Best of 2010

This is going to be a little harder than writing my Best of 2009 post. My 2009 was documented. Possibly over documented right here on this blog. I did very little blogging in 2010. I'll have to make this list by memory (Oh dear God) or by looking back at pictures. Just like last year, I'm sure I'll leave something or someone out. If you's like to add something to the list, comment below. And now..onto my list

January:
1) Had a dance party with Allison and Ben to Neil Sedaka - Waking Up Is Hard to Do
2) Water pipe burst. Not a best moment, but very memorable. 1/10/10
3) Watching the NY Jets playoff run. It stopped in Indy, but it was a great unexpected thrill.
Favorite post: Almost 4 Months Old

February:
1) Ben's photoshoot with Victoria Shade. www.victoriashade.com
2) Watching the Winter Olympics
3) Opening a Garden City office with a stomach bug during a snow storm.
Favorite post: (only post of February) A Really Long Time

March:
1) Trip to NY for Danny & Bridgette's Wedding.
2) Taking Ben to see his first Mets game. In true Mets fashion, they lost to the Braves in extra innings.
3) Lunch at Hooters with my old CA crew.
4) I wont tickets to In The Heights - Broadway Across America.
Favorite Post: It's a Nightmare

April:
1) Ben started crawling (I think)
2) Great American Pie Festival - Yes! It's as awesome as it sounds. We were even on the CBS Early Show. 1:40 mark
3) Ran a 12K (7.46 miles)
4) Personal best 5K - 4/24/10 - 27:45
Favorite Post: I'm a Bad Dad

May:
1) Ben started cruising (I think)
2) Ben took Survival Swimming
3) Family trip to Cocoa Beach and I got a new hat at Ron Jon.
Favorite Post: Poop, Poop, Poop

June:
1) Disney Vacation!
2) My 34th Bday
3) I got World cup Fever
4) My 1st fathers day and the 1st annual Father's Day eve poker game.
Favorite Post: Disney Vacation Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 A, Day 3 B

July:
1) July 4th vacation on Miami Beach
2) Allison got a new car (new to her. It's a 2008 Honda Pilot)
3) Ben had ice cream for the first time.
Favorite Post: Dad vs Parent

August:
1) Went to NY for work and got to go to my niece's 5th birthday party
2) I got to see Citi-Field for the first time (only the outside)
3) Started writing for a Dearwomen.com
Favorite Post: (only post of August) Bi-Weekly Update

September:
1) Ben's 1st Birthday
2) Ben took his first steps - at the babysitter's house!
3) Ben's 1st Birthday party - we had
4) Allison's birthday. I made her an AWESOME BBQ King Crab dinner
5) Ben's first haircut
Favorite Post: Happy 1st Birthday Benjamin

October:
1) Ben started walking full-time
2) Trick or Treating with Ben and his friends
3) Weekend beach getaway with my wife's family from NY
Favorite Post: Today Was a Good Day

November:
1) Thanksgiving in NY visiting with friends and family
2) Playing Bingo for the first time at Foxwoods Casino
3) Taking Ben to the Yo Gabba Gabba show.
Favorite Post: Fun in the Sandbox

December:
1) Watching Ben open gifts for Hanukkah and Christmas
2) Going to see Jay's Lights with Ben, family and friends.
3) Hearing that Ben got his first kiss.
Favorite Post: NONE

OK. Onto my favorite things of 2010
Favorite moment of 2010: Ben's birthday. We were supposed to have 94 people at the party. Due to sickness and Disney on Ice, we ended up with 76 people! It's a wonder feeling that that many people wanted to celebrate Ben's birthday with us.
Favorite song: Don't Stop Believin' - Glee (shut up! don't judge me LOL)
Favorite CD: Eminem - Recovery
Favorite movie - Drama: Extraordinary Measures
Favorite movie - Comedy: Date Night or Little Fockers or She's Out of my League
Favorite move - Action: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt1
Favorite new show: Raising Hope
Favorite gadget: iphone 3GS
Favorite App: Angry Birds Seasons
Favorite Website: Facebook & Twitter
Favorite Radio Station: XL106.7
Favorite LOL Moment: Taking Ben out of the bathtub and holding him over the toilet because I saw him trying to poop.

Review of 2010 Goals

On New Year's Eve 2009 I wrote down my list of goals for 2010. Some I met. Some I didn't even come close to meeting and some are just laughable now that I know what life with a kid is like. I have a well behaved, joy of a child, but still my personal time is very limited. So while goals 2, 3, 9, 10, 11 and 12 would be awesome, they just didn't make the realistic cut.

But 2011 is a new year! So we'll try it again. I'll post 2011's goals in the next day or 2. Here's how I did in 2010. Goals I met are green. Goals I didn't achieve are red.

Goals for 2010

1. Spend less time on Facebook and Twitter and more time with Ben and Allison - I did a good job of this. I don't get on Facebook or Twitter until after Ben is in bed and Allison and I are both usually on Facebook while we watch TV together.
   
2. Spend the first hour after Ben goes to sleep writing. I find this hilarious. Ben goes to bed between 8-8:15. I then finish cleaning up after dinner and doing whatever chores need to get done. It's usually 8:30 - 9:00 before I can say we are "done." Add an hour of writing onto that and it's bed time. I'd never spend anytime with Allison. I'll need to address this in 2011.
   
3. Finish writing my book. See above.
   
4. Make money off of my writing. This I did. I wrote for http://www.fireflyworldwide.com/ and also for http://www.dearwomen.com/. I didn't make enough money to retire, but I did make enough money to ensure that at least something went into savings every month.
   
5. Run a 5K under 30 minutes - I achieved this goal 3 times. My best time was 27:45 on April 24th. I also recorded 27:47 on June 15th.
6. Run a 10K in an hour - I didn't run a 10K this year, but I did run a 12K in April. What's a mix of red and green? I want partial credit.
   
7. Run a 15K - just finish, without stopping - See above
   
8. Run a half marathon - just finish without stopping - I didn't register (or train) for a 1/2 marathon. I am however partnered up with my wife's cousin to run Disney 1/2 marathon Jan 2012.
   
9. Learn how to juggle - I tried to juggle a number of times, but just like William Hung, I have no professional training in juggling.
   
10. Learn how to play Super Mario Bros theme on my keyboard - I can play the first 6 notes, but that was not the goal. A friend sent me the sheet music, so I'm that much closer. Check back with me mid/late 2011.
    
11. Learn how to play Clocks by Coldplay on my keyboard - I can play Ode to Joy, but I didn't even try this one.
    
12. Learn how to play NY State of Mind by Billy Joel on my keyboard - I can play when the Saint's go Marching In, but I didn't even try this one.
    
13. Remain a size 34 for another year - I won't lie, there were days when my pants were not buttoned because I couldn't button them, but right now, on 12/29/10 my size 34s are buttoned! Another year? that's gonna be a tough one, but let's try it!
    
14. Create a new blog and post a picture on it everyday in 2010 - I had fun doing this, but I ran out of time. I got too busy to post. I'll try it again. I really did enjoy it and I learned some tricks to post faster. I posted 236/365.
    
15. Teach Ben to say "Daddy" & "Awesome"- Ben can say Dada, but it sounds like Na-Na. He cannot say awesome, but he can fist pump. That's a win if you ask me.
    
16. Do not curse in front of Ben - I have curbed a lot of my swearing by saying "son of a nut cracker, jerk-face and ah CRACKERS!," but I still drop the occasional swear word here and there. Luckily, he's not talking yet, so no copycat swearing.
    

Ben loves his roller coaster.

30 mins of fun

Ben likes watermelon

Fun in the sand box.

Today was a good day

Work was work, nothing special. One good thing that happened at work was I was offered tickets to the Orlando Magic game. Unfortunately I couldn't go to the game and I had to pass. That's the second set of tickets I had to pass up this week. I was also offered tickets to Monday Night Football in Jacksonville. I had to pass on those too.

Poor me right? Well I'm glad I didn't go to the game tonight. Tonight was kind of a good night for our family. NO! We're not pregnant!

Ben had a big day. 1) he flipped on a light switch for the first time. 2) He walked for about 45 minutes. 3) Got mad when we took away his nigh-night bear. 4) Got mad when he wanted to go to bed.

He has walked a few times before, but he was very tentative and wobbly with his steps. Tonight he was in the zone. Allison and I sat on either side of the dinning room. He walked back and forth between us for 30 minutes. He laughed and laughed. Unfortunately I can't upload any pix or vids right now, but I will once the website lets me.

I made his bottle and we headed upstairs to put him to bed. He WAS NOT HAPPY. He cried and thrashed for about 5 minutes. He was having fun and didn't want to go to bed. The only thing to make him happy...putting him down so he could walk more. He wouldn't even wait for his pajama bottoms, he had to roam free! (I have vids of this too)

Funny how Allison and my reaction differed. I was proud of him, but nervous because now he can reach more things that are higher & pull them down onto him and he can fall easier & possibly get hurt easier. Allison was proud of him, but sad that her baby boy was growing up.

Well, you know what they say. Men are from Mars, women are crazy. LOL Have a good night.

Good thing I'm not a house elf.

Tonight I didn't want to do the dishes so I asked Allison to switch with me. She would do the dishes and I would do bath time. Bath time is usually a lot of fun, but not tonight.

As I was getting him ready for the bath, he was already getting a little cranky, but usually as soon as he gets in the tub he perks right up. He is starting to learn how to make his bath toys squirt water.

He had his firefighter duck and was filling it with water...and squirting it out. He was excited and flopping around like a fish. He hit the back of his head on the faucet. He didn't cry, but he wasn't happy so I decided to move him to the other side of the tub. I guess I moved him too far back and when he turned he lost balance and fell backwards.

He hit his head again, this time on the back of the tub and this time he did cry. I felt so bad for him. He was crying really hard and even tried to climb out of the tub. I let the water out of the tub and gave him a hug. He cried for a few more minutes and really off and on until he got his night time bottle.

