Happy Birthday, Sweet Benjamin!

Our sweet baby boy turned THREE yesterday.  It’s mind-blowing how fast the past three years have gone by.  I can still remember how incredibly uncomfortable I was those last few weeks of pregnancy, and how it seemed like I would never get to meet our son.  Now here we are three years later with this awesome little boy who never fails to bring smiles to our faces every minute of every day. 

On his birthday, Ben woke up to a  room filled with balloons.  So, at 6 am (a little too early for this mom who really enjoys  her sleep) the entire house woke up to Ben shouting “BA-WOONS!!!!”  He was SO EXCITED!  The fuzzy picture was the best I could get because he didn’t want to sit still (and I was still 1/2 asleep).

 

The first thing he saw when he walked down the hall was his pile of birthday presents waiting for him in the living room. He started tearing into them before any of the rest of us were ready.  He and his brother had a nice time playing with some new toys bright and early!  * If you notice in the picture below, Jack is squeezing Ben’s hand.  This is something that Jack has done to Ben ever since he was a newborn.  He just loves the feel of Ben’s hands and the warmth of them, especially the backs of his hands.  It is the most annoying thing in the world (although it looks very sweet in this photo) and Ben doesn’t seem to mind it at all – MOST of the time.

We started the day by taking Jack to school and  playing on the kindergarten playground after the big kids had to go inside to learn.  Then I took Ben to the Wilbur May Museum to see the Dinos & Dragons display.  We had been there once before, and that was something special that Ben wanted to do for his birthday.  It was a bit overwhelming this time because there were a few different schools there on field trips (lots of loud, big kids).  But we made our way through and had a very good time.  We saw all of the dinosaurs and dragons, but wouldn’t get close enough to take a picture.  Not only were they big and scary, but they made loud and scary noises when they moved.  It seemed that his favorite part was making wishes and  throwing coins in the pond.  We did some coloring and played with puppets.  The weather was just perfect, so when we were done at the museum, we took a little nature walk. 

Then we came home and had lunch with Daddy and cruised around town before it was time to pick up Jack from school.  After that, we went to the ‘down park’.  That is the park which sits just below the elementary school.  Then, we had to run home and get ready for Jack’s very first tee ball game. (more on that later)

Ben played a game of slide down the pitchers mound in the bullpen during the game.  That was entertaining and very dirty.  After the game, we came home and ate dinner while  Mommy frantically tried to find some frosting to frost the cupcakes that she made just before we had to leave to go to the baseball game.  YIKES!  It was a busy day, and wouldn’t you know…….there wasn’t any frosting, and with it being so close to bedtime, Mommy made the judgment call to forego the frosting..  BAD, BAD Mommy!  So here is Ben, blowing out the candles on his frosting-free cupcakes.  It didn’t seem to phase him at all.

  In fact, he liked us singing to him SO much that we ended up singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him 3 times!

This was the most fun birthday so far!  He had more of an understanding that this day was about him and I think he felt pretty special.  He was so cute, throughout the day we would tell him Happy Birthday and he would reply “Happy Birthday, Mommy” or “Happy Birthday, Daddy”.  At one point during the day he told me “This is the best Christmas ever!”

At three years old, these are some of my favorite things about Ben:

• He will randomly tell me “I love you, too.”
• He is such a Mommas boy, but he loves to wrestle and play with his Daddy too.
• The way that he folds his ear into itself and then it ‘pops out’
• 
• His deep, belly laugh.  It is SO contagious.
• He will say something that he thinks is funny.  Then say “Mommy, did you hear that?  That’s funny, let’s laugh. hahahahaha”
• Whenever he sees his Daddy hugging his Mommy, he yells “No, Daddy.  Mommy’s my girl!”  Then he comes over to me and demands to be held.  Then he asks for a Ben sandwich. (Where we hug and he’s in the middle between us)
• His knock-knock jokes at the dinner table almost every night.  The punch line is not normally funny, just a random word that he thinks of. But we all laugh.   He has learned this trick from his brother, who also likes to tell bad knock-knock jokes at the dinner table.  Jack’s knock-knock jokes normally consist of  a long, made up story that doesn’t make much sense.
• Bedtime stories in the rocking chair
• He loves to take of his shoes and socks the instant that we come home.  AND then pick out all the fuzz between his toes.  Sometimes we are in public and he feels the sudden urge to clean between his toes.  Thankfully he hasn’t succeeded in doing it in public.
• Playing hide and seek with him and he is cracking up in his hiding spot, or else he will come out and say “Here I am”
• He is such a little repeater.  One of my favorite things he repeats is “Are you serious?”  It cracks me up every time
• His stubbornness.  It is so incredibly frustrating, but it makes me smile.  Especially when I look into
• Those GORGEOUS BIG BROWN EYES!

Happy St. Baldrick’s Day

Once again, my wonderfully amazing husband volunteered to participate in the annual St. Baldrick’s Foundation fundraiser.  He raised $200 and his co-workers at the fire department combined to raise over $3,000  to support this great cause.  Best of all, he got rid of that hideous faux hawk he was sporting.

The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives.  Every year that we go, it is so heart wrenching to listen to the stories.

I am so proud of Wayne for doing this and for being such a great role model for our boys.

with my dear friend, Nikkiwe’re all looking at the camera (well… almost)!

The morning after the event, Ben told Wayne: “Daddy, you missing your hair!  You got pokies on your head.”

The Wind-Up

I have to write this down so that I don’t forget it.  Jack had t-ball practice last week, and I haven’t laughed so hard in a very long time. 

Practice was going along smoothly.  Kids taking turns hitting the ball off of the tee, the other kids fielding the ball and throwing to first base, etc.  Then the next drill, the coaches split the kids into two groups.  One at first base, the other at second base.  The kids playing second base would field a ground ball and throw it to first base.  Well, when it was Jack’s turn, he fielded the ball just fine and when he went to throw it to first base (which must have seemed SUPER far away) he wound up his arm wind-mill style.  About 5 times around and then threw it to first base as best he could.  I thought it was a one time thing, but nope!  He continued to do the windmill wind up each time he picked up the ground ball and threw to first base.  I really wished I had the video camera with me at that very moment.  I might just have to start carrying that around in my purse too.  Never know when you might need it.

T-Ball

Jack had his first ‘real’ t-ball practice today. Last year he wasn’t old enough to play t-ball in Little League, so we signed him up for the YMCA program. He didn’t do much other than dig up dirt to collect in his hat and then pour it out. So anything will be an improvement from last year.

Wayne and I are both super excited for Jack to play baseball. I actually think we are WAY more excited than he is. I just hope that he has a good time and wants to continue playing as he gets older.

No Cavities!

It seems like we haven’t done anything exciting enough to warrant a blog post lately. But then I suddenly remembered that it was Ben’s first official trip to the dentist for a routine check-up and cleaning. That’s worthy of a blog post, right?

Well, since Ben was a little too freaked out to sit in the chair the normal way, I had to hold him in my lap and lean him back, resting his head in the lap of the hygienist and then later the dentist. (Therefore, there are no photos to document it). He was a brave boy and he didn’t cry.

Here is Jack getting his teeth cleaned. The hygienist says both boys do an excellent job keeping their teeth clean. She gave them a score of 98%. And no cavities! YAY!

The sunglasses are to help shield their eyes from the bright light that shines into their mouths. Ben didn’t like those much either.