22 DAYS UNTIL DISNEY!!!!

Ben and I enjoyed some "us" time this morning before I had to leave for work. He is becoming much more vocal these days....and loves to "lounge" on the boppy pillow on my lap right after he's eaten and tell me what's on his mind. It usually sounds something like this,

"Bababababababaaaaa. Da. De. Muuume. "

But this morning, he was particulary talkative and told me this:

"Mom- I can't WAIT to go to Disney World with MeeMom, PopPop, Uncle Andrew, you and Daddy! Even though I have not been thinking about it since before I was born (like MeeMom), after I got the whole eating and sleeping and living thing down, I began to really dream about what it is going to be like. Did you know that we are going for 6 whole days! We get to ride all the cool rides and I get to go with you, too! I can't wait to watch the cool parades and try news foods and see all the cool characters! Please call MeeMom this minute and tell her how excited I am!....Well, I guess it's pretty early (try 6AM). You can call her this afternoon!"

So yeah.....I don't remember word for word what he said, but that is pretty close to what I heard!

Disney World, here we come! Only 22 days left!

Welcome Baby Abigail!

Our friends in Maryland had their beautiful baby girl on Sunday, August 24th at 6:01 AM. She weighed in at 8lbs 10oz and was 20.6 inches long. Mom and Dad are doing great!

We can't wait to meet you Abby!!!!

Caleb has had to stay home with Ben while he's been sick....

Enough Said!

Prayers Please!

We have friends that go to Viseo Dei church in downtown Raleigh and we know the couple in the following blog from various church events we've attended or kickball tournamets we played in! They could really use your prayers right now as the wife is 6 centimeters dilated 10-12 weeks early with her twins. They are in the hospital now and are praying for as many minutes, hours, days and weeks as possible before delivery of their bundles of joy!

http://jasongore.blogspot.com/

Could it be? Probably Not That Lucky!

I was hoping that the "bumps" I saw in Ben's mouth would get bigger or start to look more like little teeth wanting to poke through.

I don't think that we will be that lucky. It may be a little while, yet.

BUT...he is definitely teething. I found this post that another mom wrote that describes exactly what we are battling:

"His 'symptoms' for want of a better term started about a month before the first tooth came through. These included wanting to put everything possible in his mouth, rubbing his tongue over his gums, not wanting to feed due to pain but obviously being hungry and not wanting to put himself to sleep during the day or night on bad days. I also noticed that he had lumps just under his gums that he would not allow me to put any pressure on due to pain or discomfort."

Yeah....so that's what it's been like =0)

So.....Ben and I are going on a date tonight. We're going to Fiesta Night with my Small Group ladies. Should be a lot of fun! Unless it's not.....

(Fingers Still Crossed that Ben will start to feel more comfortable!)

Life is about to get more complicated or interesting (Depending on my attitude!)

As I am taking my last couple of sips of my second Mountain Dew of the day during my break at work, I am thinking about how busy our life is going to become very soon.

We are going to put our house on the market. We meet with the realtor tonight at 5:30. Prayers are welcome. I’m sure you all know the current state of the economy and the housing market.

But, to be honest, I am dreading the whole “showing the house” process. It’s hard enough to get up at 5:30 (ok…maybe more like 5:45am) each morning and get to work on time after dropping off Ben. Now, add all the prep to make sure that every time we leave, the house is ready to be shown….not looking forward to that one bit! Time to crack out the paper plates and disposable everythings!

I’m hoping that I get a better attitude soon.

By the way, we’re not quite sure when the house will actually go on the market. We have a lot of things left to work on….

For Grammy!

Beach Grammy reminded us this past week-end that we haven't posted ANY pictures of Ben standing up (by pulling up on things)! He's been doing this ever since he left her house on Sunday, July 27th!! It has been almost a month....I can't believe it took me so long. Maybe it's because our computer crashed....Yeah, that's why!

Also, please note the toy piano in the picture. Someone gave this to us, but I had forgotten about it. I caught Caleb trying to throw it out!!! It was in the Trooper all ready to go. I saved its life....look how much Ben likes it =0)

The Approach:

The "I'm not sure I'm doing this right" Look:

The "Check Me Out, Mom!" Look:

Also, I think it is SO CUTE when little babies sit on their legs like this:

(I've heard it may not be good for them, but I had to take a picture anyway!)

Ode To New Teeth

Oh Little Teeth, Little Teeth
Where are You?
My gums are on fire
Please poke through!
If only you would come
I would be happy again
Give me Little Teeth
OR more Baby Motrin!!!!

