Saturday, December 31, 2011

Christmas 2011...better late than never

Ah...this has been such a nice Christmas break! I realized not too long ago that I had several vacation days left and since they're use it or lose it, I decided to take them all at the end of the year. I took the 16th off but took Lainey to April's and spent the day doing my errands and baking all of my holiday treats. I might have to start doing that every year! I made 9 loaves of pumpkin bread, 2 batches of peppermint bark, 2 batches of pumpkin-spiced oatmeal pecan cookies, 2 batches of Chex Mix (one regular and one extra seasoned) and a batch of reindeer munch. I tell you...I never felt so domesticated. I even put on an apron and got my stand mixer out. I loved it! Meanwhile, I'd thrown a put of chili together and I had some of my best girlfriends over for a little birthday party for myself. We had a good time just hanging out, talking and eating. I wish we could do that every weekend!

Back to my vacation plans...my last day in the office was the 21st. On the 22nd, Lainey and I went to Jamestown and Troy joined us around dinner time. We did Christmas with my family on the 23rd. And I mean, basically my whole family. My Grandmother and an Aunt & Uncle on my Mom's side were there and then all of my Dad's sisters and various other parts of their families were there. It was a packed house and so much fun! Lainey of course had to entertain everyone and she got a ridiculous amount of gifts, including a little kitchen, books, a purse, a baby doll and stroller and various other things.

Christmas Eve morning we got up early and made our way to Goldsboro because we needed to be there by 10:00 for the annual brunch. We stopped at our house on the way to unload the gifts and then we were off. Sort of. We had a little snafu on our way out of town. I had Lainey in her cute Christmas dress (see our visit with Santa). Troy and I were driving separately because we knew we needed the 4Runner for presents while the Honda would have our luggage (totally need a minivan). Troy being oh so patient, he took off out of our neighborhood to get to brunch while I loaded Lainey in the Honda. I had just gotten on 540 to scoot around Raleigh when Lainey started saying she needed a diaper. Well, I couldn't just leave her in a dirty diaper and I thought I smelled her so I called Troy and told him I was going to pull off to change her and then get right back on. Long story short(-ish)...you cannot trust a 17-month old. I stopped at a gas station (because I needed gas too and thought I'd be smart and do both). I checked her and she was just a little wet. Since I already had her tights and everything off, I figured I'd change her really quickly in the backseat while getting gas. But I guess when that cool air hit her little bare rear end, it made her have to go. So now she had managed to pee all over herself and the backseat. Oops! How could I made such a rookie mistake this late in the game? I called Troy who of course was about 30 minutes ahead of me at this point. So I did what I could with a few napkins and wipes and stripped her down. We arrived in Goldsboro with her wearing a diaper and jacket and covered up with my sweater like a blanket. But the good news is that we made it to brunch!

The rest of our time in Goldsboro was much more relaxing and again, Lainey racked up. Don't get me wrong, we did too. Troy got a remote-controlled helicopter and cornhole boards and I got Tupperware and a new robe. These are the things we asked for...why does it sound like I'm elderly and married to a 12 year-old?

Anyways...here are a few pics to recap the festivities (in reverse order because I don't feel like shuffling them around). :)











Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Photo Up & Over-Load

Okay, I have a bunch of cute pics of Lainey lately that I just have to share because they make me laugh when I look at them. :)

First, a few more pictures from our day at the mall when we visited with Santa. This first pic is of her enjoying some fries at the Cheesecake Factory. She was super excited about them and somehow apparently knows the word "fries" because she requested them over & over:





The second & third pictures are immediately following the Santa encounter. That is one salty-looking baby. You'd think she was traumatized. I suppose she was considering moments after these pictures, she was sound asleep. Poor thing.



The holidays are a busy time and require some multi-tasking. They can also be a little stressful...



But let's not forget the "reason for the season" and try to enjoy the magic and wonder that it brings! :)



Merry Christmas!!



