The Beach Family

“Just Fixin My Flat”

2012-01-24T15:36:00.001-05:00

Mommy ordered special stickers for my helmet, and finally got them & put them on today! She wasn’t too happy with how they went on, but my sisters and I think they look great! Abby’s been SO excited to get my “Fixin My Flat” stickers, and she LOVES them! Hopefully this awful experience for mommy won’t keep her from trying a few more designs! I think I look pretty cool!

-Ben

My future as a teacher…

2012-01-22T14:10:00.001-05:00

Mommy says I should be a teacher when I get older, because I am a great encourager! I love teaching mommy her colors!

-Emily

One hour a day…

2012-01-19T15:19:00.001-05:00

I am allowed to take my helmet off for ONE hour each day, for a little “airing out” time, and I’m supposed to have a bath each night to wash my hair. While I definitely LOVE taking showers, I’m not so into bath time, but I keep trying!

-Ben

This pretty much sums up how I feel about baths…

Exhausted!

2012-01-18T09:44:00.001-05:00

I had my check-up at the pediatrician’s office this morning, and I did great! I didn’t gain too much weight (I’m only 14 pounds, 1 ounce, which is only the 12th percentile), but mommy’s not worried, because she says I’m going to be small! I’m doing all the things babies my age are supposed to be doing… babbling, smiling, pulling up on my hands, grabbing things, putting weight on my legs, and even beginning to roll over! It doesn’t appear that too much is expected of us yet!

The best news was from the cranial technology appointment yesterday… My head had a huge growth spurt this past week, and my forehead is already beginning to fill in on the left side, and the flat spot on the back right is beginning to round out! They were so pleased, but not as much as my mommy was!

I’m not sure if my helmet is just too heavy, or if my vaccines today just wiped me out… but either way, there was NO keeping me awake today!

-Ben

Welcome to the family Liam Patrick Myer!

2012-01-17T11:24:00.001-05:00

We have been waiting for 9 long months to meet our very first boy cousin, and we can’t believe he is finally here! We didn’t get to see him in the hospital, but we can’t WAIT to meet him this weekend! We love you Liam!

-Abby, Emily & Ben

It’s hard to believe just a few days ago, we were anxiously awaiting to see this beautiful little boy…

Since we couldn’t go to the hospital, Abby made a very special card to welcome Baby Liam, and Aunt Bridget loved it!

Liam Patrick Myer was born on Monday, January 16 at 1:54am, and weighed it at a tiny 6 pounds, 5 ounces. He’s absolutely PERFECT, and the new mommy & daddy couldn’t be any happier!

Welcome to the world Baby Liam! You are SO loved already!

Everything is going well so far!

2012-01-07T14:49:00.001-05:00

Just checking in to let everyone know that I LOVE my new helmet! I didn’t have to sleep in it last night, but I probably would have done fine in it, since I’ve been napping great today! I woke up from my successful morning nap a very happy little guy! I kind of like being able to sleep on a round head shape! Now I know what all those other babies feel like when they lay down! My sisters had a great time decorating my helmet this morning with my name and dinosaur stickers. I think it looks pretty cool too!

-Ben: The helmet boy!

Our new reality for a while…

2012-01-06T19:56:00.001-05:00

Well, life has a funny way of keeping it interesting sometimes, and this time, we’ve been thrown a bit of a curveball. When Ben was first born, Brian and I (although mostly Brian at first), noticed he had an “odd shaped” head, which we mostly attributed to normal newborn molding. We had mostly been noticing some flatness on the sides of his head near the back, but more prominently, he seemed to have a “bulge” on the right side of his forehead. By the time he was 3 months old, it had not gotten any better, and seemed to be getting a bit worse, causing his ears to be misaligned, and his right eye to be shifting down ever so slightly. Most of what we were noticing was not seen by anyone else, because of the angles at which people usually see him from- including his pediatrician. It was generally not noticeable at all when looking at him from the front, which is usually the way he is positioned in most of his pictures as well.

When I finally pointed it out at his 3 month check-up, his pediatrician appeared to be slightly concerned, and suggested that we might want to see a craniofacial specialist in the future if we didn’t notice any improvement from some “repositioning” techniques, commonly used to correct infants’ misshapen heads. Wanting an evaluation sooner than later, we got Ben in to see a specialist at the Children’s hospital here, and were quite quickly & shockingly told that he has a severe case of “plagiocephaly” and “torticollis”. We were told at that time, that there was good news, and bad news… the good, and most important news, was that this was not affecting his brain development at all, and was purely an issue of the growth pattern of the skull & more cosmetic than anything else. The other good news was that for the most part, this could be fixed, and this was the perfect time to do it (starting between the ages of 4-6 months old). However, the bad news was that in order to do so, he would need an orthotic helmet for upwards of 6-10 months, which would need to be worn at least 23 hours a day. Left untreated without a helmet, we would have no way to know what the extent of his facial asymmetry would be.

After leaving this shocking & devastating appointment, it was hard, but I had to remind myself that I was so thankful that we were dealing with a relatively “minor” issue as far as medical issues can go, and that Ben is a healthy, happy little guy… he just has a lumpy head! When I got home, the research phase began immediately, and I started learning what everything meant, what appointments needed to be made to get all the facts straight, and what we needed to do about it to get the best care we could for Ben. When I started telling everyone the results of these appointments, every single person said, “I know I’m not a professional, but I just don’t see it! He’s beautiful!” Since no one else could see this “abnormality” until we pointed it out to them, it made it that much more difficult for me to come to terms with the fact that there was something that needed to be “fixed”. Brian was ready right away to start the process, but I wasn’t at that same place… However, after A LOT of prayer, many different opinions, physical measurements taken, and some time, I have come to realize that this is the ONLY time we will be able to do anything to help him, and I can’t let this time go without trying… What I also realized in this time of preparing for his helmet, was that many people have SO many questions, and that it was up to us to educate everyone as much as possible, so we would have a good support network as we go through this journey together. That is why I felt the need to create this “informational” blog post- to explain what everything means, to share the upcoming plan of care, and to ask for prayers and support as we embark upon this journey.

