Bragging Rights

I just want to take a few moments and brag about my husband since he would never do it himself.
Not only has Ben kicked the habit of milk jug chugging, but he is also an excellent father, and a kick a$$ graphic designer.
Some of you may remember that we have a son, Lucas. Well, when Lucas was born Ben designed a birth announcement. This was no ordinary birth announcement - the kind you get from Shutterfly, or your local Piggly Wiggly or Smiths photo department. This was a birth announcement that required weeks of brainstorming, hours of sketching, and then days at the computer designing the brilliance that was to announce the birth of our son. There were endless hours driven to craft stores where poor Ben would search the stamping section for the perfect ink. Then there were nights spent hand stamping the design onto the coolest fuzzy paper.
Well, my friends, it was worth every minute. Here is the final result: Ben entered it in the Local ADDY Competition (Advertising Federation awards) and received a Gold ADDY. Then it went on to regionals where it received another Gold. From regionals it went on to Nationals. And yes, it received a Gold at nationals, which is a really really big deal. I think there were only 60 Golds awarded out of like 60,000 entrants. Now we have three nice trophies in our office for just one project. The story doesn't end there. Ben submitted it to Communication Arts magazine and it made it in to the design annual, which is another big deal. It was one of Ben's goals to be published in CA, so he could cross that off the list.
We are so grateful that Lucas was born so Ben could win these awards... and so he could bless our lives.

Now if you haven't had enough, here is one more thing. Ben designed a grocery bag for a store called Central Market here in Texas. It's like a Whole Foods and they are one of the big clients at Ben's work. Take a peek at this bag. The first time I did, I almost cried.

This bag is making a fuss all over the country, not just in Texas. Apparently there is one bag traveling around the world having it's picture taken - like the gnome in the movie "Amelie".
There was a blog about it. I'll try to find the address. Here is the newest story about the bag. It's an email sent to Central Market from a shopper:

"this is probably going to be the weirdest email you've ever gotten. i bought groceries at central market in southlake and got paper instead of plastic. the side of the bag said it wanted to be a kite. i couldn't throw it away. I called my sister and told her, she lives in Pa, . she was impressed. she requested several bags and sent them to her friend , she lives in NY, whose son recently died. He loved to fly kites. she is taking her grandson and making kites with the bags. since then other people around her have requested the bags. one is framed in her pool room. she said some of them should want to be hand puppets or something. really, i know i'm nuts and so is my family, but these are being collected. we can't be the only crazy people out here. i have had to go back to central market just for the bags! just wanted to let you know and thank you for the bright crazy spot in our day."

Maybe this year Ben will get more awards for the bag. We'll find out in a few weeks at the ADDYs.

The moral of the story is that Ben is awesome. I love his lack of a verbal filter at times and I love how he chases Lucas around the house clapping after dinner. If you love Ben and his designs just as much as me, remember: you too can have an award winning baby announcement... for a small fee. :-)

Lucas's Lovely Locks... going, going, gone.

Lucas's hair got way out of hand over Christmas break, so I was determined to give him a little trim as we celebrated MLK Day yesterday. Once again Ben wanted to buzz it and once again I protested saying, "we can't - the cowlick, the cowlick." We settled on using the 1" attachment on the clippers, and faded it into 1/2" on the bottom.
I, being the genius that I am, decided to touch up one side after Ben had been working on the other side. So, I took the clippers from him and touched up here and there. Then I went right on top of Lucas's noggin. That's when I discovered that the 1/2" head was on, not the 1" head. Needless to say, we had to go over all of Lucas's hair, and now it's all 1/2" long. Poor baby. He looks a little funny, mostly because he has some patches in back where his hair is thinner... then there's that whole cowlick. But, he's still way cute. His new 'do definitely shows off his facial features better, so that's good.

