October 31, 2018

Magic in the Mundane lives on for its fourth installment!

Its crazy how much can change in a year. I keep reflecting back to this time last year… looking at pictures of my ginormous baby belly that we referred to as “Baby V” but it was actually just Benen all along. Remembering the discomfort I felt that comes with late stage pregnancy, and the anxieties and excitement about labor, delivery and parenthood. I feel like a completely different person than I was at this time last year—I guess I am. Through the continuous evolution of an individual, of relationships, of life…we change sometimes for better, sometimes for worse but regardless there’s beauty and learning in that change.

It’s Benen’s first halloween today; and I remember I was so hopeful that his first Halloween would have been in 2017 mostly because I was physically uncomfortable and fully excited to meet our babe. Nevertheless he was comfy and stayed put until November 10th… and his first Halloween is today. He dressed up as a pumpkin; the exact same pumpkin costume that I wore on my first Halloween when I was his age minus a few days. I’m not usually the sentimental type; but that’s pretty special!

I am soaking up these last couple delicious weeks of my leave. While I’ve pretty well mentally prepared my self to return to work, Benen is a bit of a different story. Last week for the first time ever he got upset when I left the room at the gym’s child minding center. Consequently, because he would not settle down for the poor new girl it was not tolerable for him to stay. So basically now my perfectly chill, go with the flow little guy has decided that he loves me too much and doesn’t want me to leave him—hah! In actuality I’m chalking it up to a bad day fighting teeth and a cold and just needing some extra love. To make the transition better for both of us… (lets be honest its going to be way harder on me) we’re starting early integration with a couple hours here and there with Nana Dana and his best gal Hunter where he’ll be having a blast, while Josh and I are at work

Over the past two weeks B has learned how to climb up on the couch, likes to help with the dishwasher and curiously investigate what is in the fridge and every single cupboard. He prefers to crawl because it’s way faster but is starting to choose walking steps more and more. He likes to sing to him self in the mirror in the car and has started dancing to the baby shark song, the wiggles and when anyone sings…. It’s evident he gets his dance moves from his dad.

Sleep is getting significantly better for everyone, and we’ve pretty much weaned from night time feedings. Which is bitter sweet for me. Bitter that I’m saying goodbye to those late night sleepy nursing snuggles, but oh so sweet to have more sleep for everyone! The past three nights went better than I expected. I was surprised and think that Benen was more ready then I was, perhaps we should have weaned the night time feed a while ago? Oh well! He still wakes once maybe twice and gets slightly frustrated with me when I don’t offer up the good stuff straight from the source but is learning to quickly settle back into a cozy slumber.

Two weekends ago we celebrated my grandma’s (benen’s great-grandma’s) 75th Birthday in Powell River. It was a rare and extraordinary occurrence for all of my mom’s family to be together to celebrate. This past weekend we stayed local and carved pumpkins with the family—Benen is so lucky to be able to grow up with his cousins and I can’t wait for all the traditions they’ll get to experience together. The next few weeks are going to be like a whirlwind; on the agenda we’ve got some holiday shopping, surgery for Sully, Benen’s first Birthday, my birthday, Dad’s birthday, and back to work. So we’re all going to take a big breath and dive right in.