Great Question

The vast majority of the time, I think motherhood and my decision to stay home and experience it at its fullest, is a true gift...an experience that I would trade for no other. Then there are the days where I actually fear that one of us may not make it out alive (and the demise of that individual may be by my own hand).


Today was one of those days.

Simply put, Owen was having a rough time (which means, I was having an even rougher time). In his own words, he was "doing bad wistening." Bad listening doesn't even begin to cover it. I must have taken 250 deep breaths today. I KNOW that I had to stop myself mid-yell at several points with a silent reminder that I was the adult here and to take it down a notch. He was like Dennis the Menace meets the Tasmaniam Devil. We are talking Out. Of. Control.

At one point, in the midst of one of his serious spazz-outs, I took deep breath #168 and simply said, "Owen. WHAT are you doing??"

He continued his full-speed run into the sofa and then stopped and said, with complete sincerity,
"Dat's a reewee gweat question, Mommy. I do NOT know."

We both laughed so hard for the minutes that followed that I almost forgot we were in the middle of one of those days.

Crazy kid.

He's as big as...

We recently had Bennett's 2-month check up and it was once again confirmed that he's just a big boy. When weighing him this time around, our nurse chuckled and said, "He's as big as the 6.5 month old in exam room 1." Well, there you have it. Our littlest guy may not be the littlest for long. In fact, when Owen "holds" Ben, it is often hard to detect the 2 years, 7 months that separate them.

















For those keeping track and wanting the details, here they are. At 2 months...

Weight: 15 pounds, 1 ounce
Height: 23 inches

And for anyone who wants to know if I'm worried about his size as he gets older, Dot-Dot's extensive record keeping comes to the rescue again. My now average-sized husband had Bennett beat at 2 months...he was a whopping 16 pounds, 3 ounces at that age. If you've met Rob, you know he is not now, nor was he ever, a BIG guy. So, NO, I'm not worried at this point. For now, Ben's size just makes him ever so chewable (and makes Mommy's arms so tired).

We all particularly love his ample cheeks and hear comments about them on a pretty regular basis. The other day, after hearing a friend comment on Ben's lovely, puffy cheeks, Owen replied, "Bennett's a cheeky one!" No doubt, that comment was made possible thanks to the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song.

There's just so much of Bennett to love. See for yourself and love on our big boy along with us. I've even thrown in this video so you can share in our adoration of the chunky monkey.

What 9 months can do

While 9 months seems like a relatively short period in the grand scheme of things, we know that BIG changes can take place in that amount of time (big baby pun intended...sorry, Ben). For instance, in the last 9 months Owen has experienced both a first and a last day of school. There have certainly been lots of changes all around, some evident here...











Owen will be attending a different preschool this fall, but we are grateful for the time spent with friends and teachers this year. Here are some highlights from the year, included in his adorable student portfolio sent home on the last day...

Promises, Promises

I can't count how many times I've recently responded to someone's request for more photos/updates/etc with something like, "I'm trying to get caught up, I PROMISE." I've made so many empty promises, it's just plain sad. And what is even more sad is that I really mean it when I say it. I DO want to get caught up. I DO want to get back to regular blog posts. I DO want to actually fill in baby books and photo albums and record all these wonderful, silly, frustrating and exhausting things that make up my days. I know that there may come a time (like next week) that I'll wish I had written down that incredibly hilarious and unexpected conversation I had with Owen. I'll wish that I had more video of all the adorable cooing that Bennett is doing right now. And even when I do capture those precious moments, I rarely find the time to preserve it or share it here. I WANT to, I do. I just can't seem to make it happen on a regular basis. I'm sure that if I tried really hard, I could carve out some time to sit down and write a few words each week. But the truth is, I'd rather go live it than record it. And so we continue to play too hard, stay out too much and run furiously until the sun goes down. And while we're doing that, I'll continue to be harried and scattered and apologetic for the lack of response and communication. But, you can be sure of one thing. I am taking advantage of every moment I can find to love on my boys. I PROMISE.