We're moving!

Well, we're in the process, so this blog has been sadly slacking. Keep us in your prayers. Thank heavens my parents are here. I honestly don't know what we would do without them. They have been helping pack, move boxes, and just watching Bennett so Rob and I could go to our closing, make 10pm trips to Home Depot, sit in the new house and assemble ceiling fans after B's bedtime, etc....

I'll post pictures once we are in, but in the meantime, pray that little Will does not decide to come early and that we can get settled as quickly as possible. Also, keep Bennett in your prayers. She has been a trooper through crazy nap schedules, all of her food being packed up, her parents gone constantly, and three houses in 15 months. It's been crazy, but we're almost there.

I'm moving again. Catch me if you can!

15 month stats

Bennett had her 15 month check up today. I am here to say that letting Nurse Ratchets stick needles into your child does NOT get easier as they get older. I thought that maybe as she got older I could handle it better, but it's quite the opposite. Now she can throw her arms around my neck and sob, "Mamama." Sigh...

But anyway, my little girl weighs 20lbs and 4oz which is in the 10% for weight. She is 30 3/4 inches long and her head circumference is 18" and both of those put her in the 50% range.

She is doing wonderfully with her verbal skills. In fact, she repeated everything the doctor said to her which was awesome. The doctor blew bubbles on her and she said, "bubble." The doctor gave her a toy duck and she said, "Duck-ah." And pretty much any word or farm animal sound I asked her to say, she would, so that was good. However, she is still not walking unassisted. Grrrrr...... Girlfriend is on a 5 week deadline b/c I cannot carry a car seat with an infant and a 20 lb toddler around. But she walks with her little stroller, her car, and when you're holding her hands she can walk, so hopefully in 5 weeks we will be good to go. If not, we are never leaving the house.

So, we survived another check-up and another round of shots. I cannot believe I held this tiny pink bundle 15 months ago. I can't believe how much our lives have changed this past year. All I know is that through all of the change and craziness, she has been our constant and our joy and I cannot imagine one day of my life without her. Here are a few shots of my beautiful and healthy and happy 15 month old with two of her favorite playmates.

Will's nursery

Ummm..... do you know how hard this is for a woman 6 weeks away from giving birth and in full blown nesting instinct mode? Thank goodness we move in a week.

Jiggle Jam

One of the reasons I was so excited to move to KC was that I had read that KC ranked 3rd in the US for outdoor family festivals. And so far, it's true. I reminds me of growing up in Northern Virginia where there was always something going on. I get these local parents magazines and on any given day, you can choose between dozens of activities for families and kids. It really is a great place to live. Today, we took advantage of one of those and went to Jiggle Jam!!

Bennett enjoyed eating a blissfully unhealthy diet of chicken nuggets and frozen lemonade

She wasn't afraid of the characters at all. In fact, she waved at them.

She practiced her walking with Daddy.

She made silly faces with Mommy.

And she sighed dejectedly as she watched the older kids enjoy the inflatables. Don't worry little B. Next year you can play all you want and baby Will can sigh dejectedly.

We came home and took naps and then decided the dogs needed to have some fun too, so we rounded them up and headed to the local dog park.

What a fun day!

Two awkward conversations

I had to call my health care provider yesterday to see if circumcision was covered under our policy. I got a young man on the other line who couldn't have been older than 18. He giggled a lot at my question. I felt awkward. He kept making me repeat my question. I think it was on purpose. He giggled more. He told me that we were covered and should be good to go. Then he giggled as I hung up.

I also met my new post man yesterday. He was a little off. You know what I mean. He stopped me in the front yard of my new house to tell me the "rules." I was slightly taken aback. I have never had a post man explain rules to me before. He told me that under no circumstance was anyone to park in front of the mailboxes. I told him that I knew that. He stared at me. I told him that there had been a lot of workers at our house and asked him if there had been a problem. He told me that there hadn't been. Just not to ever do it. I stared back at him and said, "Okay." He walked off and said, "Just wanted to tell you the rules." I felt like yelling at him that his rule was a pretty universal one, but I let it go. I still had a giggling call center boy in my head and didn't want to talk anymore.

Uh oh, Bye-Bye, and a few steps

Bennett really does have an amazing vocabulary. I don't think Will has a chance of talking until he's 3 because he won't be able to get a word in. Bennett talks constantly. Her newest thing is to say "Bye Bye" to everything. When we read books, she will close them and say, "Bye bye book." When we are playing in the basement and walk upstairs she will say, "Bye-bye bay-min." That's pretty amazing to me.

