I Love This Kid.

Yep, it's Ben, again. Just thought I'd throw some pictures of my buddy up. What else do you do at midnight when you can't sleep? Read & surf the blog network. :)





He loves to flirt with girls of all ages. Ha ha. He loves old women!!! Ha ha ha!





He's pretty much the coolest dude. Goes just about anywhere with his Pops.




Love this kid. He's got Daddy's gut.



And one of Gus in his winter hat. What a good sport....

We've been busy

It's funny how no matter how little I actually have to do, I am always running around with my head cut off. My life as a laid back, stay-at-home mom isn't quite as laid back as I had once imagined. I pictured lounging on the couch rereading the Twilight series as my "little ones played on the floor with the dog" (name the movie). It doesn't actually happen like that in our household. For the most part I feel just as busy as I did when I was a full-time student and interning. While contemplating this, I remembered a summer I spent in Seattle while Ben was selling alarms. At the time I had no child, except for newborn Gus, and I only worked a few hours a week. Since Ben was working ten to twelve hour days, I really had all the time in the world to do whatever my heart so desired (ah, the good old days...). At the same time I can remember a friend telling me that I was the busiest person with nothing to do that she had ever met. My point in all this is that in order to have a more laid back life, I need to become more laid back. It is obvious that the problem lies within me, not my environment or to-do list. I often imagine Ben and I living in a remote location where life moves much slower. Instead of stressing each day to get everything done, we would have time to go to the park, read, cook, and write blog after blog. However, I have come to the conclusion that the place where life moves much slower is the place where we decide to move much slower. Disclaimer: I am not making any commitments to slow down my pace of life, just talking about it.

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to, and our growing boy.

We made last minute Waldo costumes, while Blaine had to be a pumpkin for his first Halloween.


Blaine's first experience with food.


Biz came to visit and meet Blaine for the first time.


Carly and Blaine


Blaine at his first (but not last) BYU football game.


Photo shoot for Blaine's entry into the Gap baby contest (we're pretty sure he's going to win).


The colorful trees in Park City.



Blaine and his Great-Grandma Webb.

Update

Before I had Blaine, I thought of all the things I was going to accomplish as a stay-at-home mom. I had big plans to get caught up on my scrapbooking, learn to quilt, blog consistantly, and the list goes on. When I first got my dog, I can remember spending hours scrapbooking while he lounged around the house. I felt like this baby thing would be similar. Obviously no one wanted to inform me that every second of mine would be completely occupied and my first child (Gus) would be totally neglected. In case you're getting the wrong idea, I am far from complaining. I LOVE staying home with Blaine. I'm not going to pretend that I felt this way in the beginning; motherhood, plus moving around, threw me through a loop. I keep trying to figure out how I missed the memo: motherhood=hard. After spending 24/7 with this little guy for the past three months, I now consider myself a Blaine expert, and mommy/Blaine time has become the best part of every day. The point of this long saga is to give myself an excuse for not keeping up on my blogging. Here are a few pictures of our last month.

Chunk

Every person that meets Blaine lately has been telling me that he looks more like a four-month old than two. I just decided that this was probably because he's so good-looking:) However, Blaine went in for his two month appointment last week, and I found out that really...he is the size of a four month old. Blaine is in the 90% for his weight and above the 97% for his height! I had no idea I had such a big boy! I've since decided that we are going on a strict diet of feedings five times a day (only kidding). But really, he's growing out of his clothes faster than I can get them on him. I'll post some pictures when I figure out how to use this computer...

Picture overload

A post of this length is only created when I've exhausted any other entertainment by finishing the book I am currently reading, watching Micheal Jackson's life story for the fifth time on every channel, and checking each person's blog every hour hoping for an update. I somehow ended up accompanying Ben to a small town two hours out of Bloomington, MN (where we are living for the summer) to sit in a hotel room all day with Blaine and Gus, unable to leave due to Gus' knotty nature of destroying things when feeling abandoned. Since this is obviously not going to work for the rest of summer (I'd probably shoot myself after a few more days... either that or Gus would hang himself), I'll be flying to San Diego on Monday to finish out the summer with my family there. While this is difficult because Ben will be staying here to finish working, I'm excited to be around my family and have some help with Blaine (and Ben's excited to start getting some sleep again). Here are some pictures of the past few weeks.

I'm aware that this post is a picture overload... but I'm extremely indecisive and cannot figure out which pictures are the best.

A few pictures of our 4th of July. We spent the evening with friends at a BBQ and watching our own fireworks.

Ben spent the entire fireworks show covering Blaine's ears from the loud noise.

Gus hung out with Daniel for the fireworks.

All the guys in the office playing football after the BBQ.


Blaine best friend, Maddy.


Blaine has become much more alert in the past few weeks, making numerous facial expressions and cooing noises. I've had so much fun getting him to smile at me and look at different toys.

Blaine has started smiling and I've been working my hardest to get a picture. This is only a half smile, but the best picture I've gotten so far.

He was making the best facial expressions while sitting in his bouncer so I sat there taking pictures and filming. Only afterwards did I realize he was filling his drawers and had pooped all over the seat.

Aunt Nanny came to visit last weekend.

Two week old pictures

I know I just barely posted pictures, but I just got these today and I love them, so I had to show a few. Our friend, Megan, took these pictures of Blaine when he was two weeks, and she did an amazing job! You can see her work at www.meganpapworth.typepad.com.

This is why I have not returned your phone calls...

I have found since my little Blainer came into the world, that I have time for nothing...literally. No one warned me that having a newborn was this hard and time-consuming. I like to reminisce on the "good ol' days" when I could spend more than thirty seconds rinsing off in the shower before running out to make sure my baby was still breathing, and I could sleep for ten hours a night and still take a three hour nap during the day. Yes, I took those luxuries for granted; for now I spend every second of my day and night feeding, soothing, and changing diapers. I laughed out loud the other day when I read an article in a parenting magazine that talked about the large decision that must take place when your baby is napping: should I nap as well, eat, shower, exercise, or get ready. Regardless of the loss of my coveted free time, I love this little boy and can't imagine life without him. I have to admit that I have joined the ranks of conceded mothers in thinking that I personally have the cutest child. I apologize to all other mothers out there, but really...have you ever seen a cuter baby?...





Even his mad face is cute.



And here's one for my neglected first child. He has done exceptionally well with his hairless brother. I found him the other night lying on my bed with his foot on my pillow. Needless to say, he has to find some way to get attention in this household.