Outside!

I would never say that having a sick dad is a good thing, but I will admit that a lot of good has come out of his illness.  One of those good things is that we get to see Aunt Sarah and Cousin Jack a lot more.  Sarah tries to come up as much as she can and for that I am truly thankful (love ya Sis)!

On this particular week we spent a lot of time outside under Gigi's new patio cover.  The boys played with their outside toys, got dirty, and swam their little hearts out.  I love that these boys love each other so much.  I look forward to watching them grow up together.

 I love this shot of Luke pushing Jack.  What a great big cousin.

 This boy knows how to relax.

18 Months Old

My baby is 18 months old and I want to cry.  He is so big and it just happened overnight.  I just blinked my eye and he is a big boy.  It can't be happening this fast....

Benjamin weighed in at 27lbs even and was 32.25 inches tall at his 18 month visit.  It was at this same visit that he gave Mommy and Daddy a scare.  Given he barely gained any weight from his 15 month visit, the doctor was a little concerned and checked his hemoglobin again.  In the  office the machine read 6.4mg/dL.  For you non-health care folk out there -- THAT IS LOW!  WAY TOO LOW FOR MY BABY!!  The doctor immediately sent Ben for some real labs and the repeat turned out to be 10.4mg/dL -- still a little low, but MUCH better.  The bad thing about it all was that we had to wait until the NEXT MORNING to get the results.  They really shouldn't do that to us worried mamas.  Anyhow, all is good and he is getting some iron to help bring his hemoglobin up a smidgen.

At 18 months Benji is exploding with words!  He is starting to string words together and I am understanding so much more.  Some of my favorite phrases are: Bess yoo Mama, Goofy wey ah yoo (Goofy where are you), I lahv oo (I love you), and ake up Mama (wake up Mama).  He recently started calling me Mom and I am not to fond of that, but everything else he says is just so darn cute! 

Benji is still pure boy.  He loves to run, climb, dig, be outside, and get DIRTY!  He unfortunately can be a tad bit mean at times and we are really working on the no hitting.  Sometimes I think he is just trying to fend for himself in this crazy world and he gets a little rough -- it is tough when you have a big brother!  Behind that rough and tough boy, though, is a sweet loving heart that loves to give kisses.

Benjamin, we love you to the moon and back!  Just stop growing please :)

End of the Year Program

Luke just wrapped up his second full year at preschool.  It has been so fun to watch him learn and grow this year.  I would like to take this opportunity to hit the pause button in hopes that he would just stop growing.  I tell him almost daily to stop growing, but he insists on getting bigger -- he especially wants to turn 4.  I love this age because so many things are exciting to him and he has learned so much.  He surprised me the other day when he defined the word quarrel -- who is this kid?

His end of the year program was a few weeks before school let out.  I was able to slip away from work and meet both Daddy and Gigi there for his performance. His class got on the stage and sang This Little Light of Mine and The Wiggle Worm Song (since they were the Wiggle Worm class).  He did really well and sang loud, even though I could tell he was a little nervous.  I loved it when he spotted me in the crowd and smiled.  He melts my heart.

 Enjoying a little celebratory cookie!