Happy 5th Month Birthday to Ben!
Mood:  spacey
For Ben's fifth month birthday, we ventured out to find a kitchen/utility/microwave cart with a drawer. We had no luck. We've been searching high and low for a cabinet about 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. We did come across a very high quality towel rack for our hallway. This will come in handy for Ben when he starts walking. Why you ask? When I least suspect it, I figure Ben will decide to take all of our clean towels and throw them all over the apartment. We were smart in picking out this fine item!

Ernesto, you silly little storm you!
Mood:  blue
We met up with Grandmama in Connecticut, which was grand as always. We had to cut our visit short because of the threat of Ernesto! Luckily, we were not hard hit but I told Ben of the adventures we had with Gloria back in 1985. He's excited for his first real hurricane!

We're buying stock in Tylenol!
Ben got his first cold! Boo Hoo! We tried to give Ben some chicken soup to help him feel better. It didn't work. We then tried some Tylenol Cold and Cough for Infants...that seemed to do the trick. We also tried to teach him to blow his nose, but he just didn't understand us.

Fun with the Rat...
Mood:  caffeinated
As if we didn't already know how fun a stuffed rat could be, we found yet another reason today. I ventured to the post office and Ben was sleeping with his rat. The looks he got were priceless. Especially by the rich old ladies...you could tell by their expressions they were thinking "what in the heavens is that? Why would anyone let their baby have a stuffed rat?"

Ben's Food Review
Mood:  hungry
It's been a little over a month since we started trying to give Benny some solid foods. We've been successful on some, unsuccessful on others. I've tried to recapture some of Ben's famous faces with computerized smilies...

Prunes -

Peaches -

Bananas -

Pudding Pops -

Peas -

Outback Steak -

Oatmeal -

Sweet Potatoes -

Snickers Bars -

Rice Cereal -

Applesauce -

Wasabi -

Pears -

I want Charles in Charge of me!
Mood:  celebratory
After unpacking, eating, & dirtying diapers, Ben and I decided to take a rest and watch a little TV. What did we watch you ask? Why E!'s True Hollywood Story of Scott Baio, but of course! For those of you who are not up to speed with 80's television culture, Scott Baio was the star of Charles In Charge. For you older folks, he was Fonzie's cousin Cha-Chi in Happy Days. Anyways, they flashed up some baby pictures of Scott and he looked just like Ben does! James and I talked about this...If Ben grows up to be a male nanny, we have decided that we will still love him.

Ben will have the Prime Rib!
Mood:  surprised
So we ventured out to Outback Steakhouse for James' birthday tonight. We get there and are seated immediately...however, the host, the bright guy he is, asked if we needed a kiddie menu for Ben or are we just going to order off the regular menu! No joke! Then he left 3 sets of silverware for us to use...I wanted to tell the guy that this time, Ben is going to order a 14 oz steak because last time, the 9 oz steak didn't quite fill him up. I don't think this guy would have realized I was joking though...I think if I hit this guy in the head with a frying pan, it wouldn't even phase him. People like this make me feel really smart. I guess that is their purpose on Earth!

I'm no Vidal Sassoon...but I tried!
Mood:  don't ask
After weeks of being pressured by James to cut Ben's baby combover & mullet, I gave in. I couldn't find normal scissors but I came across cuticle scissors....it did the trick. James said I did a horrible job and helped me fix it when he got home. He is mean to me!

Moving Day
Mood:  incredulous
We did it....we moved out of our projects in Brighton and into our mansion in Newton! Okay...it's not a mansion, but it sure does feel roomy!... but maybe that's because we don't have a couch anymore!! Oops! After 2 hours of trying to squeeze our 102 inch sofa into a tiny doorway, the menfolk gave up...Many thanks to Papa Joe and Uncle Joe for adopting our Big Greenie! It's back to Bernie & Phyl's to get a new one...Nothing says class quite like Bernie & Phyl's!

Ben is enjoying his new room...Lucky for him, I found my two autographed pictures of Don Mattingly (a.k.a. The Greatest Yankee's Player ever!) and I will hang them in his room for him to stare at!! Then he can have sweet dreams of being a Yankee's 1st Baseman someday! Ben is such a lucky boy to have a mother who will guide him down the right path!

A week of firsts!
Mood:  energetic
This has been a glorious week of "firsts!" First time trying the stroller without the car seat on it, first time trying applesauce, first time drinking prune juice (we won't eloborate on this one!)...not exactly memorable firsts, but I needed to keep you updated on something going on!!!

Ben is not impressed with our new "moving box" decoration motiff we have going on. He prefers his mother's beautiful patriotic decorations! In about a week, he'll have lots of stuff to look at as we start to settle into yet another place.

Ben also isn't a big fan of Mr. Rogers. Just in case you were wondering.