AND THEN MOM WENT BACK TO WORK ...

For the Faithful Ben-ites, I'd like to take this moment to say - THANKS FOR KEEPING UP WITH ME! I am such a lucky boy that so many people want to know how I am doing. Life keeps you busy and I know how hard it is to keep up when so many people so far away. Heck, it's even hard for me to keep in touch the folks that live close to us (shout out to Aunt Megan and the whole Herrick clan)!

Anyhooo ... just want to warn you all - Mom returns to work tomorrow (at this point, it is today actually). With that, not only will our adventures slow down tremendously, but so will a lot of her photo-journaling activities. (Don't cry Ong Ba Ngoai!) She's going to try to get the folks at daycare (my home away from home) to take pictures of me, but frankly, I am pretty sure they have better things to do.

So, have faith, there will certainly be updates - but they just won't be as frequent or as in-depth. Yeah, yeah. I'll miss you all too. So, as a farewell, I have compiled a little montage of my last day with 100% of my mom.

xo
Ben

The morning started off like any other morning. Me chewing on my toes until I got bored. Then I hollered for Mom and Dad. Lucky Dad got me first thing. I pulled on his chest hair.

I like to practice sitting now. It's pretty cool. I sit and move around and sometimes get close to bonking myself on my face - but Mom or Dad usually save me just in the nick of time!

Of course, all that sitting sometimes can tire a kid out! Hey! I am only five months old - I don't turn six months until Tuesday! Cut me some slack!

Dad entertains me while I get ready for the homemade peas and kale that Mom made for me. Yum to the peas. Yuck to the kale. What were you thinking Mom? Kale? For real? I don't care how good for me it is!!!!

Since I am going to be in daycare starting on Monday, I needed to get some quality time in with my best friend at home - Mr. Giraffe and my Exersaucer.

While I hung in my Exersaucer, Mom got ready for her first day of work. She pulled out something she hasn't seen in six months - AN IRON! HAHAHA! No more sweats and ponytails every day Mom!

While Mom was home, we had the luxury of going to the grocery store practically every day! When the weather was nice (which we were lucky, most of the time it was), we would go for a walk in the park and then head right to the Shop Rite to pick up the fixings for dinner. It was like we were old Europeans heading to the town market - except in New Jersey and the local market is a huge grocery store chain. But you get my point.

Anyway, now that Mom is heading back to work - those daily shopping trips are no more. So, we did what every good American family does - we went to Costco and bought more olive oil that that imaginary European family could use in a year! I had fun though. I got to hang with Dad. Literally.

Finally, my bedtime. In an effort to prepare me for Mom's return to work, Mom and Dad have been following advice from "The Baby Whisperer" on how to get me to learn how to self-soothe and sleep through the night without needing to be cuddled. Mom feeds me, Dad bathes me and reads to me, and then he puts me into bed. I have been sleeping through the night without assistance for the past three nights. Hoorah! I hope I keep it up through all the changes that daycare will sure bring!

So, that was my last day with Mom's 100% attention. I am looking forward to daycare and I think Mom is actually looking forward to interacting with adults again on a daily basis. That being said, I think we both really enjoyed the luxury of having her at home for the past six months. We have had a lot of fun. I have sure changed a lot from when I was first born.

With all of those changes though, sometimes I know it was a little tough. I wore Mom out!

But it was always worth it. I am glad that Mom and I took time to stop and smell the ... random flower that blossomed in our backyard. It is six months that I will never be able to remember (I am just a baby after all!), but I'm sure that Mom will never forget.