Benjamin is 10 months old...Samuel is 28 months old!

Today, I'm hitting the blog with a double whammy! Samuel is 28 months old (2 years, 4 months) and Benjamin turned 10 months old a few days ago. I'm late in posting Benjamin's monthly "report" because both boys came down with a NASTY bug that kept us pretty dormant for a long couple of days. We are mostly back to normal, taking walks, playing outside, and seeing friends! In their sickness, I meditated on Psalm 121:3-4

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

What got me seeking comfort in those verses was the fact that I literally could not do anything for my children while I slept and sought rest for the night. I found myself worrying that their fevers would spike or that they would get sick in their beds. I had to trust that the Lord would watch over them even while I slept. He never sleeps nor slumbers and cares for my babies better than I ever could. It was a comfort to lay my head on the pillow and rest in God's sovereignty and wisdom to know what to do what, when.

So, on to the updates!

Benjamin and Samuel are growing RAPIDLY! I mean, Benjamin is barely eating any pureed foods anymore! He would rather feed himself table food and enjoy the meal like the rest of us. He chews and swallows great so there is little concern about choking (though, I'm still careful! :)) He also LOVES, LOVES dancing, but especially to Jamie Grace's "Hold Me." We have caught him, multiple times, busting a move or two. Samuel loved the same song and danced to it too! So funny!

Benjamin is getting bigger physically as well and moves around so quickly. He is currently only army crawling, but can pull himself up and loves standing. I bet he'll be making strides towards walking by 11 months. Crazy! What a joy he is!

And Samuel...oh Samuel. How we love this little dude! He definitely keeps us on our toes and knows exactly what to do to push our buttons...and make us smile! This little Joshua-look-a-like has such a huge personality. No matter who he encounters, he enthusiastically shouts, "HI" and proceeds to interact. He is surely our outgoing child! What I have loved most recently about my little guy is his sweet compassion towards others. Whether it's asking if Benjamin is "okay" after taking a fall, or stroking his momma's hair after a long afternoon, this precious boy shows that he loves and cares for his family. (As I type this, Samuel is picking up puffs and feeding them to his little brother. Very sweet.) I pray I never take that sweet heart for granted. What a gift!

Thank you, God, for making me the blessed mom of these awesome kids!

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Mom&Dad's Visit: Day 1

This is the first post from my parents' visit to Santa Clarita, CA. It was SUCH a great visit and we loved our time with mom and dad! It had been a long while since we had seen my parents, but it didn't seem like that because we do FaceTime with them almost everyday! It gives us something to do during the day and we all love it! 

Mom and dad arrived on a Thursday night and stayed overnight in L.A. They came to us as soon as they could and immediately basked in the awesomeness of their little grandbabes! It was fun to watch them goo and gah over each other. I love how my parents love our kids so much and how our kids adore their grandma and grandpa! What a blessing to have grandparents that love them SO dearly even when they live over 2,000 miles away!

My in-laws were out of town the week my parents were here so it worked out perfectly that they could stay over there. We all stayed a few nights together and then let them have the house to themselves half way through the week. Each morning we would meet up and decide what fun things we were going to do that day. The first day was PACKED as we drove to the Getty Museum, Santa Monica, and Malibu! Here are a few pictures from the first two full days with mom and dad!

Samuel just loves being with his grandpa! (whom he affectionately calls "humpah"...love it)

Tickles!

They adore each other!

Wearing one of abba's old snow hats from when he was a little guy! While we were at my in-laws' we went through a couple boxes that had a lot of Joshua's clothing and toys from when he was little. It was fun going down memory lane and picking out clothes that we thought would be fun for the boys to have.

Such a sweet face!

Benjamin smiles at grandma ALL. THE. TIME!

Lovey!

While staying at Grandpa's (Bill) house, Samuel just loved playing the piano! And driving his trains on the keys, too :)

Grandma made a great big breakfast for everyone on the first morning together! 

Yummy! Thanks, grandma! :)

This helped get us all over SoCal! The whole time, Benjamin tried to strain his neck so that he could see what Samuel was watching. He's going to LOVE being in his forward-facing carseat in just a few months!

