Lollipop Face

I took the kids to the mall on Monday to do a little Christmas shopping and to let them play in the kid's area since it's been cold and rainy most of the week. On our way out, we stopped at the See's Candy kiosk. We don't have any See's Candy stores in Georgia and we only get small kiosks during the holiday season with pre-packaged boxes of chocolates. 

See's is the very essence of Christmas to me. We would get See's (or at least a gift certificate for See's) every year in our stockings. I can't not have a box of See's Candy during the holidays. 

After purchasing a pound of chocolate, the cashier gave Benjamin and Adelaide a chocolate lollipop which I let the kids open and eat as we made our way to the car and then home. When I pulled up in our driveway and went to get Benjamin out of his seat, I discovered him looking like this. 

I'm not even sure how he got his lollipop all over his face like that but it was too cute not to snap some pictures of. This boy makes me smile even when he's naughty. 

One of Those Days

It was one of those days, you know? It's Wednesday which means Adelaide normally has preschool. After getting David and Zara off to work and school respectively, I quickly got Benjamin, Adelaide, and myself dressed and ready while trying to make a shopping list and process a return to an online store. I finally get us loaded up in the car (late, naturally) and then hit lots of construction and traffic on the way. We rotate where preschool is held among the five girls and today's host is normally a 15 minute drive away, but today it took half an hour. I was already disgruntled when I arrived only to be informed that preschool had been cancelled and I must have missed the text. 

I needed to be out that way to run errands so no big deal, but now it meant that I would have to take Adelaide with me to Zara's Thanksgiving luncheon and we were crunched for time. So I quickly stopped at the FedEx store to drop off my package, booked it to Sprouts where I blitzed through grabbing things as quickly as I could, and then raced back to the car and home where I threw the necessary items in the refrigerator and made it to Zara's school just in time. 

We ate a Thanksgiving meal with Zara. Of course Zara refused to eat the turkey and stuffing and got a different meal; Adelaide only halfheartedly ate her food, and Benjamin wanted to feed himself the sweet potato souffle which of course ended up all over himself and me.

We got back from Zara's lunch and let Benjamin and Adelaide play outside for a little bit. Benjamin just wanted to play in the dirt and Adelaide just wanted to play with the cat. So I grabbed my camera and had a little impromptu photo shoot. I managed to get a few good shots even though Benjamin was studiously trying to avoid looking at me.

I'm particularly proud of this snot bubble right here. Benjamin has been dripping so much the last few days.

And now maybe the day can stop being so crazy. Right? Right?

Preschool Field Trip: Marietta City Fire Station No. 51

Two weeks ago, Adelaide's preschool class learned about F for fire. Angela, the mom, did a whole lesson on firefighters, fire safety, and fire trucks. And this week, she set up a visit to the Marietta City fire station No. 51 which also has a small museum attached which houses fire trucks from 1921, 1929, and 1879. We had wonderful guides--Firefighter Steve and Heck--who clearly love being firefighters and giving tours to young kids. Firefighter Steve was great with the kids. He obviously has kids of his own.

We started in the museum before heading to the actual fire station. We invited all the preschool groups to join us so we had a large group. One of the moms--a professional photographer--took a few photos which she shared with the group. (I cannot claim responsibility for all these photos, especially the good ones.)

Like this one of sweet Louisa. I love that you can see Benjamin smiling (though a bit blurrily) in the background. 

They even had firefighter Amanda dress up in all her gear (all 50 pounds of it!) and show the kids that they are the same person inside their gear and not to be afraid of firefighters and that they are your friends.

They even let the kids (and moms) have a chance to sit in their brand new fire engines.

Benjamin was SO excited to sit in the fire truck. He did not want to get out.

 All the kids got their own fire hats and badges.

Here's all the kids who came on the field trip. I'm surprised that even the babies sat for the photo. You'll notice that Landon, who has a little crush on Adelaide, is standing right next to her. 

And here's our massively large group. I had no idea the museum even existed but I'm so glad we had a chance to visit. We had a great time and the kids LOVED the firefighters and fire trucks.

Benjamin's First Birthday

Hi friends. It's been awhile I'm afraid and now I need to play a little bit of catch-up. Let's do this.

First up, Benjamin's first birthday! I know everyone says the time flies but since this is my baby and probably my last baby I keep thinking of him as small and tiny and he is neither of those things. This is a very big and old baby. In fact, he's been in 18 month clothes for a few months already and wears 24 month clothes in some things. He still refuses to walk (what's up with that?) but we've been forcing him to walk with us more (holding our hands) and he's getting much better at him. I assume he'll be walking by himself with no problem by the end of September. But since both Zara and Adelaide were walking by 10 months, Benjamin just feels needlessly lazy to me since he clearly is sturdy enough. I think he just enjoys being carried everywhere.

