Under the Big Top

I know, it’s been a couple weeks since my last post.  It has been a crazy whirlwind two weeks!

Big boy bed update- after a ‘rough’ first night, Ben rocked the rest of the week I was home during Spring Break.  He did end up having the flu (and strep and pink eye) and the one morning Daddy got up to get him he found both Ben and his sheets covered in icky poo.  Fortunately for me, this was the day I was SOOOO sick so B stayed home to take care of Ben (the only upside to that day).  Otherwise he did really well sleeping each night.  I generally napped with him in his bed.  This being said, the night before I go back to school Ben refuses to sleep in his bed.  Ever since he has let us tuck him in and then as we walk out he crawls out and walks to the door.  We have a child lock on it so he can’t open it so Ben falls asleep each night against the door.  I put him into bed when I go, but most of the time he gets back up at some point and lays back by the door.  Weird little kid!  B finished painting the sports figures today.  I think he did a really good job.  He still has some more painting to do (sports phrases and our favorite team logos), but he’s going to work on that when he’s home with us after Briggs.

these will make their way on the way soon

Ben still won’t use a sheet or comforter so I just keep his folded.  Half the time I see him sleeping sideways (when he’s not on the floor)

 

 

 

a glimpse of the bedding

 

These are the stairs that Ben’s barred from.  Right now we have a random night stand in the way until we can figure out how to attach something to the stairs until he can be trusted.

Speaking of Briggs…this child is getting HUGE.  I am definitely ready for him to arrive, but I don’t want him coming any sooner than next Monday.  I’m much more uncomfortable with him than I was with Ben.  B has officially moved upstairs for the remainder of the time.  I guess I take too many potty breaks during the night and flop around like a beached whale.  The flu Ben gave me was horrible.  I have never been so sick to my stomach.  It lasted ALL week!  Worrying about taking care of Briggs and watching Ben didn’t help either.  My dr said that Briggs literally took any good thing I had in me (which wasn’t much) and left me with nothing which is why it was so hard to recover.  I also got NOTHING done over Spring Break since I was sick so we are a little behind at the Mahrer house.  We did put the swing down and Ben has tried to get in it as well as the bouncy chair.  The doctor said Briggs was laying sideways, but I think he’s moved his way up and down based on the HUGE kicks he’s now giving my ribcage as opposed to my side.  He kicked so hard as I was driving today I almost swerved into the other lane.

My plan for this weekend was to get everything else done for Briggs.  Maybe we got half of it done.  For my birthday my only request was that we do something all together (and it not involve too much walking-I just recently started getting swollen ankles-NEVER had those with Ben-yuck).  So…we took Ben to the circus.  It wasn’t the big circus, this was a pretty dinky one in a tent.  Was the circus fun-umm, no, but it was so amazing to watch it through Ben’s eyes.  They had elephant and camel rides and you could feed some animals.  Ben was pretty unimpressed with most of the circus, but he LOVED the animals and loved the hot dog he got to eat.  We left at intermission and took a drive in the Jeep. I LOVED spending the day with my two favorite boys. 

An Elephant Ride with Daddy (we didn’t think they’d want a 9 month pregnant lady on the elephant)

 

 

someone enjoyed a taste of a snowcone

  

This is how he watched most of the circus (the parts that he liked).  He’s also got part of a hot dog in his mouth.

Ben update:  Ben is just beyond adorable these days.  He is SO cute and SO sweet, but with the cuteness come some serious monster episodes.  B calls him Picasso now because if you give him a crayon he will color ANYTHING including windows, window sills, toys, books, desks, walls, the couch and my leg.  Crayons are now considered contraband around here.  I think he’s pretty smart, but I don’t have much to compare him to.  He does know what the letters B and D say and is doing amazingly with his colors, shapes and numbers.  He also talks non stop and has a great vocabulary.  Part of this vocabulary includes the other word for passing gas.  But man, it is SO cute to hear him say, “_______ fawted.”  He loves to give great kisses now and always tells us, “I love you” on his own.  He loves Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Ben LOVES his Daddy’s jeep.  He will bring us our shoes and keys and say “Jeep Jeep” all the time.  He helped Daddy install a new exhaust a few weeks ago

 

Ben likes to smile on cue now and we LOVE it!

Picasso at work coloring a CD!!!

 

I took this last week during dinner.  He thought he was hysterical rubbing his hands in his lasagna and then rubbing them on his head…little stinker!

 

We can’t believe that a week from right now we will be getting the final things ready for Briggs.  I am pretty stressed about everything I still have to do both at home and at school.  I am super excited for my mom to come and B’s parents to be here, too. 