To begin, “Plagiocephaly” is simply a common condition of a misshapen head in many infants, caused by the fact that their skull is still so soft. They have noticed an increase in this condition since parents were instructed to put their babies on their backs to sleep, which has drastically reduced the risk of SIDS. There are different types of plagiocephaly, but Ben’s is categorized as “severe” (according to his specialist), due to the fact that it began in utero (probably due to the gestational diabetes, and his size in relation to mine…), and his skull bone formed that way as it was being pushed against one of my bones. Therefore, it will take a little more work, from an external source (a helmet), to correct the problem. Even though he doesn’t have many of the traditional “flat spots” that many babies exhibit, he has “bossing” ( or a bump) on his forehead and has a slanted parallelogram shape to his head. Since half of his head is being pushed forward, his facial features are beginning to become more asymmetric.

Ben also has what is known as "”torticollis”, or a tight and shortened neck muscle, on his right side, causing him to lean and turn to that side more often. As a result, he tends to keep his head in certain positions that are creating pressure on one side, and not allowing for even growth of his skull. This is very often seen in babies with plagiocephaly, and it is not known which is the cause of the other… To fix this issue, he has been, and will be continuing to go to physical therapy once a week, as well as home therapy with us 5 times a day, and going to my chiropractor weekly, who specializes in pediatrics.

Below are inserts from the pamphlet made by Cranial Technologies (which is the company through which we are working to treat Ben). I put red boxes outlining the information pertaining to his case. If you would like any more information on deformational plagiocephaly, feel free to check out the Cranial Technologies website, : http://www.cranialtech.com, or a helpful FAQ page at: http://www.plagiosupport.org/faq.htm

At our first appointment with them, they did a photostudy, where they took pictures to outline the extent of the plagiocephaly to submit to the insurance company. Thankfully, a week later we learned that the insurance company accepted the form of medical necessity & will be covering a large portion of the cost! Since everyone has been asking, on the photos I’ve drawn some straight lines so that you can see where the asymmetries are beginning in his facial features. (If you click on the pictures, it should bring them up larger to see). You can see the spot of “origin” (next to the arrow on the left side) where his bone grew against mine, causing a flat and almost concave area, and in turn, creating the beginning element to his plagiocephaly. You can see that the midline of his right eye is in line with the bottom of his left, and his left ear is drifting lower than his right. You can also see in the bottom page, the slant of his forehead, that is actually consistent throughout the whole face when seen at the right angle. While these may seem like subtle differences right now, due to the large amount of head growth he has left, there is no way to know which way these features will continue to grow, if something isn’t changed. Unfortunately, waiting isn’t really option either, because by the time we wait to see which direction they will move, it will be too late to do anything about it. We’ve been told that while we aren’t to expect a perfect head at the end of this, the flat areas should be filled in, the facial features should be relatively symmetric, and the larger prominent spots should appear “softer” and much less noticeable.

Ben goes to my chiropractor weekly to help with the torticollis. He really enjoys his visits, and he’s all smiles most of the time! The doctor said that the frontal bones of his skull are out of alignment, and his C1 vertebrate was off as well, causing him to lean to the right side, and making the torticollis worse. After the adjustments, the doctor uses an “pressure gun” which slightly vibrates and uses air pressure to help with realigning the bones. After his first adjustment, he held his head straight for the first time!

Ben also visits the outpatient therapy department at the Children’s Hospital here once a week for physical therapy. This is also helping the torticollis and working on stretching and strengthening his neck muscles. Our therapist has shown me MANY techniques and exercises that we have to do with him several times a day, and for the most part, he’s been great about them! He is showing much more neck control and strength already, and he’s even beginning to learn how to roll over!

The helmet has been specially designed for Ben’s head shape so that gentle pressure (no more than his head on a mattress) will be placed on the prominent spots, and allow his skull to “grow into” the flatter areas where there are hollow spots inside the helmet. There will be weekly appointments at the Cranial center, where they will check for growth, and adjust the helmet as the process continues. It is unknown at this point how long or how many helmets he will need, but it is thought that he will grow out of the first one in the first 5-8 weeks, and require a second one for several months. To fit him for his helmet, he had a DSi profile done, which is simply a very quick 360 degree image taken of his head shape, so that a traditional “cast or mold” did not need to be made for him. They placed a mesh net over his head so that they could get a perfect image without any hair, etc… getting in the way. He did surprisingly well with it on his head, and was even still smiling at the tech as she was taking his picture. It lasted all of 15 seconds to get him in the right position… he did a great job, and they got a perfect image.

One week later, we returned for his fitting, and it was quite a long appointment. After 2 hours of trying on the helmet, shaving it down, adjusting it, and giving him time to acclimate to it, we finally left there with a VERY tired and cranky little helmet boy… It will take a few days to get used to it, with frequent skin checks, and monitoring… not to mention getting him adjusted to sleeping with a “round” head now! Hopefully we will all get used to it quickly, and soon enough, this will all be a distant memory!

