October update..late I know

Hello friends! Even though it is mid November (YIKES) I want to do an october update on our little life together! Things have been crazy and time is moving WAY too fast. Our little Sully bug is already 7 months old (November 1st) and I can hardly believe it. He is so precious and so handsome! And Benjamin is...well...2 1/2, that pretty much explains his moods lately....He is so sweet one day, and the next he is acting crazy! He keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing! He is so full of personality!
What Sully is up to....
- Will rock back and forth on all fours (not ready for him to crawl!)
- Is eating carrots, squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, apple sauce, pears, banans, rice cakes...and little bites here and there of whatever we are eating. ( I make all of his babyfood, just like I did with Ben...SO EASY!)
- He likes to have screaming competitions with Ben
-  He loves his big brother...even though at times Ben has a hard time remembering to be gentle.
- Can sit up for LONG periods of time
- He likes playing with toys by himself
- He likes to stand up and play with his bead maze
- Sully loves to cuddle and nuzzle his cute little face into my chest...although recently he nuzzles and then BITES.
- He has two adorable bottom teeth and the two top teeth will be here in the next couple of weeks!
Sully is such a sweet baby and we are loving watching his little presonality come out! He has added so much to our family and I cannot wait to watch the realtionship with him and his big brother to grow!
What Ben is up to...
- He goes to school on Mondays...he likes it and is learning a lot. He is already learning site words!
- He LOVES mac n' cheese. Whenever we go out to eat he always orders it, yes we make him order his food! It's so cute too.
- Ben would spend all day everyday outside if he could.
- He loves the park and plays so well with other kids at the park
- Still loves oatmeal with peanutbutter
- Ben loves buliding castles with his blocks
- Ben loves to read books with mommy and daddy
- He loves his baby brother and thinks all babies are "Sully". He is sharing his toys and tries to help when he can.
- His favorite thing to say is "stop it, please"
- Ben loves to help make dinner
- He likes to pretend to be Prince Charming....I pretend I am asleep and he comes over and gives me a kiss to wake up and says "I'm Prince Charming"

We did the rounds for Halloween...started at my parent's house, his friend Max's house then Derek's parent's. We took Ben tirck or treating. This was his first year going and he was a pro! He went up to all the doors by himself, rang the door bells, said trick or treat, thank you and Happpy Halloween! Cound not have been any cuter! Benjamin was a elephant, which I  made....it took forever, and Sully was going to be a peanut, which I also made, but no one could tell he was a peanut, so last muite we put him in Ben's robot costume from last year. My boys were just so cute I could hardly take it! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving...this will be the first Thanksgiving Derek has had off so we are really looking forward to that! I feel kind of bad for Thanksgiving because I feel like it is an overlooked holiday...so sad. But we are totally going to enjoy November and take time to be thankful for all we have!

Big boy!

We tood a trip to the Lemoore air show

First time on a pony

Making Pumpkin Cookies

Hey, I am busy!

