Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Today is Bennett's first birthday. Since I am feeling pretty sentimental, I will save my gushing for my journal. I will say though that this past year has been the best of my life. I didn't know it was possible to love someone so much until I met my sweet baby. I don't know where this past year has gone. I am not sure when cooing turned into squealing. I can't tell you the exact day she rolled over or sat up. I don't know when the last day was that we could just leave her in the middle of our bed or just laying in her boppy. I am not sure when babbling turned into real words. It all just happened. And now instead of a tiny infant, I have a thriving and beautiful explorer.

Happy Birthday, sweet Bennett. You have brought more joy to your parents lives than you will ever know. We love you so much.

With Daddy one year ago today

With Daddy a few nights ago

2-26-08

2-23-09

Kirby and Me

I am substituting the word "Kirby" for "Marley" in the title because yesterday even Marley couldn't have held a candle to my 10 year old American Fox Hound. Since Rob and I are heading to 'Bama this weekend, we hastily made arrangements yesterday to have the dogs boarded.

***Side note**** If you are thinking about buying a dog, just buy one. And buy a small one. They charge you by the pound and both of our dogs are 50+ pounds making it very expensive to say the least.***

Anyway, to make a very long story short, the doggie hotel called and said that Meg was up to date on all of her shots, and Kirby only lacked one- his Parvo shot. He had to have that shot to be boarded and he had to have it at least 48 hours prior to his arrival. That left me a 5 hour window, a slow dog, no vet, and a baby 1 hour away from her nap time. Crap!

So, we head to PetSmart where they have a vet on call on Monday afternoons to administer shots. I need you to picture the scene with me if you will. If you don't know Kirby, he is the world's dumbest dog. He stares and disobeys. That's about it. So, I get him out of the van and he is pulling on me with all of his might to run. I am choking him trying to keep him with me. I am trying to unfold Bennett's huge stroller with one hand while being yanked by a 64 lb dog with the other. I somehow manage. Now I have to get Bennett out of her carseat with one hand and I have the massive lug pulling my other. This takes me 15 minutes. Every time I almost had Bennett buckled in, Kirby would see another dog and pull me so hard that I would fall. In the parking lot. While I was down for the count, Bennett would climb out of her stroller. It was a certifiable nightmare.

Somehow, I manage to get them in. We go to the little vet shop inside PetSmart. Bennett has had it. She starts to bawl. It is now 2:00 and she is demanding a crib and a paci. Kirby is pulling on me with a sudden burst of strength he hasn't shown in years. I make it to the counter. There are three women in the waiting room with perfect dogs sitting obediently. I am about to start crying along with Bennett. I am trying to sign Kirby in when the receptionist says, "Oh my gosh- is your dog peeing?" I look over, and yes, Kirby has lifted his leg and peed all over a display of plush animal chew toys. He has ruined about 20 furry things and has probably cost me an extra $75. Now Bennett is really wailing b/c I have left her to clean up the mess. Yes, the receptionist handed me towels and made me clean it up. While I am bent over trying to wipe up pee and figure out how many toys he ruined, he gets away from me. Fortunately I got him back before he made it to the cat section.

Now, we are back at the counter. All three women are looking at me with their trained dogs scornfully. One looks at her dog and says, "Sit Murphy. Stay. Good dog." I looked over. Murphy was already sitting. I hate spiteful dog owners who tell a sitting dog to sit just to emphasize how much better they are than me. I look down at Kirby and start hissing, "Sit...sit...SIT!" He just stares at me.

By this time, Bennett has one leg out of her car seat and one arm free and she is seconds from hailing a cab and making it to her crib. The woman behind the counter says that I can't drop Kirby off and I am just going to have to wait. I drop in a waiting room seat and every woman moves over another seat. Not really, but I know they wanted to. I am staring at the stained chew toys, the screaming baby, and the dog who is now licking Murphy and I want to die. I am sweaty, exhausted, irritable, and I know I have to put up with it for 2 more hours because we are 4th in line.

Then the receptionist disappears. She comes back out and says, "M'am, we decided that due to the circumstances, you can just drop your dog off." Hallelujah! Apparently they wanted me out as much as I did. I handed her Kirby's leash so fast that her head spun and Bennett and I were racing to the van. We rushed home and as I put her in her crib, she smiled at me and said, "Gum!"

