Ben can't quite say Christmas and it comes out more like Kiss-mas. It's cute!
We took the boys to look at lights tonight. We told Ben we couldn't leave until it was dark outside and he swore it was dark well before the sun went down and when it actually was dark, he was jumping for joy!
Early Dinner...Check!
Bath and Christmasy PJ's...Check!
Cowboy boot slippers...Check!
We were home at 7:15pm and this is what we had in the back of the van...two tired boys! Ben loved the lights though.
I'm not one for nicknames, but Nate-a-Roo has stuck and I still think it is so cute. It is even cuter when Ben calls him that!
On Friday Nate turned a year old! Along with all mothers through all time, I found myself wondering where the time had gone! On Friday we let him open a few presents from us and that family had sent or sent money for. Then, we had a party with friends and fellow missionaries on Saturday afternoon.
A few things about him:
If you ask "Where is Nate?", he will stop everything and cover his eyes and laugh! He especially loves to play when getting a diaper change which is very helpful in keeping those hands out of the diaper!
His brother still hung the moon - no change there!
He says mama on command.
He blows kisses and makes the muhhwahh sound with it, but only for family - he doesn't like to show off!
He crawls really fast and often with his head down - maybe that's why he is so fast :)
He hasn't let go yet to take a step, but he cruises the furniture quickly.
He loves to put things into each other which is fun when we are cleaning up because he "helps."
He loves to throw a ball (or anything else) and then crawl after it and repeat.
He does not like for Ben to take his things and will audibly proclaim that to the whole world!
He eats like a horse - often at least twice as much as Ben and with little preferences, if any.
He has a great pincer grasp, but still often gets his whole fist in his mouth when eating.
He uses a sippy cup like a pro and we are just starting to introduce some cows milk.
He is down to only nursing morning and night and those will likely end soon as well.
He sleeps 7:30pm-6:00am and naps 9:30am-11am and 1-2:30pm roughly.
He weighs 22 pounds and stood like a big boy on the scale!
He is 31.25 inches tall!
His head circumference is 19 inches.
Birthday hat at breakfast.
Opening presents on Friday.
New stuff for the play kitchen.
Puzzles
Apparently, Ben was saying or doing something odd bc I am giving him a look.
New bath toy that we let him open just after his bath. Ugh.
Opening Presents
The end of this video is a perfect example of Nate showing his dislike of Ben taking his things.
The Party!
Ben and his friend Jackson seem to do the weirdest things when they are together. This was one of them. I made Ben get off, but not before photographing it.
Blow it out!
Help was always nearby.
Happy.
Sad.
It was 5pm and I think he was mad because he was in his chair, but didn't get dinner!
The gifts.
Hey, I'm 1
Not feeling the family photo.
I want to know what he was thinking in this pic.
Was it really just a year ago that Nate was that small? Wow! (Holding Tytus, the newest Wichita missionary baby born 10/28).
Luke 2:19 says "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Luke tells us this right after the angels announce the birth of our Savior to some lowly shepherds and they hurry to visit the new baby and spread the word of his birth!
With Nate's first birthday passing just a few days ago, my mind has been continually traveling back to the first moments that I spent with my new son. I can picture those first few moments with both of my sons so clearly. Those are the moments that I treasure in my heart. Today, the house was far too quiet and I knew both boys were in the playroom. I went to look and found them both in the library of the playroom with Ben reading books to Nate. I took a moment to treasure that in my heart.
If moments like that can touch me so deeply and personally, what must Mary have been thinking? Many people came to visit both Ben and Nate in the birth care center when they were born and while some brought gifts, they were not coming to worship a King! Mary, overwhelmed with joy, I assume, with the birth of her first child, was also fully aware that the news Gabrielle brought to her nine or so months earlier had come true, that she would give birth to the Messiah. How did she take it all in? How could her heart and mind possibly treasure up all these first moments with her Savior? How many times did she replay it all in her mind?
The task of parenting my two treasured boys allows moments that I treasure and moments that I wish I could forget. The narrow path of following God's call in my life to love the people of the inner city allows me moments that I hope to never forget and moments that I feel totally incapable. Glory to God that he chose Mary so long ago to be the mother of my Savior and that she responded "let it be to me according to your word" when she received this news (Luke 1:38)!
For Thanksgiving we had my family in town. My mom, sister Trisha and sister Candice and her husband Josh and daughter Abby were all here! We had lots of playing, lots of sharing, lots of giggles and lots and lots of cooking and eating. Both of our kids were in the thick of nasty colds and only two days home from our Texas trip. There were stressful moments, but we loved having everyone here!
Abby helped me make an apple pie on Wednesday. With that many people in the house it only lasted the one night. Bummer.
Abby and Ben were fast friends. They had only met briefly at the wedding in June.
Nate didn't feel well but he always has a smile ready, especially when Uncle Josh threw him up high.
Uncle Josh and Nate were fast friends too. Ah...
