A First and Some Fun Photo Comparisons

Ben sat by himself, while I got up and signed for a package at the door on Friday. A few days later, he is sitting wonderfully by himself today at a playdate. I try to stay close because he does take a tumble every once in awhile, but he is officially sitting and I for one am relieved and ecstatic. I also gave him the opportunity to gum my sandwich today and regretted it because he wanted the whole thing and got mad when I ran out of things to share with him! Looks like we will have to add in a lunchtime of solids now, too, which is going to really mess with playdates and Mommy class. Maybe I will arrange for it to be after one...

We had a great weekend! We spent time with Scott's aunts, uncles and cousins and everyone got to see what a big boy Ben is becoming. He was a little clingy with me during this trip, which he has been doing at class and playdates a little bit here and there. We all suffered, as Grandma and Grandpa had to remain near me when holding Ben, and I couldn't really sleep or leave the room unless Scott was with him. Even then, sometimes Daddy wasn't enough if he was really feeling nervous and I had to scoop him up and get him calmed down. But as long as he was sitting with us, he was very social, talking and playing with everyone, and his aunts and even both Great Grandmas got a chance to hold him!  At one point after a "I want Mama" breakdown, we napped together on Aunt Sherri's couch in their front room- it was raining outside and we were right next to the heater, with laughter and happiness echoing from the family room. Cozy and cuddled, we slept for an hour and a half. I think I will remember it forever, it was that good!

It was very fortunate that I got that nap in, because that evening we had Kelly's 30th birthday party out at a restaurant in Danville. We did the nighttime routine with Ben and he went down to sleep and then we headed out for a night of pretending we were young and wild. Well, at least Scott took care of the wild part. I squeezed my tummy into some tight slacks and pretended to be young and carefree! Haha! Kidding aside, we felt like college kids, huddled around joking with friends and whooping in celebration for Kelly and Alan- getting a year older and spending another great year together. After the crowd thinned out, the restaurant emptied, a mysterious round of drinks appeared, and then out came a surprise bottle of champagne, courtesy of my wild and crazy husband. I finally led him out to the car and batted his hands away from the wipers, lights and radio buttons and drove us home. We were both in high spirits and felt reconnected with our pre-parent selves.

The next day we had a delicious catered lunch with Scott's maternal side of the family, who got Ben some surprise gifts! I am already behind on thank you notes and need to get caught up, this reminds me.. but he has been loving them. And the most adorable set of overalls I can't wait to get him into. We are all battling a cold this morning,  and Scott stayed home from work and slept in.

Check out some photo comparisons I have been looking forward to:

We decided Ben definitely got my chubby cheeks and a rounder head. But he sure is his father's son!