2 months old!

Sweet Ben is 2 months old today! He is a big boy...at his 6 week check up, he weighed 12.8 lbs. and was 23 in. long. That put him in the 90% for weight and 80% for height.

Some "firsts" for Ben:

• He is sleeping through the night. I use the term "sleeping" loosely because he no longer takes a bottle in the middle of the night but he does cry out once or twice. It's never long enough to make us get out of bed so in my book, that's sleeping through the night!


• His first smile was on December 27th. He has a sweet smile but you really have to work at it to get him to do it. Maybe he's going to be our serious child?!


• He saw his first snow...well actually his first two snows. We had a dusting a couple of weeks ago and then we had two snow days last Thursday and Friday. He slept through the snow play with his sisters!


• Ben had his first "play date" with his friends, Brooks and Brady Cariker (1 month old twins) and Mary Cate McCants (4 months). Brooks, Brady and Ben slept the entire time so Mary Cate was unimpressed with her play date buddies!


• Oh, and he seems to have his first cold. I'm not surprised though, the girls have been coughing and dealing with runny noses and Ryan is fighting a sore throat. He's acting fine but he has a case of the snorts so I think he's a bit stopped up. Nothing "Little Noses" and a nose bulb can't fix!

Ben is a good baby. He is very quiet and only cries when he's hungry, ready to get out of bed, or his sister(s) are in his business too much! I sometimes find myself looking in my rear view mirror of the car to make sure that I remembered to put him in!:) We love having Ben in our family and couldn't imagine it any other way. He is definitely a blessing!

Already a Jayhawk fan

First snow

Yes, the boys stayed in their car seats. Only

Mary Cate was awake to get out and play.

(Ben is in the blue seat)

Yes Sir!

As I've made you aware, Maggie isn't much of an entertainer in large crowds but she loves to sing and hum at home. (She's sort of like her PopPop in that regard!) I'm always amazed at what songs she sings and that she actually knows most of the words.

Last night I heard her singing a song that she apparently learned at school. She has the words and the motions down and I actually got her to perform it for me. So...here is Maggie singing "I'm in the Lord's Army."

Christmas and more Christmas!

We had a great Christmas! We started the celebrating on the 21st and didn't stop until the 25th. Busy, yes, but fun to be with family. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Children's party at SH with our cousins,

William and Coleman (Preston was too busy

to be in this picture!)

SH Children's party with Glammy and Papaw

Celebrating Christmas with Nanny and Bumps

Oh yea, a Mickey doctor kit

Kate got lots of Rapunzel presents and loved

every single one of them!

Ready to open presents at Glammy and Papaw's

Modeling his new chair and looking super

uncomfortable doing so!

A princess doll or a Barbie...either way

the girls were happy

Christmas Eve at Mimi and PopPop's

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

I don't know who like who more...

Kate or Elizabeth?!

Christmas morning

Peeking through the banister to see what

Santa brought

Woo-hoo...a "Mickey dances"

Santa must have thought Kate was good

this year because he brought what she

asked for...a Tiana costume

Ben "asked" for a tummy time mat. Doesn't he

look super excited to have gotten it?!

Listening to Kamryn read the Christmas story

A KU tricycle for Ben

Kate loved her Scootch from Mimi

and PopPop

Maggie's Mickey car

Taking it easy the day after Christmas

So fun! Roasting hotdogs and

marshmallows in the outdoor fireplace

1 Month!

Sweet Ben celebrated his month birthday on the 23rd. In his first month he has gotten to where he's only up once in the night, eats 5-6 oz. a feeding, is eating every 4 hours during the day, and is growing like crazy. In the last couple of days, he's also started smiling at us but we really have to work for it.

Ben has gone everywhere with us....dance, school parties, Christmas parties, church, and to Haslet for Christmas. He is a dream! He rarely cries, and if he does is easily pacified, is very tolerant of his sisters, and just goes with the flow. Hopefully this sticks and he'll be an easy baby!

Enjoy the pictures of his first month!

Brand new

Resting at the hospital

Happy Thanksgiving!

1st night in his crib

1st time to go to church

Christmas Parties

Kate and Maggie had their Christmas parties last Friday. Maggie's class sang a couple of songs and then were treated to some yummy snacks. On the video, you'll notice that Maggie didn't sing too much but the boy next to her, Drake, is quite the performer. Maggie still had a great time and just like her Thanksgiving songs, she's been singing the songs nonstop since!

Kate's class party was in the afternoon and they had snacks and did a craft. The moms in charge of this one (not me!) did a great job and had super creative snacks and crafts.

Both of the girls had a fun day and are already enjoying their Christmas break. But mostly, they are just really looking forward to a visit from Santa!

"Jingle Bells"

Maggie and Clark enjoying their snacks

Yummy treats at Kate's party

How cute is this craft? Styrofoam cones

with toothpicks and the kids put gumdrops

on for ornaments.

I didn't get to post this last week...Kate's Christmas

performance

Winter Dance Programs

The girls had their dance programs last week. Maggie continued where she left off at her Fall program...not participating!:) It's so funny that she doesn't dance when there's an audience because the girl loves dance and sings and dances to every song when it's just a regular class. What I'm learning about Mags is that she is not a performer on command.

But do you know who is? Kate Butler! That girl loves to perform and had been telling me about her dance for weeks. She didn't disappoint. The dance was super cute and Kate was thrilled to show off her tap dancing skills.

Hey little doggy!

Mags likes this one so she was willing to humor us!

Lazy Day

Last Tuesday was a pj day at the Butler house. It was a cold, dreary day and we have nothing on Tuesdays so we decided that it would be the perfect excuse to stay home and not get out of our pjs all day, except for when the kids took a bath and put on clean pjs!

The girls had a day of playing with their toys and each other. They also loved that we listened to Christmas music all day. This lead to a couple of dance parties and performances throughout the morning! Ben enjoyed his day because he got to take all of his naps in his bed and not a carseat!

We had such a great day that Kate and I have decided that tomorrow will be another pj day at our house. Can't wait!

Enjoying a nap at home

Double wedding someday?!

Maggie loves to go into the bathroom while Kate

is in there and apparently she also likes to put

the potty seat around her neck. Unfortunately,

she is more successful at getting it on than getting

it off!:) I have since told her that this may not

be her best idea!