|
Oh dear... Tuesday, September 30, 2008 Benjamin is a marketer's dream come true. We just ran out for a few errands, which had us walk past Starbucks & Ben & Jerry's. B: MMmmmmmm. Milk! (those delicious vanilla milk boxes that they carry) Me: We have milk at home, you can have one later when we're done shopping. B: Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Ice Deam Done. Treat! Treat! Treat! (As we walk past B&J) Me: Maybe later we'll get an ice cream cone. Not until after dinner, and our errands. B: (In Target now.) Yum, yum, yum, mmmmmmmmmm choc-cha. So yeah, my kid recognizes a bag of M&Ms. In a strange way, part of me is proud of how in tune he is with his (junk food/sweet tooth) environment, but the rest of me wonders how the heck this happened!?!? ~Courtney posted at 4:59:40 PM Fun with Bubbles Tuesday, September 30, 2008 So, we've been playing outside in the backyard this morning; enjoying the cool weather, and tormenting the yappy dogs next door with bubbles. Benjamin figured out how to blow the bubbles himself, and insisted upon being the sole bubble blower. It was cute, so I ran in to get my camera... When I returned, Benjamin was using the bubbles as soap, and "wash hair. wash ears. wash other ears. wash nose. wash mama boo boo. wash mama's ears." You get the point. I took pictures as he washed, until we got to "wash Bennamin's eye." That was the end of bubbles, and the beginning of a sink-bath to remove some of the soap residue. Reason # 47652679 why you don't leave a toddler unattended outside, even for 15 seconds...bubbles gone awry. Wash hands?  Wash mama boo boo?  Wash hair?  Crap. Wash eye!  We are now inside, slightly cleaner than we were 20 minutes ago, and enjoying a nice "snack" of plastic food served from Benjamin's kitchen in the playroom... (And yes, I am fully aware of how desperately he needs a haircut...) ~Courtney posted at 12:05:34 PM Speaking of fall... Monday, September 29, 2008 We enjoyed tonight's crisp air (after a nice dinner of homemade soup and fresh French bread) with some raking, and "mowing." Benjamin is quite the helper.    ~Courtney posted at 6:36:21 PM Home Sweet Home Sunday, September 28, 2008 We got home late yesterday afternoon from a fantastic week in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. We rented a huge house with some friends, and had good beaches, good food and margaritas, and lots of good laughs; which were all necessary, since 1/2 the days were really crappy weather. It's good to know that it's so close to us, too, because it really was a great place to vacation with a toddler. Because of my leg-drama on the days before we left, I had forgotten that I never got a chance to organize the house as much as I would have liked, and forgot about the disaster area we left it until we walked in the door yesterday. I've been working on tidying up, which really entails doing a LOT of laundry. We all felt like crud today, and have basically done nothing outside of some grocery shopping. Both Andrew and I chose to nap when Benjamin did, which is pretty rare on a weekend afternoon. In other news, I've not really thought much about autumn, which is truly my favorite season. But, the crisp evenings are becoming a reality, and the forecast shows some days that won't get over 70 later in the week. I am very excited to pull out my favorite "uniform," nice jeans, cashmere sweaters, and my trusty knee-boots. Ahhhh, how I love fall fashion. That's about it from here. I am hardly running because of the antibiotics I have been taking make me feel so sick, but am hoping when I finish those in a couple of days, I can finish the training for the Baltimore half marathon which is only 12 days away. My guess, however, is that a sub-2-hour-race is no longer a reality for me, which totally stinks, because I did train really hard for that. I am really depressed about it, actually. Benjamin is talking up a storm. I understand about 95% of what he says, but every now and then, I have NO clue what he wants. I'll ask him to tell me again, and he'll say the exact same thing, which basically just frustrates both of us. His pronunciation has come miles in the past couple of weeks though, so I can't really complain. Hoping for an early-to-bed night for all of us here, and that we don't suffer too much of a "holiday hangover" when Andrew returns to work, and Benjamin and I get back into our daily-grind... Seems highly unlikely, though. ~Courtney posted at 7:25:47 PM Tropical Storm? That was SO last night... Thursday, September 25, 2008 Put the camera down and help me build! Benna and mom!  Benna + Jackson = BFF forever.  HOW cool is J-bird???  ~Courtney posted at 7:44:30 PM Tuesday Morning Fun Tuesday, September 23, 2008 It's windy as anything here, but we won't let that stop us! Benjamin is a BIG fan of the hot tub. Especially since the pool was cooooold this morning.  One, two, three, ready, set, GO!  AGAIN, daddy!  Windy on the beach.  Drawing with sea shells (that's the "B truck" that Benjamin insisted I draw).  