While I am getting much better at dealing with this process now, in the beginning, I was a wreck. I just wanted to know, as does every parent, that we were doing the right thing, with the least amount of pain brought to our child. I know now that this is what needs to be done, and we are moving forward 100% with this process. I trust that God will allow this to work for him, and that we will all make it through with nothing but a beautiful head and a story to tell in the end One of things early on that gave me a laugh (which was MUCH needed at that time), was this coloring book that one of the cranial centers sent home for our girls… It talks all about the things this little boy could pretend to be with his helmet on (an astronaut, a race car driver, a jockey or a football player) and how his siblings could help him through the process. It is actually a very cute book, but laughter is the best medicine, right????

Thank you all for taking the time to learn more about our upcoming journey, and I will be sure to keep everyone up to date when there is anything new to report! In the meantime, look forward to seeing a lot of pictures of one cute little boy in his helmet (which I’m sure will be decorated with MANY stickers by two excited big sisters)!

Check out our Christmas video!

2012-01-06T11:30:00.001-05:00

Mommy finally got a chance to go through the video of our time together on Christmas Eve morning, and put together a little recap of the highlights for everyone! You can find it halfway down the original post called “Christmas Eve Celebration”. We hope you enjoy!

-Abby, Emily & Ben

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T17:53:00.001-05:00

We had a VERY fun celebration this year on New Years Eve with Nannie & Grandpa, Aunt Bridget & Uncle Kevin! We had noise blowers, festive hats & glasses, silly string, party poppers, “princess juice” & a VERY special menu planned! We started celebrating New Years at noon, followed by a celebration every two hours with authentic cuisine & special mixed drinks from each country that was celebrating the new year! Mommy made some great food, and Uncle Kevin was a great bartender! We stuck to drinking our princess juice, but his grown-up drink sure looked good! We were even allowed to stay up until after 9pm, when we started asking to go to bed! We hope you all had a safe and fun New Years celebration too!

-Abby, Emily & Ben

Mommy had quite an extensive international menu planned (thanks to daddy’s brilliant idea this year)!

And Uncle Kevin had an even more extensive drink menu planned!

At 12 noon, we celebrated with Thailand with Chicken Satay skewers and Bangkok coolers…

At 1:30pm, we enjoyed some Indian cuisine of Chipati bread, Chana Masala, Lamb Vindaloo, Palak Paneer & Chai tea martinis… (even Grandpa tried some Indian food)!

At 4pm, we celebrated with Russia with blini’s (crepes) and Vodka Tonics…

… Unfortunately, the blini’s weren’t so easy to make, so we had to share the few that turned out descent… Mommy made Emily & Abby Aunt Jemima pancakes instead!

At 5pm, we rang in the new year for Greece with pita chips & hummus, and Greek Mojitos…

… and we followed that up quickly with a celebration at 6pm for Italy & Sweden, where we all enjoyed Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce, Caprese (tomato & mozzarella), Bruschetta, 007 drinks & an “Italian surfer” (this was mommy’s favorite drink of the night)!

…7pm turned out to be a fun one, when we enjoyed “Bangers in a blanket”, and daddy, Uncle Kevin, and EVEN NANNIE did car bombs (shots of Bailey’s dropped in a glass of Guinness & chugged)…

I don’t think Nannie liked it very much…

Even though we were asleep at 10pm, the grown-ups kept celebrating and enjoyed some Chocolate truffles from Brazil, but were tired of drinking, so only daddy & Uncle Kevin picked a drink to stick with the rest of the night…

At midnight, they were supposed to have crockpot Apple Pie & Champagne, but they were all so tired, that they had Nannie’s wonderful apple & lingonberry cake she made earlier instead, & they enjoyed some of our sparkling grape juice. What did you expect after a full day of eating and drinking?!?!?

We sure had a blast celebrating so many times!

We thought that 2011 was a FANTASTIC year, and we are VERY excited to see what 2012 is going to bring! Here are a few highlights we thought we’d share with you all!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-27T15:51:00.001-05:00

On Christmas eve night, we fell asleep in the car on the way home from our great-grandparents house, and were upset in the morning when we realized that we forgot to leave cookies and milk for Santa… Good thing he felt comfortable enough to help himself!

…and we’re glad he got the energy he needed from our cookies, because he was BUSY at Nannie’s house!

Our stockings were FULL of goodies… dolls, candy, hairbows & games galore! He knew just what we like!

Abby was VERY excited that Santa brought her the Barbie doll she asked for!

… and he remembered to bring Emily her doll with a horse! Santa ROCKS!!!

Ben even helped open his own Santa presents!

Nannie was very excited to open the bowls that we all painted at a pottery place for her to have at her house when we come!

Ben had a good time hanging out with grandpa…

… and got the coolest construction silverware in his stocking!

One of the hits this year was matching bean bag chairs for us from Nannie & Grandpa… We LOVE them!

They make for a perfect reading nook in our room!

It took Emily a while, but she managed to get through opening all her gifts… she just wanted to stop and play with everything!

Our Santa’s Little helper had a great time!

Mommy tried time and time again, and there was just NO getting good group shots this Christmas…

Even Emily tried to get a few shots with her new camera! She likes being just like mommy!

Aunt Bridget was a trooper, even at 37 weeks pregnant! We can’t wait to celebrate Christmas next year with baby Liam!

We were very happy celebrating Ben’s first Christmas this year all together!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Christmas Eve celebration

2011-12-27T15:33:00.001-05:00

This year, we celebrated our family Christmas on Christmas Eve morning, since we were going to be away on Christmas. The night before, mommy & daddy set up all our presents, so we had a big surprise when we came down in the morning! We had so much fun, and once again, we were more excited to give the presents to everyone that we had picked out, than opening our own. In fact, we insisted that mommy got to open the first present, because we were so excited to see her open up her jewelry box! Mommy & Daddy were so proud of us, and said they hope we will always have such wonderful Christmas spirit!

