Bet you've never seen a rain gutter do this before...

These boys of mine are everything that is important and perfect in life...I hope that anyone who ever reads this who only has girls is not offended by my serious adoration for boys, but I can't imagine my life with anything else at this point. I've come to realize as I watch our own little family and other families with children, that it doesn't matter whether you thought you wanted one or the other, or believed you would have a girl or a boy, once you hold that little baby in your arms THAT BABY is the only thing you ever wanted. So as for me, I only ever wanted my two babies to be my little Ethan and Benjamin and I am completely in awe and adoration of their cuteness, cleverness, and absolute perfectness every day of my life, and I am pretty darn grateful to my husband for working so hard to provide a good life for us, and allowing me to be home with my sweet little rascals...Ben is growing out of babyhood faster than I can stand, and Ethan is full swing in to little boyhood...we say it all the time as we watch his mind go to work, He is ALL BOY!

We typically strip him down to diaper still for mealtime, I got tired of scrubbing spaghetti sauce, cheese, juice, etc. from all of his clothing...poor Ben could be in for it with hand me downs lol

It is rare to find this child in a moment where he is not smiling...he is the most content baby and he loves to socialize

Ben is just starting to think about sitting up, he does pretty well until he gets excited, and then he just falls on his face!

Apparently Ethan wants to have super arm strength...he used to put cereal boxes on his arms, or shoes, but last week he discovered the rain gutter spout, and now, rain drainage will never be the same!

And so begin my days of cape tying...

Silly Ben loves grass, until his face is in it, but he loves the feel on his hands and feet!

Looks like someone was snitching in my box of pears, and I don't think it was Ben or David...Ethan, were you a little hungry? lol

is slowly talking more and more, combining words and saying things that actually make sense sometimes...he loves to sing songs, especially the cleanup song which sounds like "dee da" instead of cleanup but I love it, and his animal sounds are pretty great, toddlers are hysterical and oh so clever!

Well my blog needs a whole revamp done, so who knows, it will probably be another month and a half until I get another post up, so I hope I can be forgiven by my posterity for doing a terrible job at journaling! 

Everything is Cuter in Mini X 2

I had NO IDEA how fun it would be to have two little boys so close together. I think in my mind I always just thought you had either a boy or girl first, and then the opposite on round two. So I had never thoroughly processed the idea of two in a row, but there is almost nothing sweeter. It's like how I've always said that everything is cuter in mini, but one more step on that ladder is that it's even cuter if it's mini, and then there's two...SERIOUSLY...so here goes, for viewing pleasure and memory sake so I can look at these pictures someday down the road when they are teenagers at the same time and I want to lock them in their rooms for a decade...and remind myself of how much I adore them!

Kisses!

Two matching diaper bottoms!

Two faces adoring each other

Even more adoration

Two snuggle buddies

So much snuggling, and adoring

Does it get any sweeter?! I say not!

Summertime is for getting messy outside and loving every minute of it!

I had no idea how I could love another face as much as I adored Ethan's, how on earth could you love another quirky personality, another squishy bottom and rolly legs, how would it be possible to enjoy kissing another double chin, and pinching fat rolls as much as with your first...and then Ben came, my whole world turned again, and now I have two little long eyelashed, button nosed boys that have me wrapped completely around their fingers and I wouldn't have it any other way!

The Happiest Baby on the Block...Little Ben at 4.5 Months

Oh my sweet sweet Ben...don't know how to use words to do justice for what a good baby he is, but I'll try my best.

At 4.5 months

Weight  15lbs. 14 oz.

Height 25 1/2 in.

He is smiling and jabbering constantly. Pretty sure he is the happiest and sweetest baby I have ever seen in my life. Sure he has his moments but typically only when he is hungry or tired, or if Ethan has bitten him somewhere, and I'd be mad too.

He has been sleeping through the night since 2 months old, and when I say sleeping through the night I mean 10-12 hours EVERY night. Ben, you spoil me rotten!

He is a super-spitter...potentially worse than Ethan was, but more pleasant while spitting

He rolls over like crazy, tummy to back, so much that at night recently he has started rolling over and getting stuck on his back and waking up because he hates being on his back...yes I'm the mom who lets her babies sleep on their tummy, and darn it they are GREAT sleepers! Don't judge.....

