Almost February!

I simply must stop saying I cannot believe.............. you fill in the blank.  I cannot believe it is 2012, I cannot believe my baby boy is almost 16 months old, I cannot believe we have been in our house over 2 years.  I cannot believe Martin is walking, talking, and being crazy.  It kind of makes me crazy.  I cannot believe it all.  I cannot believe our lives are so full of blessings.  We are so so lucky.  

We had an AMAZING 7 days off with Bryan.  It is always good to have him home, but this week was so calm, relaxing, and full of US.  I loved every minute of it.  And, yesterday was icing on the cake.  We went to church (as usual).  However, nothing short of a miracle happened when I went to pick up Martin from the nursery.  The drop off is always the same.  Somewhere between the car and the front doors, he realizes we are about to "drop him off".  Starts being extra clingy, and scrambles to be sure he can hold on real tight to my shirt!  Then we get to his class, and the meltdown starts.  Now, they have never paged me during church, but they usually tell me when we pick him up that he didn't really want to play.  He always without fail, is in one of the worker's arms either asleep, or in their lap being extra clingy.  Well, NOT this Sunday, he wasn't.  He was running around playing with another little boy, and having a big time when I walked up.  It took him about a minute, to even notice I was in the doorway.  And, that might have only been because I was shrieking, "Bryan, look he is playing, and having fun, Thank you God!"  And, I really mean that, that makes me enjoy church a little more.  He was PLAYING!!!!!  The lady said, oh he was great, he has been giggling the whole time.  I should have asked for that kid's # and set up a play date :)  So, that was a nice end to our weekend.  

We are working on kicking the paci habit this week.  We are starting small, only at bedtime.  I find myself sticking it in sometimes when he doesn't need it.  So, wish us luck.  I hate to go cold turkey.  But, I think we might be close to that if I don't get my act together.  We had a good check up at the doctor, but he did mention we should get rid of the paci.  Martin is probably ready, but I don't know if I am.  Ha.  Sad, right?  Martin just climbed up on the couch with his monkey blanket and settled in for a nap, guess I better see if I can help.

Brushing our teeth!

Martin hates for you to brush his teeth, but loves to do it himself!  Who would have thought??  Such a funny boy, he even had to rinse his brush and tap it on the sink at the end.  What a mess.  I love every inch of this sweet boy.

15 Month Check-up

My baby boy is a few days from 16 months, and I absolutely cannot believe it.  This time has flown by, like I knew it would.  I cannot believe it really wasn't yesterday that I was excited that Martin was crawling.  Now, he is turning into a little boy.  And, while I am excited to watch him grow, it is a little bittersweet.  We went Monday for our 15 Month Check-up and shots.  He did well, and got a good report from the doctor.  He weighs 21 lbs and 8 ounces, and is 31" tall.  Hard to believe he was only 7lbs 9 ounces when we met him and just 19 3/4" long.  Hard to imagine he was that tiny.  And, isn't it funny how fragile you think they are when you bring them home from the hospital??  You are scared to pull their onesie over their heads, boy does that change in 15 months.  Ha!  He is becoming such a busy butterfly.  We don't stop all day.  I basically have to beg him to take a nap.  He isn't just walking anymore, now he is running!!  He is a climber, but luckily we can keep that at bay pretty easily.  He likes to be wherever you are but doing whatever he wants to do.  He loves to play with his zoo talker animals.  He loads them up in his truck and pushes them all over the house, and then chews on the ostrich or flamingo heads.  He wants to read approximately 25 books each day.  He has at least 14 teeth.  At the peds office Monday, the doctor said wow, cutting canines already, that is ahead of the curve.  Well, aren't we proud you are ahead of the curve on THAT of all things!!  Ha.  You can certainly tell that he has been cutting teeth, all of his clothes are constantly soaked on the front.  He refuses to wear a bib.  He will pull it off. And, if you try to put one on that doesn't have velcro, he will just try to pull his head off.  He loves destroying lego towers and loves to play with the busy ball popper.  That toy has really held his attention.  At first he hated the sound it made, but now he loves to put his face over the air spot, and blow his hair around.

Helping Mama open her birthday presents

Fun with Tissue

Hard to get him to be still for a picture

After about 20 pictures, this is the best one 

PJ's covered in drool

Blowing his mohawk!!

