Christmas Pictures

I love this little guy SO much words just can't describe it. The holiday season means so much more now that I get to see it through the eyes of a 20 month old.

Ben's favorite things this Christmas are:

• Every morning Ben runs into the living room and has me turn on the christmas tree lights, then the mantel, then the tree in his playroom, and then the dining room tree
• If you ask him what Santa says he says "HO HO HO"
• He likes to sit by his tree and read Christmas books
• He LOVES dancing to Christmas music
• Loves Loves LOVES the movie ELF he will watch the whole movie
• Everytime he sees Christmas lights he says "WOW"
• Knows that when he brings Bo the christmas tree container with candy he will say NO but if he brings it to me I will ALWAYS let him have a piece :) and my excuse is it's Christmas!

Santa Crashers

As most of you know I LOVE the NORTHPARK Santa! So I knew this holiday season wouldn't be complete until I tortured took Ben to see him. I have made sure that we talked about Santa and pointed him out every chance I could so that he wouldn't be scared of him. So we arrived at Northpark around 10a just in time for 10:30 storytime with Santa. My sister in law Blakley was already there with Brooklynn and picked up our ticket to see Santa. When she got the ticket at around 9:45 she was told that her estimated time to see Santa was 6:30PM.....WHAT?!?!

So Ben and Brookynn ENJOYED story time with Santa while Lily hit the food court for some fresh fruit at the Red Mango. After story time I found us a place to stand to make sure the grumpy ole guy was sure to see us waiting. So people would come up to Grumpy and ask for a ticket and he would say I will give you one but you need to come back at 7PM. The looks on the PARENTS faces were the same as if you told a child Santa isn't REAL.

While the kids were eating chick fila I realized the grumpy ole guy wasn't checking tickets when he called people's numbers. and then I heard Grumps call number 35.....35.....THIRTY FIVE....no response he than looked at me and said 35?....If your thinking I was smart enough to say YES we are 35 well...your WRONG! I did the nest smartest thing I said no we our 53. Knowing we were really 198! So if you can just picture me, Blakley, Jen and 3 innocent kids looking really guilty and plotting and getting our GAME PLAN ready! So 30 minutes goes by and he is now in the 40s. So then it HAPPENS the REAL number 53 shows up. Quick Panic! Then Blake says Ok were 52. So when he gets to about 43 I take off to the bathroom with the ticket. You can never be to prepared when your cheating the Santa line system. When I get back I see the most wonderful thing ever Jen and Blake and the 3 kids are now behind the black ropes! So I sneak on in and we all start fixing the kids up making sure not to make eye contact with the grumpy ole man or the mom across the isle who caught on to our scheme. 20 minutes later and

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Blakley said it BEST "We didn't take someones place in line, We just advanced ours :)" I'm estimating but our total time waiting and seeing Santa was about 3 hours

 Getting Excited!

Brooklynn's next and she did GREAT!



 Look at her legs crossed and hands clasped as she is telling him she wants a pink Barbie Car :)

 Ben on the other hand was NOT A FAN!

But Lily and Santa had a Moment... So Sweet!

After all that scheming this is what I Get...

But of course there is always next year! And I will be back :)

Lily is in Town

And the HUGS haven't stopped!

B & B

 

Merry Christmas from Brooklynn and Ben!

Hide N Seek

So last Saturday I ran to the grocery store. When we got back I let Ben play around in the garage while I carried in the groceries. Well when I was done I could hear Ben but I couldn't find him. As most of you know our garage is a tragic mess. I almost started panicking then I saw the wagon moving. Not sure if you can tell in the pictures but the wagon is pushed under the air hockey table. I had to lay on my stomach to take the picture. Can't wait for more games of hide n seek!

PRICELESS!

Ugh!

So Ben has been super miserable since the surgery. The night of the surgery he woke up several times screaming and we just figured it was a traumatic day and he might be a little uncomfortable. Friday he was fussy but napped good and slept from 9:00p till 10a. So I thought he must of slept off all of the meds from the surgery and would be better....WRONG! Saturday night he woke up screaming all night long he seemed to be in so much pain nothing would calm him down not even ELF which we have been using to soothe him because he LOVES that movie. Sunday he ran fever ALL day didn't really eat or play. I took him to the ENT Monday and found out he has Thrush. The Dr. was certain that none of his pain was from the tubes or adenoids. Before surgery Ben had been on a 30 day antibiotic and had an antibiotic shot. So we assume that the antibiotic they gave him after surgery triggered the Thrush. At the ENT  Ben was hysterical he was on the verge of hyperventilating he was in pain and angry. The lady at the front desk started tearing up because she said it was so sad to see a baby so upset, if that gives you any idea how bad it was.