-Abby, Emily & Ben

Daddy gave us each our own very special engraved jewelry boxes! Emily must have REALLY loved it, because as soon as she opened the box (which didn’t even have a picture on it), she yelled, “I LOVE IT”!!!!

We’ve had so much fun filling them up with all of our jewelry!

Mommy gave us each ornaments… Abby got Rapunzel, and Emily got “Relli”!

Emily couldn’t wait to get hers on the tree!

Ben was surprisingly good at opening presents! Who knew a 4 month old could help so much?!?!?

Daddy was so excited for him to open up his very first train that he will add onto each year!

I think Ben was pretty excited too

Emily loves her very own Tag reader… especially since she can now read princess books all by herself!

We all loved Ben’s special Binky that Emily gave him…

Grandpa Hawk & Grandma Nancy bought us an AWESOME dollhouse, and we were SO excited to put it together…

… we had to wait until after Christmas, but it was worth the wait! We love it!

Ben loved his tool belt that Abby picked out completely on her own…

As always, there was lots of Christmas spirit, as we did great sharing all of our stuff with each other…

… and were very generous with the “thank you’s” and hugs!

Here’s a video of our morning together!

On Christmas Eve night, we got all dressed up and headed out to Long Island to celebrate with Grandpa’s family… of course, not without trying to get a family picture with mommy’s new camera. We were NOT into that idea, as you can tell!

Unfortunately, Dancey-Dancey couldn’t be with us this Christmas since she wasn’t feeling well, but we had a good time with Pop-Pop and playing with all the young cousins! Our family sure is growing!

We even got to meet Daddy’s cousin’s baby, who was born only 4 days after Ben!

Our mom’s and dad’s tried REALLY hard to get a good picture of the great-grandkids together, but as you can imagine, it didn’t work out so well…

Can you guess who came to see us on Christmas Eve?!?!?! SANTA!!!!!! And he even brought us some presents!!!!

Emily LOVED her princess doll from Dancey-Dancey & Pop-Pop…

… and Ben loved his build-a-bear fireman!

Before leaving to get a good night’s sleep before Christmas morning, we got to have some of mommy’s homemade cookies for dessert! The melting snowman cookies were out favorite!

This was all mommy was wishing for on Christmas Eve…

… and she got her wish

Tummytime!

2011-12-27T14:19:00.001-05:00

The doctors said I need to start having more tummytime, which I HATE! However, there is ONE time I will happily lay that way… as long as I can watch the trains under the Christmas tree!

-Ben

They can go super fast (especially when Abby’s controlling them)!

It’s even better when my sisters hang out with me!

Tummytime isn’t so bad now…

Christmas party at preschool!

2011-12-22T14:47:00.001-05:00

This morning, we had a Christmas party at preschool! We got to wear our Christmas dresses, play all kinds of fun games, have a gift exchange, and have special treats! Thanks Grandma Worthing, for such a special school!

-Abby

Ben was quite a hit with the ladies…

We all colored pages of the nativity scene to celebrate Jesus’s birth…

Our Christmas feast was filled with reindeer candy canes & cookies, fruit kabobs & special punch!

We’ve been waiting for our lilies to bloom, and they finally did for our party!

We had an awesome princess reading tent set up in the basement for us!

We each got to make a cool jingle bell bracelet at craft time!

We all made handmade ornaments for a gift exchange! I got a cool gingerbread man!

We played a cool game where we had to get all of our mints from our bowl into our stocking, using only a spoon… it was pretty tough, but I did great! I even came in second once!

The best part of the day was when we got our presents from Grandma Worthing and Ms Marge… Ribbon wands!!!! We all went out to play with them, and it was a balmy 60 degrees outside!

Emily had fun at recess time too…

She’s definitely ready for preschool next year! She can’t wait!

Ben had a blast too, and as usual, was a great baby during my party!

Christmas with Mor-Mor & Grandpa Dave!

2011-12-19T11:59:00.001-05:00

We had a special treat this weekend, and had a visit from Mor-Mor and Grandpa Dave to have an early Christmas celebration with them! We met Grandpa Dave for the first time, and had SO much fun with him, playing hide-n-seek, beating him at UNO, making circuits, and so much more! We got to exchange our Christmas gifts with them, and they got us all special towels with our names on them, and we got beautiful new princess dresses… exactly the ones we wanted- Snow White and Belle! Thanks for a great visit, and Merry Christmas Mor-Mor & Grandpa Dave!

-Abby & Emily

We saw Santa…

2011-12-19T11:43:00.001-05:00

… On a FIRE TRUCK!!!!! We were at Aunt Bridget’s house all ready to go to her baby shower, when Santa came riding down the street on a fire truck! We got to go tell him what we wanted for Christmas, we sat on his lap, and he gave us candy canes! Christmas is an awesome time of year!

-Abby & Emily

It’s exersaucer time!

2011-12-11T18:04:00.001-05:00

I’m loving all the new toys I’m getting to play with these days, now that I can sit in my exersaucer! I’m even starting to figure out how some of them work!

-Ben

Christmas cookies!

2011-12-11T18:03:00.001-05:00

We made our first batch of Christmas cookies this weekend with mommy, and we picked gingerbread men to bake! Baking was fun, but not nearly as cool as decorating them!

-Abby & Emily

Can you guess who this cookie belongs to????

I think more sprinkles ended up in Emily’s mouth than on the cookies!

They didn’t turn out too bad!

Ben loved watching from the pack, and I bet he can’t wait until he can decorate them next year!

My first ballet class!

2011-12-03T16:21:00.001-05:00

I was SO excited to be invited to Abby’s friend’s ballet birthday party at the studio where Abby takes dance lessons! I go with Abby every week to her lesson, but this is the first time I got to go in and dance too! Thanks so much Allison for a GREAT time!

-Emily

I tried really hard to follow the teachers directions…

… but I found it MUCH more fun to dance by myself in front of the mirror!

Abby is getting really good at her summer saults…

… and I’m not so bad at them myself! (I got a lot of practice too, since I kept cutting the line…)

I found it to be so much more fun to play around than listen to the directions… Mommy says I’m a handful!

I am really good at the beam (but I already know how to do that from my gym class)…

… and I was great at jumping off the mats!

Abby was really impressive at the limbo (I think it helped that the bar was over her head)…

… and I just didn’t see the point… Why do people say this is so hard????

Hula hoops are the best!

My sister is GREAT at them, but can’t seem to keep her tongue in her mouth while she does it!

I LOVED playing the parachute game!

I LOVE ballet! I can’t wait until I’m old enough to take my own lessons!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-28T13:38:00.001-05:00

Christmas Photoshoot: Take 2

2011-11-22T13:56:00.001-05:00

So that time of year is upon us again: mommy’s CRAZY Christmas photoshoots! There is an awful lot of getting dressed and ready, running around, kids screaming, babies crying, bribes given, and even a few little smiles thrown in there for only 10 minutes of picture taking! I think that’s as long as mommy can take it at a time, before wrapping it up! I’m sure we’ll have to do this again when she decides to try it one more time for that “PERFECT” picture, but in the end, it’s just more lollipops for us!

-Abby, Emily & Ben

We sure had some fun though!

Ben was so sleepy after our photoshoot that he fell asleep on his changing table even before mommy could get him in his pj’s!

Christmas photoshoot: Take 1!

2011-11-21T13:01:00.001-05:00

This was my very first Christmas photoshoot, and I have to say… it was a lot of fun! I LOVE sitting in baskets with funny hats on my head! Mommy said I was so easy, and she hopes I always love the camera this much! Stay tuned for more pictures with my sisters soon…

-Ben

Can you believe it????

2011-11-13T15:44:00.001-05:00

Can you believe I’m big enough and hold my head up well enough to try out the jumper already!?!?! I had no idea what everyone was talking about, but it turns out, it’s pretty cool!

-Ben

I’m so glad my sisters could give me some pointers on how to make this thing work!

WAIT… You don’t just leave me in here, do you?!?!?!

I can tell I’m going to have a blast with this thing!

3 Months Old!

2011-11-07T08:32:00.001-05:00

I turned 3 months old on Saturday, and I got to go on a special trip to Cape May, NJ with JUST my mommy & daddy to celebrate! We were also celebrating their birthdays, and had so much fun together! We did some fun shopping, ate some great seafood meals, and got to see a bunch of beaches! It was so much fun to have them all to myself all weekend! Happy birthday to us!

-Ben

We went to the Cape May lighthouse and even got to climb all the way to the top for some beautiful views!

There were 199 steps to the top, and it was exhausting!

Luckily, I was snuggled up in daddy’s pack & didn’t have to walk up all those stairs!

It was pretty high at the top, but there were some beautiful views of the ocean!

This view was out of one of the potholes in the side of the lighthouse

This was the view from the balcony of our hotel room! We loved looking out at the beach!

Thanks for a fun trip mommy & daddy!

Better late than never…

2011-11-07T08:13:00.001-05:00

Only 5 days late, we finally got to go trick-or-treating for Halloween! We LOVED getting all dressed up again (even though we had to wear our coats), and had so much fun going out with Aunt Bridget & Uncle Kevin this year! Most of the snow was even gone already! The best part of the day though, was handing out candy to all the other trick-or-treaters that came to our door!

-Abby & Emily

Uncle Kevin was Emily’s buddy this weekend! They had a great time trick-or-treating together!

Ben had a good time too, but he stayed all bundled up in his stroller… we were all very envious of how warm he looked!

What’s Halloween without a little bit of mischief???? (Notice the toilet paper on our tree in the background that we put on with daddy too!)

Our Halloween treasure hunt

2011-11-01T11:08:00.001-04:00

Since tick-or-treating was cancelled in our town because of our winter storm, mommy felt so bad for us, that she made up a fun treasure hunt for us to do instead. She hid candy all around our house, took pictures of each one, cut them each into puzzles, and we had to put each one together to tell us where to find the candy! We had so much fun… it was almost better than trick-or-treating!

-Abby & Emily

Daddy had to help us with some of the harder puzzles…

We found them in Ben’s crib…

Out in mommy’s van…

Hidden on the dining room table in the flowers…

In the pockets of our rain coats…

Some of the puzzles were pretty tough… especially the piano one!

We found them in the dryer…

In our toy kitchen…

… and even out in our snowy playhouse!

We found them in our sippy cup cabinet…

In the shower…

By our tv, and even outside by Emily’s “Relli” pumpkin!

We had a blast! Thanks mom, and Happy Halloween everyone!

Here’s a video of our treasure hunt!

Not-So-Happy Halloween…

2011-10-31T13:10:00.001-04:00

Halloween has definitely played a trick on us this year! Since we had a huge snowstorm two days ago, and there are a lot of trees and power lines down, our town has postponed Halloween trick-or-treating until Friday We’ve been talking about this FOREVER, and now we have to wait FIVE more days! What a bummer… We still wanted to get dressed up in our costumes though and pretend! Ben is the cutest little dinosaur these princesses have ever seen!

-Abby & Emily

Winter in October

2011-10-29T16:50:00.001-04:00

We couldn’t believe it, but we are having a BLIZZARD in OCTOBER! We’ve gotten over 6 inches of very heavy snow already, and it’s still coming down! Even though we just went pumpkin picking last weekend in our sweaters, and all the leaves haven’t fallen off the trees yet, mommy dug out our snow boots, we ran to Target to buy new boots, and we were off running in the snow! We made snow angels, ate snow flakes, and built the most AWESOME snowman with daddy! Welcome winter!

