My Wild Things

Ben gets blogged about on a monthly basis, so I thought I would give a shout out to my other crazy kids.  We definitely have our struggles, but they are so worth it!   Sammy is so laid back.  She is happy just to go with the flow.  She has learned the art of tattling, but if that’s the worst she does, I’ll take it.  She gets along with everyone.  When Carter has friends over, they usually end up playing with Samantha because Carter can be a bit bossy sometimes.  

Carter is full of spunk.  His latest obsessions are chess and Star Wars.   I guess we don’t have to worry about him with the ladies.  He loves reading, we are at the library at least once a week these days.  He’s sassy as can be, but he can also be super sweet when he wants to.     

Love these kids!

6 Months!

This kid is growing fast!  Here’s what he has been up to:

He weighs 16 lb. 3 oz.  and is 27 inches tall

He loves to eat.  Really loves to eat.  Loves to eat anything.  He’s got teeth and is ready to use them.  Carter and Samantha love feeding him and he is learning how to feed himself finger foods. 

He is a mover!  He isn’t quite crawling yet, but he can scoot and roll enough to get pretty much anything he wants.  Carter and Samantha are learning the hard way that if they leave things on the floor he will get them.  And by get them I mean eat them.

My favorite thing that he does is grab my cheeks and pull my face in for a big slobbery open-mouth kiss. 

He sleeps 11-12 hours straight at night, which makes us both very happy. 

He loves to smile!

Saving the world…

One pothole at a time.  That’s right, I said pothole.  Milwaukee has some of the worst potholes of any city in the country (ok, I’m not sure that’s an actual fact).  Something about sub-arctic winters and circa 1950 roads makes for some harsh driving conditions.  I have had the struts (part of the suspension) replaced on my car not once, but twice already.  Anyways, there was a massive one just up the street.  I had to drive on the opposite side of the road to avoid this pothole.  I use that term loosely, it was more like the Grand Canyon of potholes.  It was at least 6 feet long, 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep.  I finally got online and reported it to the city and the next morning they were out there fixing it!  I felt like a superstar.  I’m just doing my part to make this world a little bit better.  You can thank me next time you come to my house.  Now if someone would just report the other 234,873,492 potholes. 

I’m in love…

It was love at first sight slice.  A few years back, I was naive enough to believe that a food processor was a food processor.  They slice, shred, process, whatever.  So I bought a  basic Black and Decker from Kohl’s.  Over the years, as I have been cooking more, I have come to realize that indeed, they are not all the same.  Mine was loud and in spite of having a shredding/slicing disc, it mostly just mutilated anything that I put in there.  And did I mention it was loud?  Carter would run and hide in his room every time I would use it.  

Well, after much convincing, I was able to get Mike to come around. When this beauty went on a fabulous sale a couple of weeks ago, he got it for me as an early birthday present!

I put this thing right to work.  Our first processing job was Philly steak and cheese sandwiches from Our Best Bites.  This thing sliced through that mostly frozen meat like butter.  And best of all, it sounds like a kitten purring.   I’ve made pizza dough in it and it came out so smooth and soft.  I made a bunch of baby food today and I have to say I love it more and more every time I use it.  So, if anyone out there is wondering what it really takes to make me a happy woman, high end kitchen gadgets are the key to this woman’s heart.

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!