Luck O' the Irish!

we had a really fun weekend visiting family.

Henry took off work friday and managed to leave work a little early thursday afternoon so we could have a longer break. 

while up we took a few drives to look at houses, went out to eat three times, dropped by a local bakery, went to a baby shower, and stopped at a parade for st. patty's day.

we were too busy having fun to take pictures of most of those things, but henry got a few on his phone.

 

bence tried on Poppo's hunting boots. they were a little big. 

the parade was lots of fun. i think bence loved watching the floats and listening to the music.

it was frigid though. 

when we got out of the car i thought it might be warm enough to leave my jacket.

but when the wind picked up it froze our hands and noses. 

i felt terrible for leaving bence's mittens in the car and tried to hold his hands so they weren't so cold.

for once, he actually let me. 

two different times two different mascots walked down the road. the first one looked like a big shapeless elmo.
henry beckoned him over, and the mascot reached over to bence's hand.
and bence lost it.
he screamed and squirmed in his seat like he was trying to get away.
it's really weird for him to be picky about people all the sudden, because he's always been so friendly to everyone.
i think he's reached the stage where he knows what's normal(ish) and departures from that are a little scary.

we didn't ask the second (blue) mascot to come over.

there were a couple bagpipe groups that walked through and it was really neat to listen to them. the traditional irish cultural displays were punctuated by nightclub floats blasting party music while guys in muscle shirts flexed and half naked college girls handed out candy.

(bence's miller lite beads were courtesy of one of the aforementioned nightclub floats)

poppo was decked out in st. patty's attire. 

if felt heavenly to get back into the car after it had sat in the sun for a good hour. we were all frozen and hungry so we went to cracker barrel for dinner. bence even behaved himself once grammo got him a racing car from the giftshop. (he's just the littlest bit spoiled.)

We've been home three days now and i still haven't unpacked our stuff or done all the laundry yet. i'm not too hopeful for today either. but i haven't been completely useless. i did make coconut cake the other day, and it was (is) heavenly. we still have more than half a pan left. 

anyone want to come over and help me eat the rest of it? (it's super rich...like i-can't-finish-an-entire piece-by-myself-rich)

we have hit the second trimester already! bence came along with me yesterday to my 16 week appointment. it's gone by really fast. bence keeps me so busy i have almost forgotten at times that i am pregnant. and then, with a jolt, i realize that i'm growing another human.

bence was pretty well behaved at my appointment. i was a little run off my feet, but that's nothing new. when we were in the waiting room he kept running back to the hallway where the exam rooms were. and when they took me back to check my weight he kept running back into the waiting room. 

when he does this he always looks over his shoulder while running away from me, laughing manically the whole time. i think he knows he's being naughty and he thinks it's funny. to be honest, it's kind of hard not to laugh because it is pretty hilarious. even when he's being a stinker. and he manages to be so cute. (and, as i've had several people tell me, he has the funniest little laugh ever.)

so far baby #2 looks good. i got to hear the heartbeat again, and that's always amazing. it was a pretty quick visit. the doctor said i'm measuring a bit big but that might mean i'm just a little farther along than he thinks. 

after my exam i sat down in their little lab to have some blood drawn and as soon as the needle was in my arm bence ran down the hallway. one of the nurses chased him down for me. even my doctor came out to play with him for a few minutes. by the time a vial of blood had been drawn, three nurses and my doctor were happily chatting about and playing with bence. he is so incredibly social and so sweet i think everyone falls in love with him. 

after my appointment we went to wal-mart, which i felt was a risky move since he had been up so early that morning and we had already been out for over an hour. but it ended up being the best grocery trip i've ever made by myself. 

right after i dropped off a prescription i went straight to Mcdonalds to get him something to eat. and for the next hour he happily gnawed at chicken nuggets and french fries in the cart while i leisurely did my shopping. 

i've come to realize that as a mommy you sometimes have to do what works, even if it isn't the healthiest/most cost effective/acceptable way to do it. he really is a good boy as long as he has a full tummy and is actively being entertained. 

even since my last update about little B, he has changed so much. it seems like everyday he makes knew and/or different sounds. he has so many facial expressions and such a vivacious little personality. he loves to be "chased" (along with any other game where there's a good amount of anticipation.) but he also loves snuggles lately. (i blame the teething.) he's fussy enough lately to prefer me over other people, and he has consistently made me laugh so hard that i feel like i'm going to throw up. (i'm just a tiny bit nauseous still.) 

jeez, we love this kid!

