couch conversations...

hi everybody!!


so, we're pretty excited around here lately!

i'm sleeping through the night! i have been for two weeks now - yahoo! mom did secretly enjoy our one-on-one quiet cuddle time in the middle of the night before i dropped my last feeding, but i think she's pretty glad to be in her own bed the whole night now. and so am i - usually 7:30p to 7:00 or 7:30a - woohoo! momma says i'm the best baby ever (and ben is the best little boy ever, of course!), and i try to be coy about all her praise but can't really say momma is wrong...

i'm not eating solids yet, though. we tried it once a few days ago, and this is what i thought of that yucky rice cereal - who invented that stuff and thought it was the first food that a baby would want to eat?!?!

can't i just have some ice cream, peaches, watermelon, cookies, or something yummy like everyone else? totally uncool... um, what else?... momma wants me to be her boyfriend and tries to eat me and kiss me pretty much all day... can you blame her? look at this face - she says, "yum!"...

silly momma, i can't be your boyfriend... what would daddy think?

oh, i just remembered something else!

when we're in the car sometimes and ben gets bored, instead of saying "i'm bored" he says "ben hold something" or lately has been much better about forming sentences and so says "i wanna hold something." momma tries to bring along toys or random things of interest to him, but sometimes she just says, "hold your breath."

it's actually fun to do for a little while! then he'll just draw on the magnadoodle or make up silly songs with momma. oh, wait! ben is doing something cool over there!

see, this is what i'm talking about - cookie batter - yum! yes, please! put that stuff on a spoon and i'm sure it will slide right down!

but ben, what are you doing? does mom know you're doing that?

you've sure have been eating treats a lot lately!

oh well, you'll burn it off running around i'm sure! just save some for me, bro!

ooooh, check please! momma has my bottle ready and since that's all i get for now, i'll take it!

gotta go! thanks for stopping in. see you next time!

and p.s. to jess (formerly newbold) gray - i saw all your pictures from the wedding and you sure did look pretty! since momma can't really be my girlfriend, maybe you could be instead? :) thanks for checking in on us and hopefully i can meet you sometime soon!

a general hello...

hi there! first up, it's me, ben. would you like some ice cream?!?! momma made me an ice cream truck the other day - isn't it neat? i love it! it's actually some fleece and felt she sewed to go over a card table. she has had a craft project like this on her list for months, and was going to make it super cute with a different theme on each side, really cool things sewn on, etc. but then one day last week we decided to make this one together on a whim. she says it looks ghetto (esp compared to other ones you see moms make online), but i think it's perfect and it was fun to make it together. we even listen to ice cream truck music off the computer while we're playing in it. fun!


here's a picture i requested of me wearing the socks that beamee gave me while i play with maggie dog (formerly bowzer dog, now maggie, who is mimsie and grandpa's dog in real life, and my new best friend next to blankie). i talk about maggie dog all the time, as if she was actually our own dog. she plays with me throughout the day and goes on errands with us sometimes. for some reason i pretend that my parents' bed is maggie dog's car and we sit in it and drive around during the day (while we wear belt seat belts of course). anyway, here's actually almost a real smile out of me...

and here i am getting busted having too many drinks from the root beer at moonie's burgers. i sure do love root beer but usually only get just a few drinks from daddy's...

and i love playing with daddy's "boofcase" from work - super fun! and momma of course loves that i'm small enough to fit inside...

okay, that's all from me for now. luke wanted to say a few words next...

hi! look - i'm sitting up with help now - fun! and i'm playing in the jumperoo like ben used to... at first i wasn't that excited about it and thought it was a little weird (and wondered why isn't momma just holding me like she always does)...

but after a few times, i'm a pro and really love hanging out in there for exercise and getting to play with new toys and gadgets... (two pictures of nearly the same thing because momma couldn't decide which was cuter and was pretty sure the relatives wouldn't mind!)...

i like to keep momma company while she does laundry...

and i went swimming for the first time last week! it's still really hot here, but it was perfect for an evening swim. you can see how excited i am, thrilled even... (mom and dad remember that ben was the exact same way as a baby - how funny!)...

and i'm finally enjoying tummy time a bit more - yea!

i can roll over from my tummy to my back but don't do it very often at all. and momma knows i could roll from my back to my tummy, but i haven't technically done that all on my own yet. i prefer to just take it easy around here, if you know what i mean. rolling over seems like work so i just mostly stay where i am, and although mom previously tried guilt-tripping me into doing it by telling me that ben was rolling over both ways by two and a half months old, she decided to stop doing that since i'm so cute and easier to keep track of if i just stay in one place anyway (not to mention the psychological repurcussions - augh, mom!).

well, that's about all for us. things are moving right along and we're really, really looking forward to fall. we've already been to the park a lot more as it gets a tiny bit cooler, and ben and i are loving each other more and more as i can do more things with him (and type the word "more" a lot). i "talk" a lot throughout the day now and am just a super happy baby. and ben is an awesome big brother to me. we sure do love each other...

(but we only have the patience for so many pictures, sorry momma...)

okay, bye!

our august...

hi everyone. luke here, to give a quick update on our august (so far). first up, a little game of - - name that baby!

round one...

how do you think you're doing so far?

round two...

and one more chance...

round three...

as you can imagine, major deja vu for momma! i am shown first in each set of pictures, and that's ben second. we really don't look that much alike if you look closely, but momma and daddy sure can whip up some chubby, bald, cute little boys, huh? :) i had my first swings at the park last week and sure did like it! we went again today, and i'm really excited about getting old enough to do some new things like that. you can see how quickly momma settled into second-child-syndrome because she wouldn't dream of bothering with shoes for me, let alone socks or pants even.

we also went to the kolache and donut shop last weekend (as ben has posted on in the past). i was really good and even got to have my first donut!!

okay, i didn't really get to eat it, but i was really good in my carseat while everyone else chowed down in front of me. i know my time is coming. (cute bus shirt on ben courtesy of mimsie and grandpa!)

we also went out to eat dinner last week at momma and daddy's favorite local italian restaurant and i was so good, yet again, in my carseat while they ate some yummy food. i'm a pretty happy baby...

but i do still get toted around in my carseat a lot while momma runs us around on life's errands and outings and sometimes that does get a little irritating...

i try to be good, though, and almost always am. and usually i do it with a big smile. ben, on the other hand, continues to be a little booger a majority of the time. "who, me?" he says...

he somehow manages to find his way into momma's heart to melt it every day, though, so she's still keeping him around. he can flash a good smile, too, and also knows when to say, "momma, you're beautiful." but i've also seen him pull this jedi-mind-trick move a time or two as well... "momma, you will not list me on ebay... you will not list me on ebay..."

actually, momma knows if she did that, aunt elaina would just bid on him, anyway, so she'd just as soon keep him under close eyes herself. who knows what kind of mischief he'd get into up in indiana with those girls all day! :)

anyway, we're doing good and truckin' right along. i'm four months old now and like to chew on toys, of course, and i've started teething, but i pretty much still just eat and sleep and make googly eyes at momma. i love to watch ben and see what he's doing, and one of my favorite parts of the day is when daddy comes home from work and i see him and remember that he exists all over again. good stuff. ben has been having fun using his imagination in all kinds of cool ways and he will try to post more on that in the next couple of days (or longer, hard to say really). thanks for checking in. bye!!