Collin's 3rd Birthday Party

Late in February, Collin Stewart had his 3rd Birthday party.  We can't believe he's three already!  A good time was had by all!

Early on we gave Xander his xylophone toy, one of his favorites that we brought from home.  It didn't take long for Sophie to get interested and take his toy away.  This was a good opportunity for Xander to learn an early lesson in sharing.

To continue the lesson, Collin went and found one of his own toys to share with Xander so he'd still have something to play with.  Sharing is caring, Collin, way to go!

Cake always happens relatively early on at Collin's parties because he's been dreaming of it for weeks and it's finally here!

Action shot - that candle is goin' down!

Then, of course, it was time for presents.  The Beneezees had been holding onto this toy for 3 years to wait till Collin' was old enough to enjoy it - yay!  He loved it!

We got to take in another glimpse of this precious girl - quite possibly the cutest little girl we've ever seen, even cuter in person for sure.  We first saw her at Collin's last party when she was just a newborn!

We know the next two photos are basically the same, but Xander is just so damn cute!  This is after he played with Collin's new Cars dominos.

Yay, throwing things was fun!

Thanks, Auntie Maureen, for inviting us to Collin's super fun party!

Kitteh in a Kart Kover

When Mama and Xander go to the grocery store, Mama puts a cart cover on before Xander sits in the little basket seat.  Every so often, the cover needs a wash, so Mama brings it in with the groceries.  Well, Mute enjoys sitting in grocery bags, and the cart cover is no different to her.  In fact, we think she likes it better.  So one day after Mama got home from the store and had things strewn all over the place while she got cold items put away before they spoiled and the little man happy before he melted down, she left the cart cover out on the counter.  Next thing she knew, this is what she saw:

She may be a bad girl sometimes (she's not allowed on the counter, and she knows it), but she's awfully cute while she's doing it.  

It's about time... Naked Baby Butt!

Naked baby butt shots are long overdue... so here we go!

Xander's new routine is to wait, as Dada prepares his bath, at the edge of the tub sporting his naked bootay.  Dada was a bit adventurous to try this at first since Xander could pee all over everything at any given moment... but it's way worth it for this adorable photos!  Here's Xander watching the water fill his little tub. 

Oh, HI MAMA!  I didn't know you were there, but then I heard your camera and I knew it was time to turn around and give you my patented smile!

Mmmmm, I sure enjoy a good bath (except for the times when I hate the bath for no good reason whatsoever).

Hehe, my hair is spiky!  I'm hilarious!  And cute as all get out...

Valentine's Day 2012

Xander's first Valentine's Day did not go unnoticed.  He got a card with a pirate on the front, ARRRRR!

He got a book to add to his "If You Give A Mouse..." collection.  This one is Happy Valentine's Day Mouse!

He also got Hug Time, a really cute book about how everyone needs a hug.

Mommy's Valentine was pretty cute in his red duds... but isn't he always?

Valentine's Day cuteness!

 And a Valentine's Day Kitteh Bonus!  Sark Valentine...

And Mute Valentine!

No Kittehs were harmed in the making of this blog post... but they didn't exactly enjoy themselves either...

Special Delivery

Sark loves cardboard boxes.  Mute does too, but she prefers to crawl into paper and reusable shopping bags.  So, sometimes when the Amazon fairy comes, Sark sneaks up on the box and gets inside.  And he sure looks cute while he's in there...

Random acts of cuteness

Just some random cuteness to display here...

First, Xander can make meal time quite the ordeal, but sometimes he is crazy cute about it instead...

And let's not leave out the game playing cuteness.  Sometimes, and it doesn't happen nearly often enough for this busy Dada, Xander and Anth get to play their games together at the same time!  Here's Xander playing with his activity table from Santa while Dada plays Tiger Woods (which he got from Mama at Christmastime).

Grandma and Grandpa visit

Grandma and Grandpa Brelsford came to visit Xander just before Valentine's Day.  They got to have a lot of play time while Xander was awake.  Grandpa even helped Xander up the stairs for the first time.  He didn't need that much help, but his pants were slick and he couldn't quite do it alone.  Xander sure loves his Grandpa!

Grandma and Grandpa play with Xander and two of his favorite things - his xylophone and purple cup!

Proud Grandpa + Cute Bubba = Good photo op!

Mama's New Do...

