4 months old

Ben is really growing so much! Today's doctor appointment showed him to be 15 and a half lbs and 24 and a half inches long. That places him in the 63rd percentile for weight and 34th for height. This weekend we started putting away the size 3 month clothes and broke out the size 6 month ones. We are still so lucky to have so many clothes from which to use - the generosity of friends and coworkers is a huge savings since clothes aren't cheap, and Ben isn't in them for long!Recently Ben has found his hands and has discovered how to reach for things. Here's a cute shot of him on his activity mat reaching for his toys.
We've also placed him in his bumbo seat - he seems to really like the change in position and to be able to watch his big sister. He smiles and laughs at her so often - it's really fun to watch them interact.
Ben is also wearing quite a thinning hair / bald spot on the back of his head! It's amusing to me since Cori never had one, but then again, we held her to sleep the first 4 months of her life!

While we love both Benjamin and Corinne so much, we sometimes marvel at how different they are in personality. Not that one is any better than the other (though we do appreciate the easier sleep attitude Ben has!) but maybe it's also the confidence that comes with having a second child that is making the parenting experience much more enjoyable this time around. Maybe it is that we know Ben is our last little baby; I am really trying to soak up the joy and fun in each moment. So much of the anxiety that I had with Corinne has been replaced this time around with a more laid back attitude this time around.

bye bye October

November is here already? October flew by in a flash! We got some yard projects finished before the weather turned colder; one of them was adding some stone to the flower bed area. I like how it turned out, and now the dirt won't wash away as much. I do plan to cover the dirt with mulch in the spring, but didn't this year since it would just wash down the hill.
I also was able to plant a good 100+ spring bulbs here so I hope they come up okay. But we still need to do some things from simply bringing in the lawn furniture to the more difficult job of sealing the drive way (ugh). There just never seems to be enough time, and when we do have time lately, the weather doesn't cooperate. Here is what we woke up to last Saturday:
I found the mixture of fall leaves and fat snow flakes kind of funny and very pretty! But even my Christmas cactus was confused by all the snow and has been blooming:
Ben and Cori are doing great - they've had a touch of some bad colds but are doing well. Ben keeps smiling and babbling and playing with some baby toys. His hair is definitely lightening up and he is sleeping well for the most part. Anna, I got a TON of compliments on the sweater you made him. So cute! Cori enjoyed the anticipation of Halloween and REALLY enjoyed trick or treating. She went out for about an hour and that was enough for her. Dave said she was down right giddy at times - childhood joy is such a magical thing! It's a shame that it rained - it really cut down on the number of little kids that were out.
Here she is ready to head out for her candy, uttering the battle cry of CHOCOLATE! Just kidding.
Don't knock the make up job - it's taken me years to do my make up and she kept wanting more on. Plus it was Halloween - part of the fun is to look a little scary! Ben was much less enthused about Halloween as you can see below.
Here she is with some of her loot.

Ben and the "Bee"

Had to share a cute video of Ben laughing and smiling at "the buzzy bee":


He is such fun these days - laughing and smiling and cooing pretty much all the time. Such a happy baby!

Growing up fast!

Just a brief note to say that Cori is now 100% potty trained!! The other day she just decided she was going to poop in the potty at school, and has followed through at home ever since. We are thrilled!

And she is also in a new car seat - a booster with a back. She was too tall for her Britax; the shoulder strap was on its highest setting but was still below her shoulder which is not recommended. So that is now packed away for Ben (who will need it sooner than later). They do indeed grow so fast!

Here's your cute photo of the day - my sweet crew lounging in bed:

chop chop

Guess who got a bunch of hair cut today?! I am in love with it, and my new stylist rocks! This is the third time I've been to her and felt enough trust to let her cut so much.
I showed her a hair style for inspiration (thanks Chelsea Kane!) and she asked what I liked about the cut and what I didn't like. (The stylist asked, not Chelsea.) And not only did she cut it as I asked, and adjust a few spots as I interjected along the way, but she talked about how to style it - what works, what won't work, why it wont work, etc. Rock star stylist!! And all for $40 - so worth it!Self pictures are so hard, but I think it's fairly obvious that I really look like my mom! Like, identical! It's almost scary!

Stash

This weekend we finally got a second fridge, but mostly for the freezer space. Our current freezer was full, totally full, of frozen breast milk... to the point where we couldn't buy any more frozen food items. This stash is just from Sept through now and each bag is 5 or 6 ozs.
This is one of 5 freezers in use - my mom, my mother in law, my father in law, and my friend Sara all have freezers full of frozen stash from me (since I had run out of room from July). As much as I hate pumping at times, seeing this makes me proud of my efforts! I think we're set to be able to give Ben breast milk for a long time since I don't plan to stop pumping anytime soon.

Autumn at our place

Fall is our favorite time of year around here... so much so that we even considered naming Corinne "Autumn" when we were first going through baby names. Since this is our first fall season in the new house, we had extra fun decorating.

Our entrance and house in evening.

Cozy spot to sit:

Beautiful view from our backyard, and only about half the trees have peaked in color:Fall by the fire:

Carved pumpkin:

Our Lenox halloween tree:

Some neat leaf lanterns:

Trick or Treat!

