Caution: Cute pictures of baby in life jacket!

Last week was Ben's first trip to the cottage. And this week was his first trip to the boat including a ride! He seemed to really love it! He didn't dig the life jacket too much, and don't tell the Coast Guard, but we didn't have it on the whole time. He did ok, though! For those of you who don't know, don't worry, it's a big boat! He wasn't going anywhere! We also went to the beach (by car) and played with my parents dogs. Ben just loved watching them run after the ball in the water. It was his first time putting his little feet in the sand, too! He just pushed them all around and was mesmerized (see second video of Ben's first time touching sand)! I don't know why we didn't do that last week?! Oh well.

Ben's been a little crabby today. I'm sure it's because he didn't get a good nap yesterday. But, I did just have a funny experience with him! I just had him in the bath and was sprinkling water on him. He was reaching for the stream, amazed that he couldn't grab it. Then he started peeing! He shot a little stream up and was also amazed at that and started grabbing at it! Oh, boys!

We have also started to have to give Ben a toy during diaper changes. His hands are busy trying to find toys, learning. He often finds his little wee wee. During poopy diapers, it gets a little yucky! So, we need to keep those hands busy with something a lot cleaner!

Hope everyone is well!

Ben's First Trip to the Cottage!

I am so excited that we got to take Ben to the cottage for the first time. As most of you know, my cottage is very important to us. My Grandmother designed it, my family has enjoyed it for 35 years, my sister was married there, and on the upper deck is where Brian proposed marriage to me. So, to share it with our son is very special. The weekend was an amazing success. He loved it there! We went with friends I went to school with and their little ones, as well as our old Durham friend Dagan, who now lives in Chicago. Ben handled the drive great! He settled in his first night well. I will say, he woke up the first night screaming at one point, and I think he was just startled about being in a new place and I had no lights on (he sleeps with a night light). He fell back asleep after a few minutes and did well the rest of the weekend.

We spent our days sitting on the deck under the umbrella, walking down to the beach, throwing the ball for Abby, who has never been so happy! Ben is just so inquisitive! He wants to reach out and grab at everything, just explore. He loved being down at the beach just looking at the waves and the dogs playing about. We could not hang out on the beach too long. I mean, the weather was GREAT! But it was great from the deck. We just didn't want to put him down on the sand, even on a towel while we were there or walk too far away from the house (in case of a melt down, which never happened). Brian did watch after Ben everyday for me as I took Abby for walks and gave her some love and attention on the beach. I took a nice video of a Chuck-it demonstration. For those wondering what a Chuck-it is, it's the best invention ever for dog owners of dogs who love to fetch.

Hope you all enjoy the videos and pictures we got this weekend. They are priceless to us. Ben is such a wonderful kid, and we sure loved watching him experience all these new sights this great weekend!

This one's clean

After 2 very descriptive blogs, this one is pretty innocent. Just to clear the air, none of it got in my mouth!!!!

This is just a picture of Abby and her toys, Ben and his toys, both enjoying some tummy time! I added a couple of videos at the end for your enjoyment. They are spit up free!

Anyway, since then we've had a few developments. First, the Bishop 4 have finally bought a new car. One that we can all fit in! We got a 2006 Honda Pilot. It's nice! And big! We kept my car as Brian's was dying, ever so slowly, but it was dying. We'll keep one big and one small car is our hope. We'll be taking our new/used car for it's first road trip TONIGHT! We're heading to northern Michigan for a weekend at the cottage. We're meeting some friends from college for some R&R. The weather looks GREAT! Sunny and 70! Should be nice. Ben's first trip to the cottage. I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures.

The other development is Ben is rolling over AGAIN. He did for a few days a couple weeks ago and then stopped. Over the past several days, he's gotten back in the habit. And this time he's going both from tummy to back and back to tummy! I laid him on his back last night in his crib and when I went in there this morning he was on his belly, turned 180degrees and his head in the corner! He sure moves around a lot. He's so stinking cute!

Everyone have a great holiday weekend!!!

Overhead Baby Warning.

This is a test of the Overhead Baby System. This is only a test. If babies were actually overhead, this message would be followed by video, like the one below. This is only a test....