I know....I have been very BAD about posting lately...but we are busy over here! We have had a lot going on the past weeks, and Ijust haven't had the time, and when I did, I didn't want to blog. So here I am, finally playing catch up.
    For starters... My dad, who is EXTREMELY HEALTHY/FIT, had a MAJOR heart attack about 4 weeks ago. It was extremely scary, the doctors are telling us he is LUCKY to be alive. It was very serious and they didn't think he would make it through his surgery. Let me start from the beginning...I got a call from my mom, that I almost hit ignore on (sorry mom but it is the truth) but for some reason I picked up. My mom said something along the lines of "this is not a good call" she informed me that Dad had a heart attack and was at Kaiser but they were transporting him to a different hospital. So I met her at the other hospital...we waited...and waited...and waited, finally a surgeon came out to tell us that they were going to have to do surgery immediately. They tried to put two stints in but those were not helping at all. He had 4 blocked arteries, two at 100% and 2 at 80%...very serious. The surgeon made it clear that it was very serious and very urgent. He went into surgery moments later. After a few hours the surgeon came to tell us the surgery was over and that we could see him. That was hard. He looked  lifeless and so UNLIKE my dad. The next few days were hard. He had a nurse that worked on him 24 hours a day and visiting him was rough. He was in a lot of pain, and it was scary, but eventually he was able to move out of CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit), then days after that he was allowed to go home. He is doing much better and will recover 100%! So thankful to have my daddy!!!! Please keep him in your prayers though!!!
And to other news (not really sure what an appropriate transition would be)....
    School has been going great for me. I love my students this year, like I do every year, and I cannot wait to see how much they progress over the months. I have a few challenges this year, but I love challenges and I am excited to overcome them. It is so wonderful waking up in the morning and wanting to go to work. I do not dread going to work, and that is a true blessing! I did have my gall bladder removed, the surgery went well and I was back on my feet the very next day...thanks to some good meds!!! I am glad to have that problem taken care of...however I am not happy with the hospital bill I am about to receive...we have good insurance, but it will still be pricey, not fun! The weekend after my surgery I decided to go to the fabric store to get started on Benjamin's Halloween costume. He is going to be an Elephant...which turns out to be the hardest costume EVER to make!!! It has been a lengthy process, but overall I am enjoying sewing it. I am not finished and probably will not be for a couple of weeks...but it WILL be done before Halloween...I think ;)
   Ben has been going to preschool for a few weeks now. He only goes once a week but is having a lot of fun. He does cry when I leave him, but they tell me that only lasts a few moments. He will not eat the lunch they give him, but this is no surprise...sometimes he doesn't eat...I have just gotten used to that. He has been assessed and his teacher was impressed that he knew his letters and shapes and is doing very well on his counting!! GO BENJAMIN!!! He has been testing us lately, but he is such a happy little guy. So sweet too, he loves to give us hugs and kisses! He is also really into singing...his favorites are Jesus loves me, Take me out to the ball game and Twinkle, twinkle little star. So cute! He also loves his baby brother!!!!
  Sullivan is growing like a weed! He is now eating solid food two times a day. He has breakfast (bananas and oatmeal) and dinner (carrots and applesauce). He is liking solid foods, and we will introduce green beans next. He has also decided that he doesn't want to nurse anymore! He take a bottle just fine, but nursing he is OVER! I make him nurse still at least 3-4 times a day, but we give him a bottle after. My guess is that I am not producing enough milk so he is still hungry...poor guy just loves his food! So we are doing what is best for us! I am trying to pump, but he also takes formula just fine. I cannot believe he will be 6 months old in just a few days! He is so sweet and a totally daddy's, I mean it! His face lights up whenever he sees Derek!
October is so close! I am soooo excited....It is the start of holiday season...Halloween...Thanksgiving...Christmas...New Years...such a fabulous part of the year. I am super excited to get all of my Halloween decorations out, I am also going to make a new wreath this weekend! Well....I have rambled enough...hopefully I will blog again soon...but if life happens and I am busy then so be it (that just means life is exciting)!!!
P.S. Sully now how one bottom tooth...FINALLY, it has been on the verge for about a month now...and his other bottom one should poke through any day now!

Benny and Maxxy watching the hot air balloons take off!

So cool!

Look at those eyes!!!!

Daddy showed up after working for 10 hours! What a good Daddy!

Seriously....does it get more precious???

So pretty!

 

Firsts

   Last week I had my first day back at school. My students did great! I only had one little boy cry, and it only lasted about 3 minutes before he was up playing with friends and exploring his classroom. It is going to be a great year. I seem to have very supportive parents and I hope that they continue to be supportive throughout the year.
   Benjamin had his first day at real "school". He is Going to Brighten Academy. He seemed to have a good first day of school. I didn't cry, except when I though about him eating his lunch they provide for him at his little lunch table...for some reason that image made me sad. He is growing up!!! He is only going one day a week, for a half day, right now. We want him to go two days, but they are full. Hopefully something opens up so that he can go two days a week. So far I am very happy with the program and I hope that Benjamin will enjoy his time there.
   Sullivan had his first bowl of rice cereal. We are giving him one bowl in the morning when he first wakes up. Does he like it...well he eats the whole bowl, but he makes funny faces...so I am not sure! I would think if he really didn't like it he wouldn't eat it. Sully is such a joy and is so stinkin' cute. I love just watching him! He also now will scoot himself from one corner of the blanket to another. It takes him a long time, but he definitely scoots!
    And the last first will be happening Thursday....my first "real" surgery...Oh joy...I am having my gall bladder removed, then I am having my FIRST hamburger (in 3 weeks)...lol! A little nervous about surgery, but overall I am just glad to have this situation taken care of!