Benjamin is typically an incredibly happy child. He loves to laugh and clap and he'll smile at anyone who looks his way. He's a shameless flirt. He loves to screech. Loudly. He LOVES to climb. He loves to sit and spin wheels on anything that has one. He flips over his stroller constantly just so he can spin their wheels.

FAVORITE FOOD: yogurt bites, cheetos, baby food pouches, hot dogs

FAVORITE ANIMAL: cats

FAVORITE CANDY: cookies

FAVORITE BOOK:  Do I read to him? I guess not. 

FAVORITE COLOR: blue, red

FAVORITE SHOW: Chuggington

FAVORITE MOVIE: Zootopia
FAVORITE SONG: Pretty much all the songs

FAVORITE TOY: anything with wheels, school bus

FAVORITE THING TO DO: smile, clap, and climb
FAVORITE PLACE: the park

The Repaired Camera!

Over two years ago, Zara knocked over our dresser which sent my Nikon D5100 tumbling to the ground. Though the camera could still take photos, the LCD screen was broken. I assumed it was a loose wire or damage to the circuit board but as we didn't have the money to fix it, I just went on taking photos "blind" and hoping they came out okay (like we did in the olden days before digital). I still managed to take some good photos but it also meant that I often didn't get the best lighting or use the best settings since I couldn't preview the photos on the screen.

We finally decided it was time to get it fixed and as luck would have it the only certified Nikon repair shop in the whole state of Georgia just happens to be 15 minutes from our house. I picked up the newly fixed camera back in February and had to take Benjamin out for some new photos. It's so nice to have a fully functioning camera again even if i still don't know what half the buttons/settings do. Maybe I should read the manual....but then again, it's all in Korean. 

Anyway, here are a few photographs of Benjamin from February. I need to take him out for another photo shoot soon. He's growing up way too fast. He's already wearing some 18 month clothes!

smile emoticon

Asleep in His Highchair

Never in the history of ever has any one of our three kids ever fallen asleep in an unusual place like their high chair. But Benjamin did today and I felt it needed to be documented. 

I picked up Zara early from school today because she was running a fever. She didn't want to eat anything and just went to sleep in my bed. Adelaide was being cranky and crazy and after her second accident after several days of none, I stuck her in her room to sleep the cranky off. So Benjamin and I didn't get our lunches until a little later. I set him up with his favorites (Cheetos and frozen yogurt) and was eating my own lunch at the table and checking things on my computer. 

He was making cute noises and then the next time I looked over, he was asleep. I'm just going to let him be and enjoy this rare and unusual gift of three children all asleep at the same time during the daylight hours.

A Little Helping of Benjamin

We need a little bit more Benjamin up in here. This baby is hardly a baby anymore and it makes me sad. He crawls everywhere, pulls himself up on everything, and puts everything except for actual food into his mouth. He has quite the distaste for pureed baby foods but he does like Cheetos. He also looks a lot like Adelaide. I should post some comparison photos. Still, this baby does my heart good. Everyone always comments on what a happy baby is. He does love to smile.

Selfies

I'm not much for selfie culture. I'm not much for photos of myself period but occasionally I like to have some proof that I exist, especially since I'm the one usually behind the camera. I was a little bored waiting for the girls to finish playing in their bath tonight so I showed Benjamin himself in the mirror and he seemed to think he was pretty great.  I just had to capture a few selfies. 

I adore this kid. 

The Baby That Ate My Baby

Why do babies have to grow so big so quickly? For example:

Here is one Benjamin Button, aged 1 month.

And here is that same child, aged 4 months. 

At least, I think it's the same child. It may also be the child that ate my baby. Hard to tell. 

Benjamin is Two Months!

Somehow Benjamin is two months old. I don't know where the time went. It sure speeds up when you've got a newborn. Benjamin is luckily a delightfully wonderful baby. He sure loves his milk (and has the chunk to prove it) but he's generally pretty easy going and allows me to put him down to get stuff done. He doesn't take consistent naps during the day (being that our comings and goings vary so much each day) but he is a great nighttime sleeper and often sleeps in long 5-7 stretches. He smiles more readily now and makes some very cute cooing noises. 

My biggest challenge, really, is trying to keep his sisters from crushing him with their constant love and attention. He generally likes the attention, but they never want to leave him alone.

Three days after his birth, Benjamin had lost quite a bit of his birth weight (8 pounds 4 ounces down from a birth weight of 8 lb. 12 oz)  and seemed to be struggling to add weight. I worried that he wasn't eating enough and weighed him nearly everyday.

I guess I shouldn't have worried so much because now Benjamin is a super chunk and weighs in the 90-95th percentile. At his one month check-up, he weighed 11 lb. 5 oz and was 22 inches long. But at his two month check-up, he weighed 13 lb. 12 oz (5 pounds since birth!) and was 24.5 inches long.

This little boy makes being a parent of three as easy as it can be, which is not very easy at all. But we love our little B.