Well, that wasn't a test at all was it?

We were having problems uploading video recently, but this should make up for it. My bro-in-law and sister (Evan and Allison) requested this be put on the interweb for posterity. If you like it, sign up as a friend to the blog and we'll be posting much more video soon. Have a great Sunday and watch out for babies overhead.

Oh, and if you haven't seen Evan's awesome online portfolio from our weekend in Richmond (back in April), here it is!

- Brian

An almost poopy in the bathtub!

I had to blog. I was almost initiated into a whole new club within the motherhood! The poopy in the bathtub! I thought I'd have a typical night, just coming home from work, giving my kid a bath, feeding him and tucking him in. He was sitting in the bathtub, and suddenly got this look on his face. Then the bubbles started coming up! "Oh sh**!" I thought! I wasn't sure what to do. I kind of froze. Do I pick him up and risk getting it all over me? Or do I just let him go for it and deal with the consequences? There was still no poopy, just gas. I had to move, though, I had to do something. I quickly rinsed the rest of the soap off him. Now mind you, as I was frantically doing this, Ben was laughing at me. It might have been my high pitched voice going "Don't do it! Hold it in bud!" I got him out and wrapped in the towel, diaper donned, then heard a little more rip. It was just a little bit, but he poopied! We made it into the diaper, though!

One close call for Momma!

I can get my foot in my mouth!

It has been a busy week! I have worked my first full week since having a baby. I have decided this is not for me! I know, I'm spoiled in that I don't have to, but I miss my boy! I'm only doing it to help out while other OTs are taking some time off. So, this week and next week I will work 5 days. Being there feels pretty normal. I've been full time my whole adult life. But, by the time we get home, settled, it's time for Gigantour to go to bed. I get a whopping one to two hours with him in the evenings. Couldn't do this for very long.

We did get our first babysitter this week! It was a lady I work with who is another OT. She works with all the kids in our clinic, so I thought, why not?! It gave me and Brian a chance to go car shopping Wednesday night. We test drove several cars and think we know what we're looking for. We're actually hoping to have a new car in the next couple of weeks. Just in time to head to the cottage for Memorial Day weekend. As far as using our first babysitter...I think it went pretty well! I mean, I know her better then I knew the daycare people when I left Gigantour with them. She said Ben was an angel, of course. Got a little cranky when it was time to eat, but I'm pretty cranky when it's time to eat.

We're actually sleeping pretty well, too. He has been going 12-13 hours at night, only waking up ever so often to be rewrapped. He hasn't needed a middle of the night feeding in weeks! I have also been experimenting with having him sleep on his belly. I know! The doctor actually recommended it! It makes me extremely nervous, and I usually flip him over before I go to sleep but he seems to like it. The reason for this is I'm starting to get nervous about the shape of his head! I had told the doctor this and that the only time he is really on his back is when he's sleeping, and getting changed, and I still feel like we're fighting the flat head! She assured me that he is old enough to sleep on his belly. So, I started doing that for his naps when I can have an eagle on him via my video monitor and at night until I go to sleep. We'll see. I am open to any other adive on how to fight the flat head syndrome!

As you can see, Ben is trying extremely hard to get his foot in his mouth these days. It's his favorite new past time. He has succeeded only a couple of time including this time right after his bath when he was getting dressed. He's so serious about this act, too. We also cannot get him to roll, all of the sudden. He was really good at rolling belly to back and then just stopped. Now it seems he tries and tries and just can't do it on his own! It's been like a week and half since he's done it on his own. Are we going backwards? I'm sure he'll figure it out again.

This weekend we are off to a BBQ and then chilling for my first Mother's Day! I just want to play with my boy all day long! We are also having our roofer over today before the BBQ. As some of you remember, we had a bit of a roof and ceiling collapse last September. With all the Spring rains these past few weeks we've noticed our gutters (which are brand new) are not working. One seems to be angled the wrong way, and there is rain pouring off our front roof as if there isn't a gutter there at all! So after many phone calls, he is on his way over to hopefully fix the problem. It just seems never ending!

Love you all! And, Happy Mother's Day out there to all the Moms!