Christopher's 1-year-old stats

Our little Gus-Gus turned 1 yesterday!

He is growing and changing everyday, but one thing remains constant:

He is a joy to be with and we could not imagine life without him!

His stats are as follows:

Head: 18.4 inches (50th-75th percentile)

Height: 30.75 inches (75th-90th percentile)

Weight: 24 lbs. 13 0z. (75th-90th percentile)

He has been walking for a month and loves to make dog and car sounds! He is a very good eater (when he's not teething) and loves chicken, hotdogs, peas, green beans, and mac & cheese. He loves to read books and play with balls and trucks. He loves to be outside. He is a music lover and will dance to anything that even resembles music :) His laugh is so contagious and his smile melts my heart. I think he will be a very caring and attentive big brother, as well!

Happy Birthday, Christopher Abraham! You are loved more than you can imagine!

I file this one under "What the?"

This morning Benjamin and I watched as our neighbor's tree was cut down. I was a little put out because they were using a chain saw under the window where Christopher was napping. After saying a prayer that he would be able to sleep through it, we watched until they were finished...just about half an hour.

The livingroom was a mess with toys and couch pillows strewn all over, so I went about tidying up, not paying attention to the fact that the chain saw had started up again. At that very moment Benjamin, who was still looking out the front window, exclaimed "Man cutting down our tree!" I looked up in horror to find the two men who had been next door using the chain saw on our front tree! I rushed to the door (quite a feat for a 34 week pregnant woman!) and ran out to get someone's attention. They stopped and I asked, "Excuse me; what are you doing to my tree?"

One of the men came over to me and said, "Oh, we were just cutting some branches to open up the view of your house."

"Well, my husband takes care of trimming this tree."

"Oh."

"I would have appreciated you asking my permission before cutting whole branches off!"

"Well, I'm sorry."

"I would would like you to stop now."

At that he turned around with a slightly bewildered look on his face and told his buddy to stop. I stood there to make sure they left.

They were actually surprised that I was unhappy with them! They didn't stop to think that I like the fact that the tree branches block some of the view into my house from the street! So reader, be warned that if two guys show up in an unmarked white van with an orange light on top, they might just try to do some home "improvements" on your property without you knowing.

Long over-due update :)

The past few months have been filled with many challenges, but they have also held many joys for our growing family! Between sickness for me and the boys, general third-trimester discomfort, and two very busy toddlers, blogging has been the last thing on my mind :) Here is a run-down of the most exciting developments of the last 3 months:

Benjamin: Today, Benjamin is 28-months-old! He has had a language explosion and talks in complete sentences non-stop! It has been so much fun to communicate with him on this new level. His conversations center around trucks or trains, bugs and animals, or playing at the park with his friends. He never meets a stranger these days. He greets just about anyone who walks within 10-feet of him, whether they acknowledge him or not :) One of my favorite phrases he uses is, "Hi! How you doin'? I good!" (Good is pronounced "dood"...just so you know!) There is never a pause for you to answer the question :) He is still our little daddy's boy. His favorite part of the day is when Bram gets home from work. He loves to play with and talk to Bram about his day. He loves to "dress up" in Bram's shoes, tie, belt and badges and say he is going to work with Daddy (pronounced "Dah-ee!") He is a joy to be around and brings laughter into our day at just the right moment! We love our little Bubba!

Christopher: Gus-Gus (as I call him) has made the most outwardly noticeable changes over the last few months. He started walking about a month ago (that is, at 11-months-old!) He is now almost able to keep up with his big brother. He loves Benjamin and follows him around and pesters him to no end :) He has started saying a few "words" over the last few weeks. He now says "Bah" for ball and "MMM" for more. He barks like a dog whenever he hears our neighbors dog and makes the sound of a car when he plays with any kind of vehicle! Of course he says "mama" and "dada" a lot, though I'm not sure he totally understands that those sounds represent our names :) His current favorites are books (which he will sit and look at by himself for long periods), going outside, music, and anything Benjamin is playing with...haha! His first birthday is less than a week away (July 6!) He will make a very good big brother come August!

Baby #3: We found out at the end of April that we will be welcoming our daughter sometime in the first few weeks of August! We had a hard time coming up with her name, but Benjamin helped us out. I guess he heard us discussing names because at one point Bram jokingly asked him "Benjamin, what is "Sissy's" name?" To which Benjamin replied "Bethany!" Well, we couldn't go back on that! So, our little girl will have the name:

Bethany Lyneve

Lyneve was Bram's mother's name, so we are continuing the tradition of giving our children middle names that honor members of our family. We are getting anxious for her to come. Both the boys were born at around 38 weeks, so I'm anticipating that I have a month left to get everything ready before she arrives!

We will be busy until she comes and even more busy after she makes her way into our home! Here's a little picture of what life is like for us these days:

Dinnertime conversation

Let me know if you need further translation :)

What Benjamin thinks the baby will look like

We were reading a book that had a picture of an eye on one page. Benjamin pointed to it and said, "Mama's eye!" I told him that it couldn't be my eye since the eye was blue and my eyes are green. We started talking about different eye colors; how Christopher's and Daddy's eyes are blue and how Benjamin's and Mama's eyes are green. I then asked him, "What color eyes will the new baby have?" He shrugged, then said, "Baby have elephant ears!" Oh, how I love this age!

The joys of being mobile

Now all we have to do is keep an eye on him 24 hours of the day.

Benjamin's 2-year stats

Weight: 26 lbs. - 25th percentile

Height: 36.25 inches - 90-95th percentile

Head: 20 inches - 90-95th percentile

(In other words, he is a living bobble-head doll! I think he is the cutest!)

His current favorites are bugs, trucks or trains or cars, his dog costume, Elmo, books, football and basketball, bathtime, balloons, and anything he does with Daddy :)

Right now, he is eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, yelling, "Sawah! Sawah!" to get me to turn around and say "What?" He figured out my name a few weeks ago and when he is very insistent that I listen he will use my first name. The funniest instance of this was when he was supposed to be sleeping one night (even after I had gone to bed) Bram heard him yelling, "Sawah! Sawah!" Bram went in and found him standing in his crib, completely naked, smiling and laughing. Oh, this is truly my child :)

He is a joy to be around. I can't believe he is already 2-years-old!

As he would say, "Oh Happy Day, Benanin!" (That is, "Happy Birthday, Benjamin!")