If this isn't teething.....PLEASE help! =0)

I really think that Ben is teething this time. He's almost 8 months old with NO little teeth yet.

The drooling has been there since he was 8 weeks old. The putting everything in his mouth has been there since he discovered he had hands and learned how to use them.

We've have periods of crankiness and periods of fevers and periods of night wakings, etc.

We keep saying, "This is it!" But today I really think that THIS is it!

For the past week, Ben has been playing with the bottom gums with his tongue which is causing a different type of drool to come pouring out.

He's been extra sensitive about us trying to touch his bottom gums....which is different because he used to really like gum massages!

I also SWEAR that I see little bumps and little whiteness under the bottom gums.

PLEASE BE TEETH! We're all ready for them.

Baby Orajel seems to help his mood and he's been on Motrin since he was sent home from play school yesterday with a fever which broke overnight.

PLEASE BE TEETH!

SNO-CONES!

Ben LOVES to eat what other people have....so you can imagine how excited he was when he got his very own Sno-Cone! He would not let go of it and he would not stop eating it. I know he must have had one or five ice head-aches, but they didn't phase him one bit!

After a fun-filled day, Little Man was POOPED! You can't really see it in the picture, but he had a blue mustache!

Pictures from the Playschool Carnival!

Thunder Thighs!

I took Ben to the doc yesterday because he's been spitting up much more than usual for the past three days.

I won't bore you with the details, but he's fine! (Hopefully we won't catch what he had, though).

But....I did want to post that little Benjamin Asher weighs a honking 18.7 pounds! How's that for your growth chart?? hehe....He's got the thunder thighs to prove it now, too!

I have some pictures from his play school's Annual End of Summer Carnival to post (since we just got a new computer). I hope to post them tonight when Ben goes to sleep.

Then, it's off to the beach for the week-end! WHOO HOO!

BTW....I'm a little nervous about my poll about Number Two! No one has posted that they thought I was kidding! That's odd.....

So…I’m sitting here at work in tears…

Edit: There has been a lot of confusion with this post. I apologize, but feel the need to clarify. As much as my heart goes out to the couple in this blog, this was not my roommate in college. These are friends of my roommate from college. Just thought I would clarify....I wish I knew them personally, because then I would give them a big hug or offer to help in any way that I could!

My old roommate from college posted this link on her blog:

http://www.caseychappell.typepad.com/baby/

It really struck a cord, because the little baby’s name shares Benjamin’s middle name.

I have no words, only questions…..questions about suffering and questions about justice and questions all starting with “Why?”

I don’t know how it’s possible some days, but may God be glorified in it all…..one day.

Please don’t take your spouse, your child, your parent or any loved one for granted. Not today!

Uh Oh!

Our computer won't start. Here's hoping we didn't lose everything on it. Needless to say, we won't be able to post any pictures or reply to any e-mails over the week-end.

Paul and Mena- if you are reading this, can you send us the link to your blog!

Fun Times With Daddy!

Pictures!

Notice the water all over the tray! Caleb was grilling and Ben was "swimming"!

This is the look I get whenever I come home! He lights up when he sees us!

Here's a picture of Ben sporting his Drum Corps souvenir. My father and I went to a drum corps show in Atlanta while Ben stayed the whole week-end with his Grammy! The shirt says "Future Age Out....I was born ready!" It means he will be a part of a drum corps until they have to kick him out because he's too old!!

Just a Quick Post....

...to let my friends and family know that I got the transfer at work that I was hoping I would get!

Effective September 1st (well, 2nd....since the 1st is a holiday), I will be in my new unit. It's not a pay increase, but it is a position that will give me a lot of current tax experience and exposure to different tax schedules (corporate, sales and use, withholding, etc.).

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for this move!

YAY!!!!!!

In other news (news all the grandma's wait for), Ben has no teeth....perhaps we were wrong AGAIN! But, he does have two bruises on his forehead. He is so mobile that is hard to "catch" him when he topples over. Of course he would get these bruises RIGHT before his pictures on Saturday!

Speaking of pictures.....we have to set up another photo shoot with our friend Rebecca from FrameLight Photography. We can't wait!!!

Pictures coming soon....we've been BUSY!

Benjamin's Little Prayer This Morning:

Dear God- Please help my little bottom teeth to come in. I'm in pain and I have a low-grade fever. If it's not too much to ask, could they come in over-night while I sleep??

Thanks!

Amen