Why I Heart Shutterfly

1. They are doing a promotion for anyone who has a blog - 50 Free Photo Cards - just for writing a blog about it! How awesome is that?!

2. They have a great platform for hosting photo websites. My friend Ashley has one, as does Melissa. It is a great way to let out of town family watch little ones grow.

3. Photobooks - If you upload your pictures to Shutterfly, you can easily create a photobook for a loved one.

4. Calendars - Melissa & I did this last year for our mothers. It worked out quite nicely with Kaylynn, as January she was 1 month, February she was 2 months, etc. They got to watch her grow from her first year all through her second year!

5. And of course, the holiday cards - They make it very easy for busy folks to customize their own Christmas (or Hannukah, etc.) card. They have tons of options, making it nice and difficult to pick which one I want!

Thanks, Shutterfly for helping a family out!

Park Time Fun!

We discovered a new park within walking distance of our house - and it's not the HOA park! Kaylynn was in hog heaven this morning going up and down the stairs. That's all she wanted to do...until I went down the slide with her. Holy moly, does this girl love to slide!? She doesn't care that she bites it every single time she lands.

Kaylynn is very careful on stairs. If she's not holding onto the rails, then she's holding a hand. A daredevil she is not.

Rocky Raccoon!


See? We're very careful.

These curls are the reason she has not had a haircut yet. I just know that when she gets one, they'll be gone.

"A "BIG TRUCK" go that way."

Sliding fun. Check out that proper sliding form.


Water break & cooling off.


Kaylynn pointed to the slide and said it was "Kayin's house".

And we're running back to slide again.


And another one bites the dust! It started raining (sprinkling, but we'd been there like an hour), so it was a Mama's excuse to leave and go eat "yunchy".

But don't worry, we didn't leave Ben behind. He enjoyed the park, too. See?

The Many Faces of Ben {and an update}

Mr. Benjammin' (get it, Been-Jammin'?) you've had a rough go at it your first two weeks of life. After we came home on Wednesday, the 20th, we thought everything was going well. You seemed to finally take to nursing, you were using the bathroom normally, and even sleeping! However, Thursday, things started to change. Daddy mentioned you seemed to be more yellow than you were (I see you everyday, so you looked the same to me). Thursday was also the last day you pooped until Sunday night/Monday morning. Monday, October 25th, you had your first week check-up. Dr. P. was also concerned about weight loss (you dropped from 7lbs on the 20th to 6lbs 9oz at the appt)your coloring and the fact that dirty diapers weren't your forte.

After some blood work, the decision was made to admit you (and I) into the hospital for the night, for some hard-core bili blanket time. You slept in a little box with lights all in it to get your biliruben numbers down. Good thing is that it worked! With the help of an occupational therapist and many different nurses, we learned that you had a weak suck, which was why you weren't transferring enough milk to get rid of the jaundice on your own. Mommy had to adjust her ways of feeding you, with the help of Miss Pump in Style and Dr. Brown's Preemie Bottle, and now you are 15 days old and growing like crazy. Your bathroom issues are all taken care of (boy are they!), and as of yesterday at your 2 week check-up, you got back up to 7lbs (and have grown 1/2 an inch to 21.75inches!) I predict you'll be at birth weight by Friday, with the way you are chowing down. I put you in a 0-3 month onesie today, just to see how it fit. You are no where near filling it out, but it fits you perfectly in the arms. You are long and lean, little man.

You have been more alert this week, giving me little smiles here and there. Why, just today, you made a little happy "agoo" sound. You are learning how to be a tough guy with your big sister around. Just know that she means well, she just doesn't quite know her own strength yet. She wants to help give you bottles and your paci, even if it is a little rough and the bottle is empty. I suspect we'll have to keep an eye on her or you'll have your first cracker by 1 month old! :)

Look how strong you are!

Funny faces








We love you, Benny-Wenny Boo-boo, boo-boo-boo (and your many nicknames, too! 2 pts for who can guess where this one came from.)

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...

"...Give me something good to eat, if you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear." Turns out The Cosby Show comes on at 1:30am in Houston (Ch. 11, CBS, in case anyone is wondering). This little jingle was on a Halloween episode the other night. I even remember watching this particular one back in the day...

This was Kaylynn's very first Trick or Treating experience. And yes, in case you are wondering, her mean ole' Mom and Dad even let her eat 1 piece of candy (a plain Hershey's Special Dark, that's the "healthiest" chocolate there was).

This year Kaylynn was dressed as a fairy. We got to reuse her 1st Birthday tutu and just bought her some wings and a wand. However, upon seeing the wings for the firs time she declared "Butterfly. I want it." So fairy, butterfly, whatever. Ben was...a caddy? an English boy? a mushroom? The verdict is still out. It was a little houndstooth outfit with a cute little hat, but the poor thing didn't even remotely fit into it. He wore it with pride anyways!

So here we are, the pregame show. Kaylynn was NOT happy about putting on her costume. We got her in it by telling her that PapPap wanted her to wear it. Proof:

And with Ben.

Our first house was the lady across the street. She lives with her elderly mother, and they were both thrilled to see our cute fairy and little guy.

And we're WALKING. (have any of you seen that Progressive Commericial with Flo...and we're walking...Kaylynn and Meese love that saying.)

This picture was taken ever so quickly. Not 2 seconds later, Kaylynn was pushing Ben away. She'd had enough. We bribed her to take this picture with a sliver of her chocolate.
Here's the little man. He also wasn't thrilled with wearing his costume. Actually, I think he wanted milk. :)

And lastly, the kids all dressed in their Halloween pj's again. This photo op did not go well. I think there was hitting involved...it was traumatic. I can't remember. :)

All Hallow's Eve Eve

The Eve of Halloween was all about pumpkin carving. Actually, that's a lie. It was about Kaylynn taking an incredibly late nap and having to wake her up to carve the pumpkin she picked out. I just knew she was going to be Miss Cranky-Pants, but it seemed that the idea of digging goopy seeds out of a pumpkin was a good one to her (Daddy was having fun, so it must be a good time, right?)

Ben even got outside to get in on the action. By action, I mean sleeping, but still. :)






And someone decided to wake up!

Ready for bed in his Halloween pj's!

Just realized...we never got a picture of the finished product!