By far...

my secret most favorite picture of Ben, taken at 5 days old. Previously unpublished, presented here for your own amusement at his inborn deep skepticism.

Simmer down now

Soooooooooo, that last post was written immediately after Joe Bastardi of Accuweather had announced that he expected "Hurricane "Hanna to roar ashore at Category 3 or greater strength" but as it appears more likely that that Hanna will be a tropical storm or Category 1 hurricane I think I can calm down now.
As I ran all over town running errands yesterday I kept asking cashiers if I was overreacting- they seemed to say no. I think.
We decided I would only buy items that were "non-game changers" meaning we can use them with or without evacuating.
So no plywood or sandbags but I bought a new cat and dog carrier, china protector cases, a case of bottled water, granola bars, dog treats and baby formula. And a tank of gas.
I think the best proof that I wasn't overreacting was that by the time I got to Petsmart at 2 pm there were only 7 cat carriers left. And maybe 15 dog carriers now that I think of it. The whole back wall of carriers and cages was picked over and pretty barren. The other proof was the insane amount of water available and being purchased at Sam's.
Ok so that's the update here, we're anxiously checking the NHC updates every three hours, I'm eager to see the 5 am report but I'm much less panicked.
Over and out.

Holy Hanna

Now I AM REALLY HAVING A HEART ATTACK.
So we're planning to potentially evacuate tomorrow sometime, we'll know more about where the hurricane is headed in the morning so then we'll decide for sure. We don't even know where we're going yet, we've been offered shelter in Marietta but have been warned to avoid going towards Atlanta- supposedly it took twelve hours to get to Macon last time. Macon is 122 miles away.
I am absolutely paralyzed with fear. There's so much we don't know, I mean I guess we'll sand bag our doors? Do we hang plywood over the windows? How do you hang plywood if you have vinyl siding???? We have no disaster plan! No joke, I was more prepared for a nuclear attack on the U.S. Capitol than I am for a hurricane and my home. I am serious, I kept scrubs in the bottom drawer of my desk so that I could get out of my clothes should they become covered with nuclear fallout. Not only that, I kept the fly away kits at my house, so even if we all died, your parents would still get a condolence letter from the Senator on official letterhead.
I'm taking everything, china, silver, crystal, photo albums, dead pets in urns. It's all coming, bc Becky and Andy were ROBBED the last time they evacuated! Can you imagine anything worse? Not only will I be worrying about inches of water ruining everything on my first floor, and my roof being ripped off and ruining everything on the second floor, I now need to worry about burglars?!!!! So now among my shopping list for tomorrow Kris has instructed me to call the HOA to make sure the gates will be locked.
I sit here alternately ready to bust out of my skin and run off in one hundred different directions or being totally unable to move off of the couch. I AM SO SCARED!

Come mow with me

Whoa. Seriously I would have typed this blog post on Saturday but I couldn't lift my arms. I MOWED THE LAWN. Alright alright, I know it's not a great physical accomplishment like winning 8 gold medals or anything but... umm it was really freaking hot and hard. Since Kris is still recovering and we had guests arriving, the task of mowing the lawn fell to me. Which I actually accepted willingly, looking forward to working myself out over half an acre. Little did I know. It was at least the hottest day of the year, the sun was blazing and it was twelve noon. There were several casualties including:
1 sprinkler head
some weed control garden fabric
the invisible fence wire
So, I guess this could be considered a minimally effective endeavor, the yard is crisply neat but I had to come inside three times, "Honey.... I think I fucked up bad" Kris: "WHAT NOW?!"
However, I do think the neighbors were glad to have a brief respite from Kris' weekly serenade of Katmandu: "K-k-k-k-k-katmanduuuuu!"
They were instead relieved to learn that "I don't need no G to take care of me..." and when little Michael told me to "Shake it shake it baby hoo hoo"- I did- so they may or may not have enjoyed that. And I may or may not have violated some obsecenity laws in Chatham County (with the dancing not the lyrics.) But you can drive with a drink in the car as long as you're not drunk, so who knows how they really feel about jazzercize lawn dancing.
I had to stop three times, again it was 100 degrees, and I even managed to yell (at Kris) "I'm having a heart attack!" BTW- you will not be taken seriously should you try the same thing, apparently you can't yell during the throes of cardiac arrest. But it was great to really get my blood moving and I felt the old athlete stir inside again, because, umm, I'm basically the John Daly of Dance.

Well shut my mouth and slap my silly.

Who knew that I needed calling cards? I SHOULD have known. I bet Garrett and the Marietta moms knew. In the last week I've gotten calling cards from moms I've met at the grocery store and Homegoods. They're so adorable and say things like: The Saxons- a fun family. I don't know what ours would say, maybe, The Lynches- No DUIs yet. I don't know. But how cute, to say, when your baby's bigger, give us a call and then hand out a card with your contact info! I of course love this, because I love stationary . The most dangerous fiscal moment of the month is when the American Stationary catalog arrives. I'm just bummed I didn't have one ready to hand back.

So yesterday I had a few minutes to kill before picking up Brody from the vet so I stopped into La Paperie to see Gary to ask him about getting me some calling cards and to prove that I'm no longer pregnant. A. I love La Paperie and could spend hours there and thousands of dollars B. I love Gary who is a riot and did a beautiful job on Sissy's shower invitation.



