Remember Us?

Yes. We are still alive. Here is a small update on us with a larger-more-in-depth one coming later this month :)

Ben. Benaiah. Benny. Benny Boy. Whatever you call him, we sure love this little stud muffin. He is a peach of a baby. Seriously. I don't know if there ever was or will be another like him (most likely not). He is a champ of a sleeper taking an hour to hour and a half nap in the morning, a two and a half hour nap in the afternoon and then sleeping from 8:30 to 7:30 every night. A-mazing. Oh, and did I mention that he NEVER fusses when I lay him down?! Angel.

Ben has a really great personality. He is constantly making Mark and I laugh. He is a little on the dramatic side but definitely not over the top. ex. If Mark suddenly sneezes, Ben will snort a noise of displeasure for startling him. If Jack accidentally bumps his feet, Ben will yell at J and then be on his way. Pretty hilarious when you witness it. 

He is extremely hard to photograph smiling, but he is always doing it. He is a very lighthearted, happy little boy that laughs at most anything. I asked him yesterday if he could say 'mama'. He laughed and continues to every time I ask. Stinker.

It is a good thing Benny boy has all this sweetness, because for each ounce of sweetness comes the equal amount of stubbornness. He is all about his own opinion and will let you know if something is not his idea....quickly. He has no tolerance for things that he doesn't think are necessary...ie. getting dressed, making him lye on his back while you change his diaper, forgetting to offer finger food before spoon feeding him, etc.

This past week/weekend Ben, somehow got a hold of a crazy little virus called 'hand foot and mouth disease'. Lovely. It gave him a crazy fever for 3 days that peaked at 103 and then ended with a blistery rash in his mouth and on his hands and feet (and bum). Poor little feller. To top it all off, the sweet little boy decided his mama should share it with him. Only kind kids we raise here.

Benny is busy chatting all day long. He will say 'mama', 'da' and a bunch of other jibberish. He is crawling, pulling himself up and walking (very gingerly and most ungracefully) along furniture. His favorite spot in our house is at the middle window in our living room. You can be certain to find him there each morning yelling at all the traffic.

Jack. 

Oh Jack. What a little two year old I have. He is quite the little stinker right now. Mr. Sass. Jack is spending a good portion of his days in timeout lately. He is trying to figure out how to control his comments and actions towards his family. What a trying age! whoooeey.

Seriously, I love this boy. He really is a well behaved little fella, but is just in a stage where he needs to test everything...about 100 times.

We are currently looking for a big boy bed for him and I think he is pretty excited. We are also working on potty training and I think he is finally starting to care :) Well, I think he mostly likes the treats at the end....and I am not talking about what is in the potty....But, let me tell you a story about that:

     Earlier this week (on the day I was dog sick and Mark had Ben at the doctors so I was alone at home with J) Jackson decided it was a great time to go number 2 in the potty....for the very first time. As I sat there reading him a book (to relax the process) I could hardly breath for fear that if I smelled anything more I might hurl (remember I had a fever and a weak stomach at this point). Well, J did the deed in the potty and was so excited for himself. I was trying to cheer him on the best I could until he stops and looks at me and asks "Mommy, may I eat dat?"

swallowing hard. sick. I said "what??????"

"May I eat dat poops?" he clarifies. 

gross.

You see...we have been talking about where food goes and how our 'fluids' are made. Naturally one would think to eat something that was once food. Right?! I think we need to retire that convo for a later date. I gave him a tootsie roll instead.

I really love my boys. Seriously. My heart aches. God has richly blessed me with these men. I am so grateful. 

Okay....I will be posting some more of our recent candid shots soon, but here are a few from a shoot we did at our house (Mark needed a family photo in front of our house for a magazine he is going to be featured in :) mr. fancy pants)