Ben Updizzle

Alright folks, here it is, a sweet little update on baby B. He's taking a nap right now so I have all of about 5 minutes to squeeze in some info for you guys. So, appropriately, let's first talk about his sleep schedule.. there is no schedule, it's as simple as that. He sleeps when he wants for however long he wants- be it 5 minutes or 2 hours (this, of course, is during the day). At night it's a different story. He doesn't usually fall asleep until around 9-10ish, but once he's out, he's out.. although... wait for it.. we have been letting him sleep in the bed with us (I know, I know)- which I think is part of the reason he sleeps so well at night. But, excuse me, I don't know about the rest of you people, but I need my sleep- otherwise I am officially crazy Whitney- and don't nobody want to meet her- trust me. So, Evan and I have agreed to let him crash with us on nights when he seems like he's going to be a little high maintenance. Plus, he's so little and cuddly now, how can you resist snuggling up to him? And no, I can promise you now that Evan and I are not going to be the parents that let their kid sleep with them until they get their drivers license..

Other wonderful little updates:

Ben has his first tooth! Evan calls him a can opener because it looks so funny now. It's just this lone bottom tooth, and to be honest, it doesn't really look like any more teeth are coming anytime soon. Sorry, I can't get him to let me take a picture of it, or I would share. It's really cute though too, until he chomps down on your finger.. um, yeah, that hurts really bad.

He's not quite crawling yet, at least back and forth. He is crawling in circles though, which is funny to watch. He's now officially able to prop on his knees and hands and rock back and forth. He's seriously almost there.. next week by this time I know he'll be crawling and it will be ON. We still haven't even baby proofed yet.. AH. I think I'm in denial that he will one day really be able to move around without our help.

He's been eating solids since 4 months old, honestly, I think he was ready to eat solids at 4 weeks old, but of course that's a big no no according to the baby bible..err "What to Expect..." I mean. I waited as long as we could, but after many nights of him staring at our forks while we ate, I had to give in. He started with carrots and moved to sweet potatoes, then peas, then bananas, etc. Now he'll pretty much eat anything and everything. I haven't given him any sugar or meat yet. But he is so down with his fruits and veggies. My goal is for him to grow up loving a variety of foods so he will know how to make healthy choices.. please don't laugh. I'll probably end up with the kid that only will eat steak and grated cheese or something weird like that.. but at least I'm trying to develop his cute little palate :)

Ben is also happy to stand up (with a little support from his parents, a chair, the couch, etc..) and will instantly be in a better mood if we let him stand up and show the world how strong he is! It's so cute. He's so proud of himself. My prediction is that he'll be an early walker, although I don't think I'm ready for all that :/ Only time will tell I guess!

Oh, and before I forget. Let me just mention to all of you new moms out there with an iPhone.. If you haven't downloaded the Baby Einstein app to your phone, please do! Ben literally falls into a trance if we're in the car and I play it for him. I don't let him watch it a lot, but if he's screaming and I'm in the passenger seat, and we can't do anything else to soothe him, then out comes the app- instant relief for everyone in the car. Awesome.

Did Someone Say Fabulous?

Ok. So I realize I'm probably going to get some bitchy looks from some people after writing this post.. but I've got to. So let me preface with an apology if I offend anyone. 

 We all know them- people who use the word "fabulous" WAY too much. Now of course I completely understand that there are definitely circumstances which warrant the use of the word, like, for example, when your husband surprises you with an anniversary trip to Spain... now that's fabulous. But, no, your trip to the grocery store was not fabulous. I'm sorry, it just wasn't. I don't care if they did have cinnamon roll samples in the bakery- it still wasn't fabulous. I honestly have no idea why this word drives me crazy so much. I mean, I get it, it's a cool word, it's an easy adjective to use.. but come on- you are not Samantha from Sex and the City, get over it (and if you do compare yourself to Samantha from SATC, well then that's a whole different post, because she was a mega-ho, and honey, there ain't nothing cute about that). So let's all just think about things next time someone asks you how your weekend was... because even though it was probably cool, relaxing, fun, awesome, etc.. it probably wasn't quite up to fabulous (Unless, of course, you went to Spain with your husband).

The Great Rebecca Diane Shaw

I've got to give a great big fat shout-out to my awesome little sis, Rebecca. She has been Ben's nanny since I started working again back in March. Let me tell you.. I seriously do NOT know what I would have done without her. She is great. Honestly, sometimes I think she's better with Ben than I am.. is that bad? I mean, I'm kind of joking with that, but her patience astounds me. She reads with him, and acts out each character. She takes him on 43829432 walks/day because that's the only way he will fall asleep. She patiently rocks him when he's crying. AND she doesn't freak out completely (like I think many people would) when he's squirming all over the place while she's trying to change a dirty diaper. Ben loves her so much too. It's awesome when she walks in the door and he is all smiles. I love the fact that I have someone I COMPLETELY trust to hang with him all day.. much less stress for me. It's also great because I get to spend quality time with my sister- how can you beat that? Rebecca says she doesn't ever want kids, but I think that would be a total tragedy- I can't think of a better mom! So here's to you sis! Thanks for making my life MUCH easier over the last few months. Love you!

Waterhouse Studios

I just wanted to give a heads up to anyone in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area looking for a good photographer. A friend of mine, Lauren Waterhouse, along with her husband, just launched a photography business, Waterhouse Studios . Lauren is amazing. We have done several sessions with her, and are so happy with the results each time. She's pretty darn awesome!


