Benjamin loves to stand, jump, pull himself around in a circles on the floor, get from sitting position onto his hands and knees or belly...basically he just loves to move. I think we will be having a crawler soon or maybe he'll just skip that and go right to walking..
Rachel LOVES, LOVES, LOVES playing house. Everyday she does her dishes in her new kitchen after she makes us something to eat and every time she picks up her toys she just HAS to vacuum. Her vacuum isn't even a toy vacuum it's a toy that helps kids learn how to walk...but hey whatever works. Oh and she insists that you make the vacuum sound the ENTIRE TIME she vacuums which can be a long time. I'm so glad that she enjoys doing this now, I only hope she still loves cleaning when she is older. (sigh) only time will tell.
So yesterday we went to TEST DRIVE this van, we didn't plan on buying it last night...but we did. Okay so I will admit we probably rushed into it a little but we got some good deals with it and we were REALLY "van hungry." So we are now the proud owners of a 2006 Toyota Sienna LE. There is sooo much room for our growing family, it runs so smoothly, it's never been in an accident, no major problems, well taken care of, it's key less entry with a button that will open the sliding doors and there are only 40,000 miles on it. We love it!! It was a little scary driving it up our driveway in the dark last night, but I made it and yes it fits in our garage. From hood to trunk it's a bit of a tight squeeze but we can still close the door so that's good. So now it's so long to our little 'LeRoy' (Marc's '97 Nissan Sentra), he has served us well (140,000 miles), we hope that he gets some TLC and little rest for a while. We do feel a little sad about getting rid of him; mostly because of the memories we have had with him. He's Marc's first car off his mission, the car we drove when we were dating, the car we were in when Marc got a speeding ticket taking us to Antelope Island to ask me to marry him and there are so many more memories. But now we can look forward to many more memories in our new van, whom Rachel has fondly named "Big Greenie."
Well we made it to the appointment just barely this morning. Good thing I left 20 minutes before the appointment time because there was traffic...bad traffic. The new snow didn't help matters either. After looking at his eye and doing an examination (which was quite interesting to watch on a 6 month old) the surgeon said he wanted us to watch it for 2 weeks then go back for another appointment. Then he will asses what's happened during that time and most likely set up a date for surgery to remove it. He said so far it's not inhibiting his eye movement, his lid is a little droopy and it looks to be on the eye socket. Benjamin did great, he thought the light was funny (he kept giggling at the doctor); Rachel on the other hand got a little nervous for her brother. As we were leaving and setting up our next appointment Rachel did a little exploration and knocked out one of their florescent lights. (It's the kind that is under the desk, near the floor - just the perfect place for little hands to explore!) I told the receptionist and she had a good laugh about it, so together we tried to put it back on but we couldn't do it!! Luckily there just happened to be a retired electrician there waiting for the doctor and he offered his services...for free. 2 year olds...ya gotta love em!!
A few weeks ago I noticed they Benjamin has a bump underneath his left eyelid off to the side. It seemed a little sore to him, it didn't seem to be getting bigger or smaller but I took him in anyway just to be safe. Our pediatrician said it looks like a benign cyst but it would need to eventually be removed because after a while it can keep his eye from opening and in turn cause him to have a lazy eye. So she referred us to an eye surgeon to determine the best course of action. Most likely they will let him get a little older before they do anything she said but it's best to get going on it now. So Monday BRIGHT AND EARLY (8 AM) we'll be headed to his office for our appointment. I'll let you know what he says. You can't really get a good picture of the cyst because you have pull his eye lid a little, and let the light catch it just right, so I posted a cute picture of him instead.
Things are going great! Rachel is catching on to this big girl thing really fast. She enjoys going on the potty chair because it takes WAY less time to go on there then get her diaper changed; which means that she can play more! Everyday she has (at the most) 2 accidents, both of them wet. At night I put her in a diaper, just in case, and she sometimes wakes up a little wet. At nap time she wakes up dry with big girl underwear on. So now we just have to continue, work on not having accidents and then it's on to staying dry at night. Things have actually gone quite well and I'm am so glad for that. I will say that potty training is not my favorite part of parenting and I"m not really looking forward to have to do it with my other children. But if they all do as well as Rachel has I will count myself blessed!
Along with learning to feed himself, Benjamin has learned some new skills. FYI he is only 6 1/2 months old.
Here he is pulling himself up on the couch. He also does this neat trick on toys, beds, chairs, me...basically anything he can get his hands on.
Here he is on all fours. Uaually he rocks back and forth a little. Of course in the video he isn't doing it (I think he was getting a liitle tired), but he sure thinks he's smart!
Yesterday was a great day! She only had one accident at home. She even went over to a friends house for a play date for a couple hours and used the potty while there. She stays dry for naps (2-3 hours), but I've been putting a diaper on her at night-just in case- which is probably good because she wakes up a little wet. I'm so proud of my little girl, lets just hope it keeps going so well.