-Abby & Emily

Who knew we’d need this in October?????

Ben watched the snow fall from inside in his cozy jammies…

Emily enjoyed the hot chocolate more than the snow…

“Just Baby” turns 3!

2011-10-28T09:12:00.001-04:00

I announced to my family this morning that it was “Just Baby’s” 3rd birthday today! (I have no idea when her ACTUAL birthday is, but today seemed like a pretty good day, so I went with that…) I wanted to make a cake and have a party for her, but since mommy didn’t have the right stuff to bake one, we decided to take her out to Friendly’s to celebrate instead. I think we made her day VERY special

-Abby

She got to share my dinner…

… AND have ice cream for dessert!

… we even sang “Happy Birthday” to her!

Happy Birthday to a very special “Just Baby”!

Halloween at Ballet!

2011-10-25T20:10:00.001-04:00

Tonight at ballet I got to wear my Rapunzel dress! We had a costume parade and then put on a little show for our moms! I LOVE ballet!

-Abby

Here’s a little video of our “show”:

Fall fun in Long Island

2011-10-23T14:35:00.001-04:00

This weekend we went to Long Island to spend the day picking pumpkins & carving them with Nannie, Grandpa, Uncle Kevin & Aunt Bridget. We went back to the same farm we do each year and had so much fun! We played on the playground, fed the animals, rode the ponies, went on a hayride, and picked our carving pumpkins! It was a busy day, but we had a blast!

- Abby, Emily & Ben

We all had a fun time on the hayride!

Ben fell asleep while mommy held him…

… and Nannie almost fell asleep while Grandpa held her!

Daddy and Emily just had lots of fun!

Emily’s FAVORITE part of the day was riding her very first horse! She was in heaven!

Picking pumpkins was so much fun… but mostly because we got to pull a wagon out in the field! Abby could pull quite a load!

When we got back to Nannie & Grandpa’s house, Abby helped scoop out all the pumpkin seeds (Emily thought is was too yucky), and the grown-ups carved us some pretty cool pumpkins!

Even ben came out with Nannie & watched the carving fest!

Aunt Bridget & Uncle Kevin were pretty serious about following their first real carving pattern…

… ESPECIALLY Uncle Kevin!

In the end, they turned out great! Aunt Bridget & Uncle Kevin carved “Mike Wazowski” from “Monsters Inc”, Mommy carved Emily a special “Relli” pumpkin, and Daddy made Abby a cool “Boo” pumpkin from “Monsters Inc” too!

Thanks for another great weekend!

Baby or big girl???

2011-10-20T15:19:00.001-04:00

I’m very confused these days whether or not I feel like being a baby or a big girl…

-Emily

Yesterday morning mommy found me all tucked in to Ben’s swing, and having a GREAT time (even though it didn’t swing because I am too big)…

… and after NOT napping today, mommy found me all dressed in not only my clothes from this morning (jeans & a long sleeved shirt), but TWO pairs of Abby’s pajamas as well! She didn’t even know I could fully dress myself… let a lone in 3 different outfits at once!

Smiles are on their way!

2011-10-19T18:20:00.001-04:00

My smiles are becoming more frequent these days, even though I still really like saving them for my mommy! I’ll be flashing my gums to everyone soon though!

-Ben

Here’s a quick little video that mommy took, actually capturing a little smile!

Grandpa Hawk & Grandma Nancy come to visit!

2011-10-18T13:30:00.001-04:00

Grandpa Hawk & Grandma Nancy drove all the way to our house from Michigan to meet me and spend time with our family for a few days! It was great getting to know them, and I can’t wait to go fishing with Grandpa Hawk when I’m bigger!

- Ben

We spent one day at the pumpkin farm, and even though it was so windy, that I had to stay in my stroller, I still got to go on the hayride, and watch my sisters pick pumpkins, go in the hay bale tunnel, and climb the haystack tower!

Since we’re going pumpkin picking next weekend on Long Island for our big carving pumpkins, we just picked little pumpkins this time that my sisters could paint. Abby even painted me one with my name on it!

Thanks for a great visit! We had a blast!

A wonderful week with family!

2011-10-13T13:57:00.001-04:00

We had a great visit with our Aunt Jenna and cousin Julia this past week! We did so many fun things, like going into the city to the Central Park zoo, launching rockets with daddy, going apple picking, and even going to preschool together! But some of the best time, was just hanging out together as a family!

- Abby, Emily & Ben

We got to spend lots of time outside in the beautiful weather:

Teaching Julia how to play her new princess app on our mom’s iPhones:

Playing in the sandbox:

Playing “Wonderpets save the animals” in the backyard:

Taking a ride together in our jeep:

Thanks for an awesome visit! We can’t wait to do it again soon!

Preschool with my cousin Julia!

2011-10-11T13:23:00.001-04:00

I got to take my cousin Julia to Grandma Worthing’s preschool this morning, and we had so much fun together! Julia had her own name tag and seat that Grandma Worthing had ready for her, we went on a nature hike in the back yard, played on the swings & in the sandbox, churned butter (from our trip to the farm last week), did our writing exercises, and had so much fun playing with all my friends! I wish Julia went to my preschool EVERY day!

-Abby

Apple picking!

2011-10-10T17:07:00.001-04:00

We went apple picking today, and well… We made a memory! It was MUCH hotter than we thought, so we were all dressed too warm, none of the apple trees were labeled, so we had NO idea what we were picking, on the way to the orchard, Abby threw up in the car from the windy roads, and while we were in line for the hayride, Emily got stung by a bee But, in the end, everyone seemed to have a good time, and now we have homemade applesauce on the stove, and an apple pie in the oven! MMMMNNNNN!

