Changes Keep Coming

Today I did what I said I would never do again...I took both of my healthy children to the pediatrician for vaccinations. Since I use an alternate schedule, I have to go almost monthly for Preston for the first 18 months. Steve and I have been wondering how much weight he has gained since his 2 month visit, so I had to put him on the scale to check. Drumroll please...our little angel is a whopping 15 lbs 1 ounce! Can you believe it? I certainly can't, but after carrying him around in my arms for 30 minutes, my back sure can! He is also 25.5 inches long. These figures put him in the 83rd percentile for weight and 94th percentile for height for a 3 month old.


Bennett went in with us today because she needed to get her mumps vaccination. She has been doing great, in spite of cutting 6 teeth at once...YES SIX!! In fact, four of them are her molars! This poor child has been drooling like a fountain for the past couple of months and sucking on her fingers, but I never could see anything. However, this past week she has been having so many meltdowns, that I noticed her 6 new teeth when she was screaming. Steve and I had been wondering why she was waking up more in the middle of the night (she is usually the best sleeper), but this all makes perfect sense now. The other two teeth are on her bottom. She has been a laggard when it comes to teeth, with her first ones not arriving until her first birthday. And when she got them, several would come at once. Poor child, but thank goodness she handles it fairly well.

A Night in Bethlehem

Tonight Steve and I joined Preston in his acting debut at our church. Preston was baby Jesus, and we were Joseph and Mary in a live nativity scene. Our church put on a huge event for all of the members. They turned the gym into Bethlehem, with little interactive booths for the children to weave, make pottery, sample various herbs, use fake coins to buy cookies and then visit the manger. That is where we were, in addition to a donkey, a miniature horse and a couple of goats.

Since the event lasted two hours, we only participated in one third of the show. We didn't want to violate child labor laws (ha ha), so we rotated with two other couples and their babies. Steve went on first with another woman and her baby (so I could watch Bennett & Preston), then Steve took over watching Bennett when Pres and I took over with another guy as Joseph.

Preston did wonderfully for his 45 minutes! He just laid in his little cradle and cooed at everyone. I think he enjoyed the singers that sung Christmas carols the whole time. It was so special to see the little kids come up and say "Hi baby Jesus." They were all told that was him, and the littlest ones really believed it. In fact there was one little girl who was probably about three years old that just stared at him for minutes. She didn't want to leave, but her grandmother picked her up and carried her out. About 15 minutes later, she was back...talking to him again. This time when she left she hugged "baby Jesus"....it really was so sweet.

This is going to become an annual event for our church, and being apart of the first one was great. Of course, I thought the cutest Jesus was our little angel.

Making Christmas Cookies

This morning I packed up the kids and headed to Shannon's for a playdate. It was a cold rainy morning, so I was happy to get out of the house for a little while so we wouldn't have to be couped up all day long. Shannon played Betty Crocker and made sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. The idea was a cute one, and both kids enjoyed eating and putting (dumping) sprinkles on them. Of course Shannon was mellow and not stressed by the mass of sprinkles everywhere. I, on the other hand, was getting nervous by the minute. So when I moved the bowl of icing away from Bennett (because she was dripping it everywhere and was getting her sleeve in it), she had a meltdown and threw the spoon she had in her hand (which was full of icing). Needless to say, red icing went everywhere....on the chair, rug, me and Bennett. I felt so badly and tried my best to clean it up. We are sorry Aunt Shannon!! After that, I was sweating and decided that it was time to leave...we definitely wore out welcome.

Until the infamous meltdown though, I was able to snap a few cute photos of the kids at work. The little ones slept through the whole playdate, but here are those angels too!

Toddler Talk 101

Tonight Bennett talked and talked and talked to her Mimi on the phone. It was so hysterical! Most of the time when we put it on speaker phone and give her the handset, she gets shy and just stares at the phone, but not tonight. Tonight she walked around the house, just babbling and laughing....telling her Mimi all about her day at school I guess. See if you can decipher what she is talking about...

Christmas Parade

Yesterday morning we bundled the kids up and walked a few blocks to watch Homewood's Christmas Parade. As soon as the parade started, Bennett wanted out of the stroller so she could grab the candy that everyone was throwing. She is a master now since Halloween, and I could swear that she got 2-3 times what she collected then!






The only bad thing was the temperature...it was pretty chilly. I have not found mittens to cover those little hands of hers yet, so they were so cold. In addition, she had a hard time seeing and moving gracefully in that big coat of hers (think Christmas Story). In fact, she kept tripping on the curb and falling down. Fortunately she didn't
hurt herself.
The parade had a few floats, but mainly groups walking and promoting their causes (like the Humane Society seen here). Spencer was eager to meet some of the other doggies, but we held him back.

Overall, the whole family had fun! After that morning and finishing the outside Christmas decorations today...I think we are finally in the spirit and anxiously awaiting the big holiday in several weeks. I must admit that this is the first Christmas I have looked forward to in over 15 years! Now that Bennett (and her cousin Christian) are finally at an age where seeing what Santa left them under the tree Christmas morning will be exciting...it changes everything!

Teddy Bear Portraits

Bennett's "school" which is otherwise known as Parent's Day Out had "Teddy Bear Portraits" a few weeks ago. So I sent her off to school not knowing how they would turn out. Her daily report card that day read "future model" so I have been excited to see the pictures. I did not know that there would be an actual teddy bear in the portrait, so I got a big kick out of it. Of course there were a couple other frames without it, but this was the cutest one. I couldn't resist....