Charley's Birthday Party

We had a great time yesterday celebrating our little guy. Given our artic temperatures and the blizzard that occured last year when he was born...we went with an Arctic theme. There were penguins, snowmen and personalized paper snowflakes made by Becky.

Not do be outdone, Jeremy made a baked Alaska in the shape of an igloo for us all to eat, while Charley had his own little penguin cake thanks to Erin. I ate neither although I did like my fair share of icing while cleaning up.

Charley got several trucks and cool boy toys, which we don't really have any of yet. Our house still looks like it exploded, but that's the sign of a successful party I think.

Thanks to all, enjoy some pics!

Mommy's Favorite Weapon....er, Kitchen Tool

Yes this is a giant pair of super sharp scissors with a scoop on one side, made by the geniuses at Pampered Chef. What would a person use such a tool for?

allow me to demonstrate

leftover spaghetti


scoop and chop, scoop and chop


ta-da, spaghetti perfectly sized for a baby spoon!

I also highly recommend it for making homemade salsa!

Charley and His Birthday Cookie

Well it's actually here...Charley's first birthday. A year ago right now I was in my tub having some major contractions, only two hours away from having a baby boy. What a blessing he has been. I can't remember life without Charley!

Our big celebration will be on Saturday but I thought he needed a little something sweet so we whipped up a few cookies. They were a little underdone, so perfect for smushing around. It was just the three of us tonight, pretty low key celebration.

Charley and His Birthday Cookie from Laura Sargent Bennington on Vimeo.

We bought frozen Otis Spunkmeyer dough when Tessa's dance school was selling it and it has come in mighty handy around the holidays!...and that doesn't even count the vast quantities my husband ate while it was still frozen (okay I might have had a bit too)


The last five Otis cookies and I didn't have a single one. I started a new weight loss/life program at a local church called "total fit life"....more on that another time, but the first 10 days are 'bootcamp' so no sugar, caffeine, alcohol, white rice or flour. Saturday I plan to have some sugar free ice cream at the party.


He finally got into it but was a little too tired to go bananas

Happy Birthday Charley!

I think this is Jeremy's best video work yet, should he go professional maybe? Make sure your sound is on!

Charley's Birthday Video from Laura Sargent Bennington on Vimeo.

Can you believe that Charley is 1 on Wednesday. My baby!, boo hoo. I'm in complete denial. Thinking of canceling his bday party in hopes that it just won't happen, okay maybe not.

Learning

Tessa is actually old enough for board games. It seems crazy but true. I bought candyland the other day at Target and she LOOOOOVES it. It's helping her to learning her colors and taking turns and following instructions. It's alot of fun to see her get into it. I also got Memory and some puzzles but we haven't cracked into those yet.

Charley is learning to walk and even though he hates it, I'm trying to stick him in the walker more for practice. If there's food there he'll tolerate it, otherwise no. He call walk sideways along furniture and will walk if you hold both his hands. I give him less than a month before he's off.


We're learning to cope with our Lost withdrawal by being social instead. We had never watched Lost and started in October with Season 1 on demand. After 'dates' on the couch after kiddo bedtime and many many shared bottles of wine, we are finally done with season 5 and will be caught up to the real show when it premieres it's last season in February.

We finished on Friday night and on Saturday night got a surprise visitor in the form of Becky. She was hoping to play games and drinks wine, which we are always happy to oblige to! I stayed up way past my bedtime but it was well worth it.

Old but Well Manicured

Prior to last month, I can count the number of times I've had painted fingernails on one gnarly unkempt hand....prom, my wedding (with acrylics tips!), and a couple of Christmases ago when I was trying to be fancy but ended up picking it all of before the actual holiday arrived.

I never saw the point. It comes off in like two days, why go to the trouble? Painted toes are a must during sandal season (and any good husband worth his salt will paint your toenails when you're pregnant), but I just never painted my fingernails.

Well what everyone else apparently knew but I never caught on to is that there is something called nail laquer which is different from nail polish, the most famous brand being o.p.i. This stuff goes on smooth and lasts for a whole WEEK before it chips off. It's amazing. It has opened up a whole world of delights I've never known.

I am now the proud owner of four bottles of o.p.i., and actually found myself getting excited when I was mall walking with Erin the other day and saw that o.p.i. had release their new line of laquers based on the Alice in Wonderland movie. I HAD to see them!

Here's my theory. While you all know I love my mary kay makeup and aerosol hairspray, there are many days around here where I look like crap. We're sick, I'm cleaning, I have no intentions to go anywhere...whatever.

If per chance the Schwan's man drops by and finds me looking like this...
...at least I will have a nice manicure. Maintaining a nice manicure (especially if done with some trendy color that all the cool kids are wearing) conveys the idea that I am put together...and that sometimes is better than nothing!
Why my husband had to do this while I was taking a picture, I have no idea. That's what he does.

While I am officially a grown up now that I am almost 30 and maintaining manicured hands, there are also some signs that I am took quickly turning into an old lady.

1- I break out into a sweat easily. It's a hormonal thing that has happened since I've had Charley. I get hot flashes. I will be very hot and then cold 10 minutes later. Within that time though my hair will get all wet (like in the picture above) and it's just gross. I'm hoping that when (or if) my monthly visitor ever returns I will STOP SWEATING!

2- I called my Mary Kay consultant (and good friend Traci) when I found some wrinkles under my eyes, and am now the proud owner of my first bottle of under eye wrinkle cream. Not only do I own it, but I now swear by it....wrinkle cream is my friend.

3- While riding home from Erin's baby shower today a piece of my tooth totally just broke off and landed in my chewing gum. It's didn't hurt or anything, it just fell right off. It's a pretty small piece so hopefully it's reparable but still, I can only think that random hunks of tooth falling off must be a sign of old age.

News

Tessa announced to me that she had a baby in her tummy, that she need to go to the doctor, and that she would feed her baby 'boobies'.

Of course we are overjoyed with the new addition. I am a grandmother (much much earlier than I expected) to a baby cow that the proud mother named Jesus. In lieu of baby gifts please send wine (for me and Jer of course).

A Day in the Life

I've been slacking on taking pictures of Charley lately (could this be the second child syndrome?) so I decided to capture a day in his life and all this things he does. Narrated by the stud himself...

I start my day with some Mommy milk followed by breakfast. Today I had cereal, grapes and pureed pumpkin. I love feeding things to the dogs, it's so funny. They love me too. See Hayden cleaning up my chair?


After breakfast I played with my awesome toys and my sister. I make her laugh.

Today she went to preschool and I missed her while she was gone. I'm always happier when she's home with me.

Mommy usually cleans the house when Tessa is gone but today she decided instead to watch a movie, so I got to eat lunch in my walker.I hate this thing, but hunks of bread make me happy.

I dirtied many diapers. I love finding my boy parts every time Mommy changes my diaper, and especially during baths.
Hey, where'd my boy parts go??



This is me descretely telling Mommy I want to nurse by banging my head against her chest.

She makes me happy
I also brushed up on my reading a little

Since Tessa took a late nap after preschool, I got to help wake her up!

Big bed are cool! (and tasty)

These are the ladies in my life


I had mashed potatoes with my dinner but wanted to feed them to myself. I'm a big guy you know, I don't need to be spoon fed!

Tessa helped me a little too


After dinner we got in the car to go to small group. I HATE the carseat and I had this stocking cap. Where's my stud hat?


Seeeing my sister in the car made me happier though



These are my friends the Chandlers, they LOVE me. They like to dress me and carry me around and play toys with me. They're pretty cool. I played with them while the grownups talked about grownup things.


Past my bedtime, I drifted off the backseat. Thursdays I get to stay up late until 8:30 because of small group. Party on!



Yes our nighttime diapers are all bubble gum pink. That's what happens when you have your sister's hand me downs. Please don't tell anyone.
Where'd my boy parts go again??


I made up for the pink diapers with my cool cammo pjs. You can't see me can you?

My favorite thing to do at the end of the day. I think Mommy did a good job of taking a discrete picture here.

I love to snuggle when I sleep, but Mommy carried me off to my crib. What a nice day.


Hey what was that flash of light?

Don't Judge Me

...but I've decided to nurse Charley until kindergarten.

Okay not really but I'm not quite ready to wean yet. Not ready to stop nursing- my first time free of pregnancy or lactation in almost 4 years. Not ready for Charley to be that big. He still likes it and so do I (following a short lived biting phase when his first teeth came in)...so give us a little more time.

Me??

Tessa was really into her ABC puzzle this morning. Our conversation went something like this:

T- What's dis one?
Me- That's a "P", puh puh P
T- What's dis one?
Me- That's "U"
T- Me?!?
Me- No that's the letter U
T- That's ME? I'm the letter? Me!
Me- No
T- Dis one is ME!, dis one is Mommy, dis is Chaw-lay
Me- Sure whatever

Big Snow

Finally some nice sticky snow on the ground! Thursday was a mess around Indy. Many schools and our small group were cancelled, but Tessa still had preschool. Jer volunteered to take her to preschool for the first time ever and I quickly realized he just wanted to test his new car on the roads and some unsuspecting parking lots.

Later in the day they went out to play. Charley was napping warmly inside so Tessa got Daddy all to herself. Meijer was all sold out of sleds, but thankfully the neighbor girls were happy to share.

Untitled from Laura Sargent Bennington on Vimeo.

Bloody Mess

Reminder: When your almost one year old loves pureed beets and you feed it to him twice in one day, of course you can expect a messy red diaper in return. But when you wake him up in the morning and find his sheets all red with what looks like blood, remember to consider the beets before freaking out.

Your first instinct may be to check your baby for wounds or bleeding orifices, rather than checking his pajama pants for a very obvious diaper leak. Just be calm and realize that your baby did not wake up in a pool of blood. It's just the beets.