Sunday, December 18, 2011

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Santa's been hanging out at all of the local malls since, oh, Halloween I think. last weekend, we had to go to the mall so I gritted my teeth and decided I would put Lainey in her Christmas dress, "just in case." I did not have super high hopes but I at least had the forethought to change out of the pink sweater I originally had one and throw on a green shirt in the event that I ended up in the Santa picture. This was a wise move indeed. Behold the 2011 Santa picture for the Bentons:



Thankfully Crabtree Mall has the best system ever. When I saw the short line for Santa, I thought we had lucked out and hopped in line. Then one of Santa's elves with a laptop came down the line and asked if we were registered. No, I said, but the line was so short I thought I would take advantage. "Um, there's actually a 2-hour wait right now. You have to register and we text you when you should come get in line." Genius! So I gave her my cell number and we went and had lunch at Cheesecake Factory with Troy's Mom and her friends who had joined her for the mall trip. Sometime while wandering around Belks, I got a text that the wait was approximately 12 minutes and there were 9 people in front of us. So off we went and got in the super short line for Santa. Lainey was great because we weren't in line that long and I went ahead and took a few pictures just in case things didn't work out with the Big Guy:





Then it was our turn. Lainey insisted I carry her to Santa and then she just kind of stared at him. She warmed up a little and even gave him a high-five (after I did). But when Santa asked if she wanted to sit in his lap, he got a big ol', "No!" So Santa said, "Mom, how about you sit on my lap and put her on the far side away from me?" So that is what we did. I was so concerned with not putting my full weight on the poor guy and crushing his lap that I didn't even check to make sure Lainey's dress was straight or anything. But I think the picture turned out pretty cute, especially after Santa grabbed a stuffed reindeer for Lainey to snuggle (smart guy...he's done this a few times I think).

The other good part of that day was that it was my last trip to the mall for this year (I hope!). I am done with all of my shopping, save a quick trip to Target today to grab one last item. I was very pleased with this holiday season for our house. I had our house completely decorated and ready to enjoy just after Thanksgiving. All of the bins and boxes that the Christmas decorations came out of were stashed in the now-empty spare bedroom, along with all of the gifts and wrapping accoutrement. I even took last Friday off and spent the day doing my holiday baking and treat making for the neighbors. My only grievance this year has been that it has been an especially warm December. And because of that I think, people have not been so quick to haul out their decorations. It is sad when driving down my street, there was only one lonely house that was decorated (until you got to our end of the street). I made Troy get out there and put out our lights weeks ago so that motivated our immediate neighbors to do the same but otherwise, our neighborhood has been a bit lackluster this year. In any case, I think I'm going to suggest we drive around and look at the lights tonight, even if we have to wander a bit.

Happy Holidays to you all!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Holiday Season

There is just something about this time of year. It is my favorite time of year, and not because my birthday is tucked away in there somewhere (don't worry, I nearly forget about it now too). No, there is just something magical and almost tangible in the air!

One magical thing so far this season: Rowdy is now behaving! He must have known how close he was to becoming someone else's problem because for the past week, he's been totally normal again. No more messes on the carpet and he's even been a lot more social. He must be feeling the sentiment of the season too!

Our Thanksgiving was very nice. Lainey was able to partake this year and thoroughly enjoyed that. My parents loved having us and seeing Lainey running around now (yes, running...the thing about waiting until you're absolutely sure you can walk is that you're pretty much a pro from your first steps). She is so cute toddling around! She used to Franken-baby with her arms in the air or swagger around like a tiny cowgirl but now she looks much more normal. She kept my parents entertained with all of her new sayings, like, "Move!" (yeah, we're working on adding "please" to that), "Eat your food!" (accompanied by a wagging finger) and "mess!" As you can tell, she's becoming quite the little bossy-pants. Her Daddy is also teaching her some key phrases, like, "poots" (while pointing to her rear end or calling it out when she hears someone else poot) and "giney" for her vajay-jay which she has discovered during diaper changes. Thanks Troy. :-P But even though her vocabulary isn't the most scholastic, we are rather impressed with it. She picks up about a new word a day it seems. This week has been "tree" (Christmas tree appearing in her living room), "man" (for every snowman she sees) and "nasty" (April apparently says this a lot while changing their diapers and said now Lainey goes around telling the boys they're nasty).

As for the other little nugget, she is thriving and kicking! I'm 23 weeks this weekend and "blossoming" as one coworker said. Better than a male coworker who say me and said, "Whoa...you got big! When are you due? Man, you have a long way to go." Ah...back to those fun days! My third trimester with Lainey was pretty much made up of people telling me how huge I was so I expect nothing less this time around. :)

So getting back to the magic of the season...I am slowly decorating. Lainey likes the sparkly "balls" on the tree and swats at them more than the cats. Actually, the cats just like to sleep under the tree and otherwise leave it alone. I'm thinking I'm going to take a day off work and stay home and bake which I am oddly excited about. I have made sure that I'm stocked up on things that I think one needs for baking, like vanilla extract and baking soda. This should be an adventure! But being home by myself, baking and blasting Christmas music seems like a pretty perfect day right about now. I almost wish it would snow! :)