Misc. cute pictures

Cheesy smiles

Benj loves for me to make him this "hat"

Benjamin is in the toddler version of AWANA this year. He LOVES his "Honeybees" shirt.

Speaking of LOVES... Talia loves her accessories. "Pitty necklace, Mama."

We had a fun visit with Mima in October for Benjamin's birthday. One highlight was visiting Huber's Family Farm where we picked out "cumkins," as Benjamin calls them.

Creative juices are flowing

Benjamin has recently started to pretend. This has been a very entertaining development for me as I happen upon his make-believe world from time to time.

Pictured: Benjamin meticulously "parking" all of his cars in a jam-packed make-believe parking lot. Believe me, he had in his mind where each and every car belonged and did not rest until each one was in place.

Another gem: Mondays are an exciting day in our house. During breakfast (my children take at least 30 minutes, if not 45, to eat breakfast) all sheets, blankies, and sleeping "friends" disappear for 2-3 hours. This, by the way, is not the exciting part. The kids wander around all morning wondering where in the world their beloved possessions have gone. But around 11:00 a buzzer sounds from that mysterious room in our house where children rarely venture and voila! the precious belongings reappear smelling distinctly sweeter than before. Last week Benj wandered into his room to find his bed freshly made and his friends all lined up against the footboard. He grabbed both of his very best friends, Bear (who is washable) and Giraffe (who is not), by the scruff of their necks and staged their joyful reunion:

Giraffe: "Hi Bear!"
Bear: "Hi Giraffe! I'm all clean!"
Giraffe: "I'm not wet." (Translation: I am not.)

Talia, by turns, has also discovered a new realm of play: taking care of her "babies." (Right now her favorite "baby" is a cuddly soft bear dressed in a pink bunny costume.)

The other night I was picking up toys in the kids room. It dawned on me that I hadn't seen Talia wander past in several minutes. Recalling the last time I ignored the impulse to check on her (resulting in the breaking of my glasses), I went to find her. I found her in the kitchen, diligently at work strapping her bear into her booster seat at the table. When she succeeded in snapping both buckles she pushed the chair up to the table. A little while later, as I was changing Benjamin's diaper, she toddled into their bedroom, "baby" in tow, also bearing an unknown white item in her other hand. Upon investigating I found she had a small wad of diaper wipes (who knows where she found those....) She tossed her bear on the floor, plopped down beside her, and began copiously wiping. Looking up at me she said proudly, "Change diaper!"

Epilogue: Later I was recounting this story to Seth on the phone and Talia, still clinging to her bear, looked up at me and smiled charmingly. As an aside to her I said, "Little girl, is that your baby?" Her smile got bigger, like I had just told a great joke, and toddling over to me to pat my belly she said, "Nooooo. Baby in Mama's tummy." I guess she's just practicing.

Happy Birthday Benjamin, VeggieTales style

Yes, I do realize my son's birthday was last month. We celebrated on time, I just forgot to post the pix. Thanks, Mamacita, for the reminder.

The food: the shattered remains of the popcorn ball meteor and jello (from "The Gourds Must Be Crazy"), Mr. Twisty's non-cheese curls for food allergic children (from "Jonah"), and of course everyone's favorite veggies in bite-size.

The stars of the show

Benjamin enjoying his food.

Benjamin is still talking about his cake. "I eat Bob!"

Benjamin's best friend, Alister moved away just before the party, but they were able to come back to town for that weekend. Yay for them!

The playset (loosely transformed into "Madame Blueberry's tree house") was a big hit with kids of all ages. Just throw 'em in the yard with nice weather and some toys and the party is a hit!

The Shoes vs. the Pots in a crazy throwing-stuff game. For those who are not VeggieTales fans, my apologies. This stuff probably doesn't make a bit of sense.

Benjamin got 4 new VeggieTales DVD's for his birthday! Thanks everyone! He is still enjoying his "new movies."

Sully and Boo

Here are our happy little trick-or-treaters:

"Boo" and "Sully" from the Pixar film Monsters, Inc.

Talia sees no need to stick around for more pictures.

Well OK. One more with Benjamin's big Sully smile. :)

All *3* kiddos are in costume. (The baby is a pumpkin. Get it?)

Daddy is a Storm Trooper.

At this house Talia was prepared to empty the entire unsupervised bowl of candy piece-by-piece into her own bucket. The monkey is our little friend Jesse. Both of our kids were so excited all day to go to Jesse's house in their costumes.

The kids really got into saying "Trick or Treat!" Talia would say it over and over between houses, but not actually to anyone handing out candy. Benjamin, by the end, was shouting, "Trick-r-tweet!" as we approached doors.

