H and H Ranch

Jeff's company picnic was held this past weekend at H and H Ranch, which is literally near the park n rides at IAH!  Oddly enough, I can remember only one plane that actually affected my hearing the entire 4+ hours that we were there!

This place was great for a company get-together!  They had lots of pavilions and options to rent certain things, but many things also came with the "picnic package", such as a balloon artist, tattoo lady, boat/horse carousel, hay ride, rock walls, funnel cakes, playground/sandbox area, volleyball, paddle boats, etc.--enough to keep you busy for a while!  Bennett had a great time and we even coaxed him into a nap after some carousel rides (thank you bouncy horse that helped prep him for his nap!) 

I just love his "hanging" arm!  He was reaching for me, but too interested to really look away!

Mom!  Look at my helicopter balloon!

Mom--tell this woman I want to hold it!  Getting a tattoo's only fun if you do the work, right?

Daddy, you're the best at helping me slide!

Wiggle much?  Love the tongue!

Carousel with daddy!

And mommy!  What a bouncy ride!

Boat carousel--we're just glad he stayed in the boat!

Hayride time!  I loved being pulled by the tractor!

Hold on dad!

Our first paddleboat ride together!  (And maybe our last...not too comfy!)

B's got the hang of the pumpkin patch now!

Pumpkin Patch!

This year we actually planned for a pumpkin patch visit since B is big enough to walk around and explore!  We hit up the Methodist church right down the street from our church because it had a small, shaded area with lots o' pumpkins!  We weren't disappointed and B LOVED checking out all the pumpkins!

"The Walk" to pick the perfect one!

1st pumpkin he touched = the one we bought!

So, what about these?  Can they come with us too?

 



Oh Daddy!  You're so funny!

Mom!  Look at all the pumpkins!

I can have any one I want???

Well, I kind of like these little guys.

So easy to carry!

But, this big guy isn't too shabby either!

Is there something under here for me?

All in all, a perfect pumpkin patch day!

Bennett--13 Months

B--You have flown into your 2nd year!  You are such a little boy now and we constantly laugh at the things you get into--and then wonder what the next possibility might be!

Growth

• Pretty sure it's the same or close to it as last month because every time you play on the scale, it still says around 23 pounds!
• Still in Size 4 diapers and now officially 18 month clothing since I cleaned out your closet!
• Shoes--bought you 2 new pairs at Stride Rite since we had none that fit you that were hand-me-downs--sniff, sniff.  You fit in about a 5, but you got 5.5 so you can grow into them.  AND...you definitely have your daddy's feet b/c we had to get you a wide--make that EXTRA WIDE!  Who even knew those were made for toddlers?  Not this narrow footed momma!  (oops...put picture on the 12 month blog, but that's actually when it happened...oh well!)

Sleeping

• We're working on moving bedtime from 6:45 put in bed to 7pm put in bed. Not much of a difference, but you're so tired by then, it really is a stretch some days!
• You're also moving to one nap a day during the week b/c at daycare you moved to a big boy room the day after you hit 13 months!  You napped great 4 out of 5 days.  The 2nd day you didn't nap at all, but you at least chilled on your cot!
• My time to leave for school is later since I now teach elementary and it works out best when you sleep until almost 7am b/c then I can get our stuff ready and have time for you before we're rushed out the door!

Taking a walk with mommy along the Galveston Seawall.  

Eating

• You now only get milk with your a.m. and p.m.bottle and at lunch while at daycare.
• You LOVE feeding yourself and we try to give you as much finger food as possible. 
• You like having the spoon, but have not quite figured out how to really use it.  They're working on it at daycare, and tell me you're getting better, but you don't like it when I try to make you do it!
• We've even started ordering you a few kid's meals when we're out instead of just giving you a few bites of our food because now your're eating so much more!

The Land of Bennett

• 4th bottom tooth and 2 top incisors came in the first week of your 13th month---THAT was fun!
• You got some type of rash all over your mouth and diaper area that didn't seem to be painful, but didn't look good, which of course worried me!  Turns out it was impetigo in those areas doubled up with hand/foot/mouth on your arms and legs, so you only went to daycare one day that week!  Daddy and I took turns and our fabulous neighbor Heather offered to keep you the rest of the time!  You sure did love all that attention!