Yesterday was great! Rachel had no accidents, she went potty 6 times and poopy once. Today was another story. We started off good she went potty first thing in the morning then she just didn't want to stop playing to go potty and it turned into a BATTLE of the wills between the two of us which resulted in 3 accidents, (all #1's thank goodness) and tantrums. I gave up, and put a diaper on her for her nap. This afternoon after she woke up we tried the potty again and VIOLA, she went poopy and potty and has had no accidents this evening. I don't want her to get so frustrated with the potty training thing that she won't want to do it and it IS only our 2nd day so I think I/we did a pretty good job. Here is a cute saying from her while she is doing #2: "I'm making a bean stock mommy!" One thing I am really glad about: that she enjoys 'making a bean stock' in the potty and not her underwear. Day 3 here we come...
For a while Rachel has been telling me when she is going potty and poopy so I've talked to her about being a big girl, wearing underwear, and using a potty chair. She sounded excited, so today I bought her a potty chair. I let her pick it out and as soon as we got home she said "I want to go potty mommy." So I set it out and gave her a book...15 minutes later she said "I did go poopy and potty mommy in my little potty chair!!" Sure enough she did! We cleaned up, put on her big girl underwear and practiced pulling them down fast and sitting down on the potty chair. Then she said she wanted to go potty again (sounds like she is excited right?!) I told her that she could try again after her nap, first thing. Now she is upstairs sleeping so we will see what happens after she wakes up. Potty training here we come!!
Benjamin loves to stand, jump, pull himself around in a circles on the floor, get from sitting position onto his hands and knees or belly...basically he just loves to move. I think we will be having a crawler soon or maybe he'll just skip that and go right to walking.. 
Rachel LOVES, LOVES, LOVES playing house. Everyday she does her dishes in her new kitchen after she makes us something to eat and every time she picks up her toys she just HAS to vacuum. Her vacuum isn't even a toy vacuum it's a toy that helps kids learn how to walk...but hey whatever works. Oh and she insists that you make the vacuum sound the ENTIRE TIME she vacuums which can be a long time. I'm so glad that she enjoys doing this now, I only hope she still loves cleaning when she is older. (sigh) only time will tell.
So yesterday we went to TEST DRIVE this van, we didn't plan on buying it last night...but we did. Okay so I will admit we probably rushed into it a little but we got some good deals with it and we were REALLY "van hungry." So we are now the proud owners of a 2006 Toyota Sienna LE. There is sooo much room for our growing family, it runs so smoothly, it's never been in an accident, no major problems, well taken care of, it's key less entry with a button that will open the sliding doors and there are only 40,000 miles on it. We love it!! It was a little scary driving it up our driveway in the dark last night, but I made it and yes it fits in our garage. From hood to trunk it's a bit of a tight squeeze but we can still close the door so that's good. So now it's so long to our little 'LeRoy' (Marc's '97 Nissan Sentra), he has served us well (140,000 miles), we hope that he gets some TLC and little rest for a while. We do feel a little sad about getting rid of him; mostly because of the memories we have had with him. He's Marc's first car off his mission, the car we drove when we were dating, the car we were in when Marc got a speeding ticket taking us to Antelope Island to ask me to marry him and there are so many more memories. But now we can look forward to many more memories in our new van, whom Rachel has fondly named "Big Greenie."
A few weeks ago I noticed they Benjamin has a bump underneath his left eyelid off to the side. It seemed a little sore to him, it didn't seem to be getting bigger or smaller but I took him in anyway just to be safe. Our pediatrician said it looks like a benign cyst but it would need to eventually be removed because after a while it can keep his eye from opening and in turn cause him to have a lazy eye. So she referred us to an eye surgeon to determine the best course of action. Most likely they will let him get a little older before they do anything she said but it's best to get going on it now. So Monday BRIGHT AND EARLY (8 AM) we'll be headed to his office for our appointment. I'll let you know what he says. You can't really get a good picture of the cyst because you have pull his eye lid a little, and let the light catch it just right, so I posted a cute picture of him instead.
Here he is pulling himself up on the couch. He also does this neat trick on toys, beds, chairs, me...basically anything he can get his hands on.
Here he is on all fours. Uaually he rocks back and forth a little. Of course in the video he isn't doing it (I think he was getting a liitle tired), but he sure thinks he's smart! 
So Marc will probably be upset at me for posting this picture but it was just too funny, I had to! Marc can't do a fish face! His lower lip goes in making him look like (I think) a turtle, we all had a good laugh over that yesterday.
We were teaching Rachel how to do fish lips yesterday, she does better than Marc so we know now what she inherited from me.
Yes Benjamin is too little to do a fish face but he is sure good at being cute!
Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul with a woodchip mouth, and a carrot nose and two eyes made out of leaves...
