Samuel Emerson Buzzard is here!

Sam is here...and I'm only three weeks late in writing a post about it. We are quickly getting adjusted to baby life again, which has caused me a fuzzy brain from lack of sleep. (Not to mention that we also have a VERY BUSY two year old, so life keeps moving along...any advice from experienced mommies is welcome....yesterday I found myself nursing Sam while eating my lunch and making sure Ben ate his lunch...is this normal???...I guess I need to master the art of multi-tasking....yikes!)

Sam is wonderful. He eats, sleeps, fusses a little, and snuggles a lot! My labor was such a different experience than Ben's labor...there I go, comparing already, but it's really amazing just how different the two are. Sam's disposition is so different than Ben's was at this age (this ripe old age of three weeks), but I can't wait to watch and see what Sam will be like, and how they will be as brothers. So far Ben has been extremely loving...but of-course Sam hasn't tried to steal any of his Thomas trains.

Mike has taken a good bit of time off of work, and he has been spending a lot of quality time with Ben...which I know Ben has just loved. They have gone on some great adventures...steam train rides, the airplane museum, San Francisco...not to mention hours of riding the scooter that Sam got him...it has been nice for me to have some time to bond with Sam and get to know him.

Hopefully soon we'll settle into a routine and Sam will decide that he'd like to sleep some longer stretches at night (which I'd really appreciate)...and life will start to feel "normal" again...our new normal (whatever that is).

A Few Firsts

Ben had his very first trip to the dentist and did an incredible job. The funniest part about it, to me, is that his dentist was my dentist when I was little, the Snoopy Dentist! Everything in his office is Snoopy. Ben even got to go to the dog house and pick out a toy when it was all over. I remember doing the very same thing. It's so amazing to me how we've come full circle.




Ben's other big first was starting pre-school this week. He'll be going two days a week, and a bunch of his friends and neighborhood kids are in his class! Look at that big boy smile!

Good Morning, Mr. Rolli Polli

As I was getting ready this morning, I was greeted by a rolli polli bug cruising along our carpet. A rolli polli is much less offensive than a gigantic spider, or a mosquito, or a flying bug I can't even identify, but it's still an icky bug nonetheless.

Enter suburbia...a place where you have ample room to run around, plenty of parking, Target, and a LARGE VARIETY of icky bugs! Living in San Francisco we certainly had our share of mesquitos. On those rare, warm nights, they would congregate over the still puddles of water in the park that hadn't fully absorbed into grass. Of-course, we had raccoon sightings, but rarely an icky bug.

Now, icky bugs are becoming the norm. I'm not a fan a of the bug, flying, crawling, or creeping along our carpet. However, unless we make the exterminator a regular friend, I'm afraid I will have to make peace with the icky bugs.

One Saturday Morning

Last Saturday, Ben and I went to our neighborhood farmer's market to pick up some fancy lettuce with flower petals (my favorite), strawberries, and asparagus. Instead of using the stroller (which might have been the easier option), he held my hand the whole time. While perusing the market in the sun, we ran into neighbors, and friends from our Mommy and Me "preschool" class. We walked by the sorbet stand and I figured a little mid-morning snack of icy strawberry-rhubarb would be a great Saturday morning treat.

We found a spot in the shade on a curb and Ben scooted as close to me as he possibly could. We sat together and talked, eating sorbet, and I looked at him, with his little baseball cap on sideways, holding his cup like such a big boy and realized how quickly he HAS become a big boy. Talking, jumping, running, sharing, snuggling, reading, making trains, coloring, understanding, laughing, crying, getting frustrated...he's growing up so fast!

I will forever hang on to that moment in my mind at the farmer's market where life seemed so simple, and my little boy suddenly seemed so grown-up.

There's a Bagel in Mommy's Tummy

"A bagel in mommy's tummy," was Ben's response when I asked him if he new what was growing in Mommy's tummy (of-course this was right after I had downed an Everything bagel with everything on it)! As we talk more and more about it, and mommy's tummy gets bigger, Ben will tell you there is a baby in mommy's tummy, whether or not he really understands that he will become a big brother in September. The other day I asked him where the baby was, and he put his hand gently on my stomach and said, "Baby right here." We are 18 weeks along and get to find out girl or boy in two weeks!

Everyone keeps asking if I have a preference. A healthy baby is all I could ask for. If we get another boy then we are set with clothes, if it's a girl, I can go crazy buying bows and tutus! We got Ben his own stroller which he loads up with his doll Jake and his sippy cup and cruises through the house and yard, bumping into walls, and popping wheelies along the way (perhaps we'll wait until he's a little bit older to push the stroller with the real baby).

I took him to a doctors appointment yesterday and he got to hear the heartbeat. For the rest of the night whenever the subject came up he put his hands on his stomach to talk about mommy's tummy, the doctor, and the heartbeat.

Ben is going to be a great big brother. He has become quite the little helper around the house. If he finds a drop of water on the floor he will stand by the paper towels asking for one so he can wipe it up. For the next 20 minutes Ben can be found wiping floors, windows, and eventually his nose.

As for now, the bagel in my belly continues to grow and kick, and we are excited that our family of 4 (I had to include Petey), will become a family of 5!

He's a "Yeah" Man

A few weeks ago I posted about Ben and his favorite words, "No Mommy," and it seems as though things have taken a turn...for the better! All of the sudden Ben has starting responding to questions with, not yes, but "yeah", and not just a simple "yeah" but an extremely enthusiastic "YEAH".

Me: Are you ready to eat to lunch?
Ben: Yeah!

Me: Do you have a poopy diaper?
Ben: Yeah!

Me: Are you ready to take a nap?
Ben: Yeah!

Me: Do you want to read a book?
Ben: Yeah!

Me: (after throwing his sippy cup across the table) Do you need to sit in the naughty chair?
Ben: Yeah! (the only time I'd wished he would have said "NO!"...who wants to sit in the naughty chair!?!?)

What a pleasant phase we're in right now...I'm going to enjoy each "yeah" while it lasts!