MORE big news...!

we have more exciting news to share.
no...we're not having twins.

Henry got a new job.
a really awesome and amazing new job.
so awesome that it will launch him into a totally new field without having to do an MBA.
he just kinda gets to skip that middle part.

about a month ago he was contacted by a consulting company who asked him to apply for a job opening they had.
they found him on linkedin.
henry kind of laughed because he said there was no way he would be hired, (because of lack of experience) but he applied since they asked.
he got a phone interview.
and that went really well.
so he had a peer conference interview (a phone interview with six people asking questions)
and that went pretty well too.
so they flew him out to florida a few weeks ago to make sure he wasn't weird in person,
and they offered him the job.

so now henry will be an IT consultant.
he will fly all over the world to tell companies what they're doing wrong.
(and then, of course, he will tell them how to do things the right way.)

this is kind of the stinky part of his new job.
henry will be traveling a lot.
which is cool in a lot of ways since i can come along whenever i want,
but it also means we will spend a lot of time apart.

the cool part of this job is that when henry isn't traveling, he gets to work from home.
so when he isn't traveling we'll see a lot of him.
it also means we can live wherever we want.
or at least wherever we want that's close to a decent airport.

we've been thinking of moving even closer to family.
mostly for my sanity and extra help with (soon to be) two babies.
i'll need all the help i can get since i'll kind of be a single-mommy for (possibly) 3 weeks of the month.
so we've been keeping an eye on real estate listings and driven around a few houses while up visiting family.

we are excited and a little nervous.
bence and i are planning a lot of trips to visit family so we don't get lonely or bored.
henry will start in just a few weeks and has given his notice at his current job.
our family (close and extended) have a lot of changes coming this year....and we can't wait to see what happens!

(Here's our cute little buddy. he likes to help me clean.)

Five years and then some

Last Friday Henry and I celebrated our fifth anniversary.

I remember when I was a newlywed and five years seemed like a long time.
Mostly because everyone I knew that had been married that long had at least a baby or two in tow,
and babies were such a grown up thing....it seemed very far removed from where i was standing.

but five years has come and gone!
and i never imagined that five years would bring so many changes and such a sweet peanut.
and another peanut in the making.
it's really amazing what can happen in half a decade. i can't even begin to imagine what the next five years will bring.

and just because it was our anniversary, i have to include the part where i'm married to the sweetest most adorable man in the world and he makes me happier than i've ever been. which is totally awesome.

Bence came along on our  anniversary "date" which was basically a grocery trip, but we had a great time.
Since little B fell asleep on the way out,
we stopped at "neato burrito" for dinner (something we could eat in the car) while hoping for a similar experience to Cafe Rio (the BEST restaurant in Utah.)

we were sadly disappointed.

but for the "pennsyl-tuckie" version of Mexican, it wasn't bad.
We made an extra trip to Wegmans after stopping at target.
because we always forget something.
And for those of you who have (or have had) kids you know that stopping at more than one place can be a dangerous thing with a toddler.
this was me and henry's way of living dangerously.
the likelihood of meltdowns and temper tantrums increases by fifty percent with each additional stop you make. (in this family anyway.)

But bence was so sweet.
and charming.
every time he made eye contact with someone he would wiggle his arm in the air and yell "AAAYY!"
(that's his version of hey, or hello--we can't tell.)

In fact, i felt kind of guilty as a mom because he was so excited to go out.
even just to go to the grocery store.
this poor kid has been kept indoors all winter. you know you have cabin fever when target and wegmans are an exhilarating experience.
i think we've got to get him out more.

he was so cute sitting in the cart all wrapped up, we tried to get a good picture of him.
but he was too busy trying to wave to a group of kids he saw over by the cart stall.

