A Very Merry Unbirthday To You! Yes You!

Our sweet Benny turned six months old this past Sunday. It's hard to remember life before he was here! I think it's fun to have a January baby because I can imagine him hitting milestones based on the events of the year. I thought he'd be crawling by Halloween and maybe walking by Christmas but I think this guy will be crawling - really crawling before Labor Day. Right now he gets up on his hands and knees and really gives it a good try before he breaks down and decides to do the commando slide across the floor.

Here's Ben's six month picture. He's able to sit up on his own and of course smile!





Kenzie definitely had some rosy chubby cheeks at six months!

Ben goes in next week for his six month appointment - the number to beat is 16 lbs, 13 oz. He's been stepping up his eating habits despite the heat wave we've been having trying to bulk up for his weigh in : )

Here's Flat Hippie, as Kenzie calls him, taking one for the team. Flat Hippie is serving a dual purpose as a Ben's favorite friend and a source of a much needed cool down. I do have to admit he was in need a bath anyway so I figured this was killing two birds with one hippo to get him wet before bed.



This picture gives a good view of how long Ben is getting!! I'll report next week with his official height but for now you can note he's the width of a standard crib which google reports to be 28 inches. His hair is giving him some height here since you can see it's in it's fully glory and not mashed down. Kenzie was 26 1/2 inches at six months so he maybe be right there as well.

We have been keeping busy working in the yard getting some long overdue projects done - yeah Daddy - pictures coming soon! We've also been trying to keep cool since we're having a pretty amazing heat wave here. Here's Ben on the last cool day when we decided to brave the park at the end of the day despite the chilly weather. When we got there the sun came out and didn't Ben look silly for having worn his pajamas to the park.



McKenzie continues to love having a little brother. She always has a hug or a kiss for that little guy and if I'm lucky I get an occasional bit of love myself.



Share the love and tell those who are special to you how much they mean to you!

Where to draw the line.

Before you have kids you hear how it takes over your life. Of course I heard this but I still thought, no that won't be me, I will do things differently. Then before I knew it my house was transformed into a plastic shanty town and I now find myself enjoying things like goldfish and boxed macaroni and cheese again. Not so much because they taste good, because they don't, but it's the fact that you actually get a bite in yourself when your child is enjoying their meal too.

So back to my point, children really do take over your life, your house, your everything and you find yourself letting little things slide but really where do you draw the line? Today I went to the store with Ben while McKenzie was napping and Matt was taking a break from the yard. I saw a lady driving a minivan, which is a level I have yet to lower myself to - sorry minivan driver. I know they are convenient but I just can't go there yet. It wasn't just the minivan that really got to me but the fact that there were stickers all over the interior windows. Seriously, how do you let that slide? At what point would any sane person think that was okay? Last time I check cars cost money. Seriously people, if you ever see me driving a car with stickers on the windows have an intervention.

Our kids are crossing new lines in a good way. Ben has been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth before lunging wildly forward in a mad attempt to crawl. McKenzie is quite the fish in the water. We headed out to Grandma and Grandpa Z's again this past weekend to swim. McKenzie with the aid of her swim floatee was swimming around the pool without touching anyone. She was dragging an air mattress from one end of the pool to the other and even jumping off the diving board! I fear I'm in for a long life of holding my breath as she jumps head first into life.

Here's a picture of Benny in his crawling stance. He has his tummy up and off the ground. Kenzie didn't do that until she was about seven months, she was way more into the commando crawl. I'll work on getting some good video of him - he's a man on the move!




McKenzie in her swim floatee and with a water noodle. Nothing could be better...

except pulling an entire air mattress around the pool by herself.

You Learn Something New Everyday

Sometimes you like what you learn, sometimes you don't. Recently I learned how to get my mailbox key out of the cassette player in my car. McKenzie for some reason thought that was where it went. Now you're asking yourself why did I bother to spend an hour wedged up in the dashboard of my car with a bent paperclip, a screwdriver and a flashlight. Am I so out of date that I still use the cassette player? No I'm not that lame but that key is our last mailbox key so we couldn't lose it. Note to self: make duplicate keys soon and put the key on a key chain so it can't fit in that cassette player.

Most days though I seem to like what the kids learn. It's amazing to watch them learn the simplest things and get so much joy out of it. McKenzie is picking up new words all the time. She still really loves words that start with 'B' - she likes to say book, bib, ball, baby, 'Benky' (aka Ben), and Bob (my sisters neighbor or any older balding man she sees). Ask her what our dogs are called, she'll quickly respond with 'Icky' (Indy) and 'Barkey' (JonesZ). All other dogs are called Barkey now too. I guess she feels she overused the word dog (dog-ga) early on and now can't be bothered to say it anymore.

Ben is learning to eat baby food, roll and scoot all over, grab everything and anything and put whatever he can get into his mouth. He's also in my opinion successfully learned to sleep through the night!

Here's Ben sleeping during the heat wave we had last week. Poor guy was wiped out but his hair didn't wilt despite the heat.



Benny on the move during a play date at Gina's.



The best thing that Ben has learned lately is how to make his big sister laugh!



What new thing did you learn today?