Me being, well, me:  ~Courtney posted at 1:39:51 PM Ahhhh...love the beach Sunday, September 21, 2008  ~Courtney posted at 1:22:52 PM Almost too embarrassed to post this... Saturday, September 20, 2008 But not quite. Because really, I've got nothing else. I only wore/took one pair of (great) shoes (that I had to have for my birthday) when I went to Boston last weekend. Anyhow, I got some blisters, which was totally unfortunate, but being the slave to fashion that I am, I sucked it up. Fast forward to Thursday evening. Andrew got home, and I decided to go to bed around 6:30. By 7, I was downstairs crying (I am not a crier), 7:15 our sitter was there, and 7:20 Andrew had me at the ER. We were there for 2.5 hours, and I was sent home with an Rx for an antibiotic for an infection and some pain pills. Cool. Great. No running for a couple of days, which is fine, because my 1/2 marathon isn't for 3 more weeks and I can afford a week off, blah... Fast forward, Friday afternoon. Redness up to my knee. Andrew calls back, and they say that it takes awhile for the antibiotics to kick in, and to just watch it. Our friends get into town late last night, we stay up too late, Benjamin gets up way too early, I can barely move my leg. The entire leg is red, swollen...AWESOME. So, back to the hospital I go this morning. Since this is (obviously) a picture-free post, I'll wrap it up with the fact that I am on 3 different antibiotics, one of which says to avoid the sun. Which is AWESOME when you have your son on his first real family beach vacation...just sayin'. I am still feeling pretty miserable, but am trying to suck it up for the sake of our fun week with friends. The moral of the story is this...no matter how cute your shoes are, you should REALLY pack some comfy walking shoes when you go to Boston for a long weekend. ~Courtney posted at 10:14:43 PM Stupid Netflix Friday, September 19, 2008 Ugh. I was waiting for a movie (not telling which one, with hopes to avoid getting made fun of) to be delivered today. The mail just came. Benjamin and I went out to get it, and instead of sending the movie I've been waiting for, they sent some dumb marketing piece telling me to recommend Netflix to my friends. Fat chance, jerks. *For the sake of full disclosure, I am having a REALLY trying week and am in a pretty bad mood, in general. This is just icing on the cake. ~Courtney posted at 12:53:40 PM Soup! Tuesday, September 16, 2008 I saw a new soup recipe in the back of Fitness magazine yesterday, and decided to try it out tonight. It is awesome, totally healthy, and only takes about 8 minutes from ingredients to sitting at the table, which in my book, makes it a winner! Chicken and White Bean Soup with Spinach & Parmesan 3 x 14 ounce cans low-sodium chicken broth 1.5 cups plus 3 tablespoons tomato-and-basil pasta sauce 1 15 ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained 3/4 tsp. crushed red pepper 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced thin salt and pepper 6 ounces pre-washed baby spinach 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil 3/4 c grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese In a Dutch oven, bring chicken broth, pasta sauce, cannellini beans and crushed red pepper to a simmer. Turn heat to low. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper; add to broth. Gently poach chicken stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes. (The broth should barely simmer.) Stir in baby spinach. Continue cooking soup until spinach is wilted and chicken is just cooked through, about 2 minutes more. Stir in basil; season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle soup into bowls; and top with fresh grated cheese. 4 HUGE servings (more like 6-8, at our house). Nutrition facts per (assuming 4) serving: 407 Calories 43 g protein 36 g carbohydrate 10 g fat (3 g saturated) 10 g fiber Enjoy! ~Courtney posted at 9:21:23 PM Vintage Benjamin Monday, September 15, 2008 One of my all time favorite pictures of Benjamin (and yes, I look at them quite often) was taken two years ago today...  Two weeks old...so long ago. ~Courtney posted at 8:15:48 PM Things I learned in Boston this weekend. Monday, September 15, 2008
 As you can see, I had a fantastic time visiting Leah this weekend. We drank good wine, ate good food, and kept pretty busy. I am so excited that she and P will be coming down to VA to visit in a few weeks! Oh, and Andrew? Does your company have a Boston branch you can work at? Please? ~Courtney posted at 4:15:27 PM 2 y/o stats Thursday, September 11, 2008 We just got home from Benjamin's first visit to his Virginia pediatrician, and everything is looking great! And, he's still a big kid! 30.25 lbs (70%ile) 36 inches (90%ile) 90%ile head, too. He's looking adorably preppy this morning, but is unwilling to cooperate for the camera. ~Courtney posted at 12:09:12 PM Reward... Wednesday, September 10, 2008 I was just about to post a reward for the person who could most quickly find the renegade lump of purple play-doh that went missing... But, after a series of "oh no, purpa, oh no," and a certain devious two year old with his hand reaching down the chute of his trash truck, I realized there is probably no need. I was right. Thankfully, the entire event shook down on the hardwood floors, and not any of the carpets...I think. ~Courtney posted at 3:33:16 PM Funny mornings... Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Benjamin is hilarious when he wakes up for the day. Today, he'd lined up all of the animals in his bed and called them "choo choo animals." He then went on to stack them in a size-appropriate tower, which, of course he'd knocked over by the time I dragged myself out of bed and ran for the camera. But, here is the smiley monster at the bright and early hour he decides to get up:  And here is Night Night Doggie, and his new, MUCH cleaner younger brother appropriately named "Baby Night Night Doggie."  BNND was supposed to be a back-up, just in case something happened to NND, but ended up being a lot smaller than I expected, so we just gave it to him. Oops. ~Courtney posted at 9:05:18 AM Zoo. Monday, September 08, 2008 We just got home from a fun morning at the National Zoo, and meeting up with some new friends. Benjamin fell asleep on the way home; and since fifteen minutes of snoozing in the car HARDLY counts as a nap, I moved him straight up to the crib. He woke up a little bit, whimpered and whined, and then looked at me and said: "I'm not done." It was so funny. And good, because I am not done with his nap for the day, either! ~Courtney posted at 2:06:46 PM Date day Tuesday, September 02, 2008 Benjamin and I had a little date together today. I figured he'd be a little bored (with just me) after all of the attention he got this weekend, so after breakfast, we packed up for our adventure and headed out. We rode the choo-choo-train (aka, metro) into DC and spent a couple of hours at the National Building Museum. He had a blast in the 2-6 y/o kids' section, where he was able to wear a hardhat, play with blocks, giant legos, magnetic toys, their "green" playhouse, and LOTS of trucks. He totally impressed this dad (of two similarly aged girls) with his great knowledge of all of the different types of trucks and construction vehicles. After we left there, we realized that we were hungry and had a picnic lunch in a park down the street. In typical Courtney-fashion, I was sans blanket, and the ground was a tad damp, so that didn't work out so well, but we had a great picnic anyhow! Benjamin pretended to play hide-and-seek and would lean up against the tree we were under and count to ten. He also fed this cheap plastic lion (which he kept calling baby jaguar...thanks, Diego) his chicken, because he wasn't hungry for chicken. We walked around a bit more, checking out all of the construction vehicles, fire trucks, and police cars that come with the urban territory. He stayed awake the entire metro ride home, but fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got home. Thankfully, he's upstairs snoozing right now. It's so much fun to be able to easily go out and do things like this with him. ~Courtney posted at 3:41:06 PM Birthday wrap-up. Monday, September 01, 2008 Benjamin had a great 2nd birthday. My dad and Karen came to town to help us celebrate, and we had such a great visit. Andrew spent a couple of hours on Saturday night putting together Benjamin's play kitchen that was his big gift from us. It's adorable, and Benjamin got to see it shortly after getting up yesterday morning. The response? "OOOOOh. WOW oh wow oh wow!" I think he likes it.  He was feeling a bit tired and out-of-sorts, and ended up going down for an early nap. An early nap that he didn't get up from for 4 hours. That limited afternoon activities, seeing that the afternoon was nearly over, so we just took him to his favorite place in the world (right now), the mall with the choo-choo train. He rode the train twice, but was definitely not himself. So, we came home (after a carousel ride, too) and started to get our dinner together. Benjamin found the balloons and wrapped presents on the dining room table and opted out of waiting much longer to open them. He got some great trucks, including a huge, motorized trash truck. Benjamin is OBSESSED with the weekly trash pickup here, and spent most of the rest of the night playing with that truck.  Dad and Karen also gave him a tool bench for his playroom. It's awesome, and he loves it! He was just sawing my leg a couple of minutes ago, in fact.  Here's the favorite toy of the day. In fact, when I went to get him up this morning, we left his room, he started pointing downstairs and asking for his trash-truck.  After all the gifts were open and played with for awhile, we did cake. I just made a carrot cake, which was basically the world's ugliest cake, but it tasted really good. Benjamin tried to put his hand into the fire...here's the photographic story of that...    After that, sleepy boy changed into pajamas, and watched a little bit of Dora. Apparently Dora is still cool to the 2 and up crowd...bummer. Here's a blast from the past from his birthday party last year...where he took his first steps!   Thanks to everyone for all the cards, e-cards, calls and emails. He loved it all! ~Courtney posted at 11:50:03 AM |
