Thirty-Five

 Thirty is old. Thirty-five is super-old. I honestly cant even fathom being that old but luckily I have a few more years before I even get close to having to think about it. Luke however... not so lucky. He turned the big 3-5 on Monday! He seemed to take it pretty well despite a few comments from him throughout the day about how he never thought he'd become this old, where did the time (and his hair) go, etc., etc. I made a point to be overly nice and positive about it for him and didn't even tease him once (bc if anyone teases me the day I turn turn 35 I might go crawl in a hole and die of sadness). Luke chose to celebrate this birthday in the usual fashion- going out to dinner to Market Street and opening gifts and eating cake with the girls. This year, per his request, I made him the most delicious Rum cake. He had 3 or 4 slices that night and has eaten it for breakfast, snack and desert each day since. It's that good! Im surprised there's any left (bc of course I've also had more than my needed share claiming that I'm just getting in my extra 300 (too bad its more like 900) daily calories needed for the boy child :) 

Happy Birthday Luke! I love you and think you're pretty awesome and handsome for a super-old guy. I hope your special day was everything you wanted :)
 

Ho Ho Ho!

 Lola calls Santa Ho Ho Ho. She has been so excited over the idea of him for weeks now and every time she sees him on TV or in a book she says "Please. Ho Ho Ho go." (to go see him). So this last Saturday we took the girls to see Santa. Lola was so excited and couldn't stop pointing and shouting his name once we walked in and saw him. However, all her excitement left her the second it was our turn and she knew she had to go up and actually 'see' him! It took me 2 minutes just to pry her arms from around my neck so I could get her onto Brooklyn's lap, another few reassuring her that she was fine and had her sissy right there with her and finally a couple more pleading and bribing her to take her hands away from her face so we get could just one picture with Santa. So after all that this is the best shot we got. But I love it. Her look says it all. Brooklyn looks adorable of course and was happy to be a good sport as (not so) usual, but thankfully so this time. Do you think Lola will decide Santa isn't quite so bad once she sees all that he brings her on Christmas morning?!

Merry Christmas from the Benik Girls!

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving with the Gray and Nehmer families at their cabin in Bear Lake. We sat around, ate, watched movies, ate and lounged some more and even found time to play a few games. It was a very relaxing few days and we enjoyed every minute of it. Lola loved going outside to play in the snow with Cousin Carter or get a ride on the four-wheelers with Bonka and Daddy! We were a little sad to leave our family but excited to see them again in just 3 weeks for Christmas!!

 Lola's face when you ask her if she loves the cabin :)

 

  

 

 

In case you forgot- this is her 'smiling for the camera' face ha!

A very proud gingerbread-cookie decorator 

P.S. Happy December!!

27 Weeks

I'm 6 months pregnant with 3 months to go (maybe less) and come Friday will start my third and last trimester. I'm still feeling pretty good despite feeling really big already. Looking back at my belly pics from my pregnancy with Lola, I am already the size I was at around 30 weeks with her. I can definitely tell that I carry this baby more in front than all over as I did with her. I'm not sure if its the way I'm carrying or that my belly's just bigger because its the second time around, but it definitely feels heavier already. I'm starting to not be as comfortable and getting out of bed is becoming more of a task then before. Other than the normal pregnancy 'joys'- frequent peeing, pregnancy brain, weight gain, maternity pants, swelling breasts, and lugging this ever growing belly around, I'd say I feel great about 80% of the time, which is luckier than some. It's not all complaints though. I do love feeling the baby kick each day and felling the kicks, movements and hiccups getting stronger. I love picturing what he's going to look like and what kind of personality he'll have. And of course I love planning a little nursery for him, purchasing cute clothes and bedding and just getting ready to have our lives changed forever by him. So far I have the crib, bedding and rocker purchased and am in the process of finding the right dresser and finishing touches of decor. Thanks to my sister I have quite a few clothes to get started with as well as a few more clothes, blankets and basic necessities that I've picked up here and there.  I need to get more on top of this planning and preparing business though- February will be here before we know it.

Two And A Half?!

 

 My baby girl is now 30 months old! She is getting so big yet is still so tiny. Since we just took her to the Dr.s in September I doubt her stats have changed much. She's probably around 22-23 lbs. and near 34 1/2 inches. Her hair has grown a ton and is so long and pretty!

She's getting better and better about eating and will often try new foods. Some of her favorites are any and all fruits especially apples. However, Luke has turned her into an apple snob as she prefers to eat only Pink Lady and Honey Crisp, will rarely eat a red variety and never a green! Also, she loves brown sugar pop tarts (yes, I'm a terrible mother to feed my child pop tarts), bean and bacon soup, pistachios, ramen noodles, chicken and turkey and of course anything chocolate especially Kits Kats and Twix.

