At Long Last!

Fans of the Gribblog can thank my mom for asking once again (politely) for photos of Benjamin. I’ve been collecting things for this post, so here it is! After Halloween, I wasn’t satisfied with the photos of the two kids together, so I dressed them back up in their costumes and took a few more photos. They were good sports, although Benjamin was a bit peeved that he had to be fussed into his pumpkin sack again.

There are few things as rewarding in life as a parent/baby snooze.

I thought this photo was so cute, I took it 5 or 6 times to make sure the frame was filled by the sweater.

The things babies have to put up with!

I realized Benjamin is always on his back, so photos of his hair are rare.

We were having some fun with the self-timer one afternoon.

Here she is…Miss Toddler Phoebe!

I suspect these will be easier to take when Benjamin is tagging behind Phoebe. Right now, she doesn’t deign to hang out near him all that often.

I have the fortune of spending half my maternity leave working two days a week with Benjamin in the office with me. Nice to be back among my colleagues without having to put him in daycare yet! (He gets lots of love and walks this way.)

I took so many photos of Phoebe in this thing, it’s a good thing the kiddos look so different.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. We drove to Michigan…a long trip. Very long! It took us 24 hours on the way out, mostly due to potty stops and a couple of traffic jams. Fortunately, the weather was excellent. The kids were excellent too. Lots of sleeping and no bouts of uncontrollable crying! Phoebe was awfully excited to be going to Michigan because she has a Michigan onesie (thanks to Big John, an alum). How she remembered that, I’ll never know! We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Hoot’s house in time for dinner and spent the early evening together. Then we got back in the car to head to Jennifer and Lee’s house near Saint Joseph.

We had a great time at the Ott home. Phoebe is old enough to play with Alexander, so we did lots of kid-friendly activities, including the playground and the kids’ museum. We reconnected with Jennifer and Lee over wine and movies in the evenings while the kids slept (though Phoebe kept getting out of bed and calling down “what you doing, Mommy?”). Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, and I got to go to Bob Evans, my special midwestern treat.

Alas, the holiday ended and we had to drive home. We attended Kaitlynn’s baptism on Sunday morning, had lunch, and got on the road. It took us only 21 hours to get back, so we were able to head straight to work/daycare on Monday morning. A very successful road trip! I’ll finish up with a few random photos and videos. Then I’ll go take some more! Benjamin is growing fast–he’s at least 10 pounds now, and Phoebe rarely stops talking.

Grammie gave Phoebe a Cheerios cookbook; we made the chocolate chip muffins. Phoebe is wearing a sweater Grandma Hoot made. Here’s a video!