New Hampshire Trip

For 1 week in August we got to leave our triple digit weather and head to cooler weather!! It did rain (every single day) but it was such a wonderful change (well at least the 1st few days it was enjoyable...). Sams parents rented a beautiful 5 bedroom condo and we spent time visiting with them, his brother, his grandma as well as his aunt & uncle and their 2 boys.

The whole clan:
Four generations:

Cuddling with Nana:
Hiking with Uncle Chris & Dad (and mom!! I was just taking the picture, obviously)
Day at the beach (Benjamin had no problem with the weather and going in, it was just his parents that were freezing...)
Teaching Dad how to play:

Hiking with Dad

At the end of July, Sam and a friend of his took the kids up north into the mountains for some biking (the kids were in trailors attached to the bikes) and hiking. I enjoyed my day off by cleaning and organizing the house :)

Escape

Once again - no pictures, just a status update. However this time it's on Benjamins latest accomplishment. Saturday he decided to only nap for a little over 1 hr (he is usally 2.5 to 4 hrs). And since I wasn't going in to get him - he decided to come to me. Somehow my 1.5 year old managed to climb out of his crib in his sleep sack and walk to the door and out into the hallway to bellow for me. I'm really hoping this was just a 1 time abnormality as I'm not ready to give up on the crib.

Breathing treatment

It has been a little less than 72 hrs since my last post and Benjamin has improved drastically. The day after the last post (Tuesday afternoon) we went to see his pediatrician and he was still really struggling with breathing so she wanted to admit him. However, she gave him another steroid shot & another breathing treatment - and then got to witness the 'craziness'. For those of you who know Benjamin, you see that he has some extra energy :) Well, this breathing drug intensified that - by 100%. After the treatment he was running up and down the hallways at the doctors office (and I mean running) for 15 min straight. Proceeding to then try to jump off the walls. But at least he was happy :) So when the doctor checked his breathing again, he was still wheezing -but she now understood some of the reason why. We were then sent home with a new drug that we were to continue giving 3 to 4 hours until we returned Wednesday morning. It is now Thursday night, Benjamin doesn't wheeze at all while he is asleep and we only do the nebulizer 3 times during the day. While he is happy after the nebulizer, he is calm (well, Benjamin calm). He does get prednisone every morning for 5 days and unfortunately that seems to upset his stomach and make him puke. We return to the doctor Tuesday and hopefully he can get a clean bill of health and we will be finished with all of this.

Our sick boy

Well it's 11:20pm here (way past my bedtime!!) and I'm running on 6 hrs of sleep from last night (also way under my required sleep!) so we are about to discover if i really should have stayed off the blog. I am currently counting down the time to give Benjamin his next breathing treatment, at midnight, so I thought I would update the blog. No pictures, just a status update. Benjamin is sick (bronchiolitis & asthma it looks like) and is having the hardest time breathing. We got to take him to urgent care today where they stuck him on a machine and gave him a nice big shot of steroids. The 2 20 min episodes of the 'face mask' breathing were torture - I think on me the most! I know Benjamin will not remember us pinning him to keep from moving while I held the mask on his face, but I won't forget the tears streaming down his face as he stared at me bawling. But yet - there was definitely a silver lining to that dark cloud. After each treatment we could see and hear him breathe just a little bit easier and then partially due to being 'let go' and the side effects of the drugs, he would become an extremely goofy/funny child just grinning at us and making us laugh. We were told that some children get tired after a treatment, others hyper. Ours definitely took the hyper route (surprise, surprise). Unfortunately the treatment wasn't as effective as they hoped so we now own our own breathing machine. We get to repeat the treatment every 4 hours for the next 48 hours and then slowly increase the time interval for the next week. I also get to spend the next 2 nights sleeping right outside of Benjamin's open door making sure he keeps breathing. I never knew how peaceful and relaxing it could be to just listen to a child's breath go in & out. I know I should be sleeping while he sleeps, and I'm hoping I will during the next sleep interval, but this one I just wanted to hear him breathe. And then when the urge to go in and hold him got too strong, I came in here to write so that at least he could get his sleep. My son isn't 1 of those that will sleep in my arms. He prefers to make faces at me or try to tickle :) Plus I'll be waking him up in 30 mins anyway so that Sam can pin his arms, and hold his head still while I watch him cry & scream and hold the face mask on so that he breathes in his medicine. But AFTER that, we will laugh and he will cuddle, and life will be just perfect.

Bens 1st Flight with Daddy

We took Benjamin up on a short plane ride with Sam flying over the weekend. It was a trial run so that later in the summer we can do a longer flight to San Diego. Benjamin did great with the noise & the heat. Mommy...didn't fare so well. The heat and the constant turning around to make sure Benjamin was okay in the back made me quite nauseous. We will definitely have to wait for a little cooler weather before we do San Diego.

