Life has been much slower these past few days and it has felt really good after a whirlwind December. Chat went back to work (night shift) on Friday, so it has been pretty low key during the day and then just me and the boys at night. We have spent time at home indoors for the most part since the weather has been cold. Since it is not too freezing right now, the boys are spending about an hour outdoors before the rain and more cold weather approach this afternoon. They are loving it! So since I have free hands for a few minutes, here have been a few things that have gone on over the past couple of days...
Did I mention we took Luke to Christmas Eve service? Did I mention we had to get there 45 minutes early to get a seat? I used to think Chat and I were smart people. Not so much. We made it to after the homily and then surrendered and left. Your welcome to the lovely, well-behaved families sitting around us.
Here are the cousins post-Christmas Eve Mass (if you saw me, I would have a large glass of wine in my hand behind the camera) and post-Christmas Eve meal. Luke had yogurt all over his shirt, Ben was starting to meltdown so he was in his pjs and Molly had just puked all over her pretty dress. But they were all smiles. Love toddler-hood!
Both boys have extra-wide, very large feet. Because of that I only buy their shoes online other than crocs (one of the only two or three brands that fit them). So to say I don't get their feet measured that often is kinda an understatement. I realized Luke's shoes seemed a bit small so I printed out a foot chart to measure it at home. To my surprise he was measuring over a 10.5. I looked at the size of his shoes I put him in every day...an 8.5. Mother of the year. Yes, I immediately went online and ordered new shoes. They will arrive on Thursday where I will promptly put them on Luke's feet.
Ben learned to get up on the our climber and go down the slide all by himself. He is very proud of himself.
Luke learned how to turn on the gas stove last night. To make matters worse, our printer cord was laying over that burner (no, we usually don't have the computer on the kitchen counter with its wires laying about). It scared the dickens out of me and I think him since I started yelling like crazy. I wanted him to get scared and know what a serious situation it was so he would never do it again.
About a week and a half ago, our garage door broke. We are finally getting it replaced today and a certain baby is glued to the door and is loving watching it all happen. Or maybe because it is closer to the food...(see next bullet).
Ben has turned into quite an eater lately. I cannot fill this boy up! He is always in the kitchen and moaning for food. I try to distract and play a lot so he doesn't graze all day long, but it is very challenging. I am thinking it is a growth spurt because the last two weeks have been all about food! I weighed him yesterday and he was 29 lbs 15 oz, so almost a pound heaver than just 2 or 3 weeks ago at his 12 months check-up. He only gained a couple of ounces in 3 months and then a pound in a couple of weeks. Clearly a growth spurt!
Someone is really into power tools! Luke discovered his love of building at Chat's stepdad's house this past week.
We have the boys almost on the same nap schedule and it is HEAVEN! We let Ben take a 10 to 20 minute power nap in the morning and then we put them both down for a long nap around 1:00 or 2:00. They both sleep about 2.5 hours and it is glorious.
The boys ate an entire carton of strawberries in less than 10 minutes on Friday night. I have a feeling this was a glimpse of how these two growing boys are going to eat us out of house and home over the next decade!!
Luke's Thomas the Train obsession is still at an all-time high. And we have a slight tunnel obsession too! If he can make it into into a tunnel, he will including your body parts.
Since Chat is working tonight, we are actually going on a little date-night tomorrow. And when I say night, I mean late-afternoon/evening. Chat's mom is coming over around 4 or so to watch the kids so we can go grab an early dinner and a glass of wine to toast to the new year. We will be back in time for baths and bedtime and to tuck our little ones in.
I think last night we started to get a bit of cabin-fever, which is perfect timing since we have a fun NYE get-together to go to at a friend's house tonight! I am thinking we might make it till 8 pm before heading home and this mama hopes to be fast asleep way before that ball drops. My how times change once you have children!
We are getting back to normal around here after all the Christmas festivities. We do have one more Christmas to celebrate tonight but then it is all over after that. We have already taken down the tree and most of the decorations. The boys are in present-overload and loving every minute of it! I am trying to catch up after a whirlwind of a few days and also start working on thank you notes. Until I can get pictures uploaded, here are a few of the boys loving on each other (which is very hard to come by these days!) a day or so before Christmas.
We were watching The Sound of Music in our underwear and diapers (the boys, not me) and luckily I had my phone nearby so I could capture a few sweet moments...
{The hills are alive...}
{Hugs}
{And a kiss!}
{They can only sit still for so long and then they get crazy!}
I am hoping to have the boys answer these questions every year at Christmas. This year it is just Luke but hopefully next year Ben can join in on some of the fun! It was actually a bit hard to get answers from him on some of these questions. I would ask over and over again and finally get an answer. I ended up getting a lot of the answers in the bathtub since he was less distracted there. Without further ado...
