Happy Birthday, yesterday

Yesterday was Ben's real birthday. After spending part of the morning playing with Emma, we met Jon for lunch. After, we went over to the mall and Ben got some play time on the mechanical cars. After his nap, we headed to Target to cash in his birthday gift cards. Ben picked a xylophone and played it nonstop all the way home (video of that will be coming next time).

Today was the much anticipated start of college football. We spent the early afternoon watching the Buckeyes destroy Youngstown. Fall is definitely our favorite time of year. We've missed our Saturday football parties. After the game, we hung out on the porch and watched the Blue Angels fly by from the air show. Ben loved looking for them.

We ended the night at Layla's house. Her 2nd birthday is 9-3 so her party was today. All Ben wanted to do was play on the swing and slide....shocker! It was a nice night with friends and I think Layla enjoyed all of her presents.

Its that time again...

One of the best things about being in Lakewood (I think) is Labor Day and the air show. Every year all the planes come in for the show and do their practices almost right over our house. All afternoon, the house has been buzzing with planes going back and forth. Unfortunately, its Ben's nap time so he hasn't got to see them yet. At least he's able to sleep through it. They can get very loud.

This morning was our weekly church play group. It was too wet for the beach so we headed to the library. After, we had lunch with some of the moms. It was a full morning of playing.

Happy b-day...almost

Ben's birthday is Friday, 8-29, but we decided to celebrate today. We had between 25-30 people over and Ben had a blast. We had a small cookout followed by cake and LOTS of great gifts. Thanks to Kimmie for bringing over some salads and to Trish for dropping off some chips. We're sorry you couldn't stay, but when you have sick kids, what can you do.
Ben's party actually started on Friday. Pap couldn't come today so he brought up their gift early. Ben got a huge grill/kitchen set. He's been "cooking" non-stop. However, once Emma came over, they seemed to enjoy the box a lot more than the grill. Ben got a lot of fun stuff today like a ride on train, finger paints, tambourine, books and clothes. Aunt Prasti made Ben and Spud matching dinosaur outfits. She embroidered (I think its embroidered, I'm craft illiterate) Big Ben on the back of Bens outfit and Little Spud on the back of Spuds. They are really cute! He also got a pillowcase with his name embroidered on it for his big boy bed from the Brewer family. Jon and I got him a wagon, toy box, rocker and some clothes. Thanks to everyone for coming and for being so good to Ben. We cant thank you enough. Here are some highlights.

Our 3rd bundle of joy

No moms, I'm not having twins! Jon and I adopted a Compassions kid. Compassion International is a Christian organization that supports kids around the world. They make sure they have food, health care, an education and learn about the Bible. They have sponsored over a million kids in the past 56 years. It was really encouraging to hear that many children have been helped, but when you realize that their are still millions that need support, it makes you feel a little helpless. We'll get a packet of information on him in the next week or two and then we can start writing to him and getting to know him.
Meet our newest addition:

Darwin Birthday: December 19, 2002 Age: 5 Gender: Male Region: Central America and Caribbean Country: El Salvador Program: Mensajeros de Jesus Student Center

Its official

We had a doctors apt today and have officially scheduled the c-section. We will be delivering October 15th at approximately 3:30pm at Fairview Hospital.
I'm very excited, but now that its official, I'm getting nervous. We still have a lot to do. We also had a chat with the doctor about some of the problems we had with Ben. Apparently the rules have changed since Ben was born. The only way for a baby to be born before the 39th week (that is not in distress) is if the doctor went to the Western Region Board and petitioned for permission to do so. She cant even deliver us at 38 weeks, 6 days--they are that strict. She couldn't believe that our previous doctor made it a habit to deliver after aversions at 37.5 weeks. It makes me sick that we trusted her and went along with her without doing more research and talking to anyone. It seems like everyone knew how crazy she was except us. At the same time, I can see where people get in trouble. She was a doctor. She should know best and we took her word for it. It makes me feel so much better that she cant put any more kids in the NICU unnecessarily!

Lots of picnics

It was beautiful Saturday night so the three of us took dinner to the Metro parks and happened to find some swings after. Ben just cant get enough of them.Sunday was our monthly church picnic. Ben has been fascinated with buckles recently so he spent a good portion of the night playing with one of the car seats. Once he had enough of that, he spent the rest of the night getting chips and treats from anyone that would feed him.

