Ben is two today

Well technically his birthday was Wednesday. It took me a while to come up with something to write, though, because at first I was kind of sad. Remembering back to what was happening in the days after Ben was born can be tough. We were glad to have the little guy around, but sad that he’d have to deal with these disabilities his whole life. And Ben is developing very slowly. But then I started looking through the pictures we’ve taken throughout the last year and it made me feel better. It’s very cool to look at where we’ve been and see how far we’ve come. So that’s what I’m going to do.

This is how small Benjamin was when he was first born:

Here he was a year later, on his first birthday:

Isn’t Mommy pretty?  Since his last birthday he’s learned to do a few new things. He’s started rolling over onto his belly by himself consistently.

He’s even started rolling around the room to get to toys.

He’s learned to hold onto things, like toys,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

drumsticks (he also likes to play the drums),

and even his mic-key tube.

He’s even started bringing things to his mouth, which we think is very cool.

But the coolest of the cool is that he sits up by himself very well now, and he likes doing it.

I just need to work with him on his balance so that he can catch himself before listing over too far. There is a point of no return on that right side since he has no way to catch himself over there. In the past year we haven’t made a whole lot of progress with “mouth food,” but I like to attribute that to the fact that he’s been teething constantly since Thanksgiving.  Ben is interested in food, but it usually takes some convincing to get it near his mouth.

Happy Birthday Ben. We love you.

Do the laundry

And when you’re done with that clean the fireplace.

Don’t superheroes get maternity leave?

You could subtitle this post Disturbing Superhero Images, vol. 2
Here’s vol. 1 in case you’ve forgotten. I should really keep up to date on these things.

Jonathan has this Spider-man & Friends memory game. In this game you match the top half of the superhero to the bottom half. A very interesting concept and I’m sure this game is enjoyed most by the Marvel supervillians.

Well, upon close inspection of these playing pieces (because I have nothing better to do) I noticed something. The male superheroes like Spidey, Thing, and the Hulk are buff, with six pack abs and bulging muscles.

Okay, so maybe Spider-man looks more like Fonzie. The girls, however, look 4-5 months pregnant. Here’s Spider-girl and Storm:

Being married to a currently pregnant woman, I can truly say that it is indeed a super power. But not exactly in the crime fighting sense. More in the creating life sense. Karen’s other superpower is getting me to go get things for her.

Wasn’t an owl supposed to deliver this?

This is how the letter reads when you’re accepted into a school of magic:

Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress

Here’s how the letter reads when you’re accepted into kindergarten at the Catholic school:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dinner,
Thank you for taking the time to allow your child to participate in the evaluation process for the 2008-2009 kindergarten program at [You don't expect me to put the name of the school here, do you?]. Our evaluators are pleased to report that your child meets all the criteria to have a successful experience in our program for the coming school year.

In other words, congratulations, your child is qualified to enter kindergarten. Personally I’d rather have gotten the Hogwarts letter.

Where do babies come from?

This is the first in a series of posts aimed at educating my readers. I know that drivel you were taught in health class, it was all a pack of lies. I can tell you with confidence that there are many things that make babies magically appear from the sky. These include:

1. Purchasing more Christmas stocking hangers than there are people living in your house.

We bought these when Aliyah was staying with us, but then she moved on campus. That makes this one her fault.

2. Having a car whose seating capacity is larger than your family.

3. Having an unused guest bedroom in your house.

This one is also Aliyah’s fault. Note that the color of the room is pink, guaranteeing that the child will be another boy.

4. Having a blog whose tagline starts with “Life with three boys…”

5. Being on someone’s blogroll who calls your blog “Ben and his THREE Brothers.”

6. Naming your blog “My Three Sons.”

This is what I almost called my blog, but I’m nowhere near Fred McMurray’s height.

7. Putting off the vasectomy.

Okay, so maybe this is the real reason

The Cliffs of Insanity

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. That pretty much sums up how I’m feeling right now.

This summer we’re going to start this big comedy all over again. This is the reason why blog posts have been few and far between lately. Karen said that there was an elephant in the room that we didn’t want to talk about. That’s great for her to say but I’m not going anywhere near there. Rule #1 is husbands of pregnant women should not compare them to pachyderms. EVER.

Ode to my car

When Jonathan was born I sold my beloved ‘94 Mustang so I could purchase a minivan. But with three kids and expanded car seat laws these days you’re breaking the law if you don’t drive a minivan. I’m not sure if the oil companies, automakers, or the car seat manufacturers were behind all these laws, but I was safe enough riding on my Mom’s lap in the front seat with no seat belt.

If you’d told me on that fateful day five years ago (as I watched my Mom drive off in my Mustang) that I would one day pine for my minivan I’d have thought you were crazy. But here we are, 2008 and for two years running I’ve had this thing in the shop for about a week in the spring. This time it was for some body work.

