Snow, rain, hail, and sun

June has been quite the month! We saw just about every major type of weather, including a very chilly day early in the month that brought some snow flurries. . .

While I failed to snap a photo of the actual snow, I did document Benjamin wearing the hand-me-down size 0-3 month snowsuit that I never dreamed he'd actually get to wear. We bundled the boys up to go for a walk once the flurries stopped. And found them both asleep once we got home!

The weather warmed up a bit but brought some gloomy, gray days with rain drops. We snuck outside between showers for some exercise. . .

A game of fetch. . .

And some garden inspection. . .

A few days later we even had a bit of hail. Rich and Ben watched with dismay as our poor plants got pelted with ice.

And now, we've got steaming hot days with highs near 90 degrees. Perfect for getting a cool drink of water. . .

Whether you're a dog or a toddler!

It's even hot enough to just go ahead and douse yourself. . .

And then chase your dog endlessly around the yard.

Or maybe the best activity of all in this heat is to take a nice nap in a shady spot!

Sunshine and 80 degree temps are in the forecast for the next week, but since this is Montana, I wouldn't be too surprised if we see some snow flurries in July!

Five for Friday

Seems that ten on Tuesday just wasn't quite enough for all the random things going on around here!

1. Benjamin's skin is looking much better. His condition--seborrheic dermatitis--is also known as cradle cap or baby dandruff. The ironic thing to me is that his scalp looks completely fine. It just attacked his poor face. It's not 100% cleared up, but it doesn't look nearly as inflamed or itchy.

2. I got the green light to start running again at my 6 week check-up on Wednesday. I eagerly headed out the door as soon as Rich got home that afternoon. I was a little bit too eager, in fact. And I definitely overestimated my fitness level. 35 minutes at a slow pace just wasn't slow enough! I came home with a blister and have been hobbling down the stairs on sore legs since Thursday morning. I learned my lesson and plan to ease into it from here on out!

3. For the first several weeks after bringing Benjamin home I felt like we were in triage mode--get the basic stuff done by any means possible. Now, I'm starting to accept that this isn't traige mode, it's our new "normal". I feel like most times I have the kids under control (I said most). It's the house that's really gone downhill. If only we had a full time housecleaner!

4. Yesterday we got back from our morning outing (Hayden had swim lessons--Dad supervised--while I went grocery shopping with Ben). Rich went back to work, so I arrived at home as the lone adult with 2 kids, a car full of groceries, and a hungry baby. I brought the bags in and threw the cold stuff into the fridge, leaving the rest to put away later (maybe later that night, maybe later the next day, heck, why even use the pantry, we could just grab food out of the bags from the floor!?!?!). I sat down on the couch to nurse Benjamin while Hayden played with his toys. After a few minutes I realized Hayden wasn't playing with his toys. I heard him mumble, "it's heavy" and peered over my shoulder to find him unloading the grocery bags. He usually helps me with this task, but I'm usually closely supervising. At first, I though, "how cute" he's trying to help out. Notice the line of groceries he had emptied from the bag onto the counter behind him.

Oh, but he really wasn't helping that much after all. Yep, that lemon is just about to leave his hand, following the trajectory of his arm. As Benjamin was done nursing and I walked over to supervise Hayden, I saw a scattering of apples, tomatoes, and lemons on the floor. Then I heard a "thud" as the final lemon hit the hardwood. Stinker!

5. I think I deserve some props. . . I had 19 blog posts during the month of May and this is my 16th already in June, and the month isn't even over yet! I'm not quite sure how I managed this and I'm wondering if maybe I should go back and proofread all those sleep-deprived posts for coherency. Like I have time for that!

6 weeks

I can't believe my baby is 6 weeks old already! He's changed so much in the last few weeks and is showing more awareness and interaction every day. We still haven't gotten a smile out of him, but I'm expecting it any day. He's holding his head up about 80% of the time I hold him on my shoulder. . . he still takes those unpredictable head dives from time to time so I have to be cautious with him. He seems to be getting into a sleep schedule, too. More of his daytime is spent awake, then he's in his crib asleep from around 9 p.m. until 2 a.m. then again until 6 a.m. after his middle of the night feeding. And on most days he's been napping in his crib for at least a portion of the time Hayden is in his room napping (hallelujah!).

I worked this rattle into his hand the other day and he held on tight, "playing" with it for several minutes. . .

Before I get sad about him being so big so soon, I was comforted by how small he still looked when Rich had him curled up in his arms later that same afternoon!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Why do I love where we live? After a knock on the door I discovered our seven year old neighbor, Maya, who was there to present me with a handwritten invitation to a singing performance by her and three friends on Wednesday afternoon in their front yard. The invitation noted that I should bring my own chair, unless I want to stand, and that I may sing along. I'm looking forward to some good entertainment!

