Distractions

I know it's been a while since I have blogged but various things, like the Olympics and a certain set of vampire books and the everloving cuteness of my baby boy have kept me otherwise occupied. We went from not watching one minute of television to watching 4 hours of it a night when the olympics started. Since we no longer have a DVR, we are forced to watch it in real time which is both suspenseful and a waste of precious time. Not to mention I am dog tired at work in the morning because I was up until nearly midnight the night before. I don't know how the people on the east coast do it! But seriously, is there any better reality tv than watching Michael Phelps? We have our first gold medalist here in Boise, a cyclist named Kristen Armstrong (no relation to Lance). One of my favorite parts of the local coverage about her was when the news asked a 7-year-old if he wanted to be an olympic athlete like Kristen and he said "Uh, that's a lot of hard work and I don't really think I am up for it." I hear ya kid.

And now, some pictures of Mason...

Here he is going to work

And here he is in cousin Syd's pajamas

His tongue is almost always out and to the side because he is now growing some eye teeth.

I forgot

I was not able to get videos to upload to our blog when we first started but I now have that ability. I only just remembered that none of you have ever seen Mason when he was one... day old. So here you go!

Exciting yes?

All because 2 people fell (and stayed) in love...

These are my grandparents Portela. I have way too many memories of them for this blog. Some highlights include fishing with my grandpa and having him say "Stephanie, keep your voice down, you're scaring all the fish away!" He has always had a secret, or not so secret, stash of candy. We will barely sit down to play cards and he'll get the one pound Hershey bar out of the drawer and plunk it in the middle of the table. He doesn't like to lose when playing cards, and he will bend the rules a bit to keep that from happening (though it rarely works against grandma). When we were in Vegas and I was under the legal age of gambling, he came to our hotel room door at 6:00 a.m. and yelled "Who wants to play the nickel slots?!" He would make sure I moved around a lot in the casino so as not to get caught. That rarely ever worked and I was kicked out of several casinos. If I recall, they were also kicked out for allowing me to gamble. He would take us grandkids up to the gas station and buy us lottery tickets. This is also the man who broke up with a boyfriend for me by saying within earshot of said boyfriend "Well shoot Steph, it's too bad there is no spark between you and Will and you are going to break up with him. He's a good lookin' kid." The look on Will's face when he came out of the bathroom Grandpa knew he was in...priceless. That was one awkward ride from Phoenix to San Diego.

On to my grandma...my earliest memories are of her saint like patience while trying to teach us to paint. I am no artist and was easily frustrated, but she would hold my hand and practically paint my picture for me. I cranked out some pretty amazing paintings. I have no idea why they are so similar to the paintings my cousins painted. When I had to stay with them when Tyson had cancer she would let me eat Lucky Charms and promised not to tell my mom. My grandma was the first person I told when I decided I wanted to find my birth mother. She was very understanding and interested in the process. She taught me how to play video poker, until we got kicked out. She didn't just hit the dollar once on the wheel on the Price is Right, she hit is twice. She taught me to pack snacks for later when visiting a buffet because when they say all you can eat, they don't give you a time frame for which to eat all you can. She taught Jake how to play hand and foot and I can hardly beat him. She says words like "Gadfree and Skaliwag". She is the leader of our family "ya ya" sisterhood and still says things like "I would be nothing without your grandpa".

We recently went to Bear Lake to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. It was the first time in many, many years that the whole family came together. I do find it mind boggling that from these two people who made the choice to get married 60 long years ago came 5 children, 15 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. Add in all the spouses and that's a whole lot of people. Doyle and Helen know how to have fun, love with everything that they are, and will forever be my heroes.

She's so easy!

