ONE

One year of life on earth. Twenty nine years of life on this earth did not prepare me for the lack of sleep I experienced in Ben's one year of life on earth. Who knew that parenting Ben required Navy Seal training?

Twelve months with Ben and that's the first thing that comes to mind? Yup. Unlike Beth, I never studied enough in college to have to sleep very little. Sleep was always prioritized over studying...which probably accounts for the mediocre gpa. I only averaged around seven hours of sleep, but it was seven straight hours, with an occasional six or five thrown in, but that was easy to handle if I got my seven.

Up until very recently, Beth and I were only getting around four, maybe five hours at a time. He didn't start sleeping all the way through the night until around nine and a half months, and we only recently stopped waking up in the middle of the night due to habit. And sometimes we still do; in which case one or the other of us goes and jealously tosses and turns on the couch so the other one can sleep.

Ben is probably the best kid ever, but it's things like this that stick in my head....for the good stuff, I have pictures and video, so that's just gonna have to suffice. After re-reading that last sentence, I could see how it could come off as bitter rather than humorous when in text form. It's tongue-in-cheek, trust me.

-This is inserted from after I wrote this post: I completely forgot to write anything about the birthday party we had for Ben. So on his actual birthday, Beth had to go to work before he got up, and got back just before he went to sleep, so he got nothing more than a "Happy Birthday, kid."
But today, Saturday, we had over Grandma's and Grandpa's Anderson and Duffy as well as Greatgrandma and Greatgrandpa Rock. That was much more fun for Ben...which he won't realize until far into the future when he watches the video....but maybe part of it will stick in his unconscious and we will be that much closer to doing our duty of raising a non-serial killer son. Of course, in the end it's a crap shoot, but you gotta try, right?

The good news is, summer is on it's way. Aside from the usual speed bumps of putting sunscreen on a squirming baby and getting him calmed down enough to take his nap in the middle of the day, this summer is, most likely, gonna be awesome. I have to add the most likely or there's a good chance God will let me bust my ankle again or something just to remind me never to make plans without consulting him. But most likely, we're gonna have a blast!

(<---I know this pic is blurry, he was too close and I couldn't use the viewfinder, but it's a great expression, so I put it up anyway...)The Middleton pool is nearby and the non-gangster park (Beth took Ben there this morning and found that the Future Burger King Register Operators of America, FBKROA for short, had broken a glass soap bottle on the playground equipment. Well played FBKROA, well played.), which is just a little further up the hill, is also nearby, so combine that with outings like the zoo, bike trips and jogging stroller fun, and you've got yourself a fun summer. I'm really not sure why women were pushing for all this "Hey, let us into the workforce!" crud. They had it made!

Anyway, I've been neglecting posts do to sickness, extra busyness, and some good ol' fashion laziness, so I've got some pics and videos stored up, which means I'll probably have another post up soon. We'll see how this week goes though.

(Also, we just had Ben's 1 year check up. He's approximately 31" tall, 90th percentile, about 23 pounds, 52nd percentile, and 18 inch head circumference, 42nd percentile....as I've said before though, I have a tiny head...tiny heads run on my side of the family. My ancestors must have been just slightly cursed by a very unskilled witchdoctor at some point.)