NuBlog

For a few months I've been thinking about starting another blog. Yesterday I finally set it up while Ben was out. The new blog is www.theoptimistictruth.blogspot.com or you can link at the side of this page (Suzy's Other Side). This blog will remain precious and sweet - about Lucas, Ben and all that fun family stuff. The other blog will be about fun food and weird stuff I want to write about. I have to have somewhere to rant and rave, so that's where it will be. Now, I'm off the clean a dirty kitchen. Night night.

the gift that lasts a lifetime

This Christmas Ben gave me something for which I've been begging for years. It went like this (written on the jug):
So... we had kind of decided that since we were running a little short on cash this Christmas, we were going to give each other coupon books. Well, I started making a list and it went something like this:

1. 5 household chores of your choice.
2. not burping or farting for one week
3. staying home from basketball to be with you, etc.

These were things I thought you might enjoy that wouldn't cost any money, But then I realized that they were things that I should be DOING ANYWAY. Well, then I had an idea.

Here Goes:
I solemnly swear on all things holy that I will never again drink straight from the milk carton. Never Ever. You have my word. For as long as we both shall live.
It's Utterly Amazing !

Then he drew pictures of utters, a lightbulb, hearts, "I love milk. I love you even more." Lips off. Cold Turkey.

This is a really big deal, people. Thanks, Baby!

I'm still alive, really.

Aloha,

I have officially been away from home for three weeks, one day, and 7 hours. I will go back on Wednesday so Ben can remember who we are and hopefully he will get to eat something besides microwave burritos (aside from what he eats at our friends' houses - thanks!)

Tonight I found out that I have been making a grammatical error (and you know I hate grammatical errors) for the past 16 months. My sister, Lisa, told me that when I write about Lucas and his posessions, I am supposed to use an apostrophe-s, not just an apostrophe. So, I've been saying Lucas' ball, etc. for over a year. Oops. The only case you use just the apostrophe in a first name is in the case of Jesus. Interesting, huh?

She did say that there are probably exceptions in rule books somewhere, so I shouldn't feel too dumb...

That said, if you wish to see some of Lucas's updated pictures, go here.

Lucas has grown and learned so much in the past three weeks. Last year, Lucas got two front teeth for Christmas. This year, he got four teeth for Christmas (his canines)! Now we only have a couple more sets molars to go and we're done with teeth!

Lucas has also really started to love animals. In Arizona he got to meet Riley, Ben's aunt's dog. He also got to see the duck pond. He was quite scared at first, but then tried to climb into the pond feet first like he goes down the stairs. He even started saying a new word that sounds a lot like "dog" or "duck".... we think it might be a German word. But, I think it is the word for all things not human.

In Albuquerque, Lucas was excited to see Nala and Oscar again. They weren't quite so excited to see him. We have made it two weeks without any bites - just a couple growls. Lucas has learned to be careful with the dogs and not poke them in the face. Last week Lisa was giving Lucas a bath and they heard Oscar walk down the hall and Lucas said, "Oska." I didn't believe her at first, but now he says it quite often when he sees the dog. (Ben isn't a fan of Oscar, so he wasn't happy when I told him this...). I now hear "Oska" and the German dog word much more than Mama.

Oh, and Lucas finally did his first sign! I've been trying to get this kid to sign for ten months. Now he'll do the sign for "all done" when he wants down from his high chair. Next we'll work on "milk" and "more."

Lucas has some fun toys to play with here (toys way older than me). There's a pretty cool Tonka dump truck, a doll crib, and a little set of wooden beads and a big string. He enjoys playing with the beads and has started to string them onto the string with some help. And of course, Lucas's favorite activity is the sorting, stacking, and organizing. Lucas has emptied every single drawer in my parent's house, and several drawers in Ben's parent's house. He loves it.

I was supposed to go home last Thursday, but stayed longer because Ben had work to do in Austin and I didn't want to go home and be alone while Ben worked. The first week home after being with my family is always really hard - the empty house, doing all the work by myself, etc. Here I have about 6 assistants to help with watching Lucas and it makes for a nice break. And the great thing is that they really enjoy playing with Lucas... and instead of being a chore, bath time is a really FUN time.

The good news is that my sister showed Lucas some pictures on the computer tonight. He got really excited when he saw Ben, so he still remembers him! Ben and I have wondered before how long it would take him to forget one of us. I said he'd be over me in a week, but now I know that's not true. He misses and loves his daddy very much. We'll see you soon, Baby!