pope land

20 October 2010

At Last!

Greeting from Popeland! I apologize for being so severely remiss in this blog. Basically what happened is that I, Ashley, started graduate school and things got a little busy, including Benjamin! He's doing wonderfully! He's 15 and half months old and he's been walking since around 13 months old. Yes, it's been that long since we've blogged. He's got a lot more teeth and eats like a growing boy should! He acquired a strong affinity to Elmo and Thomas the Train. Granted, he only has one train and it's Duncan, but he loves the books and the occasional episode we let him watch. He has several words including Mama, Dada, ball, girl, Elmo, duck, dog, and a few others I can't think of right now. He loves to dance and sing--we hope to get a video of this soon, it is so cute. He sways back and forth or bobs up and down and makes little "ta, ta, ta" noises like he's singing. He loves, loves, his books and being outside. While Mommy is at class on MWF at 11:00, he goes to a little preschool that he really loves. He goes on MW from 9-12 and it's been really great for him (Daddy keeps him on Fridays while Mommy's in class). It took him about a month to not cry when I left him but now he loves it. Oh, in case my going back to school has any of your wondering why, I'm going to get a Master's in Teaching in Middle Grades Ed. Fun times. In other news, we went to Oakland, CA to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew (Brandon, Sara, and Elliott). We had a blast! It was awesome to get out of Savannah and enjoy the weather and people of the west coast. It was Benjamin's first plane ride and he did pretty well. Also in September, we had Benjamin baptized in. Our good friend Alan came down from Nashville to do it. Also, for those of you who don't know, Craig and I are expecting a second baby boy near the end of February! Benjamin will have and be a brother! We are very excited to have two brothers so close together. Other than that, the Popes are rolling right along in the 80 degree autumn weather we're having is summery Savannah. Pics to follow!

Benjamin and Elliott in California. Cuties!

Family on a hill in Oakland.

In his Harry Potter robe, aka, Mommy's cardigan.

Uncle Brandon with the boys--Elliott is a little skeptical.

Riding on the train at the Oakland Zoo!

Daddy and the giant frog!

I got in my wagon!

I love pushing things!

Me and Grandma Christine!

Aunt Sara and Cousin Elliott

Down the slide!

Am I the cutest, or what?

10 July 2010

1 Year!

Hello all. Benjamin has turned one year-old and we can't believe it. It has been such a monumental year for both him and his mommy and daddy. We feel like completely different people almost. It is true there are few adventures as daring, dangerous, and rewarding as parenthood. As a mother, I have learned the valuable lesson of flexibility and trust that your baby will be alright in the absence of a nap or a full meal. That may sound simple, but it's an invaluable piece of wisdom it took a long hard road for to accept as actual wisdom. I would tell any new mother to treat this one word as the most important in her vocabulary: relax.

Now, onto the birthday boy. He a little guy, but healthy--he weighs 19 and a half pounds (about the 10%) and is 29 and some inches tall (about the 40%), so he's skinny and taller like his daddy. He loves to eat though and his favorite veggie is carrots followed closely by broccoli. He likes veggie burgers, beans, pasta, bread and hummus, any fruit, bananas with avocado, and, recently since we've introduced it, cheese and yogurt. We just finished off the last of his formula and so far, he is NOT a fan of cow's milk. We're experimenting a bit to get him to like it more, but I'm not too stressed. There are other ways to get his calcium. He loves the YoBaby yogurt drinks and I just put one in his sippy cup. He loves it. We've only been at straight milk not even a day, so we'll see how it goes.

He's almost walking. He'll stand up and take a few steps on his own and then fall down, so he's almost there. He loves all his new birthday toys including his helicopter, firetruck, drums and shakers, big leggos, and, above all, his balloon we got him the day of his birthday and that is quickly dwindling. He's going through a "I don't want to slow down to read my books" phase, but he still likes them every now and then. One thing we know he absolutely loves is playing in water. He loves his bath, loves being in the pool, and will even barrel down the beach, head-first into the waves if we didn't stop him! He's a little fish right now.

Benjamin is a happy, curious, loving, and...shall we say, determined little boy. We love him so much and are so happy and proud to have him for our son.

Below are some pics from our trip to Jekyll Island with Craig's family and pics from his birthday. Funnily enough, it was hard to get a picture of him smiling on his bday. But he was very happy. Just in constant motion!
__________________________________

JEKYLL

First time on Papa's boat!

It's windy out here!

Hello Mr. Dolphin!

Cousin pile!

B and second cousin, Addison, 9 months

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1st BIRTHDAY!

Good morning, birthday boy!

Pool time! Pals Bryson and Ethan join the splashing

Presents!

The favored balloon.

Yum!

07 June 2010

11 Months

Benjamin is a wopping 11 months! I can't believe that in less than a month my little baby is going to turn, not only 1 year old, but into a toddler! He is so much fun right now. I guess I say that at every post, but it's true every time. Our little guy is growing up! He is cruising pretty quickly now across couches and ottomans, but he still favors his crawl to get around. He loves cars, blocks, and still anything he's not allowed to play with, particularly shoes and remotes. He loves eating and his favorites are bananas, cherries, pasta, broccoli, and a new addition, a ginger teriyaki veggie rice patty. Yum! No words yet, other than Mama and Dada, although he really doesn't use them to address us, we don't think. But if you say to him, "Go find Mama," or "Where's Daddy?", he'll immediately start looking around for that parent. He'll go to his books if you say books and there are some other words he seems to know the meaning of. His favorite new trick at meal time is to hold a piece of food over the floor from his perch in his high chair and just stare at me. I've told him "No" when he's dropped food on the floor before, so now he likes to play the game of "let's get Mommy's attention by attempting to drop this food on the floor". Usually, he's just stared me down while I say "No" and then he'll pop said food chunk into his mouth. However, lately, he's been dropping it on the floor anything, so my new tactic is to ignore it. The minute he brings to food over the edge of the tray in his sly characteristic way, I look down and don't look at him until he's put the food in his mouth. This usually works. It's the attention he wants, not the dropping of the food (even though I'm right there talking to him during his whole meal!). If he does drop the food, I ignore that as well and this has definitely decreased the behavior. It's the behavior analyst in me coming out! He's so funny! It's amazing how soon they learn what will push your buttons!

In May, the Pope clan went to Nashville. We loved being back in the town where it all started for Craig and me. Nashville will always be such a special place to us. The flooding had left its signs, but all seemed well and there were still many projects going on to help people clean up their properties. Benjamin did great on his first long, hotel-staying vacation, and so did Mommy! Craig and I got to go out two different night after he went to bed (our good friend who works with college kids found us a great babysitter, who basically just had to sit in our hotel room while B slept). We had a blast. One night we went out with some friends and the other we had a date, where we recreated what a typical date looked like for us when we lived in Nashville. We also went to the spot where Craig proposed and recreated the scene. We have some pretty funny pics from that! I've put some under the pics of B. All in all it was a great trip and made me want to be a Nashvillian again!

With his first birthday coming up, I'm reminded of the journey we've taken to get there and it's been amazing. He barely even seems like the same baby he was when he came home from the hospital and I suppose, he's really not. I love being a mother. It was hard going at first, but it is the best and most important thing I've ever done in my life and I'm so excited about our family and the future of our family.

Here are some pics from month 11.

'p['il;p;gtx0

The above text is what Benjamin typed when he sauntered over the see what I was doing. Probably some cryptic form of genius poetry. Okay, now for the pics.