Teeth!

I have just moments ago discovered that Sam has finally cut some teeth. Well at least one on the bottom. All the drooling and fussing today has produced a serrated edge on the bottom gums. Probably also why he wasn't much into napping today. That and the excitement of getting ready to go to DC tomorrow. 10 months and nearly 3 days and he is finally getting a set of chompers!

distrubed sleep, wet floors

The last 3 days, Benjamin has been up around 3-4am, resulting in him sleeping with us. By day he has been wetting his pants once a day. I wonder if he is sensing the disturbance in the force with my mother being sick and/or if he is unhappy about the upcoming trip to DC. We have been talking about Sam and I driving up to RI to visit with my family for a while and Benjamin going home with Morgan. Ben keeps saying "No, it would be more fun for all 4 of us to go see Grandma" and I'd have to say I agree with him. But when you add in 2 more airline tickets, it gets expensive not to mention Morgan taking time off of work. I suppose I could take Ben and Sam with me but Benjamin can be high needs outside of his typical environment and not too much taking care of grandma would happen. He'll be fine with Morgan, I'm just wanting a little more sleep and less floor cleaning.

In other news, Sam as a couple of friends that are a month older than him...both walking. Sam is still happy with cruising and now and again lets go and balances. When I say "now and again" it's MAYBE once a day that I see. No teeth yet. Morgan trimmed the hair over his ears at my request...his wings were getting out of hand. He is still 99% nursing with some solid food with dinner sometimes, mostly to keep him busy.
We have not taken too many pictures recently. This is a picture of Benjamin's MonaVie smile. He likes his purple juice. Sam had a bruise on his cheek where he smashed his face into solid objects several times in the same place. Now he has a scratch on his forehead from, I'm guessing his fingernails. Usually the most recent pictures I post on facebook because it's just easier.
Better go see if the chicken is thawed...it's going to be another whirlwind evening! Wish me luck!

New Stats!

Benjamin had his 4yr old doc appointment today and Samuel had his 9 month appointment. Here are the new stats...
Sam: Height 2' 6.25", Weight 21 lbs 2 oz, HC 47.6 cm
Ben: Height 3' 1.75", Weight 30 lbs.

Benjamin is BACK on the growth chart and climbing...Sam is at the top of the chart!
I'm feeling sleepy at the moment so I can't think of any thing clever to write.

I Did It!

I typed up a list of all the books my boys own. I might of missed a couple but certainly this is as close to a complete list as is possible given the way items are moved all over the house. I'll place a link to the right as well.

http://austriakate.googlepages.com/shepardboyslibrary

I NEED AN EXCAVATOR!

Ben is on a mission to get an excavator (truck what has a scoop on the front) for his belated birthday. He has told me every day, several times a day about his need for one. Long, drawn out detailed stories about the when, where and why...much, much more detailed then these videos. He as seen big ones and little ones around town. He plays with his trucks out in what used to be the veggie garden.

Sam wanted some of the spotlight too... :)

Ben's Hair Cut

We took before and after pics. The best part was when Benjamin came running into the house, wided eyed with excitement yelling "I'm all spiky and now I have red hair like you!" It was a precious moment!

Sam's new tricks

It's been a while, again. With conference in Kenosha...I'm a little behind. I've caught up on the weeding at home, but the plot needs attention yet. We are still not really unpacked and the laundry sits in differing stages. AH well.
Lately Sam has picked up the nickname PegLeg. His crawling is getting much faster and he has added the skill of crawling with a favored toy in his hand. Usually a block or something smallish. His approach usually sounds more like "thrap, thrap" as each hand hits the floor but with the toy in his hand is more of a "thrap, clunk." The "thrap, thrap" is a nice even rhythm, where PegLeg is not.
Also he is quite the gardener. When pulling weeds results in the need for a bath...you know you've got above and beyond the call of duty. Twice now Sam has managed to have dirt from head to toe and even inside the diaper. Those rolls really hold on to the dirt!

The Answers

Ben, Sam, Sam, Sam, Ben, Ben! Grats to all those who participated. Even their parents get confused sometimes.

Sam or Ben?!?!

Here are pictures of both Benjamin and Samuel. See if you can tell which is which.

Sam's favorite poem

borrowed from a LLL mom!

"Suess" for Nursing Mothers
Mother's milk is just the thing!

Would you nurse her at the park?
Would you nurse him in the dark?
Would you nurse him with a Boppy?
And when your boobs are feeling floppy?

