What do you think?

Do they look related???

Benjamin's pictures

Here are Benjamin's pictures. Is he adorable, or what???

R.I.P.

or, really, not at all... Sometime last fall, Noah decided he no longer needed an afternoon nap. Being his wise mother, however, I have not been so quick to accept this idea. I have diligently placed him in his room every afternoon - just in case he decides he's a little sleepy. On rare occasions, it actually happens. (Like once in the last two weeks...) I think the truth is, I am not ready to give up my 'alone' time to just sit, or email, etc. Well, on Wednesday I really needed to rest a little myself. I put Noah down, fed Benjamin and put him down, and Noah was still talking away in his room. So I decided to do a little science experiment. What would happen if I went in and tried to sleep with him? Now in the past, we have had no success with this idea. He could be all tuckered out and yet when we put him in to bed with us, he'd conjure up all kinds of energy - bouncing off of us, flipping here and there, jumping on the bed. I didn't have high hopes this week but, for some reason, he let me climb in to bed and wrap my arms around him. Now, do you remember when you were little and you'd pretend to be asleep so daddy would have to carry you in from the car? But as he approached, you always started giggling and gave yourself away? Well, you should try it nose-to-nose with a two year old! I laid my head on the pillow and closed my eyes trying my best to fall asleep but I just knew someone was staring at me. I'd open my eyes and hear, "Mama! Mama! Okay." And then he would show me something like the dragon that he had painted on his arm. I'd kiss the dragon, kiss his forehead, and close my eyes again, only to feel a tiny finger tickling my eyelashes, outlining my lips, or even going up my nose. I couldn't help but giggle. He tried to be so quiet and started out just whispering to me but by the end, he was loudly chattering about anything and everything - still laying in my arms. I finally accepted that my experiment had failed and we headed downstairs for cupcakes. While I did not get my nap, I'd have to say that one hour on Wednesday afternoon was one of the better moments of my life. I would have given anything to have had a video camera on my forehead to tape our time together so when I start to feel down or spent, I could play it as a constant reminder - this is what it is all about - quiet time just me and my sweet, little, baby boy. And a reminder that I am truly blessed - tired or not.

Benjamin's bad hair day

Ooooh, boy! Was he mad!!! Daddy says it is not nice to laugh, but, honestly, can you look at this picture and not at least smile??? Don't worry... I combed it and the world was a much happier place. (Benjamin's toy parade courtesy of the little girl from next door. I guess she thought he looked bored so she kept bringing him something new.)

Junket!

One of the area community centers has an open gym for little tykes. Monday and Wednesday, for $1 we can go run off 2-yr-old steam with a million balls, mini bikes, tunnels for climbing and those little cars that kids can drive Flintstone-style. They also have a couple of those giant inflatable jumpy things. Well, today was the Spring Break Spectacular which meant about 100 more kids than usual, but also some special activities. Mother Nature was there telling stories with some animal puppets, they had snacks and juice for the kiddos, and they had face painting. Now if you know my son, you would probably guess that he would not be getting his face painted. He doesn't like to be dirty (or have strange substances on him), he doesn't like strangers - especially if they want to touch him, and he really doesn't like to sit still. Well, apparently being 2 makes him big now.






He was not a big fan of standing in line but we survived. He went through the book of pictures and picked out what he wanted. And even told the lady when he climbed into the seat. After she was done and he was running around again, he was very protective of his 'junket'. Every time he bumped in to something (or someone) he looked down to make sure it was still there. Unfortunately, it is a little cold today and he had to wear a coat home and some of the dragon's head rubbed off. But he seems to still be pleased with it. He stops what he is doing every so often and points out his 'junket'. Hope this does not hinder our ability to bathe him in the near future.

HAPPY SPRING!

Flowers are blooming and Noah can't pass a single one without stopping for a sniff. And just what do boys wear to celebrate the first day of spring since, apparently, they cannot wear pretty, flowery dresses? Well, 30 yr. old Mickey Mouse t-shirts and lion-sunshine shoes, of course...

Double the pleasure...

Double the fun!! We gave in this week and bought a new stroller. Since Noah isn't quite old enough to just tag along when we go out, it is a lot of work carrying both him and the car seat. One friend had suggested putting Noah in the stroller and carrying Benjamin in the baby carrier, but it takes me so long to get all that together! Plus, when he is sleeping, I hate to be shuffling him all around. So now all of our problems are solved. We have gone for many walks with our new stroller. Noah doesn't seem to mind being so close to his little brother. While pushing, Noah feels like he is a mile away, though. He talks the whole walk and it is hard to hear what he is saying. Hopefully, once we are able to lose the coats and hats, it will get better.

3 months already!

Benjamin is officially part of the family and he finally has his picture on the wall to prove it. He got to have his 3 month pictures taken yesterday and, of course, he did a spectacular job. If there was ever a more easy-going child, I've never met him. He just sat wherever we put him and smiled and smiled. He didn't even seem to care that his hairdo made him look like a mad scientist. (His mother had very little to do with that, by the way...) We hope to get the pictures scanned and posted soon. Until then, here is his bear shot...

What's with the bunny?