Oh, What a Night!

This is just so Ben will never forget his first night in his new room:

Well our first night of Spring Break was one B and I will always remember.  After a DELICIOUS dinner out and a quick trip to the mall, we all came home and Ben played a little while I spent forever putting new sheets on his bed and then it was time for BIG BOY BED (I’m not sure what we were thinking doing bunk beds-took FOREVER to get the sheets on-hoping it’s because I have a giant stomach getting in the way)!  B wants Ben in his new bed full time by the end of the week so why not start last night.  He had taken a very short nap in it the other day when he was home sick with Daddy.  So we all went up, read our Bible Story (no Pooh Bear or Stinky Face during Lent for Ben) and said our prayers.  After this Ben said bye and tried to hop off his bed.  B and I put him back and laid down with him.  Ben tossed and turned forever and just didn’t seem comfortable.  Eventually B got up, but I stayed for another 20 minutes.  Ben never fell asleep, but I got up anyway.  We heard/saw him on the monitor sit up and let out a cry and then cough a few times.  Then he still moved all around and around.  When we finally went to bed he was at the foot of his bed right near the edge.  B said he didn’t need the side rails because it was a short fall if he did fall, but there was no way I was going to bed without moving him back. 656 I figured I’d end up sleeping up there for awhile if he woke up.  Sure enough as I’m walking upstairs we hear a boom and the little guy fell out (it just confused him).  So I lay down with him and rub his back which felt wet (his clothes, not his back) and then the smell got me.  GROSS!  Poor baby had thrown up ALL over his bed and was sleeping in it (that’s what the cough was earlier).  B rushed up and we stripped his bed and his jammies.  Once all that was done we put him in our bed and everyone fell sound asleep for 2 hours until the poor kid threw up again while he was sleeping.  Thank you Lord for having him scoot his little tush up to the top of the bed or I would have gotten a little bath when this happened.  So now we’re all up again and the poor baby can’t stop.  Daddy held Ben while Mommy cleaned AGAIN and put new sheets on the bed.  I think Ben felt a lot better after this because he wanted to play.  The rest of the night went well and he slept.  No more throw up (but some sweet dirty diapers).  So now Daddy is out getting pedialyte while Mickey Mouse entertains our little guy.  We don’t think he’s sick, but it was what he ate last night (and oh my goodness did that kid eat last night-he lacks an off button). 

Say a little prayer tonight goes a whole lot better :)

I’m still pretty bad at the picture taking.  I have some pictures on my little camera from Ben’s fun time at Kensington’s bday, but here’s what I have on my good camera.  Ben has a new fascination with spiky hair or “Pikey hair” as he calls it.

our pikey hair before party

Mommy had fun with the comb after a bath one night :)

No pictures, just moments I don't want to ever forget

1. Sweet Ben surprises us daily, but this weekend he just about melted me to pieces. As I was leaving to pick up dinner last night he watched me grab my shoes and my purse and said "Mommy bye bye?" to which I replied yes and he said okay and ran into his playroom to continue the mess he had started. Then as I'm opening the door he comes running as fast as his little fat legs will take him to me shouting, "Mommy! Mommy!" I turned around and he says, "Mommy kiss" with his lips all puckered. I gave him his kiss and he ran back to play. Seriously!

2. Clean up time with Ben tends to work like this: Mommy cleans up as Ben takes back whatever it is that Mommy has put away. It's an endless cycle. This weekend Daddy asked Ben to help him clean up and Ben started singing the clean up song and started cleaning up! Daddy, not being a teacher, wasn't sure what he was singing, but I knew right away. The cutest part is instead of saying "clean up, clean up, everybody clean up" he says it like, "Keen up, keen up {a mumble jumble of words goes here} keen up." He even sang it at dinner as he was putting the all the little pieces of corn back in his bowl.

How did we get to be SO lucky??? He might have his monster moments, but man these little things make it so worth it!

We love Grammy and Pal (and Eeyore, too)!

Oh what a fantastic weekend! We had an AMAZING time with Grammy and Pal. Ben loved, loved, loved having them here (so did his Mommy). As soon as we picked them up we went straight to dinner and it was a late night for our little man. But when we got home it was like Christmas to Ben, he just didn’t know what to show them first even though he was so sleepy. Saturday and Sunday were spent buying out Frisco for the boys. Somehow we went to get Briggs some things and came out of the store with more for Ben than Briggs (poor kid just can’t catch a break). We ate lots of yummies and Ben read books and colored with Grammy. He also hung out at the park on both beautiful days. B and I even got to sneak away for a movie while Ben partied with Grammy and Pal at the park for over an hour. He was just so happy all weekend to have them here. B and I slept upstairs and gave them our room and it felt like a mini vacation for us, too.