I would nurse him in the park,
I would nurse her in the dark.
I'd nurse with or without a Boppy.
Floppy boobs will never stop me.

Can you nurse with your seat belt on?
Can you nurse from dusk till dawn?
Though she may pinch me, bite me, pull,
I will nurse her 'till she's full!

Can you nurse and make some soup?
Can you nurse and feed the group?
It makes her healthy strong and smart,
Mommy's milk is the best start!

Would you nurse him at the game?
Would you nurse her in the rain?
In front of those who dare to complain?
I would nurse him at the game.
I would nurse her in the rain.

As for those who protest lactation,
I have a perfect explanation.
Mommy milk is tailor made
It's perfect food, you need no aid.

Some may scoff and some may wriggle,
Avert their eyes or even giggle.
To those who can be cruel and rude,
Remind them breast's the perfect food!

I would never scoff or giggle,
Roll my eyes or even wiggle!
I would not be so crass or crude,
I KNOW that this milk's the perfect food!

We make the right amount we need,
The perfect temp for every feed.
There's no compare to milk from breast-
The perfect food, above the rest.

Thos nursing smiles are oh so sweet,
Mommy milk is such a treat.
Human milk just can't be beat.
I will nurse, in any case,
On the street or in your face.

I will not let my baby cry,
I'll meet her needs, I'll always try.
It's not about what's good for you,
It's best for babies, through and through.
I will nurse her in my home,
I will nurse her when I roam.
Leave me be lads, leave me be ma'am.
I will nurse her, Mom I am.

Sam's on the go, go, go!

Sam, who has only been crawling for maybe 6 weeks...is now pulling up. Oh yeah! It started a couple weeks ago with grabbing mama's shirt and pulling himself to standing. That was sorta cute to have those little eyes looking right at you...and those little arms wrapped around your neck. But now, it's serious. He crawls over to the tote of toys, pulls himself to standing and holds on with one hand while be proceeds to empty the tote with the other. The downside of this is his auto correct mechanism isn't quite there yet. In short, there are a lot of bonks on the head if someone doesn't catch him. He needs to invite his friend, Miss Van Roo over (our chiropractor's nearly 9 month old daughter) over so her mommy can adjust his poor little cranium.

Static Cling

In cute little boy form. Sam has become quite clingy in the last week. I think it's a developmental stage but my poor baby carrying muscles are tired, tired, tired. Two weeks ago I could put him down on the floor and he would crawl, play and otherwise entertain himself. Of course his brother is a source of entertainment as well. But this week? Nothing but being held by mama will do, thank you very much! So why do they have to wait until they are 20 lbs to be attached to mama?
In other news...Ben is 3 years 11 months old today. Wow! Times flies!

Tiny bubbles

Or in this case, micro beads. You are asking yourselves "what's a micro bead?" Well...here's the story.

Tuesday Ben was upstairs "resting" and was supposed to stay in his bed until otherwise instructed. He got up to potty, which is allowed certainly but returned to the big bed instead of his own. Usually this would be fine but for some reason he decided to hunt for my pink micro bead pillow. Now I usually have this put away because I fear there being micro beads everywhere so it was placed in the cradle as not to attract certain little boys. Anyhoo, Ben took the pillow, returned to his room and commenced jumping on it.

Now it was towards the end of he's allotted "rest time" so I didn't fuss about his jumping. Perfectly normal nearly 4 behavior. However if I had known what he was jumping on...that would have been a different matter all together.

Eventually Ben called downstairs to ask if rest time was over. I said yes and headed up the stairs to open the gate. He called out "Don't come up here mommy." Oooh, noes. You never want to hear that so I just opened the gate, and went back downstairs. He came along in a few minutes calling "Mom! I'm a prickly pear!" You guessed it...he was covered with tiny micro beads from head to toe...and the condition of his room? A light covering of micro beads that looked a bit like a dusting of snow. There was a hole in the pillow.

So now we have determined that we will be finding micro beads around the house, the next house and so on quite possibly for the rest of our days.

Sam Sam is on the move!

Sam is on the go these days. Right now he is crawling after his brother trying desperatly to keep up. No luck Sam Sam, you'll have to be faster little guy. He is also starting to figure out how to pull up. He likes to grab your shirt, pull himself to standing and wrap his little arms around your neck. This makes sucking on your chin easier. He is a video of him pulling up to look over the back of the couch.

Cooking with Ben

Ben making pasta marinara with his Electrolux appliances. :)

Strawberries, boys and diapers...