He lets Ethan maul him frequently and only gets distressed when bodily harm is inflicted (which I try to minimize)

Amazingly enough he loves his brother...when Ben wakes up in the morning Ethan is usually already awake and loves being put in Ben's crib with him...where he proceeds to kiss Ben repeatedly and invade his bubble severely, but typically Ben just smiles and smiles. He is totally a morning baby, so so happy when he wakes up!

He is a SERIOUS thumb sucker...I was convinced you could get a child to take a pacifier instead of their thumb, but when they suck their thumb enough in their sleep at night, it becomes such a habit, and in all honesty, right now it doesn't bother me because he is such an amazing self soother, and we don't have to worry about losing a binki every time we are in public.

Has been eating rice cereal for a couple of weeks now, and to my surprise actually likes it...he was all over it the first time we gave it to him!

He is an amazing baby, so happy and so perfect in every way. He is so much fun  and adds so much to our lives already! We love you Baby Ben!

And then he was TWO!

So somehow my baby turned two, right in the middle of us buying our first house and moving, so I feel like I haven't had sufficient time to feel sad about how quickly my boy is growing up...so here we go...this is the part where I put up pictures and remember how little he used to be and do a little sniffling. I'll reminisce about the time before tantrums and disciplining, and then adore the absolute cuteness that he is anyway...so here's my big two year old!

Wouldn't blow out the candles but loved that everyone was singing at him...he just kept saying hot (ha)- at least he's learned something from me lol

just wanted to dig in the frosting at first

Then we made the mistake of taking of the cupcake wrappers...why on earth would we do that!

All's well, cupcake wrappers made it kinda back in place so he resumed picking

And then came the ice cream cone...he really did love it although he didn't smile...sometimes it is straight up serious business, everything is when you're two, plus he totally knows that he is making me work for it! lol

LOVES his cozy coupe!

Wish I could say that he is typically wearing clothes and that these pictures are the exception, but frankly that would be a lie...he loves to be in his diaper, and I hear it is great for the beginning of potty training, but who are we kidding, I just get tired of the constant clothing, and un-clothing so sometimes they just stay off!

At two years old they say you can double their height and figure out what their estimated adult height will be, so his stats at 2...35 1/2 inches tall (75 %) and 27 lbs. (50%) so he should end up being 5' 11"...but I think he'll hit 6 feet...guess we'll see!

All in all little Ethan is a pretty typical two-year-old except that he has no interest in talking, but is a Houdini with my attempts at baby proofing- he can into anything or out of anything if he wants to...he's been a pro with outlet plugs for a while now and his most recent success is pulling off the door knob covers...the kid is ridiculous!

As far as words go, he knows more than he says to me because other people hear him say stuff all the time, but when I ask him to say something he just points at it...it kills me....but he is such a sweetheart

-he mauls his brother to no end- I've recently discovered him biting, kissing so hard he leaves teeth prints, kicking, dumping water on, and planking on his brother to name just a few of the creative tortures he instills...poor Ben.
-he has ginormous hands and feet
-he loves to read books, but always wants to be in control of page turning, and you can never read each book just once, more like 3+ times
-he loves to say baby (bebe)
-he loves animals (especially dogs) and dinosaurs (they had huge ones at the zoo)
-his eating is coming along slowly...I am getting better at presentation which helps and so does cutting back on snacks! lol but he still favors cottage cheese (sheez) and milk juice (choc. milk)
-

You're Gonna Miss This

Having two kids some days is tough...the kind of tough where all you can do is grit your teeth and just get through it. It is trying on your patience as there is still only one "you" to go around but way more area for you to cover- some days I feel like I'm spread pretty thin, but as I sit back each day and examine what I/we have done, I am constantly amazed at how amazingly capable I am and how wonderful my children are. You are somehow able to stretch to capacity.
     I thought that only parents with teenagers or no kids at home would talk about how much they missed things their kids did when they were young, but I am already realizing that so many of the things I have adored about each of my boys, they have already outgrown. That country song, "you're gonna miss this" came on the other day and brought me to tears- pitiful I know- but I find the words already ringing so true in my head- you're gonna miss this- you're gonna want this back, you're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast..." what's a rough day when at least they are still yours for the holding, scolding and soothing. Yours to read stories and listen to bare flat feet romping across the floor, yours to sing lullabies and rock on you lap for a little while until they go off someday to a family of their own...yikes... Ben is no longer a sleepy newborn and hasn't been for a while he is a jabbermouth smiley wide-awake infant- already so much less of a cuddler  than he was but still oh so rolly and cuddly. Ben you little tease, if you don't want to get oodles of cuddles you shouldn't have back of the neck rolls and 3 chins and rubber band wrist rolls and forearm rolls and then the leg rolls, don't even get me started!