Lukes's 2012 Christmas Questionnaire (age 2):
1. What is your favorite color? Thomas
2. What is your favorite toy? Thomas
3. What is your favorite fruit? Apple
4. What is your favorite tv show? Cars
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Fries and chicken
6. What is your favorite outfit? Diaper
7. What is your favorite game? Baseball
8. What is your favorite snack? Cracker
9. What is your favorite animal? Cow
10. What is your favorite song? Twinkle, Twinkle (Little Star)
11. What is your favorite book? Thomas
12. Who is your best friend? Thomas andCooper
13. What is your favorite cereal? (Never could get an answer)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing, run and slide
15. What is your favorite drink? Juice
16. What is your favorite holiday? Friday
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Thomas book
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Toast
19. What do you want for Christmas? Santa Claus
20. Were you a good boy this year? Why? Yup. (Never could get an answer for the why)
I was actually pretty surprised at some of his answers! I didn't even know he knew Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. And it is funny that he said his favorite outfit is a diaper since we are potty training and he asks to wear underwear all the time. Funny guy. Chat loved that he said baseball for his favorite game without any prompting! Thomas the Train was clearly the theme of this questionnaire. It was a fun thing to do this year and I can't wait to see how his answers change from year to year!
This year, the mom's group in our neighborhood decided to organize a hayride for caroling! The minute I heard about it, I knew we had to partake. And boy did it not disappoint!
There were three time slots with two hayrides per time slot so as many people in the neighborhood could go. You better believe we were on the first one with a candycane in hand! Here is the other hayride that I got a picture of...
We drove around singing and then parked on a particular street and went door to door. The elementary school kids lead the evening with their sweet voices, but the parents and younger kids had a blast too. People came out of their house for a song or two. And we were on our way after saying "Merry Christmas"! People seemed real appreciative.
Luke loved the hayride and running around with his friend Cooper who also came!
Ben also loved the hayride! When we were on the move on the hayride, he would hang on to the side and just bounce. It was so cute. But he also really liked the singing. I think all around he had the most fun of the night :).
Cousin Molly came with us and seemed to really enjoy herself! She is full of life and loves anything that is fun and busy, so she was in heaven! Look at that smile...
I hope they make this an annual thing because it was so fun. I know Luke will enjoy the singing too as he gets older and he learns the classic songs like Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman. This sure did help us get in the holiday spirit since it has been a bit tough with all the illness going around this house. So I was very appreciative of the ladies that organized this. Fa la la la!
Ben, you are a year old! You have grown up so quickly and we are having the best time at this fun age! You have changed so much over the past year, but one thing stays the same, you are still the sweetest, happiest baby around. Hands down.
{Ben at his one year check-up}
Here are few updates on ole Benny boy!
1. We went to the pediatrician on Monday and Ben is weighing in at 28 lbs and 13 ounces, so he has really slimmed down. He is in the 98% still in weight, but definitely slowing down a lot and even losing a bit. He is one tall boy though measuring 33 1/4 inches, the 100%. No one really believes you just turned one since you look like a two year old :).
2. Ben says five words at the moment: Mama, Dog, No, Uh-oh and Ball. He babbles all the time and loves to repeat any sound you make. We spend most car rides with going back and forth making different noises.
3. Ben blows kisses and it is the cutest thing ever.
4. Ben started walking a week after he turned 10 months old and has not slowed down since. He is getting into everything and walks/runs all over the house. His new favorite game is following Luke around as he runs laps in the house through the hallway and den. And now he is into climbing (Lord, help me).
5. He is still a clapping, waving and pointing fool. I really do love this stage! He now bounces and dances when music comes on and will even sway back and forth. We went caroling in our neighborhood the other day (hopefully a post soon on that!) and he would just dance and swing his arms to all the kids singing Jingle Bells.
6. Ben is still sleeping between 10 and 11 hours at night and usually takes two 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps, but sometimes just one longer one. Life got so much more wonderful when Ben learned how to sleep. I feel like it really has changed everything.
7. We are down to Ben nursing just once a day in the morning. He takes whole milk and water in a cup during the day and has a bottle of whole milk before bed. I am thinking another week or so of nursing and then we will move on. It has been a wonderful experience nursing Ben and I am so happy that it is naturally tapering off. He is still learning to drink whole milk from a cup. He likes it okay, but still doesn't drink enough to stop the bottle/nursing all together.
8. Food is a big deal now. Ben spends lots of days hanging out in the kitchen trying to get stuff off the counters or moaning because he wants something. It can get frustrating to find foods that he will eat or not tire of and just enough of things to fill him up. I am constantly searching for new things to try. And of course, he likes all junk food - pizza, chicken tenders, macaroni. But he does love bananas, watermelon, applesauce and some other healthy option too.
