5 Months Old
5 Months Old
My pumkins October 19, 2009
Life’s Funnies August 13, 2009
mom and Ben at the Lake, just walkin
O the funny moments we have shared lately, I will try to convey them to you, although I know it will fall short.
We have recently been trying to teach the “inside voice” concept to the boys, for you that have felt the ear piercing screams of toddlers, you know why. I had only talked about this concept with the boys once at this point, so you can imagine our surprise when we were in the car with the grandparents and the boys were particularly loud, I said “Zek, use your inside voice.” His interpretation of this was to scream shorter instead of quieter. So his Ahhhhhhh, went to a Ah. It was really cute, and hard to put into writing, but we were so impressed at his understanding after only talking about it once. Yes, what I’m actually saying is that my children are geniuses.
Next on the funny list, is one of those video monitor moments. The boys still sleep in their L shaped crib, with the divider in the middle that they can still reach through and touch, grab, pull, etc through. This one particular nap they were playing loudly so I began watching on the monitor and I watched Ben tickling Zek through the bars and saying “tickle tickle!” It was soo cute that they know how to play like that. That’s also one of my favorite words Ben says, but one of the many that he is saying these days. He will repeat just about anything. And usually he’ll say what I tell him (unless people are watching of coarse). Today he said “sorry” at my request for knocking brother over, he says “diaper” quite clearly, he tries to say “chicken” and “popsicle” and he gets the syllables right, so they usually sound pretty close. Among his other talents, Ben also learned how to walk backwards, it’s quite impressive actually. Zek wrinkles his nose and sniffs to say he has boogies in there. They both are running and growling and howling and will usually give you “knuckles” if you stick your hand out. Ben imitates noises also, one day he made this new noise and I realized he was imitating the garbage truck outside.
Speaking of outside, it’s often a drama to get them back inside, but it sure is fun to go outside and watch their wonder with the smallest and simplest of things. Including the water hose discovery this past week. Zek was holding it in Ben’s face unintentionally and Ben was just gasping for air not knowing what was happening to him. We didn’t catch that on video but we did catch Ben doing it to Zek later, again unitentionally, and the look of shock on Zek’s face as the water hit him. It was great fun, thanks Uncle Chris Lively for that.
We made another trip to the lake recently, and that first night was just as brutal. But after that it was fine. We will be taking our first plane ride with the boys at the end of August, it’s a short trip to Denver, we’ll see if I still like to fly after that. Enjoy the pics!
me and Elmo
His only curls are in the back
dare me to turn it on?
He's usually smiling
Full Speed July 24, 2009
Ben's first horsey ride
Zek started walking full time last week, so both boys are on the move now. Full. Speed. All. The. Time. They chase eachother, they chase us, we chase them. It is a lot of fun. I am really tired. Ben can repeat most anything we say, some of our favorites are “tickle, tickle” and “bible.” Zek is really good with signs, my favorite is “love” and both boys can sign the answer to the question, “How much does momma/daddy/ Jesus, love you?” They respond with arms up in the air (This Much). It’s precious. All the sudden about two weeks ago they started understanding just about everything we say, it seemed so sudden. They are resembling more and more little boys and less and less the babies we brought home 13 months ago.
They wave, they give fives, they give knuckles and kisses, they laugh, they play. They love to go outside and cry to come inside. We took a walk in the rain the other night and they stayed wrapped in blankets in their stroller seats, it was really cute.
A little update since the last post, (which seems like years ago), is that we took camping trip #2 and it was MUCH better. We went to Ute Lake with a bunch of family and friends. It only rained at night, so we played in the water during the day, the boys loved it. It did require a bit of a learning curve though. The first night we put the boys to bed in our tent and they fell asleep great. Sounds good right? A couple hours later we climbed in the tent thinking we would gently move them to their respective spots in the tent, here’s where things went awry. They woke up and FREAKED out. They would not stop screaming. We tried everything and finally as a last resort Asher got out and made them a bed in the back of our fourrunner, we put them in and they cried a little more but then went to sleep. So, it turns out they’re a little spoiled having their own space and all, and did not want to share a tent with us. After we figured that out things went much more smoothly. They took their first boat ride, on which they fell asleep within 2 minutes of beginning. Mom and dad got to wakeb0ard and jetski. We had a lot of fun and want to do it again. Soon.
We also went to Angel Fire for the fourth of July, our family tradition. Ben got to ride his first pony ride, Zek wasn’t feeling well, so Ben had center stage. He was so calm and kept this fish face expression the whole time which we figured must be his look of concentration.
Hope you like the pics!
