Playhouse Disney LIVE!!!

We had an awesome family night Friday night. We got tickets to see Playhouse Disney Live! Ben loves all of the shows on playhouse Disney so we figured he would like to see it live. We went out to CC's pizza before the show which Ben loved. We got to the VBC where the show was. Ben was so excited. It was his first time there and it was great to watch him check it all out. Our seats were way in the back (we were late getting tickets) but we could still see great. Ben was mesmerized the whole show! He just sat there watching every minute. He didn't move a muscle. No smiling, no singing, no moving. Just staring. He was taking it all in. We guess he liked it. He didn't really show any emotion and since he doesn't saw much he won't tell us. But he did get excited to watch TV on Saturday morning when he saw all the characters. I guess he was saying he saw them the night before! After the show we went to Coldstone for some ice cream. It was a great fun night! As a side note... I think we are the only parents that didn't buy anything for their kid. They of course were selling all sorts of crazy stuff at super crazy prices. We refused to buy anything so our poor deprived child didn't get anything. Oh well. We spent enough on the tickets!

My

Don't let the title confuse you. We are not talking about sharing issues with 2 year olds (although that would be a good blog topic). It is all about the paci. For some reason Ben has started call his paci "my." He says it so cute and sweet and when he really wants it "my, my, my, my, my!!" We don't know why he calls it my but we go with it.

He has been attached to his paci since day 2 of life. He came out sucking and we knew we were going to need it. It was never one of those things where we had to hold it in his mouth when he was little. He could suck that thing like crazy at 1 week! It has been a great source of comfort to him but now we are dealing with the how do we get rid of it issue. His pediatrician had told us to get rid of it by 15 months. Well that has come and gone. So I was thinking 2 years. Nope not yet. He is just not ready. We can't reason with him. We were down to only 2 and we lost one while we were in Mobile (right before we left). So we told Ben when we got home that we left it and it was gone. He cried for 3 hours. Then we tried to put him to bed and it was screaming! So I gave in and gave him the last one we had. I refuse to buy any more so he better keep up with it (and he will). Oh well there could be worse things we have to deal with! Any suggestions on getting rid of it?

I Like to Move It

Ben's friend Evan came over to play this morning. The boys always have lots of fun together. I was playing some music from my iPod and "I Like to Move It" came on. The boys went crazy...

I was laughing so hard! It is too funny. They wanted me to keep playing it over and over!

Flashback Friday - Glasses!

It is really hard to believe that Ben has been wearing glasses for 1 year now! He got them one year ago this week. I remember it being one of the hardest weeks. More from the anticipation and dread than anything else. We found out when he was 9 months old that he would have to start wearing glasses for spontaneous ambilopia (he has the beginning of a lazy eye. He is far sided and much more so in his left eye than his right eye so he was just using his right eye to see). We caught it very early so hopefully there will be no long term damage. I know that glasses are not that big of a deal but when it is your 1 year old they are talking about it seems like the end of the world. I worried so much about how it would change how he did things. I read so many blogs of babies with glasses where the moms gave horror stories about how rough it was. I talked to people that go through glasses monthly. I was just dreading it.

But the minute he put on his glasses he said "wow!!" And he started looking around at things very closely. He really couldn't see well before. We had a little bit of trouble keeping the glasses on the first week but since then not a problem!! He wakes up asking for them and very very rarely will he take them off. He fell and scratched them up pretty bad about 3 weeks after getting them so we had to replace the lenses but other than that there have been no major issues. Just minor adjustments. I feel so thankful and blessed. He got a bigger pair of glasses in the fall because he outgrew his first pair.

We had been told by a couple of doctors that there was little chance of his eyes ever getting better but we went to the eye doctor last week in Birmingham and there was some improvement. His eyes had gotten closer together!!! The doctor said he didn't really expect that to happen because if anything it was supposed to get worse. So we are just thankful. We got to order new lenses this week that weren't quite as strong. And we go back in 6 months instead of 1 year to check and see if it is continuing to get better. It is doubtful that he will ever get out of glasses but the doctors say that maybe by the time he is 6 or 7 he can get contacts (that seems crazy to me!)

So here are some flashback pictures of his first days with glasses! I let him have his paci more to bribe him to keep the glasses on.

St. Paddy's Day Fun!

We had a fun St. Paddy's Day! This week is spring break around here. That doesn't mean too much for us but we didn't have Bible Study yesterday or school today. So yesterday we met up with 2 of Ben's friends, Drake & Micha, at the indoor playground at church for a fun playdate! These little guys love playing together. It is fun to see how excited they get around each other! We call them the 3 amigos (plus there is a 4th who was out of town - John Thomas!) These boys love being in the nursery together. They can get a little wild at times and get into trouble but they have so much fun. Here is a picture of them yesterday!

