Happy Birthday, Ben!

A new racecar! Watch out!

The masterpiece... still in one piece!

Make a wish...

... to dig around in yummy frosting...

...and feed yourself with a backhoe!

Motorcycles!

And what do you know? More diggers!

We celebrated Ben's 3rd birthday yesterday! He had been looking forward to his birthday for a very long time. It was a great one! He started his day with double decker birthday toast, complete with candles and the Happy Birthday song, to get warmed up for his party. He was thrilled to see his bedroom door decorated and streamers in the kitchen. We had family over for lunch, cake, ice cream, and opening presents. In the evening, just the four of us went out for dinner, where Ben enjoyed ice cream for the second time in one day.

For months (literally), Ben had said he wanted a digger cake. Well, he could hardly keep his hands off his cake! It was super fun to make, knowing how thrilled he would be with it. After blowing out the candles, we couldn't help but let him plow the diggers through the cake just a bit. He then proceeded to use the diggers to help him eat his slice of cake and ice cream. At bedtime, I asked him what his favorite thing was about his birthday. He reported it was the diggers. Success!

The softy side of me felt a bit emotional that Ben has turned three. We all say it, but I can't believe how fast time flies. There were moments from Ben's birthday, just like there are everyday, that I wish I could bottle up and hold on to forever. Part of me wishes he'd stop growing and changing so fast, yet the other part beams with pride and loves how each and every moment leads to something new and different. We are so proud of our little, now big, boy!

Multi-tasking

I think these two photos create a nice summary of life in our household over the last month. Not that we are holding Abby in her carrier all the time, but more the fact that Brant and I are double teaming and multi-tasking like experts lately, and wouldn't have it any other way!

It has been awhile, so I'll give a brief update on a few things that come to mind. First, we seem to have spent an awful lot of time at doctor's appointments lately. Ben is getting his tonsils out on March 9th, after having swollen tonsils that wouldn't clear up since Christmas. Abby has also spent her fair share of time at the doctor lately. She spiked a high fever again in January, and after her hospitalization in December, of course I was quite alarmed. Due to prior knowledge of tests done in the hospital, our pediatrician tested her urine and determined she had a urinary tract infection, which we can now say almost positively was the cause of the December episode as well. After further specialized testing, it was determined Abby has urinary reflux, which is a condition where her urine refluxes back into her ureters and kidneys from her bladder, when it should just stay in the bladder, making her very susceptible to future infections. In addition, she has an extra ureter on her left kidney. We are scheduled to see a pediatric urologist in Iowa City in April, where we'll find out more about possible treatments. For now, Abby will stay on antibiotics to prevent UTIs from occurring.

In other news, Ben turns 3 next weekend. He has been anxiously awaiting his birthday for several months and asks about it quite often. I've found it a little hard to explain when his concepts of weeks and months isn't so great and made the mistake of telling him his birthday would happen after it snows. Well, it snowed for the first time in early December, and he then announced that it was his birthday. That really wasn't a smart way for me to put it. Anyway, at least we are now just a week away from the big event. I have been informed that he wants to have diggers on his birthday cake and would like a blue race car. We'll see what we can do!

Abby is starting to roll over, although I'm not yet sure how intentional it is and it isn't happening consistenly. She is also so full of smiles. I love this stage. She is always extremely excited to see us, and although she has her fussy moments, the colick we experienced a few months ago has all but subsided, thankfully. Along with all the smiles, she is fascinated by Ben. She loves watching him play and eat. She has also started to reach and grab for toys. Today she even had a toy in one hand and passed it to her other hand.

I would say that perhaps the sweetest moment of the past few weeks occurred this past Wednesday evening. Brant was out of town, so I was home with both of the kids and trying to get Abby to bed. Typically, Ben is content play by himself while I do this, or do popcorn and a movie. However, on this particular night, he insisted on staying with us in Abby's room. I at first thought of this begrudgingly, as he typically ends up running around, talking loudly, or clanking toys around, which keeps Abby awake. But instead, he quietly looked at a book for a few minutes and then came to the chair and wedged himself in beside me as I fed Abby. He sat absolutely silently for the longest time, and as I rocked Abby to sleep with Ben cuddled up next to me, I was reminded how absolutely blessed I am to have these two beautiful children. LOVE.

