The Beauty of Having Children

I have never really liked my jawline much. There are days when I don't like much about my appearance at all. But... Jacob and Benjamin both have my jawline. They both look so much like Greg, but there's still a good amount of me in them. I see a nose that has always seemed strange in the mirror, but when I see it on my kids, it's pretty cute! How could I not love something that's a part of those precious faces?

I never imagined that seeing parts of myself in my boys' faces would make me accept myself more.

Cell Phone Photos

So they're not all high quality, but here are some photos from our time outside today. :)

An Oldie But Goodie

Well, not that old. We were at the mall and Benjamin looked so cute all bundled up!

Talking Baby

According to various baby sites, Benjamin should be saying, "mama" and "dada" now... even if he doesn't actually use it for a specific parent. He hasn't said, "mama" or "dada" yet. He barely does any repetitive babbling. Most of his babbling is just random sounds and noises.

About a week ago, Jacob told Benjamin to say, "Water." He did. Or at least, we think he did, but that sounds crazy, doesn't it? Water? Really? If I had been in the kitchen alone, I would have assumed I was just hearing things. I said to Greg, "I know it's weird, but it really sounded like he said, 'water.'" Greg said, "I thought that, too." So, did he?

Yesterday I was changing his diaper and I kept saying, "Ew, poopy! Poopy diaper. Poopy, poopy, poopy!" He said, "Oopy."

A few weeks ago, Greg and I both thought he was trying to say, "Jakey."

Weird.

Today he actually repeated, "Dah-die" when I was saying, "Daddy" over and over again. So maybe he's going to skip the "mama" and "dada" phase and just go straight for the fun words like "water" and "poopy."

Benjamin: 9 Months Old!

Phone Conversation With Geornge Bob

Jacob was pretending to talk on the phone just now. He handed the phone to me and said, "Here -- it's your mom."

Me: Hello? Oh, hi. Um hmmm. Yep. I know! He does sound like such a big boy. Oh, okay. Well, bye. I love you!

(handed the phone back to Jacob)

Jacob (into the phone): Hello? Well, okay. I know! She does sound like a grown up!

Hey, You ?$&^$%#!

The other night at dinner, Jacob said, "Hey, you b**ches!"

Greg and I just froze.

Me: What did you say, Jake?

Jacob: I said, "Hey, you britches. Britches are pants."

Greg: Um, okay. You can say, "britches." They are pants.

So, did he actually mispronounce this or is he clever enough (at FOUR!) to quickly think of another word to substitute? And if so, britches? Really? He came up with britches?

A Mish Mash of the Last Two Weeks

Over the last two weeks, a lot has changed! Benjamin started really crawling (not army crawling) and doing repetitive babbling on Friday, February 6th. He pulled himself to standing on February 7th. We think the babbling had more to do with getting rid of a really nasty ear infection than anything else.

Tonight we decided to teach Jacob how to count by fives. I demonstrated once. The second time, Jacob counted along with me (and pretty much kept up). The third time, he did it by himself (to 100). He amazes me.

Jacob told us at dinner that Noah was different from Evan (in the movie Evan Almighty) because when Noah built the Ark, it rained for forty days and forty years. Hee hee.

Jacob made a zebra out of duplos. :)

On Friday night, we had FIVE kids!

I know it's blurry. I'm going to pretend it's not because it would have been really cute.

A Bit of Sunday Fun

Benjamin loves the CD rack. We let him go for it last night, anticipating gleeful joy at being able to do something so naughty.
Instead, he went about very seriously. :) It took a while for Greg to get them back on the shelf -- they're in alphabetical order, of course.

Jacob didn't want me to take any photos of him.

He decided he wanted a photo of his foot, though. He's only 4, and I think he's now in a size 13!

Trash Talkin' With My 4-Year-Old

Jacob wanted to play Power Rangers. He said he could beat me because he had so many powers.

Me: I have more.

Jacob: No, you don't. I have one hundred.

Me: Well, I have billions.

Jacob: Well, I have even more.

Me: Well, I have infinity.

Jacob: Mom, that's not even a number. That just means it goes on forever.