blue eyes

pool time

3 boys with airplanes

Owen and Ben both have colds, and Richard and I are beat, so we are laying low this Memorial Day weekend.

Owen and Richard are out planting some new trees- actually Richard's planting and Owen's playing with the hose. Yesterday we watched a bit of the Indy 500, hoping to see my dad marching with the Purdue Alumni Band. They didn't show the band. Owen likes bike racing better.

Ben keeps getting bigger and stronger. He can now roll from his front to his back and from his back to his front with some effort. We have several play stations set up for him, and he goes from one to another, gnawing on his various toys. Owen loves to interact with him as much as possible- sharing toys with him and rubbing his head (likely why they both have colds now). Ben's still not sleeping much at night- 1.5-2 hour stretches- but he's gained some weight. He was 19 lbs 2 oz two weeks after his 4 month check-up, so he gained over a pound. Eating food is a battle- mostly rice cereal still with some sweet potatoes. Seems like less than 10% of the food is consumed. We make 4-5 attempts a day, so between that and nursing, Ben and I are kept busy. We have about a month and a half before I go back to work, so we need to fix this sleeping issue soon! At the moment I am not able to make complete thoughts or sentences...

visitors!

We had guests last weekend. Kristi and her boys Jackson and Henry drove down from Richland, WA last Friday, and Lori and her daughter Annika flew in from San Diego on Saturday morning. The boys had a great time together romping at the park and around the house. The babies enjoyed looking at each other- though not too closely once Ben grabbed a big chunk of Annika's hair. And us girls, of course, had a wonderful time shopping, eating, and catching up. I didn't take too many pictures-we were out numbered by kids all weekend- but here's a few that I did get.

sleeping in my arms

A great mom perk.

ben playing with socks

rolling over

It happens very quick here...

flight training

weight training

When is a 18 pound 4 month old underweight? When they are supposed to be 19 pounds. Ben had his 4 month checkup, and gained less than a pound last month. So Ben and I are spending the next month focusing on eating. Two goals: to gain weight, and to sleep more at night (he was sleeping 8 hour stretches, then got down to only 1.5 hour stretches). Richard started giving him rice cereal, and he's slowly learning how to eat it. He seemed to enjoy the new experience at first.

Ben's 4 month stats:

17 lbs, 15 oz

28 inches

spring training

all the chicks dig ben

Some more wonderful pictures of Ben from my favorite photographer, Heather Stokes. We went to her house last weekend for a photo shoot with her baby chicks and in her new photo studio. They also fed us some amazing pizza and ended the night with s'mores over a fire- best photo session ever, I think. She even printed these pictures and I was able to have them hung in Ben's room for our home tour this weekend. I got so much feedback on his pictures- I think Heather may have a new career available. Ben is showing so much personality in the wagon pictures, and the picture on the white blanket really captures him- his big beautiful eyes and sweet expression. Owen had a great time playing with Sylvie and petting the chicks.