6 Months Old!

Happy half birthday to Alex! I can't believe he's been part of our lives for 6 months but I've already forgotten what life was like before our sweet little baby was around. He's such a good-natured, happy guy and we look forward to watching him grow and develop his own personality. It's hard not to compare everything he does to Ben but so far they've been total opposites - Ben was serious, hated to eat (still does!), and slept all night. Alex will laugh at anything, will eat anything, and loves to see a friendly face in the middle of the night. We're hoping to work on the sleeping once we're settled back at home in Singapore, though.

What a joy and blessing we've received in little Alex! I thought it appropriate for him to wear his cow outfit on his last day in Texas...

The bags are packed and we're enjoying one last meal and cold night in Texas, then we're off to Singapore in the morning....say a prayer for good travel if you think of us tomorrow!

Where Have We Been?

Well, we've been all over Houston, to Alabama, Dallas, and Mexico (but just Daddy on his hunting trip) so things have been pretty busy at the Kirkham household. Or Kirkham collection of suitcases would be more appropriate. We have bounced from house to house no less than 12 times since we got here in November and I've spent an outrageous amount of time packing and unpacking these poor kids. Ben about lost it today when he saw me packing everything up again to leave Grandma and Grandpa Kirkham's house one last time. The boys have been very patient but I think we'll all be happy and relieved to be back in our own house again, even though we're going to be really sad to leave on Tuesday. I'm already dreading leaving but won't let myself think about it just yet. We're in the home stretch now and loading up all the stuff we've bought and received for Christmas in our 7 suitcases for the long trip home.

So on to happier things, like what the boys have been up to lately!

Alex LOVES to eat. No big surprise there, since he's not exactly a lightweight, but I didn't know kids could get so excited over a bowl of cereal or a jar of peas. He says "mmmmm" the whole time when he's enjoying his food. He's already at 3 meals a day to keep that tummy full.

Who is that?!?
We had several different Christmas celebrations and unfortunately I never got a group picture at any of them. I was just horrible about taking pictures this entire trip. First at the Kirkham house we opened gifts before Christmas and Ben quickly got the hang of tearing everything open. It was a slow process for him because he would make sure every shred of paper was gone before he'd continue.

Alex was more interested in hitting the pretty packages and drooling on them.

Then we were off to Alabama to see Great-Grandpa Kirkham. Alex wore his santa suit on Christmas Eve but unfortuntely the hat didn't fit so well on the big head :)

Ben enjoyed opening more presents, of course, but he would usually be happy with one and abandon the rest of the gifts. He'll learn.....

We came back to Houston on Christmas day and were surprised to find out our rental car was upgraded to a convertible. Not the most practical car in the world for a family of 4 and all their stuff, but a lot of fun on a warm Christmas. Ben loved watching the roof fold down and feeling the wind. We swapped it out the next day for something a little more practical.

On the 26th we had Christmas morning #2 with the kiddos and let them open the rest of their presents at Grammy and Grumpy's house. They were so cute in front of the tree.

Are all those gifts for ME?

Ben was a little overwhelmed by all the gifts and maybe we made a mistake by wrapping things separately, but I thought it worked out well because I packed everything he didn't open so it will be all new later on in Singapore! I hope to stretch the gifts out all year because toys are at least twice as expensive over there and it kills me to pay so much for the exact same things.

One great toy and this kid is happy for hours.

Dr. Ben was crazy about his new medical set and took everyone's blood pressure.

He was also lucky enough to get some great board shorts that Daddy picked up in Indonesia.

But Ben's #1 hands down is still Kitty Abby. He absolutely loves her and she tolerates and sometimes even likes him in return, especially when he leaves chips on the floor. Ben's other favorites at the moment are ceiling fans (which should always be on), lights (which need to be tested repeatedly for correct function), anything broken, and dancing. He is an absolute ball of energy and has been talking up a storm since he got here. His sentences are getting longer and making more sense every day.

A few funny videos...

Ben learned to wiggle his eyebrows.


He enjoyed singing along to the ABC song, even though he was always a few beats behind the music.

And Alex is just growing like a weed!