Poor guy crashed on the way home and then napped for another 2 hours. When Bo got home we went to get his prescription and I thought he needed a well deserved toy. So I put him down on the toy isle and he ran right up to a basketball and then grabbed a football. He danced and played with all they toys but when it was time to go he made sure we had his basketball and football :)

Today he seemed a lot better! we needed to get out of the house and get some fresh air so went and had lunch at Chipotle, rode the choo choo, and threw pennies in the fountain!

His new thing. Biting his nails

Waving Hi to the kids at the playground

The story on the boots is Minnie really wanted him to have some cowboy boots. We met her at Cavenders one day to get them and Ben threw such a fit and refused to put them on his feet. Minnie went ahead and got them because she knew he would look super cute in them. We tried putting them on him several times and he would just fall to the ground crying and would not walk in them. Then one day when he was in a good mood I put them on him and he LOVED them and everytime I say go get your shoes he brings me his boots! Such a little Cowboy :) I can't wait till summer and he wants to wear them with his shorts!

Glad Thats Over...

Thursday morning Ben had tubes put in his ears and his adenoids removed! It was a ROUGH day! Ben did really good. I on the other hand broke down and cried everytime a nurse, the anesthesiologist, or the doctor would come talk to us.
At one point I was telling Bo I don't want to do this. The anesthesiologist wasn't wearing a wedding ring which of course meant he had no children so which also meant he had no idea how much I love Ben and wouldn't take the best care for him back there. Bo assured me that he just didn't wear his wedding ring in the OR. I calmed down then later said to Bo Oh but he will wear that big oversized TAG watch in there. I now think it is hilarious that I actually said that to Bo and meant it at the time. At least I OWN it when I can CrAzY! But the anesthesiologist was more than qualified, was super nice and promised me he would take great care of Ben back there which he did. It also helped that Bo was calling him Dr. McDreamy. No lie Bo described him to his mom as tall, dark, handsome, and rich! I think Bo had a man crush on him :)
Then came the happy juice! Ben was hysterical... I was holding him and he was hitting me and laughing so hard. Bo would tell him to do the "Trach Punch" and he would make a fist and punch me in the neck. No idea were he learned that. We laughed with him and decided we weren't bad parents because he wouldn't remember it :)


Then it was Time! I bawled while the nurse carried him away and it didn't help that Ben started whinning when they went through the doors :( 45 minutes later the doctor came out and told us they were done and that he removed quite a bit of fluid from both ears and that his adenoids were a pretty good size. When we were walking back there I could hear Ben screaming my Gosh was he MAD!!! We couldn't really get him to settle down until I finally realized he screamed harder when we talked so we ALL stopped talking and he settled down enough to put just his shirt on. And we left.

He slept the whole way home and then me and Ben got in bed and slept for about 3 hours. WE both needed a nap to recover! Woke up and headed straight to McDonalds! (for those who haven't heard Ben has been banned from McDonalds and all fast food joints simply because his diet consisted of chicken nuggets and fries FYI once you stop buying chicken nuggets and fries and starve your child for one whole day they will eventually eat what you give them.) I was so afraid to get McDonalds because I didn't want Ben to fall off the wagon but he really DESERVED it!

Long Time No Post

I haven't blogged lately mainly because my camera is broke and haven't had any new pictures to post. We had a great Thanksgiving! I cooked my first turkey ok well my mom did but I was definitely there for moral support! After our Thanksgiving feast we enjoyed an EXCELLENT game provided by The New Orleans Saints and The Dallas Cowboys it was a divided house! Once the Saints started kicking butt some how Ben's Drew Brees Jersey got dirty and he had to put on his Witten Jersey. It was hysterical when my mom took off Ben's Witten jersey and told him to go give it to his dad...and he did! PRICELESS! Needless to say the game ended how All Most of us hoped for and it was by far better than last years Thanksgiving!!!

In other news Ben had his 18 month check up and of course had ANOTHER ear infection (I of course had taken him 4 days before his check up because I was worried he might have an ear infection and he didn't but sure enough 4 days later he did) which lead us to the ENT were he failed his hearing test which totally broke my heart. I know it is due to all the fluid in there but still extremely upsetting. The ENT thinks he needs TUBES which is scheduled for this Thursday! They also want to remove his adenoids because they could be the cause of all of his ear infections.8 total. I'm sure you all know I am FREAKING out! Ben is my WORLD and I'm just sick of the thought he has to be put to sleep. I hear it will be over and done with before I know it but until then I'm STRESSING!

I had decided I would take Ben to get his Christmas pictures taken last Friday....ALONE!  I will let the picture below speak for how that went....

REFUSING to sit in the chair

But at the end of the day after a few slaps in the face (my face not Ben's) literally

It was way worth the beautiful pictures I got!