B,B&E's Year in Review: 2012, Part Two

I got distracted cutting out snowflakes and forgot I hadn't finished this yet so I'm finally picking up where I left off.

April!

April was happiness. At least from what I can tell in these pictures. The flowers were blooming, the sun was out. My dad and his wife, Maggie, came to visit and got to meet E for the first time. Not only that but E was blessed in church in his adorable suit. I wish my dad could have stayed longer, it was so fun having him here but I'll take what I can get.

Since this is the year of firsts, April held a lot more firsts for E: He went to his first restaurant and slept through most of it--when he did wake up though, he was a total pro and my worst fears did not come true (uncontrollable scream/crying); he got his first haircut (mostly in the back so it didn't look like he had a mullet); he visited Pike's Place Market and the Downtown area for the first (but definitely not the last) time; he saw his first ducks from the baby Bjorn while Ben and I trekked through the muddy Arboretum until flooding finally made us turn back; and, he went in his first swimming pool for a bathtub babies class and he LOVED it.

Some other things that happened in April: Ben passed some more ridiculously hard tests, I turned 27 (What!?!), we learned that E has a natural aptitude for modeling, my dad made us some delicious freshly bought salmon from Pike's market, PEPS--the mother's group I'm in--was in full swing and the friendships I've formed were just beginning, E's hair after a bath was like he'd stuck his finger in an electrical outlet, he still hated it when the car stopped moving--or was going under 35 mph, and, I finally found a blueberry muffin recipe that I love. It's easy and delicious!

Wait. No, there's one more thing: E's cheeks. Just look at them! I think they were at the peak of their chubbiness in April.

You know, I thought April was great but then along came May. We had a week of beautiful weather in the high sixties/low seventies. Since the sun was out in full force we took advantage of it and spent the whole week at Matthew's beach soaking it in (well, E stayed in the shade but he still enjoyed it). I still remember in perfect detail when he woke up from his nap at the beach and we thought he'd be mad because it was sort of my fault he woke up. Instead, he looked up at the leaves that were fluttering with the slight breeze and he got a huge grin on his face and talked to us in his little 4 month babbling voice. There's something about sun and water. But sun and water mixed with my two favorite people in the world is paradise. I spent a lot of time trying to read but often found myself distracted watching the two of them sleep--only slightly jealous that they could actually fall asleep somewhere besides their own bed.

During the colder days of May we weren't at the beach park but we did manage to stay busy.  We went to free museum night at the Museum of Flight; we met up with an old roommate of mine and some friends in Bellevue for brunch at a delicious restaurant called Pomegranate Bistro; we had a chance to go to the Pacific Science Center with some other friends and got to go in the Butterfly house while there; UW had a special baseball game at Mariners stadium so we decided to adventure out and give that a shot. Unfortunately, it was definitely not during the warm week so we had to bundle up while E sported his Husky gear.

We went and cheered Ben on at at least one of his co-ed Softball games; E's constant back and forth head movement officially wore down a bald spot in the back--I mourned the loss of that hair for quite some time. In fact, it might be why I refused to let E's hair get a decent hair cut for so long.

I had to come up with some interesting activities/situations that allowed for a naked baby for an extended duration of time without just sticking him in the tub since he couldn't quite sit up on his own yet--he loves being free of his diaper; and finally, I performed another cooking experiment but this time I would deem it a failure--not because it didn't taste good but because it was a huge pain and making lasagna the normal way tastes the exact same and saves me a bazillion hours in prep time.

June, June, June. What to say about June?  

First, I had a lot of pictures to wade through and it was not easy narrowing it down. Second, and much more important, Ben finished his pharmaceutics class and passed! 

We all breathed a huge sigh of relief. No more 2am nights where my husband still wasn't in Bed. No more 11pm bedtimes just to wake up 3 hours later to study. No more trying to pretend Ben wasn't at home so he could concentrate on memorizing a bazillion different drug interactions and case scenarios. In fact, classes ended forever for Ben! Only one year left of rotations and then we'd be done. The countdown began.

In non-school related events E ate his first solid foods this month (a bowl of oatmeal that ha gobbled down like it was the best thing on earth) and we spent the month exploring. We visited some less known beaches and lots of parks around Seattle, and, when we weren't doing that were were heading to Utah to surprise my family, which we managed to capture on video!

The drive to Utah and back went so much smoother than we expected. E was a traveling pro. The only time he got really fussy is when it was dark out and he couldn't see anything.  While we were in Utah we rushed from one place to the next. But some noteworthy events include: the 5 generation picture we took with E, me, my mom, my grandma, and my great-grandma; meeting up with a few friends for a short hour (not nearly enough time to catch up but at least I got a chance to say hi); and introducing E to lots of his cousins and great-aunts and uncles.

It was sad to leave family behind but it was nice to be back home, E was exhausted. In fact, we were a little worried he had baby depression for a few days after we got back. Luckily, after some good nights of sleep he was fine.

The last day of June was quite the event for us. I'd spent the month leading up to it planning and organizing. I recruited the help of several friends and they made the day perfect. Ben turned 30! We welcomed him into a new decade of life with a birthday bash to remember. ... Hopefully he remembers it anyway.

 Part three will be here shortly but Ben keeps bugging me to post a "part two" so I figured I'd post what I had before I got distracted again!