Happy Wednesday

Just some pictures of my favorite 2 year old to brighten this rainy Wednesday...

Lawn Mower Fun

You have no idea how hard I laughed when I saw Benjamin and Pops coming down the street!  Yes that is Benjamin sitting on the lawnmower, in his pajamas, with his boots on, while Pops pushes!  Nana and Benjamin had been outside looking for Rosemary the cat and when it was time to come inside Benjamin spotted the lawn mower and was pretty determined to ride on it.   He kept climbing up the front and sitting on it and asking to be pushed.  Don't ask me where that came from because it was the first time I have seen it.  Anyway, I kept telling him that we couldn't ride the lawn mower and when I came back outside a few minutes later I saw Pops and Benjamin coming down the street with Benjamin on the lawn mower and the biggest smile on his face!  Then he opted to get off of it and he wanted to push it home.  Too funny.  Benjamin is pretty lucky to have such a fun Pops!

Boots

Nana and Pops gave Benjamin a pair of cowboy boots for Valentine's Day and I can't even stand the cuteness!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

We celebrated Mardi Gras in Lafayette over the weekend and had a blast!  The weather was perfect and Benjamin loved the parade.  We also got to spend time with friends that we don't get to see that often. We met everyone at the parade and they also came over to Nana and Pops that night for a bbq and the kids all got to run around and play together.  Double the Mardi Gras fun!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Little Brother

At my appointment 3 weeks ago I was measuring 5 weeks ahead so my Dr. wanted to take a peek at little brother to see just how big he is so last week we got to do just that.  Just to give you an idea, with Benjamin I had gained 40 pounds at this point and this time around I have only gained 25.  Despite what most people think, what the mother eats and the size of the mother has absolutely no influence on the size of the baby.  Some people just grow big babies, and apparently I am one.  At 30 weeks little brother is weighing exactly 4 lbs and is very long!  He is in the 83rd percentile and my Dr. is expecting him to be around 9 lbs at delivery, which isn't too far off from Benjamin.  Benjamin weighed 8lbs 3 oz at birth.  I can definitely tell this baby is bigger because aside from how big I look, I can definitely feel it!  Considering I am the size of an almost full term pregnant woman I feel exactly that way.  But, as Dr. Putterman said, better a big baby than a small baby any day of the week.  So here is a peek at little brother...

Looking almost exactly like Benjamin did at 30 weeks!  Although I think this baby has more of Matt's facial structure with a more prominent chin.  He has a lot of hair just like Benjamin did as well!  We can't wait to meet this little guy and I know Benjamin is excited, too!  When we say our goodnights to everyone,  Benjamin even tells Thomas (his potential name) goodnight and gives my belly a kiss.  Just the sweetest.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  A day early, I know, but we are headed to Lafayette today to go visit Nana and Pops and tomorrow we are spending the day of love watching the Mardi Gras parades!  Hope your hearts are full of lots of love and your bellies full of chocolates!

Bump

So this happened at school last week...

I know it is the first of many bumps and bruises but poor baby.  His school sent me this picture and called right away and surprisingly said that he didn't even cry.  They said that he was more concerned about putting the ice pack on it and really only cried when they took the ice pack off.

A Few of my Favorite Things

About Benjamin at 2 years old!  I have probably said that every age is my favorite, but 2 is shaping up to be pretty fantastic!  Benjamin has his moments, don't get me wrong, but for the most part it is only when he is tired or frustrated and I can usually help the tired part with a longer nap, earlier bed time, etc.  So on to my favorite things...  Benjamin is SMART!  His teachers tell us daily how much he amazes them with what he knows or things he remembers, etc. and other teachers at his school tell us that as well.  It's my blog so I can brag on my baby if I want!  But seriously, he is SMART!  Of course, he knows his baby yoga and sign language but he has been doing that since about 12 months old.  His latest milestones  are counting to 10, saying all of his colors including grey, and identifying a huge variety of animals including vicunas and different types of birds.  He is such a talker too, which I love.  When I pick him up from school he tells me all about his day and all of his friends that he played with, calling them by their first and last name of course. =)   When we put him down for bed he sings most of his favorite songs with us which include:

E I Farm (Old McDonald had a Farm)
Quinkle Tar (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
Billy Goat (Hush Little Baby)
Baby Buga (Baby Beluga)
Monkeys (5 Little Monkeys)
Baa Baa (Baa Baa Black Sheep)
Bumble Bee (Baby Bumble Bee)
Fish Song (something I made up that he loves)
Pider (Itsy Bitsy Spider)

Yes, most of those songs we sing nightly and our bedtime routine probably takes longer than most, around 45 minutes, but I love the time together.  It cracks me up sometimes the different things that Benjamin says for Old McDonald, sometimes its a school bus, sometimes its people, sometimes its food or colors, and the funniest part is when you ask him what something sounds like, oh his imagination is coming out these days!

A few of my other favorite things...

How he says "love you too" when we tell him we love him.
The cute little way he says things:
apple goose (apple juice)
ala bar (granola bar)
era (zebra)
oh I could go on and on about my favorite things he says.

Benjamin amazes me everyday, his imagination is just taking off and that is evident in things he says and how he plays with toys now.  He is super smart and learns new things daily that just amaze us.  I'm so lucky that he chose me to be his Mommy.

Weekend Recap

We had lots going on around our house this weekend.  Saturday afternoon I painted Benjamin's bedroom and the color turned out great.  I can't wait to see it put together with his new furniture and big boy decor.  Which also means we will be getting the nursery ready for little brother.  We are still undecided on a name but are leaning toward Thomas, we have been trying it out for a few days now.  While I painted Matt and Benjamin went to the Bayou Wildlife Park to see the animals!  It was a perfect afternoon for Benjamin, he got to see all of his favorite animals, minus a guinea pig.  He has been on a guinea pig kick ever since he got to hold one of our neighbors a few weekends ago.  I guess we will have to make a visit to a pet store so he can see them.

And he got to ride a pony for the first time!  Matt said he wasn't scared at all, hopped right up and he was off!  Which is no surprise to me.  This kid LOVES animals!  

New Classroom

Benjamin has officially moved to the 2 year old classroom at school and he is loving it!  A few of his friends had already moved up so he is excited to see them all day again.  Every afternoon Benjamin tells us what he did at school and even tells us what all of his friends did.  I love our conversations in the afternoon and hearing about his day from his perspective.

A very blurry picture but that was Benjamin on his first official day in his new class and I just love that big ole smile.

Mole Holes

We had such a productive weekend at our house!  Now that the big holidays, although we celebrate every holiday in our house so maybe they are all big?!, are behind us I have been in major nesting mode around our house to get things ready for little brother's arrival.  We are moving Benjamin into a bigger bedroom and are going to use his old room for the nursery so I spent the weekend prepping his new room to be painted and can't wait to get it painted.  We also spent the weekend playing outside-the weather was so beautiful compared to what we woke up to today.  We have had a major mole problem in our flower beds so we covered the holes and hopefully have gotten rid of the problem.  I'v worked so hard to get my vegetable garden growing that I am not going to let little moles ruin it and especially not all of the flowers in the flower bed.