swim lesson, pet store, and ear doctor

Yesterday was a busy day! It started out early with Ben, Nana, and I watching Connor and Maggie have their very first swim lesson.
In the past we have done swim lessons at our town pool during the summer but we decided to try something new. (Actually, Katelyn is the only one who has had swim lessons. It was too cold and too early for Connor and Maggie was too young even though she was very ready.)
I really wasn't sure how it would go. They are in the same class so I was concerned that if one (Connor) had a difficult time then the other (Maggie) would play off him and also have a difficult time. I did not need to be worried one bit!
They did WONDERFUL! They went right into the water, listened, and paid attention. They both cooperated fully and tried everything they were supposed to. I am so proud, super proud, of them both. The only downfall is that we have to wait a whole week for another lesson as they wanted to go back today!



After the lesson we went to the sports store to buy some new goggles for the "swim lesson champs"...

Then we got to walk next door to one of their most favorite places ever, the pet store...


Where Ben just loved looking at all the fish. It is great because there is just fish tank after fish tank right on his level. He talked to them, pointed at them, and just giggled like crazy at them!


The highlight of the trip for Connor and Maggie was the ferret.

Connor kept asking if we could keep him because- "Look Mommy, he loves me. I am his favorite person!" Sorry buddy, no ferrets for us.

After the pet store I dropped Connor off at school, Maggie off at Auntie's, and took Ben to the ear specialist.

It has been decided that he will get tubes put in. His left ear doesn't look infected anymore but is full of fluid. We haven't set up the surgery date yet but it will be very soon. Chris and I feel very strongly that this is the right decision, but it is surgery and nerve-wracking! While Ben is sleeping the doctor is also going to take a good look at his adenoids and decide whether those should come out.

One major player in this whole thing though, is that Ben can not be wheezing when it is time for surgery. If he is then we will have to put off the surgery. We go on Monday to the pulmonoligist so hopefully we will have a game plan for that too. On a positive note-he didn't need any breathing treatments yesterday!

Christmas.... Finally!

Christmas was a wonderful day!



Christmas morning was very exciting when we discovered that Santa came while we were all snug in our beds...

He brought the kids just what they asked for. A car for Ben, a baby doll for Maggie, a bug vacuum for Connor, and some stuff for JJ for Katelyn!

Merry 1st Christmas Ben!!! I love you and am so glad you were here this Christmas!!!

And check out what my monkeys and wonderful husband gave me for Christmas!!! They decked out the bathroom in monkey! I love it and absolutely love the thought that went into it!!! Perfect...

Then we hung out with Nana, Pa, and Uncle Drew! Literally...

After that we got dressed in pretty dresses and handsome outfits and went to Chris' cousin Colleen's house to see more family. I don't know how Colleen and Todd do it every year. We are so thankful to them for all the hard work that they do!

We had to leave Colleen and Todd's house early because Ben ended up feeling pretty crummy with a fever. Then in the middle of the night Maggie started with some type of stomach bug. Not the best way to end the day!

It still was a blessed day, for the most part at least!

Tid-bits on Ben 2!

Last Wednesday Ben's hair looked like this...

Then Daddy took him to see Dick the barber for his first haircut on Thursday, New Year's Eve...
He looks so grown up with his haircut.
I have no pictures of the actual haircut though. It was a last minute decision that Chris made when he was out with Ben so I wasn't there :o( He did bring home some hair though! :o)



And, since you know how obsessed I am with stripes, I had to take many pictures of him looking so cute in this adorable outfit that he got from Nana....

Look at all those teeth, he's got 6 now!

And.... Look at how stinkin cute, and big, he looks sitting on this stool. He just thinks he is the coolest kid ever when he sits on this and I love it!

Tid-bits on Ben

Do you need an update on Ben? Well, of course you do, silly question...

First off, I am seriously obsessed with putting stripes on this baby! I can't help it, it's just so stinkin cute!

Moving on....

