Bring on the cousins!

Jon's brother Josh and his wife, Jenise welcomed their third child this week, Landon Tate. He was born on Thursday and we got to visit them that afternoon in the hospital. I told Bennett we were going to the hospital to meet his new cousin and he said, "Yay! I get to play with the house and the penguin!" He actually remembered the toys in the waiting room from when Dawson was born :)

Its amazing how big your 4 month old can seem, all of a sudden!

I am just overjoyed with the relationship Bennett has with all of his cousins. We never had that growing up on my side of the family. We always lived hundreds of miles from our cousins and were several years older than them anyway. And we never even had lifelong friends that were as close as family since we moved around so much. I just love seeing Bennett's excitement when he knows he gets to play with any of his cousins. He and Piper fight like brother and sister...they already know how to push each others buttons or avoid conflict with each other, depending on their moods. But they always love to be together. And Bennett almost doesn't know what to do at Nana and Poppy's when Caleb and Kietlyn aren't there! And to know they'll be in each other's lives for their whole lives...I can hardly comprehend it.

Welcome to the wonderful clan of Colyer cousins, little Landon!

My Tumblin Tot

I just made a cup of hot chocolate and am savoring the lovely noise of nothingness in my house. A moment of heaven for a mom. These are few and far between now since, A) I went back to work and B) Bennett's not napping every day anymore. But man oh man, did he need a nap today. I think he spent about an hour this morning crying about everything before we got to his first tumbling class. My sister works out every day at a church in the area and they added a tumbling class for toddlers. Its only $25 for 10 weeks...shockingly inexpensive. So Bennett and his cousin Piper were actually the only ones there today in the second time slot they just added. The teacher does a wonderful job with them and they ran and jumped and rolled and somersaulted for 45 minutes. He told me his favorite part was jumping off the big mat. We got to watch through windows and cracked up when they were "freezing" when the music turned off. For some reason he thought he had to put one foot in the air when they froze so every time he'd try to balance on one foot with this serious expression on his face. It was so cute.

Marching:

Crawling like kitties:

Practicing his roll (he was pretty good at this one but it was funny to watch them veer completely off course and roll straight for the wall):

Somersaulting down the ramp:

And rolling the balls:

I think this will be good preparation for preschool, which he'll hopefully start 2 days a week in the fall. I'm trying to get him into this program , which has come highly recommended from a trusted friend, but if anyone has kids currently in one of the government funded programs in the area and has anything good (or bad) to say about it, let me know. I know he's going to LOVE preschool so I definitely want him to start this fall. Thank goodness my friend told me to get on the ball...sign up started Dec. 1st, '09! Who knew you had to be so on top of these things??!!

And here's Dawson showing up Bennett with some flexibility moves of his own. This is his current position of choice:

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Dawson had his 4 month checkup today. He's 15lb 10oz and 25 1/4 in.--75th % for both. The doctor was impressed he's rolling over already and said she only sees about 1% of babies rolling at that age. Its always nice to hear your child is advanced in any area but makes me nervous I have a wild one on my hands!!

This is officially my last week as a stay-at-home-mom. On Monday, I'm going back to my old job at America's Family Coaches for 3 days a week, 5 hr. days to get us over the financial slump. They were flexible with the days and hours I was able to work so it'll fit in perfectly with my available childcare. Jon will have the boys on Mondays, with occasional help from his brother Aaron and wife, Bria. Tuesdays, my mom will have them and Fridays, Judie will have them. Plus, I'll only miss one of Dawson's feedings so it shouldn't be too difficult. And it'll be nice to reconnect with all my friends who still work there.

Much to Jon's chagrin, Bennett had his first Starbucks yesterday. My good friend, Manda, came over with her kids (Madeline and E-lion, as Bennett referred to them later!) to hang out and treated us to chai and hot chocolate, respectively. Jon is against Starbucks on so many levels so I'm sure he was hiding his horror, seeing his son with that cup. (Totally kidding, Manda. I don't think he cares, as long as I'm not paying for it :) I saw Bennett take his first sip and about 15 seconds later, he handed his cup to Jon and said, "here, Dad." I thought, oh great, he's not going to drink it and it'll go to waste. But no, he'd drained the whole cup!

Had to share Bennett's hilarious meltdown I caught on camera.

Puzzled

This is Bennett's latest obsession. He got a 60 piece John Deere puzzle for Christmas and did that one a few times every day. When we go to the library, he does their huge stack of puzzles the whole time! I had some store credit and got him 3 new ones last week and then his Nana got him this fish one at TJ Maxx. He does them and takes them apart and redoes (is that a word??) them several times a day. I see a lot of family jigsaw puzzle nights in our future :) Or maybe he'll win a million bucks on Survivor with his puzzle skills...

On a Roll

Dawson turned 4 months old yesterday. He doesn't go to the doctor until next week so I'll have to update his current stats later. He's getting better and better at rolling over. He's been much fussier lately...I'm realizing his determined personality is coming through. He doesn't really like his gym mat or his bouncy seat anymore because he can't really grab the toys and get them into his mouth which frustrates him to no end. And whenever he's flat on his back he tries to roll to his stomach. He gets mad when he can't get all the way over and he gets mad when he does because then he's stuck staring at the floor. Sheesh. Bennett didn't roll over until he was almost 5 months. He just wasn't as determined about conquering the physical milestones. I think we have a go-getter on our hands with #2!

