May Moments

I just have to share a few moments from our last few weeks that I hope I'll always remember. Even though it was a few weeks ago, I'll start with Mother's Day. Mother's Day weekend was great, but there were two moments in particular where Mother's Day and motherhood collided. On the evening before Mother's Day, we went out to dinner at Splash downtown with Brant's family. The kids were with us, so I was well prepared with baby food and toys for Abby and a variety of toys for Ben. I always feel like we practically move into the place and then have to really check to make sure we've picked up everything before we leave. When got home, we had a little more that we bargained for. Somehow, a dinner fork ended up in my purse and made it's way home with us. I have no idea how - sorry, Splash!

Another thing we did for Mother's Day was have lunch with my grandma. Abby was pretty squirrely so I was bouncing her around a lot. I lifted her in the air above me and the classic spit up scene occured. I was covered in spit up from my chin to my belly button, literally - right on down my shirt! It was quite difficult to clean up in pulic! What an irony for Mother's Day - apparently someone forgot to tell Abby to take it easy on Mom.

Abby is really on the move now with crawling and army crawling. The first thing she goes for is Ben's toys instead of her own. She is very curious about everything, and of course it all goes in her mouth. Her first two teeth popped through last week. We've also started to hear lots of babbles, especially da da. Ben noticed this and wants her to say it all the time. Recently, he was trying to get her to say da da and ma ma, and we asked Ben what he thought Abby would call him. He said, "Maybe she will call me George!"

Ben is really into "science experiments" right now. Check out the video above to see what I mean. He just cracks me up! We also had a pajama party with Ben recently, which was a big hit! Ben, Brant, and I all put on our jammies after Abby went to bed last weekend, popped popcorn, got out M&Ms, and watched Ice Age. Ben was so excited about this - and especially to have some calm, one on one time with Mom and Dad all to himself.

Springtime Growing

The grass and flowers aren't the only things growing quickly around our house! Abby is now 6 months old and is desperate to be on the move in order to be able to chase her favorite friend, Ben, around. She can spin herself any direction she wants and she is able to sit up independently for longer amounts of time. If only she could figure out how to scoot forward instead of backward, and if only the approach took more the form of crawling rather than doing push ups. I have a feeling it will only be a week or so before all the pieces finally fall into place!
The Easter Bunny brought Ben a new game called Elefun. Pretty much, it is a fan in a plastic elephant that shoots out little "butterflies" to catch in nets. The Easter Bunny has been told that she did a great job knowing exactly what Ben would like (which surprised her a little bit, considering the game didn't include anything with wheels or some sort of loader bucket). The Easter Bunny is grateful that Ben does still have interest in things beyond trucks, cars, tractors, and diggers.

To close, we are anxiously awaiting the growth of Abby's hair. Okay, maybe I am the one thinking about it often. She is 6 months old and we still don't know what color her hair will be! Sometimes, I'm pretty sure she'll have brown hair like the rest of us, but there are still those fleeting moments where the sun glistens off her peach fuzz and we think her hair might have a red tinge. Additionally, I'm still puzzled as to who she is going to resemble and I think hair is an important factor in helping me to decide. Call me petty, but I'm really looking forward to the day when I can put her pretty locks into pig tails. Patience. For now, I'll just relish in her big, beautiful blue eyes, her adorable smile, and her wonderful squeal and laugh as she watches Ben!

All the things we love to eat...

As always, life has been eventful in the past few weeks and often, has revolved around some sort of wanting, not wanting, can't have, or want-to-suck-on with some sort of food (or object, in Abby's case). Ben had his tonsils out a March 9th. Overall, despite a few ups and downs in the days afterward, things went smoothly. He went through Jello Pudding Pops like I would have never imagined and thoroughly enjoyed all the ice cream, but even that got old after awhile. He is back to his old self and seems to be eating a little more that he would before surgery. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will continue! The first things he wanted to eat when we got home from surgery were popcorn and granola bars, probably two of the biggest "no-nos" of tonsillectomies. After lots of yogurt and applesauce, he (and all of us!) are happy to have all regular snacking and mealtime foods back!

Abby tried her first taste of rice cereal at dinner tonight. She appears to be thrilled to sit in her chair at the table with us and was surprisingly good at eating off the spoon for a first timer. It is probably from her constantly being enthralled by Ben when he eats. As you can see in the picture below, though, she was just as happy to suck her thumb. Her laugh lately has been more like a chuckle, and Ben is best at making her do it, as she loves the sounds of slurping yogurt and soup. Abby also has a new favorite toy - her feet! I can barely get her diaper changed because she just loves to play with her feet and suck on her toes!

And while we are on the subject of food, I have been in the mood to try new recipes lately. I've been tired of the same old hum-drum things I always make. In the last two weeks, thanks to recipes of friends and the good old HyVee cookbook, I've tried chicken enchiladas, a new kind of meatloaf and baked sweet potatoes (thank you Merry - it was delicious), rolled oats chocolate chip cookies, and cranberry spinach salad. On the menu this week is taco casserole and chicken fajitas. I've also found a cinnamon roll recipe that I'm hoping to make next weekend - I've always wanted to try homemade cinnamon rolls. Hopefully my efforts to mix it up a little in the kitchen will continue to have good results!

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.