9. Ben still has eight teeth. I think I see two more spots on the bottom starting to bulge so maybe more to come soon.
10. Ben loves to be outside. LOVES IT. He loves going to the park and the slide is where it is at. He is at the age where he thinks he can do it all, so he scares the begeezus out of me because he will climb all the way to the top of climbing structures. So I have to be on him all the time! Oh and also because there are acorns everywhere these days and he will gladly have five in his mouth at a time.
11. Water. I forgot to mention water. The boy loves a water glass. Like my water glass. And he loves to stick his fat, chubby paw in it and splash in it and fish out all my ice. His poor hand is like an icicle by the time we are done with dinner at a restaurant -- but it keeps him soooooo happy.
12.. Ben got two shots while at the pediatrian's office and I delayed two of them. So we will go back in a month or two and get the rest. He did great for the first shot and didn't even cry, but the next one wasn't as easy. There were tears.
There are so many good things happening for Ben lately, but there are also bad days like any baby. He is really coming out of his shell though and showing us his personality. He has strong opinions now too and will gladly scream his head off and arch his back if you try to take him out of the swing at the park before he is ready. I know all the pudge and innocence slowly start trickling away after this age, so I am trying to soak it in while I can. It was a crazy year, but so fun. Can't wait to see what this next year holds!
Ben's Birthday/Santa Party...aka the party that almost didn't happen. The last 72 hours have been a bit of a blur, but with a very happy ending.
Let's start with Thursday night. I had a girl's dinner and was super excited to get out of the house and enjoy some time with some great friends and celebrate one of their birthdays! We had a wonderful time and I came home and went to bed around 11:30 that night. Around 1:30 that morning, I woke up feeling terribly nauseous. You can imagine what happened next. I will spare you the details and just say that the next six hours were very, very unpleasant. I think it was food poisoning because I was better pretty quickly after that night, but it could have been a small bug. I felt better by Friday -- just tired and weak.
We decided to see how I felt throughout the day on Friday and decide about the party on Saturday morning. By Saturday morning, I was almost 100% so we went full steam ahead. And we had so much to do in a very little time! But I am so glad we did end up having it. The party was so much fun. We all felt well and had a ball!
We had a special visitor for Ben...
And he wanted nothing to do with him...
Luckily, lots of other kiddos enjoyed Santa!
And of course there was cake...
We had such a good time celebrating Ben! I told myself next year would be a bit more low key since it was a lot to handle with the holidays too, but I am thinking I already need to call Santa at the North Pole and book him for the big 2nd birthday! It really was fun to experience :). I am so happy we can now focus on Christmas coming up and spend the next week together as a family. We just have a few more presents to buy and we will be set. But first, caroling tonight on a hay ride in our neighborhood!
One year ago today, this big, sweet, snuggly baby boy entered into the world and changed my life and heart forever. This has been such an overwhelming year to say the least. It has been beautiful and hard all rolled into one. Ben has such a special place in our family and I can't wait to celebrate him this weekend!
We go to the pediatrician on Monday and so I will do his 12 month post then with stats and milestones! Off to celebrate the birthday boy...
Every year we go visit Santa at the Galleria (2010, 2011) and this year was no different than last year....other than we have a new little fella in the picture. Is it wrong that I think that this picture is soooooo funny?? It shows my two kid's different personalities perfectly.
I did get one of just Ben this year too...Can't believe he is one tomorrow!
It is finally Christmas around here! Since we have been playing catch up since we all were sick for so long, we had to do a lot this weekend to get the house decorated for the holidays. First up...our Christmas tree! We headed out on Friday afternoon to look for the perfect tree. After sweating in 80+ degree heat and walking up and down lots of aisles while corralling two kiddos under three, we realized we don't need the perfect tree. We just needed a tree and quick! Especially since Luke insisted on wearing underwear and the tree lot didn't have any restrooms.
The boys loved walking up and down the rows and rows of trees. I don't think they quite got that we were even looking for a tree, but they had a blast running wild. Especially this guy.
We got it home and set it up that afternoon. Chat put it in the stand and started getting water from the kitchen so it could have a little drink and Ben thought it was a great adventure. Ha! Chat had a little shadow the whole time. Walking back and forth with a cup of water and then putting it in the stand. He was very curious (and cute!).
Then someone needed a hug....I love capturing sweet moments like this.
We finally decorated it last night and since then, well, it has been interesting. I am usually shooing Ben away from the tree all day. He likes to take off all the ornaments that we put on. He likes this one particular ornament that is a picture of Luke that he made in school last year. Kinda sweet actually. Well, when it is not frustrating to be picking up ornaments all day!
Luke loves this little advent calendar house. We got it as a gift last year and it has all sorts of little items in each door -- a little tree, a santa, the baby Jesus, presents, a little horn, trains, etc. Luke loves it! It totally surprised me that he would be into it, but he just has a ball with it. He likes to take them all out and put them back in. The only downside is that the pieces are really small and Luke likes to leave them around and a certain almost-one-year-old likes to pick them up and put them in his mouth.
