BRYSTAL LEARNS TO HOPSCOTCH

The other night Nate drew a hopscotch on our driveway and taught Brystal how to do it. She loved it and did it for the rest of the night. Though she isn't quite coordinated enough to really do it, she thinks she is doing it, and is so proud of herself for it. Sorry about all the videos, but I couldn't resist.

FUTURE AMERICAN IDOL

This girl is a born performer. She is always singing a song or dancing to some music. One day I heard her singing her usual songs, and I came around the corner and found her sitting in a laundry basket with her dolls. Here is a combination of Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam, If you chance to meet a frown, and of course her favorite song which she sings all day long, Twinkle Twinkle. Enjoy.
This one is for you Amma Wood.

DORA THE EXPLORER

Today was Dora and Diego day at Chic fil a. Brystal is obsessed with both so we went. Here is how it all went down. We show up and this is what we see, first of all, this Dora is kind of a white trash Dora, she is all scraggly and looks like she is wearing a space suit.

Brystal is a little nervous and doesn't know what to think of this lifesize Dora.

Daddy takes her in for a picture. She is not so sure she likes this.

Now she is really sure she doesn't like this.

Clinging on for dear life...

Ok Dora has officially creeped her out and so we are outa here. Too bad, I was hoping she really would like it but maybe the cartoon version will have to do for now. It was funny while it lasted.

BENNETT HAPPENINGS

Not to much is going on here, I've been pretty much laying low for the last 2 weeks since I don't really dare to go to far from home yet. So here are a few pictures of what has been going on. Boston is getting bigger by the day. He is starting to show his true colors by being so good all day long, then from dinner til bed time he demands that I hold him for the rest of the evening til bed time. If I had all the time in the world, I really wouldn't mind that a bit.

Today he smiled at me for the first time. It was so adorable, I can't wait to see what his personality brings to our family. It is so weird to think that Brystal used to be just like this. He is starting to look at his toys and mobiles. Such a big milestone in a young baby's life. I can tell he is getting bigger, and that makes me a little sad inside, but I can't wait to see what he will be like especially when him and Brystal can play together.

I would like to think that Brystal has a special personality about her, and here is proof of why I think that. Here she is watching Go Diego Go, just chillin on the couch with her sunglasses (or eyes as she calls them) on. If they are not on her face, she pushes them up onto her head which she sees me do apparently. By the way, now that she has discovered Dora and Diego... she's obsessed.

Brystal likes to play mommy now, she wraps her babies up in blankies puts them in her stroller, puts a keychain which she thinks is her keys in her purse, hops in my highest heels and struts around the house. She has also learned to put her babies in time out, hmm where did she get that one from. She acts out her baby doll hitting another one of her stuffed animals and yells No No! then puts her in time out and says "Sit down baby!" and walks away. Luckily, she goes back and makes the baby say sorry and gives her a hug and a kiss. At least she is learning something good from time outs.

After bath time is when Boston finally gets some Daddy time. I think Nathan is really excited for him to be big enough to play with him. Babies can be boring at first for men I think, but for now, he can cuddle with me all day long and I won't mind a bit.

Last week we went to the beach and hung out for a few hours. We set up a tent so Boston could hang in there and not get all sandy and sunburned. We had a good time. I am starting to feel a little more brave and daring to go out more by myself now that Nate is back to work. Being a mom of 2 is harder, but not as hard as I thought it would be. For now anyways....

PROUD MOMMY

It's been a little crazy around here, I haven't been able to get on the computer for awhile, but things are going pretty good around here. My mom and Nathan have been here this week helping me out which has been so nice since I had a bad couple of days and couldn't really get around normally.

As always Nate has been such a good little Daddy helping me out with what he can, mostly playing with Brystal and keeping her busy so I could rest and take care of Boston.

Brystal has been doing surprisingly very well so far with Boston. She loves to hold him. This is the first time she held him when we got home. She has had a few little outbursts of jealousy, but this was expected. I'd say she is doing 50 times better than I ever imagined.

Here is the man of the hour. He has been such a cute little baby. He just thinks he has to be eating every time his eyes are open. Just like his Daddy.

Brystal loves to give him kisses.

Here is the little dude just after a bath, doesn't he just look so dapper?

I have a good feeling these guys will make a great team someday. Brystal is so good to be so soft and gentle to him. All those weeks of training her to "don't poke eyes" have paid off. She is good to touch everything but the eyes.

Getting a little sleepy.

Grandma was here for a week and we loved it. She was so helpful to play with the babies and help me around the house. I got lots of rest and a clean house and lots of good tips. We were really sad to see her go. I've got one more week with Nate home then... I'm on my own.