Here are our worn out little trick-or-treaters. Benjamin just wanted that "hat" OFF. Poor guy. He's trying to look happy. :)

Jesse's Nana brought some big Monster Cookies, which Talia thoroughly enjoyed. Benjamin was perfectly happy with his chosen lollipop.

Benjamin has taken to taking his candy out of his bucket, piece by piece, and then putting it all back in (in the same manner). He's not trying to eat it, he just wants to look at it. :) Funny boy.

Instead

If you are wondering where I've been for the last couple of weeks, I'll tell you: I've been taking naps in the afternoon instead of the myraid things I used to do with the kids' nap time, including blogging. Too bad, too! I have some cute pix to post. :) I'll get around to it one of these days.

Many have been asking how I am feeling with the pregnancy. (Thank you, by the way.) Overall I am doing well, thanks to an anti-nausea drug (Reglan). For the couple of weeks after we found out our "news" I became increasingly sick. My mom was here for some of the "bad days" and can attest to the fact that I was feeling pretty badly. There were a couple of times when I even broke down and cried I felt so sick and helpless, even though crying made me even more nauseous! Thankfully, toward the end of that second week I went in for an appointment and they were able and willing to give me something to help with the nausea that wouldn't make me sleepy (as did the drug they tried to give me last time--knocked me out!!) It took several days for the medicine to build up enough in my system to start working, but overall it has reduced my symptoms to the level of "mildly annoying," rather than "taking over my life and making it impossible for me to care properly for my children." I still have some bad days, such as those when I don't get the extra rest my body seems to need right now, but I am thankful to be functioning for the most part.

Dr. Nick

"Dr. Nick" is our pediatrician.

Benjamin has formed a special bond with Dr. Nick which began when he was around 2 months old due to our frequent visits to his office for the purpose of treating Benjamin's oft-infected eczema. When Talia came along she sort of inherited the family's affection for Dr. Nick. And so it has always been that when I announce an impending visit, our children exclaim, "Dr. Nick! Dr. Nick! Go see Dr. Nick!"

This week they proved their devotion to the beloved doc by paying him 2 visits in 3 days.

Tuesday we went in for Benjamin's 3 year check-up: routine weigh-in, height check, physical, and bloodwork... (plus a flu shot--ouch!) All was well. We bid the good doctor a cheery fairwell.

This morning sweet Talia decided she wanted to go back. We were all sitting in the living room when Talia "tripped" (apparently over nothing) and dove face-first into the carpet where her face happened to make contact with the only object in the vacinity, her sippy cup. She immediately started screaming at an unusually intense pitch. I picked her up and turned her over, and as I rocked her I began to see blood appear along what turned out to be an inch-long gash under her eye, along her cheekbone. Fearing injury to her eye, or a deep cut needing stitches I called the pediatrician's office which always keeps multiple appointments open throughout the day for illness and emergencies. Somehow I had the presence of mind to tell Benjamin to get his shoes and locate my own, all while cradling my screaming little girl. Amazingly enough we were on our way within 10 minutes.

Seth, who works about 1/4 mile away from the pediatrician's office, met us there. As I pulled in the parking lot, just behind him, just seeing his car brought my stress level down about 20%! By this time Talia had ceased crying and was actually quite cheerful. As we stood at the check-in counter she called through the open receptionist's window, "Dr. Nick! Dr. Nick!"

Seth had to help hold Talia down while Dr. Nick cleaned the laceration. After this heart wrenching procedure he told us the good news: either the cut was either fairly shallow or in the time it took to get to the doctor's office it fused back together quite nicely. He did not feel it required stitches. Instead he glued it (requiring more bodily force on both his and Seth's part). Happily, she will be on the mend in 4 or 5 days.

For her pains (literally), Talia was treated to a "My Little Pony" sticker from Dr. Nick's sticker basket and lunch at McDonald's. :)

Here's the shiner:

Our newest news

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9

Despite our decision to wait until Seth's dissertation was finished before thinking about enlarging our family again, God had other plans … We're expecting #3! :)

This is a complete surprise to us, but not an unwelcome one. We were trying to responsibly avoid the inconveniences of "morning" sickness (all day sickness for me) while we are still in the trenches of getting the dissertation finished, but evidently God didn't agree with our little plan.

So, I'm 8 weeks (yesterday) but we just found out a week ago, Sunday. I had been feeling slightly nauseated for a little over a week and I was feeling like I had just some slight stomach bug. I thought it was weird that it wasn't going away but it wasn't getting worse. I guess I do have a "stomach bug," just a little different kind :)

Needless to say we are very excited to see what the Lord has planned for our lives and for this precious new addition to our family. Onward with the adventure!