More pumpkin candles:

Happy Autumn from our house to yours!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

6 years ago on this day:

Back at work

Yesterday was my first day back at work, and Ben's first day at daycare. I wasn't worried about how he'd do at daycare - he's an easy going kid and I love the ladies who are looking after him. What I was worried about was how we'd get ready and out the door on time and all together.

I woke up at 5:30 and the adrenaline kicked in fairly easily.... I was looking forward to a "required" shower instead of just a 3 minute fast-as-can-be shower. Putting on make up and making effort to look presentable sounded heavenly! I'm happy to say that things went fairly smoothly, though I'm sure both Dave and I were tired under it all.

We managed to snap a quick picture on the iPhone of the morning. (Apologies for the grainy quality - our DSR camera's battery was dead.) Ben doesn't look too happy to be leaving Mama (that's what I told myself).
Things seemed to be going well until I left for work, got half way there and then realized I forgot half my stuff in the fridge. Whoops! I had to turn around, which made me late. Dave also forgot his lunch and didn't realize it until he was at work, so there was no turning around to be had for him. But overall, we didn't forget our laptops or kids, so that's good right?

The day passed fairly quickly for me. Lots of things to catch up on, and it was great to see my work friends. The day wasn't without its challenges though; a laughable moment occurred when I was pumping in the afternoon. What you need to know is that I work in a male dominated industry and building (there are only about a dozen females in the building) and there is really NO place to pump (unlike our HQ building which actually has a designated lactation room outfitted with comfy chairs, privacy curtains, fridges for storing breast milk, etc. )

Since I just have a cube and no door, there really isn't any place for me to pump. I will not pump in the bathroom. So they've given me access to what is basically a large storage closet for the computer servers. Only 2 people in the building have an access key, so it's small chances that anyone will enter. And the sign I place on the door hopefully keeps those 2 people out.

Well, yesterday as I'm finishing pumping, the power went out in the building! So there I am in a pitch black closet, fairly exposed so to speak. I buttoned up and attempted to find my way to the door. I imagine if anyone would have seen me inside, I'd have looked like a drunken person stumbling into things left and right. I finally managed to make it to the door (about 20 feet) and open the door to find a friend running to me with a flash light. Thank goodness someone was coming to get me! Apparently an HVAC unit was smoking badly and filing the building with awful electrically smelling smoke. Not sure if I would have heard any alarms as I had my ipod playing and my earphones in. It was quite a few minutes! My poor friend said she was just glad I was clothed as she wasn't sure what she'd find when she opened up the door....

Picking up the kids went fine and we went home and the crazy hour of trying to bring everything in / give the kids my attention / prepping dinner / waiting for Dave to get home started. I figured that dinner (spinach salad with almonds, strawberries, Gorgonzola cheese and shredded chicken) called for some wine!
Sometime around 9 PM, my adrenaline rush fizzled out, or the wine kicked in, or both. I was exhausted!! I couldn't even stay awake for my favorite TV show Castle at 10 PM. I got up at 1 AM to pump and felt like a train hit me. My head was pounding and I was so, so exhausted! I had no clue how I was going to get up in 4.5 hours and do this all again. Somehow I woke up, the Tylenol had kicked in (thank goodness) and I made it out the door only a few minutes late. But I have no clue how long I can keep this up, and it's only day 2!

Walk for Apraxia

This weekend has been a total washout weather wise... cool and rainy both days. But without the rain, we can't have rainbows! (Note that this photo isn't from this weekend; it's from earlier this week. It's been raining a lot here!)
I'm just thankful that this weekend's weather wasn't what we had last weekend. Our niece Kadence has speech Apraxia. If you arn't familiar with what that is, Apraxia is characterized by loss of the ability to execute or carry out learned purposeful movements, despite having the desire and the physical ability to perform the movements. Those with this condition are unable to execute speech movements because of motor planning and coordination problems. We participated again in a walk to bring awareness to the issue, and the walk is outside in North Park. Luckily we had great weather last weekend.

Team Kadence:Lots of sponsors were there and there were lots of activities for the kids.
Ben got to pretend drive a huge firetruck!

Cori got her face painted, and so did Kad:

Ben hanging out with his uncle Dave.

He was sad when he was returned back to Mom & Dad

We're very proud of the great strides that Kadence has made; she's worked really hard, though we'd love her no matter what!!!

Haircut

Happy October! Our favorite month around here..... I've been enjoying the last weekend of my maternity leave, but most of it has been indoors. Today it's rainy, cold and in the low 40's around here! Brrr!!! We have the fireplace on and the chili is cooking on the stove.

Earlier today we went to get some hair cuts. I just needed a trim - I'm growing it out so I can shop it all off again (it's a weird obsession) and I wanted to show Cori that hair cuts don't hurt since she needed one badly. Here are here "before" shots; like they said in our favorite movie Tangled "That's a lot of hair!"
Cori did fantastic during the cut. I think the movie playing and the customized kids seats helped a lot! Cori was in a Blue Angel plane.The after result! (Note the fat lip from her splitting her lip yesterday - she's okay!)