2. I love Hayden's naptime. I think he loves it more, though! He's typically in his room for 3 hours every afternoon. 5 of 7 days, he's actually asleep for most of that time. The other 2 days we hear all sorts of singing, book reciting, and toy playing for about an hour, then he falls asleep. I found him like this toward the end of his nap the other day:

He must have been busy before he fell asleep! Then, a different day, I found him like this after he had been awake in his room for about 20 minutes:

3. Poor Benjamin. What started as a slight case of baby acne, turned into a raging case of baby acne, and now I've learned it isn't acne at all, but sehorrheic dermatitis. Red bumps are covering pretty much his entire face, his ears, the back of his neck, and are even creeping onto his upper back and chest. It's so bad it looks painful. We'll be slathering practically his entire head with Hydrocortizone for the next week and shampooing him with Selsun Blue. Poor kid!

4. I did catch him looking pretty cute (before his raging outbreak) in one of his brother's hand-me-downs the other day. Hayden some pretty snazzy duds and I'm happy to get the chance to use them again!

5. After I snapped that photo of Ben--which was taken in Hayden's room while we were getting him up from his nap--I looked over and saw this:

Hayden must have been organizing before he fell asleep for his nap. We've noticed his proclivity for lining things up. He does it with his cars and his trains. Mom and Dad really like this. . . we even wish that he was a little more OCD about it, because he still doesn't mind dumping his entire bucket of trucks in a big pile on the floor. That drives us crazy.

6. A few recent Haydenisms:

After catching a whiff of something foul I said to him, "Did you poop?"
He used to reliably answer the question accurately. Not so much since his brother's birth.
He didn't even look up from playing with his trains and said, "No. Baby Brother pooped."
Already figured out the blame game!

He's also in the habit of saying "Bonk!" anytime he bumps into something. We did this a few months ago to play down some of his big crashes (asking playfully, "did you bonk?"). It's funny to hear him now saying it several times a day from minor run-ins to all out crashes. Most of the minor bonks result in him just rubbing his bumped body part himself and going about his business. If it was a bigger bonk, though, he runs over holding out his injured elbow or foot saying, "Mommy's gonna kiss it!" and then "kiss again!," "kiss again!" with a big smile on his face until he's gotten enough kisses to heal his injury.

7. Another after-nap photo I love is Benjamin noticing Hayden. Almost like he's taking notes of what he should be doing in a couple years.

8. That same day I was also thrilled that Hayden wanted to lay down next to his brother. I'm happy that I had my camera in my hand and am excited that I can hopefully repeat this in a few weeks once Benjamin can smile to reproduce one of Erin's classic shots (I'd link to it, but don't have the time to search for it. . . it's the one that was her blog banner for several months before this current one)!

9. I can't believe it's been nearly a week and a half since I took these, but I set Benjamin up for a 1 month photo shoot and got a few photos I'm happy with.

10. I also had the privilege of taking some newborn photos for a friend of mine this past weekend. Little Hannah was born 4 weeks and a day after Benjamin and she is adorable. I'm thrilled with some of the photos I got and posted them over on my photography hobby website. Check them out here. I keep asking myself why oh why I couldn't get images like this of my own newborn and am so thankful that Kelly was able to do it for me!

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Father's Day

We are blessed to have some pretty wonderful fathers in our lives. And these two little boys think their Daddy is pretty darn special. . . I can't say I disagree.

He is one amazing man and he has easily won the hearts of his sons.

With his example, there is no doubt that these boys will one day become wonderful fathers themselves!

Visitors

We spent the last week with some house guests who were eager to meet the newest member of the family (Benjamin) and spend some time with the most precocious one (Hayden)--Aunt Laura and her boyfriend, Chad.

They spent some of their visit experiencing Montana. . . hiking, white water rafting, and touring Yellowstone. But there was still plenty of time for snuggles, laughs, play, and fun with two special little boys! When Hayden woke up last Sunday morning and Laura greeted him getting out of bed, he exclaimed with glee, "Aunt Laura!!!" and proceeded to do the happy dance around his room. He was just as enamored to see Chad and has pretty much reacted the same way everytime he's seen either of them all week.

Benjamin can't quite do the happy dance yet, but he seemed quite content in his Auntie's arms!

Hayden got in plenty of playtime. . .

And even enjoyed helping out with dinner prep. . .

And we all enjoyed an evening out at the Farmer's Market.

(chocolate chip cookies were an especially big hit!)

Thanks for making the trip all the way from Florida. We hope you loved your time in Big Sky country and hope you'll come back to see us again soon!

The Garden

There's nothing like walking into your backyard to pick a fresh tomato or some fresh herbs to enjoy for your next meal. Now that it's growing season in Montana, we (well, Rich, really) decided to plant our own little harvest. And no project gets completed around this house without the help of our resident toddler.

After watching how Daddy planted the lettuce and tomatoes, Hayden decided he could take care of the herbs. First, some water. . .

Then, load them up for delivery to the garden. . .

Hayden thought they would best be planted in his "garden," which also happens to be his sandbox.

Not a bad arrangement, with the plants nestled around his trucks.

He was pretty pleased with his efforts!