Mama's hair had gotten quite long... it was beginning to feel oppressive.  Taking a lot of time to dry in the morning was one of the key reasons Mama needed a change.  Mama inherited an issue from her Mama - if Mama doesn't wash AND dry her hair each day, she's not a happy Mama... so the length had to go!  Mama had always wanted to experiment with a asymmetrical cut, but never had the guts.  She's always been emotionally attached to her hair.  But for some reason, she's not anymore!  So, here's how it all went down...

Now you see it...

Now you don't!  It wasn't really that much of a shock, more of a relief actually.  Yay!  Mama thought the initial cut would be much shorter, so she was actually a little disappointed to see so much left, but Mei-Ling, her stylist, needed something to work with!

Here's what all that hair looks like before it goes off for donation... not much...

Here's the first look, while still in the cape.  Mama told Mei-Ling, after she removed the cape, that the final reveal should always be AFTER cape removal.  Who wears a cape up to the neck anyway?

Here's a look at the back...

And the finished product in plain clothes...

Overall, Mama is pleased.  She would have been fine with something a little shorter... and this cut DEFINITELY takes more time to style well, but for so many other reasons this style is rockin' Mama's world!

Bath time with Dada

One night after Dada got home from lifting at Uncle Jeremy's, he was due for a shower.  Xander was also due for a bath, so why not go for a two for one deal?

Twice the cuteness!!

Then it was time for bedtime stories... and Andy Alligator

After a loving kiss goodnight, and some luvs from Mama, it was off to sleepyland!  Let's hope he sleeps through the night this time, haha!  Sweet dreams, Xander.

8 month photo shoot

Back in February we took the liberty of taking some photos of our newly 8 month old, Xander.  Here are some of the precious fruits of that labor...

It was play time in his room, which he loves (for limited amounts of time, at a time)

Oh, that's what my toys and books look like BEFORE I play with them and get them all over the place...

Xander loves his Andy Alligator book, and his Andy Alligator stuffed animal that Mama brought him home from NOLA.

We love this shot - that's our Xander's smile!

Baby on the move!  Watch out Sark!

Xander also loves his orange Sophie - a Sophie La Giraffe toy teether.  He also seems to gravitate towards orange toys, or so we think we've noticed.

Sometimes he'll just drop Sophie (or any toy) on the ground in front of him and freak out because he misses her, then he realizes it's no big deal and just picks her up and starts the process over again.

Xander is crawling around all the time and quickly learned how to go from crawling to sitting so he wouldn't get mad that he was stuck on his belly.  Then it was a short time before he started pulling himself up with things - chairs, short tables, ottomans, etc - and started moving short distances while assisted by these objects.  He'll be walking before we know it!  Oh no...  Needless to say we've done a fair amount of childproofing since crawling began.  Oh, the joys of parenting!

Mute & Sark

Despite losing the spotlight as the center of attention in the Beneezee household, the kittehs are still prominent members of our domain.  

When we had our snow days, Mute spent a fair amount of time watching the snow fall from inside.  So kitteh mama decided to take her outside to see what it was all about.  She got a little snow on her face and, despite the chill, enjoyed the view.

We keep Xander's room closed during the day so the kittehs can't get in and eat things.  But when Xander is playing or getting tended to in his room, the kittehs will come in and check things out.  Mute really enjoys the rocking chair and typically goes right to it when she enters the room.

Mute also enjoys terrorizing the clothes hamper.  She has crawled through the bottom flap and slept in it, she's also gotten adventurous and jumped into the hamper before.  That didn't go so well.  She couldn't get out by herself, meowing ensued... now she just likes to peek in there and leave the adventure behind her.

Sark isn't as adventurous as the little girl.  He spends a fair amount of time chillin' in different areas of the house.  One of his favorites is the couch.  For a while we had a kitteh bed on the couch for he and Mute to sit on.  Here's proof of his enjoyment.

After a hard day of sleeping, stretching is a requirement...

But don't put yourself out, Sark, by all means have a seat!

Once Xander started crawling, it took just moments before he started heading up the stairs on his own.  So, while we waited for our extra wide baby gate with extensions to arrive, we brought out our old ottoman down and used it as a blockade.  It worked well and doubled as a new seating area to keep the kittehs happy.  They were sad to see it go, but it was cute while it lasted.

After moving the kitteh bed from the couch to the fireplace, the kittehs practically started fighting over who got to sit in it.  Eventually they determined that sharing is caring - aww, aren't they so cute?

They give us their share of grief, but overall they are good kittehs who are great sports about having a little human crawling around, making lots of noise, and taking attention away.