Thursday, May 26, 2011

Visitin'

Resting with eebee
Bennett and I trekked down to North Carolina this week. We left Monday morning and arrived Tuesday around noon. We had a nice little pit stop in Charlottesville, VA to visit my old friend Robin and her family. We had a not so nice pit stop about thirty minutes into our trip after Bennett hurled the entire contents of his stomach into the back seat of our car. The car that was packed to the brim in the backseat so that he could reach all of his toys and snacks with minimal assistance from me. Yes - we spent thirty minutes on the side of I-90. I had his clothes and the contents of the back seat strewn across the shoulder, he was in the front seat, stripped down to his diaper with the biggest grin on his face as he "drove" the car. Glad he felt better!

Since we have been down here, he has been having the most fun - and I'm really getting a chance to relax. Yay! I'll add photos to this post when I get them uploaded, but had to share the stories as quickly as I could. . .
You - outta my way!

driving
On Tuesday, Bennett hunted around the cabin familiarizing himself with all that was available - and he happened upon a new Cozy Coupe! What fun he had for the next six hours. He loves to hop in and out of the car, turn the wheel and put his juice in the cup holder at the back. He is working on moving forward, but has the hang of going backward down at this point. He has tipped it on its side twice, only crying a little the first time. He also really enjoyed running the length of the porch/deck, fully entertaining Granna and Daddy-o.

WATER!!!
Wednesday morning, he woke up raring to go! After a quick sip of milk, Bennett, Daddy-o and I went for a walk down to the lake, while Granna made muffins. Bennett decided he was ready to try out the water - thank goodness we had put him in his sandals before we left. He just walked right on in to the wading area and played with sticks, splashed around and even tried to drink the water. Yes, he was still in his pajamas and the water wasn't quite warm yet, but he didn't seem to mind one little bit. It seems we have a water bug on our hands!

Ready for the Tour
We spent the afternoon visiting with friends, Jim and Connie Amburn, and installing the porch swing and Bennett's swing. While we were working on that project, Bennett found Uncle Ben's old bicycle which was leaning against a tree. Before we could stop him, he'd climbed up onto the seat and was trying his darndest to pedal! He then discovered that he can climb into his swing without assistance. Shewee, y'all. He is a handful!

Wednesday evening was a tough one - he had a hard time going to sleep, but he finally got down around 9:30 after heroic efforts on the parts of Granna and Daddy-o to cool off the upstairs. It had been a very hot day and there is no air conditioning in the cabin. You don't need it most days, but I was desperate for it after an hour of rubbing his back and trying to cajole him into sleep!

I need a stick!
Thursday morning came awfully early and started with a walk, like the previous day. We inflated the baby pool and Bennett got comfortable splashing in the sunny water. I hadn't changed him into his swim diaper before this excitement, so his diaper got rather water-logged. I took it off at one point to re-apply sunscreen and decided to just let him "swim" naked for a while. The sun was bright so it didn't get too cool. He really loves being in the water!

We went on several walks and Bennett thinks it is very funny to take off at a run in the opposite direction. This never gets old for him! His shrieks of delight never get old for me. He is having the most fun down here in the clear mountain air. He wore himself out today and had no trouble going to sleep. Thank goodness! He was so sleepy, the very loud storm that just passed didn't seem to bother him at all.

Hat!

"helping"

Put that one there, Daddy-o!
Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Saturday, May 14, 2011

mish-mash (the boy likes to splash!)

So sorry I've been so remiss in updates! There are lots of things going on, but every time I sit down to write I think, "No one wants to hear about that! It's mundane and tiny. So insignificant." And then I realize that you're not here every day, you don't get to see the mountainous changes that occur overnight!

The coolest thing to develop so far is that Bennett is now walking up the stairs without adult assistance! He's slow, for sure, but that is just fine with me. I wish I had a picture or some video of it, but you have all seen how he gets when there's a camera around. We'll just make sure to show you next time we visit. He's getting close to being able to go down without assistance as well. I'd like to put that off a little bit, though!

Last weekend, we had a wonderful visit with the Allman family at Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Bennett was in hog heaven with all those swimming pools and drains! He must have visited every single floor drain in the park. That means that Oma and Grandpa became quite familiar with them as well :)
Water?

Brian and I enjoyed a couple of baby-free hours to ride the water slides and talk with Cindy and Trevor. I love that we're able to catch up like this! I also am ashamed to admit that even though I rode every single water slide - there was one which terrified me and I refused to ride again. Sorry to be a party pooper you guys! I can't wait until Bennett is tall enough and old enough to ride the slides. I think he's really going to like it. We were also very happy to discover that he still loves the water and was quite comfortable in the wave pool. Yay for our brave boy!!

Ball? Ball? Ball!
Bennett and I are headed to NC next week to spend some time with my parents. My dad is recovering from neck surgery and I'm quite certain that he'll be bored out of his skull after two weeks of bed-rest. I hope that Bennett can bring a tiny ray of sunshine in the form of slow nature discovery walks and exploration of the yard. I'm hoping to give my mom a little break from being the caretaker. And of course, I'm really looking forward to the fresh mountain air!

In other news - I am still waiting on a baited hook to hear about the residence hall job at UB. At this point, I'm ready to assume that the job is going to someone else, but I also know that they're just now in the process of closing the dorms for the summer so the entire department is super busy. Hopefully I'll hear something before I leave on my southern journey.
Lookin' for puddles to poke

Pics and videos to come soon - there were several cute ones at the water park!