Me and td0gg

What do me and this fine young man named td0gg have in common you ask?Well, we both were dumb enough to wash some Great Stuff (the insulation spray foam) off our hands down the drain. Apparently it will expand, even in water, and clog the drain pretty badly. We are talking a solid blockage. And it was in my utility sink, so laundry was a no-go until we finally got it cleared. And by we I mean the nice handyman that our friends recommended. After plunging, snaking, and Drano we finally gave up and called him. Best $30 we have ever spent. I guess now I have no excuse for not doing the mountain of laundry in the basement. If anyone has a good one for me let me know. I'll do whatever it takes to avoid it.

5 Months!

This past 5 months has flown by! I can’t believe how much my little baby has grown already! I was watching our friend’s baby rolling and crawling around our house last night and I can’t believe that isn’t that far off for Ben. Sometimes I wish they could just stay babies forever. But 4 years of diapers was enough with Carter, so I guess it’s ok.

What can I say, I am absolutely in love with this kid! He is such a happy baby. He smiles all the time and he is so easy going and easy to please. He usually sleeps through the night, typically 7:30 pm until 6:30 am when he comes into bed with me for a little snuggling. He loves to be held and cuddled. He still loves his wrap and he still naps in his car seat. I can’t say I blame him though, it does look pretty cozy. He still just has the 2 teeth, thank goodness. With top teeth that kid could do some serious damage. Oh, and did I mention the ginormous mouth? We started him on solids recently. Apparently my milk just wasn’t enough to sustain all those rolls. I have never in my life seen a baby take to food the way Ben has. Typically the first few times they don’t eat a lot and most of it ends up on the floor/walls/clothes. It took Ben about 2 bites to get the hang of it. He get so excited when he sees the spoon coming. He grabs my hand and shoves it into his mouth, smiling the whole time. He gets so worked up between bites, it’s like he’s begging for more. He smiles and talks and kicks as hard as he can. I shouldn’t be surprised, he is my son after all. But dang, it’s cute.

He rolled over from his back to his tummy yesterday for the first time, so now he can roll both ways. He hasn’t figured out that he can roll to get around yet. I’ll keep it that way as long as I can.

I can’t get enough of him! But sometimes I think he’s had enough of me. Love him!

All Alone

We have been so lucky to have so many people out here visiting us in the past few months!  My sister and sister-in-law came out right after Ben was born, then my parents, then Mike’s dad, then another sister, and finally Mike’s Brother, his wife and their twins.  They let in the middle of January and now I don’t know what to do with myself!  We have no one else coming to visit anytime soon.  It’s kind of weird to be all alone – as alone as you can be with 3 kids anyway. 

We had a great time while they Jon and Christine were here.  Their twins were born 8 days before Ben was so it was so fun to see them all together.  I hope they will be good friends as they grow up.  

Emma, Ben and Noah.  Ben’s ginormous mouth looks even bigger compared to his cousins cute little smackers.

The boys:We hit up Discovery World:

And of course, the Chaplin family favorite, Chuck E. Cheese’s.  Man, my kids love that place.  And so do the big kids (that’s Mike and Christine with Emma in the wrap).     We loved having them here and can’t wait for more visitors! 

Sammy’s Smile

Ok, this is for all you Friends fans out there.  First watch this:

Then compare: Maybe she thinks big teeth means happy?  She won’t do a natural smile to save her life.  It cracks me up.  I guess any chances she had of modeling anytime soon are shot.

4 Months!

OK, so he's been 4 months for a little over a week now. I'm busy, so what? What can I say, this kid is a super star. His stats at his latest appointment were:
Height: 25.5 Inches
Weight: 14 lb 13 oz
He is a healthy baby! No one can say that he doesn't eat well.
He is a great sleeper for the most part. He is our little night owl, he won't stay asleep if we put him down before 8 or 9, but he is sleeping 6-10 hours at night and usually takes a couple long naps during the day. He loves to nap in his car seat, which I think it a little bit weird, but hey, he's happy.
He is very vocal - he squeals when he is happy and will sit and "talk" to you as long as you act interested. He loves people and will stare at people until they look at him. One day that will be creepy, but for now it's cute.

He loves a good checkers match:

He is the happiest baby I know! Let's hope he stays that way!

Our Holly Jolly Christmas

What a week!  Between Carter’s birthday, Christmas and New Year’s it always just seems like one long party.   We are still all recovering from the lost sleep and over-abundance of great food. 

It was a fabulous Christmas for us all.  We all got what we wanted and more. 

We got some sibling love (something Mommy asked for). The light sabers were definitely at the top of the list of favorites.As were the Wii accesories. Our little princess - “purple is my favorite!” And as usual the box wins out in the end.  Ben was just excited to be a part of the party. But really the light saber was his favorite too.  For New Year’s Eve we had our annual fondue dinner.  We kept it small this year, with just a couple of friends.  We decided that as the kids get older we need to include them more and that gets hard with a lot of people.  The food was amazing and the company was great.  I even got a hug from Carter with a “thank you for planning this party.  It’s the best party ever!”.    For it just being bite-sized food, I sure managed to eat a lot.  But look at this.  How could you not?The kids were just thrilled that we let them stay up as late as they wanted.  They surprised us all by staying up well past midnight. But then again, we surprised ourselves by staying up until midnight. Here they are all prepped to go bang their “cymbals” outside at midnight.  Lucky for us, they all slept in the next day. Hopefully the neighbors did too.   

Overall, it was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of a great year.  We definitely had our ups and downs, but we are better people because of them.  We have been truly blessed this year and look forward to another great year!

Aunt Michelle

We have been so lucky to have so many visitors since Ben was born!  My sisters Amber and Holly came out right after he was born, then my parents, Mike’s dad, and finally one of my other sisters, Michelle.

We had a great time with her!  We ate some amazing food, explored downtown , and just hung out.  There was lots of hanging around the house as Carter and Mike were sick most of the time she was here.  She was here for 3 weeks, which was probably a little on the long side for her (and her boyfriend), but I really appreciated the help.  It was so nice  to have an extra set of hands to help out with the kids.  We were able to get Ben sleeping better while she was here, which was huge. 

Carter informed me the other day that he was going to go live with the Forsters so he could see Michelle again.  They loved having her here and miss her a lot already!

Unfortunately, when my camera was stolen they also got some pictures from when she was here, and then without a camera for a while we didn’t get many more.  Here are the ones we got:  Thanks for coming to visit!