Lily's Tomato Plant

Around the time of Benjamin's birth, Paw bought Lily a tiny tomato plant. 

It was in a tiny container and sat on the table on our deck for weeeeks.  It nearly wilted to death many times.  Finally, maybe near the end of June, I finally transferred it to this pot, only 1/3 full with soil.  Then a few weeks later, I finally managed to buy more soil to fill the container.  Then we got serious about watering it.  

We've slowly and patiently waited for those tiny green tomatoes to grow and ripen.

Yesterday was the day that Lily finally got pick and eat her tomato.

She has lived up to her name and loves some tomatoes just like her namesake.

She enjoyed every bite possible.

Today she gave the 2nd and 3rd red tomatoes to our neighbor boys.

She's a generous one.

Ben: 3 months

This post dictated by Lily:

Benjamin is soooo cute!

Benjamin is chubby and sweet.

Mama loves those little hands.  They are so chubby.

Benjamin likes to swim in the pool.

Benny's laying.

 Snuggle Benny.

This is what I looked like at 3 months old.

 This is Peter.

Mama says:

Benny loves to coo & have little conversations & sweet interactions with us.  He enjoys experimenting with all the different sounds he can make.  He has discovered his hands and likes looking at them, holding them together, and sucking on them.  He is a great sleeper & usually does 6-8 hours stretches at night.  Although he has "woken up" & learned to cry when he's restless or bored, he is still a happy, easy baby.  Because he is a good day & nighttime sleeper, he still doesn't have an official schedule... just a general eat every 3 hours & the eat, activity, sleep routine.   I've noticed that he's more content when we are out and about.  (I think that may be true for all of us.)  So for now, we are enjoying the lack of needing an official schedule and will probably start that in a couple months when it seems necessary.  

RIver Adventures

We spent a week at the river house with my side of the family.

Sadly it rained a lot and there is a lot of coordinating involved in 6 kids and under.

But we made it out for one good day of water sports.

 Paw bought a "ski trainer" this season for the older kids.
Peter has impressed himself by standing up while tubing so Mike acted as water buffalo and let him try out the new equipment.  Easy Peasy.

 So off he went!

 Meanwhile, other cousins, aunts, and uncles crashed the tube.

John held on.

 A close up of the great support crew. :)

 And not to be outdone, Sister had to "ski" too, of course.  And that she did.  Up and down the river like there was nothing to it!  We are so proud of them!

 Maw and Benny Boy had a great time on the dock.  

Thanks for hosting us, Maw and Paw.  For cooking, baby sitting, supplying all kinds of water toys, and cleaning up after us!  We had a great time!

NY Adventures

Way back in early July, we had lots of fun adventures in NY.  M&C are always such great hosts & plan fun activities.  One day we took the train into NYC. 

 We wandered around Rockefeller Center

 and gazed into the Lego Store and admired the window displays.

 My favorite adventure was a treasure hunt.  

Uncle Matt made the kids maps and they followed the Hudson River down to here.  We entered through the lions, then made our way up an overgrown hill, 

 had beautiful views of the river,

 and discovered the amazing Untermeyer Gardens.

 The kids played and explored and we enjoyed a picnic lunch.

We drove home on Lily's birthday.  It was fun to have Liam ride home with us.  The kids did awesome and rocked that ride home.  No complaints, no extra stops, just driving.  We stopped for birthday donuts!

Throw Back Thursday

A few minutes ago, I looked at the date on my watch and realized its 8/7. Then remembered that was the date that Peter had his first seizure: 8/7/08.  Its burned in my memory.  Then a few minutes later saw a "#TBT".  So thought it was appropriate.

 Peter was 11 mo old and had his first fever- from his one and only ear infection.  We knew that he was bad off because he just laid on Mike like this- which was a rarity for him to be still.  His fever peaked at 103.8.  I was nursing him before bed when it happened.  Terrifying and yet you feel the presence of God in a particularly close way- maybe because you are simultaneously screaming at Him for help and wanting to add some curse words to the Curse.  

His first night in the hospital.  I am glad that we didn't know then what we know now.  Although, apart from the first few months when he began having non-febrile seizures, let it be said that this has been an easy and ideal epilepsy journey.  

*In unrelated news, its been a great summer.  I've enjoyed it and its clipped by quickly & with a good balance.  But this week the kids are driving me crazy.  It helps make the going to school thing easier.