Benjamin is only four months old, but I think I've already been replaced as the most interesting person in his life. He thinks Jonah is hilarious. This is probably the hardest I've ever seen him laugh. These two videos are pretty similar, but I had to post them both because I thought it was funny how Benjamin gives me the same bored look at the end of each one. He cracks up at Jonah and as soon as he turns to me the grin is gone and he has this look like, "Yeah, whatever, Mom."
Here are the boys wearing their matching outfits on Thanksgiving Day with Grandpa. We had a great Thanksgiving with family. We drove out to Paul's house again in Ohio. It was so nice to have Jon along this time! After a full day of travel on Wednesday we all packed into Paul's mini van on Thanksgiving Day and drove the extra 3 hours to my grandparents' house near Toledo. It was so good to see them and to introduce Benjamin. Unfortunately they are not in good health and they had to wear masks. Jonah was afraid of the masks and wouldn't go near Grandma and Grandpa. It was too bad. I really thought he would be brave enough by the end of the day to go in and see them, but he was just too scared. We had a fabulous Grandma-style meal prepared mostly by my aunt, Angie. I was so amazed and thankful that she stepped up and took over and made everything like Grandma would have made it. This Thanksgiving was hard in many ways and it was comforting that at least the food was the same as always. Thanks again, Angie!
Every time we see Evelyn she's more fun to play with. Here she is being easily amused by Grandpa throwing a wiffle ball against an exercise ball. Who knew that this would be so utterly hilarious to a one-year-old!
If you read this blog you may have noticed that I've taken a sort of blogging hiatus - particularly since Benjamin was born. If you are my friend on Facebook you know that I have been putting up plenty of pictures and updates on that site. So, it's not that I've dropped off the face of the Earth (or really off the face of the internet) it's just that Facebook is so much faster and easier than blogging. Uploading pictures and video to FB is waaaay faster (ahem Blogger, maybe you could make some improvements in that area) and writing quick one-sentance updates is obviously faster than writing a blog post. But, lately I have been considering returning to blogging as my main mode of internet communication. I really enjoy reading the blogs of my friends and getting the whole story of what's going on with them, rather than just little blurbs. Plus, I'm realizing that the blog is a much better way to keep a record of the "baby book"-type things that I often write about like milestones and funny things Jonah says. Up to this point the blog has basically been my baby book for Jonah and it probably will be for Benjamin too.
So, for those of you that don't know or can't make sense of all the Facebook blurbs, I'll try to give you a brief overview of the months since Benjamin was born. A week and a half after Benjamin was born we moved to a new house in a new town about 40 minutes south of where we had previously been living. Four days after the move Jon left on a trip for work for two and a half weeks. He came home for about 10 days and then left again for four weeks. So, Jon only saw the baby for two weeks of his first two months of life. To say it was crazy and difficult is an understatement. I flew to Chicago by myself with the boys to attend my dad's wedding while Jon was gone. It was wonderful when we could all be together again and really work on getting settled into our new place and into a new routine with a baby.
Here's my sweet smiler at three months. So far he seems pretty similar to Jonah. I think he might be a little smilier and a little wigglier, but it's hard to tell. He loves attention and does NOT like to be left alone for more than a few minutes. Even if we're all hanging out in the kitchen together he really wants you to look at him and talk to him.
Here's Ben enjoying Jonah's jumperoo. We didn't get this until Jonah was about a month older so it's hard to compare, but he seems to really like it.
This is certainly not the best picture of the three cousins, but it was the best I could get on the morning we were leaving my brother's.
Is this kid cute or what?
Yes, definitely cut from the same cloth.
So, I take back what I said about Ben not being as talkative as Jonah. You can see Jonah talking at the same age here. Jonah did more squealing and I think Ben talks in a more throaty "aaaaah". He keeps his mouth wide open - it's like he's saying "aah" for the doctor.
Here's Ben chillin' in the bouncy seat. See Jonah at the same age, in the same seat, in the same outfit here. It's still hard to see much difference in personality, but I would say Ben is not quite as talkative as Jonah was. (Big surprise - not many kids are as talkative as Jonah.) You can tell the difference in the videos. Ben's still a very happy guy, he just doesn't have quite as much to say about it as Jonah did!
“Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!” The Doxology was running through my head soon after giving birth to little Benjamin. It was as smooth of a birth experience that I could imagine and we had a healthy baby and I just wanted to thank the Lord for his great blessings! Here's the story of Benjamin's birth – if you are not one of those “Birth Story” people, I totally understand! Feel free to just scroll through the pictures and skip the story!
I'd had encouraging news from the midwife on Tuesday morning that I was 4cm dilated and 70% effaced. My midwife recommended trying castor oil to get labor started considering how far I'd come already. I decided I wouldn't try it until I was actually overdue on Saturday. As the afternoon wore on I saw further signs of impending labor (I'll spare you the details) and I started to get antsy. I asked Jon to come home a little early from work and we decided that maybe castor oil was worth a try. Yeah, not so much. Maybe technically it worked, but it was not worth it and I should have just sat back and relaxed because of all the other signs that labor was near.
I started the castor oil at 4:30, but didn't actually begin contractions until 2am. I waited awhile before waking Jon up – I wanted to let him get as much sleep as possible. At about 2:35 I gently nudged him and said, “I think we should get up and get all our stuff pulled together. No rush, but I don't want to suddenly be frantic.” He said okay and went back to sleep. Less then 10 minutes later I nudged again and said, “Okay, we really need to get up and go.” It ended up being maybe a little more frienzied than I had anticipated, complicated by the lingering effects of the stupid castor oil, but overall it went smoothly. Our neighbor came down from upstairs and camped out on the couch so we didn't have to wake Jonah. I left her with the phone number of a friend down the street who could pick him up around 8am. I think we made it to the hospital around 3:45 – having four contractions during the less than 10-minute trip.
I was quickly admitted and brought up to the maternity ward where I met my nurse and midwife. How refreshing it was to only have two people involved in the entire birth process compared to our experience with Jonah when countless people were coming and going all day (and all night) long. The only hitch in my idea of the perfect birth was that I wasn't able to receive an epidural as quickly as I hoped. The anesthesiologist was occupied in surgery and I didn't get my relief until about 7am. That said, Jon and I both felt that I dealt with the hard contractions fairly well. I used my breathing and “singing” techniques – deep inhale, then a long “ohhhh” sung louder and higher as the pain increased. Shortly after the epidural the midwife broke my water and labor continued to progress.
Here I am - completely numb and ready to push, but waiting to feel something before I start pushing.
Just born!
The first nursing - 20 minutes after birth.
The Taylor boys.
Jonah and Benjamin's first moments together.