Firsts June 11, 2009
I know how to say "yummy"
Under my desk is fun
The boys had a lot of firsts lately. They both took their first stepslast week! They both received their first spankings! Ben got his first injury induced bloody nose, Zek his first fat lip, also with blood. They ate their first strawberries (whole.) They tried to use bowls (short lived.) They also like to feed themselves with a spoon, they are quite good actually. I dip then hand it to them, they put it in their mouth and hand it back to me for more, I don’t know how other mom’s do it, I just kinda made this up to minimize mess for now.
They are quite the characters these days. It’s so amazing how much they’re changing and how fast. They are understanding so much now. Ben is quite the mimic, he says just about anything you say, and he knows it when he does it. Zek shouts his proud few accomplished phrases like “all done!” Even though he is not always all done. They both give kisses, Zek more often and deliberately though. Ben has been deliberate in giving Zek love lately. It was the sweetest thing a mom could see, pushing around the double seater cart at Costco, while Ben put his arm around Zek and leaned into him, Zek then rubbed Ben’s head. It was so SWEET! Zek will usually give kisses on command, but Ben not as much, so this was really special. Ben did give Elmo hugs the other night though on command. They are so much fun. Hope you like the pics:
Ben taking steps
Mr. Noodle
Look at all my teeth!
More of those big, juicy red things please!
Helping Daddy prepare to lead worship
First try at keeping bowls upright, how we doing?
First Camping Trip June 10, 2009
Finally, I know you’ve been waiting to hear…some of you are reading in disbelief, others are reading in anticipation of the crazy stories I will tell… yes, we did take our two 1 year olds tent camping! We went with my brother, his wife Kelly, Sasha (2) and baby Grace. Well, to start off, a raccoon ate our fajitas, does that satisfy your desire for some crazy story? We were robbed by a raccoon in the rain. Yes rain. It rained for days it seems. I think it was the only rain we’ve gotten all year. We went to Jemez Falls and camped 2 nights in a tent with our boys.
The first night went flawless, they slept like normal, Ben in his little tent in the vestibule of our tent, and Zek at my feet (he didn’t move all night!) But it was hard in the day to either hold them, or keep them from eating dirt, which they do, or getting wet from the rain, which they did. My brothers jeep has a nice roll down window and was parked in the right spot to be a little playyard for the boys and their cousin Sasha.
We went for a hike to the San Antonio Hot Springs during the day, which are beautiful, though I did not see them this time, it began to rain and we felt too uncertain to continue with the weather (ok, we were really tired of each carrying a kid.) But it was fun anyway. The second night was not as smooth, the boys woke up more often and I had the nagging sense of guilt towards our unsuspecting neighbors who camped next to us after dark. Those tent walls hold no sound in. The hardest part was keeping the boys warm and dry and occupied. The most fun part was how they just seemed to enjoy being out there regardless. One funny memory will be how Zek was entranced with dandelions. Every time I would turn around he was grabbing them and eating them. I spoke harshly, flicked his hand, removed all visible dandelions, and without fail, he would find another and stick it in his mouth. He was relentless!! I was comforted by the knowledge they are edible…
We had fun and are going to do it again! Hopefully less rain this time, we are going next weeked to Ute lake. There will be lots more hands to help this time though, so I’m looking forward to it.
Keeping Zek outta trouble
- Three bugs in a rug
- Dandi Zek
Our first birthday May 25, 2009
Our boys turn one year old today. May 25th. What a year. It seems fast, and yet so full of so many memories. Bringing them home from the hospital, those crazy first few months, have been replaced with smiles and teeth and laughter and fun. Both boys
are “free standing” fairly easy and often now, scaling furniture with ease and crawling very quickly. They each have 5 teeth and the next one on its way…they both say mama and dada. They can sign “more” and “all done,” but would rather say words that sound like it instead. They laugh out loud, give kisses and hugs. They are so much fun and joy. Ben’s our little chatterbox and Zek is mister observative, nothing get’s by him.
We started the day with 2 blueberry muffins wearing 1 candle each, a birthday song, and the freedom to devour a muffin unrestrained, all in our birthday suits. Zek in his professor like manner, studied the muffin, and took it carefully apart piece by piece, eating it neatly with a minimal mess. Ben on the other hand immediately squished the entire muffin in both hands and double fisted bites into his mouth, and the floor and his chair and all over his tray. They are very different and equally perfect. Next we opened our birtday baskets from Grandma and Grandpa Barrett, it was fun
to see the boys discover their baskets and all it’s contents. We went out to lunch at Sagios, and then to the Isotopes game. Lot’s of fun.
Happy Birthday my beautiful boys. You are truly a joy we never new before.
Birthday Fun!
