6 years ago today

We said "I do."

Dave sent me fancy chocolates from France in a wooden box engraved with our anniversary date.  I didn't send him anything.  It has been a tough year, so our wedding song is more fitting than ever:

Come Rain Or Come Shine
I´m gonna love you like nobody´s loved you,
come rain or come shine.
High as a mountain and deep as a river,
come rain or come shine.
I guess when you met me,it was just one of those things.
But don´t you ever bet me
cause I´m gonna be true if you let me.
You´re gonna love me like nobodys loved me,
come rain or come shine.
Will be happy togehter, unhappy togehter.
Now won´t that be just fine.
The days may be cloudy or sunny.
We´re in or we´re out of the money.
But I´m with you always,
I´m with you, rain or shine !
Days may be cloudy or sunny.
We´re in or we´re out of the money.
I´m with you, baby, I´m with you, rain or shine!
 
I have followed Dave from a city I loved to the South, leaving friends and family behind.  I still miss Philadelphia so much that it sometimes hurts.  From Florida, we moved to England, where we got to travel all over Europe.  Unfortunately, we moved back to the South, and our time here has been the roughest on our marriage.  This year alone, we dealt with more crying than I thought possible for 2 little boys to produce, reflux, an autism spectrum diagnosis, and a deployment. 
 
I hope today to find some time to watch the highlights portion of our wedding video.  I look forward to a time again in our marriage where we could pay some attention to eachh other.  Heck, I look forward to a time when we can talk on the phone or see each other (last phone call was 11 days ago and last Skype conversation was 35 days ago).

A Day Out with Thomas

Liam, unlike many 2 year old boys, is not all that into trains.  His obsession is animals, especially kitties and anything Wonder Pets related.  However, if there is a train table set up, he will happily play.  He usually ignored our trains at home, though we don't have many, so maybe they just aren't exciting for him.  Liam does like riding the train at the zoo, and since my Dad (Liam's Pappou) is in town, I thought we'd try to take the boys to a Day Out with Thomas.

All photos were taken by my friend, Jenn, who was possibly more excited about Thomas than any kid present (except for the 4 year old that corrected her engine name at one point in the Imagination Station):

So, Thomas looks just like you would expect:

I really thought Ben would be bored on the train ride, and not care about thw whole experience.  In fact, you could order a package with your tickets, and I only ordered one (Thomas hat, necklace with pass, and Thomas whistle).  Ben, however, kept stealing Liam's hat so he got his own before we left.

We were with friends so we had company for the train ride, and it of course meeant Jenn was around to take better pictures than I would have gotten.

Liam, Ferris, and Lyndee:

Ben thinking he is a big kid:

Me and my boys:

Okay, okay, so maybe Ben looks like me just a bit...... ;-)

Ben loves cake

Ben had a joint 1st birthday party with his friend, London.  Amanda, London's mom, made the cakes and really did all the work.

Here were the cakes before the babies attacked:

There was some socialization before the cake:

There were also presents:

Explaining to Liam this is Ben's toy....it didn't work....Liam told Ben "mine" later that day:

We sang Happy Birthday:

And they enjoyed their cake.....

(notice Ben's arms....he was so excited)

The aftermath......

My baby is no longer a baby

He isn't toddling yet, but he is a year old as of yesterday which moves him to the toddler category from the baby category.  The feelings I am experiencing remind me how I got into baby bunching in the first place.  It is a good thing Dave is deployed b/c I know the harder days are coming.

Benjamin Andrew Routhier was born April 6th, 2009, and he shifted my entire world.  The whole universe sifted with Liam's birth, but Ben's birth brought almost as many changes.  I had a much harder time adjusting to life with 2 children than I did to adjusting to life with children in the first place.  I felt like I was constantly having to choose one boy's need to the detriment of the other.  Even now, I cannot change Liam's diaper, dress him, put his shoes on, get him in/out of the crib or carseat without Ben having a fit of jealousy resulting in a screaming tantrum. 

Ben's arrival was less dramatic than Liam's, though even with a scheduled c-section, he had heart decels during contractions resulting in a quicker surgery than anticipated.  He also passed briefly through the NICU due to aplasia cutis congenita, which healed by 4 weeks.  The big thing that overshadowed his birth was his reflux--screaming 7 hours a day for his first 5-6 months, spitting up blood, difficulty growing.....horrible, horrible reflux.  At this point, he still spits up about once a day and has wet burps several more times a day, but the pain seems to be controlled by Prilosec.

Ben is developing quite a little personality.  He is a talker, though his favorite word at the moment is "no" which is quite telling. He tries to say dog and duck, though they sound the same.  He mimics language alot.  He has some major clinginesss going on, but doesn't like to be touched by others.  He moves.....alot....he can climb up slides without any help and crawls lightening fast.  He cruises alot and likes to dance.  He loves to eat and eats everything.  When he doesn't get his way, he throws his head down and cries dramatically.

His 12 month well baby showed he is still at the bottom of the charts.  Here are the numbers:
Height: 29 inches (20th percentile)
Weight: 18 pounds 14 ounces (4th percentile)
Head Circumfrence: 81st percentile
He is tiny compared to Liam, who was 2 inches taller and 4 pounds heavier.

A Comparison at 1 Year

I will do a post tomorrow all about Ben, but wanted to post some comparison photos from their 1st birthday photo shoot.

Both sitting on the block:

Showing off their smiles (Liam had so many more teeth):

Both of them giving their sweet look (do you see the mischief in Ben's eyes?)

On a side note.....poor Ben...I didn't realize that his romper was that wrinkled.  I count on Dave to take care of ironing and noticing what needs to be ironed.  I am clearly useless without him.

The Easter Bunny rocks

according to Liam at least.  He woke up this morning and the first words out of his mouth were "Easter egg?" as he wanted to hunt eggs again.  To start with, Liam just liked the Easter bunny much more than he liked Santa.  Remember his 2nd meeting with Santa in 2008 or his 3rd in 2009?

Look at his nonchalence to his first meeting ever of the Easter Bunny:

Tonight at bedtime, Liam even asked "Easter Bunny coming?"  The poor kid has a long wait for that.

Some pictures of various Easter activities in these parts:

Ben's semi trademarked Elvis snarl

Happy Easter

We are having a quiet holiday at home.  I'll post pictures if we get around to taking any.  Easter is day 145, and this last stretch of the deployment is really dragging.  Dave tried to call us today but the phone lines wouldn't cooperate.  At least our Easter box reached him in time. :-)

Both boys were on the move and not very cooperative with pictures: