Cutest Man in the HOOD

It just goes without saying...

Elijah is SIX

Elijah also had a birthday this week.   He tuned Six years old.  It's crazy!  When did I become old enough to be the mother of a six year old?  He's sporting the cool crown he got at school.  When he saw what I did for Sam's cake, Elijah knew exactly what he wanted for his.  Ever since we went to the aquarium in September he has bee obsessed with Dolphins.  He checks out dolphin books at school, he draws pictures of dolphins, he pretends he is training dolphins, etc.  Hence he wanted a dolphin cake.  I thought I was in over my head.  Luckily it came together pretty well.  With Sam's assurance that it did indeed look like a dolphin, this is what I came up with (using two 9 in rounds and one 9X13).  When Elijah came home from school his reaction was precious.  I think he was pleased.

Sam is FOUR

Sam turned Four this past week.  He was super excited for his birthday.  He decided he wanted a horse birthday cake to look like his little stuffed animal horse named Brown Star (complete with white diamond on her nose).  I found a pattern online that was super easy and Sam loved helping me out.  For his birthday dinner he decided he wanted Chick Fil A.  He's an easy man to please. 

Probably his highlight of the day was that Elijah was off school.  They played well together the whole day, playing "Bunny and Brownie" their imaginary game with their stuffed animals and Wii.  Sam also requested that we paint on his birthday.  The man loves getting down a dirty.





Jammie Jiggle

Benjamin loves to "party" from around ten to around one or two am.  Note: this does not make for happy parents.  Josh is a saint and often takes the brunt of this shift.  Often this entails what I have come to call the "Jammie Jiggle."  Benjamin strongly prefers to be held vertically.  I think he has a bit of reflux and gas issues going on and this position helps.  He also loves to be jiggled/bounced to sleep.  At night Ben gets really worked up and to help him relax Josh holds him up to his shoulder and trots through our room, across the hall and through Ben's room and back.  More often than not this puts Ben to sleep, if only for a short time and then the ritual starts again.

Walking Home

Last week the weather was beautiful and the fall colors breathtaking.  Sam and I (and Benjamin) took the opprotunity to walk to Elijah's school to pick him up.  I grabbed the camera and got a few pictures of the boys on the way home through the "rain forest".  Part of the walk has a bridge that goes ove some water.



Elijah is showing a fish book he begged to take to school and read a page out of to his class.



The camera doesn't do it justice.  The reflection off the leaves gave everything a golden glow.  So beautiful.




Reflection of the trees in the water below the bridge



Just Chilling at Six Weeks

 Here are a few pictures I took of Benjamin today just hanging out in his feeding chair. By no means is he getting any food while sitting in this chair, those joys are yet to come, but Ben enjoys sitting in the chair and being part of all the action that goes on in our kitchen.  He'll sit there contently for good stretches of time which is Convenient when I'm trying to cook or eat something myself.  These pictures were taken before a tired -it's time for my nap- melt down.

I took a couple videos of him chilling but they wont load.  Bummer.  I'll try again later.

Sight Seeing with Family

With Benjamin's arrival came a lot of visitors (well my mom and sisters were here before he got here).  With Benjamin being such a good baby/eater and me feeling great physically, we headed out sight seeing while everyone was here.  There really is so much to see in the area.  It was hard to choose. 

(These pictures are in no paticular order)

Mount Vernon, VA

We went to Mt. Vernon, which is a little over an hour south/west of us.  It is a beautiful estate on the Potomac River.  There really is a lot to see in addition to the house.  Unfortunatly we went on a really hot and humid day and only spent a couple hours there.  The museum in very interesting and I enjoyed seeing the house and walking in the rooms that George Washington lived in.  We even got to see the key to the Bastille which Washington had hung in his foyer.  They also had black smiths working at the forage and there was an actor in a little room playing Martha Washington.  She just sat there and rambled and answered questions like she was Martha.  We took the opprotunity to sit and listen to her and cool off while I discreetly nursed Ben (I LOVE my nursing cover).  As we were leaving she noticed Ben and said he was "a well formed child."  Anyway, she played her role well.



Rachel and Elijah standing amid statues of George, Martha and their grandchildren.  Martha Washington was very short, under 5 feet tall.

