Benjamin and his Lil "Hug"

Samuel started our day around 4:30 a.m. ugh. Poor lil guy was coughing like crazy. (Yes, this string of colds is apparently still lingering in our home!). After a diaper change and bottle he went right back to sleep. I wish I could say the same about me. I got caught up in some of those slumber thoughts that seem so irritating in the middle of the night but are much easier resolved in the morning. I finally fell back asleep sometime after 5:30 a.m. And Benjamin slept until 7 a.m.! (A small miracle!)

Benjamin returned to school today and had a thrilling day with a visit from the Fire Department. While he was at school Samuel and I took the dogs for a walk. I recently acquired a backpack from our neighbor friends, Cheryl and Mike and decided to try it out. It was a lil heavy (considering Samuel is over 20 pounds and the backpack is probably at least 6-10 pounds by itself). But the dogs were thrilled and Samuel did great too. He had been a lil fussy but totally crashed out about halfway around our block. I snapped this photo of him after our walk. Then I put him in his car seat and we were off to pick up Benjamin.

As I was walking into the school with Samuel fast asleep in my arms, I ran into one of Benjamin's teachers and she brought it to my attention that I had returned Benjamin's permission slip for next week's field trip to the pumpkin patch but neglected to turn in the money that was supposed to accompany it. ahhh. So, Samuel and I backtracked to the car to get money then back to get Benjamin. By the time we made it the classroom Samuel was wide awake. One of Benjamin's teachers said "Samuel must look just like his Daddy. Because Benjamin looks just like you." And I agreed that Samuel does look just like his Daddy-O.

I noticed over the weekend that Benjamin has started calling Samuel "Hug". As in, "Hi, Hug." "What's the matter, Hug." "It's okay, Hug." It's kinda cute. I have no idea where this came from for sure. But I have noticed that some of Samuel's baby babble sounds like the word "hug". Benjamin does a great job of imitating Samuel's babbling and sometimes when we're in the car I'm not really sure which one is making the noises! Anyways, I guess there are a lot worse things that Benjamin could be calling his lil brother besides "Hug" so maybe it will stick!

Well, after we picked Benjamin up today I thought we might run over to World Market to pick up some chairs that I had purchased but I felt Benjamin really needed to get home for lunch and his nap. Unfortunately, today happened to be one of the days that Benjamin decided he'd play for two hours in his room rather than nap. Once he made his way out of his room, we did some finger painting. He loved it. He had a great time and it was a fun one on one activity for us. When we tried to do this before Benjamin didn't seem that into it. So, maybe preschool is having an influence on his creativity! He made a whole slew of masterpieces which we currently have spread throughout our kitchen and dining room to dry.

Once Samuel awoke we headed out for World Market to pick up those new chairs. And wouldn't you know it... Benjamin conked out. I'm sure he was exhausted. So, I called information on my cell phone then got connected to World Market. I asked if they could just bring the chairs out since my son fell asleep and they were happy to do so. Ahhh. Mission accomplished and a bonus of probably a half hour nap! Although when we returned home Benjamin woke up as Captain Crabbypants which is never too fun.

Eventually, he snapped out of it and we had a pretty good night. It seems like once 6 p.m. comes around, I blink and it's 8 p.m. and they're in bed. We've got a pretty good evening routine down and that helps things go pretty smoothly most nights.

Well, after a rough start this morning I am going to relax and head to bed at a decent hour tonight.