It has been a wonderful trip "home" (we never know which place to call home because our place in Singapore is home since that's where we live, but coming back to family will always be home in our hearts). I think it was a little selfish of me to plan the trip to be so long because I didn't consider how long the boys, Ben especially, would be out of their normal routines and sleeping in new places. Alex is still pretty portable, although he needs to most equipment out of all of us. It's definitely time for us to get back and sleep in our own beds and enjoy our friends and habits back in Singapore.

One unplanned gift we'll be taking back with us is a big cast on Matt's left arm. He broke his wrist on his hunting trip and will be needing surgery as soon as we're in Singapore.

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours, we wish you a wonderful Christmas and hope it is filled with family and food and most of all the joy of Christ's birth. We are in Alabama at the moment catching up with Matt's extended family and introducing Alex to his great-grandfather so I'll post pictures once we get back to Texas. Because we get to celebrate Christmas with our family near and far (we're actually flying back midday tomorrow), we couldn't ask for anything more.

Catching Up

Matt got in safely last week so we were all excited to see Daddy again. His first stop was at McKenzie's for some good ole Texas barbeque, then a good night's sleep, and then we all went to Texas Children's Hospital to visit a few of Ben's old doctors and nurses. We talked to his primary nurse Linda, who treated Ben like her own for the 2 1/2 months he was under her care, and she was amazed at the little boy he has become. Unfortunately, she was called away before we got a picture. We did get a picture with Ben and Dr. Profit who cared for him during his most critical month and tried an experimental setting on the ventilator that probably saved Ben from permanent lung damage....we are forever grateful for their love and care for our precious one! It was as always very emotional to walk those same halls again but much easier now knowing that our little Ben is healthy and normal and will hopefully never need to see a doctor at TCH again, other than for more social visits.

On Saturday we caught up with friends over steaks at Grandma and Grandpa Kirkham's house. It was wonderful to see our good friends and all of their kids.

One of the families had to leave before we got pictures but here was the rest of the gang. It was pretty chaotic with all the kiddos but everyone had a wonderful time. Ben found a girlfriend in Haley and got a little fresh with her! There are some great pictures on her blog.

Here is Mr. Smiley! This is one happy guy who smiles and laughs all day.

Ben is still obsessed with Kitty Abby whenever we're at Grammy and Grumpy's house and insists on having her around all the time. Usually he's entertaining enough for her to stay close in case she gets food or a drink from the faucet. Or in this case, gets a free brushing while he's busy washing and styling his hair.

Snow!

We were prepared for what we thought would be a cold, rainy day. Ben and Abby were having a lot of fun playing with the train set together.

I'm not sure who likes it more at the moment! Abby will push the train in and out of the tunnel whether Ben is playing or not.

Then I looked out the window and realized it was snowing! This is a big deal in southeast Texas because I can count on one hand the number of times it has snowed here.

Ben was really interested in the cold stuff falling into his hands. This was about 3pm and obviously nothing was sticking on the ground but it was fun to watch.

An hour or two later, it was still falling and getting cold enough to accumulate on the leaves just a bit. Ben insisted on pushing his cart in the driveway and I had to laugh because it was a far cry from our usual hot outings in Singapore with the shopping cart! He said "don't like snow!" because when the wind blew it in his face he understood what cold means.

By dinnertime, it was stacking up enough for Ben to take notice. Then everything quit so I forgot all about it because the forecast didn't really look promising for any more snow.

Just before I went to bed I happened to look out the window and saw big flakes drifting down and a blanket of white covering everything outside. It was just beautiful.

Only Houstonians would understand that this is a LOT of snow!

The white dusting covered everything outside and the temperature was hovering right at freezing.

I had hoped Ben would wake up to this winter wonderland this morning but it never dropped below 32 F last night and it was just warm enough to melt nearly everything.

So at least Ben got to see his first snow, whether he remembers it or not, and it looks like it will be warm enough for shorts again by the weekend. I love Texas :)

Time Flies

I can't believe we've been in Texas nearly 3 weeks already because the time has just disappeared. Funny how staying busy with two kids just makes the days fly by. On a great note, both of the boys finally slept through the night without a peep last night. They woke up almost simultaneously at 6:30am bright eyed and in great moods and needless to say I was one happy mama. It took 18 nights to get them settled here! Let's hope they continue the good behavior overnight...but if not, Matt arrives on Thursday so he can help out with the late night duties :)

Ben has been a huge help keeping all the plants, bushes, weeds, leaves, and sidewalks watered. Every time he gets a chance he's asking Grammy to fill his little bucket.