 Gettysburg, PA

We went to Gettysburg twice, once with my family and once with Josh's.  The trip with my parents was really fast, we mostly drove around and saw the town and the battlegrounds.  With the Strongs we went through the museum and drove around the grounds.  The museum is worth paying for.  You really get a good idea of what happened.  The battlegrounds are very beautiful, especially during the Fall season.  It is amazing the sacrafice that took place there to preserve freedom.  It is a moving place to visit.


The gang sitting with Abe Lincoln outside the Gettysburg visitors center



Strong boys with Abe



Climbing Little Round Top



Dobbin House in Gettysburg.  Was actually a stop on the underground railroad.  They let us go in and see the nook where they stashed slaves.





Birthday cake icecream at Friendlys on the way home from Gettysburg.  That stuff was SO blue.

The MALL/Smithsonians, Washington DC

We breezed through the National Gallery of Art.  Not exactly a place for preschoolers but the boys were good.  We made a point of seeing pieces by Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Da Vinci, and Vermeer among others.  Absolutely breathtaking! 

We also went in the National Air and Space Museum.  Overall not my favorite of the Smithsonian museums.  It was stuffy and stunk like rotting metal.  There were some cool things to see though.  I particularly like seeing the Spirit of St. Louis (because my grandma told me about when she went to see the plane fly into Saint Louis after its notorious flight) and the Wright Brother's plane. 

Annopolis, MD

We actually got to touch the ocean, well via the Chesapeake bay.  We went down to Annopolis to drive around.  Yet another place were there is a lot to see but isn't particularly up a preschoolers alley.  We ended up driving through some residential and found a little open space area that opend up onto the bay with a small stretch of beach.  It was a beautiful day and a nice quite place to enjoy the view of the bay and all the boats out for the annual boat show.  Sam was mesmorized with the water and the sand.  He found a stick and started spelling his name in the sand. 

Baltimore, MD

We went to the Baltimore aquarium again while Josh's parents were here too.  Elijah and Sam were excited to see the dolphin show again.  Unfortunatly Ben decided he wanted to eat more than watch the show so he and I missed it.  The aquarium has a rainforest exhibit at the top and they have a sloth in among the trees.  The day we were there he was rather active.  I actually saw him sit up and eat something.  I swear I took a picture of him but I can't find it.  Oh well.

Anyway, all this travel happened in the first few weeks of Benjamin's life.  He sure gets around for such a little guy.  Thank you family for coming out.  We really enjoyed having you here and exploring the area with you. 

Mr Rogers

Sam has discovered old Mr. Rogers video clips on pbskids.org.  Remember when Mr. Rogers would go to his picture frame video screen and a video would start showing?  Sam watches those old clips on how they make crayons, fortune cookies, guitars, shoes, etc.  He watches them over and over and over...  absorbing every step.

The other day Sam and I were making cookie dough together and he looks at the rubber spatula and starts to explain to me how they probably made the spatula, step by step like in the videos.  That kid is a thinker.

*picture is Sam sporting Grammies reading glasses

Benjamin: 1 Month Old

Has it really been a month already? In some ways it feels like Benjamin has been here forever but I look at him and I'm amazed that he is already one month old.

He went to the doctor Monday for his checkup. He weighed in at 11 lbs 13 oz! He gained over 2 pounds in three weeks. Evidence that he likes to eat, A LOT! His head is 40 cm and his length is 22.5 inches. Overall a growing, healthy baby.

Benjamin is a good little sleeper, especially during the day giving me time to keep a handle on things around the house. Just this week has started sleeping 4-5 hour stretches at night (as opposed the the normal 2-3 hours) so there is even hope for sanity at night!

Ben detests a binky. If you try and put one in his mouth he will give you a look of utter disgust and sometimes gag it out. Instead of calming him down it makes him even more mad. I'm not sure what to think of this. Both Elijah and Sam loved their binkies and I'm afraid I became dependent on them. I'm at a loss of what to do now that Ben refuses. I really hate the idea of being a Mommy binky. We'll see how this works out.

We did manage to get Ben to eat from a bottle. FREEDOM! This is important because I need him (and poor Josh) to be happy while I'm occupied with my Young Women's calling.

