The Two Sides of Ben

Here are a couple of pictures taken on Sunday. One of the cranky Ben, and one of the "Isn't he precious" Ben.

Snowstorm #2

Here are a few pictures of the latest snowfall, and the latest snow-woman (notice the lovely earrings!)

Who does Ben look like?

When Sam was born, we got asked often, "Who does he look like?" We still have a hard time deciding who Sam looks like, but there is no question who Ben looks like. He looks like his big brother Sam!!!

Here are pictures from when we brought Sam home ( the summer baby), and a picture of Ben (the winter baby.)

January 16 2007

Ben's shirt says: "Hi, I'm new here." It's one of my favorite shirts.

It's been very cold here, so we have been trying to find things to do inside. We've probably reached our limit on watching videos, but it has been fun. Sam's current favorites: Charlotte's Web, anything Thomas the Tank Engine, and several free videos rented from Blockbuster Video.

Sam visited the dentist today. Sorry no pictures, the battery on the camera was dead. Sam let the "nurse" (really the dental hygienist) count his teeth. This was after she showed him how the chair went up and down several times. He has 10 teeth on top and 10 teeth on bottom. Then he let her brush his teeth, after she demonstrated how it tickled by brushing on his fingernail. He did a great job, even though he said the bubble gum toothpaste was yucky. The best part was when she squirted the water in his mouth for him to swish and swallow.

Ben also went to the dentist, but he sleep through the whole thing. He was awake for his doctor's appointment this morning - the 2 week checkup. Everything looks good. He now weighs 8 lbs. 2 oz, a gain of over a pound in 2 weeks since he left the hospital at 6 lbs. 11 oz. Sam took 2 months to weigh 9 lbs, so I think Ben might end up being the "big" brother.

.

Here are a few new pictures. Some of us reading books, which we have done lots of since it's too cold to get out, and a picture of Sam sleeping with Fergus in his hand. Sam has to take either a car or a train (or many times several cars and trains) to bed with him at night. When I went in to check on him he was sleeping with Fergus. He really loves his trains.

Here are a couple of photos that others took of the boys. All is going well here. Ben is sleeping close to 6 hours between feedings at night, which is nice as long as he goes back to sleep once he is finished eating. Sam today said that he loves his brother, and when Ben was crying this afternoon, Sam quickly brought Ben his pacifier. What a caring brother!

Sam, Ben and Dad enjoyed some time on the bed last night watching videos while mom finished getting all of the boys clothes in the right rooms. Sam still had clothes in Ben's dresser, and Ben still had clothes left in Sam's dresser. But now everyone has all of their own clothes in their own rooms.

Mom got to read the bedtime story from the new Thomas the Tank engine book Dad got for the boys at Exploration Place.

Doug ran across this "Mater" while out running near the hospital last Saturday morning. In lieu of Sam's fasination with all things "Cars", we just had to take a picture of it. Sam is on the floor with his Cars Tractor Tipping game all set up and asking, "Mom, can you get off the computer and play this game with me?" How can you say no?

Happy New Year 2007 from the Shaffer Family

We had to wait to leave the hospital until after the Chiefs won their game - so by the time we got home it was around 4:00 I guess. We had a great experience at Wesley Hospital. My very first nurse that came to get us from the waiting room and was with me all the way from surgery to giving Ben his first bath was a former flute student of mine, who studied with me in the late 90's when she was a student at East High School. And we had many other really nice, caring nurses once we made it upstairs. The first night (Friday) Doug and I were pretty tired (after all the day began at 5:00 am), and were given the opportunity to have Ben go to the nursery for the night. I had no problems at all with that option, but Doug was only convinced when he found out that the nurse in the nursery that night was a friend of ours from church. She took wonderful care of Ben from 11:00pm - 7:00 am giving us a good night sleep of almost 8 hours (if you don't count the interruptions of blood draws, iv bag changes - after the alarm beeps for several minutes to let us know the bag is empty, time and temperature ( oops I mean blood pressure and temperature) taking, and the offering and taking of pain medications through the IV.



Ben slept the whole way home and didn't seem to mind his car seat too much - it does look rather comfy I guess. As Sam had predicted, we did have a dusting of snow yesterday, so Sam was right that it would be snowing when Ben came (home).

Sam has been a wonderful big brother, this morning he wanted to share his breakfast of bacon with Ben, then wanted to put him in the carrier to take him to Exploration Place for the afternoon. We have had a good time reading together, and even though Sam wanted Ben to sleep in his crib, he shared his bed for a quick bedtime story.

Well, Ben is finally here. He was born on 12/29/06 @ 10:03 AM. He weighed 7.4 lbs and was 19 1/2" long. Kristin and Ben are doing great! Sam is very excited to be a big brother.

One last picture.















Here is a picture from July 2003 and today. Tomorrow is the big day, and I've been spending today with Sam on our "last" day as just Sam and mom before Ben joins us tomorrow.


Happy Birthday to me!

Christmas 2006





Here is Sam helping mom tell the Christmas story before we opened our presents at the Keefer's house. Sam used the nativity to act out the story.