You may be asking yourself that question when you see the next shot. Or maybe you have wondered about Benjamin's bear pictures... Well, here is your answer. We decided to try to capture just how quickly Noah was growing by taking his picture each month with the same object. At just two weeks old, the Easter bunny brought him this giant Thumper.
And we thought that would be the perfect accompaniment for our monthly pictures. What we did not take in to account was that Thumper is not capable of standing up on his own. We usually ended up trying to prop him up against a chair or wedging his tail in between the chair rails to get him in to position and then would position Noah only to have Thumper tip over again before the picture was taken. We also had the smart idea of taking these pictures on top of the kitchen table so we could not take our hands off Noah. And, for added fun, we always seem to remember to take these pictures in the evening - not Noah's best time of the day. He was always jumping and fidgeting or screaming. And yet, we somehow still managed to look forward to this picture each month. So much so that we decided we would continue the tradition by taking Noah's picture with Thumper every birthday. We did not, however, think it needed to be done on the table anymore. And it is a good thing, too, because picture time turned into rabbit-wrestlefest. Take a look...

Tummy time...

It is such hard work!!! I grunt and grunt and try so hard to keep my face off the carpet! All so mommy can get a picture of this...

Another one of those outfits made just for mothers. Who else wants to see cute little animals on my tooshy???

Snoop dogg...

Didn't want you to think Benjamin had moved away. He was feeling pretty crummy on Saturday and ended up sleeping through most of the day. I am happy to report he is doing much better now. If he could just get rid of the lingering cough, he'd be right as rain. This picture was taken pre-cold. Doesn't he look like he is ready to hit the hiking trails???

Note to self...

Do not store leftovers in the oven!! And if you have to because your kitchen does not provide enough counter space, leave yourself a note! And when you leave yourself a note, leave it up until every last piece of whatever it is is taken out of the oven!!!!! And when you do it once, learn from it... DON'T DO IT AGAIN!!! (Cammie, I better not here you laughing....) But at least it was AFTER the party, right???

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NOAH!!

Well, the big day has come and gone - and as you can see, it has taken three days to recover. If a two-year-old's birthday is this tiring, how will we ever make 10?? :) All in all, it was a great day. Grandma Page baked the cake and Grandma Bonnie helped me decorate it. It turns out my 2nd birthday was Sesame Street also. I really wanted to make Noah's cake look exactly like mine, but that just didn't happen. I had in my mind that we really needed activities so we played 'Toss the cookies in Cookie' and 'Pin the beak on Big Bird.' Unfortunately, we were busy running the games so we didn't get any pictures. I will try to take some and post them later. To everyone's surprise, the children actually played the games. They all recognized that something was just not right with Big Bird, although no one came close to putting the beak in the right place. Then to complicate matters a little, I thought they would have more fun decorating their own food than eating this cake so we also made cupcakes. They got to put on their own sprinkles and they thought that was pretty fun. Noah had had some practice making Valentine's cookies at Grandpa and Grandma Campbell's so he knew all about it. But he was not so excited about sharing all the colors so the blue had to stay within his hand's reach so he could add more as needed. He decided to add some orange too. Mom was supposed to be helping with the creation but she looked away for a moment and we had some minor spillage.

Turns out it didn't really matter what it looked like because he was not going to eat it anyway. He just wanted it to be pretty, I guess. (My personal goal is to get my son to someday eat a bite of his birthday cake...) Then, while Noah was napping, we attended the wedding of some friends from church. (Christopher actually played the trumpet in the ceremony!) Then it was on to Grandpa and Grandma's for more birthday fun. This time he got to open presents. He was very good at it actually. Although, he didn't understand why we didn't open every single thing as he went. Apparently looking at the gifts in their boxes is not as fun as using them. While he got many wonderful gifts, this one may have been the 'HIT' of the evening...This was a gift from his parents. Most people present thought we were crazy, but think about it. If we want him to be good, or rather GREAT, and to be a famous musician who can care for his parents later in life, shouldn't we foster his talents early? It did not take him long to discover the beauty of applause. He would play awhile and then stop for your admiration. And if you forgot to clap, he would call your name and show you what to do. He is gonna go far, this kid... But as I said at the beginning, it was a great day. And now our son is 2!! Where has the time gone? HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIG BOY!!

Enough already!

So, will this cold season ever end??? Poor Noah has been sick for close to a month now. Every time we start to think he is getting over it, something else hits. It appears his 'two-year-trousers' are coming in now, too, so that could be part of it. It has gotten so bad that we were forced to get out the nose sucker. Oh boy, does he hate that! It takes both of us to hold him down. As he is having a big party on Saturday, I hope he is better by then.

And poor little Benjamin got in on this one too! I thought babies didn't get colds - and breastfeeding would only make it better. But I'll be darned if the poor dear didn't catch something - most likely from his big brother. His nose is all stuffed and it takes everything he has to breathe sometimes. (It would help if he would learn to breathe through his mouth, but that is yet to come.) He is such a little trooper, though. He doesn't seem to let him bother him too much. However, he is also not a big fan of the nose sucker. He sleeps like a little angel during the day and all the crud hits at night. Christopher and I jump out of bed all night long making sure he is not choking on something. We will all sleep better when this is over, I hope.

We have been to the doctor three times in the last three weeks but they can't seem to offer much. Just keep using the saline drops.... AHHHH! All we have to say is, "COME ON, SPRING!!!"