Ben lately

Ben is the best kind of handful.  He is sweet, funny, super busy, determined, friendly and we just adore him.  Here are a few things I want to remember for where he is in life right now.
 
- He is super outgoing with strangers and says hey or bye multiple times to folks in the grocery store, at the park, at church, everywhere we go.  He puts a smile on people's faces and they adore him.  I hope he always keeps this trait and makes a point to speak and be friendly to others.  He is persistent too and will say hey until they look up and acknowledge him.  This has been a really good thing for MB and it has helped her to be more friendly too.

- He loves his blue blanket and his paci.  He calls both of them nah-nah which, amazingly enough, is exactly what MB called her paci.  We think it has something to do with them associating it with night night. When he gets tired, he starts asking for nah-nah and that's how we know he is ready for bed.  He is super easy to put to bed and he likes to snuggle and put his head on our shoulders when we are putting him down.  He sleeps for 11-12 hours at night and normally takes 3-4 hours of naps during the day.  Sometimes he takes two naps and sometimes he takes one.  He only wants his blanket in bed with him.  If there is any other stuffed animal or toy left in  his crib, he chunks them across the room before he goes to sleep.

- He is active beyond words.  I hear other people say that their children are busy and then they are in the same room as Ben and look like they are in slow motion.  He runs super fast although he keeps his upper body still while running.  His legs are going wide open and then he is super calm on the top half.  He likes to do front rolls and is just starting to jump.  When Dan lifts him up to the pull up bar, he can pull up his feet to the bar and hang

- He gets offended really easy.  If you cut up food in front of him, he will fall apart and then refuse to eat it.  If there is something that I want to cut into smaller bites, I have to hide it from him or otherwise he will melt down.

- Since his tubes surgery in June, we had really hoped for his speech to improve.  It is getting a little better but not quite picking up as much as we had hoped. The good news is that his hearing has improved greatly, according to the tests they ran.  We are hoping that once he starts talking more and can communicate with us better, he will be less frustrated.

- His favorite (and most often used) words are duck, yeah, puppy, baby, bubbles, mine, eat, diaper, cheese, snack, poopie, pee pee, potty, out, off, deer, pool, night night.  He also knows how to say please, thank you, yes, boo boo, ow, two, house, big, little and help.  The family names he can say are mama, dada, ya ya, mimi, papa, G and Maw Maw.  When he needs something from me he calls me mum, otherwise, I am mama.  He calls Dan dada unless he is saying hey or bye and he says Hey D, Bye D.  He just started saying Ben but it sounds more like B.  MB really wants him to say her name but it's a tough one.  He can point to all of his body parts and can say are teeth, mouth, eyes and ears.  He is just starting to put two words together and says hold me often with his arms stretched up. 


- He can recognize cars and remember who they belong to.  His favorite car is a BEEP (jeep) and he points them out every time he sees one and he can spot them from a mile away.  He yells DADA at any white truck and MIMI at any while car.  Any tractor, lawn mower, four wheeler, boat or any construction vehicle is PAPA.  He will continue yelling the names until you acknowledge what he is saying.  You never know how many white vehicles are out there until you have taken a drive with Ben. 

- He loves to play and be outside.  He gets little beads of sweat on his nose and the reddest cheeks you've ever seen.  Speaking of cheeks, I love how his jiggle a little bit when he walks.  He is getting pretty brave at the pool and will jump off the side with a little help and then paddle over to the steps.  He is bad about swimming with his mouth open though and he often gets choked and throws up in the pool.  Ew!

- Eating with Ben continues to be not for anyone with a weak stomach.  He is so messy and crams his mouth full.  He has gotten so good at cramming his mouth that he knows how to pack it in his cheeks and the roof of his mouth so that when I ask him to show me his mouth, it looks empty!  I feel like I need to sweep all the time and the floor just stays yucky.  I can't even deal.  He still prefers to eat with his hands and he will only use a fork/spoon when we load it up for him.  He refuses to scoop it himself.  Dude is messy, period.

- His favorite food used to be bananas but I think he got burned out on them because he hardly eats them now.  He loves cheese, cheese pizza, snacks of any kind, peas, butter beans, mac and cheese, cereal, rice, french fries, fruit (especially blue berries) any kind of dessert and basically anything that is on your plate that looks better than his.  He doesn't love meat but is starting to like CFA chicken nuggets as his meat of choice.

- He can pitch a fit with the best of them (read sister) and runs as fast as possible in the opposite direction and flings himself onto something soft (he is smart).  He stomps and kicks and has good ole fashion meltdowns that often leave us flustered.  Both of our kids are passionate, independent, determined little things and there are worse traits to have I suppose.  :-)

- He is smitten with MB and watches and imitates her every move.  It can be super fun to watch them grab each others hands as they go upstairs to her room to play.  It can be just as frustrating when MB starts a melt down and Ben decides to follow suit.  He looks up to her so much and she always is able to get him to laugh a good belly laugh.

- I'm in love with his curls and chipped tooth smile.  He melts my heart with his sweet grins, kisses and hugs.  He is super loving and we could just eat him right up.

Here is his birthday video.  I love how shocked he was when he blew out the candles.  Priceless!

Little Gymnasts

These kids are obsessed with jumping, rolling, hanging, flipping and just about anything active!

