Long Time, No Blog

Okay, so we still exist... blogging has just not been on my radar. Can't believe it's been SOOOO long since I posted.

Short of a very long story is: Benjamin Scott Hollis was born October 22, 2010. Weighed 8 lbs 6 oz. and was 19 inches long.

He's now almost 4 months and probably weighs close to 20 lbs now. (He was 14 lbs 8 oz at 2 months.) He's rolling over from his back to tummy, squealing with delight and sometimes just to hear himself, and even giggling a little bit. Benjamin is taking 4-oz bottles at day care. He usually takes 4 of them a day (little pig). :) He is a good baby they say - usually only crying if he wants a bottle.

Shortly after Benjamin was born (around 3 weeks), Samuel decided to jump off the bed. The result of this was a broken femur in his left leg.

A trip to the emergency room,

being put to sleep to reduce the break and get a spica cast,

an overnight stay in the hospital, a rental of a wheelchair..... you get the drift... we were snowed under! It took him a while to adjust to the cast. We learned to keep the house really cool so that he wouldn't itch. That was the trick. 6 weeks in a cast was tough. Thankfully, his teacher at day care sent us packages very often that included the projects they were doing at school. We also received lots of get well cards and pictures from not only his class, but other teachers/classes at the day care. We were so blessed. We also did a few projects on our own to pass the time. Not to mention the concerts we put on. :)

(the brown blanket makes our stage)

The cast came off December 30. We celebrated this with a trip to Umi's (Japanese restaurant in Starkville).

It took him a couple of weeks to figure out how to walk again without limping. Now, we're back on track.

Samuel and Benjamin get along really well. Samuel is the best big brother. Benjamin doesn't cry much... he even came home used to Samuel's drums. (Guess so, since he heard them all 9 months he was in the womb...)

11/17/2010

12/6/2010

2/2/2011 (Groundhog Day - taken at day care)

2/6/2011 (reading Curious George)

Uncle Chris came for a visit in January. Highlight of the trip: He says to me while we're eating dinner one night... "Do you ever get to finish a meal?" LOL! You can tell he doesn't have children... :)

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Samuel got a helmet, knee and elbow pads, gloves, and a horn for his bicycle. He thinks he is hot stuff! Benjamin got a couple of teethers since he is gnawing like crazy on anything he can put in his mouth.

That about does it for us for now. I'm going to try to do better about blogging. I do most little updates on Facebook, but this is a little easier to go back and reminisce.

Samuel is a Cut-Up

Before I get to Samuel's little cute stuff... today's design (palm trees) is in honor of the hubby being in Orlando, Florida this week.

Granna is here helping me with Samuel... taking him to school and picking him up, helping with laundry and meals... basically filling in for Kris. :) Such fun!

Yesterday, Samuel and Granna were coloring with markers and she told him that one of the markers was the color 'Plum'. Later that day, we were talking about opposites and she asked him what the opposite of skinny was. (Not sure where that came from...) Me, trying to find a polite answer told Samuel to say 'plump'. He said, "Plump, like the marker!" It was funny at the time.

While they were coloring, I was trying to tell Granna something and Samuel kept trying to interrupt. We've been working with him, trying to get him to say, "Excuse me" when adults are talking... Anyway, that wasn't working too good yesterday. So, Granna finally stopped and said to him that Mama was talking and he was too and she couldn't listen to both of us at the same time. She said, "Who should I listen to?" He said quite simply, "Me."

Samuel has gotten back into his Alphabooks. He likes to read the letters of the words and then say the word like he's reading. (He really knows the word from the picture.) I'm very fond of this approach... perhaps it will sink in this way. He already says "puppy" when he gets to the "dog" page, then spells "dog" and realizes the word is not "puppy" but "dog"... although he usually says "doggie".

In other news, I am 4 1/2 months pregnant (20 weeks). Next week, we go for the ultrasound to learn the gender of the baby. We are excited about this transition into the last half of the pregnancy. A little overwhelmed still, but it is becoming more and more fun. I feel the baby move every day and that helps a LOT. It will be better when the movements are bigger and can be felt from the outside so Samuel and Kris can feel them. That always seems to make it more of a reality for the men. :)

Clown Freakout

Samuel apparently does not like clowns... at least one clown in particular. His class at day care went to the library yesterday and encountered Inky the Clown there. Apparently he and another kid from his class freaked out and had to be taken back to the day care. :(