Anyway, Gary gasped appropriately when I asked about them and suggested I wait until next week until the new Boatman Geller papers arrive - I LOVE Boatman Geller. Well then, at the exact same moment we had the same thought: Birth Announcements. I filled with dread and Gary saw dollar signs as he said,
"Well, girl what about the birth announcements! We need to announce this baby to the world!"
Me:" Oh! (nervous laugh) I, umm, (deep breath, 2 shallow breaths) I actually had them done on Shutterfly. (hangs head in shame/pretends to be interested in some colored pens)
Gary (in horror): SHUTTERFLY?!
Me: They wound up being adorable and with so much of our family out of town I wanted people to be able to see him. (Now defensive) And besides you would have convinced me to have them engraved!!
Gary: And why not?! He's only born once!

It would appear that I will need to spend some serious coin in order to fully repair my relations with La Paperie.

Abundance abounds...

I must take a moment and thank everyone who has sent wonderful gifts to baby Ben. I'm totally overwhelmed by your love as presents continue to arrive on our doorstep even at this late date. My sister's mother in law made this beatiful sweater, hat and blanket for baby Ben. AND THEN she made Kris and Ben the same exact Christmas stocking my grandmother made for all of us. So now we have a beautifully matched set!! I can't tell you how special that is to me.
My dad's cousins also sent this beautiful gift basket! THANK YOU!

So Ben slept 8 hours last night! In a row! He had committed himself to a good stretch of crying yesterday so I'm sure he was tuckered out. But really his sleeping isn't what's getting in the way of mine. Confession time, Ben sleeps ok sometimes 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 hours at a time, so the thing keeping me from sleeping is myself. I wake up 5 or 6 times an hour to make sure he's breathing. Most of the time I startle myself awake (rather violently) because I can't hear him breathing. The reason: SIDS. Friends of our lost their baby last September (he was 15 months at the time so it was considered SUDC) but essentially the same thing. And it was TERRIBLE. I was terrified when we first came home and then I was ok for a couple of weeks but then I realized the one year anniversary of Tommy's death was coming up and I'm worse than ever.
I constantly pray for God's protection over Ben, but I can't help but feel that doing everything I can means checking on him 17 million times a night/a nap.
Part of it is my personality too, when things happen to people I never think, "Oh that won't ever happen to me" I'm just the opposite, because Chase had terrible colic I was convinced Ben would too so I bought every colic management tool possible. Even the right episode of Law and Order will have me convinced I'm going to end up in Rikers (falsely accused and wrongly imprisoned, of course) any day.

So that's that for sleeping.

Grabby Hands

Ben has really begun to grab onto things, your shirt, his bib and especially his burp cloth. After I burped him tonight he stayed cuddled right around it, so I laid him down with it. (I of course kept a close eye on him to make sure he could breathe) It was so cute I just couldn't take it away from him.

An hour later:

Turtle Races

Loons!

I could just hear the loons in the Uncle Jimmy post but now thanks to Sissy I can see them too! Funny aside- the classic rock station up there in the north woods is 105.9 The Power Loon. And every time they say "THE POWER LOON" they make the loon's cooing noise. It's pretty funny.

Cousin Sissy visits the lakehouse

Cousin Sissy and her parents made her first trip to the lakehouse! We are very jealous. I can't wait until next year for Ben to experience my favorite place in the whole world!

Is that the Dirty Dancing lift?

I mean....

Marta checks out her competition in the 1 and under racing group

Any given Wednesday...

Baby Sissy is ready to take my advice and hold the turtle upside down so he's sufficiently angry enough to run like hell, ensuring victory.

Surgery and Saturdays with Fay

Kris had surgery on Thursday and everything went really well- as best we can tell so far. The only mishap was his reaction to anesthesia- major vom. Last time, I was in the throes of morning sickness and when he threw up on me I threw up right back on him- we repeated that dance a few times. This time I was in a much better place and when he filled up the little kidney barf bowl I flipped over the plate cover from his dinner. Quick thinking, right? Wait- is this too much info?
Ben spent the day with Tamara and Grey, and he loved it. I loved it too, I knew he was in really good hands. It was absolutely crazy to be home alone all night with Ben, it was the weirdest feeling not to have Kris rounding out the trio. We are all very glad he's home. Really, the craziest thing was trying to get to the hospital while Tropical Storm Fay whipped all around us. Last night the wind was blwing so hard it sounded like it was winter- I've never heard wind like that in warm weather.
So this is how we're spending our lazy Saturday, Olympics and cuddling.
Oh the other reason I can't wait for the Olympics to end: that Lenovo commercial. I get it your the official computer of the Olympics but I will scream if I see that little furry man sing, "Sorry that you lost your files, here's some fruit to make you smile, hoo ha hoo ha" one more time.
Ben update- he's losing his hair and what's coming in is much lighter as you can tell by these pictures. He's also losing it in a very male pattern baldness way- it's really funny. His eyes are also changing color- sad- they're much lighter in the middle but not blue- so we'll see how they turn out- I'm still hoping they'll ultimately be just like Kris', but I'll still love him if they're not.