Ben at 22 months

As I was looking back at pictures of Abbie for the 22 month comparison for this post, I realized that I have about 14 times more pictures of Abbie than I do of Ben.  I suppose that is bound to happen when life gets busier as you add more kids, but I’m going to try to start getting more pictures of him.  At least this month they aren’t all of him in the high chair.  =)

Our neighbors have a BUNCH of blow up Halloween decorations in their yard.  There is one of them that is a huge blow up skull with eyeballs that spin.  Ben LOVES looking at all the stuff!  A few weeks ago, we pulled out of our driveway the way we normally do and Ben let out this blood curdling scream.  We had no idea what the issue was at first, but then we finally figured out that he was upset that we didn’t drive by the decorations.  So we turned around and went by the house with the decorations and he was happy as a clam.  Now every time we talk about leaving and getting in the car, Ben asks MANY times, until we answer him, if we can “Go see eye-bows." or “See kitty – say hi to kitty.”.  Once you tell him yes, then he’s fine and will go get into the car.  I was surprised that he’s so obsessed with those things.  The first time he spotted them down the road, he took off at a dead sprint down the sidewalk to go check them out.

We were in Michael’s the other day, killing time while our tire was getting fixed and Mark put on this scary Halloween mask and called Ben over.  Ben was walking along when he spotted Mark and his eyebrows and shoulders dropped down a little bit, he got a funny look on his face, and his head stayed looking in Mark’s direction, but he twisted his body immediately and started walking away from him.  It was HILARIOUS.  We laughed quite a bit about that.  Then Abbie put one on while Ben watched and Mark took his off and Ben laughed about it.  He’s pretty brave!

We went to a fall festival that had two big tube slides last week.  One of them was probably 15 feet high and the other one was around 25+ feet high.  Abbie was afraid to go down them.  Mark took Ben down once and he LOVED it, and then Ben wanted to go down the slides by himself, and he did quite a few time!   The little guy is fearless!  He even went down the big one all by himself!  More pictures on that in a later post.

Ben has been doing a lot more screaming lately.  He gets frustrated more easily when he’s trying to do things.  I think part of that is that we’ve been really busy lately, and traveling, and that’s put him off of his sleep schedule a bit so he’s tired and whiny.  And he has a cold/cough right now too, so that doesn’t help.  Ben is starting to use inflection in his voice a little bit now, so it’s easier to figure out what he’s trying to say by how he sounds when he talks.  He LOVES his daddy and every single morning, the first thing he says when I get him up is “Daddy home?”.  If I say no, then he says “Daddy gone.”  And he does his little happy dance when Mark gets home every day where he jumps and spins in circles all at once.  It’s pretty darn cute.

I just switched all of his clothes over to 2T’s and he’s now wearing size 7 shoes.  I have to tighten all the pants when I can because he’s so skinny, but they fit him in the length for sure.  So far, both of my kids have been tall and skinny with big feet.

Below is Abbie at 22 months on the left and Ben at 22 months on the right.  I still see a strong resemblance, obviously, but I think they’re starting to look more and more different.

Old Town San Diego

I am so far behind on my blogging, it’s not even funny.  So this is a month and a half late, but here it finally is.  I’m probably going to back date some of my next blogs so if you want to make sure you don’t miss any of them, scroll down and look through some of the older ones, which will actually be newer ones.

We spent the morning exploring Old Town.  They have a cute area in downtown San Diego that is a state protected historic park.  It contains buildings from the 1820’s to the 1870’s and it gives you a pretty good idea of what things might have been like 150 years ago.  We checked out the blacksmith shop first, where we saw a “Pat”.  They actually looked like they were working on something, although I have no clue what.  And then we checked out a barn with a bunch of old wagons and stagecoaches in it.  I think it would be interesting to have lived before the invention of cars, although those wheels don’t look like they make for a very comfortable ride.

All the buildings now hold restaurants or little shops.  They are fun to wander through.

Our little Benj is such a roamer.  He just wanders all over the place, finding things to get into and keeps himself entertained.

Either that, or he’s following Abbie as she wanders around.  Although Abbie doesn’t necessarily “wander”.  She walks around with a purpose.  I’m not sure she always knows what that purpose is, but she definitely knows where she’s going.

I just loved all the colors in Old Town.  I love how colorful things with Mexican influence are.

And I really love this picture of these succulents. 

 

I thought this tree was pretty amazing too.

I really wanted a set of these pots, although my outside plants tend to die here since it’s so flipping hot and I don’t water them 14 times a day.

#3?

No, I'm not talking about another baby.  I'm talking about one of these.

Four-legged kid number 3.  

I grew up with Golden Retrievers, and in my opinion, there aren't many family dogs that can top a Golden.  They are friendly, loyal, smart and great with kids.  I love our weinas, but they are annoying, loud and really yappy, which drives me absolutely insane, more stubborn than any other animal I've ever met and not all that great with the kids.  They tolerate the kids, but Oliver especially, views the kids as competition.  I don't think my kids want for much, and they're not lacking anything, but I would love for them to grow up with a "real" dog.  One that they can enjoy and more importantly, one that will enjoy them.  My kids know how to be kind to animals and they are gentle with our weinas, but Ollie still wrinkles his nose any time Abbie gets near him.  And he growls if she touches him, which she completely ignores, but still.  I wouldn't consider Dachshunds, especially ones that didn't grow up from puppies with small kids around, child-friendly, at all.

So I began looking into Golden's in AZ and had quite a shock when I realized that to get a decent, pure bred Golden, you had to fork out at least $1500.  Apparently I'm in the wrong business.  I was SHOCKED!  I know that my parents never paid more than $500 for the Golden's we got in WI and those were show quality dogs.  I'm not looking for a show quality Golden, but I would like a nice representation of the breed, at least.  And I don't want to get a dog from a "backyard breeder".  I don't mind if someone has a small breeding business in their back yard, I'm referring to someone who has no clue about breeding or bloodlines or conformation or anything like that and just throws 2 dogs together and ends up with puppies.  The ones pictured above are adorable puppies, but the lady selling them wasn't a breeder.  She just thought she could have an intact male and un-spayed female in the same yard and not end up with puppies....  So this was her 2nd litter because apparently she didn't learn the first time, or she learned the first time that she could sell these dogs for $500 each and make a nice profit for not a whole lot of work.  Not the kind of "breeder" I want to get a dog from.  And if it had just been looking at the puppies, I might have been tempted.  But she had both of the parents there and they were what I wasn't impressed with.  The mom looked like a mix between a Golden and Collie of some sort and the dad was huge, but he didn't have that great of coat or conformation and he wasn't well-behaved at all. 

There is a breeder near my parents house in MO that breeds the cream colored Golden's, which is what I would want.  My parents went over there to check out the 2 litters of puppies they had there.  These dogs are a lot better quality than the ones that we looked at.  And they're $700.  Cream colored Goldens in AZ sell for $2500-3000, no joke.  And that is with limited registration papers because they don't want you breeding them without their consent.  As much as I love Golden's, I can't justify spending that much money on one.

I have had many friends tell me that I should adopt a dog from the humane society or a rescue.  I have looked into that, and did consider it, but it just doesn't make sense to me right now.  If you adopt a dog under 2 years old, it is a $400 minimum adoption fee.  You know nothing about the dogs background or bloodlines (if hip dysplasia or something else that Goldens are known for).  I would like to get a puppy under 10 weeks old so I can train him myself and so he can be acclimated to our kids at a young age.

We'll see.  I don't at all have Mark convinced that we NEED another dog yet.  But maybe in a few months when I can start making more money.  I definitely miss having a big dog around.

Blast into the past

Mark and I (well mainly Mark) have been cleaning out the garage today.  We're trying to downsize and get rid of things we don't need/use anymore and clear out some of the clutter.  I came across our old cell phones that we had before we moved to Italy.  I was able to turn on Mark's and saw that he had a lot of pictures of Abbie as a newborn.  I'll admit, I stood in our garage looking at these and cried.  It doesn't seem possible that she was ever this little, although I guess in all reality, she wasn't that little.  She came out the size of some 2 month olds, but she was a lot smaller than she is now!

Our first baby with me when I was about 34 weeks pregnant with Abbie.

Brand spankin new Abbie!

This seems like an eternity ago.