Mommy & Ben were there too, but Aunt Jenna doesn’t know how to use mommy’s camera so they are a little out of focus…

What a fun day! (Pay no attention to the man’s butt in the background)!

Best Buds in the city!

2011-10-10T15:20:00.001-04:00

It was such a beautiful day yesterday, so we took a trip with my cousin Julia into New York City for the day, and had a blast walking around the Central Park Zoo! My Aunt Jenna LOVES the city, so she was in heaven!

- Abby

We LOVED watching the polar bear!

Hot dogs in Central park!

Our Rocket Launch!

2011-10-09T18:47:00.001-04:00

Daddy took all of us to the big field to try a few more rocket launches! This time, our cousin Julia and our Aunt Jenna got to come too! Daddy was especially excited because he got a new tiny video camera that he strapped to the rocket to record the launch! It was AWESOME!!!

-Abby & Emily

Here was launch #1:

Unfortunately, launch # 1 ended up in a tree, and daddy had to climb up to get it down…

While we were waiting for him to retrieve the rocket, we had a blast playing around!

Here was our successful launch #2:

Here’s a video of our 1st launch:

Here’s a shot of all of us on the ground from the rocket camera:

Here’s the video of our successful 2nd launch from the camera on the rocket:

It was a good day… Thanks daddy!

I’m 2 and a half now!

2011-10-09T18:14:00.001-04:00

Can you believe I’m 2 1/2????? My sister and my cousin Julia made me a GREAT 1/2 birthday cake, with special chocolate chips around the outside & sprinkles on top! It was a great celebration!

-Emily

2 Months Old!

2011-10-05T15:04:00.001-04:00

Can you believe I’m two months old today?!?!?! Mommy tried me out sitting in my Bebe pod, and I did great! I’ll be a pro at sitting in no time!

-Ben

8 weeks old!

2011-09-29T13:57:00.001-04:00

I’m going to be 8 weeks old tomorrow! Can you believe how fast I’m growing up? I’m still an AWESOME baby, and sleep very well, although I do have my fussy times, much to everyone’s shock! I’m becoming more expressive these days, and have learned to “smile” with my whole body… I’ve even cracked a few real smiles here and there! Abby even got one out of me this morning! But the most expressive look I have melts mommy’s heart… my sad face. I can get whatever I want when I whip that one out!

-Ben

I’m also beginning to like playing on my playmat… especially when I have some alone time with out my other “mommy’s” falling all over me!

My first film!

2011-09-26T10:13:00.001-04:00

Today, daddy taught me how to make my first stop motion animated film, just like Gumby! He helped me set up the scene, but I got to do all of the photography! Check it out! (And pay no attention to the two-year-old playing behind the dollhouse)!

- Abby

It’s Ballet Time!

2011-09-20T19:29:00.001-04:00

I’ve been waiting for this day FOREVER, and it’s finally here! I started ballet classes today! I had so much fun, and can’t wait for my very first big recital in June!

-Abby

I really believe I’m “Relli”!

2011-09-19T13:59:00.001-04:00

To cope better with the arrival of my little brother “Benjin”, I’ve taken to wearing my “Relli” (Cinderella) dress ALL the time! Mommy’s only rule is that I can’t wear it when I’m sleeping or playing outside… everything else is fair game! SO, I wear I around the house, during meals, out shopping, to the doctors office, to playdates… ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE I can think of! I put in on the moment I get up in the morning, and take it off just before bed. I have a feeling I know what I’ll be for Halloween this year especially since I won’t even LOOK at another princess dress)!

-Emily

Here I am sporting my dress while Abby & I dance to “Annalise”… one of our favorite dancing movies!:

Here I am saying grace before dinner… Unfortunately, mommy didn’t get on video the time I prayed for my “Relli dress, Relli shoes & Relli crown”…

A morning at the park

2011-09-18T13:57:00.001-04:00

The weather was perfect this morning, so we went to the park to fly a kite and hang out on the playground. Weekends spent playing with daddy are the best!

-Abby & Emily (& Ben, even though he slept in the stroller again…)

Working on a 1920’s farm

2011-09-17T18:40:00.001-04:00

Mommy & I have been reading “Little House on the Prairie” together each night before bed, and we decided to take a family trip to the 1920’s historical farm near our house to check out what farm life was like long ago. Even though a lot of this wasn’t around yet for Laura Ingalls, we had SO much fun working on the farm for the day!

-Abby

We got to see lots of farm animals… cows, pigs, chickens, barn cats, sheep & horses!

Emily even cleaned up the barn… All she needed was her “Relli” dress to complete the day!

We both got to try churning butter like they did years ago…

I tried building a log cabin just like Pa did in our story… I didn’t get very far…

Emily liked sitting at the old sewing table…

Then came my FAVORITE part of our trip… We got to do the laundry!!!! It was A LOT of work back then, but SO much fun! First we had to pump the water from the well…

Then you had to scrub it on the washboard…

Next you had to rinse it in the clean tub…

And finally, we had to hang it out to dry!

Mommy’s so glad she doesn’t have to do the laundry this way, but we loved it! Check out our video:

We also got to pump more water & tend to the garden!

We even got to see an old carriage just like in our book and ride on an old Ford car!

Ben missed all the fun, but had a great time sleeping in his stroller and being outside! He’ll LOVE this place someday!

What an awesome day!

My first day of preschool this year!