3 Months Old!

January Update

If there is a month I don't mind seeing fly by, it is cold, cold January! Even though the cold weather has mostly kept us indoors, we've been pretty busy. Being back at work has been really nice and I found that I really did miss it, but it has taken awhile to adjust for all of us, Abby included. The first week at the babysitter was a little rough. My first week at work completely wore me out. But now, life has seemed to even out and return to normal.

Last weekend, my college friends and I celebrated a collective 30th birthday party in Chicago. I haven't laughed so hard for a long, long time. I'm so thankful to have a group of girlfriends like these ladies. We don't see each other often enough, but it always seems we pick back up exactly where we left off. Being together reminds me of who I am and where I've come from. We had a hoot living it up in the Windy City for a night!

Abby will be 3 months old this week. She recently discovered her thumb. I know it will be habit to break later on, but it is pretty nice to have a built in pacifier that she puts in herself and it is pretty darn cute to watch! She is full of smiles and coos lately. I also discovered in the past week that Abby is starting to move around a lot in her crib and when she plays. I've found her completely side ways or turned around in the morning several times.

Ben is all about his diggers and construction equipment. His line lately is, "Wanna play John Deere?" He is very much looking forward to his birthday (which is still 6 weeks away) and has informed me that he would like diggers on his cake this year. Last year was dump trucks, so I guess not much has changed!

Finally, some pictures! Some are from Christmas and some are more recent, and in no particular order. Enjoy!

Bittersweet

I return to work tomorrow and am full of bittersweet emotions tonight... and a little anxiety as well. How on earth did 10 weeks fly by so fast? How will Abby do at the babysitters? How will I do without her for the day? How will I ever get out the door and get to work by 7:30? I haven't even been out of my pajamas by 7:30 for 10 weeks! I'm feeling a little anxious that my morning routine will be dictated by when Abby wakes during the early morning hours, determining when I feed her, which determines when I shower... you get the drift. I'm also a little anxious about just how in the dark I am about what has been happening at work since October. I didn't crack my school bag until last night. I've just got to get through the first day and will be good to go from there - I hope.

I apologize for the lack of pictures on this post, as I haven't had a chance to look at our pictures from the holidays yet. Soon... I promise. However, here is a quick update from the last few weeks:

- Although the holidays are fun, I was happy to wave goodbye to December in hopes that January will be a healthier month in our family. Abby was hospitalized the week before Christmas for three days due to a fever. The doctors ran about every test they could, but were only able to conclude that it was a virus. It gave us a pretty good scare and made for an anxiety ridden, sleep deprived few days! The rest of us have all had nasty colds for part of the month, and I even had strep, an ear infection, and pink eye (I know, you'd think I was an eight year old with that list!). We were extremely thankful that Abby's illness was just a virus and we were able to be home for Christmas, with everyone healthy.

- Ben LOVED Christmas, and those are his own words. He really got a kick out of opening the doors on our advent calendar every day and getting an M&M. He had accidentally opened the 25 door early in the month, only to discover it was loaded with M&Ms. On Christmas morning, Brant walked into his room and said, "Merry Christmas!" Ben yelled, "Yea, I get to open the big door today!!" Yes, it is the little things, isn't it?!?

- Potty training has been successful!! We are thrilled that Ben is officially an underpant wearing kid! The process was relatively painless, for the most part, and has certainly led to some interesting conversations and moments.

-Abby is a smiling maniac. And, it appears she may have a little dimple on one of her cheeks. Beyond smiling, she is also vocalizing like crazy, almost as if she is having a conversation with me. Her other big trick lately is sticking out her tongue. She loves to watch my tongue, and then sticks her's out in response. Like I said, it is the little things!

Well, since I am re-entering the working world tomorrow, I had better get my lunch and bags packed for the morning that will be here all to soon.

I hope you all had a Happy New Year! Best wishes to you for 2011!