Over the weekend each set of grandparents kept one of the boys and I got a chance to catch up with my girlfriends from college during our 11th annual weekend together. It started as a brunch many years ago and has evolved into a weekend trip since we live all over Texas (or the world) now. This year we chose College Station as our location since we all met while we were at Texas A&M and we enjoyed visiting our old stomping grounds. The last Aggie bonfire ever constructed fell while we were still students and we took the opportunity to visit the memorial to the 12 students that died.

It is a simple but beautiful tribute to the men and women that passed away during the tragedy.

It was wonderful for me to get away for the weekend and catch up with my friends, but by Sunday morning I was really missing the kiddos! Life just isn't the same without their chaos and activity.

Little Alex has been quite a busy guy. His legs are really strong and he can stand with very little assistance already. The balance needs a lot of work but I'm amazed that he already has the strength to hold himself up for several minutes at a time.

He is also turning into a cereal eating maniac. Over the weekend, he really caught on to the spoon feeding idea and can down a big bowl of cereal with no hesitation. He's now getting two meals a day and loving every bite. That big smile just melts my heart every time! He is such a sweet baby.
Alex is also becoming more interested in tummy time because he can lay for quite a while and be entertained by his toys without getting tired.

Here's a look at him trying to figure out how to get those hands high enough to grab a toy. I can see a little more coordination and purposeful movement every day.

Ben is still in love with Abby and follows her around constantly. He picked out this toy for her at Target today and they had a great time playing together. Abby is still sleeping in hard to reach places but will surprisingly let Ben play with her in new and creative ways, like tonight at bathtime when he was trying to bathe her in Alex's bath water. I heard Ben saying "Abby take a bath" but didn't realize he was actually washing her until I walked in the bathroom and saw her wet fur.

He knows what Blue Bell ice cream is and enjoys a scoop after dinner every night....I'm doing the same thing!

And here are the dancing man's latest moves to a Sesame Street dancing video...

Busy Days and Sleepless Nights

These two little guys have been really busy meeting people and exploring all the new things at Grammy and Grumpy's house. Unfortunately, I've been embarrassingly bad about taking pictures so I have very few for the last week. Both the kids did really well during the day with the jet lag, eating and napping at pretty normal times since they got here, but they've been merciless at night about waking up. Ben has been awake for 1 1/2 - 3 hours nearly every night since we got here and Alex has suddenly started waking twice at night to eat and doesn't like to go back to sleep in a cold bed. I'll cut Alex a little slack since babies have to eat and I hate a cold bed (and cold weather, for that matter) myself but it's definitely time for Ben to be sleeping all night on his own again! Whenever he wakes up at night, he won't go back to sleep unless I get in bed with him and it creates a crisis whenever I have to get up to feed Alex. sigh. I'm crossing my fingers for better nights all around!

So here's what we've been up to during the daylight hours! Ben loves to lift weights with Grumpy and is really good about counting the reps.

Ben had a great time playing in this teepee (he called it a peepee so we started calling it the tent instead) and insisted that kitty Abby join him. He is still entirely obsessed with Abby and has gotten a little more aggressive in his affection, like trying to carry her around (even though she's half his weight) and sit on her. Needless to say, she's not quite as fond of him these days and is finding higher places to sleep.

We had a really cold day here, for Houston anyway, and the wind was freezing. I bundled the kids up to walk to the park and I loved how cute Alex looked in his litle bear suit. He reminded me of the little brother on A Christmas Story because he couldn't put his arms all the way down, but he sure stayed warm!

Our handsome baby looking quite thoughtful...

....and quite chubby....

...and quite happy! I've been bathing him in the sink because the baby bathtub was a little large to bring on the plane, but I'm not sure how much longer this guy will fit. Alex is such a sweet, easy-going guy. We went to story time and the mall this morning and Target this afternoon (my third trip already! wow, I miss that place) and he was all smiles the entire time.

This can only be described as Ben's happy dance. Or maybe a poopie-in-the-pants dance (because he had one). Or possibly my-shoes-are-on-the-wrong-feet dance. Or even I-can-barely-keep-my-pants-up dance. Whatever you call it, it's pretty funny!