He is learning more and more every day.  Sometimes I forget what a little sponge he is!  He can sign more, milk, please, thank you, eat, and me.  And, he will try to say most of the words you say.  They aren't always perfect, but they get the point across.  He really likes animal noises.  If you ask him what the cow says, he will say "MMMmmmmmm".  He will also make the lions roar, the dolphin screech, and the orangutan sound from the zoo talkers.  Pretty funny if you ask me.  But, naturally I think he is precious!  Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Lucky Readers

Good morning all!  Three posts in one week, aren't y'all lucky?  Haha!  I think my sinuses are going to be the death of me--no seriously!  Everyone's facebook posts this am are about how warm it is outside, and it feels like spring.  Where do these people live??  Certainly not Memphis.  It is 40 here, that isn't spring, and it was so cool last night we brought Bailey in.  Don't judge me for having an outside dog, you obviously haven't met him.  He is a beagle, so naturally has that hound dog smell, or stinch, whichever term you prefer.  Plus, I already sweep up goldfish everyday, no sense adding dog hair to the mix.  And, as my father-in-law would say, he already has on a coat!  So, I think he will be fine.  I am ready for it to feel like spring here, I am ready to see my bulbs coming up, and plant some new flowers, and watch my porch peach tree bounce back from the winter.  Ready to cut my mum's back, and ready to be outside!  Martin and I were able to sit on the porch swing for about 15 minutes yesterday in the sun and relax and it made me ready for spring time when we can be back outside again.  And, then maybe we can park Martin's new cozy truck in the garage instead of in my living room.  A girl can dream, right?

I've got sausage biscuits sizzling in the oven, and Martin is standing at the oven door watching them cook.  He must know how good Mimi's sausage biscuits are.  He was watching the morning news in his truck, yet again.  I might not can move that truck to the garage.  Haha!!  And, now he is trying to build a tower of books.  Busy Boy!

I didn't make a New Year's Resolution....did you??  No real reason, just didn't.  I do have goals for myself, I always have goals, but I didn't want to peg one down.  I plan to cook more this year.  I got some new pots and pans for Christmas, and am loving them so far, and I plan to exercise more on our new treadmill.  Back to the cooking aspect, since Bryan does 7 on, 7 off....it is hard to make myself cook.  When it is just me that I am cooking for I don't have much motivation.  I can just eat a PB&J, why would I cook?  But, that is silly, because if I cook then I have leftovers that Bryan can take for lunch the next day.  I need to remind myself of that.  I have cooked 3 nights this week, 3 out of 4 ain't bad!  

Gotta go read with Martin, he keeps bringing me stacks of books.  I can take a hint!

Goldfish are Gold!

It's nap time at our house, can you tell??  It's about the only free 15 minutes of my day to do something I enjoy.  And, from the lack of my posting recently, you can't even tell that I enjoy blogging.  We are in a strange phase, I think Martin is close to dropping the morning nap, and opting for one long afternoon nap.  But, in this phase we just fight the morning nap and finally give in about 12:30 and crash for about 45 minutes, making us cranky until we get our nap out during our second nap of the day.  How do people at daycare's get all of those babies to take a nap??  Maybe I should go ask for some pointers!

But since he has been asleep, I decided to start supper and throw it in the crock-pot.  Anyone else love the crock-pot as much as I do??  Today it is cubed steak--laugh all you want, one of my favorite meals, and it doesn't break the bank.  It's easy, all you really have to know how to do is make a roux, and let's face it, if you can't make a roux you should probably not be in the kitchen.  You just have to be very attentive but other than that, no real skill is involved.  I usually make cubed steak in the skillet along with my gravy, and serve immediately, but for some reason that cut of meat tends to be tough, so I thought cooking it low and slow in the crock pot will help.

Want the recipe??  It's groundbreaking!  I simply take the meat and flour both sides and stick in a hot skillet with EVOO.  Before flipping, I pepper each side with cracked black pepper.  You are just browning each side, not cooking thru.  When the meat is browned, place all meat in crockpot.  Here comes the fun part.  Turn your skillet way down medium-low, and add more EVOO-  (or whatever you want: canola oil, butter (not margarine), or whatever your little heart desires) then add about as much flour as you did oil (I used 1/4 cup of both).  This is the roux part.  The key is stirring like crazy, and NOT letting it burn.  You DO want to pick up all of that cooked on beef up--drippings make it extra yummy.  Keep stirring until it starts to dissolve all the flour.  No lumpy gravy here.  Then you want to let it cook a little longer to brown the gravy a bit.  Then add your water, while whisking (1 cup).  Repeat after me....NEVER STOP STIRRING!  Depending on the taste you prefer you could use a gravy packet, but I don't find that is necessary.  I usually toss in a beef bouillon cube to enhance the beef flavor.  Add pepper and salt as desired, BUT don't overdo it on the salt.  Then I poured the gravy over the meat in the crock-pot and turned it on low--will cook about 6 hours.  I will let you know if the meat is more tender!  Yum-o

Martin thinks our goal this week is to read every book he got for Christmas at least 3 times a day.  This is no easy feat, since I am pretty sure he got at least 30.  Kid is obsessed with books.  Our favorites are the Opposites book from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Happy Hippo Angry Duck by Sandra Boynton!  We are still loving destroying any towers built out of legos, and riding around in our truck.  He also gets in his truck to watch TV.  And, carrying around all the animals from the Zoo Talker is also high on our To-Do List each day.  Keeps us busy, and makes the day go by quickly.