She also loves to drop things and say, "Uh-oh." I know that's normal, but it is so funny when she throws her juice across the room. She will say, "UH-OH! Bye-Bye joos."

And I love the she associates words with things now. If we are in the car and she starts crying, I will say, "Do you want to go home?" and she will yell, "MEG!" She associates our dog with home. Every time we ask her about home she always says, "MEG!" Rob will ask her if she wants to watch Elmo and she will say, "Lalalala." Apparently she knows Elmo by his opening song. I am working on teaching her the opening tune to "The Office" but I guess it's not as catchy as Elmo.

Although her talking is pretty fabulous, her walking is still not. About 2 weeks ago she took 3 steps on her own. I called my Mom ecstatic and told her it would be any day now. Two weeks later, she will still take about three steps and that's it. She can walk from this ottoman we have to the couch completely upright, but that's as far as she will go. Rob keeps scooting the ottoman further out, and I think she might have done 4 steps the other night, but then she just crawls up on the ottoman and sits there and tells us to "Go Bed."

We have had to teach her "feet first" because she crawls up on everything. She now crawls up in her glider in her nursery, the couches, chairs, boxes, you name it. So, we taught her feet first and after a few tumbles on her head, she got it. It's so cute because she will be sitting on the couch, start to fall over and then mumble, "ffffuuuhhhh" which I can decipher as her version of "feet first" and she turns around safely.

Okay, I'm done gushing. Thanks for letting me go on and on about my baby for several paragraphs. I honestly think the hardest thing about this move has been taking Bennett away from everyone who loved her so much. I don't have anyone here to brag about my baby with, so this blog has at least allowed an adoring parent an outlet to share what's going on with her little one. I miss all of my family and friends in Montgomery who would delight in Bennett along with me and it gets lonely at times seeing all of these things by myself, so at least the Internet has allowed me to feel somewhat connected with my loved ones back home, and allowed me to share Bennett with those who love her as much as I do.

Meet our baby boy

Here is our 4D ultrasound of William Lang Webster. He would not turn around despite my drinking caffeine, jumping up and down, and crawling all over the ultrasound table. So, all we have are profile shots and a great one of him yawning. We can't wait to meet him (IN SIX AND A HALF WEEKS!!) and we have been trying to get Bennett to say, "Will" for a long time now. Today, she finally got it and said, "Wuh." He doesn't look at all like Bennett's 4D so maybe this one will look a tiny bit like me, because his big sister is all Daddy in the looks department.

Oh, and the name. William was a name we both loved. It also happens to be my grandfathers name. We didn't choose it because of that, but it's a very nice coincidence. Lang is Rob's father's middle name and we thought it worked nicely with William. And Will Webster has a sort of Braveheartish ring to it, don't you think? We always loved our nephew's name which is Max Marshall. We like the alliteration and that it is simple, yet solid. So considering all of those things- there you go. Will Webster. And did I mention that he will be here in SIX AND A HALF WEEKS???

The beginning of the end

It's almost all over. My days of getting by without her noticing things I mean. I can still sneak some things past her, but that's getting less and less every day.

I can't take her to the grocery store. She notices when I put bananas in the cart and yells, "nana" over and over until she has a come apart. I took her into a store yesterday and she kept grabbing toys off of the bottom shelf since she was in her stroller. I kept taking them from her and placing them back which didn't affect her until she saw a toy Elmo. When I took Elmo from her- well, let's just say we made a quick exit from the store.

Also, I turned her car seat around. I know, I know... they say now to wait until they are 2. But, we did. Now I slightly regret that. I can't stop at Sonic anymore. I crave a cherry limeade almost every day. Now, when I get one, she cries out "juice!" until we get home. And I am not about to order her anything from Sonic, so those trips are over. I tried giving her a sippy cup every time I ordered something. That worked for about 2 minutes. The she would drop it, yell "uh oh" and cry until we got home because mommy had "juice" and she didn't.

I am glad she is growing and learning. But is it wrong to miss the unobservant baby who you could do just about anything in front of and not feel guilty? Oh, well. I have another one of those coming. I'll leave Bennett with Dad and take the baby to Sonic. Then I can drink whatever I want and he will be facing the back and never know what he is missing.