Sam has become Sir Poopsalot. We are going through diapers like it's going out of style. It seems like you change him and then he gets the tell tale look on his face, you sigh and head for the changing table again. His brother always had the opposite problem so this is new for us.

Benjamin managed to fall off of the bar stool last evening and land on his back looking up at me like "how'd you let that happen, mom?" He cried for 5 minutes and had to be carried around for a little longer. It must have really startled him because he usually only cries for 15 secs.

We have strawberries and every morning Benjamin likes to go out and find the red ones. After careful inspection to make sure they are all red, they are plucked off the plant and eaten. Ben does not share them...they are his to be sure. We only have a few plants so there is usually somewhere between 1-3 berries each morning. Marcy had better hope that Ben doesn't remember that she has strawberries planted about the fish pond....or he'll want those too!! :)

Avocados, Please!

Sam has been getting avocados at dinner time. Next week he'll get something different. He has been demanding to be included in the eating festivities so mom caved and let's him have a little something.

AZ adventure

We are home from AZ and delighted to be so. It was wonderful to spend time with a dear friend, but exhausting to keep up with 3 boys. Kirstie has published on Elijah's blog a travel log for those interested in the goings on. Pictures can also be viewed on my facebook.
This weekend Benjamin has been catching up with his friend Sawyer and Samuel has been catching up on his sleeping/eating. This suits me fine as cuddling with a sleeping baby is one of my favorite pastimes.

Bigger violins

A couple months or so ago Ben's violin teacher checked him and against his violin and said 1/32 was still the right size. Yesterday she was puzzled when he didn't seem to be able to get his fingers positioned right and checked the sizing again. The sizing was an inch off...it's time for a 1/16 sized violin!
Sam continues to grow and grow...he is getting big too quickly for me. I remembered today that Ben was running by 11 months and Sam is already 5 months. How does one keep time from sliping away so quickly?
"Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man"

Comments

Leave comments please...otherwise I'm not very motivated to post. I have some cute video footage of certain boys that I could post...

Sam Cam

To be fair...some Sam too!

more Grand prix

Ben loved the grand prix...he was stary eyed all night!

Awana Grand Prix!

AWANA Grand Prix last night. Facebook wouldn't let me upload videos...so here are a few. I hope these work.

Ben won Second place in the speed race.

He's growing!

Some of you may know that Benjamin has been wearing 2T clothing for quite some time. Great news!...He's finally growing out of it. That is the pant legs are getting too short and the shirts don't fit his trunk too well. He has a couple of 4T shirts from walmart and those fit well too but otherwise we will be buying 3T for him now. Hurray!

Not to be out done, Samuel pretty much skipped 3/6 months and went straight for 6/9 months. We are hoping that with his tongue tie being clipped that his weight gain will get back on track and he will continue on at the 85 percentile. We see the Ear Nose Throat doctor next Monday for a followup appointment to see how it is healing and if anything more needs to be done at this time.

In other news, Benjamin has been studying Suzuki violin since the beginning of January. He seems to really like his lessons the only challenge is getting him to "practice" his skills. Miss. Anna is a great teacher, very patient with him and his exuberence. He has a group lesson with all the students and then a private lesson, each once a week. In March there will be a recital and he will get to show off his skills. To help encourage his study his mom is renting a violin to learn along with him. I can't wait for it to arrive! I'll try to get a picture of Ben with his "Christmas ornament" as Morgan calls it. (1/32 scale violins are quite tiny.)

He turned..again!

Well Sam flipped...or rather he rolled over this afternoon. I put him down on his tummy, he pushed with his arm and instead of doing a mini-push up...found himself looking at the ceiling. He was not too pleased about this either. I put him back on his tummy only for him to roll over two more times. Morgan tried to get video but he quit the show by then and wanted to go to sleep. I guess the excitement was too much for him.
Other new tricks include smiling all the time, checking out his hands and he seems to be interested in his feet as well. It looks like "hey, what are those down there and can I get them to my mouth?" I also believe his eyesight is probably close to 20/20 these days....he tracks the movement of Benjamin pretty well.
Sorry to get behind with the blog. I'll try to do better. Thanks for the encouragement mom!

Sleeping with Grandpa Shepard












Aww. Matching PJ's

Sam is growing very fast. If I could figure out how to post video from Christmas, I would. They also have matching Christmas pj's that I just realized we didn't take pictures because we had the video camera. Grandma and Grandpa Shepard probably have more pictures too....perhaps they will share.