I finally did it

2 years, 4 months, 3 weeks, and 6 days after we got married I finally changed my name to Stephens on my drivers license.

Preparing to Leave

As we leave for our little trip to the Pacific I have been planning and packing in my head and emotionally preparing to leave the little one. I laughed at Karisa when she had a hard time leaving Hudson for the first time. Now I have almost convinced myself that I would have a more enjoyable time with Bentley...almost.

Then I think about nap time in the middle of the Polynesian Cultural Center, packing him as we climb Diamond Head, or sitting on the beach with him as Chod goes snorkeling. As much as I love him and don't want to leave him I know that he will be in good hands with Aunt Karisa and Grandma Stephens and that Chod and I will have a more enjoyable trip if he stays here.

That doesn't make leaving him any easier. I love my baby.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

I got up Thursday morning and started making rolls to take to Thanksgiving dinner. I could not figure out what I had done wrong, but they would not rise. The dough was tough and I didn't know what else to do but make a new batch. While batch #2 was rising I tried baking some rolls from batch #1. They puffed up like crazy in the oven and didn't taste too bad.

We ended up with lots of rolls.

We went to Rigby and enjoyed Thanksgiving with Larry, Leann, Cameron, Devon, Michaela and Tenille and Stuart (Michaela's siblings). Great food, great fun.

Friday we headed to Idaho Falls to take advantage of some after Thanksgiving bargains. We didn't find many but managed to push our way through Target and the mall. Contributing a total of $8 to Black Friday.

Cookie Monster x 2

My husband loves cookies, and I am learning that so does Bentley. This afternoon I made yummy pumpkin cookies that Emily shared on her blog and the recipe is so easy-peasy:

1 box spice cake
1 3/4 cup pumpkin
chocolate chips

Mix and bake at 350

Back to my story. Bentley loves cookies. He ate a couple after dinner and when I took him to the sink to wash his hands off he grabbed another off the counter.

Like father like son.

He did it!

My threat last night of letting Bentley cry when he woke up in the middle of the night must have worked cause he slept through the night!

No waking up, no crying. Nothing. Just a full nights sleep.

Security vs. Sanity

Tonight at dinner I was informing Bentley of the plan. The plan is that when Bentley wakes up at the normal 3 am time in the morning, we are letting him cry. This habit has got to be broken (especially before Aunt Karisa gets him next week) and tonight is the night it is all going to change.

I think his dad had a harder time with the idea than the little boy did because a while later Chod asked Bentley if he wanted to sleep in our bed tonight. I looked at him and he said "I don't want to make him cry. He needs to feel secure, and how will he feel secure when he is feeling abandoned when he is all alone crying tonight?"

mm mm Good

Lately Bentley has been smelling less like baby and more like a person. I miss the smell of baby lotion and still slather him in it, but by 10 am that yummy smell would disappear...until I bought the Target brand baby lotion. Much cheaper and in the middle of the afternoon I can still smell baby on him. I thought it was just me thinking I could still smell him until 5 people in the last week have commented on how good he smells late in the day.

Skip the Johnson's Baby Lotion and go for the Target stuff. Lovin it!

Super Heroes

Yesterday as my Friday babysitting kids were here the younger (4) said "Hey look!" As I turned around he ripped open his shirt (it was a snap up shirt) to reveal Superman underneath. Soon his pants were off and he was running around my house in his complete Superman outfit.

His older brother told me they were his pj's-not sure why he was wearing them under his clothes. But he did inform me that Kent Clark always has his superman costume on underneath his clothes.

Before long he opened his backpack-and produced a complete Batman outfit-bat ears and all. Batman was worn over the top of Superman.

Two super heores in one day running around my house.

Friday Night Date

Last night we went to dinner at Applebee's and ended our date at Sam's Club where we dropped a load of money on nothing fun.

There was a man eating alone at a table to the right of me who talked on his phone the entire meal. He talked loud and I listened. He had been staying at a FourSeasons hotel somewhere and in Idaho Falls they put him in a Motel 6-trash. He thought Applebees was low class, a glorified Denny's to be correct-but the worst part-He actually had to wait 20 minutes to even get in! He kept telling the person that we was talking to that people kept staring at him-they probably didn't know he was on the phone, but thought he was talking to himself, hicks.

I wanted to tap him on the shoulder and let him know that we really did know he was on the phone but thought it was rude that he was talking so loudly that we were all forced to re-live his day.

Then onto Sam's Club. I needed to use the restroom, I saw the Women's sign and headed in. To find urinals on my left. Whoa!

Yep I walked into the, lucky for me, vacant Men's room.

Gift Giving

I love buying presents. If I had an unlimited cash flow I would be busy right now filling my amazon.com shopping cart will all sorts of goodies for all of you. But truth be known, I don't. So instead I have been helping others find gifts for the ones they love. I would love to share what I have come up with, but that would ruin Christmas.

The hunt for just the right present is fun for me. Anyone can give a packet of hot chocolate in a mug with a candy cane, but that gets old year after year.