Two nights ago he took his first steps! It was about three very fumbled steps but he did it! The funny thing is that he just gets so excited that it's hard for him to walk. I didn't catch the first steps on camera but I did catch the 7th, 8th, and 9th step!

Ben loves putting anything into anything. Balls into a bucket. Food into a bowl. Spoons into a cup. Pickles into an ice cream cone.

I had to grab the camera for this one. Not too sure why but I thought his little chubby hands just looked so adorable trying to do this over and over. I also thought that he will someday make a great husband to his pregnant wife. You know, when she wants pickles and ice cream...

Ben's been having a bit of a rough time lately with his ears and wheezing. He's on antibiotics and I could see some improvement today with the ears but he needed two albuterol treatments for the wheezing. We go to see the ENT on Thursday and will most likely schedule a date for tubes to be put in. Next week we go to see the pulmonologist who will hopefully have an answer for us. The albuterol works but I don't like how often we have been giving it to him over the past 7 weeks.

He is still as adorable as ever! Still won't eat much food. Well, that is, other then fake pickles. He says Mama, Dada, Nana, nigh-night, Hello, and hi, in the most adorable little voice! He is still very much a Mommy's boy, and I secretly love it! (Guess it's not a big secret now though.)

He is almost 11 months old, already!

My night

My night went like this...

I finally fell asleep at 10:30. Even though I have been getting terrible sleep lately I can't seem to fall asleep when bed time comes...
Ben woke up at 12:00.
Katelyn woke up at 1.
Maggie woke up at 1:24.
Ben continued to cry out in his sleep every few minutes.
Ben settled down at about 1:45.
Ben woke up at 3.
He was up from 3-4. I gave him motrin, he screamed and spit it out...
I crawled back in bed at 4 with my mind racing, then finally fell back to sleep after 5.
At 7:17 I jumped out of bed because Katelyn needs to get on the bus. She was/is still sleeping and I didn't have the heart to wake her because she also had a bad night. Hopefully she is feeling ok and will just go to school late.

On the agenda for today.... Breakfast, dropping kids off at school one at a time, errands, picking up Maggie, Meeting Katelyn and Connor at the bus stop, bringing Katelyn to the dentist, picking up Tylenol suppositories for Ben, making dinner, and finally crawling back in bed and hoping for a better night!!!
However, I will still be thanking God for my wonderful life and the inventor of crockpots!!!

Tired Mom...

(Beware, this is not a happy post so you may want to click the red X up in the right hand corner...)

I'm tired...

Nights have been terrible...

Maggie's been having some bad nights...

Ben's been having mostly bad nights...

Crying...

Wheezing...

Retracting...

Albuterol breathing treatments...

Still some wheezing...

No more retracting...

Albuterol induced shakes...

Restlessness...

No more then 2 1/2 hour stretches of sleep for many days...

Medicine...

Spitting out medicine...

Screaming...

Boogie sucking...

Saline nebulizer treatments...

Ear infection...

Antibiotics...

Cranky baby...

Tired Mom...

I know, it could be worse.

But, I'm tired...

Fun day with friends...

The other day my best friend, Neala, and I took our kids to a museum for some playing and an animal show. The kids all had a great time. Neala and I didn't get to visit too much since the place was just packed but it was still fun.

Katie decided to take Ben and Katelyn for a ride...

Ben took some time to peak out from the pirate ship at everything going on around him.

Drew spent most of the time driving the fire truck.

Maggie went back and forth playing on her own and making sure Ben was well taken care of.

Katie and Ben, in their almost matching outfits, practiced some sharing...

And did some chatting...


Connor spent most of the time watching the different animal shows, which, of course, he loved!

Then we met at Target for lunch and to check out the clearance shelves.

It was a fun day with friends for sure!!!

Please note- Taking pictures of my other monkeys while keeping a constant eye on Ben is quite challenging, therefore there are not as many as I would have liked. Oh, that and my battery was just about dead...