He's OK, but I feel bad. I feet like I should smash my head or something like Dobby the house elf. I'll make it up to him tomorrow. When mommy goes out to dinner...daddy will take him out for ice cream. Now hopefully mommy doesn't read this until after tomorrow night.

Planting the seed

If you remember during Allison's pregnancy, she had little to no cravings. I'm trying to work on that now for the next pregnancy.

HOLD UP!!! Let me stop you right there. I am in no way making an announcement about an upcoming baby here. I'm not even announcing that we are trying for another one. Although when we do start trying I'm not going to announce it either. We very well could be trying right now, and you wouldn't even know it. But we're not...but we could be...but we're not. Seriously, we're not.

Anyway, back to the story. Just like Ralphie in A Christmas Story, I struggled for just the right pregnancy craving hint: (6:30 into the clip)


My hint.
Me: You know, my friend Melissa craved ice cream every night during her pregnancy. Her daughter had all her teeth by 6 months, was walking by 10 months and is currently 18 months and writes perfect cursive.

Allison: WHAT?

Me: Oh nothing. You look pretty tonight. (cough ICE CREAM cough cough) (I may have overplayed my hand)

I was very disappointed during the last pregnancy that Allison didn't have cravings. I was very excited to make midnight runs for ice cream or a jar of pickles. Or rush to the supermarket and buy a box of cookies and cool whip just as they are closing. You know heroic stuff like that. Nothing! Well not this time. I LOOOOOOOVE ice cream and of course the main and real reason, is that I want to do nice things for my pregnant wife. ;)

I'll let you if my tactics work when the time comes...which if you remember from above, is not yet. Have a good night.

Ben can walk

So I picked up Ben from the babysitter's house after work tonight and she says to me "he's a really good walker." So I said "yes, he's getting close. He still holds on though." She replied "What do you mean, he took 6 steps today, walking towards the TV."

We've seen him take 1 or 2 steps, then immediately crumple down to the ground, then start crawling again, but never a full walk.

So I put him down and he crawled around a bit, then the next thing you know, he stood up and took about 12 steps into the living room! Again, later on in the kitchen, I put him down again and sure enough...he walked out of the kitchen into the hallway. That's seriously an 8 to 10 foot walk.

I took Ben home and had to decide if I tell Allison what I saw or not. I didn't tell her, but as soon as she got home I put Ben on the floor and let him show her. He took about 12-14 steps. We tried to get him to walk a few more times. Check out some of the video we took.

Happy 1st Birthday Benjamin

Ben is officially one year old. You're probably expecting a long post about how great a year it's been and how much my life has changed because of Ben, but you're not going to get that here.

I did write that post, but I turned it into a letter that I will share with Ben. I haven't decided if I will put it in the time capsule or save it for when he has a child of his own, but in any event, it's not getting posted here.

I don't want to leave you completely hanging, so here is a photo-journal of Ben's first year of life. Enjoy.

September 2009 - It's a Boy
This picture was taken 9/15/09 at 4:38 AM. Just 5 minutes after Ben was born.
This picture is from the ripe old age of 10 minutes
October 2009 - 1 Month - Trick or Treat
Ben's 1st Halloween. He didn't get to eat any candy, but he held some and watched The Great Pumpkin.
November 2009 - 2 Months - Gobble Gobble
I love tummy time!
I got my bib and I'm ready for turkey.
Staring contest...don't make me laugh.
December 2009 - 3 Months - Merry Christchanukah
Lunch with Mommy's friends. I love the ladies
Ho Ho Ho

January 2010 - 4 months - Happy New Year



February 2010 - 5 months

March 2010 - 6 months - Play Ball!
A visit to NY and a Spring Training game
Hello ladies!

1st baseball game. Mets @ Braves. True to form, the Mets blew it in the 9th.

April 2010 - 7 Months - Happy Easter
Chillin' poolside. GTL baby

Very excited to host the first playdate.
Stripped down to color Easter eggs.
Look what the Easter Bunny gave me!!!
Hi guys, I stand now.
May 2010 - 8 Months - Happy Mother's Day
Cool, Daddy's hat fits me.
1st trip to the beach.
Hi!
June 2010 - 9 Months - Happy Father's Day & 1st Disney visit
Whoops, dad forgot to put on the swimmy diaper
Check out my cool ears.
Proof that Ben isn't always smiling.
This should be on a Disney poster.
July 2010 - 10 Months - Happy 4th
Character Dinner to celebrate Mommy's new job.
I love fish!
Swimming in the ocean with Dad.
Yeah...I love the ladies.
Vacationing is AWESOOOME
Hitting Publix
August 2010 - 11 Months - Baby Gates
Helping Dad put up the baby gates.
I'm up to something...
September 2010 - 1 year!!!! Happy Birthday Benjamin!
The Birthday Boy
Check out my new hat.
Does this shirt make me look 1? I don't get it, but mommy says it's funny.
Reading about this very hungry caterpillar at my new desk.
mmmmmmm...Monkey Cake
Hi there!
Hello again.
J-E-T-S
JETS JETS JETS