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The short bursts of small cries woke me at 3am.

“Benjamin. He is hungry”.

My sleepy mind pulled the small bundle near me closer to my chest. The crying continued and increased in loudness. Any louder and he would wake up Doug laying next to me. I tried again to feed my cute little bundle, as my mind slowly gained consciousness. Apparently, food is not the answer as the crying continued, so I got out of bed to my feet to walk around, in hopes of calming him.

I was only two steps, carrying my little one with large gorgeous eyes, when another cry issued, but instead of coming from my arms, it came from the nearby bassinet.

“Who is in Ben’s bassinet?” My sleepy brain began to race. “Why, it’s Benjamin!”

My mind paused. “Who is in my arms?!?” Drawing a blank, I looked down, my eyes still adjusting to being awake. It’s Susan, my teddy bear, her face damp with milk. As I set her down and picked him up, my only thought before snuggling him close to me-

“Oh God, I am so tired, I’m loosing it! I just tried to breastfeed my teddy bear!”

Two things-

I am glad we have the pre-folded 6 ply cloth diapers so I don’t have to fold them at 3 am.

I am VERY thankful for Tracy Hogg’s book, “The Baby Whisperer” I think she should be sainted.

Ben had his first round of vaccines Monday, and it didn’t take long for some stranger who noticed his band aids in the grocery store to inform me I had made a very controversial choice in having him vaccinated. I would rather chance the teeny possibility that he face mild to moderate reactions, and the 1 in a million chance of a severe reaction to the vaccines than face the deadly threat of the things that he is being vaccinated for.

Before the vaccines, polio averaged 37,000 paralyzed and 17,000 dead people PER YEAR. Things like Hepatitis B, Polio, Pneumococcal Disease, Diphtheria, Tetanous, Pertussis (Whooping Cough), Rotavirus, and Hib (Haemophilus influenzae b) are not to be messed with.

So, if some stranger thinks that I am being a bad mom for protecting my son from diseases that have killed thousands, so be it. I would rather be that than a mom who negligently leaves her son open to debilitating and deadly diseases I could have prevented.

source- CDC Vaccine Information Statement 42 U.S.C 300aa-26 1/30/2008

By the way, just found out- congrats!

FIRST THE BAD NEWS
WE REMAIN MADLY IN LOVE AND
have decided to continue the marriage and as such,

will not be returning any of the fine gifts to you

who so generously gave them. However, as the

rhetorical structure goes, there is also good news.

We absolutely adore what you have so kindly

given us. Thank you, many times thank you.

It will most certainly give us a jumpstart on our

initial attempts at adult lives and help us remain

that excessively happy couple you see in picture

frames for sale at the grocery store.

by Squibnocket, a card company

Yesterday was our third anniversary, so of course we had the hot and cold air ducts in the house cleaned. Of course.

Ok, ok, that was a coincidence.

Doug gave me a beautiful arrangement of flowers with roses and a lily. My parents watched Ben for us so we could enjoy the evening to ourselves. Doug took me to the Avenue Grill on 17th street in Denver. We had been there for our first anniversary, so it was nice to visit again. The food there is wonderful. I recommend it to everyone looking for a taste of heaven.

Looking back over the three years of being married, and the two years before that almost to the day we figured out we were dating, it has been a roller coaster of a ride. But what a ride!

Yeah to three!

“Sleep when the baby sleeps.”

Ah yes, the advice I have tried to take every time Ben closes his eyes for a nap, especially the afternoon nap. Prioritize, they say. And so I have. Eat/feed, shower/change, sleep. When the laundry is bulging out, I do laundry. When the dishes are over flowing, I do dishes. When the food in the house is down to condiments, I go grocery shopping. And we have managed to fit in a few things for ourselves for our own sanity and healthy relationship. Everything else can wait, and most everyone understands that.

So why then is there always someone who gets all upset and pissed off that I have not sent them a thank you card? Believe me, every single thing we have been given, I am very grateful for. The first round of thank you cards was sent out BEFORE we packed the house, went through a fiasco at the last minute and were almost homeless, moved to our new house (whew), unpacked as fast as possible, and then had Ben and began our lives as new parents, sleeping when the baby sleeps. But the second round of thank you cards, the ones for things that arrived after our shower and during all the hecticness of the summer and early fall, (for everyone that falls under that category, thank you for the things you gave to us- I really do appreciate it all.) have yet to be written.

Why? Because I AM SLEEPING WHEN THE BABY IS! If you have a problem with that, come do my laundry, do the dishes, unpack the rest of the house, and for goodness sake, would someone please evict all the spiders and remnant junk from the last owner! so I can write thank you cards.

Or perhaps I will sleep, with gratefulness in my heart for all those people who gave us things that have made this transition so much easier.

We got the pictures back from our photographer at mmbphotography from Ben’s 3 Week Photo Session. Go to our Gallery page to see the pictures. I have also put more pictures in his “Benjamin” folder.

Enjoy!

Ben is 6 weeks old “today” Sunday, even though I write this past midnight on Monday morning.

We celebrated by sleeping in (through the alarm), going to two churches, seeing some friends, driving up and over Loveland Pass on the way to Breckenridge for dinner with my parents and Granny for her birthday, going back through the Eisenhower (Johnson) Tunnel, seeing a gorgeous rainbow over Mile High, watching an action flick on tv with ice cream, and ended it with Ben choking and turning blue and a few minutes later, puking all the milk he choked down all over his bassinet, blanket, last clean set of pj’s and his sleep positioner.

I am now in my second set of pj’s for the night, and Ben has managed to get all his dirty, so he is in layered shirts, onsies and pants, with baby socks on his arms and legs for extra warmth. Doug sopped up his bassinet while I cleaned up poor Ben, who pukes and rallies and is now hungry again.

They say “back is best”, but I have just witnessed first hand why babies like Ben might need to sleep on their sides instead. Is it any wonder I sleep very lightly, listening for the sound of a choking puking choking baby? We must be parents…

Hey family- I am making a wall of pictures of both sides of Ben’s family and I need your pictures! A recent 5×7 of you and yours, either paper or digital would be great. If you get Christmas pictures taken every year, can I have a copy? Email me with the picture or if you need our new address as of July.

I finally have had the chance to upload more pictures of Ben into the gallery. I also want to thank everyone who has visited in the past several weeks, bringing food and smiles to our house- Joan, Lee, Becky, Russ, Granny Flo, Ron, Michelle, Josh, Ann, Jake, Jamie, Sienna, Sara, David, Evan, Aimee, Bryan, Gavyn, Monica, Gary, Aurora, Nate, Shawn, Clara, Luke, Lynn, Debbie, and Cary. Thank you for coming to visit us and oggling over Ben.