This is what impetigo looks like--blistery rash that crusts later.



"Getting" to stay home with daddy b/c of your rash sure is fun!  You love the borrowed rocking horse from neighbor Hayden!

• Went to Moody Gardens Palm Beach area with a group from daddy's work.  You had a BLAST going down the kiddie water slides with daddy, liked the lazy river, and hated the splash pad and anything that caused your head to get wet!  The sand area was a fave too!
• You're getting faster and faster when you walk....watch out!

The best new game - pulling your blanket out of your bed!

• You have also started putting things into other things.  Sometimes it's toys inside each other, while other times it's putting something where we ask you to put it.  We've made a big deal out of it when you do this last one and you love clapping for yourself.  I need to get a video of it b/c it's just too darn cute!
• Dancing has become more fun and  you now start bouncing up and down when you push something that makes music!  You haven't associated radio/tv music with dancing yet though--just your toys.
• The house is now "Bennett proofed"!  Well, more like ghetto Bennett proofed, but it's working for now!  We do actually have gates on the stairs and something on the brick fireplace.  You love getting into cabinets though, so we now have blue painter's tape (the quickest daddy found one day in the house) over most of our cabinets!  Luckily the kitchen drawers are hard to open for you still, but I know the day will come soon when you can get into those too!
• You want to play outside as much as possible.  Putting acorns and rocks into your mouth is a fun game for you--but usually if you hear me say "NO!!", you pause long enough for me to run over and grab it!

Whoo hoo!  LOVE the slide!

Baby Dickens #2--Month 5

Welcome to month 5!  I'm now almost out of regular shirts to wear, but trust me, I'm trying!  My ruched shirts will get old fast!

20 weeks 4 days



This month has just been busy.  Simply busy.  Transferring schools as well as from jr. high to elementary has been an enormous change!  I think I'll eventually like it, but at this moment, the jury's still out!  One thing I am sure about is I love the kids--thank goodness that's the case!  It means I'm still right where I need to be!

I'm feeling a little bigger now, and finally, around week 22, I feel that I really look bigger too!  My back isn't hurting as much any more, but I think it's because I'm back at work and not lugging around my 13 month old all day!  Plus, we've taught him how to climb up the stairs as well as back himself down and that is truly the biggest help of all!  Luckily neither B or I have gained much weight (him since he started walking it all off and me because I'm running around all day going crazy at school!).

I was supposed to have my gender/anatomy ultrasound right before the 22 week mark (past the 20 weeks, but I tried to keep it at the same time as my monthly checkup!  They called 2 weeks before and asked me to come in earlier in the day, which wasn't possible due to teaching and the only  available appointment was after 22 weeks.  By the time I finally got to the week of my appointment we were bursting with anticipation!  Then....to make it better, Jeff had class that evening.  That meant he couldn't find out with me and I decided to wait and find out together--but it was at 10pm that night!  Killer!  I had the ultrasound tech put the info in an envelope and told her that I cheat...so make sure to tape it up well!  She even made me close AND cover my eyes during the ultrasound!

Here are the results:

Jeff???  Are you cheating???

Drum roll please.....

Boy????   Girl???

It's a boy!!!

Yeah!!!  And we'd conveniently bought matching Big/Little brother t-shirts right after finding out I was pregnant!  Thank goodness I didn't have to return it!

Bennett's excited about getting a little brother too!

Well, we say excited!  Let's hope he doesn't squash his little brother like this paper!

Baby Dickens #2 can now be officially known as who he will become:  Riley Carlton Dickens!  Riley is just a name we both agreed on (during pregnancy #1) and we liked it for both boy or girl.  We kept calling the baby Riley Boy or Riley Girl.  Now we know--yeah!  Carlton is Jeff's middle name.  The spelling of Riley might change--but then again it might not, who knows!

Bennett still loves running at me when I'm lying down and although I don't mind it, I have to make sure to watch it for Riley's sake! Hopefully we'll find some ways to play without being too rough--but I know that might be too much to ask for with an active 13 month old!  We'll do our best!

I got rear-ended on my way to work during Week 23, which earned us an extra ultrasound to check on little Riley even though I felt okay with just a little lower back pain.  It was worth it though--anything to know that the little guy is doing well works for us!

Hey there Riley Boy!