Two!!!

We have been busy celebrating around here.  Since Ben and I have birthdays two days apart, we really get to celebrate together.  He actually crashes my birthday but that's okay, it's way more fun to celebrate him anyway.  I used to celebrate my birthday for the month of August so I probably have celebrated enough to cover me for a good long while.  We had a small family party at our house and it was just right.  We grilled out (even through the down pour) and ate plenty of cake.  I learned my lesson from last year's cake fiasco and went with a standard cake from the Ingles bakery.  It was perfect! 

Ben, you are a wild man and we couldn't love you any more.  I will do a separate post about all that you are up to these days but just in case I don't get around to that, know that you are so fun and that you are great at keeping us on our toes!  We love you!

Here is the birthday in pictures.  We didn't take any pictures on my birthday but I did get the special treat of going to IHOP for chocolate chip pancakes while my family was still in town.  So good!

Traditional family photo in front of the birthday banner.

The kids with their grandparents and G.

They really do love each other.

I had a hard time catching up with him to get a picture.  He was so busy and loved all of the attention!

Ben LOVED his cake.  We made the mistake of showing it to him before the party started and he nearly drove us crazy wanting to look at it, touch it, drool over it, etc.  I almost caved and let him tear into it before we ate supper.

Please, just let me touch it!

Pure joy that it was cake time!

He clapped and cheered while we sang.

He was great at blowing out the candles too.  You just never know.  I love how mimi was blowing too to provide some moral support.

Trying out his new lawn mover, that thing was a hit!

BUBBLES, BUBBLES, BUBBLES!

Pondering his life as a two year old on the morning of his real birthday.

More cake and more blowing out candles.

And even more clapping.  He had a great time celebrating!

Hitched

My cousin got married last weekend and we could not be happier for him and his new wife!  We had such a wonderful time at their wedding and spending time with family.  There was tons of dancing and laughing!  Here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend.  Welcome to the family Suzanne!!!

My beautiful Maw Maw waiting on the wedding to begin

The Saunders crew

My handsome date.  We had so much fun over the weekend!

My parents looking great!

Maw Maw being escorted by her first born into the reception

The beautiful couple!

Kyle has a very special ring.  Each of the gold bands on the outside were his grandfather's wedding bands and the middle band is from Suzanne.

All of the cousins

 

Maw Maw dancing with the groom, her youngest grandchild.

One of my favorite pics from the night.  I love all of the faces of my family in the background.  There was lots of dancing going on.

Brothers and cousins

My dad and Maw Maw dancing, so fun!

The RSVP cards asked for everyone to write a blessing on the inside for the bride and groom.  They had them displayed at the reception.  I loved this one from my Maw Maw!

Birthday Continued

MB ended her birthday week with a trip from mimi to the American Girl Doll Store.  She looked at every doll, book and accessory that they had there and loved it all!  We had lunch at the cafe there and it was great.  They sang happy birthday to her and gave her an ice cream sundae although she originally told them that she didn't want any ice cream.  Our waitress asked her if she was feeling okay because what kids declines free ice cream?  I told them to bring it anyway and of course she changed her mind as soon as she saw the sprinkles and cherry on top.  Bitty baby came with us to celebrate and even had her own place at the table.  Bitty baby also saw the on call doctor to check on the spots on her head.  They suggested we send her off to the hospital to get them fixed but let's be honest, that probably isn't the last time she is going to get spots on there.  That place is totally over the top but lots of fun for a special day. We had a great trip!

Ready for a big day out.

So excited to be on our way into the store, notice Bitty Baby in the backpack.

A totally natural pose checking out the history of one of the dolls.

Not surprisingly, she was drawn to inkspot the cat.

Getting ready for lunch.

Bitty Baby enjoying sitting with the girls.

She was really shy when they came out to sing to her.

Happy Birthday MB!!!

Thank Goodness for Daddy!

Mommy, that is you on the left side.  That guy on the right is a bad guy shooting fire at you.  That is daddy, the super hero, on top of him and he is coming to save you!

Chattanooga Aquarium - Not a Bad Plan B

While my nephews were in town, we wanted to have a fun family day to spend time with them.  Our plan was to go to Six Flags but as you can guess from every other day this summer, we got rained out.  The Chattanooga Aquarium was our second choice and it was perfect for a rainy day!  We love that aquarium because it isn't nearly as crowded as the Atlanta one but it is still really well done.  Here are some of my favorite pics from the day.  MB was in absolute heaven with her cousins!  Ben just loved all the freedom to roam everywhere.  He was a handful to say the least!

At the top of the aquarium about to start our trek.

The penguins were awesome.

Ben getting a closer look.

The sea turtles in the ocean aquarium were amazing!

Ready for a shark attack.

They spent a lot of time touching this snake, these kids have no fear!

Next up, Ben gets caught red handed drinking from this nasty little pool of water.  So gross.

The stroller came in real handy for carrying Ben's diaper bag.  He pushed it through most of the building.

Going through the river building.

They seriously had the BEST time together!

The rain cleared up for some play time in the fountain areas after a late lunch.

It was all fun and games until Ben fell in.  I panicked over his new set of tubes without ear plugs and abruptly ended our day and made a dash for the car.  Such a fun day though!