Ben has a new love for Winnie the Pooh so we stopped at the Disney store after the movie and got him an Eeyore stuffed animal. He was SO happy when we gave it to him. B even got so tired of reading the same Pooh book each night that he stopped at got him 12 new ones on Friday. Ben has never really had a lovey or snuggled with any animal, but Eeyore is very special. He keeps throwing out all his stuffed animals at night, but keeps Eeyore right next to him.

Ben’s new bed came in on Monday and B graciously spent ALL evening putting it together after working all day on Monday. We need to buy another mattress, but we can’t wait to show Ben his new bed. He LOVED walking up the staircase of it while B put the other parts together. He would stand at the top and start giving orders like he was telling his Daddy what to do. He crawled into B’s lap several times and helped tighten bolts-SO CUTE!

We were very sad to see Grammy and Pal leave. Hopefully we will see them this summer if not sooner. Ben had an ENT appt today and this lady walked in who looked like Grammy and he yelled “GRAMMY” at her. He also announced to a waiting room full of people, “poo poo diaper!” Lovely! They said one of his tubes is working it’s way out. I’m just hoping it stays put for the next 6 weeks until he’s out of school.

Mr. Briggs should sleep well tonight. He has been all over the place today. I’m not sleeping well and by the time the evening hits I’m pretty uncomfortable-but it’s worth it. We can’t believe how quickly these last weeks are flying by. And I can almost count my days left at work on my fingers and toes. Woohoo!

I TOTALLY blew it this weekend with picture taking. At least Grammy was smart enough to get herself a disposable camera. So sad! But we have lots of memories in our hearts :)

The ONE picture I took while they were here. Everyone was watching golf so Ben improvised and used his baseball bat as a club.

So my sweet boy has become THE pickiest eater ever (only second to his mom). He repeatedly asks for donuts, cookies, blueberries and snacks and throws a HUGE fit when he doesn’t get any of those (we just have lots of fits). Yesterday I tried to get him to eat some chicken nuggets thinking it would be no problem at all, but NO! So…Ben was introduced to ketchup and voila-nuggets eaten!

Big Boy Room update

If you looked out at our weather today you would never believe that just a week ago we were blessed with over 6 inches of beautiful snow!  It was a great way to end 4 days of being stuck inside in fear of driving on sheets of ice.  Lots of our friends had cabin fever, but luckily we had SO many projects to keep us busy including FINALLY getting around to Ben’s big boy room!  But back to snow…

On Friday we woke up to a mini winter wonderland.  After layering the little man up we headed outside to see the sss-no as Ben calls it.  Last year when it snowed at just about this time he was too little to enjoy it, but this time he jumped right in.  He takes after his daddy with his love of snow.  We walked to the field across from our house and Ben loved throwing snow on Daddy.  He loved making “sss-no bas” and throwing them.  Mommy was a little worried of slipping on the ice under the snow, but we made it!  At one point I got brave enough to throw a snowball at B and he paid me back by laying me down in the snow and covering me with it.  Ben freaked out and started to cry…awww…he’s worried about his mommy!  It was also sooo cold and Ben had the sniffles still so I didn’t want to keep him out too long.  But man oh man, don’t you dare take this kid away from his snow.  He threw a HUGE fit and literally had to be dragged in the house by Daddy.

  

Two peas in a pod

 

it’s so much fun to cover Daddy in snow

He didn’t like his gloves so he tried on Daddy’s for a bit

 

Can you see the giant snowball B threw at him?  I can’t wait until he’s older and enjoys paybacks!

 

The bunk bed has been ordered!  We can’t wait for it to come.  B spent last weekend painting Ben’s new room.  We ordered bedding and it came this week.  I took one of the quilts out of the bag and Ben came right up to it and laid his head on it and said “night night!”  Then once it was back in the box he climbed on it and said night night again.  I love how excited he’s getting for his new room. 

 

In honor of Boots’ bday yesterday, Daddy put B in a sweatband :)  He thought he was so cool!

 

Ben followed Daddy up on the ladder before he started painting last weekend…

and then Ben thought he could climb to the top on his own.  This little guy is FAST!  He got all the way up in two seconds.  He was too high for me so I just had to stand behind him praying he wouldn’t fall waiting for B to get his butt back upstairs.  Ben is a little monkey like his Daddy!

Daddy is painting silhouette-shadow like pictures of sports action shots throughout his room.  He started with this basketball player.  He’s finishing it as I type this.  It’s the only one we can do until we get the furniture.