And yes, Rob picked Kirby up later that afternoon. We discussed it for awhile, but in the end we decided to get him. Whether or not that was a good decision is up for debate.

Good thing I like Trident.

Who knew when we named our golden lab Meg that one day our unborn child would not be able to separate the words "Mom" and "Meg?" Had we known, we would have gone with Rover or something a little more doggish. But we didn't know, and now Bennett has decided that having two people in her family with names so close in sound just won't do. So, for the past few days, I have become gum. Yes, "GUM!" At first I thought it was a coincidence, but no, she is definitely calling me gum. So now we have the pecking order in our little family. The favorite is DADA (which would be Rob of course,) followed by MEH (Meg,) then KUH (Kirby,) and bringing up the rear is GUM! And that would be yours truly.

I knew that I would forget something

Regarding the list below. One thing I forgot to add was....

9. I get SO hot. When it was just me and Rob in the house, I could only sleep in freezing temperatures. I was so hot and uncomfortable, so Rob lovingly wore three layers of clothes and socks to bed every night. I can't do that to poor Bennett, so the temp in the house remains warm at night and I am embarrassingly uncomfortable.

Another reason why pregnancy is easier when you can be selfish and self absorbed. Dangit.

Having a baby while raising a baby

Being pregnant is annoying. Everyone knows that. There are a few women who say they never felt better than they did when they were pregnant. I do not like these women. I try to avoid them at all cost and I don't want my husband to be around these women. Then he starts to suspect that I am complaining unjustly. So, I surround myself with people who find it as miserable as I do. However, I must say that it is different being pregnant when you don't have any children. Being pregnant with an 11month old presents a whole list of annoyances that did not occur the first time around. I have listed them below. But I will probably forget a few. Because I am pregnant, and that's what I do.

1. Now when I am hungry all the time, I steal her food. I used to try to eat fruit and vegetables. Now I am eating fruit snacks, cheerios, and anything else I can get that's on her food tray when a craving hits. She does not like this and swats my hand. I swat it back and take her last goldfish.

2. When I am curled up with Bennett reading books, I inevitably have to go to the bathroom. I have finally gotten her into a comfortable position, her eyes are droopy, my voice is soothing, and then all of a sudden, "Ummm... Bennett, here, hurry, get on the floor, play with your toy, Bennett..HURRY! Mommy will be right back." And then I run out of her room leaving tears of confusion behind me.

3. When I was pregnant with B, I was working and my boss was great about letting me take an extra half hour for lunch to nap, or I could nap every Sunday afternoon. Now, the second I lay down, she wakes up. And she really expects me to play with her. I look at her and say, "Really? You want to go there?"

4. I am irritable and I can't take it out on Bennett, so now the poor subjects of my anger are the dogs. Sometimes I get so annoyed at them just for breathing.

5. I have no nesting instinct. When you don't have a baby, you want everything to be perfect. I spent every day painting, buying furniture, folding newborn clothes, getting her bookshelves ready. Her crib was perfect with brand new sheets washed, ironed, and waiting on her. Now, I am so busy with her, I think, "I hope the kid doesn't come early. And if he does, he can hang out in the bassinet for a few months."

6. Sometimes when I am rocking Bennett at night, I fall asleep while rocking her. If I don't have to put her down suddenly to run to the bathroom, I fall asleep. She looks at me and starts pulling my face. I look at her and think, "One day, it will be your turn, and I'm going to laugh."

7. The insomnia is kicking in again. But I don't get to sleep the next day like I did before I had her. I am kicking around the idea of waking up B with me in the middle of the night. That way she can play with me when I have energy and sleep the next day when I'm exhausted. Good idea, right?

8. It is no fun when Bennett is crawling all over me and her little brother starts kicking. Humans are not meant to be kicked from the outside and the inside simultaneously.

I know there are more, but this is getting too long. Let's just hope that if there is ever a number 3, I will have 2 children way past their baby stage! But that's what I said the first time.

Thank you, Mommy Suttle!

My Mom left today to head back home to 'Bama. I know what some of you are thinking, and yes, she was here for 7 weeks. We didn't plan it that way when we moved, but it was wonderful. Both of my parents came out here with us on January 3rd to help us move in and get settled. And they were supposed to leave just 3 days after they got here. But when that day came, we all realized that we needed some extra help. We really only needed an extra week or so, but my Dad was coming back in February for a business trip and we just decided she would go back then. It didn't make sense for her to go back and then turn around and come right back a few weeks later. Especially when we were so happy to have her here.

