Now that it’s summertime, I thought it would be good to get rid of Ben’s old hot Zac Efron shag and bring in the Maddox Jolie-Pitt baby faux-hawk. The actual haircut itself was not fun, since Ben doesn’t like people touching his hair. He was screaming like a banshee as they were cutting his locks off - at least I don’t have to worry about another haircut for a while!
This blog needs more Ben!
Ben is slowly getting into the terrible twos which sometimes is the terrific twos. He cries whenever he doesn’t get what he wants, he throws toys over the second floor balcony, and he hates his vegetables. Whenever we’re watching TV, he asks “What’s that?” or when we’re reading books, he says, “What’s this?” He’s learned to move around his little stepstool so he can reach the balls on the pool table. He has a favorite numbers puzzle that he loves so much that sometimes he sleeps with his number of choice - even asking me to kiss his number goodnight. I feel silly kissing aa wooden number 7, but it makes him happy. When he’s playing, he sings the Blue Danube Waltz to himself. He loves watching commercials. He’s a big fan of Dancing with the Stars, especially when people get scored, shouting out “8! 9!” when the judges are flipping over their paddles. He likes playing hide and seek. His favorite show is a cartoon called Caillou. He loves rolling around in the grass. When we’re eating cereal at the same time, he says, “Mommy cereal too!”
The good definitely outweighs the bad. Even though I don’t get any “me” time until after 10 o’clock, I wouldn’t change it for the world!
As I said earlier this week, Ben’s party went well. My aunt from Cincinnati came to stay with us and she was a great help in getting the treat bags together.
The day of the party was definitely hectic. I made some last minute wings and cupcakes just in case there wasn’t enough food. We got to the party place (a multipurpose room at the local park district) about half an hour early, and immediate everyone got to work. If I didn’t have everyone there to help out - Dave’s family and my own - I would never have been able to get everything ready on time. My in-laws and my dad took care of getting the catered food all set up, Fatima and Melanie were on balloon duty, Dave’s cousin helped with the tablecloths, and I had my mini-helpers on table-confetti duty.
To my surprise, people came early - which means they came on time. Whatever happened to Filipino time*? Even the entertainment - the balloon artists came early. Not to worry, everything was more or less set up in time.
The rest of the day is pretty much just a blur. I think the reason why I freak out so much over these things is because I feel like I have to make sure that everything is ok, but I never have time to talk to people, though I have no idea what keeps me so busy. There were so many kids running around - luckily the balloon artists were so patient and made multiple balloons for kids (and the few adults that were brave enough to go in line). The kids had a blast with their balloon animals and having mini sword fights with their balloon swords. The adults had their fill of Italian beef, mostacolli and herbed chicken.
Ben’s birthday cake was humongous - I decided to go a little bigger in size, because people could always take leftovers home, but the cake looked much bigger than the sample that they showed me at the bakery. Ben did a great job blowing out his candles - we even did the whole “Happy Birthday” song twice. The cake was delicious - which I didn’t find out until after the party because I was “too busy” to eat some. We’ve still got a couple plates of it in our fridge.
All in all, it was a great party. Ben went crazy opening all his gifts - we’re trying to pace him in playing with them so he doesn’t get overloaded, but that’s not going to last!
Here’s some pictures:
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Ben’s party went off without a hitch. Kids had fun, people ate, candles were blown and leftovers were handed out. More to come!
…until Benjamin’s birthday extravaganza!
As I said before, I hate planning parties. Even more so when I have to work a lot and work on the party on the side. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Tyson, we’re going with your balloon lady. Rachel, Ben’s cake is going to be from the bakery you had emailed me. I’m always paranoid if something is going to be good or not, so having referrals from friends is always comforting.
It’s a lot of stress, making the invitations, figuring out who is going to be invited - how many people are going to fit into the room we rented. There’s a lot of politics in terms of the ratio of how many friends vs. how much family vs. how many of our parents friends to invite. Since Dave and I both come from big families, it’s hard to limit the invite list. Next year - it’s Chuck E. Cheese, man!
So the invites have been sent, the food has been ordered, the cake will be ready, the balloon artists have been contacted. The next big thing I have to do is work on the goodie bags for all the little rugrats that are coming, which I’ve calculated to be about THIRTY.
If you haven’t been invited, sorry, you can pretend you’ve been invited and make your own balloon animals as if you were there.
I know I said I was going to send out crappy invites, but come on, would I ever turn away an opportunity to play around with photoshop? No way!
….because I don’t remember, since 2 years ago, a little miracle came into our lives.
My little Benjamin turns 2 today, it’s hard to believe that he’s two whole years old. I know I don’t talk a lot about him on here, though I DO post a lot of pictures of him. He just keeps me so busy I don’t really have time to post things. I had planned on posting all sorts of milestones and cute, little quirky stories of him growing up, but those plans had the same outcome as all my other plans - out the window.
My life is very interesting now - not that it wasn’t interesting when I was single and traveling all over the country - but now it’s interesting in a very different kind of way. My days are completely full - if I’m not working, then I’m taking care of Ben. I rarely go out without Ben, and life has become more centered around my family and my home. I am constantly in wonder of this little person who has taken our lives hostage.
When I was pregnant with Ben, people gave all sorts of advice, to the point where I was like, “Yeah, ok, right”. But the thing is, in the end, they were all right. I would never had known it at the time or really fathomed what they were all talking about, but those common phrases that people said that really ring true for my life right now:
“They Grow Up So Fast!”
