4 and 4 ka-zillion!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENJABINO!

day one

4 years ago June 22, 

our Benjamin should us a bit of what was to come

4 years ago mommy was wearing 'big tummy clothes' and Benjamin was 'born out of you'.

into our lives came sleeping schedules

car seats

laundry laundry laundry

closer relationships with family

closer understanding of how our own parents loved us

365 days and loving it!

a change in holiday adventures (and truck work)
mushy food
no longer grossed out by little things
or creepy crawly things

family planning (shouldn't he have a sibling or two?)
late nights
'the way to do something'
an impressionable echo
a keen eye to detail
new songs
bright eyes and smiles

loving my baby brother at age 2!

So we celebrated the best way we know how,
with family, balloons, ice cream cake and far away well wishes.

Daddy hid Benjamin's 4 year old present in his stinky old Landcruiser, and the blue blended right in with daddy's blue, but Benjamin spotted it pretty quick...jumped on, fell, jumped on, fell, jumped on and rode it down the hill!  Mommy was so impressed!

walking the dog at 3!

 and thank you Auntie Manta (and family) for the phone call
and Auntie Stephanie (and family) for the card
and Nana for the facebook message

and Meamme and Boppa for the bird feeder
and Auntie Wendy & Uncle Cameron for the puzzle and bubbles!

And for everyone loving us and being a part of this 4 year olds
life!

celebrating 4 with a sister!

XoXo

a 4 year old
an almost 2 year old
a 1 1/2 month old

and some older ones.

our Benjamin

the benjamin bug

our minamin spent almost 4 days in the hospital last week due to a nasty bug which dehydrated him to the point of needing an IV for a long time.

at least that's what it felt like to an usually active almost 4 year old.

it started with a sick boy and a prompting of the Holy Spirit telling mommy to call daddy and say she was coming into emerg, and daddy meeting all of us there to run minamin into the hospital as he was going 'downhill'.

me am me came to the rescue, helping anderzander explore the finer parts of the hospital as minamin was tested for lots of possibilities as to why he crashed so quickly. (all came back negative, saying it was indeed, a nasty bug)

we were moved to a private room where daddy took the pull out chair, Katherine took the end of minamin's bed and mommy took the space in between.  Mommy and daddy helped Minamin through two rough nights, with him not understanding what was going on, so at one point remarked that this place "was a fine hotel".

Once he had a new IV stuck in, and tape on and off, he changed his mind.

When  he made a change for the better, and we got anderzander back (he was having the loveliest time with Me am me and Boppa, THANK GOODNESS) mommy headed straight to the toy store for the biggest celebratory thing she could find! (we weren't complaining, not even daddy!)
We are all so thankful to be home and healing.
Daddy and mommy both had their days of physical healing, when their tired ole' bodies finally showed the toll taken with having a sick baby.

Anderzander faced it all like a champ and the first thing he did when he saw his big brother was scream with delight, and give him a big pinch!  the kiss came after.

Katherine was a hero through it all, having to lie patiently on the end of the bed while mommy cared for her minamin.  She slept wherever she had to, and kept quiet so as not to disturb her big brother.  Her and Anderzander exchanged lots of kisses when reunited too.  We sure love being together!




So many words for what happened, and yet so much not talked about!
So many families on the children's ward who do not have an ending like ours.
So many new reasons to stand in awe that God is good, and how little we deserve it.
So many reasons to respect the hospital staff who loved us through their kindness and help, from the Ukrainian cleaning lady, to the nighttime and day time nurses, to the doctors dropping by because they know daddy and boppa.

nothing heals like tow truck pasta

anderzander preferred this to his gift...can't say we disagree

xoxo.
tabak

from far away

We were sent a package from far far away!

and it contained

clothes for Katherine
a blanket for Katherine
more clothes for Katherine
a few different blankets for Katherine
some socks for Katherine

and bubbles for AnderZander and Minamin!

WOO HOO!

Thank you for far far away love, we love it!
and mommy says Katherine needs all of it!

Katherine has been given a few outfits, which makes mommy so happy as she says she hasn't a clue how to shop at all, and if it weren't for kind friends and a very clever Me am me, even us boys would be in trouble.
 Daddy wishes the outfits would come with colour coded tags so you could figure out which shirt goes with what pants and would stop mommy from shuddering when he dresses us for church. 

sporting a soul patch like daddy

ready for anything, anytime.

gramma's blanket-oh thank you!

Daddy and Auntie Wu took us boys to the Children's Festival on Monday and we saw Splash N Boots. 
Minamin drank it all in, in his quiet won't draw attention to myself ways
AnderZander danced up and down in the chair with the guitar and song duo!  After their fantastic performance they invited anyone who didn't get to say what their favourite animal was, to come up and tell them, and Minamin told daddy he wanted to do just that, so daddy took him up and he told them his favourite animal is the elephant!

Daddy told mommy later, and mommy cried! 
(somewhat teary at present just thinking about her first baby)

AnderZander can now tell us he loves birds.  He squeals with delight at the robins, sparrows, swallows, finches and ravens in the yard.  "eeeeee" and a wing flapping hand gesture  is all it takes to show his favourite hobby...that and eating flies.

much obliged for the colourful bubbles aunt cathy and uncle robert:)

Thanks to daddy and Uncle Cameron,

mommy has a new to her camera lens,
and she is so very happy about that,
now she can point and shoot
and take millions of different photos of
three of her
most favourite
awesome
joyful
Gifts in the whole world.


 Minamin
AnderZander
&
Tatherine Rose

and occasionally the stinky dufus, but that's for another day.