Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 29 A Photo Shoot with Boy Wonder and Family Fun

sOne day recently, Mia and Daddy were taking a nap. Ben and Mommy were still wide awake (at least Ben was.) Knowing how much Mia loves her Kasha Kashka and Rock-a-bye Baby dolls, Ben decided to take advantage of a free opportunity to play with them without big sister telling him, "NO BEN!" He first picked up the baby juice bottle and started singing. Then, he grabbed baby Rock-a-bye (little one) and tried to eat her head! Before we knew it, Ben was a little maniac swinging baby dolls around and throwing them all over which naturally turned into a hilarious photo shoot.


When big sister Mia is awake... she loves to make "Benny the Beanbag" laugh. This happens just about all the time and she'll try just about everything to get him to burst out in giggles.


We decided to try Friendly's for lunch one day because Mommy heard it was kid friendly and that they had great ice cream. We loved that the waitress brought the kids balloons to play with. The balloons entertained the kids for quite a while and the food wasn't too bad either.

Mia News: Mia LOVES watching Dora the Explorer and Thomas the Train. She gets so excited by these shows and is so happy to watch them. Mia is pretty much potty trained except for night time. She seems to "get it" and is much better at letting us know when she has to go. by saying, "Mommy/Daddy are you holding it?"

Ben News: Ben rocks and dances all the time when he sits up (his first dance was to Daddy's bass playing -- Daddy is proud). He gets very frustrated with his crawling attempts because he always ends up going backwards instead of forward (this is problematic as this happens every morning in his crib and he backs himself into a corner). He sings himself to sleep now with a moany, whiny song; eyes closed and everything. He is getting into all of Mia's things now--- UH OH!

Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 28 Fall Updates

Happy Birthday to Uncle Mark!

We've been having great play sessions in our living room. The one below was an impromptu snuggle fest that happened while mommy was getting Mia and Ben ready for daycare. I was packing bags and I heard an assortment of giggles and couldn't help but snap a few photos.

Ben News:
Ben figured out how to clap this week. He first did it at daycare and then after three days of waiting patiently, he did it at home for us. Now, he just about claps all the time. He can also give us five when we hold our hands out for him. Ben has recently fallen in love with Gerber Puffs (what baby doesn't?) and anytime he sees his highchair, both at home and school, he starts kicking and cooing for puffs. We like to refer to him as Puff Diddy around our house!

Puff Diddy is also pushing up more and more and is starting to scoot backwards. While he still has a way to go, I asked Mia if she thought he would start crawling soon. Mia predicts, "Ben is going to start crawling on Friday." and she's said this more than once! We'll keep you posted on whether she's right or not.

Mia News:
Mia and Daddy have both been fighting a bad cold this week. Mia's wheezing has returned and we're hoping that her new preventative medicine and steroid will help out. Even though she hasn't been feeling her usual 100%, she is working SO hard at potty training. She even told mommy one day, "I'm a good potty trainer mommy!". She loves earning stickers for attempted potties and successful potties and likes to choose which panties she's going to wear for the day. She's SUCH a BIG girl!

She has been very talkative over the last few days, probably because the albuterol makes her super jumpy. One thing she shared with us last night was, "when I cry at school, my teachers call me drama queen.". We're hoping that isn't really the case but we'll check tomorrow at our parent/teacher conference this week. This is just all the proof that her little ears are tuned in to EVERYTHING that is being said whether it's about her or not. Let's hope she's not a drama queen!

Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 27 Simple Fun

The day after Halloween was pretty mellow. Neighbors Leah, Charlotte and Rae came over for an impromptu play date. The picture of Mia between the twins was funny because they all like sisters.

Mia and Ben enjoyed their first of many double baths together. Ben mostly chewed on his squirt toy while Mia colored pictures for him on the bathtub walls, sang him songs and splashed us all.

Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 26 Trick or Treat

The fun began a few days before Halloween when we decided to carve our pumpkins. Mia was really into watching Daddy and Jess carve. At first, Mia was a little timid about reaching in and grabbing the seeds. We tried to get her to just go for it but she didn't want to get dirty. After a while, she did muster up some courage and used a spoon to dig out the seeds and pulp. Mia also loved telling Mommy what shapes she should carve for the eyes, nose and mouth. Her little pumpkin sure was cute!

Speaking of little pumpkins...while we were carving them, our little pumpkin jumped like a bouncing maniac for about 40 minutes straight. He was bopping, bobbing, swaying, shaking, bouncing, dancing and a jumpin' until... we looked over and he had jumped himself into a deep sleep!


He slept like a baby who falls asleep in his bouncer until his big sister decided that a 35 min. nap was too long and she shook the seat. Ben immediately popped his head up, rubbed his red eyes and enthusiastically started jumping again as if nothing had happened. We had never seen anything like it... who falls asleep when they are jumping? Ummm, besides Ben.

Mia and Ben had a great day before Halloween at daycare. They had a party in the 2's class with music and all sorts of "snacky snacks" as Mia would say. They enjoyed coming home after the party and played and played together. Halloween finally came and we had a huge party to celebrate. Daddy made chili and many of our guests enjoyed tasting various chilis from our chili cook-off. Mia was social butterfly and looking back, Mommy and Daddy, can't recall really hanging out with her too much. Which means, that she had a ball running around with her friends. Half way through the party, she excused herself to sit on the potty upstairs to do her business. Imagine that... she left the party! Whew hoo- she's getting ever so close to being potty trained. She finished up just in time to go trick-or-treating. We only made it to a few houses because it started to rain but that's okay. We had a ton of fun and Mia was not shy at all to scream, "TRICK- OR-TREAT!!!" and reach in the candy bowl to get some candy.

Here's a few pics from the party and trick-or-treating.