Friday, May 30, 2008

Preparing For A Vacation: The 2006 and 2008 Version

Preparing for a Vacation 2006...
B.B. (Before Ben), preparing for a vacation was a bit different. A few weeks leading up to the vacation I would go shopping for a few new outfits (spending more than I would admit to Wally). After the shopping excursion, I would hide my purchases from Wally (well...that hasn't really changed). I would then write my girlfriends and tell them of all the cute outfits I bought and we would obsess over whatever resort we would be staying at's Web site. I would invision myself sitting on a lounge chair and sipping expensive cocktails by the beach or poolside. My thoughts would then drift off to the spa treatments I would be planning and the fabulous dinners that we would be eating. I would probably go out the night before to celebrat the start of the vacation and then relax...

Preparing for a Vacation 2008...
I still went shopping but I bought one of those bathing suit skirt cover-ups (and haggled with the sale person to give it to me for $7.99 rather than $12.99 because I saw another skirt differnt pattern for the $7.99 price but I wanted this pattern and didn't want to spend the extra few dollars). While my objective is and always will be style, the main objective here was to cover my growing rear and upper thighs. And instead of lots of outfits for me, it was more about Benjamin and what he needed like sandals , aqua shoes, another bathing suit (I can't resist) and hat. The shopping trip was fit in yesterday - two days before the trip - during my rushed lunch hour because I had to get back to the office for a call. Next, I had to go food shopping because their will be no staff taking care of me this weekend - it will be me so we need all the essentials and food. I also have to pack up the house because once again we are not staying at a resort so I need to pack everything from plastic wrap to toilet paper. I did the laundry last night at about 11 and finished up something for work too. This morning around 6, I folded clothes and packed some things while getting ready for work and taking care of Ben. Mom arrived and I had to head out and I have lists of things I need to pack swimming in my head. My other thought is how can we possible fit everything in the Tahoe?!? Did I mention Bruin is coming - that is a whole other layer that I can't even get into. Oh yes, I also have to clean the house because we have a video crew coming over from Weichert to help sell the joint. I will also celebrate my vacation but it will be with a bottle of wine while packing and cleaning not out and about. I anticipate being done at around 1 am and then I will relax...

My how things have changed...

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Can You Say Mommy?


The first word Benjamin uttered was "Bru" for our dog Bruin. He then went on to say Dadda and Dad and Daddy. From there, he's vocabulary has expanded to include words like Grandpa, Grandma and Nanny. He can also say hi and goodbye, truck, car, rock and duck. Oh yes, there are others like Jaguar and Elephant. You are probably asking the same question many have asked me, "can he say mommy?". The answer breaks my heart each and every time, "no." Now my incredible husband and loving Mother, Father and brother and even best friend Kristi have told me "he says it Jenn." But, I haven't heard it not like he calls his Dad when he yells for him down the hall "Dadda, DAD!". I know, I know - it will happen. And I know the comments that will be left in response to this blog, "the sound an M makes is very hard to learn" or "my child didn't say it until he was about a year and a half" but it still doesn't stop it from hurting. I cried to Wally about it this morning and I guess this was a good place to get it off my chest. Of course, in my mind, I think "oh, he doesn't love me as much" or "he doesn't know me because I work too many hours." I know these things are not true but I waited so long to have Benjamin and be a Mom. I just want to hear these words yelled down the hall at me. I do take comfort in one fact, my Grandmother will always tell the story how Benjamin uttered (actually screamed) his first word on the day he was born and that word was "Ma". I loved hearing it then and I can't wait to hear it now. I just hope it is soon (for my own sanity and those around me).
(This post is dedicated to my friend Nadia - WE ARE GOOD MOMS)

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The Kamienski's One Year Old Driven Memorial Day Weekend

It isn't like I didn't believe people when they said "one year olds have a lot of energy". If I had any doubt about the energy of a one year old Memorial Day Weekend cemented the thought in my mind forever. It is truly amazing how much energy one little boy can have. At 8 every night this weekend, Wally and I thought "he has to be tired" but he wasn't. The day this photo was taken Ben, Wally and I went on the first family hike (I use the term hike very loosely because at one point we were "hiking" through a parking lot). Our adventure began first trying to find a carrier for Benjamin. We have a Baby Bjorn but Ben grew out of that contraption awhile ago. We were looking for a "serious" carrier. We first went to Dick's Sporting Goods and found out these things aren't cheap at $200 I hoped we would be hiking quite a bit. Wally strapped Benjamin in and walked around the store seeing if he liked the feel of the thing. I just thought "that looks heavy and I hope Wally wants to carry him all the time in it." We decided to look in Babies R Us since we had to go there anyway and since we had a 10% off coupon. We ended up finding the exact same carrier there (A Kelty Kids Version 3.0 - or something like that) but it wasn't in the color Wally wanted so he had the guy climb up and check out all the boxes to see if they had a color he liked. At one point, Wally was considering going back to Dick's to spend more money so he could get a grey one - I said "no". It is now about 11:30 and no hiking has started except if you consider the hiking around the stores we did. Benjamin in Babies R Us insists on eating Cheerios himself and whenever I try to take the container away from him he screams so we think he is happy eating his Cheerios and he isn't the first kid to drop Cheerios all over Babies R Us. We did finally go on a hike it was 1 mile to The Arboretum through the woods and up a hill and along a stream into a beautiful field. Benjamin loved it and his finger was pointing everywhere making sure we saw all the wonderful sights as well. Once we got to the Arboretum, Benjamin got out of his carrier and was free to explore the world. On his exploration, that is where we captured the great picture above. He decided to get a closer look at the flowers growing - it was one of the those perfect moments that you were lucky enough to capture on film. He also checked out the fountains on the grounds and threw a number of sticks in the fountain and was very proud of himself. He also tried to run away from us down a path laughing his head off but Wally was too quick for him and that made him laugh even more. One the way back to our car (a mile away), Benjamin got tired of the carrier and let us know about it. We walked pretty quickly back and were pretty exhausted once we got the car. Once back in his car seat, I think we were only in reverse and Benjamin was sound asleep - something Wally and I wish we were at that time. But no matter how exhausted, we were this weekend and it was the best exhaustion I have ever felt.