It is Stephanie’s birthday and this is a special occasion. I just wanted to say it has been a great birthday so far. First, Steph did not want a gift. This was weird at first and I can’t help but ask about it again and again. Then, the night before she says, “cards are nice. I like cards. I better be getting a card for my birthday”. I am now thinking of places that are open at midnight that sell cards. I guess I will have to slip out of bed and… whatever, I fell asleep. Morning comes and I have temporarily forgotten it is her birthday. I sleep in until 9am. I get up and Mason has been playing non-stop with mom for hours. I could tell she was very happy. It occurs to me as I am getting some breakfast (cereal), that it is the big day. I remember that she wanted me to make her breakfast. Hmmm, this could be dicey. If she has already eaten her breakfast and I bring it up, I could be in for an earful so I brace myself and ask her what she would like for breakfast. She tells me in a super sweet voice she would like an Muff McEggin. No sweat. I crank that out and next is the odd request of… cleaning. Yes, that’s right, she would like me to help her clean the bathroom and bedroom. This is all so, um, odd. Whatever, it is her birthday. I clean the tub, shower, launder/fold/hang cloths etc… All the while I told her I was on diaper patrol. I keep Mason clean and fresh while we clean and then later while she plays with him till noon. Then she wants to take a nap. I put her to bed with a kiss and I play (quietly) with Mason until his nap-time at 1:30. When he goes down, I get on the computer and I make a custom card via Photoshop. When she wakes up she gets her card and cries a little. Just another Sunday really. Nothing new at all. I am pretty sure I have the lowest maintenance wife on earth. I love her so much and it is a joy to be with her and Mason both.

Random Update Time!

We recently got Mason a little picnic table which he helped Jake put together. We have kept it in the house and he will push it around, with a fair amount of grunting, to a particular place in the house that he can't access because of his height. He has definitely spent the majority of his time on top of his new table. It's actually quite amusing to see him problem solve, though I think we are two shakes away from a disaster.

What else? We took Mason to get his 1 year photos this past weekend. That went the opposite of well. He was only interested in the camera and the various objects in the room that had nothing to do with getting a good photo of him. Jake and I were sweating at the end of the session, which was well over an hour. The results? About 4 good shots. I'll post them when they come in.

I guess that's about all for now, we're all just plugging along!

WANTED

Any information leading to the positive identification of the person (it appears to be the hand of a man) who gave my child some ice cream sandwich on June 30, 2008. I know there were plenty of witnesses at this particular pool party in Utah, and I'm pretty sure the photographer was my mother, though she will give no clues as to the perpetrator who is trying to introduce my child to the delight which is sugar.

"Grandma, please don't take a picture, my mom is going to be mad! Oh, and I don't like chocolate on my face."

So UnAmerican

We got our boy back last Wednesday and although he screamed (not cried, mind you, screamed) most of the two hour ride home, I didn't care one bit. Jake, on the other hand, tore up an entire paper towel and stuffed it in his ears "to take the edge off".

My friend Erin has come up over the 4th of July 3 years in a row now, and this year she got the pleasure of giving Mason a haircut. He has desperately needed one as we was sporting a mullet in the back, but I wanted to wait for Erin to do it. She did a fantastic job and actually cut herself because Mason was constantly turning his head to see the scissors. He looks like a little boy now and I am coming to terms with the fact that he is more toddler than baby.

I didn't feel like trekking downtown for the fireworks this year. They don't start until 10:30 because it's still light at 10, which means we would have to wake up Mason and roll the dice on whether he would enjoy the fireworks or make us regret ever waking him up. Our neighborhood was having a block party and when Erin and I returned from dinner the entire neighborhood was at the house across the street from ours. I had forgotten about it completely and didn't really want to party with the neighbors anyway. As a side note, we are known as the "antisocial Bennetts" because we spend a lot of time inside our house or in our back yard as opposed to our front. It should also be noted that almost every one of our neighbors has children between the ages of 4 and 8, which means they are always outside with their kids.

Yeah, so, as we pulled up around 7:00 my neighbor said "Hey you guys, come on over!" I waved from the garage and then put the garage door down. We never left the house again that night. Everyone pooled their fireworks and I was annoyed by the sounds of them for over 90 minutes. My disdain for home fireworks is another blog entry entirely. The next morning Jake was out front and one of the kids said "Why don't you guys celebrate the 4th of July?" Jake told him that we do celebrate it, just in a different way, inside our house. Later the same day, the 4 year old neighbor girl said to me as I was getting the mail "My brother says you don't believe in the 4th of July, don't you love America?" Ok, so I think it's safe to say that we've taken anti-social to a whole new level.