Another boring video unless you're related :)

Football, er, i mean, Basketball

We went to our first (and only!) Iowa Energy game of the season with the whole family. A little more trouble than it was worth. Last year Bennett sat through the first quarter. This year he barely sat at all until we got some popcorn in the second half. Thankfully they have a bounce house there so he had a lot of fun in there. And thankfully I don't care a lick about watching the game so I just walked around with him most of the time! :) At some point during the game, Bennett said, "I can't wait to play football!". I thought for a minute and said, "You mean basketball?" He said, "Oh yeah. I can't wait to play basketball!" I didn't know what he was talking about. I asked him, "Where are you going to play basketball?" He pointed out onto the court and said, "right there!". All those times we told him we were going to a basketball game, I guess he thought he was going to get to play, not just watch. Maybe someday, Bennett. Maybe someday!

(my photography skills were definitely not on point that night...I didn't get any good pics. And we all three had our Energy shirts on too! Oh well)

Checking out Surge, the mascot.

He watched the Jumbotron more than the court. It was funny realizing he had no clue that what was on the screen was the same thing right in front of him.

The Indefinite Campout

This has become Bennett's new bed:

You may ask what in the world happened to his big boy bed, which we transitioned him into about 6 months ago. Well, he had to regress back to the crib when my parents stayed for a few weeks since we don't have a guest room. Bennett started sleeping in much later again in the crib so I decided to just leave him in there til Dawson was sleeping through the night. Well, Dawson's been sleeping through the night for a couple months but then we had more house guests...my sister for a couple weeks and now a close friend of ours who just moved back to Iowa. It was no big deal to keep Bennett in the crib (although he's been climbing in and out of it for months now...) but all of a sudden, this week, Jon found him a couple times with all of his blankets on the floor! He would pull them out of his crib and fall asleep near the door. This went on for a few days, and I even heard him crying one night at 3:45 so I went in and he was struggling to get his blankets out. So the next night I just brought up a sleeping bag for him. He absolutely loves it and is actually staying in bed better than he had been (he was always out of his room several times before he'd fall asleep) and he's actually sleeping in later than he has in over 6 months! He slept til 8:45 this morning...I was completely shocked. Next step...Dawson out of the bassinet in our room and into the crib now that its freed up :)

shortcuts

I got a cordless stick vac for Christmas and just used it for the first time (Yes- I'm a dork and wanted a vacuum for Christmas. And yes...its Jan. 7th. Which means my kitchen floor hasn't been swept or vacuumed for 13 days. I have a couple friends in mind who may be passing out after reading that. Unfortunately, that's pretty good for me!) Anyway...back to the vac. I just had to write about how amazing this little guy is. My regular cleaning routine for my hardwood floors in my kitchen area involved hunching over with my dust buster for 10 minutes or so to suck up all the crumbs so I didn't have to haul my beastly vacuum out. And using the Swiffer spray and mop once a month or so (that's actually quite an exaggeration but I'm afraid some people wouldn't ever come over again...at least without a HAZMAT suit on, if I fessed up to how many times I've actually pulled out that Swiffer since moving into our house almost a year ago). I digress.

So when I vacuumed those two weeks worth of crumbs from my kitchen floor, I was amazed at how incredibly lightweight, yet powerful this thing is! It picked up everything and I seriously felt like I was cheating somehow--it was just way too easy. I even did the rug in our living room and it worked great there too. I highly recommend it...I think they're only 30 or 40 bucks. Worth every penny.

I thought I'd share one other little miracle worker I can't live without. This little guy costs $0.99 at Target or Wal Mart in the travel size bottle section.

This has completely replaced my iron. I repeat...since I started using this a couple years ago, I haven't touched an iron. Granted, I'm not ironing collared shirts for my husband, but besides that, I think it could handle just about any clothing item. Put it on the mist setting, and while your shirt is still on the hanger, spray it a few times, wipe at the wrinkles with your hand, and POOF. Perfectly smooth shirts. Its brilliant to travel with...no more creases in your khakis on vacation (and works much better than a hair straightener, which I've also used when there was no iron around!). It even works on jeans and heavy khaki shorts (I refuse to let my husband out of the house with a huge crease in his pants!). Just spray it before you get in the shower and it'll be dry when you get dressed. And I guarantee its easier on your clothes than the heat from an iron. I think its hilarious that my friends and I fell for the marketing ploy of Downy Wrinkle Release spray when we were in college. It worked wonders!! Who knew water did the exact same thing?!

Feel free to post your own Mom Tips in the comment box. And if you want to hear everyone else's, be sure to click the "email follow-up comments to:" box.

One of Bennett's absolute favorite Christmas gifts- this John Deere puzzle. (Which he mistakenly called his John Judie puzzle the first day.) Every single time he fits a piece together, he says, "I did it, Mom!" and will keep repeating that until you acknowledge him with a, "good job!". So while he's working on the puzzle, it goes something like this: Bennett puts a piece on. "I did it, Mom!" Me: "good job, buddy!" Bennett puts another piece on. "I did it, Mom!" Me: "good job, buddy!" Bennett puts another piece on. "I did it, Mom!". Me, trying to get something done. "I did it, Mom!" Me, still ignoring. "I did it, Mom!" Me: "Oh, good job buddy". You get the idea...


Another one of Bennett's favorite activities-- spinning around until he's dizzy and then trying to walk across the room. He thinks it's hilarious and of course, so do we :)

I'm posting this next video strictly for family or very close friends. I realize baby milestones like these are quite boring once you've had your own kids (or even if you haven't!) but if you indulge me enough to watch the whole thing, then I know you really love us! And if you actually enjoy watching it, your name has probably been replaced with Nana or Nonny.