Blogger Beta

So I just switched to blogger beta. I was a little skeptical at first, but it does make it a lot easier to customize your blog. If you want to add links to the sidebar or change your text colors, then change!

Trickster

Taking a bath standing up. Never heard of it? Well that is how Bentley prefers to bathe these days. It makes for a difficult wash and an occasion slip resulting in splits but he is insistent. He pulls himself up to the side of the bath tub and then works his way along the side eventually making it to the faucet where he can see his reflection. He then will dance in the tub while holding onto the faucet until his mom ruins all of his fun.

Modern Conveniences

This morning as I have been doing a little housework I started thinking how thankful I am for modern conveniences in my home.

#1 Refrigerator:Long gone are the days of an ice box. Food keeps longer and the hassle of hauling and storing ice is history.

#2 Clothes Washer:As much as I dislike doing laundry it would be a lot worse if I had to take my washboard down to the stream to scrub clothes clean.

#3 Microwave:This little beauty allows me to not plan ahead when preparing meals. A quick trip to the microwave and food is defrosted, cooked, and reheated.

#4 Disposable diapers:Need I say more?

#5 Water heater:I love hot water.


Yep, there are lots of modern conveniences I am glad I have in my home that I take for granted quite often.

My Little Puppy

Bentley wants a puppy.

And until he gets one he is going to act like one.
Tonight he crawled around with a sock in his mouth. His dad does not think it is the least bit cute and does not like me laughing at him. He says I am training him to be a puppy.

When he can fetch and starts chewing on Chod's slippers I'll get worried. Until then every time he does this I am going to bug Chod about getting him a puppy.

See that little spot on his forehead? That is the result of Bentley's first fall producing blood.

Giggles and Kisses

What happens when Bentley is tired? He turns into a kissing fool.

We were in Burley the last couple of days as Chod went paintballing yesterday and we spent the night.

Last night Bentley was tired and so silly. He played games with Grandpa and giggled like crazy. He never grew tired of peek-a-boo and would laugh every time Grandpa would move Froggie.

Grandpa may have gotten the laughs, but Grandma and I got the kisses. Lots and lots of kisses. At first they were asked for and before long he was handing them out freely and then surprising us with them. Wet, slobbery and a little bit snotty kisses.

Not so early phone calls

Bentley didn't sleep very well last night. I'm not sure what was wrong but I finally went to bed at 5 the morning.

I woke up to the sun shining in the window and Chod was gone. As I was waking up and trying to decide what the time was the phone rings.

I picked it up and tried to use my awake voice.

It was a lady in the ward needing help printing some digital scrapbook pages. A few minutes on the phone and she asks if she woke me up.

"Not really, I was awake just hadn't made it out of bed."

I told her Bentley had a rough night, and I didn't even know what time it was.

"Oh, its 9:00."

How embarassing.

Christmas Cards

Our Christmas cards are made, now they just need to get printed (and written in, and addressed and mailed...). I would love to share how cute they turned out, but that would ruin the surprise when I mail them. Anyway they are cute! If anyone wants me to help them with theirs-I'd love to!

Baby Slobber

We are in line to check out at Cal-Ranch and Chod is helping Bentley pull Nibs off the shelf.

"Mom, look what Bentley did."

"Bentley, do you want some Nibs?"

Bentley gets excited and starts jumping for joy.

We buy the Nibs.

Stop at Keslers. I run in for a gallon of milk.

Get back in the car and notice a strong cherry aroma. Turn around to see my baby covered in cherry slobber and awkwardly chewing something.

"Did you give him a Nib?!"

"Yeah he wanted one."

"What if he chokes?"

"Then I'll have to save him."

Somewhat Nerdy

How bout you?

First Hair Cut

Bentley's hair has been getting nastier by the day. There are about 3 spots where the hair never fell out of and so it was super long. Both sides of his head and then the very top had crazy long hair. He could have easily had a comb-over. While we were in Burley Kandice was going to cut his hair, but when her kids ended up sick Bentley went without.

Yesterday morning before church Chod brought Bentley and some clippers into the kitchen and told me it was time for him to get his hair cut. Propped up on the bar school I held onto him and tried to cut his hair at the same time.

The results: mostly shorter hair with still a few stray long ones, but much better overall.

Paint can ruin brushes

Yesterday I helped Karisa at her wards enrichment where they were painting signs. By help I mean I washed out paintbrushes all morning long. Surely these people went to Homemakings back in the day, and surely they painted there. So why was 'clean out your brush and don't leave it to dry out on the table' such a difficult concept for them?

I do not know.

Jabberbox

Bentley is a little talker! While we were in Burley he would sit on my mom's lap and tell her all sorts of stories. Dad said that if he didn't know better he would think Bentley was Deidra's child (she has always been a talker).

Last night we got home and Bentley was in his high chair eating CornPops and Chod asked, "When did Bentley start saying Pattycake?" I told him that he doesn't say pattycake. Then I stopped and looked, there was Bentley sitting clapping his hands together saying "patacake, patacake."

I kid you not.