That picture is from last week when my parents were here.  My dad won't tell Martin no, so Martin naturally LOVES his Papa John.  There aren't a whole lot of folks that he will actually jump out of my arms for like that.  But, I mean, does your Mama let you stick your whole arm in the goldfish bucket?  Don't think so!!  Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

Christmas Recap

Merry Christmas from The Bentons!!  We had a very good Christmas all things considered.  We all had some form or fashion of the stomach virus the week of Christmas.  It was not pleasant.  Then, we passed it to my parents when they came to visit.  That really is the gift that keeps on giving.  I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.  Apparently it is really bad this year.  Several schools were closed early before the holidays because of it, and they have even been talking about it on the news.  So, if you managed not to get it, Congrats to you!!  We made this Christmas Gingerbread Train, and Martin wasn't really sure what to think.

Are you sure it is ok for me to eat this??  I just am not sure.  I usually get fussed at for putting things like this is my mouth?  

Since we were all sick, and it is SO CONTAGIOUS for up to 2 weeks, we had to cancel all of our plans.  I was supposed to go to my parents house for a few days before Christmas for Mom's family Christmas party, and we didn't make it.  I was so sad, because Martin was going to get to meet some out of town family that he hasn't met yet!  Oh well...plans change.  We have so much to be thankful for, that I am trying not to focus on all that we missed out on.  Then we were planning to get up and do Santa here Christmas morning (with my parents and brother) and then leave to be in Columbus for two rounds of Christmas there with Bryan's family.  Dad's side at lunch, and Mom's side at supper.  I was looking forward to seeing the babies, but once again, plans change right?  And, then here was the real kicker....we were supposed to leave Tuesday morning to go to Ohio to see all of Dad's family.  And, that didn't happen either. We are going to reschedule for the summer, and I am already looking forward to it!!!  I was so ready to see everyone at all of our stops, but I just couldn't go and subject those people to such a terrible sickness and be ok with myself.  If I had given that to someone's baby, I would have just felt horrible.  And, I think it still turned out great.  

Opening his stocking from Grammy and Pops.  Lots of goodies.  Thanks!  We took a lot of video, so not many pictures of this.  But, he got some awesome things.  Including his very own golf bag and set of clubs, LOTS of great books that Martin loves for you to read to him, Winnie the Pooh, some PJ's (that Martin was the most excited about), and some great puzzles.

Attempting to read The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.  Martin wasn't very cooperative.  I think we skipped a few pages.  I don't think anyone noticed.  He was ready for bed.  Guess he was excited for Santa to come.

A picture of the Santa loot before Martin came in.  Look, there is Moose A. Moose from nick jr in his stocking.  He loves that silly Moose.  

Not really sure what to think.  It is still early--but this Lego table is pretty cool, seems fun to destroy!  

Those are all for me??  What was Santa thinking wrapping all of those presents??  Might rethink that one for next year.

Martin's stocking.  Oh good, Santa knew how much Martin loves things on his head.  

Helping Dad open his stocking.  

The "IT" toy this Christmas for 12-18 month olds.  The infamous Zoo Talker.  He loves it, but it was a pain to try to find all of the accessories for it.  Mamie and Papa brought it from Alabama, and he loves to scatter those animals all over the house!

Woah Zach!  Open this up for me.  I need to test it out.

Not too sure about the stick horse.  

Flip me Dad!  Flip me!

Check out my Very Hungry Caterpillar puppet.  He likes for you to tickle him with the purple antenna.  

Stacking the snowman boxes so Martin can knock them down.

Thanks for reading to me.

This looks too pretty to open.

He could have been a pretty girl.  I think it is time for another haircut, when we are out, people always says "Oh, she is so cute". She has on a blue outfit, and no bow, where is the confusion people??

Oh, good!  Looks like he has really been wanting this.

Another pretty Carley wrapping job.

Helping everyone open their gifts!

Headed out for New Year's Eve!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Bentons.  Hope everyone has a great year in 2012!