Too tired to do anything about it

I am tired today. I mean tired! I woke up tired and have not been able to walk 10 feet without feeling like I was going to pass out. I am tired of meeting lawn services, painters, fence builders, blind hangers, and inspectors. For every category I mentioned, I have had to meet three of them to get good estimates. That means loading Bennett up, completely throwing nap schedules out of the window and keeping track of her in an empty house for an hour for each meeting I have.

I am tired of packing in all of my spare time. I am tired of lugging boxes up and down stairs. I am tired of reading books. I am tired of farm animal noises (even though her new one is precious. For a rooster she says, "Cocka-oooohhh.") I am tired of washing sippy cups, going to the grocery store 4 times a week because I always forget something, and changing diapers. I am tired of the baby kicking me every time I lay down to rest and I am tired of going through 2 bottles of TUMS a week.

Are you all following me on this? I'm tired. So today, I did something I would normally never do. I pulled Bennett's high chair in the living room and let her watch cartoons while she ate lunch. I am not even going to feel guilty about strapping her in a chair and forcing her to watch TV while she eats. I need a break. And so now, as I sit on the couch with the laptop in my lap watching her eat, I am too tired to do anything about what she is doing right now.

She is staring at me, opening the front of her shirt and dropping her food piece by piece down the front of her shirt. When I tell her no and point to her mouth, she looks at me in the eye and down goes another goldfish. And you know what? I'm not getting up. Her Dad can just give her a bath tonight.

Okay, who am I kidding? I am borderline OCD and a clean freak. I must put an end to the madness. Maybe I will rest tomorrow.

Daddy's girl

Bennett LOVES "Dada." I mean I cannot tell you how much she loves him. When he was the worship leader at our church, she would kick every time she heard him sing. At 21 weeks I would walk into the Worship Center and she would be very still. Then Rob's voice would come through the mic and all of a sudden she would do flip flops.

When I was in the hospital with the blood clot, I was hooked up to fetal monitors to track her movements. There wouldn't be a blip on the screen until Rob walked into the room. All of a sudden the machines would record tons of movement. I have witnesses to this so people would actually believe me.

When Bennett was 2 minutes old, she was crying (obviously) and they took her over to be cleaned. Rob followed and started singing to her. She stopped crying and stared at him and held his finger.

Fast Forward 14 months later and nothing has changed. If the phone rings and it's not "DaDa" on the other line she has a complete melt down and cries for him. Every time she hears a door, a phone, a garage door opening, it must be, "Dada." They have a relationship that is so beautiful to watch and I am so thankful for a husband that loves his little girl so very much.

Maybe I should have saved this post for Father's Day. But in our house, that tends to be every day.

Who likes holidays anyway?

This past year we have been a little off in the "special day" department. Let's see- for my 30th birthday I had to work all morning and all evening, so we met my family halfway between our houses at the only restaurant that was halfway. Shoney's. So I spent my 30th birthday working and at the breakfast buffet.

Then Rob was gone all of December, so Christmas Day was wonderful, but the month itself was a little rough. I got really sick on Valentine's Day and Easter Sunday was spent at an IHOP due to a working husband and a cranky baby.

So today is Mother's Day. And Rob is in West Virginia. It was the only weekend he could go, so it's just me and the kiddo. I tried to teach her how to make me breakfast in bed, but she wasn't getting it. I begged her to let me sleep in today, but she was up at her normal time yelling, "Nana!" And since I am pretty sure I am going to be in labor on our anniversary, I am going to go ahead and count that one out as well.

But, why is Mother's Day only special if you get breakfast in bed? Or if you go out to a nice lunch with your children after church? I think that I get to have have the best day possible because I woke up to the best gift God has ever given me. We ate breakfast together and I made her laugh by tickling her toes. We played in her room and made horse sounds together. I read her books. We are going to have a picnic lunch together today just me and Bennett. We are going to go to a park and play. We are going to nap together this afternoon. We are going to go to church together tonight, and afterwards, we may go for a wagon ride and then go out for ice cream. Well, I will get ice cream. She will get a sippy cup. We are going to splash in her tub and then read stories before bed. We are going to pray for our new baby brother who will here to celebrate with us next year. And then a few hours later I am going to wake her up and we are going to go pick up Daddy from the airport.

So actually, I think this is going to be the best Mother's Day possible.

The Moving Story

I think I mislead a few of you when I said that we were moving again. We are moving, but not out of Kansas. When we moved in January, we moved into a rental house. We planned to stay here until our house in Montgomery sold, but a few things happened.