Yesterday the weather was so nice we just had to get out of the house.
almost all the snow has melted, and while everything is brown and drab looking,
the sun still warms your bones and makes it seem like spring is just around the corner.

so we put on real clothes, packed up the diaper bag, and headed out.
we've taken bence to the park before, but he never really caught on.
but this time, when we pulled him out of his carseat he started to squeal.
i think he knew we were going to be outside.
and anytime we're outside, we're bound to have fun. (at least in bence's mind.)
he took off faster than his little legs could carry him and wound up on his butt more than once.

by the time we left, his bottom was soaked as were the legs of his pants up to his knees. he doesn't have the greatest depth perception and still falls over frequently when walking over unever surfaces.

he is so independent.
Henry or i would offer bence a hand or try to help him where the ground wasn't level or where a step was too big to climb over, and he would reach out for a split second....
but as soon as he was over whatever obstacle it was, he'd rip his hand away. i guess he's too big to have help from mommy or daddy.

There was a kiddie park a little ways away from the bigger jungle gym where older kids were playing.
we tried to start bence off with the smaller slides, but he wasn't having it.

he saw all the big kids playing and he wanted to be over where they were.
and once he figured out the slides, he only wanted the big ones.
henry would go up to the top of the jungle gym with him, but once he got to the slide, he literally threw himself face foreword to go down.

a couple times henry held onto the back of his shirt while another kid went down ahead of bence,
and he would get so frustrated and mad at that two second delay that he would scream some more.

the funniest part of taking bence to the park was seeing how social he is.
we already knew that he was friendly. he has been since he was an infant.
but the entire time we were there, he insisted on running where all the big kids were.

I kept thinking of that song from the little mermaid....
"I wanna be where the people are...i wanna see, wanna see 'em dancing!"

that was bence.
we took him over to the kiddie swings at one point.
and he didn't like it at all.
we were the only ones on that part of the playground.
he kept looking over to where a gaggle of kids were playing across the park.
then he would look at them and scream.
and then look at us.
and then look at the other kids and scream some more.
and the minute we got him down he took off in their direction.

don't worry, there was still snow on the ground, but it was really warm out. no babies were cold in the making of this blog. 

Notice the wet bum.
he would fall on the snow that hadn't melted yet, and sit there with his hands in the air because he didn't want to touch the cold ground to push himself up. that's the only time he was okay with us helping him.

the worst part about going to the park: getting little B in the car afterward.
he cried as soon as I opened the door.
and then kicked his muddy little feet in indignation.
and arched his back so it was nearly impossible to buckle him in.
but once he was settled with some juice he calmed down.

and when we got home we ate dinner and watched frozen.
it's kind of his favorite movie.
he loves the music. and i'm pretty sure his eyes never left the screen for the entire hour and a half the movie lasted.

all in all, it was a pretty great day.
here's one last picture of our sweet little trouble maker.
climbing, as usual.

First haircut

Bence had his first real haircut today.

I've trimmed a few pieces before, but never really cut it.
Since he has such curly hair, he gets these little rats on the back of his head where his curls get super snarly.
And I can never get them untangled.
They get so bad that the hair doesn't even curl after a while. They just stick straight out from the rest of his curls like little dreads.
So we decided to get the scissors out and see what happened.
He's not able to sit still for very long , so it took three separate attempts sitting him down to finish.
In the end, putting him on a towel on the living room floor while watching despicable me was what did the trick.
And now his head looks much smaller, and oh so cute. just for fun, here's a before...

and another before....

and now the after!

I haven't seen this much of his neck since he was 8 or 9 months old.
It's adorable.
And surprisingly, it's still really curly.
I wasn't sure if cutting it would take away all those gorgeous ringlets.
I'm glad it didn't.
This boy is too cute for words.

Nana and papa got to see his new 'do on their way to and from a concert for aunt Callie.
He was so happy to have visitors.
he kept reaching up for papa to hold him, and running up and down the length of the living room, screaming in excitement.

He calmed down long enough to drink some apple juice and then he was back at it.
we sure love this peanut.

About three months ago we had a fun discovery.

 Yep....that's right! We're having another bundle of joy.


Naturally we're excited....and scared out of our minds.
I had a moment of panic a few weeks ago when bence had strep throat. And I hadn't slept more than an hour at a time, night or day, for over a week.
I thought to myself, "how on earth am I going to take care of two babies when I can barely take care of one?"

But then I realized, that technically, I'm already taking care of two babies.
And considering the constant sleep deprivation caused by baby #1, the general exhaustion typical of pregnancy and the onslaught of nausea over the last two months, we're not doing too poorly.
I mean, we're all still alive, right?

