Black and White

Years ago I didn't like black and white photos, now I love taking pics of the kids in it..Don't know why, but to me it's lots of fun...check out these..

  I was aiming for a picture of Austin, but he moved..instead I got this great picture of Keira in the background

Shane's Mini-me

Well Austin is definately his Daddy's boy..He has taken from needing me to demanding Shane's attention..Shane comes home from work and he runs to him and yells Dad-dy..When Shane goes to change clothes Austin screams and throws a fit until he comes back out. Kinda sad and sweet. When he wakes up at night in pain he won't let me hold him, just Shane..He has even stopped calling me MaMa..he now calls me Dada..so I am Dada and Shane is Daddy?? Not sure, think it's some evil mind game he came up to get me..lol

Austin's New Trick

This is not gonna be a good phase coming up now..lol..it takes him a minute to actually get up there, but he was getting tired and cranky..he's actually (unfortunately) quite fast at it..

New Truck

Shane got a new truck this week...He really, really needed one..The one he traded in was a 1999 with almost 250,000 miles on it. We got a 2010 GMC Sierra Texas Edition..he's very happy

Bottle? What Bottle? Part Deux

It just occurred to Shane and I tonight that Austin hasn't had a bottle in 2 days..So I would say he was pretty much weened..YaY for my big boy..WOW

Bottle? What Bottle?

We have started weening Austin off the bottle. So far he doesn't get one any more when he wakes up from sleeping. That did not go over very well at first. He likes his bottle first thing in the morning, he's a hungry boy. Well I made him a cup of milk, not working mom..So I got him a "snacky holder" and filled it with Cheerios..Now we are talking..ha ha ha..He is very happy with his milk and Cheerios in the morning. Down sides..the Cheerios are very small and they fall out of the holder if he turns it the right way or puts his whole hand in it, the dog doesn't really eat them (I guess because they are too small for her to really enjoy..lol), and the vaccumm cleaner will NOT pick them up unless they are crushed..so Hansel and Gretel can walk through my house every morning and not get lost..Today we got home from picking Keira up from school, had lunch and went down for a nap..NO BOTTLE..YAY..he went right to sleep...Slept for an hour and woke up..uh-oh..thinkin' the whole no bottle thing has made him hungry..he walked, well stumbled around for 30 minutes and drank almost a whole cup of milk and voila' back to sleep...So tonight was doggy school. Shane put him to bed and did use the bottle, said that Austin wouldn't go to sleep with out it. Well he woke up at 10 pm and was fussing..we are still not sure what the problem is, but the good news is he threw the bottle. He preferred the cup of milk and a biscuit than a bottle..Am I happy about feeding him a biscuit at 11 pm, no, is it better than him attached to the bottle, yes...Well now it's after midnight and he is still fussing and screaming...WOW..oh well..let's look at the positive of everything...(I am aware that this doesn't mean that he is completely off the bottle, just looking at the positive)

1 Year Check Up

Austin went for his one year check up today..Ears all cleared, YAY !!! I thought he was getting another infection in his right ear, he keeps banging his head and saying "echy echy"..I finally figured out that meant ouchy, ouchy..so I assumed he was getting another infection, NOPE..ALL CLEAR !!! Let's keep our fingers crossed that he is done with them..Other than that all is good..She said to get him off the bottle soon, which we have already started. He only get a bottle with formula when he goes down to sleep. She said to put him on whole milk, but I am going to keep him on 2% for now. When we are completely done with the formula, I will see if he needs the little extra. It's been a very busy year for him..

• His official weight is 24lbs. 1.6 oz (that's with only a diaper on)
• His official height is 2' 7.5 inches tall (which translates to 31.5 inches..WOW)
• Head circumfrence is 19.49" (which puts him WAY above the 100% percentile..lol..the doc showed me the graph and he isn't even near a line, but his growth follows the same curve of the line so he is fine)
• He has learned a few new tricks lately. He now has an opinion..shocked?!?! I tried giving him apple juice, not interested, he wants his milk. So I hold both of them out and ask him which one he wants, he points to the milk and says "mil"..when it's snack time I give him two choices and he picks one..and no he's not just pointing..he changes his choice each time.
• Pointing..we are soooo into pointing..He is pointing at everything..If he doesn't know what it is, then we tell him and he points to something else. Almost like he is asking what it is.
• Pointing again, if he wants something and he doesn't remember the name we get the pointing with "that"..yes he has learned that word (no pun intended)
• The other day he put two words together..he jumped off my lap and went to Shane and said "sit Daddy" and put his arms up
• His vocabulary has jumped soo much..he stopped saying Keira for some reason..he is saying two new words that I don't know, which is irritating bcuz normally I can get them pretty quick..I finally figured out one is "ouchy", the other, no clue!
• He has added door, open, close, in, out, cracker, chicken, thank you (I was not the only one to hear this, but it has only been a few times) and I am sure there are more that I just can't remember right now
• He has gotten into the whole getting dressed thing..don't get me wrong he WANTS to be NAKED, but when I do get clothes on him, he loves to help..He pushes his arms through the holes and then kicks his feet so I can't get the socks on..lol..once the socks do go on he grabs his shoes and tells me on
• He loves to go bye bye..ask him if he wants to go and he will grab his jacket and run for the door..Reaching for the handle and trying to turn it the whole time. Thank God we don't have those lever handles, bcuz he has managed to get out of the doc's room twice bcuz of those handles..