Benjamin Happy May 24, 2009
The many smiles of Benjamin:
He is so happy, as his middle name “Asher” states. He loves to laugh, anytime he hears someone laugh he chimes right in. We love you Benjamin.
My little Zek, prounounced Zeek April 1, 2009
beautiful
One of the many expressions...
As I wrote previously, nap times have become interesting with the boys newly discovered freedom in their beds. They crawl, stand, trade pacifiers, steel lovies, laugh and play. For those of you who might not know or remember, we have an “L” shaped crib that has a divider in the middle of crib bars, so obviously, the kids can interact first hand.
A couple days ago I heard Ben waking up, so I looked at the video monitor to watch his next actions. He reached through the bars and patted Zek’s face a few times (who was soundly sleeping) before taking the pacifier out of Zek’s mouth and putting it in his own. I was laughing so hard that I wasn’t even concerned about the fact that he had just woke his brother up from a nap. It was really funny. Zek let out an initial cry, but then realized it was time to play and sprung to all fours.
Today, I was listening distantly after putting the boys down for a nap, and I kept hearing a rhythmic pattern of: “thud, waaah.” My curriousity was peaked as this continued for a while, so I grabbed the all-telling video monitor and watched…Zek was asleep sitting up! He was doing the “church nod” you all know what I’m talking about, head droops down lower, lower, lower, then baam, snap up to attention, then it starts again. Well, the “thud” was his legs hitting the crib when he would snap back to attention, the waah was the slight arousal out of sleep for a split second. It was hilarious. Me being the nice mommy I am, wanted to help, and perhaps sneek a picture of this classic moment, so I crept in and just watched the action, before I could get the picture though, he snapped back so hard that he fell all the way backwards this time and hit his head on the back of the crib which fully awoke him and made him really cry. So then I comforted him instead of a picture, hopefully you got the mental picture just now…
He so knows how cute he is
Zek also has been fully crawling for about a week now, no army crawling for him, he does a very robotic like crawl in perfect position, it’s very cute. He is very happy now to be moving and able to follow Ben or go somewhere completely different. He has cut two teeth on the top also.
We had a checkup this week also, Zek weighed 15lbs 14oz, 28″; Ben weighed 16lbs 6oz, 27.5“. Even though this is an ode to Zek, I couldn’t help but put a pic of Ben, look at those eyes! He also cut one tooth on top this week, and cracked the dr (and everyone else) up with his silly little chuckle.
Putting puppy dogs to shame
Life in fast forward March 24, 2009
Read my shirt
A lot has happened in the past two weeks, both boys began pulling up on anything and everything. They quickly discovered they could move around furniture this way as well as transfer to other furniture. Their confidence grew as they realized a fall here or there on the rump wasn’t so bad. This has made nap and bed time a little more interesting. It’s been quite entertaining to watch on the video monitor the boys playing through the bars of the crib, laughing, standing, sitting, pulling hair and steeling toys and pacifiers.
Zek cut his first tooth, on top, and it looks like the 2nd is right behind. He also has crawled a few times, very reluctantly however, when we tell him good job he puts his head on the floor and cries. He has stood a few seconds unassisted, I know the days of easy containment are long gone.
Ben’s hair is officially unruley. I tried to make a combover while it was soaking wet and 2 seconds later it poped back up into curls. He is such a character with his funny faces and laughs. On several occasions he has pulled himself up on nothing but the wall. He sure loves to explore.
We’re having a lot of fun with the boys, we are a little more tired trying to keep up with them though. We have taken them on bike rides in a bike trailor, they sleep most of the time. We bought a tent and are ready to take them camping this summer…O what fun we are going to have! We are so blessed. O by the way, the boys are TEN months old tomorrow!! Happy 10 months my beautiful boys.
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- Bro’s at sunset
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- Grandpa hats
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- Boys standing around
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- Zek’s froggy robe
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- Zek’s first tooth
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- Ben’s ducky robe
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- Read my shirt
9 Months Old!! March 9, 2009
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- How did I get in this spot?
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- Ben’s first teeth
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- Silly boys
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- Where’s my food?!
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- More cheerios mom!
Silly boys
The boys are 9 months old! Their birthday is just around the corner haunting me as their baby looks and ways are disappearing and what’s in it’s place are new noises and mimicking and screams and motion, and emotion. I love it all, well maybe not the really loud screaming. Ben began pulling up on furniture recently, no accidents to report yet. Zek still has no teeth, but it looks like he might start crawling backwards if he must crawl at all. If it were up to him he’d skip to running! We are all doing great and truly enjoying each other.
On a side note, Grace is HOME!! She’s doing great, she still could use your prayers for her acid reflux and digestive issues, we are all very grateful for your prayers. She’s a beautiful little baby that we all can enjoy now as part of our family.