(By the way, if you haven't seen this coke commercial yet, watch it. It's funny and short, and kind of sums up the mixture of excitement and hysteria that accompany parenthood.)

we're excited for our addition.
I think bence will make a great big brother.
And I think one of the best things we can do for him is give him a best friend for life.
Which is what siblings are, really.

So stay tuned! We have lots of exciting new changes to look forward to this year and we will keep you updated with pictures and videos and all sorts of fun things.

Meanwhile. Here's another picture of bence and his beloved hammer. (which is blurry because he's using it to play his xylophone.)

Bence update

Boy, this kid keeps me on my toes.
Bence is so busy right now.
He is constantly moving, exploring, climbing, interacting and doing.
He never stops.
I really can't believe that he's 16 months either.
Last year at this time he was such a little peanut.
He used to be this compact, squishy little baby; covered in rolls and pudginess.
Now...he's still pretty compact, but he's growing so tall! And lengthening out so much.
Somedays when I look at him I don't see my baby anymore. I see a little boy. A real kid.

Anyway, for my own sake, I wanted to type up some of the new things he's started doing.
And he's been doing a lot.

A few weeks ago he figured out how to shake his head "no."
He does this in response to just about everything.
"Do you want lunch, bence?"
"Do you want to read a story?"
"Do you want some ice cream?"
No is always the answer. (If we get an answer at all.)

On one or two occasions he's managed to shake his head "yes", but I'm pretty sure it was a fluke.
A few times he has shaken his head so vehemently he's fallen over on his bum.

He's also much more talkative lately. Sometimes when he tries to imitate us he gets really close to saying (or sounding like he's saying) real words. like "eeehhh dud!" (for hey dad!) or just "eh!" for hey! Here's a few of his favorites;

"NANANNANANAN": I'm pretty sure this is his way of saying no. He says this while screaming when I buckle him into his car seat. Or when I buckle him into his highchair. Or when I wipe him down after eating. Basically he says this whenever I restrain him from moving.
"Aud-On": I think this is his version of "all done," but he doesn't always say it in the right context, so I can't be sure.
"MAMAMAMAMAMAMA": also said amidst tears and screaming; usually only when he's totally exhausted and I can't get him a bottle/sippy cup fast enough and he wants me to hold him. This is also the only time he will ever cry for me. (Independant little thing.)
"Dadadadadada": just like almost everything else he says, he says it over and over and over really fast. This one he reserves for times of great excitement, like when we play with his favorite toys or when mommy chases him around the house. Or when daddy walks in the door at the end of the day. I try to not be jealous that daddy's name is synonymous with all things fun.

Overall, he's a chatterbox. He's almost always saying something while he's awake, and he prefers to scream rather than talk. When he gets really excited or emphatic about something, he'll raise his voice so it's super high-pitched and shrill. (And loud.) as nana and papa can attest, his vocal abilities can
shatter glass. But we love him anyway.

Bence loves to play games. He is really good about playing with his toys on his own, but he loves to play with people. His all time favorite game usually involves me trying to "get him," and bence runs away as fast as his pudgy legs will allow him while he laughs maniacally. He'll run behind the couch or hide under the kitchen table or squeeze between the wall and the rocking chair while I thunder around as loud as I can while looking for him. He thinks it's hilarious.

He also loves to read. If I sit on his bedroom floor and pull a book off the shelf he will walk right over and plop on my lap, ready to listen. He isn't very good at holding still for many things, but he'll sit and listen to (sometimes) four or five books in a row, maybe more depending on how worn out he is. We love llama llama waky-wake, the big pets, I am a bunny and sleepy me.

He is also very adventurous. We have had to keep our chairs away from the kitchen table for the last couple months because he was constantly climbing them. for a while we've been able to just pull them into the living room where he still climbs on them but can't reach/climb onto anything else. But the last couple days we've had to take things a step farther and put said chairs in our room with the door shut. He climbed on one that had been in the living room and he tried dancing and jumping and rocking the chair back and forth. We decided it was safer for everyone to keep all the chairs locked away for now.

