Moose is Turning 30!

Sorry this is a bit late but I've been a bit busy. You see, my dear husband is currently enjoying the Cubs game with his pals Jeff, Dagan, and Diddy. Last evening Jeff and Diddy flew in and surprised Brian along with Dagan's help. I have been busily shopping, and preparing my house for the party. The male bonding went until the wee hours, and now it's 2 days of baseball and beers. Yes, they're going to the Sunday game as well. It's just me and Ben tonight as Brian will be crashing at Dagan's place. A pretty good birthday bash if you ask me. It was something I came up with about 6 months ago and am amazed that I kept it a secret this long!

Ben update: he's working on tooth #5. He's starting to get the hang of it a bit. We still have a few nights here and there that are pretty sleepless. Orajel and the occasional Tylenol helps. One piece of advice I have for new mothers out there: don't apply the Baby Orajel if there is a feeding anytime in the near future. It just equals frustration for your poor baby who can't feel his mouth.

Other than teeth, he's still mastering his crawling skills. He also learned the fun in closing doors. No fingers caught yet! Man he loves that, though! So many dangers! It still amazes me how I can have 100 toys on the floor and that boy will crawl right past them and bee line it to the floor vent, or outlet, things like that!

Hope all is well. I'm going to enjoy my quiet evening of guilt free chick flick watching!

You can just call me Godmother

Things continue to be good, but busy here in the Bishop household. Last weekends trip to Detroit for me and Ben went very well. My friend Jeannine hitched a ride along to see her boyfriend there and it worked out well for all of us! Since Brian could not go, I was worried about driving the four hours plus with just me and Ben. Having someone else there made everything so much easier.

The weekend didn't start out so nice. As I was waiting for Jeannine to arrive I thought I would let Abby out one more time. She was going to be alone all day, and I thought it would be nice for her to stretch her legs a bit more. I called her back from her adventure out in the field and noticed immediately that she was now a chocolate lab. Yes, for the third time in her 5 years she rolled in some other animal's waste product. As many of you know, we have a horse farm behind us. You got it?

I couldn't very well leave her all day like this, so I ended up furiously scrubbing her in the backyard. I used an expletive or two, as Jeannine could tell you as she laughed uncontrollably at me from the back deck.

Luckily, the rest of the weekend went a bit smoother. The ride was nice. Ben and I had a GREAT time with the Trice family. Jackson and Ben are definitely going to be best friends. Jackson had a bit of a cold which so far (knock on wood) neither me, nor Ben has had a symptom. Ben had a bit of a fever and was super crabby on Monday. The fever was such that I thought he better stay home being that he was just around another sick kid. But, no cold, only three more teeth. We now have 2 on the bottom, one on top, and the two front teeth are just breaking the surface. Teething is throwing all of us for a loop. He's a bit more sensitive these days, and up at least once most nights.

Back to the weekend. Jen and I caught up on all our gossip. Shared loads of parenting tips. We did some of this soaking in her parent's pool on Saturday which felt SO good. Ben slept through the whole thing, which actually made it kind of nice for me. After soaking in the pool for a while, we headed over to Tim and Sandra's to see new baby Declan. He is so tiny! I held him for most of the afternoon. He's such a good baby. Tristan is falling nicely into the big brother role, and Tim and Sandy are happy, tired, but happy.

And, more exciting news! I am going to be a Godmother! Yes, little Jackson is going to be baptized and I was asked to hold the honor of Godmother! I am full of tons of spiritual advice and life experiences. Seriously though, I am extremely honored and cannot wait!

The weekend was nice but fast. It is nice to be home this weekend to see Brian, spend some family time together and clean my poor, neglected house.

3 for the price of 1

As I mentioned before, Ben is crawling. I am sort of learning how to child proof as we go along.

Things here have continued to be fun, busy all summer. Last weekend we had our friends who now live in Texas here, Steph and Andy Campbell. Stephanie is expecting their first little one so it was fun to watch them with Ben. He was a GOOD boy! It was hot and we decided to go downtown Saturday. We walked around at a street festival, got some good eats, went to the Mag Mile, and had a cocktail at the Signature Room on the 94th floor of the Hancock Building. It's one of our favorite things to do and it was the first time we tried it with a baby. We learned that at 3pm on a Saturday it is a very family friendly place. Lucky for us, there were kids everywhere. We got a table right on the glass and enjoyed the view overlooking the pier and Chicago. Ben just looked around, played with his toys. Such a good guy!

We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out, playing cards, a little ladder ball in the backyard, and some grilling. It was fun.

Ben and I leave for Detroit in the morning to see some friends there. My friend Sandy had a healthy baby boy about a month ago and I have to go hold him! A friend from work is actually coming with me as Brian can't make it, so it'll be nice to have someone with me for the drive.

Hope all is well!
And yes, he's doing raspberry there! Take that Chicago!

Bath Tubs and Baby Proofing

(Keep scrolling down for Ben's agility training!)

I was able to catch this moment in the bath tub! Ben is LOVING bath time. We have recently moved into the actual bathtub, from the kitchen sink. Abby is also discovering the joys of bath time. She loves to come up and help.

Everything else here is going well. Everyone is healthy (knock on wood), teeth are still coming in (Ben only), and learning to crawl (also Ben only). Yes, Ben is learning the ins and outs of crawling. He army crawls right now, but can really haul it that way! He is starting to come up on hands and knees and move a little that way, but then ends in the army crawl. It's scary. My house is NOT child proofed AT ALL! I thought I had all the time in the world to child poof, and here we are! One thing I have learned is that babies love cords. He will coast past every toy imaginable in the hopes of reaching whatever cord I have left in sight! It'll be fine.

Hope all is well!

Ben's Agility Workout

At the beginning, we joked about MLB. Major League Bishop. Or was that Middle Line Backer?

Well, we haven't been so jovial since. We've been training him HARD and I would have to say that Richard Williams has nothing on Patti and I. Both Venus and Serena would have given up with us as parents. Twice a day crawling practices are a must along with Peas and Carrots purees to bulk up. We've been video taping his improvements. Abby's tail is a new test - it improves hand eye coordination, reaction times, left and right agility. I think he's done very, very well....

What do you think?






I'm sure you'll agree that he's on his way.



- Brian




PS - No Bens were hurt in the making of this film.