I am sure there are many other things, but I can't list them all..All in all he has turned into this little person. I love my daughter dearly and don't want to "compare" them, but he has so much more personality at this age then she did. Don't get me wrong, she has really made up for it..ha ha ha..The doctor is very pleased with his growth, his abilities and  his progress...I don't care about the percentiles, all I care about is my kids are happy, healthy, well rounded kids..you just have to look at them to know that..Even the doc told me "you have such beautiful children"..She doesn't have to tell me that..lol..I have seen some of the kids in that place..you know the ones that make you say..ohhhhh such a pretty..uhm outfit...

Oops..

You will have to excuse the blog..it's all crooked..I am playing with the html code and trying to get it do different things..oh well

Thinking back...

Now that 2010 year is over (yes it's been over for a couple of days) it's time to sit back and reflect. We lost a member of our family three days before Christmas last year, but weren't really able to feel the effect until the new year. It hurt. Cujo was a great dog and one of Keira's best friends, but it was time to let him go.
Austin Allen Benge was born on January 4th

and made our little family complete.

 

 

He did have a few issues for the first couple of months with gaining weight. 

Little Starving Ethiopian Baby

 Come to find out he was tongue tied and a little snip and he was good as new. And then he began to thrive !!!

He took the whole thing to a new degree and has ended the year wearing 18 month clothes and weighing  25lbs !!! Shane brought home "the brat" on Cinco de Mayo to help Keira. She was really missing Cujo and would even still cry about it. Now keep in mind (if you don't remember Tikaani came home to us at 7 weeks old and weighed 11 lbs.)

Shane and Keira were thrilled, me, I was less than thrilled. All I really needed was another thing to chase that would eat and poop, oh and NOT sleep through the night because she didn't want to be alone. Then she started to grow and grow and grow and grow. We are now sitting at over 80 lbs. and she goes to doggy "disobedience" school once a week.

We had the house up for sale, but after the first initial 6 month contract was up we decided to not sign it up again. Thus brought in the "era" of remodeling.

It started with the kitchen...

Then he moved onto the backyard..

Then he went into the spare bath...

June brought our little girl to her 4th birthday. I can't believe it's been 4 years, but it has. She had a Minnie Mouse birthday party and whole bunch of family and friends came to help up celebrate. Austin was thriving, but having serious sleeping and teething issues. He is not a napper, so there is not a lot of free time in the day and his teeth were really bothering him

She finally got her a bike that made
her want to jump on it and ride.






We made it through the summer in tact. There were no major adjustments, changes or life altering occurances. We went to a few birthday parties, played outside and enjoyed the deck. The kids (and dog) grew A LOT. Austin was still having problems with sleeping during the day and his teeth. He just couldn't catch a break.

 He is a very happy baby. His teeth would really bother him, but he would still have a smile on his face.

4th of July was spent at PaPa's house for the annual parade and then Abby's birthday found us spending time in a "pool"

Tikaani got really big REALLY fast. Almost as fast as the kids..ha ha ha..This picture is Keira's 4 year pics. My dad took us out to a park and took them for us. She has turned into such a little "girl", the baby is definetely gone now.

 Then it happened. Keira started school.

Everyone told me I was supposed to cry, nope couldn't get her there fast enough. ha ha ha..Actually I was very happy for her and excited at the same time. She needs other people to play with other than me and her little brother. I took a ton of pictures bcuz Shane couldn't get off work to take her. She had a few issues settling in, but finally found her groove. Austin had a really hard time with it. For the first week at least he would walk around looking for her. He always gets her up in the morning (even back then, I would carry him to her room to help me wake her up) and she just wasn't there. If I got him down for a morning nap it was even worse, he would wake up and run to her door and bang on it looking for her. It was very sweet, but sad.

Keira was in school for one week before we left. Yes, we pulled her out of school to go to Disney World. We spent a fun filled week in Disney World with my dad. There are so many pictures and so many stories that I will be here all night. Needless to say she still talks about it, still dances to the music and talks about going back.

Keira got to have dinner with the princesses and even Monkey got some loving'. Austin got his first haircut at the barber shop on Main Street which included special ears. It was a magical time that can never be duplicated.

After Disney we settled into a routine. School three days a week and adventures the other 2 days. Austin was still not napping and having problems with his teeth. He got his first earache right before we left for Disney and it's a problem we are still fighting. Something very exciting did happen on Columbus Day. Austin TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS !!! He was officially 9 months and 1 week old. We were at Mom's and he was standing there looking at me and then just walked to me. He was so eager he didn't take one step, he took THREE !!! Mom was there to see the whole thing too. YAY, that makes moving across town to be closer worth everything.