As Daddy paints, someone else is working on his own masterpiece!  Yes, I know we are teaching him to color on the walls, but he’s SO happy!

 

Ben is amazing us daily with what he knows and what he can say.  We really can almost carry on a conversation with him now.  He also taught us last night what he calls a frog.  I’ll give you a hint-it starts with an F and sounds just like a really bad word!  Took us a few minutes to process what he was saying as he pointed to Baby Tad in his crib last night.  :) 

He also watched Mickey Mouse for the first time this week.  He calls him key-mouse.  And after watching it only one time he can already sing the little chant, “meeska-mooska-___key-mouse.”  (he leaves out the mic part still in mickey).

Briggs is doing well. Growing like a weed I’m guessing and getting me ready for sleepless nights.  He now jumps on my bladder about every 2 hours at night.  Such a doll!

Grammy and Pal fly in on Friday for the long weekend!  And we thought Ben was spoiled now…

 

 

What’s in a name?

I was going to wait until B told his parents, but they haven’t called and I want to get this blog up.  So…Way back when we were 13 weeks along with Ben, we were leaving B’s company Christmas party with our friends, the Masons.  I can clearly remember telling them our little secret and that we knew it was a boy.  Ashlee was a couple months ahead and I think they knew they were having a boy, too.  Anyway, somehow the name Briggs came up and B jumped all over it.  From that day on it’s ALL I heard as an alternative name for Ben (half joking, half serious).  Fast forward to the Super Bowl and we decided on Ben and never looked back.  I cannot think of Ben being anything but Ben.  So when we found out this one was another boy, Briggs was the first name we talked about, but it quickly got buried under the insane names B came up with instead.  I’m serious when I say that we actually got into fights over naming this child.  I finally dropped the issue because it just wasn’t worth the fighting.  We knew God would lead us to his name when it was time.  So last week we were talking about it again and Briggs came back up and was quickly decided upon.  It’s really the ONLY name we are in agreement with.  It’s a far cry from the traditional names we always talked about.  I always thought my sons would be named after presidents or Biblical characters.  Briggs middle is Carson, which is a family name on my side (both my dad and my great grandpa’s middle names are Carson).  We cannot wait to meet our little Briggs.  Ben already calls him “Biggs.”

This weekend we moved Ben out of his high chair and into a booster seat.  He’s doing pretty well with it, but still asks for his high chair occasionally.

Monday we had a sonogram to see sweet Briggs.  For some reason I just couldn’t make out anything on the screen (must have been all the sugar in the Glucola I had to take).  But she showed us his sweet face in 3D and I could see that.  He has HUGE cheeks and kept putting his hand halfway in front of his face (camera shy like his Daddy).  Doc says he’s about 3 lbs and a little above average in weight (taking after his big brother).  It should also come as no surprise that his head is measuring two weeks ahead of the rest of him. 

It was a beautiful 75 degrees over the weekend and we’ve spent the past 3 days home because of icy weather and we’ll all be home again tomorrow.  Our driveway is 4 inches thick of ice.  We’ve spent lots of time watching cars slip and slide all over our street.  The three of us haven’t left at all.  We have used this time to get a TON done in the house.  Luckily we have the best helper lending a hand.  He loves being daddy’s “helper” and says it in the cutest little voice.  I am glad we’ve all been home, especially since the little guy is battling a nasty little cold.  Neon green should not come out of anyone’s nose-EVER!  When he’s not being absolutely adorable, he’s been spending some time being a little monster whining and fussing.  Let’s hope that’s the cold.  We found out his daycare flooded overnight.  Keeping our fingers crossed they get it all back together by Monday.

On Friday we went to see sweet Caroline, the Mason’s newest little princess.  Ben was pretty shy at first, but after some pizza he warmed right up to Wyatt.  Caroline, on the other hand, he really could have cared less about.  At first he wanted nothing to do with her (probably because Wyatt has some fun toys), but the second time I held her he wasn’t too thrilled. 

Ben meeting sweet Caroline.  Wyatt was so excited to show off his little sister.  I had forgotten how little they are.  I’m not sure I’ll remember how to hold Briggs or what to do with him!!!

 

Playing with Wyatt’s awesome train set. 

 

At one point the boys weren’t checking in on us so I went to see what they were doing and this is what I saw :)

Ben’s snack after school lately has been cookies, except he insists on holding the box and bag and don’t you dare take it away from him!

 

Daddy had to take the treadmill apart to get it downstairs so Ben had some fun playing with the “beep beeps”

A little coloring time with Daddy after a hard day’s work on Tuesday

This is 4 inches of ICE in our driveway

Thanks to the crazy weather we had some rolling blackouts.  Mommy got worried about how cold the house would get when the power was out and bundled up the little guy.

