Ben's Big Boy Room

So after a some extra planning and couple of weekends of work we are calling Ben's new big boy room "done." Too bad he won't sleep there yet! He likes to play in there a little and we read books on the bed but when it comes to actually sleeping in there it's "no go" at this point. He still wants to go back to his crib without the front on it and likes to sleep there. So, we are letting it go for now, but in a few weeks were going to have to make the transition somehow. Here a few shots of the new room that is not currently being used...

Here's a little info about what's in the room. Two walls are green and two walls are white. Ben loves green and it goes great with the bedding but we couldn't bring ourselves to paint the entire room that color. So, we compromised. We got the bed and dresser at IKEA (big suprise, it's one of my favorite stores). I found the bedding online and it's by a company called Olive Kids - they have great stuff. Probably the coolest part is the multi-colored bookshelf which was actually built by my father, but was given over to us from my brother Chris and his family. Dad built it for them when their son Sam was born but now they are not using it and it fits perfectly in his room, so thank you guys for passing it on! Also, the little wall plaque with the hooks for hats, etc. was given to me by my neighbor, who has a young son, several months ago and it just happened to fit in the new room too. I have to give the most thanks to my parents who helped by bringing the shelf up from Austin and with painting and putting items up and together. Tim was great too and did lots of painting and assembly and made sure everything was anchored to the wall (no accidents please) and just helped to make sure his little boys room was set up nicely. So, after all this work, we hope he will enjoy it soon!

Big Boy!

Does anyone recognize this child? Because I barely did! Remember the baby I had everyone praying for and the one that was born at 25 weeks?! Oh yes, my sweet nephew Daniel - here he is - can you believe it? I think he may already be telling his sisters what to do! Ah, just kidding but doesn't he look great and so healthy? It just goes to show how far our prayers and love can go. Here he is with his sisters. My mom and I cannot get over how much he looks like Gracie (yellow shirt).

Anyway, thanks to my parents for the pictures (apparently his parents don't take any - 3rd child syndrome, you know!) Ahh- I am just teasing them! I know they are super busy. I am sure they are saying "Yeah, just wait until you have 2 and you will see how it goes!" We love you guys and are so glad that Daniel is doing so well!

Valentine's Day

We had a nice Valentine's Day yesterday. Ben is well (YEAH!) and has been but I just thought I'd mention it since he wasn't last time I posted! He had a nice little party at school and got several valentines from his friends there. Here are all the Valentine cards that we gave to each other and one from my parents. Ben even got $5 from them - woo hoo! The pink one in the middle is the one Ben and I made for Daddy.
Tim was sweet and brought me chocolates and a yummy dinner and gave me a list of 50 things he loves about me - which made me cry and I had to read many times. He's such a loving and sweet man and I am so glad he's mine!

Ben had the most fun eating a lollipop that one of his classmates gave him, as seen here:

So, I guess depending on your age Valentine's means different things to everyone - although, candy does seem to be a universal theme.

In other news, Ben has sucessfully started sleeping in his "bed" (a.k.a crib without the front on it) and this weekend my parents are coming up to help us paint and set up his new room that we are getting ready for him, queen size bed and all! I will have pictures in a week or so. We are not quite sure how he's going to react to it all, but hopefully once he sees his "big boy room" he will be excited and ready to make the transition.

Stay warm everyone, I am SO ready for Spring to make an appearance soon!

Home Again

I have been home with Ben the last couple of days due to him having a fever and what seems to just be a nasty cold. We did go to the doctor yesterday and he basically said to just give him cold medicine and turn on the humidifier at night. But, with the pesky fever we're homebound. I felt extremely domestic today while he slept longer than ususal and I made a cake and got all of the laundry done. I could get used to this...

Ben was fine with the doctor until he stuck the tongue drepressor down in his mouth/throat and then all bets were off. He did like the yellow birdie that the doctor wears on his stethescope and mentioned it today when he asked, "Are we going to see Dr. Geppert?" But he was only okay to talk about it once I told him that no, we were just staying home today. I think he was a tad bit relieved.

He did manage to find time to work on his Dora puzzle and play some trains today. I think he could get used to being at home too! We also made a Valentine for Daddy and Ben already told Tim about it while he was talking to him on the phone today. I guess I am learning that two-year olds don't keep secrets very well... Anyway, here are a couple of shots of "the boy" while he hung out in his p.j.s all day and had a fairly bad hair day (poor guy). It's also clear at to what state our den/tv room looks like when we are "home sick!"

Hopefully tomorrow he will be fever-less and we will return to our normal routine (not that we don't like to mix it up a little sometimes...) We are mostly just hoping that our little man feels better!

Sonogram #2

Oh, don't I wish I could have a sonogram everytime I go to the doctor?!! It's so much fun to see the baby as we did again today. They were able to get a good shot of his face and re-confirm that a boy is definitely on the way! Too bad he's nameless. Yes, that's right, we cannot seem to decide on a name. We've still got time right? Well, here's a picture of our baby's face and you can tell me if you have any suggestions, okay? I know it can be be hard to see what others are seeing on sonograms, especially if you are not the parent, so I will try to explain. If you still cannot get the image in your head, I am sorry, I tried. (I think it's kind of like those pictures that were popular a few years ago where it was just a bunch of the same colors/shapes over and over and you had to find the image within all that... remember those?) Anyway, to the right/middle of the picture is his face and he's lying sideways. The top white line is the side of his forehead and the lower one is the side of his nose. The darker areas are his eyes.

Also, I gained 10 pounds in 4 weeks and I was a little startled by that. The doctor said that at this stage that can be fairly common due to the increase in blood and fluids in the body (or maybe it's all the sweets I think I have an excuse to consume!) At any rate she wasn't as alarmed as I was but said that it should taper off and if it doesn't I will be "in trouble" (from her anyway). So, I guess I will try to adjust my eating habits a little bit. Besides, not much more is going to fit in there pretty soon!

Ben said "hi" to baby brother by touching my belly today - oh so CUTE! We are starting the process soon of moving him into a big boy room while at the same time trying to potty train. Everyone please pray for all of us!!