Bowling Bliss: Mother's Day and 13 Month Update

Mommy and Bentley...just before church on Mother's Day.

Well, let's see...where to start?

I think I'll start with Mother's Day. Such a special day! Last year was my first Mother's Day, and Bentley was about one month old. He was sweet and cuddly, cute and snuggly, but none of that compares to this Mother's Day. Seeing my little guy come down the stairs with Daddy wearing my new beach hat (I've wanted one for a while, so Bentley and Daddy made it happen!) was priceless. We played and ate breakfast before going to church and then went and did the "family thing" in Arab. Bentley was so sweet all day, and I loved my little Snuggle Monster wanting, "Mama." He is a bit of a stick-tight these days. I think he's come to the realization that I leave him every morning to go to work, so when he's got me...he wants me, which is FINE BY ME!

Overall, our actual Mother's Day was nice. We went to church, visited with family, relaxed a bit at home, and went to dinner with Russ, Cyndel, and Coen. While Sunday was nice, Daniel took the opportunity to celebrate Mother's Day with me on Friday evening. DATE NIGHT!! We are starting a Friday night rotation with all the grandparents. The will come to the house to keep Bentley, so Daniel and I can have some alone time to unwind, reconnect, and enjoy one another's company without distraction. This is a big step, you know. I tell everyone that I am very stingy with my baby time. I have to work each day, and Bentley is in bed between 7:30 and 8:00 each night, so I only get about four hours a day with him. So, I don't want to pawn him off when I do have a chance to spend time with him. That's why I'm not ready to do overnight visits. I think we might start that this summer when I'm home all day with Bentley...we'll see.

ANYWAYS...where was I? Date night...Daniel made reservations for us at Bonefish Grill, which is one of my favorite restaurants. We enjoyed the Bang Bang Shrimp, and I had the Angler's Steak while he had the Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi. SOOOO Yummy! We had a fabulous, care free, relaxing, and responsibility free dinner. Those are few and far between these days. After eating, we went shopping at Bridgestreet Towne Center. The weather was perfect, the temperature was ideal, and it was a wonderful night. Daniel definitely made me feel appreciated.

Saturday was a fun day for us, as well. Bentley's friend, Anna Scott (Scott and Mary Catherine's daughter), turned one on May 10th, so we celebrated her birthday on Saturday afternoon. The party was amazing. The decorations were beautiful, the food was delicious, and there were lots of kiddos enjoying one another's company. I hope that Bentley and Anna Scott grow to be good friends one day.

Well, that pretty much sums up our weekend. We managed to forget the camera for the birthday party and the family get-together this weekend, so I only have a couple of pictures to share from our weekend. Sorry!

You'll notice he looks just like Daddy, but he has my blue eyes.

See those teeth! (His, not mine)

13 Month Update

Bentley just keeps growing, getting smarter and funnier, and stealing my heart each day. He has always been a pretty good sleeper, but he has been amazing, lately. He goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00, always awake, and is usually asleep within 5 minutes without fussing at all. I got tickled last night after putting him to bed. He was calling Daddy...loudly. Every few seconds, you could hear him, "Dada, Dada, DADA!" I was laughing. Sometimes you can hear him, talking to his nightlight, too. He'll say, "li, li." Eventually, though, he'll lay his little head down, curl up with is legs under him, and drift off to sleep. He's been sleeping all night without needing his paci, too. I usually put it in his bed when I get up at 5:30, but he doesn't cry for it in the night anymore. Lately, I have to go in and wake him in the mornings, too. He rarely wakes up before 7:00 anymore. He's taking one nap at school each day, and sometimes I quick nap for me in the evenings, but he still takes two naps on the weekends. I hope I can get him into a good routine when I'm off this summer...fingers crossed.

Bentley is still eating really well. He's over 18 pounds now, thank goodness! He loves pizza, spaghetti, ravioli, smoked sausage, tomatoes, bananas, sweet potatoes, applesauce, and yogurt. At school he eats really well, too, with his favorites including chicken nuggets, beef nuggets, lil' smokies, pizza, and hamburgers. I think he has a new breakfast food, too...Pancakes (with syrup). He's just like his Mommy!

As I showed in the last post, Bentley is walking. We didn't think he would actually ever choose to walk, though he's been taking steps since he was 11 months old. Crawling was just WAY faster. But...when he was 1 year, 1 week, and 1 day old, he decided walking was pretty cool, and he's been strolling ever since. He's still a bit wobbly, but he's getting faster and more steady each day. He tried to take off running the other day, but he didn't get very far. He's so cute and looks like such a big boy. Where did my baby go???

Bentley's language is OFF THE CHART! He is so smart (if I do say so myself). He still uses most of the words from his one year post, except he's changed a few things, so I'll just start over with a new list. Here's our 13 month list of words:

Mama
Dada
Titi - Sissy (Porsche)
Ba - Ball
Ba Baw - Golf ball
Mmmm - Moo (When asked, "What does a cow say?"
Bu/Bup - Cup (for playing with in the bathtub)
Ba ba - Paci
Ma ma - Bunny (Sleepy Bunny)
Mi - Milk
Na - Cup of juice
Nana - Banana
Bea bea - Brown Bear
Boo - Book
Ba (with a short /a/) - Bath
Do do - Toothbrush (with the same intonation that I use to say "toothbrush")
All Done - I can't really get across the way he says it, but his intonation is perfectly the same as when I say "all done."
Bye Bye - But only on his terms or when he wants to go out the door to leave.
Hi - As he waves to everyone we pass in the grocery store.
Lie - Light
Dat - That
Baba - Vaccuum
No - Nose
Eye - with a great country accent
Bite bite - food (lately he's tried to say "dada," but when corrected, he says "bite bite."
Uh Uh - Uh Oh
Bebe - Baby
Wawa - water (So cute to hear him say, "Bye Bye, Wawa" in the bathtub as the water runs out.)
Kitty Kitty - He doesn't actually say "kitty kitty," but he sticks his tongue in and out trying to.
He doesn't actually say bird and dog, but he refers to them with his particular sounds.

You may have noticed he calls is Sleepy Bunny "Mama." This is not just a one time thing. It's ALL THE TIME! I told him, "I don't know whether to be honored or offended, but you gave your favorite thing MY name." I'm choosing to feel honored. His Sleepy Bunny is his most prized possession, so maybe he associates it with me, his Mama. :) That's all I can remember for now...maybe I remembered them all.

As you can tell, he's developing beautifully. I couldn't be more proud of my little guy. I am so excited that I get to stay home with him over the summer. Just 9 more days of school, and he's all mine! And thanks to the passing of the new bill, school cannot start until August 20th, so YIPPEE, summer will be even longer than expected!

As a send off...here's some of Bentley's favorite things:

Sleepy Bunny (Still number one)
Paci (But only in the car or when I need him plugged up for some other reason)
His golf clubs
Wagon rides
Playing outside
Eating dinner outside
His toothbrush (And my toothbrush, and Daddy's toothbrush, and any toothbrush he can find) :)
His truck and airplane (He's learning how to move his feet to make them move.)
Bath time (Filling up cups under the running water is his new favorite thing and swimming on his belly.)
Laying down on the floor at any moment in time and in any place. SO Funny!

Til' next time...Enjoy!

Eating outside...check out his tray and cup. They are both covered in mashed potatoes. He enjoyed this meal of grilled BBQ chicken, loaded mashed potatoes, and cinnamon apples.