                                     (Ben got in my make up)

                        (sully's first bite)

              (1st day)

                                                 

(He didn't want his pic taken...Good luck Miss Breezy)

  

ha..

Already I have fallen behind on my blogging....it has been much harder trying to blog everyday than I thought it would be! We have of course been busy over here, when are we not busy with a two year old and a 4 month old....but we have been trying to squeeze a lot of activities into our last week of summer before I go back to work. Last weekend I took the boys to the coast with the in-laws. Benjamin was testing me the WHOLE trip, luckily Sully was an angel...but we had a great time overall! Benjamin has started hitting....I honestly do not think he does it to hurt people, but he does it when he gets excited or when he just takes rough housing too far. (I know I sound like every parent...) We have been working with him and we go through several time outs a day because of it. Any other suggestions or did your 2 year old go through this??? After that weekend we spent the week hanging with daddy and going to the park, running errands and playing in the pool!
Sully is now 4 months old. Really, my newborn is not a newborn....I really can't believe it. Before we know it we will be feeding him solid food, he will be crawling...then he will turn 1!!!!!!!!!! That is just not cool...time needs to stop! But for now he is....
-Playing with his toys
-Sitting in his bumbo
-Interacting with Benjamin
-Screaming/talking
-Belly laughing
-Turning onto his side, but not rolling over
-While on his tummy he can scoot himself
-Eating every 3 hours
-Just started waking up 2 times during the night to eat again...not okay!!!
-Wearing 9 month clothing
-Weighs 18.2 lbs.
-Is 25 1/4 in. in length
-And of course becoming more handsome every day!
OH I ALMOST FORGOT!!!! Derek and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on August 8th! We went out to dinner the Thursday before...Lauren and Alex babysat the kiddos and did a great job. Derek and I went to Tahoe Joes and then to a movies. We had a wonderful time reconnecting. Oh, and Derek got me the MOST BEAUTIFUL flowers I have ever seen...seriosuly! On slightly less positive news...I have to have my Gall Bladder removed....which stinks, but I am glad I will never have another attack from Gallstones....those things hurt crazy bad. I would rather give birth 1,000 times over again...and I have given birth to a 9 pounder...ha. I will have it removed on September 1st...which isn't ideal timing since I am a teacher and school will only have been in session for 1 1/2 weeks...but it is necessary!
P.S. SHOUT OUT TO MY FAVORITE ENGAGED COUPLE, LAUREN AND ALEX, WHO WILL BE MOVING INTO THEIR FIRST HOUSE THIS WEEKEND!!! SO PROUD OF YOU GUYS AND SO SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!

             7 Years!

Wednesday

  This week has gone by quickly! On Monday we went to the beach for the day. SO much fun! Benjamin was scared of the beach at first...it took him about 20 minutes to stop freaking out at the waves ,which we were not even close to, but once we put up the tent and started playing in the sand he started to warm up. Sully was such a happy camper out on the beach. He didn't fuss once all day. That baby LOVES to be outside. Actually, both of my boys would much rather be outside then inside. Ben begs us to play outside, we almost always let him, if weather permits! Benjamin enjoyed building sand castles, looking for rocks, looking for seashells, snacking on junk food (who doesn't eat Pringles while at the beach?!?!) and playing with his dry erase board. Sully enjoyed sleeping and looking at the waves while sitting in his bumbo! Benjamin never made it down to the water, but he did get close! We are going back to the beach for the weekend with Derek's family and I am hoping that he is a little more adventurous...and I think he will be since his cousins will be with him! On the way home Benjamin was a tired boy and slept for maybe 30 minutes and he woke up in pain because I think his foot fell asleep...so I pretty much spent the whole ride home holding his hand from the front seat and singing him songs, which was actually really cute and fun! I live for days like that and I am lucky that I have days like that a lot! My boys are so precious and I just love them so much!!! How Derek and I ended up with such wonderful and ADORABLE children is a mystery to me!!!