The holidays rolled around and we were on turbo drive. Keira wanted to replicate the Halloween Party we went to at Disney so we had "Keira's Not So Scary Halloween Party", lots of family members showed up, we had a good time, good food, some jello shots and a lot of candy handed out.

We took Austin trick or treating, but he didn't last near as long as Keira so we sent her on with both Grandma's and headed back with him to lay him down. It was still a good time and she still talks about it.




Thanksgiving brought family together again and it was another whirlwind. We did two families in one day. Dinner at MeeMaw's and dessert at Grandma's. The kids had fun and we had lots of food.

Shane always works on that Friday and it was no different, but we did fly out to Moody Gardens for our annual "start" to the holiday season, The Festival of Lights. Aunt Kellie and Uncle Shannon were with us again and Austin was more interested in just walking than the lights.
Since he found his "legs" he doesn't want to stop. I thought I was gonna have everything done early this year. NOT. It was crazy. Every weekend we had something to do trying to fit it all in. The kids did enjoy doing everything, but it seems that the reason for the season was lost on us.

Spending time as a family is wonderful, but pointless if most of it is spent in the car. I did enjoy some things this year. Watching Christmas through the kid's eyes is amazing. Keira has become obsessed with the "baby jesus" story and Austin is just fascinated by everything. So there were two different viewpoints of everything we did. Keira was in her first play at school, she was a twirling angel.

They actually made the Angels twirl for Keira. Lots of stories and lots of pictures. Christmas weekend was NUTS. There was too much to do and too many places to go. We didn't get to enjoy time spent with most of the people bcuz we were either exhausted, trying to fit everything in, or headed out to somewhere else. The kids got completely spoiled this year and not just by me.

We are blessed that so many people care about them enough to buy them something at Christmas time. I started taking videos of the kids opening presents and doing all these different things and realized I was video taping to watch later, but was missing out now. So it would be nice to see in a couple of years, but I wanted to enjoy them. New Year's Eve was very mellow, especially for us. Keira did make it to 12:00 to wish us a Happy New Year. Our resolutions for this year...be healthy, happy and slow down. We want to do so much with the kids, but we don't ever get to enjoy doing it with the kids.

 I lost 52lbs. (officially on New Year's Day),and still have more to go






Shane has bypassed the Rodeo this year to be home with the kids and wants to relax more at home and not bring work home with him. Keira will be starting kindergarten in the fall and there is no telling what is in store for Monkey. He went from 8.5 lbs. to 25lbs., 21 inches to ? (not sure, they haven't measured him yet), no teeth and having problems eating to a mouth full of teeth (10 or 11 at last count including the bigger ones in the back) and out eating Keira. He refuses to be fed, he has to feed himself and will eat anything, but his favorite..CHEETOS..lol..just like his sister. Tikaani has gone from 11lbs. to 80lbs. and still the "big stupid dog"..lol...We are blessed. We have two beautiful, happy children that really do love each other. This upcoming year will be our 10 year anniversary and I am lucky enough to be married to a wonderful man that works hard so I am able to stay at home with the kids. Happy New Year to all our family and friends.

Shane, Erin, Keira, Austin and even Tikanni

The Parade

Keira and Austin decided to throw us a parade tonight with Mickey..Keira bought Austin Dancing Mickey for his birthday and she wanted to do a Disney World Parade..Well Austin doesn't understand marching in line yet so he drove the float !!!

Birthday Party Photo Album

There were so many wonderful pics that I will just post a link to the photo album...

Austin's First Birthday Party

We celebrated his party at Moody Gardens this past Saturday and it was a great day..There are so many good memories that I can't tell them all..Austin had a good time, we had lots of family and friends come from a long way away (love ya Tammy, Terry and Abby..they drove for 3 hours that morning to be there at 10 am)..He got lots of great things, had a really good Cookie Cake, played with friends and oh yeah had an animal encounter with a PENGUIN !!!!

 One wall of the room was an aquarium...

 I had this banner made..I designed it and then had it printed out

 Austin got to pose next to Creole the penguin

 Such a little happy man

We are such lucky parents..He did so good..He spent the whole two hours during the party smiling and laughing..afterwards we got to go to aquarium and he spent that time in the stroller relaxing, but still smiling..he is such a happy, happy baby..You really can't ask for more

Listen to the beginning to the question my wonderful uncles asks...I love Uncle Bert !!!

Happy Birthday Little Monkey Man

Austin's New Toy

That night Daddy gave Austin his "big" present..I didn't want to haul it down to Galveston and bring it back..Yup, he's his Daddy's boy...

Happy Man

 Yes...That is a ride on Mack Truck

 

Gotta get out and check it out

 So HHHAAAPPPPYYYY

Well then it was Pinky Bear's turn...

Listen for the shriek when he sees it !!!



He loves it !!!