Favorite activities include: reading books, playing with her babies, hiding small toys and figurines in small and odd places, playing games and coloring apps on the iPhone (she already knows how to use my phone better than me), and playing with Brooklyn's Squinkie and Pet Shop toys. Her two new favorite shows of late are Tom and Jerry and Pound Puppies.

 Is fast reaching the terrible twos- loves to do the opposite of what we say, often tries to tell us no, gets into things she knows she shouldn't, and her 2 favorite are refusing to sit in a cart at the store but if we let her walk next to us she immediately books it and runs away making us chase her or hides from us. Just 2 weeks ago she ran and hid at Target and after 10 minutes of searching we had to have them lock down the store and send out an employee search team to help us locate her. I was thoroughly embarrassed (after I knew she was safe of course). Is it totally wrong to buy and make her wear one of those kid leashes?!? And the other is refusing to take her naps. She can now climb out of her crib and immediately jumps out the minute you shut the door then cries herself to sleep on the floor by the door (because she cant turn the handle to open it yet) thus resulting in a much shorter nap- 45 min instead of the usual 2-2 1/2. Fortunately for now, she doesn't always do this for naps and never for bedtime but it can still be pretty frustrating. I don't even want to think about the day when naps no longer happen.

As naughty as she can be sometimes she can be that much sweeter too. She loves to cuddle first thing after she wakes up in the morning and before bedtime. She loves giving kisses and hugs. She has great empathy for others and is always making sure you're alright and happy. If you stub your toe she'll immediately go to kiss your boo-boo, rub your back, arm or face and tell you it's alright. She absolutely adores Brooklyn and gets SO excited when we tell her that we'll be seeing her that day. And she, with out fail, cries every time her sissy leaves. Lola also has great manners already and almost never misses saying please, thank you, you're welcome and sorry when appropriate. She can be such a sweetheart sometimes and it makes the times she's a little beast a bit easier to handle.

As I mentioned before, Lola has greatly improved her speech these last few months. I'm proud to say that she now has a much larger vocabulary as well as can speak in 3-4 word sentences sometimes. A huge improvement overall and I'm so glad she's finally getting there. It has to be pretty frustrating to not be able to communicate your thoughts, wants or needs. And while most of her words are still only discernible to Luke and I, she's attempting them as well as others that we ask her to try for. Here's a list of a few current 'Lola words':

L-la (Lola)
wella (pretty much everyone else's name)
Brook (Brooks/Brooklyn)
bo-bo (peek-a-boo)
go-kee or go-gee (silky and blanky)
gar-ee (sorry)
goot (cute)
guying (crying)
guck (stuck, duck and truck)
gaga (Bonka) 
gee-kee (stinky)
deet (seat, sit and eat)
doo (two)
doot (do it)
ditty (kitty)
deek (dark, scared and scary)
note  (dont)
a-wise (surprise)
a-who (monkey)
whoa-kee (thank you and your welcome)
houf (house)
brokey (broken)
whoa-whoa (flower)
whoa-wal (towel)

We love our little girl and are proud of all her recent accomplishments. She is so beautiful and smart and so much fun to have around and to love on.  I'm excited (and a bit nervous) to see what the next 6 months bring for Lola as she will become a big sister, hopefully learn to use the potty, and turn 3!!

Favorite Time Of Year

We enjoyed the usual fall festivities this year- Cornbelly's corn maze, pumpkin patch and hay rides as well as cookie decorating and pumpkin carving. All in preparation for the main event- Halloween!!

Hay ride at Wheelers Farm. This is Lola's new smile by the way. She squints her eyes basically shut while saying cheese through clenched teeth. Funny but still pretty cute :)

 

 

 Halloween! Lola was an adorable little ladybug. She was so excited about her costume that she picked out all by herself from the costume store. She asked everyday before (and since) to wear it. 

 Lola was pretty brave when it came to going up to the houses because she knew they had candy and all she had to do was smile (and say thank you)

 We met up with Brooklyn a little later and did a few more streets before calling it quits. Brooklyn chose to be a dead U of U cheerleader (because U of U sucks! and because she didn't want to be anything 'cute' this year :)  She is fearless when it comes to Halloween and all things scary and spooky. She begged her Dad to take her to a haunted house until he gave in and she even made it through 3 of the 4 levels! Luke said he was pretty sure he was more scared then her.

 Lola was SO proud of her candy loot. She still carries her pumpkin bucket all around the house each day hoarding her candy and shrieking at us if we even think about getting too close to her treasured treats!

Until next year...