Laughing

Ben update

At Ben's 3yr appt. he was 30lbs and 39" tall. He goes to preschool two days a week from 9-1 and loves it! Since starting school Ben has learned so much and loves to bring his art work home, and teach us the songs he learns in music. He just recently mastered writing his name (Ben, Benjamin is our next adventure) and we're working on learning to write the other letters of the alphabet. He's loves to read and is constantly asking how to spell things. In addition to reading he really loves music, art, and any physical activity. Ben has been taking speech therapy since the end of April and has improved greatly! In addition to improving his articulation he's become more confident in his speaking abilities- the boy NEVER stops talking.... EVER! :)

Kaitlyn Update

Our baby girl is now 11 weeks old! At her two mth appt. she weighed 11 lbs 3 oz and 22 inches long. She can hold her head up, has started baby talking, and is quite the little inch worm. She is never in the place you put her, her moving around has happened way sooner than we were/are prepared for. She's also blowing bubbles and loves to mimic you. In the beginning she was extremely fussy and we've learned that it was due to my dairy intake. Since cutting out most dairy she's become a happy little girl. She's super cute and making her smile is quickly becoming one of our favorite past times!

Kaitlyn's arrival!

Kaitlyn Renae Alexander arrived on 6 Jun 10 at 3:05pm! She weighed 6-lbs 10oz and was 20 1/2in! Labor was really easy and active labor only lasted 1 1/2 hours :) When it was time to push, the whole thing lasted less than 4 minutes! After only 1 day in the hospital, mom and baby were able to come home.

Kaitlyn's Room

Surgery

Oh the resilience to a 2 year old! Ben had surgery back on May 5th to redo his tubes and remove his adenoid. We had to arrive at the hospital at 5:30 (2 hrs before his surgery) which meant we needed to leave the house by 4:30, meaning Brian and I were up at 3:45- YUCK! The only upside to having to be there so early is there wasn't any traffic :) Ben was in great spirits and even had fun exploring the new environment. Eventually we gave him the "magic elixir" which made him extremely groggy and knocked him out. Up until the point of sleep he was the funniest thing we'd ever seen- think 2 year old drunk out of his mind. He was making jokes and doing the funniest things, he even convinced the doctor to trade scrub hats with him. Surgery went fine but the waking up part was pretty tough. It's never easy to see your baby hooked up to tubes, monitors, screaming as if he's being murdered, and knowing there is nothing you can do for him. After they had him all situated I was allowed to pick him up and just hold him. This seemed to calm him down a bit and for the following two hours he drifted in and out of sleep. When he finally woke up he was a bit cranky but again in decent spirits. He loved the wheelchair ride from recovery up to discharge- he kept telling the nurse to go faster. By the time we left the hospital you would never know he had surgery, he was a ball of energy and has only gotten better with each passing day. Here are a few pics.....

Before

After convincing doc to trade scrub hats- ready to go

The third pic is post op

Soccer

Ben started soccer lessons back in March and with only two practices left he's finally getting into it. The biggest thing we've learned though these last six weeks is that Ben IS NOT aggressive at all! The first four weeks he wouldn't even go on the field without Brian or I but last week and again today he's done super by himself. He enjoys kicking around the ball and doing the drills but he's not a fan of having to share one ball. Also, he certainly doesn't like when anyone steals the ball from him. Here are some pictures....

Silly faces
Half his team
Scrimmage