The boys have also been playing with their little Fisher-Price nativity scene. I spend time telling them who everyone is, but really they just like to play with the figurines at this age. Luke especially likes it. And likes Ben to look at him playing with it. It has made for some challenging afternoons. This is how Luke usually sets up Ben's chair to play. Poor Ben. One day he will get a chance to play too.
I realize that I had high hopes for this Christmas for Luke to grasp the meaning of Christmas and to share in the joy of the traditions and spirit of this special time. Well he is having lots of joy...but mostly with his trains and the Christmas decorations. He loves to make tunnels out of the tree skirt for his trains. Meet Frank.
It was a busy weekend. Fun, but busy. And now I am super stressed out about Ben's party this Saturday. Not because I can't do it all, I just can't do it with two kiddos hanging on me. Hoping that everyone is well to go to school on Wednesday so I can get some things crossed off the list. Because it is going to be so fun if I can pull this off! Stay tuned...
Update: After 13 long days, I am finally well!! I got on a z pack and now feeling 100% better and it feels amazing. Let the Christmas festivities commence! I now have to finish the plans for Ben's party, get our tree and decorations up and we have to visit Santa next week among many other things. I am so excited! Oh and word is that we are getting cold weather early next week. We. Are. Ready.
Even though I was still working on getting better, the boys and I did get out of the house this week. On Tuesday we went to the park and Chick Fil A with Sissy (Aunt Courtney) and cousin Molly. It was quite fun...
And this morning, we headed with our friends to the Children's Museum. The kids had a blast and are both passed out at the moment. Can I just mention that I looooooooove when both boys nap at the same time. I always struggle with what to do -- clean the house or vegge out and watch Elf? Right now, blogging and Elf are winning. I just hope no one sees my house.
{Playing grocery store}
{Watching chicks hatch}
{Someone is already ready for his first car}
It is going to be a busy week coming up, but I can't wait!
1. I am on day 12 of being sick. First stomach bug, then cold and now sinus infection. But only on one side of my face. I. Just. Want. To. Feel. Better. It has been very hard to get into the Christmas spirit feeling like this. Oh and the 80+ degree weather we are having too.
2. We put up lights on the outside of the house, but have not done any decorating on the inside. I had this great idea this year that I wanted white lights on the outside and I wanted them to be the kind you tack on to the house in those perfect lines. Chat worked his tail off and after several issues, finished and we had this beautiful outcome! He made this girl super happy. This weekend we will get our tree and hopefully get this house ready for Ben's big party!
3. Speaking of Ben, he will be one in just over a week!! I can't believe my sweet Ben is turning one. The days have been long at times this past year, but this year has been so very short. I can't wait to celebrate him and have all of our friends over for his big party. I talked to Santa this past week and he can't wait to surprise this kids with his visit!
4. We went to Avalon Diner for our annual birthday breakfast for Chat last week. We loaded up on pancakes, eggs and bacon. The boys loved it and good thing because we will be back on Ben's birthday and Luke's birthday. Here is a picture of the birthday boy and Luke!
5. Luke went to school in underwear for the first time yesterday! He did pretty well with only one small accident in the gym. I always give him the option of underwear or diaper to go to school, and yesterday was the first day he chose underwear. So I feel we have ripped the bandaid off -- so it is underwear to school every time now!
6. On Saturday, we took Luke and Ben up to school and they decorated gingerbread houses. It was so cute! Luke was into it for about a whole five minutes and really thought all the decorations were a candy buffet for himself, but it was a blast. His friend Cooper and his family came too. These boys love each other!
Do you see Luke's shirt and face. That would be icing and any red candy he could get his hands on!
Ben had a blast toddling around and eating nila wafters.
7. Yesterday at MOPS, the topic was How to Pray for Your Children. I got so much out of it and I really hope that I use what I learned. I feel that sometimes I get caught up in trying to teach Luke how to pray (which isn't super easy to do as he runs laps around the house) and have a relationship with God that I forget to pray for him and Ben on a daily basis. I think it is so important to take quiet time and have a dialogue with God about your children.
8. Luke and Ben are starting to really play together. Or fight. Or play. Or fight. I have a feeling the next ten years are going to drive me crazy with all the bickering!
9. Did I mention Luke is still in swim classes? We started in April and Luke has made such improvement. He has always received such praise from his teacher when I go to pick him up. Until last Friday...apparently he didn't want to do anything she asked. He just wanted to play with the toys. I am hoping it was just an off day and he goes back to doing well!
10. That's about all I have for right now. I am off to go blow my nose for the 200th time today and it is only 10:00 am. I really, really, really want to get better.