Man, Benjamin learns something new every day. It seems like just yesterday that he was crawling around on the floor and just spouting gibberish. Now he’s walking, running, climbing, jumping and he talks. Not full sentences, but enough that we understand what he’s asking for, like his favorite words - “Cookie!” “Ice Cream!” and “Cars!” It’s incredible to watch him grow up. The kid is a sponge, and his ability to figure things out is uncanny. It’s so cool to see his personality emerge - he’s a little mama’s boy, with a bratty temper, a love of music and dancing, who loves giving kisses and gives great baby hugs.
“It’s incredible how much you’ll love them”
I’m married, so I’ve got an idea of what love is. But the love I have for Ben is something completely different. It’s so strong, unconditional and easy. I love to watch him sleeping, to silently sit in awe, watching this being that I gave life to. This little bundle of energy that adores me and wants to spend every minute with me. I may have given him life, but he has made my life so much better.
“It’s the toughest job you’ll love”
It’s not all perfect. He sometimes has tantrums. I discovered that I became that mom whose kid throws himself on the ground when he didn’t get what he wants. Did you see a french fry fly in front of you in the restaurant? Yeah, that could have been my kid. The kid who doesn’t share at gymboree? Mine. The kid clapping and saying “Yay” after someone sings at a funeral? Yep, that one would be long to me. Who’s the kid that’s crawling all over me when I’m trying to get some late night work done? Ben. Even with all these little quirks, I love it. I love it all.
He’s only been here for 2 years, but it’s so hard to imagine my life without him. I can’t lie and say that I don’t sometimes envy the lives of the people I know who don’t have kids - there’s a freedom that you have that you no longer have once you become a parent. I can’t go out and party like I used to love doing. Can’t stay up all night playing video games. All vacations have to be planned, no more spur of the moment trips. But that’s all right. I’m perfectly happy hanging out at home with my family, having Ben jump around on the bed or watching him watch his favorite movies.
So happy birthday, my little boy. You are loved by so many people, and you have brought such a joy to our lives that I can’t even put it into words.
Here’s a look at the last year of Ben’s life - it’s a little sloppy since I’ve been swamped, but it’s the thought that counts:
Dave’s brother Justin came over a couple weeks ago with Rock Band (which belonged to my cousin). We hooked it up and Ben immediately took the drumsticks and started jamming on the drums - even though he’s never played the drums before. That game is totally addicting - we kept Ben up pretty late playing it. I stayed on the easy level on drums (I tried medium and failed miserably - my feet just have a mind of their own) Dave was on bass (and later guitar) and Justin was on guitar. Later on my cousin Marlon came over and he jammed out on guitar (on the hard level!), Justin did the drums and I wimped out playing bass. Ben added a level of difficulty be throwing goldfish crackers on me, whispering “ice cream!” in Marlon’s ear and banging on the drums with Justin. I tried out singing, and although I was awesome at it, it was obvious that Rock Band doesn’t really care if you actually sound good - just that you’re hitting the right notes.
The game is awesome - it’s definitely a team effort, and the songs available are pretty awesome. I’ve been debating on getting a gaming system (even though we all know I have no time to play). Maybe when the Wiis are more available I’ll buy one and get Rock Band for it. If anything, I can always invite Rock Band owners to come over and rock out with us!
Ben’s great grandmother is in Los Angeles, visiting from the Philippines. She hasn’t seen Ben since he was about a week old, so Dave’s parents flew Ben out to LA to see her for several days. This is the second time in a month that I’ve been without my little puddin’ pop, and the house is uncomfortably silent without him stomping around the house. He’ll only be gone til Thursday, but it seems like forever!
*wahhhhh*
As some of you may know, Ben’s 2nd birthday is coming up. Another thing you might know - I hate planning things. I’m horrible at it. I love having people over to hang out at the house, but I am awful when it comes to actually planning get togethers. However, with Ben’s impending birthday looming over the horizon, and the fact that pretty much every relative I run into is aware of it and has asked me what we’ve got going on with the party, I have to plan something.
So, after weeks of searching the internet, making phone calls, doing on-site visits and reading contracts, we’ve finally found a place to hold his birthday party. We’re not having it at the house this year because a) too many people for one little house and b) we’re putting our house up for sale within the next month (which I’ll discuss in another post). Now comes the little details that I hate trying to think of and figure out, so this is where you, my wonderful, intelligent, good looking, kind hearted readers can help out. So, here are some of the aspects of his party that I’m debating over, I’d be happy to hear any comments, criticisms or advice that you might have…
Hmm…I think that’s where I’m at right now. Whaddya think?
We had a pretty low key Easter. It didn’t seem like there was any family shindig going on, and we’ve been too busy cleaning up the house to really plan anything. I had called some really good buffet places, but they were all booked up months before Easter. Finally, I just made some reservations at my favorite restaurant, Cafe Iberico. Dave’s parents hadn’t been there yet, and it’s been a LONG time since I had me some croquetas de pollo.
Lunch was good, it was my dad, sisters, brother Redpac, Dave’s parents, Dave and Benjamin. Dave’s brother was supposed to go, but he had to take his little guy to puppy kindergarten, so we headed out to his place afterwards for an afterset. Watched a couple NCAA upsets and almost-upsets, had an easter egg hunt with Ben, and just chilled out. For dinner, we went to Aloha Eats for some much missed Hawaiian food - it was pretty, even though the menu is a little limited (where’s my moco loco!?!?) but I’ll definitely go there again since there aren’t too many Hawaiian restaurants in Chicago.
Hope you all had a good Easter holiday!