Bence is also a danger-seeker in the bathtub. Yesterday he kept trying to get his foot onto the ledge of the tub while putting his other foot into the niche in the shower typically reserved for shampoo and other bottles. His flexibility surprises even me, sometimes. His foot was literally above his head. In any case he slipped and fell and bit his gum hard enough to make it bleed. After many snuggles and hugs and kisses and the comfort of a bottle and paci, he finally stopped crying and fell asleep. and I held him for at least an hour while he napped. It was heaven, and snuggles like that don't happen in this house very often. He is just too active to sit still on mommy's lap for very long.

He has started to express himself so much more in the last couple weeks. The other weekend we were visiting my parents and bence was pretty wild. Typical for him, but somewhat detrimental to Papa's furniture. Bence was taking his toy popper and flinging it above his head, knocking into and hitting everything within a four foot radius. Daddy took his toy away before he could do any damage and Bence's immediate reaction was to clap his hands to each side of his face and scream. We're still not sure where he picked that up from. He continues to do it whenever he has an "oh, dear!" Kind of moment. it's too cute for words.

Have I mentioned that this boy is a little wild? Church has been a bit of a fiasco ever since bence has been able to walk. Our chapel is particularly difficult. We have a wheelchair access ramp leading to the podium in the front of the chapel and every week is a battle keeping bence away from it. His favorite thing to do is run full-pelt up that ramp while laughing like a madman. I'm pretty sure he knows he's being naughty, and that's why he laughs so hard. I've had multiple people in our ward mention that he must be preparing early for future callings in the bishopric.

He still can't point accurately to too many things. If you ask bence where his nose is he'll just give you a blank stare 90% of the time. But occasionally he'll stick his finger right in his nose, so I think he gets the idea. He likes to touch other peoples noses though. Sometimes, late at night when I'm trying to rock him to sleep he'll use that little pointer finger to touch my eyes, my lips, my teeth. He'll stick his finger in my ear and then notice my earring and pick at that too. He's very gently about it, which is unusual for him. Not too long ago he still slapped me in the face all the time. not on purpose, but he just couldn't figure out how to control his hands when they got close to my face. That little pointer finger is one of the cutest things he does and it's how he experiences the world around him.

I love to tickle this boy. He has really thinned out, but he still has folds in his thighs and around his ankles. He is so so ticklish, especially his neck.and he has the sweetest little throaty chortle when you tickle him. He raises his shoulders and squishes his face to make his neck as small a target as possible. The other night I was holding him on my lap and he was facing me and he kept raising his hands to my chest and scratching me while he laughed. I couldn't figure out for the life of me what he was doing until Henry said, "I think he's trying to tickle you!"

We've hit a lot of milestones this winter. Since we're a one- car family we've been stuck at home quite a bit during the week while daddy is at work. Coupled with the fact that we seem to be sick every other week we haven't been up to much the last couple months. Bence has had a rough time with strep throat, incoming molars and multiple colds. He's reverted back to not sleeping which is hard for all of us. All I can say is that I have never spend a better 70 bucks than what I spent on amazon prime (amazons version of netflix.) we've watched little bear, dinosaur train, Olivia, Arthur and his newest favorite, seasame street! He loves seasame street because there's lots of music to dance to and it's not too slow. Right now he's contentedly watching Star Wars. It's so funny to watch him watch some of these shows. Occasionally he'll find something funny and laugh out loud and I wonder what his 16 month old brain thought was so funny. I have never been so grateful for children's programing in my life. (We've tried to stick to things that are somewhat educational....most the time.)

Despite the sleep deprivation, Bence is really a good little boy. He is so happy during the day and so sweet. When I haven't felt very well, he will play on his own with his toys or watch tv so quietly I almost can't believe that it's bence. (he's just normally so busy!) He only gets fussy when he's hungry/thirsty or really tired. and when he gets tired, he's like a little drunk. He can't walk a straight line and falls all over the place, usually bonking his head or stubbing his toe which makes him cry even more. when we walk back to his room at the end of the day to sit in the rocker and give him his last bottle he will sometimes give up a few feet away from the chair and I have to stand up and pick him up since he just can't make it that last few steps. it's so sweet and sad and pathetic I just can't take it. It is usually my favorite part of the day because it's the only time he cuddles and lets my kiss his face and stroke his hair. This boy is perfect.

Bence, we love you so much. We are so glad you came to our family.