Cheese Face

Ben has started saying "cheese" when he sees the camera. These are a couple shots that I caught of him "cheesin" for the camera.

Goofy boy

Cheese, mama!

Flashback

Remember this?

September 09

And an updated version:

January 11

Fumble-Roo-Ski

My boys all love to play a game, it is called Fumble-Roo-Ski. Yup you just say it like it looks. Basically, this is a game where Spence gets to knock the ball out of our children's hands and then everyone scrambles to get it. Here is a series of what typically happens during play

Ben started off with the ball

Spence steals it

Then arms and legs go everywhere

And then someone cries

Party Animals

It was a two party weekend. So I think that officially makes us party animals.
The first party was Carson's 3rd bday. His daddy works at the church in the kids department. (he also happens to be big brother to Mary Grace who was born at the same hospital just two days before Benjamin) Carson had his party at the church and it was dinosaur themed. His mama is super cute and creative:

Cute dino hats

digging for fossils

Paper mache dino eggs
(poor Catherine made these eggs and then had to watch the kids destroy them)

dirt cups that each kiddo made themselves (oh that is the bday boy himself)

All the cute kids

My neice, Maddie, had her 5th birthday party at one of those bounce places. We headed to Burlington Sunday after naps. Because of the nature of these kinds of parties we didn't get to see much of the bday girl. But she did come to go down the slide with the boys a few times. I stole these pictures from my mama, but you can see for yourself how my boys fared.

WHEEEE!

Ben had an escort on each trip

Zeke really liked this baseball thing

Ben was trying to convince PawPaw to take him down the slide

Cold Weather Fun

Let me just throw this out there. I HATE cold weather. Really, I do. I do not care for weather below 70, I do not care for snow, I seriously dislike ice/freezing mixtures falling from the sky, I despise not being able to get out of the house to run out our crazies. Now, some of you are thinking, "Courtney, suck it up and take those boys outside". Well, we tried that. We went to the park the other day and there was ICE in the tunnels and on the slides. Sorry, but I think that could be considered child abuse.
We are having to be a bit more creative with our play inside, but the boys aren't seeming to mind the crazy things I come up with.

We moved the boys chairs to the center of the room

and they played in them for a really long time

(even though it looks like they are having a meeting)

Just some spoons and plastic containers

but a whole lot of fun!

Zeke did not care for the shaving cream

Banished

While sweet Ben took a bath, his mama grabbed some scissors and rid the Shelton household of the Mullet! Victory is ours, Mullet. Take that!

Ben's new do

Sweet baby hair

Guilty

of having bad hair

The accused: Benjamin's mullet

How he feels about his mama making fun of his bad hair

Collections

Zeke is a collector. Are your boys like this? He just seems to move his collections from place to place. (Yes, he interacts and plays appropriately. I know the signs to watch for for anything fishy going on.) But it is just so funny to see what he does sometimes.

lining up his cars

(notice his milk cup, he put it there to keep it away from Sticky Fingers Ben)

More collections

He even set Ben up in hopes that, Benjamin would stop trying to take his

Updated

This is going to be a no pics post basically because I just don't want to download the pics form the camera. I'll be back to posting ridiculously cute pictures of the boys soon.

I called the geneticist today and was given the ultrasound and MRI results. Both came back NORMAL! Our sweet boy is gonna be fine. We will still keep an eye on the scoliosis, but we are no longer looking for other genetic stuff or spinal stuff or anything else. Thank you, Jesus!

We also had our 15 month well check today. Ben weighed in at 20.6 lbs (5%), 29.25 in (5%), and 25% for his head. Because his percentages have gone down some, we are going back for a weight check in a month. For the next four weeks, we are going to be pumping this kid full of calories. The nurse practitioner (who we saw today and L.O.V.E.) is not concerned at all, but she just wants to see that he can gain weight if we are really trying.

As far as things he is doing:

• sleeping has been better recently, we have found if we can get him in the bed between 6:30-6:45 he will sleep until 7 or later, if we are closer to 7 or later getting him to bed thea earlier he gets up
• jabbers, squeals, screams all the time
• working on losing the morning nap (oh how I HATE this transition)
• wants to feed himself everything including spooned food, which results in HUGE messes
• makes these animals sounds: elephant, dog, cat, bird (signs this), duck, cow, chicken, horse, lion, dinosaur
• follows commands
• is a helper
• plays well by himself, but loves to follow Zeke around
• says: Zeke, mama, dada, I love you, makes the ambulance sound, nnnna (banana), NA (Nana), Yaya, car, ball, amen, vroom, and probably some other stuff that I just can't think of
• is a bit michevious, he yanks things from Zeke and runs to keep them away
• all boy, loves to tackle, be outside, run, climb, etc
• reads books all day long
• very clingy to mama and likes to be held alot!
• still very attached to his paci, we are hoping to work on this
• has 8 teeth

