"Feeding" Olivia

My friend Lesli stopped by with her kids a few weeks ago, and Ben and Adelaide kept busy "feeding" baby. Let's hope she was hungry, because they whipped her up quite a few delights!




 

Here is Ben helping Daddy feed Liv her bottle. He was so proud!

Auntie Jenny

Ever since Liv arrived, I totally suck at remembering to take pictures. It is so true how they say that with each child you have fewer and fewer photos. Poor Liv.

Somehow these are the only two pictures I snapped while Jenn was visiting.

But while I don't have the pictures to prove it, Jenny was a BIG hit. Ben especially LOVES his aunt Jenny and was very sad to see her go. I'm pretty sure Liv was smitten as well. We miss you Jenn!

BWW

It has become our tradition to have dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings every Saturday night. It is Ben's favorite and Mike and I like it too. Plus it is loud, so the noise of a 3 yr old and newborn blend right in.

Here Ben and I are. Can you tell he was not in the mood to take a picture.

The Final Four were on, so Mike spent most of the night like this...

Like father like son, Ben also spent a good deal of time gazing at the TV.

And Olivia spent all her time like this. It was insanely loud in there that night, but like a trooper she slept through the entire thing. (And check out that hair. Oh, Liv. Let's hope it grows in nicely.)

If Ben Were an Interior Decorator

This weekend we were running errands and Mike wanted to go to Dick's Sporting Goods. It is in the same parking lot as World Market and Home Goods, so I asked Mike to drop me off there. Ben chose to go with me, so Mike took Liv and we headed in. Have you ever taken a 3 year old boy to a home store? He found the most interesting decor...

First up was this stylish adirondack chair. I liked the color and style, he liked that it was hard to climb into and he could do his legs like a snow angel in it.

His next find was this airplane. Admittedly, it is pretty cool. It was on clearance for $349 (originally $1000) but that is still too rich for my blood. But Ben sure liked admiring it.

His next discovery was this horse. Interesting... He asked me if he could ride on it. Um, no. Time to move on before I'm the proud owner of this thing.

Keeping with the horse theme, this horse picture was the next thing to catch his eye.

And his last find of the day, a doggie figurine. He sat and played with this for a good 5 minutes. If only he'd found this is an aisle with something interesting for me to look at too. Sigh.

If you are looking to actually shop, I'd recommend you leave the 3 yr old home. But if you want a good laugh, definitely take them along.

Week Nights

Mike's job requires that he be on a revolving shift: early, middle, and late. It switches each month. For the month of April he is on late shift, which means he leaves the house at 6:30 and doesn't get home until 6:30. That leaves me, Ben and Liv 2 hours to hang out and kill time before Dad gets home. Usually I'm trying to feed/soothe/change Liv and Ben plays with his toys.

I am so grateful that we have a couch in that playroom! I can sit and give Liv her bottle and get her to sleep and keep an eye on Ben and interact with him, so I feel like I'm giving both kids my attention.

This particular night Ben decided to play "Let's Go Fishin'," a Christmas gift from Grammy and Grampy.

He even brought it to the couch so that I could play while feeding Olivia. Multi-tasking at its finest!

She slept through the entire game.

Portillo's

Before Grammy and Grampy headed back to Texas, we had to make a final run to Portillo's for beefs. Ben is luke warm on the beefs, but he sure loves the kid's "pasghetti" meal, which is a great deal: a small spaghetti with meat sauce, a big meatball, a piece of french bread and milk for under $5.

It's good stuff. And entertainment too!

Home Depot Shopping Carts

The weekend before Olivia arrived, we all took a trip to Home Depot to pick up some paint for Mom to finish Olivia's dresser. Ben was VERY excited to see these cool shopping carts that look like cars. Grampy pushed him around the store and kept him entertained while me and Mom shopped the paint aisle.

Ben's favorite part was when whoever was pushing the cart pretended to knock into one of us and we would pretend to fall. I think we were all victims at some point.

But, the shopping carts are genius.

Tummy Time

On Olivia's one month birthday I tried to get a video of her rolling over, since she'd done so earlier in the day. It didn't happen, but here is the video anyway. True to form, Dee had to come running the minute she realized Olivia was on the floor.



Once Dee settled down, I tried again. Still no luck, but Olivia does start licking the mat, which I thought was funny. I guess she was getting hungry.

Easter Comes to an End

My last Easter-related post. After nap on Sunday, we headed to Nana and Papa's house because the Easter bunny brought baskets for the kids to their house too. Ben and Liv are very spoiled/lucky kids.