1. Interest rates are at an all time low and we could really save money by buying now. Plus you can get great deals on houses.

2. Our rental house turned out to be a house I didn't really want to stay in for another year. It has an amazing yard and is absolutely huge. But the rest is a different story.

3. And finally, I have this crazy nesting instinct going on and with all the change in my life, I just needed some stability. I wanted to paint a nursery, hang pictures on the wall, and do all sorts of things that would be hard if you were in a rental house indefinitely.

So, there you go. We are moving again in 3 1/2 weeks. We love our new house. It has a tiny back yard, but that is really the only draw back. And so now, in every spare second I have, I am packing boxes, picking out paint colors, getting estimates on blinds, etc.... And I will be moving when I am 9 months pregnant. Lovely. But I would rather do that then move with an active 1 year old and an infant so keep us in your prayers.

And here's another picture of Bennett in our front yard. The picture has absolutely nothing to do with this blog post other than the fact that I just wanted to post it. Look at this front yard and neighborhood that we are giving up! Oh, well. You'd understand if you saw the inside of the house. Oh, and see that red hair coming in? Like she had a choice.

What people must think of us

We are moving (again) in about a month. That is a whole other story for a much longer blog post so I will save that for another time. But anyway, we had a moving company come to our house last night to give us an estimate. The man they sent was a nice guy and I realized that you have to have a lot of trust in your moving company because they are looking in every drawer, closet, and corner that you have.

So anyway, he was looking all around our house and not saying too much, but just writing notes on his pad. He ignored all of the mic cables and video cameras. He didn't say anything as he looked at all of the boxes of wigs, ketchup bottle costumes, and royal crowns. He slightly hesitated as he opened a closet and saw 5 guitars, a mandolin, and about 20 harmonicas. But when he got to our basement and saw life size Phantom and Annie posters as well as another guitar, mic stand, and a salt shaker costume, he finally put down his pad and looked at us and said, "Okay. I just have to ask. What do you guys do?"

He seemed relieved when we said that Rob used to be a worship leader and I taught drama to kids and all of the video gear was that we were both into video production. I think he bought it, but he left pretty quickly after that. If we go with this company, he will probably put a word out to all of his employees- don't ask questions about this family. Just pack.

But enough of that. Here's a picture of Bennett playing in our yard over the weekend. On day she will appreciate our costumes, posters, microphones, and she already LOVES it when Daddy plays the guitar for her, so there you go. :-)

Dang, she's funny

Okay, I know every parent thinks that their child is hysterical, but Bennett really does crack me up. I could just throw the computer and TV out the window, because she is all the entertainment that I need.

Example #1. We all know that she tells our dogs to "GO BED" every time she sees them. Well, yesterday she took it to a whole new level. Rob and I went grocery shopping together because shopping with the whole family makes it a lot more fun, right? I was pushing the cart and he had Bennett in the stroller. I put a huge bag of dog food underneath the cart on that little shelf thing. (I don't know what else to call it.) I was looking at my list to see what was next and Rob said, "Ummmm... are you listening to our daughter?" I turned around and Bennett was staring intently at the cart and saying, "GO BED GO BED GO BED!" I looked at she was staring at the picture of the yellow lab on the bag of dog food and giving that poor picture it's marching orders. Even pictures of dogs aren't immune to Bennett's scoldings.

Example #2. She knows a few farm animal sounds now. I am going to post a video as soon as I get around to it, but if you ask her what a horse says she will say, "NAY!" and she will tell you that a cow says, "OOOOOO" and if you ask her what a chicken says, she will say, "Bock Bock Bock."

So, anyway, I feed her chicken a lot. She used to say the word "chicken" but now it's "bock bock." So the other night Rob was feeding her chicken nuggets and a banana. She would yell, "nana" and she would get a piece of banana. And then she would yell "bock bock" and she would get a piece of chicken. We laughed for about 10 minutes as she kept asking for more "bock bock." And now that's whatever she says when we go into a restaurant. I will pull out her little place mat and she will ask for some "nana" and "bock bock."

What does it mean?

What does it mean when you go to a restaurant and when they seat you they place on your table two menus and a bottle of hand sanitizer? Does it mean that they think you are grimy and to please sanitize yourself before you touch their menus? Does it mean that the hostess has been in their kitchen and is trying to protect you from the utensils she is about to place in front of you? I can't figure it out. A huge bottle of hand sanitizer brought to your table before you order. Again, what does it mean??