Ben's MRI

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. He actually slept until after 7! We were able to get him up and just go out the door almost. We did have some last minute changes because they decided to do an ultrasound instead of MRI of hi kidneys becuase that would add 30-45 more minutes to the MRI and would mean he would do an iv instead of oral sedation. We were able to give him his meds, he actually had to take the full amount he could so we could get him asleep. Spence carried him into the room, we were able to stay in the room the whole time. I carried him back to our room. he started to wake up and was so ill during the ultrasound. Spence was able to get him back to sleep and he took about another 30 minute nap. We woke him up instead of letting him wake up on his own because by this time it was already after 11 and we had been there since 7:30. He woke up MUCH better this time, ate a whole banana and we were able to come home. He was very frustrated at home because he couldn't walk. He just kept falling over. We did lunch, and put him back down for a nap. When he woke up he was in a bit better mood. We did an early dinner and bath and he was down for the night by 6:15. I am hoping that he will sleep it all off and be our normal Benjamin tomorrow morning. We should hear something Monday. We also have his 15 month checkup at the peds so I will give a real update then on him being 15 months for those of you that are waiting for that :)

The picture above was taken this afternoon. It kind of shows how he was a bit hungover/ill through out the day.

Happy 15 months Ben!

For a special gift, we are giving you an MRI. Aren't we wonderful parents? OK, but seriously, we do have our MRI tomorrow morning. Ben's appointment is at 8, we have to be there at 7:30. He will be given an iv sedation. The MRI should last about 45 minutes. I get to go back with him and stay with him through everything. Knowing this has made me feel a bit better. Just the fact that he won't go with out me being there through any of it makes me feel so much better.
Please be praying for these things specifically:

• That he sleeps in, this kid is usually up at 5am S.T.A.R.V.I.N.G.
• He will not be fearful while there with all the different people
• He will respond to the medicine and go under easily
• That he will come out of sedation well and will tolerate liquids/foods with out throwing up
• For his parents, that we will not be fearful but that we will trust our God who loves Ben more than even we do

Conversations with Zeke pt 2

Ezekiel has become a total two year old. This definitely includes the tantrums and defiant behavior. But it also has some sweet and funny things as well. Here are some of our favorites since the last time we wrote about them:
*When told we were going to have dinner, he responded, "that be cool"- June
*"Hey, Ben, wanna hang out?"- June
*Me- "Zeke, are you mama's boy?" Zeke- "You my girl."- July
*When Spence went in to get him one morning, "I need to change diaper, I'm WET!"- September
*After going potty, "BIG PEE PEE!"- September
*When a song ends that he likes, "that's a good song"- October
*"That's a big, brown poop" after going potty at YaYa's- October
*He asks us often, "you ok?"- October
*Sings "we all live in a yellow submarine", "fruit of the spirit's not a coconut" while clicking his tongue
*When he prays, "Thank you God for Ben, for you Ben" and points to Benjamin, and then names the rest of us- October
*"Thank you for all the people", prayer one night- October
*Another night while saying prayers after thanking God for our family he said “thank you for my friends”- November
*At lunch one day he had tea and wanted more. I asked him ”you may have water, would you like me to get your some water?” he responded “no, I would like you to get me some more tea”- November
*After seeing a commercial for a Christmas parade, he told Spence “we go to parade and see a fire truck, probably a fire truck”- November
*In the car, he saw a student driver and called it a police car. I told him it was actually a student driver, he said “no, actually it is a police car” – November
*After Ben had taken his toy a few times, Zeke told him “You’re driving me crazy!” – November
*Zeke was trying to climb onto the bed with me, and Spence put Ben up. Zeke looked at Ben and said “Are you kidding me?!” – November
*His block tower fell over and he said "That's just great!"- December
*Told small group, “let’s pray guys! It’s good for you!”- December
*Since a little before Christmas, Zeke has been calling me "CurtNEE", yeah as in my first name. One day while Spencer was discplining him, Zeke was asking for mama, but when Spence told him no he started asking for Courtney.

Happy New Year!

We are not sad at all to say goodbye to 2010! It was a wild year. God has grown our faith and given us some serious trials. Through those, we have learned so much about our mighty God, ourselves, our friends, our family and each other. Here's looking to 2011, with hopefully fewer hospital visits. (random Shelton fam fact: 1 ER trip for Courtney, 1 hospital stay for Zeke, 2 Urgent Care visits for Spence, and then the slew of dr visits for Ben with his scoliosis ordeal)