Sunday, August 28, 2011

First Trip to the Beach

Although we live within an hour and half from the beach, we have never taken the boys. While Penny was in town with the boys, they stayed at the beach with Grandma and Grandad MacGregor (and the motorhome - that is very important to the boys). Jackson LOVED it! Even Ben had fun splashing in the water. One day we will get around to posting the pics of them playing in the water, but for now - here are some from later that night.

















Saturday, August 27, 2011

Benjamin Eats Cereal

Benjamin had cereal for the first time today. Jackson grabbed for the spoon a little a bit the first time he ate cereal, but he wasn't too sure about it. Ben, on the other hand, LOVED it. He was obsessed with getting more. And, he wanted to feed himself. We also realized after looking at these pics that Ben looks like a chunker now. I don't think anymore strangers will be commenting on how tiny he looks for his age. Despite the fact he looks chunkier than Jackson did at this age, Ben actually weights about a pound less than Jackson did.

First bite

Not sure yet.

It's a winner

If you don't give me more, I will get it myself.

I want to do it.

Got it!

More. More. More.

Happy Ben.

Wait. My mouth is empty. Give me more!

I said, I want to do it.

Happy, happy, happy.

Just want to make sure you don't pull the food away.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

My Sweet Little Manipulator

While Jackson and Mommy were cleaning up trains in the dining room this was our little conversation...

J: "I love you, Mommy."
M: "I love you, too!!!"
J: "We both said I love you."
M: "We did. Isn't that nice?"
J: "Yeah, it makes Mommy happy."
M: "It sure does. I am such a lucky Mommy. What makes Jackson happy?"
J: "Building trains with Daddy."

Monday, August 15, 2011

What Makes Mommy Happy?

Last night Jackson brought up the book that he tore...about a month ago...

Jackson: "Mommy, I tore the bus book."
Mommy: "I know Jackson. It makes Mommy sad that you did that. You love the bus book."
Jackson: "No Mommy. No be sad. Be happy."
Mommy: "What makes Mommy happy?"
Jackson (pointing to himself): "Meeeeeeeeeee!"

Yes, Jackson. You are right.

First Day of School

Jackson returned to school and Benjamin started school today. Ben was definitely the easy one this time. He just looked around at the toys, babies, and teachers and continued to smile. Jackson was a whole different story. He had a hard time adjusting last year. He cried at drop off for two months. It was awful. This morning's drop off was horrible. He cried and cried and grabbed Mommy's neck and wouldn't let go. After we left him and got Ben settled in, we peeked at him again. He was still crying. It makes Mommy and Daddy sad. When we picked him up, we were told he cried on and off during the day for his, "Mommy, Dada, Baby Bens." We were also told, that when he did cry, his friend Sophia went and held his hand. Pretty adorable. One of his best buddies, Graciela, has not yet moved up. We hope she moves up soon! When Jackson saw her after school he gave her a big hug! I love little kids!




Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Cousins Come to Visit and 45th Anniversary

I simply did not take enough pictures of Jackson playing with his cousins. They came to stay with us for a night and Jackson had a blast! The only picture I got was of them with the pizzas they made. After the visit Jackson spent the entire next day talking about his cousins.. "My cousins play cars. My cousins brush their teacher. My cousins don't change my diaper. My cousins like trains." It went on and on and on. He constantly asks for his cousins.

We had the rest of the MacGregors over the following day for some swimming and fun. Again, not enough pics taken. We will have to get some from others! That day happened to be Grandma and Grandad's 45th anniversary! We ordered them the world's largest cake that was supposed to serve 8-10. We all had pretty bid slices and barely made a dent in it. In fact, we still have some in our fridge. We always remember their anniversary because it's 8/6 and ours is 6/8. 



Benjamin in "real" clothes

So.far.behind. We are going to attempt to catch up on a few random things. Of course we still haven't posted about our visit to the Reynolds (one day...one day), trip to Sacramento and  a few big things like that. But, since they are larger posts, they seem overwhelming. Instead, you get this...
Ben has started wearing more of his 3-6 month clothes now, which means he gets to wear more "real" clothes rather than just onesies all the time. This is the first time he's worn shoes (who needs shoes when they can't walk?!?) and one of the first times he's worn anything other than a onesie. He's on his way to meet Aunt Penny and cousins William and Neil here!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Benjamin - 5 Months

Oh my goodness Ben! You are now five months old. What a difference a few months can make! You are such a happy baby. You smile and smile and smile. Jackson smiled a lot as a baby, but we had to work a little harder to get him to smile. We just have to look at you and you smile. You don't laugh quite as much, but will if we really work at it. If you aren't smiling, you are hungry or sleepy. Although it isn't often that you fuss, you tend to always time this with food arriving to the table...every time. 

You love watching your older brother and want to do what he can do. You are rolling across the floor as your means of transportation at the moment. But, you are also getting up on your knees and pushing yourself around. I guess people call it "creeping." You are better at doing it backwards right now. We are not ready for this yet. Just thinking about keeping all of the small things off the floor makes me tired, especially since most of them are from Jackson's toys. 

This month you started sitting in your bumbo and using your exersaucer, which is nice for Mommy and Daddy. You had a period where you weren't sleeping well because you were rolling over and waking yourself up. Now you're getting better. You could still be a better sleeper. But, unlike your brother, you don't wake up and stay up at 5am. Often, if we let you and Jackson stays quiet enough, you can sleep until 8 or 9am. That's Mommy's kind of late sleeper! Of course, this is all about to change when you go to school mid-August. In fact, your whole world is about to change. We think you will love the interaction and seeing the other babies. In fact, you will probably be happier. But, Mommy and Daddy will be sad. Not only will we miss seeing that smiling face all the time, but of course we think we take better care of you than anyone else can. You haven't had a single diaper rash (except the one time we tried Huggies on you), and you have only had one virus since birth (not even a single ear infection). We know this will probably change. We haven't weighed or measured you in a while, but you are more average to small. You can still wear most of your 0-3 month clothes and cannot wear most of your 3-6 month clothes yet. We do feel like you've been growing a lot more lately, so maybe you will catch up soon. Either way, we love you just the way you are!

This month you went out of state for the first time. We are way behind in our posting and haven't even looked at the pictures yet, but hopefully we will soon. You went to Hot Springs, AK. Unfortunately, it didn't compare with Jackson's first out of state trip to Colorado. Although we definitely picked the wrong destination, we still had fun as a family. Mommy also went out of town alone, for the first time. She went to visit one of her best friends in California and spent 4 days away from you and Jackson. Boy did she miss you and your brother! But, Daddy took good care of you! 

I know a lot of people worry they won't love their second child as much as their first. Those thoughts are crazy. We are so in love with you, Baby Ben. So is your big brother, Jackson.