Chubby, chubby cheeks

Ben had his 2 month check-up today. He’s growing like a weed and continues to be a non-stop eater (as is confirmed by his weight). I think we’ve got a future linebacker on our hands!

Here are his measurements:

Length – 23” (60%)
Weight – 12 lbs, 11 oz (75%)
Head – 16” (60%)

Day Out With Thomas

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This weekend we loaded up the boys and headed to Rusk, Texas to ride Thomas the Train. My brother and his family met us there as did my mom and Aunt Pam. To say the kiddos had a blast would be an understatement. Sir Tophan Hatt made an appearance and while my brother’s family (Arlen, Courtney, Van & Bella) got to meet him face-to-face Sam refused to go anywhere near him. Seeing Thomas was truly the highlight of the entire day. Surprisingly, he was very lifelike and all the kids insisted on getting their photos made with him. After our train ride, the kids played with the Thomas train tables, jumped around in the bounce houses, fed rabbits and goats and, of course, browsed through TONS of Thomas stuff that was available to purchase. We got out of there with only purchasing an umbrella & a lunch box and truly felt very fortunate (my mom wasn’t as lucky). Of course, Sam proceeded to try and convince us it was raining (there was not a cloud in the sky) so he could open his umbrella and then talked nonstop about a video his grandma had purchased (which we had to watch the second we arrived back home on Cottage St). I know it’s a day that Sam, Van, Bella & Ben (well…maybe not Ben) will remember for a very long time!

Trick or Treat

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Scott and I will be in San Antonio attending a wedding Halloween weekend so we’ll miss seeing the boys (and all their friends) dressed up in their costumes. Sam is a fireman and Ben's his dalmation/fire dog.

Since we will be gone, we decided to gather everyone at our house this morning for crafts, snacks (you would be surprised how quickly the m&m's went) and playtime to celebrate the holiday. We had as many newborns as 2 years olds so you can imagine the insanity that occurred during the party (at least one newborn crying because they were hungry or one 2 year old crying because they wanted a certain toy at all times). And while we didn’t have an actual Halloween contest, best in show definitely went to Sam’s school friend, Renato, who arrived in a wonderful elephant costume.

Happy Halloween!

Best Friends

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I don’t know if you can recall your first best friend. Maybe they are still in your life, but most likely not.

Sam has his first best friend, Sean McCeney. They’ve been in the same class at St. Luke’s for the past 2 years and take gymnastics together on Thursdays. When they see each other they jump around screaming as if it’s been months since their last playdate. During the occasional weeks that they see each other every day of the week, Sam will wake up on Saturday and ask to go to Sean’s house to play. He just can't get enough.

Since Sam was born, we’ve been waiting for him to acknowledge that another child his age was in the room…and now that he’s found someone to kick a ball with, climb ladders with, fight over a bag of goldfish with, have conversations with (I love toddler conversations!)…it’s just so rewarding. So, in case Sean moves tomorrow (which please don’t let happen because we would all be heartbroken), I hope Sam never forgets his first best friend!

Brotherly Love

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While Sam and Ben are night and day when it comes to their mannerisms as newborns (Sam crazy…Ben calm), they already have such a fascination with each other.

Ben will sit on my lap for hours watching Sam run around in the backyard or play with his train table. He loves (maybe love is too strong a word) it when Sam gets in his face and says, “Don’t cry fussy bear” and is most content in the backseat when he can turn his head to view his big brother.

In turn, Sam is taking his role as big brother very seriously. He loves to say “you’re my best boy ever” and is so ready for Ben to be able to play with him. He’s always asking us to “show Ben what I’m doing” and is never for one second bothered by his brother’s cries.

Only time will tell if they will continue to be opposites, but in the meantime we’ll continue to enjoy their interactions with each other.

Scott's Birthday Weekend

While it was technically Scott’s birthday weekend, we spent most of our time entertaining the kiddos. And while we all enjoyed the celebration, Scott is already lobbying for a “grown-up” birthday bash next year.

St. Luke's Pumpkin Patch

Hermann Park

Dewberry Farms

Happy Birthday, Scott

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ccScott turned 32 on Saturday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Daddy's Home!

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The brightest part of most days is the moment that Scott arrives home from work. Within 30 minutes of getting up from his nap Sam usually starts asking for me to “email Daddy to see when he’s coming home”. Once I announce that Scott is home, Sam yells, “Daddy’s home!” and runs immediately to the backdoor to wait for him to walk through so they can play. Of course, Sadie is right behind him fighting to get to Scott first. This makes me feel SO loved (kidding). Lately, the weather has been so nice that Scott can’t even make it in the door before Sam is begging to play basketball, lacrosse, soccer, digging dirt, fishing, wrestling, whatever…

Today the FAO Schwarz catalog arrived (top picture in the middle). Sam had picked out everything that he wanted for “Daddy” to buy him and instructed Scott to sit down so he could run through his selections with him (I tell Sam that I don’t have any money all the time so now he waits to ask for things from Scott). Scott and I just laughed at the entire situation because we both vividly remember circling things in the Sears catalog when we were little.

Many of you have asked how Sam has been reacting to having a newborn in the house. While the first few weeks after Ben’s arrival were tough on Sam, he’s been so happy and cheerful the past month. He truly loves his big brother and is always telling us to “wake him up”. He’s the first one to let us know when he hears Ben crying and is wonderful at reapplying the paci the second he notices that Ben has spit it out. Unfortunately, Ben doesn’t love the paci as much as Sam did so the battle over inserting the paci into a mouth that doesn’t want it begins. Of course, he has his moments that he wishes he was an only child again but they are becoming fewer and fewer. Scott and I are enjoying watching the bond between them grow each day. We just know (or maybe hope) they will be the best of friends one day.

Life after Ike

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While we, The Sheehan’s, left Houston the second we knew that Hurricane Ike was headed our way, many of our neighbors hung around to brave the storm. They went without electricity (which meant cold showers, darkness at 7pm, no hairdryer, no working refrigerator…you get the point) for 2 weeks. When we returned home, most of the mess had been thrown into piles on the front of each house’s lawn. The scariest sight was a huge pine tree that fell across the street, narrowly missing the house, two houses down from us (you will see a pic of the tree above…bottom pic is our viewing party as the city workers cut up the tree). While the tree was a huge inconvenience for workers that tried to get down our street to repair electricity/pick up trash/deliver mail/etc, it actually created a nice cul-de-sac feel that we missed the second the street was cleared. While there’s still people without electricity (not us thankfully) and lots of clean-up yet to do, we finally feel like life is returning to normal.

**A special thanks to our good friend Alan for providing us with the great photos above (the top left photo is a view from his front porch the morning after the hurricane hit).