Benham is 5 months old!

This lapse in blogging is totally not acceptable but if running from hurricanes, ER visits and hospital stays aren't a big enough excuse, I apologize. August was rough. Too much travelling. Too many colds. We were evacuated from our yearly trip to Point O' Woods since Irene had her eye on Long Island. My flight with the children was cancelled and we were forced to drive 16 hours through the hurricane dodging flying debris and fallen trees on the highway. Don't mess with Mother Nature. Lesson learned. And to finish off our summer with a bang, Benham was rushed to the ER Labor Day weekend for acute abdominal pain. It was 8am and he was enjoying his exersaucer when he suddenly started screaming a scream that every mother knows IS NOT normal. His legs were pulled to his chest and he was inconsolable. Within a few minutes, he was feverish and lethargic. We suspected intussusception which could have been triggered by his viral cold, and spent the night without ever getting a definite diagnosis. By the time the abdominal ultrasound was done, the pain had resolved. Our little man is completely 100% back to normal and he's charging through this whole infanthood entirely way too quickly. He is ALL boy! He drools, he farts, he kicks, he punches and he's stolen his momma's heart.

He lights up when Maryn walks in the room.

Did I mention he's ALL boy? My sweet daughter sitting like a proper girl, knees closed reading a book, while my son eats paper.

But I am utterly, unabashedly in love with this beautiful child of mine, paper eating and all.

As cute as these faces are...I feel like I'm constantly cleaning and bathing little body parts. When Maryn was 5 months old, I typically bathed her every 2 to 3 days. She didn't spit up, she didn't drool and she was a neat eater. Bah...this boy requires daily baths. I mean, they're like totally two completely different creatures.

He's got a thing for mirrors.

He yells at you in between bites of baby food because what he really wants is a continuous straw infusion of pureed sweet potatoes. He can't eat fast enough. And at the end of his meal when I pull out his sippy cup, his eyes widen, his fists pump, his legs kick and he snatches it out of my hand. Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind a continuous straw infusion of a little Benham Austin.

Oh, and he found his feet this month.

And oh, he can sit up. Assisted.

Be back soon with a little more Mimi:) She's got her first school pictures tomorrow.

Benham is 4 months old!

My body is here in August but my mind is like somewhere in July. I've had enough time in between trips to unpack all of our suitcases, do all 10 loads of laundry, repack the suitcases and board another plane. We've been coast to coast and let me tell you, adjusting to a 3 hour time difference is not what I call a vacation. I need to insert a loud *shout out* to my friend Raz, who lives in San Francisco and has traveled back home to Ohio several times with her one year old son...credit where credit is due! I hate when I don't have time to blog. It kills me. Recording these early months are so important because every day is like an adventure for the little man. Every thing is so new to him and watching the discovery on his face is what this whole parenting thing is all about. He is rolling over front to back and now back to front...much sooner than his sister ever did. I lay him on the floor and within minutes, he's like a fish out of water and has flipped and rolled himself a foot from where he started. He's doubled his birth weight and recently decided that his previous habit of sleeping 10 hours at night wasn't working for him anymore. He rang his meal bell around 3 or 4 am. Partial result from stated time change adjustment. Nonetheless, I didn't appreciate it. With a little sleep training and the introduction of cereal...he's back on track. For now. The kid loves to eat and the doctor gave us the go ahead to start cereal.

15 lbs. 6 oz. 60th percentile

25.5 in. 75th percentile

head circumference 41.5 cm 40th percentile

"Where the ladies at?"

He startles himself, jumps out of his skin with excitement and focuses really really hard when he's in this contraption.

She was reading him a book by the dim shadows of her princess flashlight in her princess pajamas.

You'll find me right here after a long day shift at work

Mimi built him a fort:)

My little beauty

Maryn and I have the right idea on how to beat this disgusting heat. We eat a lot of ice cream.

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.