What we're into...

What I'm....

READING:  Where We Belong by Emily Giffin
   

LISTENING TO: I wish I was listening to Autumn's new album, but sadly I haven't gotten it yet. Don't worry, it's coming.  
 

WORKING ON:  trying to find something different to hang on our walls in the family room.  Lots of ideas, just trying to decide what I want to live with for a while. 

LOVING: the cooler mornings that are teasing me, the upcoming holidays that I'm already getting excited about and planning for. But mostly I'm loving my new iphone!
 

WEARING: all of my pre-pregnancy clothes! Yay! Secretly though I daydream of having some extra money for a moderate wardrobe overhaul. It'd be nice to do a clean sweep of my closet and then be able to restock it with some fresh items too. If only I could save my money and not spend it on all the cute things I find for Cameron! :) I hate to spoil him, but it's very easy to do!

WATCHING: I haven't been excited about my choices in tv lately. So instead I've been watching movies....or random tv shows that I never caught up with on netflix.  For those of you that haven't seen the movie Friends With Kids...it's a bit overthetop but very funny & I feel like we can all relate in one way or another! 

PACKING: sunscreen, camera gear, bathing suits, sunglasses & my book for a weekend of R&R! 

BAKING: I haven't really baked since before Cameron arrived (not that I am a baker by any means), but I'm dying to try these but obviously I'll have to do a little substituting since it's not Girl Scout season. Or who knows maybe it will be by the time I get around to baking again. 

What Cameron is...

READING:  One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
 
and some Curious George


LISTENING TO: a little Beethoven and some Toddler Tunes. He really likes Carly Rae Jepsen's, Call Me Maybe. I mean who doesn't like that catchy tune. Plus he did just meet...well everyone.

WORKING ON:  teething! eek! sitting up on his own and rolling. yikes!

LOVING:  Cameron is loving Sophie the Giraffe and his "magic frog", although he hasn't quite grasped how to keep it in his mouth. He loves the being outside and laughing most of all though!


WEARING:  a lot of onesies when he's lounging at home, but he really likes looking cute for when we go out. Who doesn't? Right now "rompers" and overalls win hands down. Who am I kidding, I love overalls!

WATCHING:  Sesame Street...he loves all the funny characters!

PACKING:  diapers, burp cloths, toys & swimsuits for some R&R!

BAKING:  sadly, Cameron isn't baking anything but poops! :)

We Love Weekends!

Although Tim had to work on Saturday and ended up getting a summer cold, we made the most of our weekend and filled it with giggles and fun!

We scoped out the farmer's market downtown and found the best watermelon to take home to Daddy!

The watermelon was so big that it weighed down our jeep stroller and made our tires a bit low. Good thing we have an air pump!  I guess I'm used to huge farmer's markets with crafts, jams, candles and more junk than anyone knows what to do with...I haven't found that kind of farmer's market here yet, but I'll keep looking.   

Speaking of the jeep stroller, I think it's hysterical when other Dad's get caught checking it out. Tim is still very proud of his garage sale find! There was one Dad that actually said, "sorry, I was just checking out your steering wheel!"  It's a pretty good lookin' steering wheel!

Sunday we went to breakfast, did the grocery shopping and had lots of time left over to play & snuggle.
We've determined that Cameron is too smart for his own good. Every time I catch him doing something funny and go to grab a phone or the video camera to capture it he stops. He's turned it into such a challenge! Here are two videos, one of him trying grapes this weekend...no not eating them, but just sucking on the juice. Note: before I started recording he was SUPER excited about the grapes, but then chose not to share that excitement with the camera. sad face! The other video is Tim hiding the phone as he catches Cameron's funny laugh.  (please excuse the sound of the TV in the background. Tim will be ashamed that I put this in a blog post, but since he was sick & resting, there may or may not have been a lot of lifetime movie watching on Sunday.)

Today is the first day of school for our neighborhood friends. Cameron & I smiled and waved to everyone walking to school this morning. We talked about what it will be like and I laughed as I pictured what Our Benton World look like then.

