18 month photos

As with most everything, these pictures are a bit late.  I'm counting them as Kyran's 18 month photos, but he's actually 19 months in them.  But, is there really a law that says they HAVE to be 18 month pics???  I think not, so we're just gonna go with it!  I ran home from school last Monday, threw outfits on the boys, grabbed the camera, grabbed Andy, and headed over to the farm.  By the time we got there, we were working with less than an hour or so of daylight, so we had to work fast.  You might be wondering why I just didn't do it another day, but for those of you that live anywhere near us, you know that we've had rain EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. so, I was taking the sunshine while I had it!  Of course, everyday since then has been beautiful, but hey, who knew?!?!?

Without further ado, here are some of the 300+ pics I took (they weren't all keepers, ha ha)!

Of course, we had to put pictures of Ben in too!

Pumpkin Carving 2014

Ben and I found some time on Sunday to carve a few pumpkins.  We love to do this each fall and each year Ben is able to do more and more of the actual carving.  This year, he helped cut out the eyes and the nose.  He was a little afraid to try the scary mouth, but he did like running the drill to put holes in one of the pumpkins.

 This was the pumpkin he picked on his field trip...it made a nice "scary" pumpkin, according to Ben.

 We needed a little brighter light in the one, but they all looked pretty cool in the dark.

My proud pumpkin carver (looking super cute in his Christmas jammies, if you ask me)!

Another first

Kyran had another first on Friday night.  Andy was gone for the week at a conference in Minnesota, so I loaded up the boys and went out to dinner with friends and their new baby twins.  We were having a great time just catching up and visiting, and Kyran was just walking around the table, and then he found the bar stool Ben was sitting on.  He thought it would be fun to climb in and out of the bar stool because he could stand up underneath it (I know, exciting stuff, huh!).  So, I'm watching him, visiting with our friends, keeping an eye on Ben, and trying to finish up dinner when I hear Kyran crying.  Now, let me just say that I have learned to not become too excited when Kyran cries.  1, he cries a lot.  2, his cries are usually pretty loud.  3, he is a huge climber, so he falls often and almost always cries when he falls down. And 4, did I mention that he cries a lot!

Ben and Reece enjoying some wings and corn dogs before the accident

So, I go over and pick him up.  He had caught his foot on the bar stool and had fallen down.  I'm hugging him, patting his back, and telling him he'll be ok, when I notice that I have blood on my hand.  I turn his head and see that his ear is covered in blood and it's running down his face.  Oh boy...this is a first!  We've had lots of scraped knees, bruises, a couple busted lips, and even a few stubbed toes.  But, we've never had a deep cut.  I looked at his ear and sure enough, it was busted open.  Poor baby...I knew that it had to have hurt like heck.  I could lift his ear up a bit and see that it was a pretty deep cut, so I figured a trip to urgent care wouldn't hurt.  Thank goodness for good friends (remember, my husband is about 10 hours away at this point).  So, my friend and I loaded up Kyran in the car.  She sat in the back to keep pressure on his ear.  Her husband and brother (who unexpectedly showed up at the very same restaurant...a blessing in disguise) took Ben and the twins back to their house.  I'm not sure Ben even knew what happened; he was just excited to get to go play with Reece for a while.

Kyran's ear before it was cleaned up.  This was after several napkins and a few wet ones.  Poor buddy.

Off to urgent care we go.  Of course, my absolute favorite doctor was working (my mother-in-law works for urgent care, so we know several of the docs) and he took such great care of Kyran.  After cleaning it up, he saw that it wasn't that deep and that stitches or glue would only hurt more and Kyran would most likely mess with the stitches anyway.  So, after a good cleaning and some antibiotic cream, we were on our way to go pick up Ben.

All cleaned up and ready for bed.  It definitely bruised quite a bit, but it looks so much better now!

It was a wild and crazy evening, and I absolutely hated to see Kyran get hurt.  I was very happy though that our night didn't end with stitches.  A little headache for Kyran, I'm sure, but nothing that some Tylenol couldn't take care of.  It's been four days and his ear is looking great.  It's healing nicely and hopefully there won't be much of a scar.  As for the climbing, this unfortunately did not slow him down.  He is definitely my little monkey!

Field trip fun

Last Wednesday, Ben went on his first field trip.  We headed to the corn maze and pumpkin patch with his preschool, and he had so much fun!  We are so lucky to have a local pumpkin patch that offers so many kid attractions.  They had a straw tunnel, tricycle races, water table, straw mountain, corn box, playground, a gem mine, plus the huge corn maze and pumpkin patch.  It was a little muddy from all the rain, but that didn't stop us from having a good time!

 One of the 100+ times Ben went through the straw tunnel...I even ventured through once myself.  It was pretty fun!

 Getting his dig on in the sandbox

Taking a lap around the tricycle track

Ma and Pa Kettle

Milestones

The boys had their 5 year and 18 month check up a week or so ago, and they are right on schedule!  It was timed perfectly to also serve as an ear recheck for both of them.  The week before their appointments, both boys came down with high fevers...off to the doctor to find out they both had double ear infections.  Fast forward to their check ups and both boys were infection clear!  So, here's the stats:

Ben:
Weight - 47 lbs (83%)
Height - 42.4" (35%)

Kyran:
Weight - 26 lb 12.8 oz (83%)
Height - 35.04" (95%)

Poor Ben needs to hit a growth spurt soon.  I'm afraid he may have inherited some of his height from Andy's side of the family, but maybe my side's genes will kick in and give him a boost.  Of course, no matter how tall or short he is, he's as perfect as can be!  Kyran seems to be right on track, so we'll see if he continues to grow at this rate.  He is definitely taller than Ben was at this age, but not by much, so it remains to be seen if he'll keep going or slow down a bit. 

Both boys are absolutely perfect in every possible way, and the doctor had no concerns.  She did say that Kyran is most likely going to need tubes for his ear infections.  She did not think there has been any damage done, but he just has such a tendency to get them that she anticipates another rough fall and winter.  So, let the consultations begin!  Thankfully, my sister has been through this more than a couple times with her girls, so we have a great resource right in the family.