Time flies when you're having babies

I can't believe it has been over a month since I last posted. The month of June flew right on by and now we are in the middle of July! Chris has been incredibly busy. He travels about once a month with work and although he usually has his schedule a few months in advance, dates and destinations change about 50% of the time. He has also been taking online classes since January and has Reserve drills once a month. Needless to say he keeps pretty busy but he always makes time for me and Benjamin. He is a wonderful husband and father!

Baby girl and I are doing really well. She is growing more every day and every day I remind myself that it's not really me who is getting wider, it's the baby. We are already in the third trimester! I'll be 29 weeks tomorrow (I think) which means only 10 or 11 weeks left!! Augh! Who gave time permission to fly by? Not me! I need to sit down and write out a list of things we are going to need for her but I have yet to do it. Hopefully it won't be much since I tried to pick things that could be boy or girl when I was pregnant with Bear. I also have a few big organizational projects that I want to get done. I'm hoping and praying that I can start and finish before her arrival. It would be so nice to come home and know that all I need to think about is taking care of her and Benjamin (and Chris). We haven't settled on any names yet. She will be named before we leave the hospital, though. :)

Benjamin is continuing to grow by leaps and bounds. He has 4 top teeth coming in. One has already come through, another one is breaking through today (I think), and the other two are just under the gum and will break through anytime! They sure are taking their time. We've been waiting for them to show themselves for a few weeks already. Benjamin is so close to walking, too. He stands and walks holding onto furniture, no problem. He'll even take a couple steps on his own if the furniture is close together and sometimes he'll walk holding on to just one of our hands. He really enjoys climbing on things: couch cushions, chairs, end tables. I also have the benefit of a "little helper" now. He will empty the kitchen towels out of the drawers for me (I guess I don't fold them correctly), stay right under my feet while I'm vacuuming (to make sure I don't miss a spot), and if I'm getting something out of the fridge he will make sure nothing has expired. He has also become very energy conscience. If he finds something plugged in he will try to unplug it for me. We are officially down to one nap a day. There are pros and cons. Pros: his nap is a little longer, he goes down a little easier, sleeps a little longer at night, and it's easier to run errands because we have the whole morning. Cons: Mama doesn't have a break until noon. We have been trying to teach him a few signs for awhile now and it is working half-way. He knows exactly what we are saying but has yet to do the signs himself. Oh well. :)

We haven't done a good job of keeping up with pictures and videos, but here are some of the more recent ones:






Hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying their summer. God bless you!

Crawling and Climbing and Standing, Oh My!

I can't believe that he just started crawling a few weeks ago and now he is pulling up on furniture and climbing over couch cushions. He is one active little boy! And his sister is catching up fast. I feel her moving quite a bit these days. I'm glad they will have each other to chase around. I get worn out just keeping up with Benjamin! The way he crawls is so funny. Sometimes it's the normal baby crawl. Sometimes he pushes with his right foot and drags his left (the Igor crawl). And when he's in a hurry I've noticed that he has started to pounce, pushing off with both feet! Granted, he only does one pounce at a time (not across the floor like a Cheetah or anything) but still! We will definitely be enrolling him in some sort of sport....like gymnastics!! (Chris would love that.)

I think he may have another tooth growing in. He has started gnawing on the crib railing. Thank goodness for lead-free paint! Sometimes I walk in to his room and he has tiny paint shavings mixed in with his drool, all around his mouth. So if we ever come visit you, cover up your antique furniture!

His speech has improved (oh my goodness...just looked over while typing this and he is chewing on the kitchen chair cushion!). He makes many more sounds while he's talking and playing, although he still won't say "Mama". Milk, ball, and Dada he understands, but Mama? Who's that? I had better start training my little girl early if I want to get in on the "first words list".

Taste in food has definitely been interesting. He hasn't ever refused to eat something but he will definitely make a face if he's not so sure about it. The other day he was having some little crunchy baby snacks and I had to cut him off (he would eat the whole package if I let him). He was letting me know how he felt about it so I decided to let him lick some lemon I was cutting up to take his mind off the crunchies....and he liked it!!! Even after 4 or 5 licks! So I had to find something else to distract him from the lemon. I know he absolutely loves fruit but I did not expect him to like lemon. Crazy kid.

Our little sweet pea is 5 months along now and headed into the 6th month. October is going to come way too fast! I haven't even started planning for her arrival, other than thinking about names. She will probably be dressed in blue the first year of her life. It will take me that long to catch up. haha! We haven't decided on a name yet but we do have some picked out. Since we had a nickname for Benjamin from the beginning it's weird not having one for her. Maybe we'll get a name picked out before she's born. :)

Presenting Miss Moses

It's a girl!! Yay! We are so excited!

Leaps and Bounds

Benjamin had his 9 month check-up today. I can't believe he's already 9 months old! He measured 28 inches long and weighed 23 lbs. and 10 oz. He's our big growing boy! I'm trying to remember what all we have and haven't shared. It seems like he's always doing something new! He started crawling last week and is always on the move now. I'm so glad that I finally got around to baby proofing because he is into everything! Any sort of cabinet or door, the trash can, wires, anything you leave on the floor is fair game. Today he started playing chase. If we crawl away and act like he's trying to get us he'll shriek and crawl after us.