Parents...they just don't understand

I had my first taste of judgement this past weekend. Sure we all judge, it's pretty hard not to in today's day and age. This weekend, however, was the first time that I was aware of others judging me for my choices in parenting Little B.  Let me preface by saying, I know people gossip, judge and have their own opinions. I'm fully aware that we all have our own views on everything we deal with individually. We all have our own lives to live.  I wish that I didn't do it myself and I try really hard not to, but lets face it - it's a sad part of society.

Back to the story though:

We were with some friends over the weekend and met another couple that were new parents as well. There was a lot of discussion, questions and answers. Since we were all somewhat in the same place or perhaps had been recently there was stuff to talk about and get feedback from.  I'm used to putting my two cents out there...if we're being honest, it's pretty rare that I don't give my opinion.  Anyway, I caught myself saying things that we had done with Little B and then backing up to cover my tracks and make sure that I made it clear that we all live life differently, especially with a newborn. Tim laughed at me later when he told me I sounded like a friend of ours who is somewhat of a Super Mom. I blushed because I'm not trying to be any kind of anything really. I just do what works for me.  Scratch that we do what works for us.

Anyway, I later read something online about a celeb recently saying that she does her best not to judge other parents because obviously we're all doing our best, or at least we should be. It made me giggle because the timing of the story was impeccable.

Now, I'll probably continue to have my own thoughts and opinions about others parenting style, but I'm certainly not going to make anyone feel bad about their choices. Definitely not on purpose! I don't know that I could say I'll never judge, because that just doesn't seem very realistic.

Foreshadowing:  Tim and I will be flying with Little B in about a month, and there's going to be plenty of opportunities for people to judge us while traveling. I promise, that's one scenario that I'm playing out in my head like it will be great, but saying extra prayers that it really will be.

3 Months

Dear Little B,
Today you are three months...one (ah...ah...ah...), two (ah...ah...ah...), three (ah...ah...ah...)!

You love Sesame Street (hence the counting like the Count above) & cartoons in the mornings. Your Daddy thinks you're already bilingual because you learned the word "amigo" on Dora the Explorer last week!  There's a lot of drool and some chewing/sucking on just about everything you can put into your mouth these days. I gotta tell ya, that makes me a bit nervous.

I love hearing your laugh and I giggle when none of us are sure if you're talking, laughing or crying. Sometimes it all comes out together.

You seem bigger every time I look at you. You really didn't lose any of your hair like they said you would and your eyes continue to stump us because they seem to change back and forth daily.  We still aren't sure if you're going to get baby blues or not. Maybe you'll have mood ring eyes?

You are starting to take notice of your dogs Tucker & Leeya and they definitely have taken notice of you! Tucker likes to sneak down in the middle of the night and sleep with you. He loves you so much.

You pretty much dislike "tummy time" after the first minute.  You do what you need to do for that first minute and then BAM it's over! You'd rather show the world how you can hold your head up and put weight on your legs.  I know you'd really like us to just skip the tummy stuff and go straight to working on walking instead. I mean who really needs to crawl?  Just kidding. I think it's funny that you love to be on your tummy when you're on someones chest, but the minute you lay on the floor it's as if we've turned out the lights and left you by yourself.

I'm very curious to know what is going to be your safety item. Every kid has something that they love and take with them everywhere. I love to look around your room and guess what it might be. Right now you really love your blue bunny. I tried to have Daddy come up with a name for him, but his creativity stopped at El Guapo. I think we'll just stick with "bunny" for now.

Obviously it looks as though you never wear clothes, I promise you do when it's important. You love being naked and can't get enough of the wind in your hair - good thing we have a jeep!  You're about 16lbs (based on our scale at home) and you're wearing size 3 diapers - wow! You and your Daddy sleep exactly the same. I mean i-dentical! I'd post the picture of the two of you in the same positions next to each other, but I don't think he'd like that too much.

Life is great and you make it extraordinary!  This adventure book is keeping me on the edge of my seat. I hope that we're teaching you to soak all of that goodness up! You sure are teaching us a thing or two. I love it that your Daddy and I run to you when we're having good days and run to you when we're having bad days. I always said that a smile from a child can make everything better, but when it's your own little munchkin there's even more magic behind that smile!

