Have a Holly Jolly Christmas...

Well, I feel like I've really been horrible lately at updating my blog. Life all of a sudden in the last couple months has become extremely busy. What with my full time job, Scentsy and doing quite a few photo jobs (which I'm so grateful for and love to do) has kept me very busy and otherwise occupied! That on top of being wife and mommy! There just isn't a lot of time to get everything done that I want to. Which is very apparent by the state our house is in! I did manage to get the Christmas decorations up pretty quickly this year, and we got our tree which is very cute if I do say so myself, and the house lights up! I love Christmas! My first Scentsy party went well. It was nice to visit my cousin Laura who I love lots. I'm glad she lives close and that we are close as well. The drive to Knoxville alone was a nice to time to clear my mind a little and Ben and Ryan had fun together. I'm so grateful that Ryan is such a good daddy and loves to hang out with his boy. They have a good time playing and running around the house, chasing Ally and laughing lots.
So, Ben is 3 months away from turning 2! Can you believe it?! He's really starting to become a little boy, but I have to remember he's still really my little baby. He's so smart and learns so quickly. He's very polite and says Please and Thank You and also Excuse Me. Of course they all sound like "peese" "dankdoo" and "que me"! It's pretty cute. He also really loves to watch Sesame Street and lately in the morning has been asking for "meh-mo" (Elmo) to watch when he wakes up. He's getting the bottom canine teeth in right now, maybe even one of the top ones... so he's been gnawing on his fingers a lot. He really loves his "acky" which is his black and white hoodie jacket, he loves to wear the hood and MUST have it zipped up. He says so many words now it's hard to keep track of new ones. He is starting to say 2 word sentences and is getting the rhythm of life down pretty good. Since it's Christmas time, there are lights up all over the neighborhood and he must've heard one of us saying "WOW!" to the lights because every time he sees them he'll either say "ite" or "WOW!" to them. And of course, I'm proud because I love snowmen and he apparently does too. Whenever he sees them he'll say "meh-man". He's a very happy and funny kid. He's got a great little sense of humor, and is VERY obedient. He very rarely isn't in the room with one of us, he doesn't like to be alone. He's been very good about not messing with the tree, but he's touched it to be curious and that's cool. We've been reading his bedtime story on the floor in front of the tree every night and I love it! What else... he's still pretty obsessed with trucks, buses and tractors and points ANY and ALL of them out whenever he sees them. He particularly gets tickled when he gets to see a tractor. They say he's doing really well at school, he behaves perfectly and they've told me that he's a "joy" to have in class! This is me being a proud mommy! He IS such a terrific kid though, I feel very blessed. When I came in to pick him up the other day he quickly pointed out all the pictures on the wall and told me what they were; bear, apple, snowman, elmo, cookie... he's learning so quickly! He loves the song "Nellie the Elephant" and will randomly just sing the "ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!" part in it. He'll tell me when he's got a poop, and come to me and turn around in front of me and say "see? see?". Probably because when I ask if he has a poopy diaper I tell him to let me see. :) He's pretty good at letting us know when he's gone potty. Hopefully that's a good sign of easy potty training? I'm not counting on it, but one can hope! He loves pizza, which he calls "bee-ba". The other night when we got home from work/daycare he was in the kitchen and he pointed to the counter and said "bee-pa?" and I said "no, no pizza tonight" and he said "cakie?" and I said "no, no cookie tonight". He tells us when he wants "bapple" (applesauce) and loves any kind of noodle type thing. Takes after his daddy!
This past weekend, I was able to do two different family photo sessions which were fun. Kids are a challenge to take pictures of and I have got to find my niche with them! But one of them was Ben's buddy Amara from his Kindercare and the came over to our house to do the pictures. Those two are just so much alike and have so much fun together (Amara is the little girl who was born on the same day as Ben and in the same hospital!). When she left we watched them go out to their car and Ben started crying and saying "Mara...no... Mara!". It was so sad, yet so cute! My parents arrive for Christmas in 2 weeks from today! YAY! I'm excited for them to get a chance to come out and visit. I've figured out that I've been very lucky in that just about once a year they are able to come visit. It should be lots of fun. And today is my big brother John's birthday! His last year in his 30's! Sometimes it's so weird to think that we're all getting older. I'm the baby and so most of us are still in our 30's but two of my siblings are in their 40's! Crazy stuff.
Well, let's see... we've got 16 days left until Christmas! YIKES! I need to get some Christmas shopping done! Happy Holidays y'all!