On Saturday we gave him his first hair cut. I had wanted to wait until he was one but it was starting to look like a mullet and he didn't like how it would tickle his ears. Chris held him and entertained him while I did the cutting. I took off an inch from the back of his neck and around his ears!! It certainly is not the most professional looking cut but when I was done I felt like I was looking at a toddler instead of my baby! Chris made fun of me for tying some thread around his hair and putting it in a "First Haircut" keepsake box. Maybe Benjamin will appreciate it one day...or he'll be the clone of his father that he is and ask why in the world I kept it. haha!
Benjamin has started to have some word-object association. If we tell him to get his ball he'll start looking around for it. If I ask him where dada is at breakfast he'll look towards the bedroom to see if Chris is going to walk out. He definitely knows what milk is, especially if you do the sign language for it. I'm trying to help him connect between mommy's tummy and baby. I'll point to my belly and say "baby", but most of the time he's interested in his toys. He pays more attention when I show him the sonogram pictures on the fridge and say "baby". He's probably going to end up thinking baby means black and white blob. I'm not sure what else I can do to prepare him for the inevitable.

Wednesday is our next check up for the baby. We'll find out if it is a boy or girl!! We are so excited! I'm sure I will blog again this week to spread the news. So until then think "girl"! ;)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mamas! We hope you have a wonderful day!

Well, I had this nice long blog typed out but when I went to publish the post something went wrong and I lost all but the first 3 sentences! So I will do my best to recreate, but I'm feeling a little unmotivated now! haha!

My brother, Kevin, came up to visit us this weekend so we had some company, which was nice. He came up Friday morning and left this afternoon. Friday we took Benjamin to the pool for the first time and he loved it! He splashed, leaned over his floaty to look into the water, and kicked his feet when he wanted Kevin to push him around some more. Friday afternoon Chris had one of his wisdom teeth pulled. He was a little worn out for the rest of the day and Saturday, but today he is just about back to normal.

Benjamin is still on the verge of crawling, although he is mobile in his own way. He rolls, sits up, spins around, falls over, and pushes backwards. Sometimes he has a destination, other times he's just flopping around until he gets somewhere. Nap times have once again become a challenge. Now that he can sit himself up from laying down he will sit up and cry, holding onto the rails like a prisoner, and stare at the door until Mama or Dada come to save him. Then, a tragedy unfolds when he realizes we are just there to lay him back on his tummy.

The littlest one is doing well. I feel him/her moving just about every day. We got to hear the heartbeat again at the doctor appt. this past week and according to the old wives' tale we're having a girl! haha! We'll find out for sure via ultrasound a week from Friday. We'll be sure to let everyone know one way or another!

God bless you!

Growing Babies

Our babies are growing so fast! The littlest monkey is the size of a navel orange, according to the baby book, and Benjamin Bear is starting to push up on his hands and knees and keeps wanting to pull himself up on things. Augh! He also has some teeth coming in! I can see tooth shapes through his gums but nothing is poking out just yet. I'm sure it won't be long and he'll be crawling around chewing on the furniture.

Last week's doctor appointment went well. It was just a quick check up but we got to hear the baby's heart beat! Strong and healthy. :) We have two check ups in May, one regular and one to find out whether baby is a boy or girl! So excited! And then we'll know how much we need to save. More if it's a girl, less if it's a boy. haha!

We got to spend this past week in Caldwell! Poor Benjamin definitely got his daddy's allergies (can those be inherited?) and he loves to watch animals! He shrieks and laughs when the dogs come near or lick his feet. He did not get that from me! I was terrified of animals at his age. We also got some super cute pictures of him in the bluebonnets with his cowboy hat on (thank you, Dana!).

This is a cute video from the other day. Chris was providing Benjamin with some after dinner entertainment! Chris would juggle for a minute and then stop and start again. Every time he stops you can see Benjamin opening and closing his hand, his way of saying he wants more!

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a great Easter! Ours was pretty good. We went to New Braunfels and got to see everyone but Carl. That's ok, though, because he was in Pittsburgh proposing to his girlfriend, Lauren!! So excited for them! What's really cool is our family was good friends with Lauren's family while we all lived in Japan. And now we're reuniting! What's really funny is Lauren has 4 sisters...Carl is marrying into a family full of girls! hahaha! He never saw that one coming.

We are 14 weeks along in the pregnancy now. Yay for being in the 2nd trimester! There is still a little nausea but most of it has subsided. Now the exhaustion is kicking in. I'm paying today because I didn't take a break or nap yesterday. Still feeling little flutters every once and awhile, which is neat. I have a doctor appt. tomorrow so I will update again if there is any big news. It should just be a regular check up without an ultrasound or anything. I'm excited because in another month or two we should be able to find out whether the baby is a boy or girl! I'm convinced it's a girl. :)

The weather has been so nice lately that Benjamin and I have been able to take lots of walks. He loves to be outside and feel the breeze blowing through his hair. There is a fountain in front of the main office in our apartment complex that he gets excited about every time we see it, so we usually stop and watch it for awhile. I've also started taking him to look at the pool because there are a couple waterfall/fountain things there and I want him to get excited about swimming this summer! We bought some little swim trunks for him this past weekend. They have Hawaiian flowers and Elmo's face on them. Hopefully they fit him for most of the summer! Next step is to buy swimmer diapers. Don't want to be the cause of the pool being closed!

Here are some pictures from the past week or so...



He's started eating Cheerios and LOVES them!


The Moses Family


Watching Daddy out the back window of the car. :)

Have a blessed Divine Mercy weekend!