I love you to the moon & back.
Mama

Shhhh...baby sleeping

I don't want to jinx anything but there may or may not be a baby that sleeps through the night in our house. We may or may not be patting ourselves on the back, high-fiving or telling everyone we know that our kid is kick-a**!

He really is though! :)

French Parenting & A Pet Rock

I am currently reading a book about French parenting. I like it because it isn't just a boring-old parenting book, it actually seems to have a little bit of a story/memoir to it as well. I don't know that I'd be reading it if it didn't. I'm a firm believer in gut-feelings and doing what works for you. It's all about balance right? We are a pretty laid back house but if you know Tim at all, there are some expectations that ride ahead of that laid back attitude. Yea, you heard me right, I totally just blamed our high expectations on Tim. I have nothing to do with it. Psh.


A friend of mine in California that has 3 children read this book recently and said that she had wished she had read it before she had kids. She also mentioned that even though her kids were older, she was trying out some of the techniques on them.  Right now, I'm about halfway through the book and a lot of what they say makes sense. I'm not getting hasty with my parenting skills and changing anything based on this book right off the bat, but it's about taking the pieces that I agree with and making them fit in our own reality. I'll keep you posted on how I feel once I finish it, but so far, so good.

I recently talked with one of my Aunts and she asked how Little B was doing. I told her that people were teasing me and telling me not to rush things because I thought that this stage - as fun as it is - can be a bit boring. She went on to tell me about how a friend of hers had described children up to 6 months old as being kind of like a "pet rock". We all know they aren't really pet rocks; kids have arms and legs, personality and oh don't forget the ability to smile & laugh.  I mean Cameron is definitely cooler than a pet rock, but I'm excited about the future and spicing it up!  Creatively I tried to think of what stage would come after "pet rock" but my Mama brain wouldn't have it. There has to be some balance between the french-style and the pet rock right?

Cameron likes laid back.

My Little Mozart

Miss T and Little B did a some online shopping to find a new toy! I had been looking for something that Cameron could play with that incorporated his kicking more and this awesome piano seemed perfect!  He loves it, and plays in his room "practicing" his piano all the time.  What's cool about this toy is that there are different ways/stages to play with it and he will grow with it. Or at least that's what the box says.

I gave Miss T a hard time about teaching Cameron how to online shop, but really it was only a matter of time.  I have a sneaky suspicion that Tim will have him searching craigslist for boats and other manly toys by his first birthday!  

The other thing that we witness in this video is that Cameron has obviously had camera or phone in his face too much already. He knows exactly what we're doing when we go to take a picture or record him. He doesn't freeze up, but he does hold back a little more. I really hope I don't turn into too much of a stage mom. 

Ribbit Ribbit!

I'm so glad Miss T takes fun pictures of Little B!
Happy Thursday Y'all!

My Life as a Mama Cow

Disclaimer:  read at your own risk.

I don't know how appropriate it is to discuss breast-pumping for the world to read, but I'd like to go ahead and put it out there:  I appreciate the dairy cow. As a fellow cow these days I can totally relate.

My favorite situational pumps:
The Pre-workout pump:  it's not ideal to workout with mom boobs as it is, but it's beyond miserable running or exercising when feeling full.
The Pre-Swimming pump:  we don't want any embarrassing leakage.
The Multi-Tasker Pump:  holding pumps in place with one hand while soothing baby (or writing this post) with the other
The Rise & Shine Pump:  a great way to start the day!
The Work Pump:  making it happen in a closet, the conference room or even sitting on a toilet lid. Gotta get it done.
The Motherload Pump:  this one terrifies me.  Any day now I'm expecting to hear from Good Morning America for being the first woman who's boobs actually explode.  Sure it's never happened, but sometimes it really feels like it might.
The I-Wish-There-Was-Someway-To-Make-This-Look-More-Attractive Pump:  no explanation needed, you can go there on your own.

I realize that cows don't have the same kind of pumps, but I'm sure they could come up with their own list of #1's!