Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

happy (belated) birthday, ben!

Poor Ben... his first birthday (which fell on Mother's Day) was overshadowed by a stomach virus that started with Daniel earlier that week and was shared throughout the family. Ben was barely well enough to eat a birthday cupcake, I was not well enough at all, and we hardly have any photos. Thankfully he's too young to have been bothered by the haphazard nature of the festivities. In fact, if it hadn't been for Alyssa, he wouldn't have had cake at all that day.

Also as a result, I also didn't finish his birthday slideshow on time, and once I was already late with finishing it, I lacked the motivation of a deadline. Poor second child! I finally told myself I would get it done by the end of May... and I did! I just didn't get it posted until today. So anyway, without further ado, here's a retrospective of Ben's first year. Enjoy!

Ben - One Year from jennifer on Vimeo.

Monday, February 8, 2010

two and a half

My "big boy" turned two and a half this past week... or "two un-half" if you're using his preferred pronunciation.  I was going to try to make this a coherent post with actual paragraph structure and everything, but I guess my mind is having a hard time wrapping itself around the fact that he's now closer to three than to two.  Plus, I haven't blogged in a really long time (I know, I know).  So it'll be a little more of a stream of consciousness.

At two and a half, Daniel...

... will tell you every chance he gets that he is a "big boy".
... frequently utters the phrase "my do it myself!" 
... hasn't fully grasped the proper usage of pronouns (see previous).
... loves to do puzzles and is very good at them.
... has a bedtime routine consisting of reading two books and having a "big talk" with Dad.
... refuses to let us tuck him into bed, because he has to close his door himself.
... has a good time playing with his friends at school twice a week.
... loves to play any kind of ball, including his own invention, "hall ball".
... is a great big brother to Baby Ben.
... is better than anyone at making Ben laugh.
... is so much more verbal than he was a few months ago - it's so fun seeing how his mind works.
... would probably watch Thomas the Train all day if we let him.  Curious George is a close second.
... loves to build with blocks and legos.
... enjoys chatting with his grandparents via webcam.
... can count to six, but often transposes three and four.
... is learning his letters, with his favorites being D for Daniel, and B for Ben.
... gives amazing bear hugs.
... is loved a whole lot.

Happy two-and-a-half, Daniel!

Monday, August 31, 2009

new york (summer vacation part 2)

After Raleigh, we made the looooong trip up to New York, with a brief stopover in Wilmington. We had a fantastic time with Mike's family, highlighted by a birthday party for all of the July/August birthdays in the family - which I hesitate to list for fear of missing one! This was the first of three birthday celebrations for Daniel, and to say he enjoyed it would be putting it mildly.
"Mmmm, sugar!"


Meanwhile, Mike pretended to be taller than John...
... Joanne, Nana, and Grandpa enjoyed some cake too...
... Benjamin got some love from Aunt Cathy...
... and Daniel convinced Aunt Joanne to give him more dessert.
One of the most fun things about this trip was seeing how much fun Daniel had with his cousins. He absolutely idolized them, and just couldn't get enough time with them. This is one of my favorite pictures of Daniel with his cousins - he just loved being one of the big guys!
And of course we had to get a photo of all of the boys together: Richie, Joey (holding Benjamin), Andy and Daniel.

And Benjamin had a great time hanging out with Aunt Betty while Daniel played with the guys!
Trips like this make me realize how much I miss being closer to family. Can't wait for our next visit!

Monday, August 18, 2008

birthday at the beach

Daniel celebrated on his actual birthday with a trip to the beach! He did great on the flight to Florida - he slept almost the whole way, so he was ready for a birthday party that evening.

Opening presents! He got lots of fun things, including a puppy dog pull-toy and a dog xylophone.




And finally some cake, which apparently tastes better if you eat it straight off the table!


Saturday, August 2, 2008

Friday, August 1, 2008

one year ago today

Daniel's due date was one year ago today - August 1, 2007. I was still at work, since Daniel hadn't made any attempts to leave his comfy home yet. Mike and I decided to meet up for lunch, under the pretense of celebrating Daniel's "hypothetical" birthday. We met at a little Asian restaurant a couple of blocks from my office, and sat down to a nice lunch of Thai food. About halfway through my Chicken Masaman, I felt something. Something warm and wet. Yes, that's right, my water broke as I sat there eating my lunch.

I must have gotten a pretty funny look on my face, because Mike immediately said, "what is it? Are you okay?" I replied, "I think my water just broke" and we realized that we were about to have a baby! Luckily, there was no embarrassing gush when I stood up - I don't think anyone in the restaurant realized what had happened. We left our meals half-eaten, and Mike ran the two blocks to my office to get the car, while I sat on a bench outside and waited (I wasn't about to walk that far). Apparently, Daniel had realized the party was for him and decided to try to make an appearance. We thought for awhile that he might actually arrive on his due date, but he ended up missing it by an hour and 52 minutes.

So, jumping back to the present from that little trip down memory lane, we decided to commemorate the anniversary of his almost-birthday with a trip back to the same restaurant for lunch. Boy, was it different this year! We did manage to sit at the same table, but this time we needed a highchair for the amazing little boy who's grown so much in a year I can hardly believe it.

Here are a few photos. As you can see, Daniel really wanted to eat with chopsticks. Daddy tried to help him, and that satisifed him for a little while.
But he really wanted to try it himself. He made a valiant attempt, but I don't think his hand-eye coordination is quite up to the task of chopsticks yet.
We also re-visited the bench where I waited for Mike to get the car. Hard to believe that Daniel fit inside me a year ago!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

early birthday

Daniel's Papa and Grandma, along with Great-Grandpa, came to visit this past weekend so we had a little early birthday celebration.


All this for me?



Hmmm, what have we here?



Frosting, you say? Well, it's fun to play with!



Tastes pretty good too! Yum!



Happy birthday to me!



I get presents, too?



Now I can be an engineer like Daddy and Mommy! Oh wait, you guys don't drive trains?