Sam and Uncle Kevin "playing" the Tractor Tipping Game from the Cars Movie.













Sam is showing off Diesel 10.

Sam really got into Christmas this year, and didn't show any signs of the Keefer trait of "saving the paper." Sam is definitely a paper ripper. He went from present to present, and netted several trains for his train table (the 3 he requested from Santa: Diesel 10, Fergus, and Harvey, plus a few more from mom and dad). He also got some cool gifts from his Uncle Kevin who visited from California, and made it back home again before the next storm went through Denver. The most heard phrase over the week was "Uncle Kevin, can you......" followed by "read to me, play with me, do this puzzle with me."

December 2006







Well, December 2006 was a very busy month. Sam was definitely more in to Christmas this year, and is also anticipating the arrival of his new brother, Benjamin Lewis. He will be here via FedEx on December 29th. No really, he will be here though on December 29th with a scheduled delivery. Sam enjoyed his time with mommy making cookies, and making a plaster train that he got to paint. Please look for Sam's new show on cable as he starts his own arts and crafts show. Sam enjoyed riding that train at Towne West mall. His faces were priceless as he rode around the track. Sam almost missed riding the train as dad left the digital camera at JC Penney. Thankfully, a customer turned the camera in. Sam is also enjoying some bedtime stories with mom.

My New Friend Joey

Joseph Richard Hudson came to see us on Thursday. Our good friends Scott and Jennifer Hudson recently traveled to Vietnam to pick up their son, Joseph Richard. He will be four years old in April. We had a really good time. Scott and Jennifer gave Sam his little gold outfit pictured below. Sam liked his outfit so much that he wanted to wear it out to dinner. We ate at P.F. Chang, so Sam blended in quite well. Thanks Scott and Jennifer!

Boy, Christmas can sure wear a boy out!

The Cars collection is pretty much complete. After traveling many miles to get the different Cars from the movie, Sam still thinks there are more to get. Not really. Sam really enjoys playing with his cars and continues to have meaningful conversations with them. I think we have learned a lesson though that Sam just doesn't need that much to be happy.

One more funny story...
Sam said several weeks ago that it would be snowing when his baby brother, Ben came. I'm not sure where he got that idea, except that Sam knows that Ben is coming after Christmas. On Thursday morning when Sam got up, I told him to look outside to see what was going on. When he saw the snow, he turned around, looked at me, and said "Is my baby brother here?"

More Snow Pictures


Not heeding the warnings from his Uncle Kevin, Sam made a snow angel this morning. (Some of you might know, Uncle Kevin, while trying to make a snow angel, fell back onto the corner of a brick, and received a cut on his head that required stitches).

While dad was busy working on the very cool snowman, Sam enjoyed his time outdoors eating the snow.

The snow outfit. Ski pants from Target bought on clearance last year for under $4, Snow boots, waterproof mittens (we haven't quite figured out how to get the thumb in the right place, so it makes it difficult to pick up items outside), dinosaur hat with ear flaps, and Old Navy Coat (also bought on clearance, but not for $4). Sam thinks the yellow parts of his coat look like the lightening bolts on the side of Lightening McQueen (a car from the Cars movie, of course.)

Sam and Uncle Hugh

Here is a photo of Sam at St. Benedict's Abbey with his Great Uncle Hugh. Sam graciously allowed Uncle Hugh to hold his latest "Cars" acquisition, "DJ" finally located at the "green Walmart" in Atchison, KS on Thanksgiving Eve. (our Walmarts here in Wichita are blue.)

Here Sam is patiently waiting for the Thanksgiving dinner to start, of course holding DJ.

Also a picture of Sam in room #2. One of Sam's most uttered lines over the 2 days we were there was "I want to go back to room #2. He had his own "yellow" bed, and even though Mom woke up many times to check during the night, he never came close to falling out.

Aren't they a little too big to be playing on playground equipment? Thanksgiving in Atchison, KS was quite warm this year. Sam got to stay in his usual room#2. Do you like the cement at the playground? This was at an elementary school. Lawsuit anyone? Enjoyed reading the sticker on the pole that said that death could occur if the equipment was placed on concrete. The concrete is new, so would assume they will eventually put a rubber padding over the concrete.

Sam ventured out for his fourth Santa visit. He's becomming quite the pro and knows how to work Santa over. This year, Sam wants some more Thomas trains, Diesel 10, Harvey, and Fergus. Sam's new baby brother Ben is supposed to get him George.

Well, we got our first snow storm of 2006. This is also the first posting from dad, thanks to the blog teachings of mom. It snowed, that's all I know. I think we received about five inches. It was windy, which caused the snow to drift a bit. Sam was more interested in eating the snow than building a snow lady. The nice round balls of snow were made possible by the lid from a George Foreman grill. The snow was packed in the lid and two halves made a nice ball of snow. The snow was not wet enough to roll. Sam enjoyed the snow. While it was snowing on Thursday, dad only worked half a day and Sam and dad went sledding at the Indian Center. They have a nice hill to sled down and is safe. No worries about sliding across the highway. Sam could only stomach two times down the hill. I think he was cold.