But anyway, she left this morning and I miss her already. Because she was here, we were able to do all of the moving errands you do without lugging Bennett in and out of the freezing temps. And she helped me with the transition. If she had left 7 weeks ago, I can't imagine how isolated and lonely I would have felt. But I have been able to get out, meet people, join a Bible Study, run errands, etc... Also, she has been great company to have at the house. Until we moved here, I have never not worked. Being home all day has been a huge adjustment in of itself, and then to be home all day in a new place with no friends would have been very hard. So, it was nice to have a friend here. Someone to talk to, to eat with, to shop with, and to to help take care of Bennett.

Anyway, this is getting long, but I wanted to publicly thank her for all that she did for us and for making this transition so much easier and smoother. And besides, we will see her next week when we go home for Bennett's first birthday. :-)Thank you, Mom. Bennett is waving at your picture and blowing kisses to the computer screen.

My active little charmer

First of all, I love all of your responses to the video below. It took me a long time to post it because I didn't want to embarrass my grandmom. She is the most amazing woman I know and she has been a second mother to me my whole life. But after sitting on it for awhile, I decided that I had to show it. It is too classic. Plus she only said out loud what everyone was already thinking. :-)

So, is every 11 1/2 month old as active as my daughter? We can't take her anywhere. She climbs out of her stroller, she climbs out of her high chair, she climbs out of the grocery cart... We need a straight jacket to leave the house. She is also climbing up stairs and climbing over baby gates. And when she's not climbing she is charming everyone around her. At restaurants she stares at other people until they notice her and then she smiles and smiles and blows kisses to them. Just yesterday we had the entire wait staff surrounding her high chair and she was "kissing" all of them. As soon as they left and the attention wasn't on her, she tried to climb out. I wonder where she gets that?

She also talks constantly. She can say bye-bye, duck, baby, balloon, Piper, Meg, Kirby, Dada, Mama, and so much more. Of course they are her versions of the words, but we understand her. I love it when she sees our dog Meg in the morning and just starts screaming, "MEH MEH MEH MEH!" And then she will see out other dog Kirby and laugh out loud and say, "KUH! KUH!" They love her and will run right to her and it kills me every time.

She also understands everything you tell her. If you say, "Where's your penguin?" she will go get the penguin. She does the same thing with books, her baby doll, her books, etc.. It really makes me nervous that she can understand so much of what I tell her. I probably need to be careful. Especially when I am yelling at some contestants on "American Idol." I hope her next words aren't, "Go home!"

I didn't mean for this to be a post gushing about Bennett. But I guess I have become one of those Moms who gushes. I can't help it. Besides, who can resist this smile? Not me, not certain waiters, and definitely not MEH and KUH!

"Congratulations" is the normal response

This video was taken a few months ago. We went to tell my grandmother that we were having another baby. My grandmother is very special to me. She is the only grandparent that Rob and I have still living therefore making her Bennett's only great grandparent. We loved living only 5 miles away from her for the first 10 months of Bennett's life. They developed a very special relationship and we miss being so close to our sweet Nana.

We put a shirt on Bennett that said, "I'm the big sister" and took her to see Nana. We were hoping that Nana would be thrilled about her newest great grandbaby. This is what we got.

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

Dear Bennett...

....I am so sorry that you don't feel well. I have to tell you though that I was secretly so happy yesterday when you wanted to cuddle with me. You never want to cuddle anymore. You just want to crawl and play and explore. So, when you kept crawling to the couch and holding up your arms, I loved it.

I don't like it when your forehead is so hot. I know it bothers you, but it's fun feeding you yogurt. You like banana flavored the best. And I don't like it when you won't eat all day, but again, it's nice to cuddle under a blanket with you and have you rest your head on my chest. Just a month ago you would do that all the time, so it's nice to have that back for a few minutes.

And I'm sorry about last night. I know you couldn't sleep. I found you so many times crying in your crib sitting up and holding on to your ear. Daddy and I took turns holding you and trying to get your fever down. What you don't know is that I stood outside your door every time you whimpered just to make sure that you were okay. And you also don't know that when you were asleep, I stood over your crib and held your hand and prayed that you would feel better.

You still have a fever this morning, but you don't seem as clingy. You want to crawl away from me and bang on your toys. Sadly, that's a good thing.