Here are some examples of her work:

Hi, my name is Whitney and I am a Shopping Cart-aholic

And no I don't mean the shopping carts that you get at the grocery story/Target, etc... I mean the shopping cart that your merchandise is taken to when you are browsing through Anthropologie.com, Etsy, or any other cool website you visit. I am a crazy online shopper. Meaning, I don't actually (in the end) purchase that much stuff, but I will fill up a shopping cart with $43789432 worth of clothes/furniture/jewelry/etc.. and stare at it. Knowing that there is no way in you know where that I will ever buy most of it. I mean really, do I need some hand-crafted sconce thingy to hang on my wall? Umm.. no- SO WHY DO I PUT IT IN MY SHOPPING CART? Why is this? Does anyone else ever do this? Weird. It's like I'm leading some fantasy life in which my fantasy closet is full of designer clothes, the closet itself is, of course, designed perfectly. And in this fantasy house, with this fantasy closet full of fantasy clothes, there is beautiful, perfectly placed furniture.. and I never have to clean, or make the bed, or do laundry. And then I empty the shopping cart and start all over. Please don't get me wrong, I love my house, I love my clothes, and I don't need everything to be perfect. And I know I'm very blessed and lucky and all that jazz, but I guess sometimes it's just fun to dream about things that, in the long run, don't matter at all.

Sweet Summertime

Ben LOVES the beach. Let me just tell you that if Ben lived outside or in a pool he would be happy all the time. This doesn't bug me in the slightest. I want him to grow up enjoying being outside, and not glued to the TV, phone, computer, etc. I want him to make actual friends, not cyber friends that he chats with, or texts... I could go on for days.. anyways.. back to the beach.

I'm not going to go back over all of the details of our first trip, since it was so long ago. But all I can say is we had a great time. The weather was perfect. Family time is always good. We cannot wait to go back- and when we do I will have more to write about.

Blast from the Past: Pregnancy Positive

I want to quickly take a look back at my pregnancy. When I first found out I was pregnant I started keeping a journal, and here is my first entry. I'd love to share...

April 13, 2010

So.. I have to admit it was a totally random act for me to go home for lunch that Tuesday and take a pregnancy test. I had absolutely no symptoms and I honestly think that the only reason I took the pregnancy test was because I had an extra one in the medicine cabinet and wanted to throw away the box.

Anyone who knows me knows that I take a pregnancy test about once every 2-3 weeks, so peeing on the stick was not a nerve-wracking, heart-pounding, scary/exciting moment for me. I literally peed on the stick, stared at it, waiting for the result to be negative so I could again laugh at myself for even thinking I was pregnant and throw it away. Well.. today that was not the case… Oh wait, wait wait, I’m telling the story wrong. I need to correct myself. My theory on why I took the test was totally inaccurate. I didn’t really think I was actually pregnant, but I bought a new test that day, at the Rite-Aid near my house, during my lunch break. Weird. I am only 13 weeks pregnant and I already have the “pregnancy stupids” (thank you Jenny McCarthy for that excellent term).

Ok- we’ll start over. During my lunch break I went to Rite-Aid, bought the pregnancy test and the clerk looked at me and said, “man, must be something in the water, you have no idea how many of these I’ve sold today.” This took me off-guard because, in general, a drug store clerk probably shouldn’t make a comment while you are buying and personal item, i.e., pregnancy tests, condoms, tampons, etc. I just shrugged and quickly walked out of the store. I was now pretty eager to get home and take the test, then return to work like normal….

***You can read the rest of my pregnancy story under the "My Pregnancy Tab"

Benjamin Evan Wagoner

Here he is, my most favorite creation. Benjamin Evan Wagoner is now almost 7 months old. I hate I didn't start this earlier, but hey, better late than never, right? Anyways.. let's list a few of his great accomplishments in his short, but awesome-so-far little life...

1. He is trying really hard to crawl. He is so funny, he'll prop himself up on both knees and just rock back and forth as hard as he can. He's not there yet, which I am thankful for, because I work partly from home and haven't babyproofed yet... I honestly can't imagine how it's going to be once I have to start chasing this little guy around! Craziness.

2. Talk. Talk. Talk. All day, "ga ga ga ga", "da da da" blaaahhh blahhh" "Ahhhh, ahhh". It's awesome. I can't wait until I can have little conversations with him. I am always wondering what his voice is going to sound like.

So far mommyhood has been so much fun. The first 12 weeks were a whirlwind of ups and downs (I was so freakin' tired). A total learning curve. Anyone who says its easy is either my hero, or crazy. I can't decide. But, regardless of the hard parts insert corniness here---> Being a mom is truly awesome. I learn more about love every single day. God has blessed me and my family, and I will forever be thankful for my boys.

Ok...here it goes

Ok. So I've been really struggling for a while now about creating a blog. I have a few reasons for this...

1. I feel like blogs are really just places where people go to brag about their lives. Which sometimes makes me want to puke. But, on the other hand, I love reading blogs. I'm very interested in other people's lives, even if they annoy me (probabably because I'm just jealous!). --If you have a blog and are a friend of mine, please don't be offended by this. I love your blog. I'm being sarcastic. And like I said above, I'm probably just jealous of how fabulous your life really is ;)
2. I'm afraid that if I start a blog, I'll write a few posts, and not follow-up.
3. I'm not very technically savvy. And if I have a blog I want it to look cool. So I fear I won't be able to learn how to make the blog look like I want it to. We'll see!

 So, here goes nothing. I really hope that I can keep up with everything truly make this a mini-journal for myself, my husband, and most importantly, my most special little boy, Ben. The love of my life (and my husband's). He's already 6.5 months old, and I feel like I've already missed so much to document. So.... like I said before... here goes nothin'.