2011-09-13T13:57:00.001-04:00

Today was my first day of school this year, and I have been SO excited to go back to Grandma Worthings since last June when school ended! Mommy snapped a few “first day of school” pictures, even though my bangs were a bit short this year…

-Abby

Grandma Worthing is going to teach us so much this year! We’re going to learn how to write, do math, tell time… and of course, play A LOT with our friends! I’m so excited!

We start each morning off with some prayer time…

… then the “Good Morning Song”…

… followed by some playtime…

Even Emily got to play a bit today while mommy took pictures! She can’t wait to go to school someday!

We even taught her the Pledge of Allegiance!

We all got new nametags for our attendance… Mine was a BEAUTIFUL clue butterfly!

I have a feeling this is going to be a GREAT year!

Abby’s “Haircut”

2011-09-09T09:55:00.001-04:00

Well, it finally happened… Abby’s first (and hopefully LAST) self-done haircut… Of course school starts next week, which will make for some memorable back-to-school pictures. I’m trying to let it go, and realize that the miserable look on her face is probably enough punishment! At least she did a decent job being even on the sides, and you can hardly notice it. Now, the “mini-bang” look is another story. **SIGH***

-Mommy

One month old and still snoozing away…

2011-09-05T16:27:00.001-04:00

Labor Day fun!

2011-09-05T16:25:00.001-04:00

We decided to hang out at home today for Labor Day, and we had a blast making big soft pretzels for lunch! They are daddy’s favorite, and he said they even tasted like the real thing! They were AWESOME!!!

-Abby & Emily

My special daddy date!

2011-09-05T16:20:00.001-04:00

Daddy took me on a super special daddy date while he was home this week, to a little girl salon! I got to have my nails done, MAKE-UP put on, an “up-do” hairstyle, and even have some special rainbow juice when I was done! Thanks for a great morning daddy!

-Abby

Everyone’s got a new bed!

2011-08-31T15:21:00.001-04:00

Last night I moved into my big crib in my very own room! Mommy and daddy say I’m too loud of a sleeper for me to stay with them anymore, but I showed them by just staying up half the night, and ended up being with them anyway! They say they are sticking with it, and I have to go back again tonight, but we’ll see!

-Ben

Abby & Emily have been doing GREAT together in their bunkbeds! Now if mommy could only get them to sleep past 6am, we’d all being doing fantastic!

CAMPOUT!

2011-08-30T12:06:00.001-04:00

Our daddy is home ALL week to help mommy out, and we are having a BLAST with him! Last night, we did one of daddy’s favorite things and had a campout in the backyard! We couldn’t go upstate last weekend for our camping trip because of Hurricane Irene, so we did it at our house instead! Thanks for a fun night daddy!

-Abby & Emily

We started our night off with a campfire and some smores! Abby just liked roasting the marshmallows until they fell off in the fire, and Emily just liked the chocolate…

Even Ben and mommy came out to enjoy the campfire!

Then we brought out the sparklers!

The best part of the day was setting up and sleeping in our big tent!

Daddy even read us a few scary stories before bedtime!

We had a blast in our tent after it got dark… for a full 45 minutes! Emily wouldn’t stay in her bed and had to go inside, and Abby didn’t want to sleep without her sister, so she decided to go in too. Maybe when we’re older, we’ll actually sleep out there ALL night!

Thanks for a fun night daddy!

Ben’s 1st bath!

2011-08-28T12:04:00.001-04:00

We’ve been waiting for this day FOREVER, and it’s finally arrived! Now that Ben’s umbilical cord has fallen off (and left a “cinnamon roll” looking belly button, as mommy calls it), we can give him a bath in his bathtub! We were surprised that he actually seemed to like it a bit! Mommy has a feeling that there will be A LOT of baths for this little brother of ours…

-Abby & Emily

New Videos!

2011-08-22T19:46:00.001-04:00

Mommy FINALLY got around to editing and posting the videos from my first few days! There are 3 videos in the "Welcome Benjamin Roy Beach" post, and there is one in the "Ben's Homecoming!" post. Enjoy!

-Ben

The best things in life…

2011-08-21T16:58:00.001-04:00

-"Babies are God's proof that the best things do come in small packages!"

-“A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.”

1 Week Old!

2011-08-12T14:30:00.001-04:00

Can you believe I am already one week old?!?!? Time flies when you sleep all day! My sisters have been telling me about mommy’s crazy photoshoots that I have to look forward to, and today was my very first “mini” one! I didn’t think it was all that bad!

-Ben

My first bath at home

2011-08-12T13:12:00.001-04:00

I had my very first sponge bath at home tonight, and while I didn’t exactly love the bath part (especially the MANY hands that were washing me down), I LOVED it when mommy washed my hair. I was passed out for hours afterwards!

-Ben

Ben’s Homecoming!

2011-08-10T21:09:00.001-04:00

Today’s the day I get to leave the hospital and go to this “crazy place called home” that mommy and daddy keep talking about. Evidently, my touchy big sister “mommies” will be there waiting for me, so we’ll have to see how this goes…

- Benjamin

Daddy did a great job making me safe in my carseat, and I LOVED the ride home! I spent the whole time looking around, and wondering what in the world was going on!

Mommy and daddy were right… my “sister mommies” were outside waiting for me when I got home, and couldn’t wait to see me in my carseat!

I think they finally realized I was moving in, and they were very anxious to get their turns holding me. I seem to be very popular with the ladies already!

They have the greatest thing at this house… a swing! Just swaddle me up, put me in this thing, and I am one happy baby!

I even got my first computer lesson in “skyping”, and I got to meet my Aunt Jennifer and all my cousins in Michigan!

I think I’m going to like it here! There’s no place like home!

Here’s a video of Ben’s homecoming!

Ben’s homecoming video