 and then Ethan, oh Ethan is just getting so big. Literally. He's big- 75th percentile for height- who knew but then he is pretty lanky- so there's hope for you Ben lol you may not be short and chubby forever, just long enough for me to get a million chubby cuddles before you grow into a little boy. Anyway today for the first time my little Ethan boy, my first baby said pweez- no big deal right? Wrong! He's been a slow talker and never finishes words, for example dog is da, on is ah, and please has always just been buh- so there you go. I realized today that my little boy is growing up so stinking fast. And he now wrestles, empties bottles- tries to put lotion on his toothbrush, empties my underwear drawer and hides underclothing in the pantry, he plugs things in everywhere, can get through almost every babyproofing device, and sometimes just for fun he bites my bum while I'm doing dishes. He is SO not a baby anymore, he's a boy- all boy.

My next thought...disciplining is a terrible ordeal that in the beautiful thoughts I had on parenting when I looked at my sweet baby, never crossed my mind for a second...and every time the little boy creature I love does something incredibly naughty, half the time it is still kind of cute, and even when it's not, there is something so heartbreaking about seeing that little face that always looks at you with the deepest levels of admiration and adoration, look at you like you are the bad guy. I hate it, but darn it all the only way to not have to do it is to be a neglectful parent, or bare the perfect child, and lets not kid ourselves on that one, we all think they are perfect, but if they're here with us there must be something they have yet to learn. And there is something oh so cute about a mischievous face as well...

I love being a mom- I can't believe how fast the time goes and how fleeting childhood is- I am already getting a glimpse into the future when all of a sudden I don't have babies anymore and I find myself oogling over some strangers new baby in public...that day will come all too soon.

One day these faces are going to be something left only in memories and photographs, and that kills me a little inside...I adore my cuddles and snuggles, the kissing of owies, the toddler talk and jabber, the cooing baby sounds and uncensored baby laughter. It still seems hard to fathom them not being my little ones forever!

A Whole Slew of Pictures (and my random blurbs)

Well here it goes, I've got to get this off my chest so the rest of this blog can be appropriately adored and enjoyed...this is the only family picture we were able to get due to wind, infant, and toddler, no explanations needed I think, and I have to say the boys are adorable and wonderful, but in reference to me, I absolutely DESPISE it- and there is nothing anyone can say to change my mind, trust me David has tried. #1 my undergarments are showing #2 my cardigan is all bunched up so I still look pregnant #3 bad angle- I have a side chin line thing going on #4 squinty eyes #5 pretty much everything else about me in this picture is just bad. Now don't get me wrong, this in not about a self esteem issue- I really thought I looked ravishingly beautiful that day considering it was less than 2 months post baby and I hadn't gotten much sleep for quite some time, so thank goodness we got some other great photos that I'm thrilled with, but in order to continue to NOT have self esteem problems we'll have to try again for a family picture I can put on the wall without it ruining my day. THERE I feel so much better, now on to the rest. Please look at my adorable boys in this picture and then move on

All the Hegstrom women

All the Hegstrom men...minus the two "little" men

The two lovebirds who started this branch of the Hegstrom family...I think we're pretty darn cute and maybe I shouldn't brag, but hey I did anyway. Looks like the love is still there after 4.5 years!

First thing I noticed about this picture...my booty thank you  baby Ben for an even more robust bottom...I have more curves right now than ever before and you know what, I love it!

We tried really hard to get David and the boys in a good picture...and well lets just say it's not going to make the cover of any magazine, but darn it all they are so good looking, and they wouldn't be MY boys if they held still for more than 30 seconds.

Handsome handsome guys...

This must be Ben's "stinkbug caught on it's back" pose,  but I love it

And last but not least Mommy and Baby Ben- and yes- I adore these ones

Some days I can't stand all of my undereye smile wrinkles....ask David I whine about them frequently, but when I see these pictures I know why they're there, and I remind myself that even though some days being a mom makes me a frazzled, puffy-eyed mess, it makes me more amazing and beautiful  than any number of hours of sleep ever could. There's truly nothing else like the love you share with your children- these boys complete me.