Great Day in Oregon

After some weird weather here over the past 2 weeks (3 scorching 100 degree days, followed by several 70 degree days with downpours of rain, where I almost wanted to turn on the furnace) it has finally returned to a normal summer weather pattern - 80 degrees and partly cloudy. Ben I took advantage of the mild temps and went for a stroller ride to a nearby coffee/ sandwich shop. I am so excited - about 4 blocks away, this new little cafe-type shop just opened - with BAGELS! We stroller-ed up there and I picked up a bagel sandwich and a giant cookie. There was a bunch of yuppie wine-touring-young-grandma types there, who all loved Ben's little basketball outfit and comments of "How cute!" and "Adorable" were flying around. I haven't had Ben out and about too much this summer, but how fun to get reactions like that!


He's been doing little mini-stomach crunches in his bouncy chair to try to either sit-up or reach the spiders that hang from the chair - He's getting so strong! Below is a mini-stomach crunch, where he's trying to lift his little head up, usually accompanied by laughter!

Also, we had Ben in for trial run - Day#2 at daycare on Thursday, while Andy worked from home, so he could go with me to drop Ben off and meet our daycare provider. Ben was gone from 9-3. Andy and I went out to lunch together. It was the first time we had eaten out in 3 months. Of course, all we talked about was Ben, but it was still nice to get out, just the 2 of us.

Trial Run

Yesterday, Ben and I did a trial run with the daycare provider that we chose. It was a short visit, but Ben handled it just fine. At daycare, he finished a nap, took a bottle and after a not-so-successful attempt at playtime, went back down for another nap. All this in just a few short hours. The kids at this daycare are great. I hung out for about an hour, and all of them were friendly, polite and well-behaved. Makes me feel as good as I can about leaving Ben in the care of someone else. There is another little guy there who is 15 weeks old named Madden (Ben is 12 weeks). I hope these two will end up being great play-pals! There are 4 other kiddos - 3 toddlers and a 6 month old girl. This lady has her hands full, but she has a lot of help from her 4 daughters and even her mom. She's been doing daycare for over 20 years, so she knows what she's doing, and has all of the gadgets and toys that you could ever imagine.

We'll do another trial run on Thursday or Friday this week. Next week, I start back at school for 3 days with meetings and getting my room ready for the year. The kids start back the following week with 4 days (because of Labor Day), so it makes for a nice transition for little Ben - 2, 3, 4, then 5 days a week at daycare.

Here's a better pic of the Little Boy Lake shirt from Grandma:

And one of the little Gopher in his jumper (for a limited time - he can't quite sit up in it yet...)

Hold your Head Up, Hold Your Head High

Look at how big my little baby is getting!






Andy and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary on Wednesday. I made a "gourmet" dinner of seafood alfredo and crusty bread, with no-so-gourmet rice crispie bars with M&M's for dessert. We watched our wedding video and the Power Point slide show that I made to show during the wedding dinner together and reminisced about the good ol' days. What a terrific husband I have! Happy Anniversary, babe!

Rockin' and Rollin'

Here's another first - Ben rolled over today! 4 times. All on his own. Belly to back, of course.

Tttthhhhbbbbb

Here's a cute clip that makes me laugh so hard, I cry:

and another one of our happy baby boy:

New look

I chopped off about 3 unhealthy inches of my hair today. I had a great stylist that talked me through how to "style" the new cut and I purchased some "product" for my hair. We'll see if I can manage getting it done in the mad rush of my future mornings with daycare preparations, etc.
Of course, what's a post anymore without pics of Ben!

I know this one's dark, but it's a Little Boy Lake T-shirt from grandma.
Ben was sad to see grandma and grandpa leave...
But happy to see mom's new hair cut!

August already???

I can't believe how fast the summer has wizzed by. I have just 3 weeks before I head back to work. Ben hit the 10 week mark this Sunday - double digits... Seems like just yesterday that we took him on that scary ride home from the hospital.

Grandpa Ron and Grandma Jan just left to head back to MN. It was so great having them here for a week and watching them interact with Ben. It makes it so hard knowing that they can't just stop over and see Ben whenever they want - 1500 miles makes for a long drop-in visit. Watching how much joy little Ben can bring to others brings tears to my eyes. Aunt Patti's boss (who saw some pictures of a smiling Ben) said "His smile makes me smile". I guess that says it all. I'm sure it was tough for my parents to leave, and I heard that my dad even offered to buy my mom the house across the street... Ha-ha.

During Ben's frequent naps, grandma and grandpa helped out with many projects around the house (you can't stop them!). Ron constructed a garage work bench out of scrap lumber and left over counter tops from our kitchen (a la MacGyver), and also moved some cabinets from the shed into the garage for help with our organization deficiency there. Jan continued her sweat shop marathon by helping with numerous sewing projects - she even brought her own sewing machine!

Here are a ton of pics from the past week or so.

Here is a wooden puzzle that my dad hand-made for Ben. How cute! I think he could make some $$ selling these!