He's home and pictures of Ben

Josh came home today. My mom went to pick him up at the airport for me. Drew was at a birthday party at a martial arts place (kickin boards and stuff). I signed her (and myself) up to receive flight status updates (departure confirmation, gate changes, arrival verification). The stupid thing changed gates about 8 times. Crazy!

He is so happy to be home. Smiles all around. You can just see how he is just relaxed and happy and so very glad to be here. He even buddied around with Drew since he got home. His friend Bailey came over to play with him and he actually told her that he'd been gone 3 weeks and just wanted to spend some time with his family!?! What kind of kid DOES THAT? MINE! :) He's so amazing.

He said that his dad told everyone up there that Josh had a "big butt." What a way to make your kid feel confident. He said that he'd commented a few times too on how "big" he was getting and he wasn't talking about tall. I verified it... the kid already suffers from body image issues... WHY in the world would someone say that to their kid? That's horrible.

HE came into my room while I was nursing Ben to talk. I love our talks. He told me that he was thankful I "warned" him prior to him going up there about potential conversations that may come up... because they did. He was glad to be prepared for them. He said that he's just glad the trip was over. He purged a bit. I just smiled and listened and validated his feelings.

Tonight is "guys night out" and they're all going to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. Ben and I are hanging out and enjoying a quiet evening. I just ordered some Chinese food (sesame chicken, chicken fried rice and crab rangoon) so that I could have dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow (and qualify with a large enough order to warrant free delivery!) :)

I was up today at about 5am. Ben didn't want to go back to sleep so .. about 6 I was up cleaning out all the maternity clothes from my closet. Damn I have a lot that I didn't wear. It's amazing how many you can accumulate with three pregnancies. Some were given to me, others bought second hand and a handful were purchased new. It was nice having a lot of variety. I'm ready to put them all on e-bay and/or Craig's list now! Especially the ones that I know will sell fast now (tank tops, swim suits, shorts and t-shirts). And this is after letting my friend Landy take two big bags of them home to use for her pregnancy, too. She's due in July!

One thing I did do ... which I hadn't done before was to buy some "transition" clothes. Before, I just wore maternity shorts for a bit until I shrank down enough to fit back into my larger clothes. I dind't want to do that this time. So, I DID bite the bullet and buy some transition clothes. Just a few but I can alreayd tell you that I feel worlds better having some "real" clothes to wear that fit. It's amazing what that can do for your self esteem! I mean, I TRY and TRY to fit into my old clothes but until I shed a few... it's just not happening and it was really depressing to continually wear those stupid maternity shorts. I said, "NO MORE!" I just want to be comfortable until I begin the losing process.

How is the process going to happen? SLOWLY! I DO want to get to where I'm running again... but I know at this point, it's all about baby steps. I will start walking in the mornings when it's nice and cool. You know, 85 degrees instead of walking when the heat index kicks it up to a balmy 105. I'd honestly rather have a really good treadmill and just do it on my own at home. See, if I go early in the morning, I'll be going by myself and leaving Ben here... and Andy sleeps until about 7:30 so he'd have to get up and watch Ben if he wasn't asleep already. I'm not sure he'd be too thrilled to do that. I'll have to ask. I do know, however, that I really want to start so unless he wants a fat wife, he's going to have to sacrifice an hour and half for me. If he goes to the gym, I'm watching all the boys myself. Why I feel so bad about taking that time for me is BEYOND ME!

The other thing I have discovered that I'm gong to HAVE to do is plan a menu. Seriously, plan the breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner. I have to or I will fail (for the day -- not overall).

And the other big news is that tomorrow I'm going about this time (7ish) to meet my friend Amanda to do Ben's 3 month photo shoot. I simply CAN.NOT.WAIT! She takes some of THE most amazing photos. Mulberry Studios is the name of her company. I'm so honored she's already taken a few of Ben for me...check them out. These are Ben's newborn shots (he was 10 days old).

This is just a photo of me holding Benji in between shots. But doesn't she make this seemingly average shot... look AMAZING?!



I loved her basket and soft blanket. He did too. TOtally sacked out!
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And is this not the most precious little thing? I love that antique scale.


I think if I had a blanket THIS soft, I'd do the same thing!
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I don't know if he was yawning or trying to "talk" like... I can't lift this melon off the table yet lady... get me OFF of my stomach! I wanted to get one of those adorable "posed" shots where they rest their heads on their hand or all squished up on his tummy but he wasn't having ANYTHING to do with it!


Here's the colorized version. Remember, he was a month early. He didn't have a chance to get all fattened up yet...and his skin and little knees and everything was so wrinkly and skinny! Poor kid. Looked like I had starved him in utero.


And those long monkey feet and toes!



I DO believe the Easter Bunny brought me someone pretty darn special! Melts your heart a little, don't it?
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