Nana picked out this Easter bunny cake for Ben.

Ben's expression in this picture cracks me up. He looks totally over the picture posing thing.

This one looks a little better. Except for Ben's hand placement. And my random side-swept eighties hair. Not sure what is going on there.

Ben was super excited to open more Easter baskets. The Easter bunny brought him even more good stuff. A Thomas bubble toy, a dinosaur, another Pez bunny, a Mickey bath toy, and a turtle stuffed animal. And some "cash money" for his new piggy bank!

Of course Ben took it upon himself to open Liv's basket too. She got diapers (smart bunny), a bath toy, stuffed animals, an outfit, and some "cash money" for her piggy bank too.

Then it was time for dessert. True to form, Ben ate the frosting off his cupcake but was more interested in jelly beans. He and Denise made a train out of jelly beans which was a highlight for Ben. He loves him some Denise. He follows her around whenever he sees her. Thanks Denise for always being so patient with him and willing to play!

We got home too late to try out the Thomas bubble toy, but I promised after school Monday we'd play with it. The weather was a little chilly (high 30s) so we bundled up and went out. Luckily Liv was taking a good nap (after being up ALL day. No joke.) so I left her sleeping in her car seat in the kitchen and just peeked in on her every 5 minutes. She slept the whole time, bless her, while Ben and I played with the new toy and ran around in the fresh air.

Olivia's One Month Photo Shoot

It is hard to believe Olivia is one month old today. The time has certainly flown by.

To commemorate her 1 month birthday, I thought I'd take a few pictures in this skirt that was a gift from a friend.

Anne Geddes, I'm not.

Taking pictures of a newborn is hard. I see the wisdom in paying a professional. Lesli, that means you! We need to schedule something when the weather gets better.

Here are my attempts.

And while she was laying in the crib, she rolled over!!! I didn't get a video but I did snap a few pics of the action. Ironically, Ben also rolled over at one month. Liv may have actually rolled over a week ago, but Mike couldn't be sure if her arm was tucked under her a little or not. I am quite sure her arm was not tucked this time.

Then it was time for big brother Ben to be in the pictures.

Then I thought I'd put something cute in her hair. Clips don't work in her "Danny Devito" 'do, as mom calls it. But the headband was adorable! Unfortunately, she was getting fussy at this point. The paci sort of ruins the look, but what can you do... Like I said, newborn photography is not easy.

Happy birthday, Livvie Lu!!!

Easter Morning

Ben was up bright and early at 6:30 on Easter morning. Dad was already up with Liv, so Mom dragged herself out of bed and we all went to see what the Easter bunny brought the kids this year.

Ben is a huge fan of the Easter bunny and randomly yelled out "Thank you, Easter bunny" throughout the day. Adorable. Ben's not a fan of chocolate but he seems to like other stuff, so the Easter bunny brought him a Pez bunny. Big hit! I told him to hold it up to show mom. He took that statement very literally.

Then he proceeded to eat an entire package of Pez out of the dispenser and ask for more. Breakfast of champions!

I failed to get a picture of his basket, but in addition to the Pez dispenser, the Easter bunny brought Ben some Cat in the Hat books. (He is really into the Cat in the Hat since it was Dr. Suess's birthday in March and his daycare focused on that as the theme. He likes to put on his winter hat and walk around and tell me he is the Cat in the Hat.) Anyway, the books were a big hit. He also got a Thomas paint book, some new t-shirts for summer (Batman, Thomas, Superman and Lightning McQueen), a shark piggy bank, and a fox with baby stuffed animal, and some Jake the Neverland Pirate figures. Everything seemed to be a hit. I'd say the Pez, stuffed animal, and shark piggy bank were the biggest winners though.

He also helped Liv out by pulling all her stuff out her basket for her. She also got a stuffed animal, a birdie blankie, a minnie mouse rattle, some bath towels, and an owl piggy bank.

It is funny to me how much Ben loves stuffed animals. The Easter bunny was originally just going to get Olivia the lamb with baby stuffed animal but then remembered that Ben loves stuffed animals and got him one too. Good thing -- he loves this thing. He hugs it, carries it around, takes it to school and named them Foxy and Baby. Not the most original names, I'll admit.

The Easter ears last about 30 seconds. Maybe Liv will be more into them next year.

Here is Ben trying out his Thomas paint book. He basically just likes dipping the brush in water and smearing random colors on all the pages. But hey, whatever floats his boat.