Hello, My Friend, It Sure Has Been Awhile

(For those of you playing along at home, YES.  I did just title this blog post with the first line of a legendary Nelson song. You are welcome to worship me.)

So, holy crap.  Having 2 kids is WAY more time consuming than having one.  It's exponential, not double.  Yes, all of you who have 2 children are saying, "Duh."  I do not know how parents of 3 or more children function.  Now that Henry is 4 months old, I thought it was time to get back in the swing of my blog. 

First, the First Grader. 
Ben.  Ben. Ben.  Ben who has already racked up 4 sick days this quarter and will have number 5 tomorrow.  We made it all the way through Kindergarten without a single illness.  This year?  Strep and a stomach virus.  I think he must be kissing more girls or something....

He likes learning his spelling words each week and is a wiz at math (clearly genetic from his father, not his mother).  This week, we found out that Ben needs reading glasses.  He looks very handsome but much older.  He's not thrilled with the idea, but I think he'll come around.  I hope.  There are few things more stubborn than Ben when he makes up his mind...

Then, the Benevolent Dictator known as "Henry". He is darling.  And, I'm starting to see a little bit of resemblance to his big brother.  His recent accomplishments include rolling over from back to front, playing in his exersaucer, and "eating"
 rice cereal.  Most of all, he kills time with me until Ben comes home from school each day.  He thinks Ben is the coolest, funniest, best thing ever.  The rest of us are just here for decoration. 

I have said to several people that it's a good thing Ben was first or there wouldn't have been a second.  Don't get me wrong, I love Henry, but whoooooooo doggies is he high strung.  He likes things how he likes them when he likes them.  I have absolutely NO IDEA where that comes from.  (Although my mom did say, "I think Hank is going to be more like you."  Ummmm...yeah.)

"But, Heather," you say, "What do you do with your days? I mean, you don't WORK..."  When I'm not enjoying sitting on the couch eating bon bons, I'm the room parent for Ben's classroom, heading up a couple of committees for the PTA (aren't you surprised?), attending Stroller Strides classes with Henry, and spending lots of time in the evenings wondering where the hell the day has gone.  I am also catching up on television programming from 1 to 4AM since Henry frequently wakes up to visit in the middle of the night.  I'm sure I do other things, but I honestly am thinking, "hmmm...  What DO I do all day?  Facebook? Well, not ALL day. I drive. A lot.  I yell at people in the school parking lot. Hmmmmmm..." 

First Grade

Yesterday was a day of "firsts".  Among the firsts we experienced yesterday:
* FIRST time we've been up and out of the house before 8AM in months
* FIRST time I've had to leave the house before 8AM ---and--- get myself presentable, Henry presentable, and Ben presentable in less than 3 hours.
* FIRST day at the new Highlands Elementary.
* FIRST day in FIRST grade
* FIRST time Ben has been asleep before 9pm in as long as I can remember

(Did you know if you type "first" a bunch of times it starts to look weird and you have to spellcheck it?)

Ben's teacher this year is Mrs. Bundy.  As is my tradition, as I walked him into his classroom, I offered to provide her with chocolate, ear plugs, and booze... her choice.  Ben had a great first day and is looking forward to the FIRST full day of school on Thursday.

Family of 4: Week 4

Today, Henry turned 4 weeks old. In honor of all of us surviving the first month, I thought I'd post a run down of what we've been up to the last 28 days.

* Ben has settled into his role of big brother and is doing a great job sharing the limelight.  Last week, he said, "Mom.  I'm really glad we have Hank."  I said, "That's so sweet.  I'm glad we have him, too."  "Yeah," Ben added, "Now you have something else to be busy with and I can play Wii all day." 

* Henry is a good baby (vs. those terrible, nasty babies that purposefully trip old ladies in crosswalks).  He seems pretty content to go with the flow.  As scheduled and high strung as his mama may be, he's a mellow little man.

* When we came home from the hospital, Henry weighed 6 pounds 14 oz. Yesterday, he was up to around 9 pounds, which means he's a good eater and isn't missing many meals. He prefers to follow the "eat many small meals a day" philosophy...about every 3 hours.

* If you want to be his best friend, hold him upright and let him sleep on you.  He also likes the sound of his big brother's voice (lucky for us).  Ben is the most successful Baby Whisperer in our house.  He has made up a lullaby/soothing song that he sings when Hank cries and it works almost every time. 

* If you want to see the Exorcist version of Henry (Zouel Soul from Ghostbusters), put lotion on him.  It truly is the only thing we've found that consistently flips him out.  Nudity? Fine.  Baths? Bring it on.  Put a little lotion on him? RAGE.

* In the last few days, Henry has become increasingly aware of his surroundings. He even spent 6 hours awake this week.  Wide awake. And looking.  It was great.  Even better because it was in the afternoon and not in the middle of the night. 

Highlights for the next month include Mommy getting to start running again (HOORAY!), more visits and play dates with family and friends, and (hopefully) a few more hours of sleep at night. 

Baby Bob? I mean, Henry? I mean, Hank? I'm Your Big Brother, Ben.

We are so excited to welcome Henry Collin Mayfield into our family.  He arrived on Friday, May 28th at 12:18pm.  He weighed 7 pounds and 5 ounces and was 18 inches long (just 4 ounces bigger than his big brother was at birth).  Ben was very excited to meet Henry, but was having a little trouble with Henry's name since we've called him so many names. 

Henry, in his little brother wisdom, had chosen 2 very cool Batman cars for Ben as a brother present.  Ben was very impressed with Henry's selection and said, "You are the best little brother ever!"  About 5 minutes later, my dad asked Ben if Henry could play with said Batman mobile.  A very quick, "NO!" followed by, "You know, he's just too little" came from Ben. 

Ben checked out Henry's finger, toes, and belly button (Mom? What's that about?) and deemed  Henry worth to be his little brother.  I said, "I think he's a keeper, what do you think, Ben?" Ben said, "Ummmm.... let's decide tomorrow." 

Here are a few photos from the meeting of the boys:

Kindergarten? That's SO last year.

On Monday, Ben had his last day of Kindergarten.  As we left school on Monday, he was very quick to tell me that he was not a Kindergartener anymore.  He is now a FIRST GRADER.  Capable of doing FIRST GRADER THINGS. So, stand back, world because FIRST GRADER things are happening.  So far, that's playing the Wii and staying up later than usual.  First grade is going to rock!  

Photos below are the obligatory front porch last-day-of-school-shot and a picture of Ben with Mrs. Bohon, his wonderful Kindergarten teacher.

Flattery will get you nowhere

This morning as he was getting dressed, Ben was checking out my belly.  He squinted his eyes, pursed his lips, and then said the following:

B: Mom?  Your belly is like a yo-yo.  You know, it's round and it's gone WAAAAAYYYY out, but it'll go back again.

H: Gee, thanks.  I think. 

B: (looks a little closer) Actually, Mom?  I think it's more like a boomerang because it's going to take a LONG, LONG time to come back. 

Photos: April

Easter morning
(I should mention that the jacket and tucked in shirt lasted about 8 minutes past this photo.)

The new (BLUE!) room complete with bunk beds.  The color is "Space Command Blue" but really, it's "Painter's Tape Blue."  They are exactly the same color. Ben LOVES it.