Now and Then

As we get closer to my baby girl's first birthday, I continue to be sentimental and wistful. Rob would say that I am just plain mushy, and he's probably right. I will say that I am sadly so proud of the fact that I am up to date with her baby book. I have been rather obsessive about it. I had 5 pages done before she was born, for crying out loud. But I finished January and have already scrapbooked half of February. But it was either that or have her baby book be like mine. My Mom put in my weight a few times, one picture, and that my first word was cracker (which it was not!) So I guess I'd rather be slightly OCD than her not have one at all. Now her baby brother is a different story. I think his may look a little more like mine. Anyway, here are my now and then shots for the week.

Bennett sleeping at 2 weeks with her hands up in the air

And yesterday during her afternoon nap

Some things never change. Thank goodness.

Day at the Park

The snow is gone, the skies are blue, and Bennett decided to make an appearance at our neighborhood park. She liked the slide, but wasn't so sure about the swings as you can see from the picture below.

Dad, if you let go of this thing, there's no telling what I'm going to do.

This is much better. A little more security = me being a little calmer

My parents rock. Even if my Mom does need a visit from Clinton and Stacy.

New Crib

Having two kids so close together has sparked a debate in my family. Two cribs or one? After going back and forth for many days, we bit the bullet and ordered another crib. It came in yesterday and so here is Bennett checking out her little brother's new digs.

And don't worry. After a couple of bumper pads, some stuffed animals, and some sort of mobile, it will be completely fabulous.

Gender Selection

Odds and Ends

Today I went to my Mom's group. You know, the one that actually let me in. :-) We had a great lunch together and then a very fun afternoon of fellowship. I can honestly say that today was the very first day I have been excited to live here. I am at a table with 8 other women and I had a blast with them. I did get in trouble from the guest speaker for talking about "The Office" when I was supposed to be discussing spiritual gifts, but other than that, I had so much fun.

I had to wear my hair in a ponytail though. Not because I was feeling fashion forward, but because I washed my hair with body wash. Yes, body wash. I have an excuse though. We have a tiny water heater tank and each shower lasts 3 minutes. I tell people I take short showers so they think I am oh so green and environmentally conscious, but it's really because I have just enough time to wash and get out. No more belting showtunes in the shower for me. So today I was in such a hurry that I accidentally washed my hair with Dove body wash. I do not recommend this. I looked like I had a thousand sudsy bubbles on my head and my face felt like it was on fire. Even now, 12 hours later, my eyes are still stinging. Hence the pony tail look was on for the day. But at least I wasn't caught rubbing a dryer sheet on my hair today like last week before my Mom's group. No need when you have a pony tail. However, I plan to return to my normal grooming routine tomorrow. If I grab the right bottle.

So, we find out tomorrow the gender of baby Webster #2. I think it's a boy and Rob thinks that it is a girl. Bennett thinks peas are yummy. Check in tomorrow for the big update.

Anothery day in the nursery

Do you all know that you are supposed to label baby bottles and pacifiers every time your baby goes to the nursery? Yeah, well, so do I, but I always forget. I finally ordered labels for her bottle when she was 10 months old (I know, I know!) and I usually remember to throw a piece of masking tape on the paci as we are walking out the door, but that's about as good as it gets in my world.

However, I forgot this past Sunday. So I found a Sharpie and wrote Bennett's name on there in a hurry on the way to church. B fell asleep in the car and didn't wake up when we got to church, so we all decided to sit on the back row and I would hold her until she woke up and then take her to the nursery. Good plan, right? About 10 minutes into the service Rob looks over at his adorable daughter asleep in my arms and whispers, "Ummmm.... you do know that the Sharpie you used was not permanent, right?" What was he talking about? And then I saw the blackness all over Bennett's mouth and cheeks. And then I saw that horrible blackness all over my shoulder. Crap! I got Rob to hand over a wipe and I tried so hard to wipe her mouth with the paci still in and not disturb her. It was useless. She woke up. And then I didn't want to wipe her mouth in the service and make her scream in the middle of a very lovely worship set.

So I did the best I could and she went to the nursery with a slightly darkened mouth, no label on her paci, and a Mom with black smudges all over her shirt. I don't know if that's better than holes in my pants or worse than her crying the whole time, but you do what you can. I can't wait to see what happens next week.