12 weeks with Ben

I put together a slideshow with pictures of Ben on the day we took him home from the hospital and then a picture of him in the same chair each week for the first 12 weeks so see how much he has grown and changed. He is somewhere in the neighborhood of 14-15 pounds now and getting cuter each day. He is constantly looking for his big brother and wanting to do everything that Jack does. He gets very excited whenever he sees his Daddy, Mommy and big brother. It is so sweet!

Puzzles

Jack has taken a liking to doing puzzles. Well, actually just one puzzle over and over and over again. He is getting very good at it. This has come in handy the past couple of days because we have been trying to stay indoors. Because of all of the wildfires in Northern California, Reno has been blanketed with smoke. Wayne did not get to go on any of the fires (which is upsets him and makes me happy).

Wayne took Jack to the store today to let him choose a new puzzle. He decided that he didn't need a puzzle. Instead he chose an Incredible Hulk wrist band and chocolate milk and immediately went to town on his puzzle when they got home. Go figure.

**In case you are wondering......yes, that is Jack's baby - a duck - that is doing the puzzle with him in the first picture. The duck goes pretty much everywhere we go, dressed in baby clothes and often times a diaper. Jack feeds, burps, changes his diapers, dresses him, hears him crying, wipes his spit-up and everything else he sees us doing with Ben. It is so funny. The other day we were in the store and he told me that he heard the duck crying and he thought he was hungry. I looked down to see Jack with his shirt lifted up and he was 'feeding' the duck as we walked through the store. He then proceeded to 'burp' him and even told the duck: "That was a good one!"

Visiting the Family

We headed back to the Sacramento area again this weekend so that we could get to visit with Grandma Ava, Auntie Mindy, Uncle Jeremy and cousins Hannah & Cole. Grandma was in Roseville for the week so she could meet her newest grandson, Cole.

We stayed with Na and Pa and got to visit with them. Uncle Jimmy and Cooper came over to play for the afternoon. Jack and Cooper had fun playing together and swinging with Na in the backyard.

We also got to surprise Grandpa Jim with a quick visit. He was happy to meet Ben and was surprised at how big he has already gotten. We also got to see Uncle Matt and Auntie Jess before we had to head home.

Jack had fun 'swimming' in the pool. Last week he would not leave the first step. This week he got a little more brave and got out into the water with the water wings on and Daddy close by. Maybe by the end of the summer he will be as brave as his crazy cousin Hannah.

Busy Weekend!

**Okay, so I haven't got this blog thing quite figured out........the pictures are in reverse order and I'm too tired to try and fix it. But you get the idea**

Wayne got off work on Friday morning and we spent the day getting him ready for the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey. It is an annual relay race that starts in Reno and goes all the way around Lake Tahoe, through historic Virgina City and finishes in Reno the following day.....178 miles total. It is a 12-member team, with each teammate running 3 legs of the race. The first year of the Odyssey was in 2005 and Wayne has run with the Sparks Fire Department's team 3 of the 4 years since it started.

Wayne ran a total of 16 miles over the course of 24 hours (with about an hour of sleep). This year he ran the last leg of the race and crossed the finish line with his teammates and lots of cheering and fan fare on Saturday afternoon at Idlewild Park in Reno.

After resting on Saturday night, we packed up and drove to Roseville on Sunday to meet our new nephew. Cole Harris Andreasen was born June 4th (23 days early) weighing 6 pounds 14 ounces and 18.5 inches. Baby Cole and Mindy are both doing great and are happy at home. Cole is already a growing boy. At his doctor's appointment today he was already up to 7 lbs 4 oz. It's hard to believe that Ben was that size just a couple of months ago!

Wayne, Jack, Uncle Jeremy and cousin Hannah played in the pool all afternoon. Mindy & Kristin were inside feeding the babies all afternoon. Then we sang Happy Birthday to Uncle Jeremy and had pizza & cupcakes on Sunday night.

Then we went to Na & Pa's house for some more fun. We played there on Monday morning and then went back over to visit Mindy, Jeremy, Hannah & Cole. We called Uncle Jimmy to wish him a Happy Birthday. After some lunch, we headed back home.

We were welcomed to Reno with a 3.1 earthquake!

A new haircut

While Wayne was at work, I was able to convince Jack that it was a good idea to let me cut his hair. This is always a traumatic event for the boy who loves his hair. He doesn't suck his thumb and never had a pacifier, but his way of soothing himself is to play with his hair.

We have taken him to a place called 'Snip It's' here in Reno where they specialize in cutting children's hair. Bad idea. He absolutely hated it and I had to basically act as a human straight jacket in order for him to get his hair cut. I had to hold him in my lap, wrap my legs around his lower body while trying to hold both of his arms down with one arm and hold his head still with the other arm. This boy does not like to get his hair cut. So, with this in mind it didn't turn out too bad. Some tears were shed, but he really likes his new haircut because it looks like Daddy's. The best part of all is that you can only tell it is a 'mom hair cut' if you look closely.

Ben's 2 Month Check-Up

Dr. says Ben is a healthy baby boy - we couldn't ask for more. He's 24" (80-85%) and 12 lbs, 4 oz (60-65%). He also got his first round of immunizations and took them like a champ, at least that's what Daddy said. Jack & Mommy left to go to the waiting room and play with what Jack calls mangos (aka Lego's).

I am very happy to report that Ben slept through the night for the first time on Saturday night. He slept from 9 pm-6 am. He's also becoming much more interactive with us, smiling and coo-ing and letting us know that he's a happy camper. He also lets us know when he's not such a happy camper :)

We'll try to keep this website updated weekly with new pictures of the boys so that all of our loved ones can see what we're up to and watch them grow.