyes are aligning correctly but just to be safe, we're going back in a few months to get checked.

We're all breathing a sigh of relief tonight. This is one time I'm glad my mother's intuition was wrong.

He (we) survived

Ben had his 2 month doctors appointment today and survived. He is now 22 inches long and weighs over 10 lbs. He favors one side of his head so we have to wedge his head when he sleeps so it's not lopsided. His sleeping is ahead of where he should be as he falls asleep on his own with no problems or cries (it's those DHA pills I took during pregnancy) and is a healthy happy kid. He does seem to have a droopy eyelid but they're going to watch and see. Anyday now he should be sleeping longer stretches.

He also got his first round of vaccines. I'm of the mindset that kids should get vaccines. I'm not a doctor therefore I'm not going to tell my wonderful pediatrician what shots to give my kids though he did give me the option to drop one, I didn't. The shots went fast and of course, he cried but now he is sleeping like a baby in his crib since he missed his afternoon nap. We'll see if he's fussy or not. I won't take a guess to jinx myself either!