Life these days

Sorry in advance about the long blog post. Unless you are my Mom, don't feel obligated to read the whole thing. How would I describe our life these days? Crazy, tiring, fun, long, and just plain happy. My parents left yesterday and I already miss them so much. They were incredibly helpful and just fun to have around. I enjoy having lots of people around and so I have loved having someone to watch movies with, talk to, and play board games with at night. I miss them terribly and Bennett has been asking for "Suttle" all day.

Bennett is awesome. She just is. I know every parent feels this way about their kid, but I just delight in her. Her mind is like a sponge and she is getting more adorable every day. I can't even keep track of her words anymore. She talks constantly and puts so many phrases together. She loves Will and when he cries, she will say. "Uh-oh! Will. Cry!" She also kisses Will constantly. She will see him, squeal, and go over and kiss his head.

She can tell you exactly what she wants. When it is meal time she will say, Juice, Cracker, Gape (grape,) Bock Bock (chicken,) Cake(pancake,) and so on. She knows her standard foods and will ask for each of them by name. At night she will tell me which book she wants to read. Pop Pop (Hop on Pop,) Bible, Go Bed Meg (Her book about dogs,) Piper (her photo album with picture of family members,) or Lala (Her book about Elmo. She calls it LaLa after the theme song.) If you pick out the wrong one, she will shake her head, say, Noooo..... and then repeat which one she wants until you get it right. Then she has to sleep holding her book of the night or her flashcards. When I go to check on her before I go to sleep she is usually clutching a book in one hand a flashcard in the other. The girl knows what she wants!

She can repeat almost any word you say to her. My parents were telling me every day new words they taught her and it blew me away. I wouldn't believe them until I would hear her say it for myself. Last night Rob and I were playing the guitar and singing "Old MacDonald" with her and she would sing, "EIEIooooooo" at the end. So cute. She loves to talk on the phone and will walk around the house with her hand pressed up to her ear like she is on the phone and say, "ooooo?" which is "hello." I taught her to say good-bye to things when we are finished with them, so every morning when she gets up, she throws her paci in her crib and says, "Bye-Bye pepsi's." When we are finished reading a story she will say, "Bye-Bye Book." When we walk upstairs, "Bye-Bye Baymint (Basement.)" When we leave a store, "Buy-Bye Sto."

I could go on and on. I just am writing it down here so I won't forget. She is a delight and makes me laugh all day. I love playing with her bubble maker, hearing her hiss like a snake, watching her look all over for her "piwow." I love it. My absolute favorite thing is that she squeals so loudly and has this belly laugh every time she sees me and Rob. I have got to get it on film. My parents would get up with her in the mornings since we had been up with Will at night. When Rob and I woke up we would come downstairs and I will never forget B's reaction every time she saw us. She would run as fast as she could, arms up, laughing, squealing, and saying, "Mama! Dada! Mama! Dada!" and then she would just hug us and put her head on our shoulders and laugh. I died a little bit every time.

And Will.... what to say about sweet Will. He is an angel. He really is. He is a much easier infant than Bennett, and she was pretty easy. He will go 4-5 hours at night in between feedings. He only cries when he wants to be held. We have never experienced a crying jag with him. As long as he is full, dry, and being held, he is great. He reminds me so much of Bennett in the way that he holds his hands by his head when he sleeps and his facial expressions. I know this will change, but I am so thankful that he has been so chill up to this point because it has made the transition a lot easier than I expected.

Rob and I feel so blessed. We love having this blog because the hard thing really is feeling lonely. We are so far away from everyone and this blog helps us share our kids with the friends and family members that miss them so much. I know there will be tough days ahead. Today was hard. It was my first day alone with both kids and it was hard. I was feeding Will when Bennett started climbing the stairs and wouldn't come down. It was hard when I was playing ball with Bennett this afternoon and Will needed a diaper change and Bennett cried when I left her. It was hard when I put Bennett to bed and wanted to fall asleep myself, but it was time to give Will his bath. But, it is a wonderful kind of hardship and I am going to take in every last second because I know it is going to fly by.

Here are a few pics of the kids I have spent way too much time raving about. I can't help it. I'm just a proud parent. And if you made it this far, you deserve a gold medal and perhaps an aspirin.

Enjoying the sunshine this weekend at a neighborhood park.

He must have said something really funny.

Crashing back at the house. Life is good.