Four!

First off-we have a baby date! Baby No-Name will be here on 4-4! That’s less than 10 weeks now, woohoo! It seems both so far away and so soon at the same time. Ben still says “no” when we ask if he wants a baby brother or if he’ll be a good big brother, but then again, Ben tells us no routinely these days. We have SO much to do before baby arrives including playing musical chairs with FOUR rooms in our house. It’s crazy, but in order for this baby to have a room, we have to switch out 4 rooms. We got a good start on the first one (one can’t be done until the first is done), but I’m at B’s mercy and he’s just not in the hurry I am. I feel kind of useless not being able to move anything more than 30lbs. I can't sleep at night because I will lay awake thinking of which double stroller to get, how do I find the money to get another baby monitor and all the other things I feel I need (I'm attached to my video monitor and can't imagine not seeing Ben anymore) or what bedding to get Ben. We of course found the PERFECT bedding, but it was $400 and Ben is getting bunk beds. We don't spend $400 on our bedding, there's no way we're paying $800 for bedding for Ben's room. But now that we've seen it, nothing even comes close! I know it will all get done, but I have some control issues and like things done on my clock.

In the meantime we have been soaking up our time with Ben. Ben has been waking up Daddy each morning and he LOVES it. We whisper as we walk through the hall and sure enough as soon as the door to our room gets opened he shouts “Daddy!” as LOUD as can be. So much for my idea of him sneaking up on him. He then tries to wrestle with B as I attempt to put on his shoes. And when B gets home each day they race to our bed, throw Ben on it and more wrestling ensues. But my favorite part is when we put him to be together lately. We’ve found it so much more meaningful than switching off days and Ben has grown accustom to our routine. I love saying our prayers together and finishing it with a big family hug. There is something so sweet about Ben saying “Amen” and following that with kisses for both of us. I think Ben is either playing really hard at school lately, going through a growth spurt or still fighting off the chest infection from last week because our little monster has actually asked for “night night” the past few days. He’s finally off antibiotics for a chest infection. I feel like this poor boy has been on antibiotic after antibiotic lately. ENOUGH! Along with his antibiotic he was put on albuterol for chest congestion. So thankful it worked, but man did it make this little boy a TERROR! I mean absolute TERROR! He literally chased me through the house with a baseball bat when we were home because he was sick and then threw a wooden puzzle piece at my head. Those 5 days couldn’t end fast enough. And yes, I’m not going to lie, I called B at work and told him I was questioning staying home with two boys if this is what I had to look forward to.

Ben is still a little sponge. He just amazes us with the knowledge he picks up. I titled this post ‘Four’ because it’s the first number I’ve actually heard him say. I get very discouraged that he doesn’t know his letters and numbers yet (blame the teacher in me). But-the other day during bedtime story time I counted the characters and he followed three with four. Forget about 1-3, but he’s got 4 and 5 down. He also knows the letter B :) I realize there are 25 more letters and lots of kids know more numbers and letters than he does, but I’m proud. He’s doing very well at verbalizing what he wants. I hate that he gets hurt, but like that he can tell me what hurts now. And FINALLY he now calls water “water” and not “owie”! Woohoo!!!

And since this is the story of Ben and his siblings I like to document everything. I really think the worst part of my job is parents, but yet I have NO issues being a high maintenance momma. Each day I pick him up and most of the time hear how great he was. Last week I pick him up and his teacher gives me a laundry list of ‘bad’ things he does. It was hard to hear and I was pretty upset by the time I got home. I know my boy is far from perfect and does not like to share, but don’t tell me each day how great he is and then act like he does these awful things each day. She also suggested I kick him back like she did with her own child. So this didn’t sit well with me and the next day I had a long talk with the director about what I was told and my thoughts on it. I am very grateful for his daycare and will never question or regret that we sent him there. It’s really been a good thing for our family, but there are some things I will not let slide. I know his teacher probably did not mean to say those things the way they came out and I do tend to be a bit emotional (along with being extra hormonal these days). She apologized a million times to me the next day. It was a little awkward-yes. My aunt always said teachers make the worse moms. Maybe they do, but I will never back down from being my little man’s advocate (watch out kindergarten teachers)!

Hopefully the next time I blog it will a. not be so long between posts and b. we will have a name!

I’ve been really bad at picture taking lately, but here’s what I have:

Hard at work the day I kept him home sick (this was before the run with the baseball bat-which now lives outside)

He found a pair of my shoes and walked through the house with them on (notice they are on the wrong feet)

Daddy’s little helper

It’s Ben in a box!