Then daddy dyed the bath water green in honor of the holiday! Ben got some bath dye for his birthday which he loves so of course it had to be green last night.

Another Wonderful Weekend!

We had another great weekend!! And it was a really long one. We headed out early Thursday morning for our trip. We stopped in Birmingham to take Ben to the eye doctor. We got some good news there that I will update you on later in the week. We also got to see our friend Amanda Wunderlich and meet little Emma which was fun. Then it was on to Mobile!

We were headed down to see our friends Brad and LeeAnn. They moved to Daphne this past summer and we have missed them like crazy. We have been wanting to go down and see them for such a long time and were glad to finally have the opportunity. We have been friends with them forever (and I mean that!) LeeAnn and I have known each other since we were like 5. They are just the type of friends that are always there for you no matter what and even though we live far apart now our friendship hasn't changed! We love just hanging out with them and that is all we did all weekend. We just got to hang out and visit and have tons of fun!! We also ate lots and lots!! It was so much fun. Here are some of the highlight...

The guys went golfing and the girls (& Ben) went to downtown Fairhope and went shopping! It was really neat and we had lots of fun checking out the little shops.

We went to a toy store that I remember as a kid. My family lived in Daphne when I was 2-4 years old so some of my very first memories are from down there and this toy store was one of the things I remember. I couldn't wait to take Ben back there. And he loved it of course!!

We went down to the Fairhope "beach" to see what Ben would think of it. He hated it of course! We are going to have some fun times at the beach and on our cruise. He did like walking on the pier with LeeAnn.

LeeAnn and Brad have 2 sweet dogs (Ellie & Madi). Ben had a blast playing with them. He liked petting them and brushing them. But his favorite thing was playing in their cage. I may have to get one for him.

And of course we did our favorite thing... play games!! Lots and lots of games. We stayed up until 1 am all 3 nights playing games and laughing!

We went to the Bass Pro Shop on Friday night. Here are the guys trying out the shooting gallery.

Ben and the fish at the Bass Pro Shop

Just a cute one of Ben with all their Mardi Gras beads.

As you can see we had a great time. We miss them so much and can't wait to go back! You can check out their blog (The Wright Family) for more pictures and stories from the weekend.

Just Like His Uncle!

My brother, Andrew, has always been a huge Lego fan! I remember as a little guy he was always building with Legos. He was still getting Legos as Christmas presents from my grandmother up through college (and still loving them!) I think he nephew is following in his footsteps. Andrew and Kelly got him some Duplos from his birthday and he loves them. Yesterday I walked into the living room and he had build this awesome car! All by himself. I think he is going to have a love of Legos just like his uncle!

Spring is Here!

I just thought I would share a picture of one of the beautiful flowers that are blooming in our yard. It has been gorgeous the last few days! Ben has loved playing outside. We are living outside. Thank goodness for daylight savings time so we can be out even longer! He even got to wear shorts today.

AWESOME weekend!!

We had a wonderful weekend! It was just full of fun things. Friday night Matt went to play Axis & Allies with some of his friends (what he loves to do). Ben and I had movie night (what Ben loves to do) and I got to do some scrapbooking (what I love to do!) So we were all happy.

Saturday we went to breakfast at Panera which we hadn't gotten to do in a long time. We also went shopping for a mattress for Ben's big boy bed! We came home and the weather was just wonderful so Matt cleaned out the garage while Ben played!! Fun stuff! Ben took a great nap and then he had a birthday party to go to which is always fun. Saturday night Ben spent the night at Granna & Grandaddy's while we went out! We ate a Surin (our favorite restaurant) and then went to the Broadway Theater League. We saw the 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee which is hilarious!!! So it was great to have a night out.

Sunday we went to church. Ben went to Granna & Grandaddy's church which he loved. We were late to church like we always are when we don't have Ben. With him we are early because we give ourselves more time but when it is just the 2 of us we are late! Oh well. We met up with my parents for lunch and then my mom, sister-in-law and I went shopping!! We were looking for fun summer clothes for our cruise. Kelly is in town for the week since it is her spring break so it was fun to get to see her (even without Andrew). We then had a little birthday party for Ben with Kelly since they weren't here for the big party.

Overall it was a great weekend! Lots of fun! This week looks like it is going to be fun too! We are here until Thursday (which means it will be busy trying to get everything done) and then we are heading down to Mobile to visit Brad and LeeAnn. We are excited!

Ben playing outside! He loved flying his new kite!

Discovering the joy of Auburn shakers!

Ben & Aunt Kelly!

Fun with Handy Manny!

We had a little fun this morning with Ben's new Handy Manny doll (almost life size!) First Ben was posing for some pictures with Manny on the stairs. Oh cute!

Then he proceeded to throw Manny down the stairs and say "Manny down." I would throw Manny back up and he would throw him down. This went on for a good 30 minutes with Ben laughing every single time! Oh to be 2 and to be so easily amused!

Then he wanted to do a photo shoot. Ben loves having his picuture made and saying "cheese." Then he wants to look at the picture on the camera and do it again! Here are some of the pictures!

2 Years Old!

My little baby is getting so BIG!!! We went to the doctor this morning for his 2 year check up. He did great at his appointment. He had to get 2 shots and blood drawn. He did fine with the shots but hated having his finger pricked. It wasn't the pain that bothered him. It was the fact that blood got on him and he hates to be messy! And boy was it messy. There was blood everywhere. The nurse walked back in the room and said wow! The doctor said he was "awesome." He is doing everything he should be doing and health wise everything is great! Here were his stats:

• Weight - 28.3 pounds (55th%)
• Height - 34.5 inches (53rd%)
• Head Circumference - 51 cm (94th% - He has a big head!)

He is not a little baby anymore! He is doing so good and growing so big! The dietitian in me loves that he is right at the 50th%ile. He is also on track developmentally with everything. I answered yes to all the developmental questions they ask you at the doctor. No big changes from the doctor. He said we could switch to skim milk but we already did that 2 months ago (another dietitian thing in me!)

I was going to write some things that he is doing new these days but I can't think of anything off the top of my head. He is talking more and more each day. It is amazing how much he is talking. He went from being a silent little boy to not being quiet! He loves to run and jump all the time. Ben is all boy!!! What a difference 2 years makes.

Crazy Birthday Weather!

So they say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. That is so true for March 1st! The past 3 years on Ben's birthday the weather has been crazy. The day he was born was horrible storms. We were under tornado warnings while he was being born. It was crazy. Last year on his first birthday it was warm and 70 degrees. We all wore short sleeves to his party. This year it snowed on his birthday! Yep we had a good ole Alabama snow storm! They were predicting this great big snow storm but of course it didn't pan out. It snowed like 1/2 an inch. Ben didn't even get to play in it because by the time we got home from church it was all gone.

It will be interesting to see what the weather is like next year on March 1st!

Here is the Alabama snow!

Happy Birthday Ben!!!!

It is so hard to believe that it has been 2 years since the little guy was born. We say often that it goes by so quickly but at the same time we don't remember much of life before him. He is such a joy and each and everyday he is growing and learning so much! I will post more later on what all he is up to lately for recording sake but I know everyone is dying to see pictures from the party!!!

The party was so much fun! Ben did great. He loved having all of his friends over to his house. He met each of them at the door with a hug (usually) and was a sweet boy. We had 6 of Ben's little friends over for a train b'day party(read the Hancock family blog for why it was not 7 : ). They had so much fun playing trains, eating, opening presents, and doing the pinata! It was great! I don't even know where to start with the pictures because we took so many but here are some of my favorites.

Some of the decorations. I love birthday parties so I may have gone a little overboard with the decorating! I wanted to make it festive. Thanks to Kyle and Candace for coming over and helping decorate Friday night! You guys are awesome!

So my "thing" for the year was cakes so I made the cake. It took way to long and was not fun but I think it turned out great!! Ben loved it and brought all his friends to see it when they walked in the door.

Close up of the little train cakes that the kids got to eat!

The Birthday Boy!

The kids got to paint wooden trains which they loved of course.

The best party of the party - playing trains! We borrowed a neighbors train table so we had 2 tables for them to play with. I think the boys could have played for hours!

Lunchtime - hot dogs, chips and grapes! Ymmm! The kids were all so sweet. They sat together and did great.

Blowing out the candles. Ben had been looking forward to this moment for about a month. Anytime we asked him what he was going to do at his party he would blow out the candles. So he was excited for the big moment!

Enjoying his cake - the rock candy picture is for you Aunt Kelly!

Handy Manny from Great Grandma Eckley was a hit with all the kids.

Ben was not to into opening presents. So most of the kids just opened the one that they brought. All of them wanted to open the presents! Ben was happy with the first one he opened so he didn't need any more.

Yes we gave 2 year olds a golf club to hit the pinata with. They loved it!!

And they quickly got the candy!!

Playing with the balloons after the party!

Granna & Grandaddy with Ben

Opa & Mema with Ben (we missed all our aunts and uncles!)

Mom & Dad with the 2 year old!

After the party the 3 of us went to Rosies (good Mexican!) for dinner since it is Ben's favorite place to eat. Then today on his real birthday we had a low key day. He got to open a present this morning and then we went to church.

This afternoon he got to open more presents and play, play play! The little guy is all worn out!! It was a wonderful birthday weekend!