Chef Ben

Ben will occasionally want to help me in the kitchen when I'm attempting to cook, but after a couple minutes he usually gets bored and will find something else to occupy him. However, after receiving an apron for Christmas and dad bringing down his bathroom stool, he was all about helping me make banana bread today. He never left the counter, he dumped in all the ingredients, stirred after each one went in and was actually sad that we didn't have more to put in. Maybe chef will be on his list of things to be when he grows up. I think we make a great team!

Have a safe and happy new year!

Wall of fame

The dining room is definitely my favorite room in our house. We have gorgeous built ins, an amazing arch way, and a window seat all in beautiful dark wood. The best part of the room is all the pictures we have, especially on our long wall. We finally got pictures of Sam printed out and put them up in the new frames we got for Christmas. We still have significantly more Ben pictures, but he does have 26months on Sam so I guess thats to be expected. I love walking through the room and being surrounded by my family!

Guitar Hero

Our friend Seth had us over for dinner last night at his new house. He and Jon were nice enough to put on a little Guitar Hero concert for the boys and I. Ben even got in on some drum action. It was a lot of fun to watch Ben go at it.

Sam had his 2 month check up today. He is up to 13lbs 10oz (75th percent) and he is 23 3/4inches (almost the 75th percentile). Ben was never in the 75th percentile for weight. The doctor gave us the ok to leave him in the car seat to sleep at night, especially since he is sleeping all night long on a regular basis (yeah). We have to start transitioning back to the crib when he's 4 months old. She said thats when they form sleep habits. Overall, he's a happy, healthy baby boy.

Etsy

It was definitely an Etsy Christmas this year. Several Purdums bought miscellaneous items from the site. For those not familiar, its a site full of hand crafted items listed by individual sellers. Prasti even has a "store" on the site. One of the gifts I got this year was a necklace purchased by Corrie from Etsy. I've had many, many compliments on the necklace in the past 3 days and I absolutely love it! I just had to show it off.

Thanks Corrie for such a cool and thoughtful gift!

"Merry missmas"

We've had an eventful few days. Ben has been going almost non stop since Wednesday morning. We started out at my parents house to exchange presents and have some lunch. The boys got a TON of clothes and other fun stuff. I think the big hit for Ben was a key board that has a microphone that you can talk into and it records your voice.

After, we went home to drop off presents and pack for gram and paps house. We got there just in time to turn around and head to church. By this time, Ben had no nap, little to eat, but was still running in full gear!
Pap does a quick childrens sermon in the middle of every service. This year Ben went up for the service and got to sit on paps lap. Unfortunately, he was more interested in the drums than the sermon so he didn't stay on his lap for long.
After, we continued with one of the Purdum traditions: reading "The Night Before Christmas." Ben had finally hit the wall and decided he had enough after about 10seconds. He went to bed and was asleep in minutes (very unusual for Ben).













We were up Christmas morning around 8am. Once again, the boys got a TON of clothes and a lot of other fun presents. Ben is showing off his "moon pajamas" which he got Christmas Eve and Jon is in his new OSU sweatshirt.

Sam was full of smiles all morning!

Sam showing off his aunt Corrie sweater.
Gram made Ben a blanket after he was born to match his room. Here is grams blanket for Sam.

Meg and Zeke were exhausted watching everyone open presents.

Dad and Ben showing off hats aunt Corrie made.
We spent Thursday afternoon at my aunt Roses. We had lots of good food and company. Once again, Ben went without a nap. He did really well mostly because grandma and grandpa were loading him with sugar!

Friday was a lazy day inside. The women left the house for a couple hours, but quickly got back in our jammies when we got back to gram and paps.

We spent Saturday with the extended Purdum family. We got to see a lot of family we don't see very often. It was great to see everyone, but once again, Ben had no nap. We were all ready to be home. We all had a great "missmas" as Ben would say. It was wonderful being with family and we are so grateful for everyones generosity!
Lots of pics on flickr including Jon and his doll, Sams butt and aunt Corries eagle!

Nature Center

My friend, Stacey and I picked up Layla this morning and headed to the Nature Center in North Olmsted. It's smaller than the one we usually go to, but it had a lot for the kids to check out. We ended up being the only people there so the kids had the run of the place. They were most fascinated by an owl display. They got to hit a button and hear the sound an owl makes.
Huge, plastic ants were all over a play tree in the middle of the center. They completely freaked me out!

