Jenna and Me

The boys and I had a visit from our friends Brandi and her 9 week old Jenna Claire. We were comparing sizes of the 2 babies. Amazing what just 2 weeks difference can do! Jenna feels so much bigger than Ben. I am just experimenting with the picture collage thing. I like it but need to play around with it. Our little Benny boy is 7 weeks today. Incredible how fast time has gone by. We also have exciting news in our family...we have a new niece/cousin in our family. Evan's brother and sister-in-law had their beautiful baby girl, Dylan Renee on Tuesday. Finally, a girl in the family! We are so excited for them and hope to take a trip to California to meet her soon.

Date night and the magic gate

Evan and I were lucky enough to have a date night this last Tuesday. Evan's parents (Mimi and Bumpa) were so wonderful and came out to our house to watch the boys. Prior to us leaving we gave all of the necessary instructions for baby and boy. Most of the information pertained to putting Sulli to bed since we are still struggling with the staying in the big boy bed. We explained that we had been putting up a "magic gate" at his doorway which has been helping to keep him in his room/bed. With everything discussed, we headed out the door.

We first went to dinner at P.F. Changs and then were off to the Morrison Center for GYPSY. It was a great show but we are not used to being up and awake, let alone out of the house, much past 8. So we were keeping each other awake. The show was good (not on our top 10 list but entertaining) and dinner was delicious.

We called on our way home to see how things were going. Evan inquired how it was putting Sulli to bed. Bumpa compared the experience to playing with a bouncy ball that goes all over the place and eventually slows down and stops. Evan asked if he had gotten out of the gate which elicited a quick "yes" response. Evan hung up and we were contemplating what we were going to do. Sulli had never gotten out of the gate since we had been using it. We weren't sure what approach we were going to use now.

When we arrived home Evan inquired a bit more about Sulli getting out. He asked, "so did he crawl over the gate or knock it down?" Bumpa said, "he just walked right through it" which confused the heck out of us. Seeing our confusion, Bumpa said, "it is an imaginary gate right? You don't really put up a gate, do you?" We then realized that when we explained the "magic gate" we didn't do a very good job. Our magic gate is a baby gate that we put up at his doorway. Bumpa's take on the "magic gate" was an imaginary gate which he showed us how he put on an elaborate show each and every time he "put up" the imaginary gate and "latched" it. Sulli just kept getting out of bed and heading down the stairs, paying no attention to Bumpa's "GATE".

Needless to say, we were all rolling on the ground with tears streaming down our faces at this whole situation. And the story has been told several times. We love you Bumpa!!!

Clowning Around

This is purely for Nana's benefit. My number one son was taught to make a clown nose using the wax covering for baby bell cheese. He cannot eat one of these cheeses without first making his appearance as a clown. Silly kid...silly Nana!

Brown Back Mountain

Benson had a first today. So exciting as they reach these milestones one at a time. Today he had his first diaper blow out up the back. I realized that my lap felt wet and upon examining closer and seeing the color, I realized that my little boy was too powerful for his own pants. His daddy labeled this occurrence when it first happened with big brother...this is the phenomenon known as "brown backing".

He was fairly happy with himself after the whole ordeal.
Little chilly with those clothes off. But such a cute little body!
How much do you love Mommy...this much!

Captain Safety!

I have been wanting to get Sulli a helmet for bike riding and finally got around to it this week. The one that he picked out happened to come with elbow and knee pads so this kid is ready to wreck!

Sulli put his gear on by himself this morning and ended up with both elbow and knee pads on his legs. Too cute! It has been in the 50s outside and this kid has been in heaven being able to play outdoors!

Flashback to Childhood

I was flipping through the channels yesterday while the boys were sleeping and found a movie playing that I hadn't seen since childhood. It was a movie that I wanted to rent every single time we went to the video store. Mom and Dad-you will get a kick out of this...The Pirate Movie! Such a strange movie/musical. And some pretty off color things in it that obviously were way over my head at the time that I loved it. I still think the guy in it is a cutie. Too crazy!

We miss Nana and Papa!

Here are the beautiful flowers that Sulli planted with Nana. They are growing like gang busters. Do paper whites ever bloom?? I finally had to support the amaryllis-I am using my ruler. It works. We miss our Nana and Papa! Sulli has been doing a lot of talking about Nana and Papa recently wondering when they are going to be coming to his house. He was busy all morning building castles out of his blocks and reported that this one was "Papa's Castle!"

copy cat

We are in the stage where Sulli wants to do everything that little brother wants to do. All of his things are just so interesting. Sulli has a bottle so that he can either feed his baby or suck on it himself. He also has a pacifier that he chomps on around the house. And every time that Ben is on his little play mat, Sulli is right there next to him. It actually has been a blessing in at least one instance...I can do 2 diaper changes at one time and get Sulli to cooperate by calling it "brother diaper change time". He thinks that is cool. The rest of the time I am fighting him to stay still and cooperate. I know that the day will soon come when the tables will be turned and Ben will be wanting to do everything that Big Brother does. But for now, it is little brother that is cool!

HOT ROD!!

It was a beautiful day yesterday so Sulli and I went out riding on his hot rod trike. This was Christmas from Nana and Papa. He had a great time and we eventually picked up the neighbor kid. They rode around together for a while.

Update on Sulli's sleeping saga: The last 2 nights have been just the same as far as him going to sleep....terrible. But some funny things have been happening too. 2 nights ago, he decided that he wanted to sleep on his floor in his ladybug sleeping bag. Evan took it in there and a couple of minutes later we heard "swoosh, swoosh, swoosh." Evan and I were laughing so hard but trying to keep it quiet so that Sulli couldn't hear. Sulli was slowly inching his way into our room while staying in his sleeping bag. It was hilarious. Then last night, after he had gotten out of bed several times and come into our room, I locked our bedroom door. Sulli would get out of bed and then we would hear this little knock on our door followed by "Hey mommy? Hey daddy?" We would tell him to get back in bed after we got our laughter under control. He would reply "No...hey mommy? Hey daddy?" It is so hard to stay stern in these situations. I tried putting a baby gate up in his doorway. This lasted for a few minutes before he tore it down. The saga continues...

Auntie Boo

We love our Auntie Boo (my younger sister Laurie) and she paid us a visit over the weekend. Sulli enjoys being goofy with her and here they are...in true form. She knows how to make dishwashing a good time! Bubble beards...yippee! Send good thoughts her way as she is working out in the desert for the next 2 weeks with troubled youth. Freezing temps and troubled teens...hmmm. More power to ya sista!

Lifesaver

This device is one that saved me and gave me some hands-free moments with Sulli. And it is proving to do the same thing with Mr. Ben. Evan and I have dubbed it the "neglect-o-matic". For all of you out there daring to venture into this land of chaos...this is a must have! It is the reason I am able to get 3 posts put on this blog today! Of course, my laundry, dishes, and housekeeping is put on the back burner so you all can catch a glimpse of my adorable boys! Honey...it's all for the people...think about the people! Ok, I am officially delirious!

Sleep Deprivation

So the sleeping in our household is a bit on the "not so much" side right now. Sulli is not transitioning to his "big boy bed" as easily as we had hoped. He is in what my mom calls the "boomerang" stage where the instant that we put him in bed he is right back out of it. Consequently, either Evan or I are in his room until he falls asleep. But at some point in the night, he is making his way into our room. Whatever! I am too tired to deal with it right now. Any suggestions are welcomed!

Ben is nursing pretty much throughout the night. So that keeps me busy. Evan is just trying to grab as much shut eye as possible so that he can make it through his long days which typically start at around 5 a.m.

I thought this picture of Sulli with Ben captured what I must look like these days. If not what I look like, definately what I feel like! Happy sleeping to you all.

This is weird!

I am finding myself changing a lot of diapers these days. And it is really weird to line up the boys and change one right after the other. Little bit of a size difference?? Sulli is wearing size 6 and little Benny is in size 1. Just weird!

Bath Time

Sulli got some new bath toys as a big brother present last night so we had to try them out. We decided that everyone could have a bath. Here are our bathing beauties!

Milk Maid

So I got the breast pump out yesterday afternoon while Ben was soundly sleeping. My little helper Sulli decided that he needed to help out with milk production and offered to be my stand in during the pumping session. He just cracks me up! He is quite the helper-getting diapers, throwing the dirty ones away. We are doing well. We have our moments but overall, he is such a wonderful little man.

Down Time

Evan's parents came and got Sulli this morning for some time with the grandparents. I have to admit, when the offered I was overjoyed at the thought of having time to get a bunch of things done uninterrupted and maybe even taking a nap with Ben. So far I haven't gotten anything considered productive done (I finished a book and am now fiddling around on the computer). And no nap has been taken by anyone but Ben. And what is even crazier to admit is...I miss the tiny terror. When they drove off, my heartstrings were being pulled. Anyways, life is good here. I took my first major outing with the boys yesterday. We made it to the bank, Target, the office to show off Ben to the old co-workers, and to Evan's office. No major fits, some crying from the baby on the way home to which Sulli said, "Stop it right now." Wonder where he has heard that??
Well, I am off to do something semi-productive (trimming my nails). Will get some more pics of the boys up soon. I know what you all really come to this site for!