Benjamin likes to bounce. Often if he is fussy you can hold him vertical under his arms and bounce him and he will fall asleep. He has a bit of reflux/gas and much prefers to be in the vertical position when being held. He loves to hold your hands. It calms him down. He spits when he gets upset and is gearing up to cry. He loves to look at me through the mirror on the changing table and he enjoys hanging out in his diaper.

I took these pictures last night. I hate using my flash so I have to adjust my settings and play with my really poor lighting hense they are a bit blurry and sometimes grainy, minimal distractions when the subject is so darn cute!

Nursery Update: Tree Mural

I had the wonderful opprotunity to decorate Benjamin's room with my Mother. I had been drooling over vinyl tree decals on the internet but ultimately we decided to paint a tree on the wall. I am so pleased with the way it turned out. I really enjoyed doing this project with my Mom, my best friend. I am grateful for her and her talents. I will always cherish the memory of us doing this together.

The tree is home to an owl, squirrel, blue bird, and a fox lives nearby. The cardinal is over the closet door on the otherside of the room.

There are a few more details I want to add. I have corner shelves that I plan to add to the trunk of the tree. That's Josh's part of the project ;) I also have a birdhouse to put a nightlight in to go on one of the shelves or hang by the tree. (Sorry Mom, I could resist sharing what we have done. The rest will happen, I promise :) )

Greatest Mission

Benjamin Naim at 12 days old

"The greatest mission of woman is to give life, earth-life, through honorable marriage, to the waiting spirits, our Father's spirit children who anxiously desire to come to dwell here in this mortal state.  All the honor and glory that can come to men and women... is but a dim thing whose luster shall fade in comparison to the high honor, the eternal glory, the ever-enduring happiness that shall dcome to the woman who fulfils the first great duty and mission that devolves upon her to become the mother of the sons and daughters of God."

-Melvin J. Ballard

Monday Morning

Last night Benjamin slept 5-6 hours without eating!  Josh and I didn't fair so well.  We were up often because we are used to feedings every 2-3 hours.  But there is HOPE of more sleep in the near future! 

Today is my second day home alone.  Well, not really alone.  It's just Sam, Benjamin and I.  I was up early enough this mornign to get a shower and eat breakfast before Ben woke up.  Everything was going rather smoothly despite Elijah dragging his feet about getting dressed.  Then Ben wanted to eat and of course everything happens at once - ten minutes before we are supposed to leave for school.

Elijah's being squirrlly, half dressed.
Sam's upstairs pooping in the toilet yelling at me that he needs help.
I'm yelling back that I'm coming in just a minute.
And then the person coming today (between 8 and 1) to change our thermostat knocks on the door.

This sets Tilly off barking and whinning.
I have to stop feeding Ben.
Chase down the dog while holding a baby who needs to burp and is spittin up.
Put the baby down and drag the barking dog to her crate (while all this can be seen through my yet to be tinted front windows).
Answer the door and tell the lady that I have school drop off in 10 minutes.
She agrees to wait outside till I get back.
Run upstairs while yelling to Elijah to brush his teeth.
Wipe a bum.
Smack Elijah with the bathroom door because he is hiding behind it instead of brushing his teeth.
Remember the baby is still downstairs on the couch.
Put him in his carseat where he begins to cry.
Tie Elijah's shoes.
Rush everyone out the door and into the car while Elijah is trying to tell me a story about coloring an apple at school with his eyes closed.
Ben crys all the way to and from school.
He finally falls asleep as I'm carrying him in the door.
The lady promptly knocks on my door and is currently doing what she came to do while Sam watches and Ben thankfully is still sleeping in his carseat.

Phew!  I think a nap is in order but as soon as I even sersiously concider sitting down and closing my eyes I know that Ben will be up wanting to finish his breakfast and something else is sure to happen.

Benjamin has his 4 week check up today.  I can't believe it has been FOUR WEEKS.  It has sure been a busy four weeks of family visiting and sight seeing.  It has just flown by.  I'm excited to get our family on a schedule now that things have died down a bit.  Or am I just kidding myself?

More Pics of Benjamin

Just a few of the many pictures of Benjamin.