LOVE!!

This photo melts my heart.  He still looks at her like this.

This is still in the hospital.  As I said, she came out looking like a 2 month old.  (9lbs 9.2oz)

I am so ready for baby #3!  These pictures aren't helping at all!  SO CUTE!

She was very jaundiced when she was born.  They had to prick her little heal a LOT.

Abbie was about a month old here.

I don't know how old she was here, maybe 2-3 months.  SO cute!!

She's always liked to play with her daddy.  (This was taken in TLF's
 before we moved to Italy, so she was around 10 months old.)

In overdrive

Life has been so busy lately, and I’m getting a little bit (or maybe a lot) run down.  I knew having an exchange student live with us would add more to my plate, but I guess now I’m realizing the full extent of it.

Life seems to be flying by right now.  Here’s what a day in the life of me looks like right now.

6:50am – Alarm goes off, get up, get myself dressed and ready for the day

7:15am – Get Abbie up

7:15-7:45am – Do everything I can to get Abbie to get dressed and fed.  (She needs a LOT of coaxing to get going in the morning, which I find really ironic because on the weekends, she’s up at 8am, dressed and ready to go, all on her own.)

7:45am – Get Ben up and dressed

7:55am – Take Abbie to school

8:10am – Get back from taking Abbie to school

8:15-11:30am – Clean the house, get groceries, run errands, feed Ben lunch, play with Ben, etc.

11:30am – 2:50pm – Ben naps and I work from home or blog or write letters or nap.

2:55pm – Leave to go get Abbie from school

3:15pm – Get back from getting Abbie at school

4:15pm – Load the kids back up in the car to go get Emily from her cheerleading practice

4:45pm – Get home, get changed, start dinner

5:15pm – leave to get to my real estate license class

6pm – 9:45pm-ish – In real estate license class

10:15pm-10:30pm – Get home from class

10:30pm – clean and organize kitchen, make Abbie’s lunch for the next day

10:30-11:30pm – relax, watch tv show, check email, etc

11:30 – 12:00am – go to bed

It’s a lot to deal with.  Thankfully my class is only Mon, Tues and Weds, and this is the last week of it being 3 days a week.  Then it’ll drop down to once or twice a week until I take my test in November.  It’ll be worth it, but it’s a lot.  And it’s great that Emily made the cheer team, but it is a lot going up there to get her 4 days a week.  I think she’s going to try to get rides home from practice sometimes, and I think soon her practices will only be Mon and Weds.

Last weekend was really busy also.  I had to get up at 6am on Saturday (no, I’m not at all a morning person, ESPECIALLY on Saturdays) to take Emily to a volunteer thing she was doing 30 mins away, and then I had to go volunteer at Abbie’s school to avoid paying a $500 penalty from 1-5:30pm, and that was kind of a waste of time.  We ate at our friends house on Saturday night, went to church Sunday morning, went out to lunch with 2 families after church and then took Emily back to church at 5:30pm for her teen thing.

I love being busy, but this constant running around gets a little old, not to mention expensive.  I can usually go 2 weeks or so on a tank of gas and I barely made it one week this week.  I’m struggling with how much help I should expect from people around the house.  Thankfully, my husband is the best one around and picks up my slack when I’m at class.  He will make dinner for the kids, clean up the mess, give the kids baths and put them to bed without ever complaining and that’s after he’s gone in to work at 6am for 11 hours.  I’m not sure I could ever ask for a better partner to have a family with.  I think Emily is used to her family life revolving around her and her twin sister, and I think if I had two kids that were the same age, my life would revolve around them too.  But since we have two little ones that demand and require a lot of attention and then Emily, who demands and requires a different type of attention, it is exhausting.

And on top of that, I think I’m extra pissy because I’m really missing fall here.  I get to read everyone else’s status updates on Facebook about how the fall weather is so nice and meanwhile, it’s still 105 here.  I LOVE fall weather and the crispness in the air and the jeans and t-shirt attire you can wear.  It’s a little depressing when most other people are getting that and we still have temps here hotter than they had all summer.  The joys of living in the desert.  On the bright side though, when everyone else is having their winter, we’ll be enjoying our “fall” weather.  I’m looking forward to that!