impromptu photo shoot.

Pulled out the camera for an impromptu photo shoot of the boys today.  Really was wanting to get some pictures taken on Max before we head to Kentucky to see family tomorrow.  I thought they might like some pictures of him, especially Grandma.  Ben, of course, had to help me get set up and take some pictures too (my little future photographer.)  So, while I had him interested I clicked off a few of him too.  Really just got lucky that he was in the mood with this one, but I love the colors in the blanket (thanks Shirley!) and his eyes.

Then came the fun with Max.  Trying to get something cute, like the Ben in the bookcase picture that I did of Ben at this age.  I think it turned out pretty good, but am still looking for another place to put him that is unexpected to take more.  Any ideas???

Finally, since I actually had makeup and decent clothes on today (rare right now) I took the oppurtunity to have Brad take a few pictures of me and the boys.  This was my favorite.

trick or treat

 

This year we weren't really sure how interested Ben would be in trick-or-treat.  He picked out his costume about a month ago and really was excited about dressing up as Thomas then, but didn't know if that would last until Halloween or not.  We talked about it all last week to try and get him in the Halloween spirit and when Saturday came he was definitely ready to go out a get some candy. 

So, we went to a neighborhood locally for him to go house to house (our subdivision is on a huge hill, and mostly older people so we weren't sure how many of them would give out candy.)  This is a neighborhood that we lived in for a little while before I did my residency that took us to Bloomington so we knew that the neighbors there really have a good time with the kids on Halloween.  As we were getting Ben strapped in his car seat he couldn't stop talking about going trick or treating.

Poppy met us in the neighborhood to walk around to the houses with Ben.  I still wasn't too sure how well Ben would take to the whole thing but he was awesome!  He walked up to each person all by himself and said "trick or treat"  and then said "thank you" and "Happy Halloween" after they put candy in his bag.  He enjoyed it so much that he was all but running to the next house each time (which he thought was fun because then he was "fast Thomas".)   

I think that Halloween was a hit with Ben... and he is already looking forward to next year!

the great pumpkins.

Ben found these pumpkins while out with Nana (all but the bigger round one) and said that they were for Ben, Kat, Lucas and Max from the biggest pumpkin to the smallest.  Pretty good reasoning there I think. 

He wanted to put faces on them when he brought them home, so we spent some time after dinner tonight doing just that.  He said that he wanted happy pumpkin faces and I drew on the first one for him to "color in".  After the first one he wanted to just draw the faces himself, so the rest are Ben's own design:)

The big round pumpkin we got a few weeks ago, before Max was born.  On that one he wanted me to draw a face on one side and he drew a face on the other side. 

big boy pants

Ben decided the first night that I was in the hospital with Max that he no longer wanted to wear pull-ups. At all. Even to bed.

He was staying with my mom at the time and was adamant about not wearing them. So, not wanting to squelch his enthusiam, she let him wear big boy pants to bed. He promised to "keep them dry, promise." and he did!

He hasn't worn a pull-up since and has only had one or two accidents in the past two and a half weeks. He has done fantastic!

Who would've thought that he would choose now, with all the changes around here as Max joined our family, to use the potty exclusively?! Such a little man!

Tags: Ben

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family of four.

Our first few days as a family of four after bringing Max home have been good.  Ben seems to have taken to his role of big brother well.  He is always concerned about where Max is if he isn't in the room with us and wants to know what is wrong if Max is crying.  He has been our little helper and has wanted to help feed and burp Max and help make/wash his bottles.  He seems to relish his new role.

I am getting around pretty good after a week of recovery.  I'm still a little sore sometimes and I'm not ready to run any marathons, but I have been pleased so far with how fast I'm recovering.  I did pretty fast with Ben too, but you just never know, especially chasing a two year old around the house. 

We have just been taking it easy here at home for the past few days since getting out of the hospital.  Mom made us a few meals on Sunday night and dropped them off so we have been enjoying her excellent cooking and enjoying a break from fending for ourselves.  She is coming to stay a few nights soon and although Max is sleeping pretty well at night I am looking forward to a couple of nights of uninterrupted sleep to speed the rest of my recuperation.

I took a few pictures of Max today, but to be honest they all look about the same.  So here is what I thought was the cutest... so you can all get your baby fix:)