Beautiful Ben

Before I had kids, I had no idea how much a mother can love her children, or how a mom can share her love with her husband and still have an endless supply for her kid(s). So when we added a fourth member to our family I couldn't imagine how I could ever love another baby as much as our precious Ben and now I can't imagine how we lived without beautiful little Alex. There is no question that my love for each of them is infinite. They are both our source of pride and joy. But there are occasions that my love for Ben goes so deep that I can't breathe and it's because I can still picture him smaller than Matt's hand and clinging to life with the tenacity he's had since the minute he was born. He's the miracle we almost lost and when I see reminders of how perfect he is today it makes me so thankful that we can appreciate more than most what an amazing gift we've received.

So why the deep thoughts today? I got a beautiful gift of unexpected pictures from the Dulaneys again, and these were even more fun because they took Ben swimming while Matt and I were gone so these pictures were a total surprise. Oh, how I love this little boy...





And this little (well, big) face just melts my heart. Alex is my little teddy bear and he is all over the place these days. He's very confident but, unlike Ben, he sticks really close to me when we explore outside the house. Ben would always take off and never look back but Alex hovers pretty close to me in different situations. He loves people and is very happy to be handed to new faces as long as I'm nearby, but set him in view of a pretty lady and he'll be waving for her attention in no time. Already such a flirt!

I took Alex to Fidget's today while Ben was in school. Ben would have been heartbroken to know he didn't get to go to his favorite playground but there's no way I could keep up with both of them in the huge space. Alex definitely enjoyed having all of my attention and a big padded place to roam.

No, Alex, you can't eat EVERYTHING! His favorite thing at the moment besides anything edible is any kind of ball so he was in heaven in the ball pit.

Even more fun that throwing them was tossing them over the side. He gets a lot of entertainment each day dropping things from the crib, the high chair, the stroller...you get the picture....

Once he had enough balls outside, he had to get out and throw them back in. Never a dull moment!

The big news in the Singapore expat community this week is the grand opening of the new Chili's! My favorite mall just got a little bit better. I've always liked Chili's although it wasn't a place we frequented in Texas, but here it's a little piece of home. Everything was just like I remembered, even having to take a pager and wait for a table which is completely unheard of here...the hostess apologized several times for asking us to wait. Most places expect you to make reservations for dinner and sometimes for lunch but in true American fashion, Chili's doesn't take them. I met my friend Christina and had to email poor Matt some pictures of what he missed while he was busy working!

Ahhhh, bliss.....thin crispy chips and a skillet of queso...

And a little piece of heaven to top it off....
Somewhere in the middle we had quesadillas as well but I too busy gorging myself to take a picture. Everything tasted just like home :)