He Made It To Three

When he's naughty, which is more often than not, I threaten to drop him off at the pit bull rescue. This wuss, who's afraid of the dark, wouldn't last 2 minutes in a cage with a rescued pit. The threat usually works.

Bode was NOT an inexpensive purchase. Quite the contrary. Sometimes I think that price defines quality, it does not. He has had more issues with skin allergies that have cost us well into the thousands of dollars mark. He is pretty much allergic to EVERYTHING. If he eats a Cheerio, for instance, he develops hives and will scratch and lick himself until it becomes infected. You tell me how I can monitor all lost Cheerios in this house!? Impossible. After trialing around ten different types of dog food, chicken, lamb, beef, fish...we have finally found one that won't inadvertently cost us a $500 vet bill. It was the most expensive food we tried, of course. I love this dog of championship lineage, a pampered prince.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Bode!

And since he can't eat store bought treats, I've found that he tolerates carrots, bananas and peanut butter. So, instead of cake...peanut butter carrots! Us people folk celebrated with carrot cake so as to not offend him. He would have preferred the cake.

Bed Head.

Making blueberry pancakes with Nanny

Where Bo Bo likes to spend most of his time...next to Poppop.

A Few Firsts

My bestest friend from high school and college had her first baby, Charlie, just 4 days after Benham was born. The boys were due a week apart from each other and ironically, both were born around 3 weeks early. They have no other option than to be pen pals. Charlie lives in Chicago and was on his first trip to Hilton Head Island. We spent an afternoon kissing, rocking and forcing the boys to pose for pictures.

Long awaited introduction

Benham Austin and Charles Gordon

Tickle toes...Charlie didn't even flinch, he's got his mothers 'straight face'. Mimi is really gentle with babies but at one point, she just about fell on top of poor Chuck. Since Benham's birth, I have grown a set of eyes on the back of my head and fine tuned my peripheral vision. With Benham in my right arm, the left arm intercepted Mimi from making ground Chuck.

It was fun to see both boys in the same developmental stages...starting to laugh out loud and grab at their toys. These are the things that excite new moms. Watching someone do something for the very first time in their lives is monumental, no matter how minuscule.

Princess Maryn and her Fairy Godmother...Auntie Kristen:)

I lasted a month and a half after Ben's birth before I signed her up for a Mother's Morning Out program. She constantly has to be challenged and I needed one morning out of seven to just sit and stare into my newborns eyes. The sitting and staring never happened. I've been cramming a weeks worth of errands into one 3 hour time frame. Ben is usually strapped to my chest in the Bjorn and we run here and there and by the time I pick Maryn up from school, I'm whipped.

My swollen puffy morning eyes gave away the fact that I had a 6 week old.

We love Miss Martha and her sweet southern manner

I had no intentions of starting preschool at 2 years but her time at school seems to be such a positive experience. She's a smart little cookie and exposing her little sponge of a brain to experiences outside of our home will hopefully benefit her. She is potty trained during the day, can sing the alphabet and count to twenty with only minor slip ups. I'm hoping that by November, she'll know Mandarin and Arabic as well as all 50 states and their capitals. What?

Maryn was born with a full head of black hair and by 5 months, it had fallen out and her blond fuzz was sprouting. During those 5 months of transition, she rocked a mullet and male pattern balding. I REFUSED to trim her hair! I wanted her first hair cut to actually be her first. Finally, after 24 months and about 4 months of Mac begging to cut her hair...I gave in. My baaaabbbbyyyy!!!!

We heard about this pink airplane and the princess movie that she watched during the cut for about a month afterwards.

I think it's actually time for another trim.

Showing off the little baggie of blonde hair that is now taped into her baby book. I may or may not have a baggie of Bayley's baby teeth hidden in a drawer some where.

A Good Dog

I worked last night and a couple fellow dog loving coworkers and I were discussing our love for these animals. One coworker has a 15 year old golden retriever who appears to be finishing her race and the thought got me all reminiscent about my Bayley. We got into a discussion about how these innocent dogs truly become your children and fill a space in your heart that you never realized was empty. Just as I turned to look at the clock, 1:30 am...it dawned on me...it was now July 20th...the 3rd anniversary of Bayley's death. That dogs spirit has never ceased to leave my side. He was there with me last night, rushing all of our memories back to the surface. He won't let me forget. And I promised him I never would.

He was one in a million.

The day we met...and fell in love.

His paws looked like chocolate chip cookies!

You taught me my greatest lesson...how to be a mommy. Sacrifice, dedication, determination, and raw love. You would have loved these kids!

We miss you Big Guy!

Benham is 3 months old!

Funny Boy, as Maryn likes to call him, has turned 3 months...a quarter of a year old. His personality is really starting to surface. A man of few words who coos and babbles and graciously amuses us with his giggles. We have a suspicion that he might be a momma's boy. Don't hate it. He's beginning to morph like my children do. His hair is falling out and has the same reddish hue that M's hair had around this age. He loves a good swing after dinner. I top off his tank with a dream feed around 10 pm and the pudge sleeps until about 6 or 7 am. He's past the colicky, cry for no reason stage, and I can actually take him grocery shopping now. I push that obnoxiously large shopping cart with the toddler bench in the back and a steering wheel. Once I'm headed down an aisle, there's no turning back for bananas, it's too wide for a U-turn.

And there's no turning back now, this kid is here to stay. I weighed him the other day...15 lbs!

In order to achieve cute little poses like this...

...and this...

...I often have to drudge through a lot of this.

He laughs out loud with high pitched giggles, nasal snorts and pigeon laughter with his lips sealed. He even laughs when what he really wants to do is cry.

His sister intrigues him and his eyes follow her around the room. Please take note of Mimi's big girl panties!! For the most part she is daytime potty trained and very proud of it. She loves a good poop in bed though.

I would totally sleep with these two in my bed if I didn't totally disagree with The Family Bed.