BOSTON NATHAN BENNETT

He's finally here!!! After being a week over, he was making me so miserable waiting for him, so I was induced this morning at 5 a.m. August 20, 2009. What a great birthday! As soon as they broke my water for me around 9 things went really fast from there, and he was born at 10:55 a.m. Holy cow, it went by so fast and so easy. I got an epidural and was only really uncomfortable for a little less than an hour or so.

Little Boston weighed in at a big 8 pounds 6 ounces and 21 and a half inches long. Over 2 pounds more than Brystal!! I guess that's what happens when they get a little overcooked. He has been such a good little baby though.


I can't really tell who he looks like. He is different than Brystal, but still looks alot like the both of us. I just can't tell. He is just his own little person.

He has some pretty cute hair.

This picture makes him look pretty big. We aren't sure how Brystal feels about him yet, she came by once today and checked him out, but didn't really seem too interested, she was more into the new doll we got her. I'll keep you all posted on that, I"m a little nervous about it.

The funny story is that my brother Dusty and his wife who were due next week went into the hospital this morning and had their little baby boy today too! So we both found out we were pregnant on the same day, and now we had them together on the same day. Isn't that crazy?!! We are really enjoying him right now and look forward to adjusting to 2 kids now. Wish us luck.

WHAT DOES A PREGNANT GIRL SEE

This is the view from my eyes every day. I am so big, I am wondering what my feet look like since I rarely get to see them. Things here are just dragging along. I am now in my last week of pregnancy, and it is so hot here in Houston, so I stay inside most of the time. I am finding it very hard to move around, especially keeping up with a toddler. I'm pretty much exhausted.

Things are looking good for me though, my last Dr's appointment on Monday they said I was fully effaced and dilated to a 3 so hopefully labor will come soon and will be quick. I hope. For the most part everything is ready to go. It's a little harder getting prepared this time cause once I clean something or get something out for the baby, it's messed up again in 5 minutes. But I think it will all work out. So we are expecting something to happen any day now. We will definitely keep you all posted!

BRYSTAL'S FRIENDS

Brystal has many friends here. She is quite the likable girl. Here she is with a few of them. This is Samari, and Poppy.

Here is her friend Izzy, She is a year and half older than her, but they get along and play together really well.

Here is her friend Nita from Mexico City that is visiting her Grandma that lives across the street from us. She will be here the whole summer, they are about a month apart, and they play so well, it will be really sad when Nita goes back to Mexico.

MY BABY IS ALL GROWN UP

Brystal's hair is getting so long and curly. I don't know where these curls are coming from because they aren't from me. She is getting so pretty and grown up now. I can't believe how much she has changed. She will seem even bigger when the baby gets here. We have been teaching Brystal about the baby, and how to hold her baby dolls and how to be soft with them and DON'T POKE THE EYES. She pretty much has no clue what is about to happen, but I'm sure there will be some jealousy issues at the first but I hope that she'll adjust quickly and be a good big sister. She is 21 months old now and she is full of life and curiosity. She is starting to talk up a storm now. When she does something by herself she'll say "I did it!!"
She has learned how to work the remote controls for the tv and we often find her flipping through channels and turning off and on the tv. She has also figured out the computer and I'll find her clicking away on the mouse.
She LOVES shoes and I find her putting on my shoes everyday and walking around the house, and they aren't just any shoes they are my high heels. I must say she is pretty good at them.
She doesn't like vegetables, I'm still trying to figure that one out, but I am trying.
She LOVES popcicles, the otter pop kind, she begs and begs for them everyday.
Many times I will find her sitting at the piano playing songs and singing her heart out.
She knows alot of primary songs and all the actions and loves to sing them.
She is learning to help us say prayers.
And she loves to snuggle with us.
I could go on and on about her, she is changing so fast. I don't want to miss a thing. But this is just a brief update for you all, oh and while I was typing this I realized I left her alone too long, and found her dumping out all the salt and pepper from the salt and pepper shakers. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me.

WHITE TRASH THURSDAYS

This is one of those crazy frantic moments that a mom doesn't know what to do but just laugh. Nate was mowing the lawn so I got Brystal in her swimsuit and let her play in the baby pool while I fixed dinner. Well I don't usually put swim diapers on her to just swim in the baby pool cause she usually only swims for just a little while anyways so it's a waste. I went out to check on her and it appears she's got poop all over in her swimsuit. Oh no...what do I do. I'm trying to think. Ok, so I go and take off her swim suit with poop dripping all over in it, and it's so gross, it's getting everywhere, so I run to the front yard to turn on the hose so I could just hose everything off. When I come back out to the backyard, here is what I see.

Brystal is following Nate all over the backyard while he mows, naked. And probably with poop stuck to her bum. Oh man, I don't know what else to do except grab the camera. I managed to get her hosed off and brought her inside before things got to crazy.

