Update in Photos

Chris is traveling this week to Vegas.  For "work"....hehehe!  He really does have work, but I'm sure he's doing a fair amount of play as well...
In the mean time, Ben and I are holding down the fort with Suzy dog.  We've been lucky to have great weather the past few days and have been out on the trails a lot, gone to the playground and walked around our neighborhood quite a bit.

Here are some pics.

Here is Ben pointing at "big ducks (trucks)" at the construction site across the street:

Here he is in the sandbox on a beautiful January day:

Here he is practicing sitting on the potty he got for Christmas.  We haven't quite gotten up the guts to actually try to use it yet...

Here we are making sliders for lunch.  He just sucked the cheese off the top and fed the beef to Suzy dog.  Everyone was happy except Mama!

And, finally, here he is watching Cars (again).  Shout out to Dana for sending us the DVD!  Now we can watch the whole movie and not have to fast forward through the commercials!  (What?  You don't watch your movies sitting in a laundry basket and looking behind you at the screen?)

Better

This is the kind of thing that makes all the dentist crap worth it. :)
Ben playing in the sandbox on a 65 degree day in January, pointing at bulldozers with his cool shades on, and swimming in the tub with that cute tushy!

Not even Lightening McQueen...

...could save the day at the dentist!  Today was Ben's first trip to the dentist.  Just a regular first check up.  We practiced saying "ahh" at home all day yesterday and this morning.  Yet, funny how that works.  What we got there he did not want to say "ahh"!!  He found the trucks in the waiting room and headed straight for them.  When it was our turn to go in, he didn't want to leave the trucks.  But, I peeled him off the trucks with little resistance.
The dental assistant brushed his teeth.  But, I had to hold him upside down so he was laying on both our laps.  We were knee to knee and Ben was facing me, then went upside down to lay on her lap.  If that makes sense...Anyway.  That was fine, but he still kept pointing to the waiting room and saying "trucks!  trucks!".  The dentist came in and we did the same upside down position for him to open his mouth for her.  After some hesitation on his part, he finally cried a minute and she went in for the kill!  She stuck that mirror in there so fast and got a good luck.  Plus, she noticed that his 2 year molars are coming through, which explains a lot about why he's so drooly and cranky lately.  She painted on some fluoride treatment and we were on our way back to the trucks.  Yes!
Then...he would NOT leave the trucks!  He started crawling around the floor and screaming "trucks!  trucks!" and this was before I threatened leaving the place!  It was an obvious meltdown waiting to happen.  I tried giving him Lightening McQueen as a distraction toy.  He's OBSESSED with Cars and Lightening is his go to guy.  However, today it did not work.  He chucked Lightening so far across the room I was in shock!  Eventually I realized that I would just have to suck it up and let him melt down.  I picked him up and strong armed the trucks out of his hands and just headed for the car while he was screaming his face off.  Getting him into his car seat was like a WWF wrestling match, but I did it.  Mommy wins again.  And poor Lightening McQueen - I didn't forget to pick him up and take him home too.  : )

See you in 6 months dentist...

The "faux"hawk

Yesterday Ben got a haircut and the lady decided to spike it up into a fauxhawk at the end of the appointment.  Chris and I decided that it was pretty darn cute, so I had to share.  Ben seemed to like it as well.  ; )

Happy New Year!

Cheers to a fabulous 2012!  The Cali family had a challenging and exciting 2011.  Chris sold his company, Abby started staying home with Ben, and we found out that we're going to be adding to our family in the Spring.  Oh, yeah, and we moved across country! 

Well, I'm sure that 2012 will bring many more surprises and changes so I can't really hope for calmness quite yet.  I don't think we'll get that until about 2020 when Ben is in college...(and maybe not even then?)  We are looking forward to our new baby who should arrive in June, building up our savings accounts and paying down our debts (damn you student loans!).  We're also appreciative and happy for all the friends and help we do have our here in Colorado, and humbled by how much we miss our family and friends back east.

Happy 2012 to everyone.  Let's go where it may take us.  : )

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas weekend in Colorado.  Yesterday we went up to Fort Collins to spend the day with Jay and Melissa.  Ben was beyond excited to see uncle Jay.  In fact, he had two separate meltdowns when he thought we were going to Jay's and we weren't.  Like, clinging onto the door handle and screaming "uncle Jay!  Car!" kind of meltdowns...So, he was happy to spend the day there yesterday.  And, he got a car from Aunt Sasa on the way home - which he LOVES!  Best day ever for Ben.

This morning we woke up and had Christmas here at home - just the three of us.  Ben was showered with gifts from all grandparents, aunts and uncles.  Thanks to them we wont have to get him anything for months!!!  He got books, toys, trucks, and even a new Yankees hat from Papa!  Red Sox fans have to step it up quick or else this kid will be a full blown Yankees fan before we know it!  ; )

Chris and I also got some fun gifts from Santa and family.  My personal favorite is my new sunglasses and CD's for my car.  I think Chris was pretty fond of his new iron from Christine and Lea.  Seriously.  He also made out pretty nicely with a new GPS for his car!  I'm personally a fan of the needle point "go F yourself" that Cory made for him.  HYSTERICAL!!

We lounged all day.  We watched Home Alone, A Christmas Story, and part of Elf.  And, I watched It's a Wonderful Life last night while Chris snoozed on the couch.  We took a hint from A Christmas Story and ordered Chinese food for dinner tonight.  Time to get back on the workout bandwagon tomorrow!!  It's supposed to be mild and sunny all week outside, so hopefully we can get in some good walks.

It's definitely hard to be away from family this time of year, but we're happy to have our good friends here who take us in as family.  And, of course, we have each other.  And Skype.   : )

Snow day

What to do on a snow day with a toddler when Daddy is traveling?  No playground, no outside, no errands, no nothing.  We got about a foot of snow last night in the Denver area, and it's still sprinkling out there today.  So, I am trying my best to be as creative as possible for inside activities.  This morning we colored with crayons, played with trucks, watched Elmo and read some books - all before 11 am!

So, to Google I went, and I found a recipe for home made finger paint: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/make-your-own-fingerpaint.html

It's more like a paste, but it works well since it doesn't spill.  Ben loved it.  In fact, we did a "yeyow" (yellow) paper, a "boo" (blue) paper, and even a "geen dee" (green tree) for Christmas. : )

Below are some pics.