Waiting for the tram to take us to the Getty Museum in L.A.

More waiting...

By the way, Samuel did SUCH an awesome job being schlepped all over the place with little naps. There were many cranky times, but overall, he was pleasant and fun. Again, blessed we are!

The start to our day of walking! Everyone was a trooper (especially mom who had a BROKEN TOE!)

Just about nap-time!

The Getty in gorgeous! The last time I was here was when Joshua took me the first time I visited him in CA. It brought back lots of memories and was amazing to see how far the Lord has brought our little family in such a short time!

3/4 of my favorite men in the world!

Messin' around. I wanted to see what I really look like when I take pictures, so I had my dad do this. I'll have to post one of those when he passes them on to me :)

Yay! It was so bright in the courtyard, but such a fun place to run around and get some energy out!

Joshua went into the Sketching Gallery where they gave him paper and nice pencils to sketch paintings, or sculptures, or even photographs.

He chose a painting.

And did pretty well if you ask me!

Love love love! Photo credit: MOM!

Parents with the L.A. Skyline

I love my family.

After spending some time at the Getty, we drove to Santa Monica and walked around a bit. We stopped at P.F. Chang's for a late, yummy lunch!

Banana Spring Rolls. So good.

Benjamin enjoyed some, too, after he woke up from his nap in the stroller. Samuel was still sleeping, so we won't tell him what he missed ;)

Pigeons on our walk to the Santa Monica Pier. I thought this photo turned out pretty cool!

The houses down there are pretty extravagant...and...colorful!

Beautiful scenery. Really, CA is such a pretty place!

The Pier!

YUM YUM ice-cream!

Monkey and Abba...Samuel's two favorites!

The beach was crowded and beautiful!

In the arcade area of the Pier, they had a basketball game and FLORIDA GATOR balls! I felt like a piece of home was there on that pier :) GATOR NATION!

FUN!

A short photo-shoot of the little man, while Samuel and Abba walked in the arcade!

Thought this was a cool one, too :)

Happy boy!

Eating feet. That's the life!

After a LONG day of fun activities, we drove down the PCH listening to the Beach Boys and looking for the moon! It was SUCH a fun start to my parents' visit to CA!

More to come...

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Benjamin is 9 months old!

This past week, we celebrated our Benjamin's 9 months of life! We got to celebrate with grandma and grandpa coming into town which has been a blast (pictures/post to come)! 

Benjamin is such a neat little baby! He seems to be content most all of the time and smiles at everyone! Just a couple weeks ago, was the first and only time he has shown any type of stranger anxiety, which is very different from his big brother! He seems to have a more timid side which expresses itself with a coy-like grin at times and a head bow when anyone claps and says, "yay, Benjamin!" 

Benjamin has learned to army crawl since his last monthly update and is getting into EVERYTHING! Thankfully, we live in a tiny 300 sq. ft. apartment so there's not much to get into, but I definitely see cabinet locks and outlet covers in our future! 

This little guy loves to be around people. He seems content to play on his own at times, but would much rather be surrounded by his momma, abba, and big brother. Speaking of big brother, he just LOVES Samuel and following him around. Samuel is {slowly} learning that Benjamin is one of those kids he's going to have to share with now ;) It can be challenging, but it is very sweet to see Samuel learning to be kind and sharing with his little bro. He also likes to share milk, nuts, small trinket toys, and chocolate...

Benjamin is an eating machine! He will eat everything and anything we give him (or that he finds in random places). I feel like he's eating more table food at an earlier age than Samuel did, which makes it easier if we don't have baby food on hand. Benjamin is 100% weaned which has been a nice transition. I truly enjoyed my time nursing him, but it seemed time to end that stage with him. He is doing great and loves the bottle!

All in all, Benjamin is such a pleasant baby and we have, once again, been blessed beyond measure by God. He showed us great favor giving us the boys that He did. Such a good God!

(don't mind the food-stained t-shirt. we're living life over here! :))

(This picture isn't from Benjamin's "PhotoShoot" but I just loved it. I shot it at the Getty Museum which was such fun! :))

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