In Sam news, he slept through the night again last night. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high. He's been sleeping during the day a little more than usual the past couple days and not eating too much. I don't know if he just wants to sleep through the cold weather or if it's some kind of growth spurt. I'm afraid that when his day time sleeping evens out that his night time sleeping will get adjusted too.

Wonderful night

Sam slept through the night for the very first time last night. He was out by 10pm, woke up for a couple minutes when we laid him down, but put himself back to sleep. At 6am I woke up panicked, but he was kind enough to make some baby noises so I knew he was still alive! I finally woke him up at 7:30 to feed him and he went right back to sleep. I'm praying this will be his new thing and it wasn't a fluke.

Hula anyone?

Everyday Ben gets to watch an episode of the Mickey Mouse Club House when he gets up. There is one episode that is a little less obnoxious than the others so we seem to watch that most of the time. Apparently we've seen it quite a few times because Ben and dad have memorized the words to one of the songs.

We went to the library on Wednesday with some friends. Ben always has a lot of fun up there. I don't think Sam shares in his excitement yet.

Cute Sam

Just couldn't resist posting some cute Sam pics.

Congrats Ty

Today Tyler took a big step in his spiritual growth and was baptized. We went to the pool at Lakewood High after church this morning and had the privilege of watching Ty commit his life to Christ. We're all so proud of you!

Cookie Day

Each year in mid December the Purdum women get together for cookie day. It's just as it sounds. We make dozens and dozens (and dozens) of cookies for the family to enjoy. This year we made clothes pin cookies, sugar and peanut butter cookies and some fruit one that I don't know the name of. The official start was 9am, but Ben slept in so we were an hour late. When we walked in, everyone was already hard at work and on their way to being covered in flour. Mom got the "fun" job of filling the clothes pin cookies. The rest of us made up the sugar (7 batches) and peanut butter cookies. We all contributed to decorating the sugar cookies, but Corrie is the main decorator.










Emma was the official taste tester. Ben was only interested in the cookies shaped like stars and airplanes.
After cookie day, we took the kids out to look at some Christmas lights and to see Santa. Each year a cul de sac in my parents development goes over board decorating their houses. Santa comes to see the kids and parents can take as many pictures as they like. All they ask is a small donation that goes to charity. We told Ben all about Santa and he seemed curious about the whole thing, but as soon as we got up there the screaming started. He wanted no part of Santa! Maybe next year.

More pictures on flickr.

Sam

Jon brought it to my attention yesterday that we have a ton of Ben pictures in the last few posts, but very few Sam pictures so this one is just for Sam. He had another great night last night. He fell asleep around 8:30pm and went until 2:30am. He ate and went right back to sleep until 7:30am. Sam has also started to smile on demand. Its not consistent, but we're having quite a few laughs together.

The little things

It's definitely the little things that make life great! Last night we cashed in our fuel perks at Giant Eagle and got gas for 7 cents a gallon. We actually filled my tank for less than $1.50. We were so excited, I made Jon take a picture of it! To make the night even better, Sam slept from 9pm to 4am. After I fed him, he went back to sleep almost immediately. I was back in bed in less than an hour. Usually we're up for 2-3 hours after the night time feeding. I cant remember the last time Jon and I went to bed and woke up together!

Light up Lakewood

Last night was the annual Light up Lakewood event. They close Detroit Rd. around Lakewood Hospital, do some caroling and light up the trees around the hospital. Last year they had a drum line, the shops stayed open later, and Santa road down the street in a make shift rocket. We were late this year so I don't know if it just wasn't as big as it was last year or if the cold and snow kept people away, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as last year. We saw the lights, walked a couple blocks and went home. It was FREEZING! On the way back, Ben did get a really cool balloon hat from a clown that he has had a lot of fun with.
When we got home, Ben surprised us by singing "Jingle Bells." We didn't know he knew the song!

Today he continued to amaze us with more songs (and dancing?!?!). Ben wants to listen to, "Bob the tomato on the radio" (Veggie Tales) every time we get into the car. I guess the words are starting to sink in.

10 minutes of torture

We finally did it....we made Ben get a real hair cut. We've snipped the back a little here and there to avoid any mullets, but its taken over 2 years for him to need a real cut. The shop was very inviting for a 2 year old. However, once he saw the chair and was asked to actually sit in it, he started screaming and didn't stop until she was done cutting. He sat in dads lap for the cut, held Elmo and even got bubbles, but nothing helped. He hated every last minute of it!

Before:
After: