My Abby and My Ben

I'm at work right now so no pictures. But I took a few good ones lately so I'll post those tomorrow. I have been so blessedly content hanging out with my kids lately. I love being with them. I also love going to work because my love jar gets all filled up again and I can't wait to see them when I get home. I usually work 3-midnight on Mon/Wed/Fri so I always sneak into their room and watch them sleep before I head to bed myself. Ben is 9 months old today and growing so fast. And sometimes it's hard for me to remember Abby at that age. I just take as many mental snapshots as possible to remember these oh so precious moments. Here's a few outtakes of each of them:
ABBY:
1. Obsessed with bandaids. She imagines boo-boos many times a day and begs for a bandaid. We've gone through the Diego box and we're halfway through the Hello Kitty box. That is, of course, after she found them in the bathroom closet when Mommy didn't hide them way up high. If you put just one on her finger, she is content for the rest of the day. But most days, if it ain't bleeding, then no bandaid.
2. Has consistently been begging for a guitar. Beats me where she came up with this idea. But at least 3x a week, she asks for a guitar for her birthday.
3. Doing 100 piece puzzles that are for 5 year olds. Since she was little, she was amazing with puzzles. She LOVES them. We buy lots of puzzles. Lately, we're doing the Fancy Nancy 100 piece puzzle and the Hello Kitty 100 piece puzzle. (Her momma loves puzzles too...I love this about her).
4. Not liking jeans lately. They are "too hard on my legs....I want soft pants!"
5. Dresses herself from head to toe every day. I pick out the clothes...she puts it all on including socks and shoes.
6. Loves to be rocked at night. Since Ben's room has the rocking chair, I just sit on the side of her bed and rock her. Sometimes I have that brief thought of the laundry and dishes calling my name. But I know that one day, she won't be asking for me to rock her anymore...so I very gladly do it every time she asks. And her favorite songs? The ABC's (seriously...her all-time favorite) and "Hush Little Baby". I had to look up the lyrics to Hush Little Baby....we're all good now.
7. Loves to do the "Hidden Pictures" in the Highlights magazines. She gets the High Five Highlights subscription for preschoolers (highly recommend). They entertain her over and over.
8. Has been "movin' and groovin'" a lot lately. Out of nowhere, she'll say, "Look at me...I'm movin' and groovin'!" Then she dance a little jig for us. Usually to a good ol' country song. That's my girl!

BEN:
1. Working on the 6th tooth right now. Lots of chewing on anything in sight. Lots of drooling.
2. Loves to chase after Momma's trash pile when sweeping the floor. What a funny moment the other day to be sweeping (3rd time that day) the floor of all the goldfish and Cheerios after snacktime. He's doing his fast army crawl...making a beeline for my pile. I'm like, "Oh! Oh! No-no Ben!" and sweeping as fast as I can while moving the pile away from him as fast as I can. I had to hustle.
3. Blinks his eyes when he's eating something yummy. Hard to explain but if something is good, he looks at you and does a long blink with a big toothy smile. Very cute.
4. Crawls over first thing every morning to the sliding glass door into our playroom and licks the window until we let him in there. Right now, the ABC foam mat has been a tasty chew toy for him.
5. Says, "Dada" and "Mama". I think he knows what he's saying. Sometimes we hear a "Baba" for Abby.
6. Worships the holy ground his big sister walks on. They are starting to play together so well. I love that they can be in the playroom and I can hear Abby talking to him while he's giggling. I'll peek in and see them playing with a ball or the blocks. She doesn't get too happy when the puzzle pieces get drooled on though.
7. Is all boy. This kid doesn't stop moving, squirming, exploring. Changing his diaper or putting clothes on him is seriously like wrestling a rhino. I broke a sweat on Sunday morning trying to get him dressed. The changing pad...too small of space... so we get on the floor. And the adventure begins. Rolling, flipping, twisting, kicking, crawling...and that's just getting the onesie on. Like I said...all boy.
8. Loves to cuddle with his daddy and momma. That moment after a bottle when I'm rocking him before putting him down to sleep...and he puts his head on my shoulder....I melt into a million little happy pieces.
Pictures tomorrow!