At the end of the flight we always have to do a quick wash/wipe down of some parts of the plane. Benjamin saw us working and decided he was going to help out so he pulled out a rag from the bin and climbed up the ladder!

Swimming

The following video is what Daddy and Benjamin (and Maully) do in the evenings while Mommy washes dishes.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Growing Up

A friend sent me a picture of Benjamin from a play date nearly 1 year ago. It's always such a shock to see how much he has changed in the last year. He just had his 15 month checkup and he weighed in at 25lbs-2 oz (60th percentile) and 33" tall (90th percentile). So in between the 'comparison' shots he has gained about 4 lbs and grown nearly 5". He has also changed hair color and obtained a very active personality. So far we've had a chipped tooth, fat lip, a near black eye and lots of scrapes all over. But seeing how his favorite pasttimes are running at full tilt, tackling the dog, climbing up and then off of everything, racing to go down slides forwards, backwards, standing up, on his stomach....and not caring if someone is at the end to catch him, we are expecting a lot more injuries in the future. And with his full blown temper tantrums already at 15 months....I'm a little wary as to what the 'terrible twos' are going to hold for us. But he laughs and giggles as often and as loud as he screams, and after a 'time out' in the crib for misbehaving he will happily cuddle with you to tell you how sorry he was. In fact, I think it's nearly the only time you can get him to stay still for a minute :)

Julia's Visit

Benjamin's 5 year old cousin Julia came out with Grandma for a 1.5 week visit. Benjamin loved having an older child to copy and play with, and I loved having the help with keeping him amused! We had a very full visit with trips to splash parks, zoos, pottery painting, indoor amusement parks, miniature golf and crafts at home. We took an abundance of pictures (of course!) so I did my best to narrow it down to just a few (well less than 10) for the blog.

RV Trip

Back in April we rented an RV and took a 5 day trip to California. Benjamin had his first view of the ocean and it was a huge success!! He was the happiest boy playing in the sand and just walking along the beach He wasn't a fan of the cold water, so he would walk up close to see it but turn around and run back when it started to come up close. He definitely takes after his mom as there was no way I was getting in that cold water!

Uncle Edward & Aunt Jen

(to unnamed person - u happy now? :) )

Trip to Canada

Well Benjamin and I just returned from a 2.5 week trip to Canada. Benjamin got to hang out with Grandma during the week in London - while I worked in Kitchener. Then on the weekends it was PLAY time with all the aunts, uncles and cousins. There were so many activities going on, that I've broken this trip into 4 posts so make sure to check out the 3 other posts below. There are no posts of our flight there or back - as Benjamin boycotted sleeping on them which kept me pretty busy keeping him entertained. On the way back to AZ, he was up for 11 hours straight (from about noon till 11pm - Ontario time) and you would never have known it. As long as he could climb and move about, he was a very happy child. I was definitely more exhausted then he appeared!

Benjamin had a very busy time at Grandmas house, and I don't think he missed his parents too much!! He learned to climb up the stairs (and chairs, couches, tables) but he is too scared to go back down them. He also enjoyed daily walks in the snow, going to play groups, Grandmas friends houses and just playing at Grandmas house.
He was sitting on Grandmas lap for story time, but then once the songs began he had to get off and join in. And the following pictures are the reason we live in Arizona now!! And if you will notice his footwear - that is what occurs when you live in a climate where boots aren't required causing you to have to borrow your girl cousins boots when you visit her climate!

Nana Visits

On Benjamins last weekend in Canada his Nana drove up from Ottawa to see him. Benjamin was so thrilled to have all of this attention from his 2 grandmas that he was quite the flirt :) Here he is after demonstrating to Nana his new ability to climb onto everything.
Nana gave him his very 1st backpack which he just loved!! After Nana first demonstrating how he was to wear it, we put it on him and he walked all around the house with it.

Playing with the relatives

Our 2 weekends spent in London were packed full of activities - a birthday party for the twins, easter, and our usual family hanging out time. 1st picture is of the boys decorating their own cake.
Then there was the easter egg hunt (my brother is a killer egg hider and they wouldn't let me give the kids hints!!) Benjamin enjoying watching his cousins play xbox Helping Julia build the train track (technically i think julia was building, benjamin destroying...)

Visiting Aunt Carolyn & Uncle Nathan

Our 1st weekend in Canada we spent at my sis's place helping out with the painting of her & nathans new house. As you can see, we believe in child labor :)

It was a very child proofed house....
Taking a break from working with Aunt Carolyn

The snow there was completely ridiculous!!! Benjamin enjoyed playing with it (until his hands got cold), but I wasn't so overjoyed with the giant snow banks still existing at the end of March.