Our Thanksgiving meal. The kids were over it before we sat down. But it was delicious and I was thankful to be sitting for the first time that day :)
This is a LONG post. I am desperately trying to catch up and clean off my sd card. Pace yourself.
Last night we decorated our tree (with most ornaments hung right at three foot thanks to Ben) and then went to another missionary couple's house for Christmas carol singing with the staff. It was lovely!
Today, I found this in Ben's room! He had some wonderful room time while I got dressed and ready and Nate napped. ha. He then chose to stay in his room for an hour and a half instead of just cleaning it up. He even gave up helping Ryan with a project - which is one of his favorite things in the world. I finally sat on his bed and told him which category of thing to pick up and after 40 minutes he had it clean. How will I ever get him to clean up on his own?
Whew, dad still had a project later in the day for Bob the Builder to help with.
Tonight, during family play time, we all decided to make silly faces for the camera. Enjoy!
Ben still wants to be outside so I bought him a ski bib and snow boots to keep him warm! It is only getting into the 30s these days.
Ben prefers to have his hood on and coat zipped all the way. He asks us to do it "like Frosty" every time we put it on. We were at a staff function and people kept asking why we hadn't taken his coat off yet. He was being Frosty, duh! Oh, the mind of a 2 year old.
Rain or shine, there was work to be done!
Potty training is still going great. We haven't started to tackle night time dryness, but he does great all day. Every mom needs at least one of these shots, right :) See what I mean about hoods?
He came out of a nap dressed like this one day last week. He had jeans on when I put him down and woke up with pj pants and underwear at the knee over the jeans. Lovely. He didn't want his picture taken, but I had to.
A little cold weather painting.
This one is from September, but I LOVE it.
Also from September, Grandpa and Nana came to visit and we managed this cute pic.
In October we went to the zoo when some friends were in town and I got this amazing pic of Ben and the lion. Cool!
This is how Nate spent 90% of our zoo adventure. He didn't seem to mind and was happy when he did finally wake up.
Nate smacks his lips when we say the word "hungry." He would only do it once for the video so watch closely.
He eats like it is a contest. He easily eats twice as much as Ben at meals right now.
Ben builds houses and boats with the couch cushions almost daily. This time Nate thought it was SO funny.
Nate has started playing Peek A Boo! It is too cute.
This evening we had some band time. None of us are musically gifted!
Ben giving a silly attempt at the ABC's again.
If you made it this far, you must be a grandparent or really love us a lot!
Nate gets his monthly post, but then I get behind in telling you what Ben is up to. These boys never pause. They never stop. Ben says something funny all the time. Nate learns something new every day.
Here are some funny Ben moments. Some of them are pretty old. I think I posted some of them to facebook so many of you might have already heard them.
Ben: "When will she put stuff in those feets?" Amber: "Huh?" Ben: "Is Santa a guy or a girl?" Amber: "Guy." Ben: "When will HE put stuff in those feets?" Amber: "You mean the stockings?" Ben: "Yeah!"
I told Ben I was going outside to get our Christmas tree from the storage shed. I returned with a big red Rubbermaid tub. He looked very confused and asked, "That's our tree?" After having a real tree all my childhood, I felt a little sad that I was giving him a tree that fits in a tub.
A while back Ryan taught Ben to say "You're the bomb, mom!" At dinner one night Ryan did something bomb-worthy and Ben said, "You're the Mommy!"
When tucking Ben into bed he told Ryan, "When you leave I will pick my nose and it will be funny!" He often tells us this when we buckle him into the carseat too. We are trying not to fight it right now bc the more we talk about it, the more he does it. I don't know that it is effective.
Ben tries to get Nate to play Hide & Seek with him. Nate finally made it back to Ben's room and Ben gladly said to him, "Come join me, Nate." Ben will tell Nate to hide and then run off, but Nate is always right behind him. Ben gets frustrated because Nate wont wait for him to hide.
During our recent trip to Texas we met with tons of people. Once getting home, Ben started shaking Nate's hand and saying, "Welcome to meet you!"
After reading "When I Get Bigger" by Mercer Mayer before bed one night I asked Ben, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Without hesitating he said, "Daddy!"
Ben is totally fixated on being a "grown up." He wants to know who is and is not a grown up and where on the sliding scale they eat fall. We talk about it constantly!
His vocabulary stuns us regularly. He uses words like probably and almost in regular dialogue (I will probably like to go outside after watching Diego.)
He totally gets prepositions. He tells us what he will do and when. I will take a nap and after I will up I will have a snack and then we will go run errands. Or something like that!
After every nap and some mornings when waking up he comes out of his room, shuts his door and says loudly, "Somebody's coooooming!" It is the cutest.
He thinks monsters are fun and friendly. We all get to be the monster sometimes and it is usually a very silly moment.
He has finally started sleeping under the sheets and covers on his bed and magically is sleeping until 7am or later. WOOHOO!
