18 months

Benjamin,

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Brobee and blankey"][/caption]

Last week, you turned 18 months old. As I say each month -- where does the time go? It was just yesterday you were sleeping soundly in your swing clutching your blanket. Now you just carry that blanket around. You and blankey are pretty much attached at the hip. I think we might have to make it into a cap someday.

Speaking of being attached at the hip, you also are pretty attached to the five binkies you sleep with. I'm devising a plan to get you off the binky and bottle by your second birthday. Shhh, don't tell Dr. Middleton tomorrow. We have been trying to limit binky time to only when you're fussy. Last week your vocabulary started to explode which gives your dad and I more reason to take the binky away. You can say hi, bye, banana, cookie, knock knock, kitty and your favorite -- uh oh. I'm sure there is a lot more you can say but we can't understand it just yet.

Your comprehension is pretty good as well. You know what brush your teeth means and you run down the hall, into the bathroom and try to reach for your toothbrush. You also know what "let's watch Yo Gabba Gabba." You run up to the TV and stare. You're quite fond of Brobee.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="350" caption="How Yo Gabba Gabba saved the 3 hour lay over."][/caption]

You recently decided to drop your morning nap though you can't quite make it to 1 p.m. you make it known by running up with your bottle and blankey letting us know you want a three hour nap. From 5 - 7 p.m. you're the fussiest kiddo on the planet, yet you won't go to bed at 7 p.m.

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For the first time, I can see my mother and myself in you. You have the eyes, chin and I'm pretty sure the nose. I didn't believe it until I pulled out my baby photos -- you don't look exactly like your dad like we thought you would. Let's hope you have his thick wavy hair and my nice skin.

I'm excited for what the next six months bring. I'm excited to hear the new words you learn. I'm just excited and crazy about you.

Love,

Mama

Sit, kneel, stand

I grew up Catholic. I joke about it a lot - Catholic guilt, Catholic school - you know the drill.  I'm not going to knock Catholics or Catholic schools. I went to church up until I moved to Bend. After getting settled into Bend, I attended our only Catholic church and well, didn't go back. I didn't feel at home. I didn't get married in a Catholic Church. My son isn't baptized. I told my husband, I'm probably the black sheep of the family because of it. I'm pretty surprised I haven't heard "Your mother would not be proud of you."

Religion was pretty important to my mother. When faced with a divorce and three small children, she went to Mass each day on her lunch break to get her through it. She worked hard to send us to a good school (my younger brother and I attended public school while my brother went all 12 years. He should get a medal or something for that).  She made me get up for 18 years, every Sunday and when I went away to college, she would call and make sure I went to church. Some of those Sundays I sang in the choir. I did it so I could hang out with my friends during Mass. When I was old enough to drive, my brother and I would skip church and get breakfast. I'm sure she was onto us.

Even though we don't go to church, I still believe in God. I still send good thoughts and prayers. I'm still puzzled what to do about Benjamin though. I know it will come to me sooner or later.

When I've gone through a hard time in my life, I just remember my mom telling me that she went to church everyday on her lunch break and she got through anything life put in her way.

Gobble gobble

We had a lot of traditions growing up. Coconut pies and Grandma's for Thanksgiving. At Christmas, my brother Christopher said he loved the way we opened our gifts (from youngest to oldest, one at a time). For some reason, I always had the most gifts (my mom said this was because the stuff I wanted was always cheap). After the gifts, we'd head to Grandma's for food, presents and sometimes Midnight Mass.  For Easter, my mom would make strawberry pie and my Grandma would make a ham. The holidays are about your family and since we have a little one, it was time to start traditions.

I made my first Thanksgiving family meal this year. I was quite nervous about it and I got a lot of crap for brining my turkey the weekend before and then de-boning my turkey but it was worth it. My sister-in-law, who is  a vegetarian  most of the time, said it was the best turkey she's eaten -- EVER.  The cornbread stuff wasn't so good though. My husband was against the cornbread stuffing from the beginning. He said it was too sweet. I was the only one who would eat it so guess where it ended up -- the trash. I should have boxed it up and taken it to a homeless shelter. I thought it was good though.

My husband and I decided that we wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. Since my mother-in-law works on the holidays, we invited my sister-in-law and her family over. She brought the vegetables and pies (yum!) and I worked on the rest.  After our bellies were full of the best turkey dinner EVER they played Truth or Dare Jenga while I entertained the toddler.

I have to stay, this was the best Thanksgiving giving we've had since I moved to Bend. And I hope it becomes a tradition.

Blood pressure blues

I've become a little obsessed with taking my blood pressure. My little Omron machine has been attached at my hip for the past 8 days. I have to take the machine into my doctor next week who is looking to see how my pressure is doing. As I told my husband, that little machine is stressing me out -- so much that it's elevating my blood pressure even more. I take my blood pressure during the night. I sneak into the bathroom and chant  "stay under 85, stay under 85" and 93 shows up. ARGH!

For the first time in a month, I felt normal after a hard workout (heart rate didn't go over 128. Normally it's up to 170). And for the first time in two weeks, I forgot to take my machine to the gym with me. Oops!

Today I went to the store. I was tasked to get foods that fit the food pyramid. You see, if you follow the food pyramid, you'll lower your blood pressure and maybe lose weight. Who knew? (I'm kidding here).  So I shopped the outer perimeter of the grocery store. I stayed away from the donuts. In my basket were bananas, cuties, carrots, sugar snap peas, whole wheat bread, mini bagels and orange juice with pulp. BORING.  This week features meals involving less salt and more fresh foods. Yay, I'm so excited. NOT.

My friend Jen is an inspiration. She's recently has lost 30 lbs in the past year just running. I know if she can do it, I can. It wasn't that hard - she got me running. I just have to run more. The hard part is finding the time and creating a routine. So, I'm going to hit the running hard once I am cleared to do so.

The other thing is I want the medication to be temporary. My mother and grandmother both suffer(ed) from high blood pressure. I didn't know my grandma had this problem until I told her I had high blood pressure. She won't watch her diet because she's 86 (nice excuse) so she doesn't mind taking medication but I do. I don't want to be popping pills for something I can prevent. I owe that to my son and husband.

Of course, my husband and son are going to suffer. South Beach Diet cookbook, here I come.

For the love of binky

Easily entertained #2

Pumpkin crazed days

I went a little crazy with pumpkin-flavored recipes goods this year. Inspired to try cooking from scratch, I roasted two sugar pumpkins and ended up with 4 cups of pumpkin puree. From this I made a tradition pumpkin pie, pumpkin brownies , baked pasta shells with pumpkin puree and pumpkin crumble. I was a little sick of our little orange friend after that. I usually indulge in a few pumpkin spiced lattes but I’ve only had two this year (good for the waistline, I guess). I have now moved onto sweet potatoes and cranberries. For my cookbook club, I made a sweet potato bourbon cheesecake and for my husband, I made his favorite cranberry bread. Needless to say, I’ve been in a baking frenzy.

When I was a kid, we’d spend Thanksgiving with my mother and her side of the family. My grandma would spend days preparing the side dishes and her famous dressing (which isn’t so famous as it’s just the recipe in the Bohemian Cookbook). My mother was always in charge of the desserts. She never made pumpkin pie but she always made two coconut cream pies -- whipping the heavy cream, browning the coconut. Those pies were heaven.  For some reason, I can't bring myself to make one. Maybe I wouldn't get so sick of pumpkin?