Hopefully the neighbors didn't see anything. We really aren't white trash.

THE ROOMS ARE COMPLETE!

Well I finally was able to finish my room projects. These rooms have been a work in progress for months now, and I am happy to say that they are pretty much done. After we found out we were having a boy, we basically had to redo 2 rooms instead of one since Brystal had to move to a big girl bed and everything. So let me walk you through our finished product. I only wish I had taken before shots. Oh well.

This is pretty much what you see when you walk into the baby room. Here is the crib and the changing table, which has to be there cause we are still keeping a queen size bed in this room until my mom leaves after the baby comes and we need to use the room more for the baby. So furniture is a little tight. This beautiful shelf that goes across the wall was hand built by my handy man husband. He cut the wood, and painted it and figured out how to get it onto the wall. I think it looks really great!

Here is the baby bedding. Last time my mom was here in April, she helped me make this. I can't take all the credit for making it because I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to sewing, but I did do a good chunk of this. So thanks to my mama for helping me with this, it goes so well with the room. We are going for a vintage look in here, with the vintage colors, old books and wagons and stuff like that.

This is hard to see, but I found some really cute animal alphabet cards with vintage looking animals on them, so I have them draped across the wall here.

Here is a close up of some of the cards.

And last but not least on the opposite wall from the crib where eventually the changing table will go is this adorable little quote. I hope we have a little pirate man who likes to dig for treasure.

Now onto Brystal's room. Across the hall from the baby room you walk in to see this. Once again my super handy man made this chair rail all around the room, and once again with the help of my mom when she was here, we painted this half pink and half brown. And though you can't see all around the room, I have made little flowers sprouting out of the floor with vinyl.

Here is Brystal's new bed, and dresser and bedding. She loves her new bed and loves to show it off to people and friends who come over.

I made this little sillouhette of Brystal at about 18 months.

And here is what hangs above her bed. The 2 canvas paintings I painted myself to match her bedding. I tried to save as much money as I could on decorations by trying to make things, but actually it makes me feel pretty good when I look at them and think that I made those myself, so I have a little pride in them, even if they don't look that professional. And this concludes the tour of the rooms!

BY POPULAR DEMAND

Here I am in all my roundness! As much as I love showing off how much bigger and bigger I'm getting, I have finally managed to get myself dressed one day and remember to take a picture. So for all you out there, here I am, 36 weeks preggo and getting bigger by the second. I believe that I have suddenly hit the nesting phase of being pregnant, meaning, I'm freakishly obsessed with getting everything organized and put in place and trying to get the house in order so that little baby doesn't come out ashamed that his mother is a slob. Things are getting alot harder to do around here, I long for the day when I will be able to bend over again. I can't tell you how many times a day I pick up the same toys over and over. And keeping up with a little toddler is rough when you can barely move. We keep fairly busy, but I'm just slower. I do think overall I feel better this time than I did with Brystal, but just more tired since I am chasing her around and lugging this body around. I've got 4 more weeks to go my friends and I'm counting down the days. I'll start going to the Dr weekly from now on, and we even get one more ultra sound for a sneek peak at the little guy. But not much is happening around here other than waiting. I'm not going to lie, there are times, that I am nervous about having more than one child, if anyone has any advice on the transition from 1 kid to 2 it would be much appreciated. But only if it is good and your not out to freak me out.

TWINKLE TWINKLE

After church we were waiting in the lobby for Nate to get out of a meeting. The place was pretty much empty except for a few stragglers and so Brystal started practicing her singing. She is normally alot more easy to understand than this when she sings this song, but you know how hard it is to spin in circles and sing at the same time.

NOT MUCH OF ANYTHING

I know you all have been waiting for an update, but nothing too exciting is happening around here, so I'll just throw in some random pictures just to humor you people. This was on the 4th of July. We had a great BBQ with friends, then headed out to watch the fireworks.

This is how Brystal feels about sparklers.

I really hate how big I look in this picture. But hey I'm 9 months pregnant so give me a break. This was after the firework show was over, it was the lamest firework show I'd ever seen, but it was good to be in good company. Brystal had about had it for the day, she was so tired.

This is what we do when Brystal wants to go swimming and I'm too fat and lazy to take her to the pool. It is so hot outside here, so we swim in the bathtub as an alternative. She still gets the same kicks out of it.

And here is Princess Brystal wearing her eyes just after performing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star after church. She's taking a water break.

After we got our new double stroller Brystal loves to sit in it and refuses to get out, so we just park her in front of a movie and that buys us lots of time to get things done.

Brystal wearing her hat that she'll only wear for 2 minutes at a time, But she's cute. So this is what we've been doing alot of lately, just lounging around waiting for the baby to come. I'm so exhausted to do much of anything else.