Kalahari

We got back from Kalahari this afternoon. It was nice to get away for a little while and enjoy each other. We headed out late morning on Thursday. Jon had to work a couple hours. When we pulled in, we couldn't tell just how massive this place was. It was huge! We got there before check in, but they let you go right into the water park. Ben was excited to be in the water, until a huge bucket dumped on top of us about 5 minutes into it. After the shock wore off, he was good to go again and we spent the next few hours swinging and sliding in the water. We didn't think Ben would take a nap on Thursday, but by 5pm, it was clear he needed a break. The room was great. It had a full kitchen, separate bedroom, jacuzzi tub, fire place, dining area and a balcony. Ben got a short nap and dinner and then we checked out the arcade area and one of the dry areas. We finally got him to bed around 9:30, but when we checked on him at 11pm, he was still awake. We woke him up at 9:30 the next morning. It was so nice to sleep in. After breakfast, we headed back to the water. Ben wasn't as happy this time because he got splashed several times and he had enough! Ben and I hung out in the dry areas and Jon got some time to go down the slides, try some surfing and get flushed in the "toilet ride." Picture being spun around in one of those big bowls you drop change in at restaurants until you are "flushed" into a pool. Ben didn't show much interest in going back to the water this morning, so we let dad have some more water fun while Ben and I spent the morning together. With all the water rides, play areas, arcade games, shops, candy stores, restaurants etc etc.....all Ben really cared about was pushing the elevator buttons! Every time we left the room all we heard while walking down the long halls was, "I push the buttons?" over and over and over!
There are a bunch of pics onFlickr.

Going for a ride

Benjamin spent Friday at the zoo with Gram, aunt Prasti, Emma and Ty. They explored the Rain Forest and it sounds like they had a lot of fun. After, they went up to see Uncle Aaron at work. They had the Fed Ex race car there and spent some time checking it out.
The weekend was full of tantrums and time outs. I don't know what happened. He had a bit of a runny nose, so I'm going to blame it on a mini-cold. I don't think I've ever been so frustrated with him as I was last weekend. However, I spent the morning with him on Monday and he was like a completely different kid. If I didn't know better, I would say he's bi-polar! We went for a walk to see grandma and her staff yesterday and Ben had a great time. He held my hand while we walked (we've been struggling with that the past 3 weeks), he got to play with the elevator, he talked to almost everyone--he was great. The rest of the morning was filled with laughing, playing, love you's and hugs. We've had a couple of the normal tantrums since then, but overall, he's been a dream. We're headed to Kalahari on Thursday so as long as we get this side of him, we'll be ok. We probably wont update the blog again until Sunday or Monday, but we'll make sure to have some great pics.

Welcome home Ty

Tyler came home from his summer in Seattle on Monday. We had play group today and got to see him for the first time. Ben was very excited to see his cousin again.

Catching up

I know it's been a while, but we've had a busy few days. Here's a little of whats been going on...

Benjamin spent Friday with uncle Aaron, aunt Prasti and Emma (also known as oo A and at Potti--I'm sorry Prasti, we're working on it). Ben had so much fun with them that he had a mega tantrum (the second ever) when Jon went to pick Ben up. I'll tie this in later...

Saturday, we went to Andy and Barbs house. They had a welcome to the world party for Kyler (previously known as Kyle, we got bad info). Ben had a great time playing with his cousins.

Thanks aunt Prasti for the pics. Unfortunately, something Ben ate didn't agree with him. He woke up at 3am screaming because he had just thrown up. We cleaned him and his bed up and he seemed ok and wanted to go back to sleep, so we put him back to bed. About 20 minutes later he threw up again and did so two more times. He was up until about 6am. This was our first real vomit experience. I'm hoping we don't go through that again for a long time.

While Ben was napping on Sunday, I went shopping for a bathing suit. Jon, Ben and I are going on a mini vacation next week to Kalahari. I now know why pregnant women refer to themselves as beached whales! The only good part is I got two bathing suits, both regularly $90 for $27 each. I was very proud of myself. When I got home, Jon headed out to try out extreme frisbee with some friends. Its kind of like football, but with a frisbee. Unfortunately, Jon took another hit and has 2 skinned up knees. His ribs just healed from volleyball!

Monday after work, we all took a trip to the dollar store. We have created Ben's Reward Board. It was recommended to us by a friend I work with and it seems to be a hit with Nanny 911. We are going to start working on a few behaviors we would like to see improved (like the mega tantrum). Hopefully, once he sees good behavior equals fun, we'll all be a little bit happier and calmer.
We were going to show this to Ben Tuesday night, but Jon took his turn at getting sick. He was up all Monday night and spent the majority of Tuesday in bed. Luckily, he is feeling much better today so I think we'll introduce Ben to the board tonight. Lets hope he gets it!