So from Wednesday of last week until Monday of this week I had to squeeze three boys in the back seat of Karen’s Oldsmobile any time I needed to go anywhere. Oh, how I missed the ease of getting in and out of the minivan. The sliding door that makes it so easy to haul children and gear in an out. The roominess - Jonathan’s feet can’t yet reach the front seat so he can’t kick. I even like being that high off the ground so I can see since I’m short. But mostly it’s Ben’s car seat. We’ve got the base strapped into the van so all we have to do is click it down, but in Karen’s car it’s a pretty big ordeal to strap him in.

So that’s it. I miss my minivan when it’s gone, and I’m happy when it comes back.  I’m officially a soccer mom.

More than you ever wanted to know about feeding pumps

Below is a photo of a feeding tube snaking through an Enteralite pump on its way from the bag of milk to Ben’s cute little belly.

That’s a very fortuitous arrow right there, because that’s the spot where the tube split open. It held on by the tiniest of threads, like Nearly Headless Nick.

Lots of spillage. Some milk got into the inner workings of the pump, rendering it useless. It would alarm over and over, showing us an error message on the display. No pumping was going on.

Now tell me, when do things like this happen? Do these things happen between nine and five on a weekday? Not a chance. These things happen to us at midnight.

On a Saturday.

During spring forward weekend.

That was one happy individual on the other end of the phone, let me tell you. Talking to our medical supplier at midnight, he told me he’d get a delivery guy to bring us a new pump right away. Except it’s a ninety minute drive from them to us.

So here’s the scenario for the poor sap who was on call this past weekend. It’s a little after midnight. Maybe he just lolled off to sleep when he gets a phone call telling him that he’s got to get dressed, go to work and get a replacement pump, and then drive an hour and a half to our house and an hour and a half back.

Since it was so late I thought it only fair that I stay up and wait for him. I didn’t want him standing at the door ringing the non-working doorbell while I lay in bed not hearing him. I got a little caught up on a video game I’d been neglecting. He arrived at that magical hour when the clock turned from 1:59 to 3:00. I thanked him profusely and took the new pump upstairs to start Ben’s overnight feed, albeit a few hours late. He was a little restless in his bed, but calmed down once everything got going again.

As for service, the delivery guy called back Sunday afternoon to make sure everything was working okay.

Socks

When Karen was pregnant with our firstborn a very wise friend of ours told us “Get baby socks from Old Navy. They’re the only ones that stay on.” True enough, they did. So we’ve bought all our baby socks from Old Navy (as much as we could, they don’t always have stores this far out in PennsylTuckey) and they’ve served us well. Until now. Now Ben’s socks just won’t stay on at all any more, so we’ve been forced to retire them. Here’s a select few that got the heave last weekend:

I’m not sure where those realllly long ones came from, but they did keep Ben’s legs warm when he was growing out of his pants. But there it is, the feeble few Old Navy socks that finally gave up the dust. They seem to fall off of their own free will these days. Then again, the tag says “0-6 months” so I’m actually kinda impressed that here Ben is, almost two years old, and we’re only now just throwing away the first socks we ever bought him. They lasted through almost two complete winters, so I’m not at all shocked that they have no strength left.

Ben’s a small guy. He’s always going to be a small guy. And this whole sock thing gives me an idea. I’m thinking we should buy all his clothes from LL Bean and put to use that lifetime gaurantee. Doesn’t Sears have something like that too, where they’ll replace any children’s clothes for free that wear out before the kids grow out of them? They’ve met their match in us.

Blogging the talent show

Isaac was in a talent show last week. He played the Windmill Theme from the Legend of Zelda. We’re dorks, I know. But he did really well and we were very proud of him.

What we didn’t know when I talked Isaac into this was that this talent show is a pretty big deal at the school and there were enough acts to fill three hours of time. It was okay, most of the acts were very cool, and the kids were very excited to get up in front of everyone.

But something struck me as I sit there watching all this. There were 15 dance numbers in the talent show, and the majority of those were accompanied by music from a little side project Disney’s been working on, you may have heard of it.

List this as Reason #384 Why I’m Glad I Have Boys. Hanna Montana is Disney’s cash cow so I suppose it’s inevitable that there are posters, Barbie dolls, two video games for the Nintendo DS, CD’s, DVD’s, the clothing line and accessories, blankets & bedding, musical toothbrushes, breakfast cereals, toy guitars, books, teddy bears, and, um, oh yeah, there’s also a movie. And isn’t there a world tour as well, selling out stadiums and ruining art shows all over the country? (Here’s a shout out to my bud Bennie down in SC!)

But alas, as I write all this down I realize that I am a hypocrite. Yes, it is shameful the overmarketing of Miley Cyrus by Disney, but honestly I’ve got a bunch of Star Wars stuff in the house so I have no room to talk. But I am happy to play video games and Star Wars and Buzz Lightyear with my boys, and now I have renewed appreciation for all that goes with it.