Day With Uncle Jon

Today I took Bennett to spend the day with Uncle Jon while I did some cleaning and organizing to get ready for baptism at our house this weekend. I tried this yesterday and for every one thing that I got cleaned, Bennett made two messes. Jon took lots of pictures of everything they did today. They sure were busy. And, notice that one of Bennett's newest things is waving "hi" in pictures. So almost every one he is waving and saying Hi.

Pictures

Here are just a few cute pictures of my little kiddos.

Ashley 3 Week Update

Tomorrow Ashley is already 3 weeks old. I had to take her in for a weight check at the clinic today. At her 1 week appointment she was 7.10 oz and today she was 8.5oz.! Yeah it looks like so far nursing seems to be working. But, she also seems to be eating a lot more these days. When I pump and feed her by bottle, she is up to 4 ounces already. So, I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with her if this is the case. (Any tips on how to increase the milk supply are welcome)

She still is such a good baby. She only cries if she is hungry. Otherwise she still just sleeps alot during the day. And she is still doing awesome sleeping at night. Most nights she is sleeping from about 1:00-8:00 in the morning. We've also noticed how she's becoming stronger with her neck and legs. She's stretching herself out more making her look longer and bigger already. She has a few newborn outfits that already look like they are getting alittle snug on her. Bennett loves Ashley so much. He is constantly wanting to give her kisses and hugs. He likes to hold her, help hold her bottle when we give her one, burp her, watch me change her and give her a bath. I found out yesterday though that he loves her a little too much. He was smothering her while she was in her bouncy seat trying to give her kisses. Next thing I know, she's laying on the floor! He tipped over the bouncy seat and she just rolled out and laid on the floor like it was no big deal. She's gonna be one tough little cookie! This little purple sweater was made my my cousin Gina. So Cute!

Birthday Party

We had my family over Saturday night for Bennett's birthday. Here are a few pictures from his fun night. The very first present he opened was a tractor and farm animals set. He liked this so much that he didn't want to open anymore. We finally convinced him to open a second present which was a bobcat. Well after opening those two, he was done and we had to practically force him to open the rest. He also got a Curious George movie, Toy Story 3 movie, new pj's, Matchbox Cars, an Elmo color & sticker book and a Toy Story tent & tunnel. Awesome gifts - thanks everyone! (And as you can see from the pictures below, David & Josh had just as much fun with the toys as he did)

Kristen gave him a bath after the cake and had some fun with his hair.

Bennett is 2!

Yesterday the 12th was Bennett's 2nd Birthday! To celebrate, we had Jon come over to watch Ashley and Mike and I took Bennett to Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America. He loves fish so we hoped he would really enjoy this big aquarium. He did seem to like it - especially the turtles for some reason - maybe because he's probably never seen them before. We wanted to take him somewhere and do something special for him since he's been so good during these past two weeks with Ashley. Then as an added treat, we got McDonald's on the way home. I know it's bad but he really really loves their fries and nuggets. Then in the afternoon when we got home, we got a visit from Grandma Leann, Randy & Aunt Nichol which he also loved.

I can't believe he's two already! It seems like just a few months ago that I was letting him have his 1st Birthday cake and he was learning to walk. Love You Bennett!

Brother & Sister

Brother & Sister - I think so! I was going to post this earlier today in my last blog but forgot. We all thought right away that Ashley looked soooo similar to Bennett as a newborn. Kristen put these pictures together which really confirms what we thought. Ashley is on the left and Bennett is on the right.

Updates Galore

Wow what a crazy week!

Ashley is already a week old today! I can't believe how great of a baby she is. She never cries, sleeps all day and even better sleeps during the night! The past 3 nights she has had great hours at night - last night was 1:00-8:00 this morning. Not bad huh. The only issue I have had is that by the time I get all of my stuff wrapped up for the night and nurse her and then pump for the night and then get her to bed, it's 1:00. So somehow I need to figure out a different schedule for myself to get myself in bed sooner. Also, breastfeeding seems to be going well. I wasn't able to get Bennett to try this at all but she has picked it up pretty well. It took a few days and a few days of some bottles but I haven't had to give her one for two days now so I am hoping she is getting enough from me. We had her one week checkup yesterday and her weight was 7 lb. 10 oz. - her birth weight was 7 lb. 12 oz. So we will go back in two weeks for a weight check just to make sure she's gaining from the breastfeeding. So hopefully this keeps going well.

Bennett has been doing really well with Ashley. He likes to throw her diapers away for me and likes to look at her hands and make her hold his fingers. The first days home though were alittle challenging because he wanted me and he also wanted to always be by Ashley and watch everything she was doing. He didn't understand that when I was trying to feed her he couldn't be climbing up on my lap. Being in the hospital those two days was also hard on him and me. I missed him so much and felt kinda bad for what Mike and I had just done to him - he wasn't our baby anymore. And he had a bad night one night and Mike said he had a sad cry for quite awhile and was very clingy to Mike hugging him and stuff. He has really grown up this week and I think he is going to be just fine with Ashley here. Unfortunately though these past two days Bennett has been sick. He's had a fever around 100 and also threw up twice last night. It's been hard to try to keep them separated when he is cuddly and needs help and so does she. Hopefully he is almost over whatever it is he picked up.

My recovery from the delivery has gone amazingly well. I was up and at it right away which is good because of Bennett's needs. I feel like I am not having a problem taking care of two kids - it's just getting stuff done around the house which is suffering alittle bit. Plus I keep looking at the Christmas tree thinking that needs to come down but I just don't know when or how to do that during the day.

Mike has been off of work since last Wednesday but went back to work today. It was great having him home which gave me help if I needed it but it also gave him some time to get things finished up in the basement. He has been great with both of the kids too and was excited to get his "Daddy's Little Girl".

Other than the transition of our new family going on this week, we have also been busy getting the basement remodel wrapped up. David has been a rockstar and has been here every day this week trying to help finish the painting and trim. Then last night since Laura & David were over, Mike and I ran to Menards to pick up the carpeting which will be installed tomorrow. So we are hoping that by early next week it will be ready for us to live in! The only things to do then will be to get new furniture for the family room and move a whole bunch of toys down there. We will be waiting for a few months before we move Bennett down to his new bedroom unless in the next weeks we find that him and Ashley sharing a room doesn't work out. Also the bathroom/laundry room area is going to get tiled floor by Mike but we will probably be waiting a few months for this to get done when things settle down alittle bit. I'll try to post pictures sometime next week to show you the finished product.