Baby Girl

On Monday we announced that Shelton baby #4 is a girl! Spence and I are still working out our thoughts. I think we are truly a bit shocked by this. On the way home from the apointment, I asked Spencer what he was thinking. He responded with "first date, first kiss, first boyfriend, prom, wedding... and I just have this feeling of hating someone". My response was "You realize this kid you are hating probably hasn't even been born yet, right?"
So there we are. Currently hating some boy, and getting prepared to drown in some pink. If you follow me on pintrest, you will notice an increase in all things pink, sparkly, and fluffy. I am working through how to keep our nursery but make it a bit girly. Any suggestions are welcome here.
Now onto, our sweet girls pictures:

this is the classic toilet seat pic, that little white dot (if you zoom in it is a cross) shows that if this is a baby boy, he is missing some important parts.

I love this pic. You can see her spine so clearly.

This is one of those creepy face pictures. You can see her eye sockets, nose, and mouth

Zeke and Ben are proud to announce...

they are excited to be having a baby sister.

We took the boys with us to the doctor for a beautiful family moment... enter our crazy kids. Ben flipped as soon as I sat on the table and demanded I get up. Zeke began asking to go home as soon as Dr. Brannon squirted that jelly on my belly. Spence held both boys crying while we found out the big news.
We decided to share our news in a fun way with our parents.

this is what our ride to tell looked like
yes, those are the boys tucked in back there

Ben loved playing with the balloons

this is his "I'm having a sister face"

This is Zeke's "you better not mess with my sister face"

"and if you do, this is what we will do to you!"

Snip, snip, snip

This is the little boy who lives at our house now...


This is what he looked like:

Please notice those lush locks of sweet curls, ok they were baby fine locks, but still. We did it. Spence won. I lost. I really wanted to keep all those cute curls and Spence has been begging for me to get his hair cut so people will stop telling us we have a cute little girl.

So, I did it. I got my friend Abby to give me the info on the guy who does her boys' hair, I said a prayer for Mister Bryon, made the appointment and said a prayer for the unknowing suspect (that would still be Mister Bryon and not Benjamin)...

Mister Bryon had no problem with the freak-picture-taking-almost-in-tears-hormonal-mama

Please notice the adoration on Ben's face. Mister Bryon let him choose his cape (Toy Story), sit on the big chair, gave him a truck to play with and put on Elmo...

I mean who wouldn't adore this guy. I want him to cut my hair I think

My baby becoming such a big boy

So not amused by the paparazzi that had gathered for the momentous occasion

Alright, fine, I'll give you one smile

I love how he watched in the mirror to see what Mister Bryon was doing

Giggled all the way through

Oh, sweet little hairs...

Thank you Mister Bryon!

Side note: while I do hate those doctors who do the whole Dr. First Name, I love the fact that Mister Bryon is called that.

'Nother side note: if you would like Mister Bryon's info, just google him. He is in Morrisville. You can make appointments online (amazingly simple). He set Ben at such ease and even gave suckers and a toy at the end. I had warned him about it being Ben's first time, but there was totally no need because Mister Bryon was such a pro.

The birthday that wouldn't go away

OK, last birthday post! Here is us singing and Ben blowing out his candles.

Rest of party pictures

Here are a few more pictures. A couple decorations and what the youngest kids at the party did during the festivities

Party favors. A friend let me borrow an animal cupcake pan (this one is the hippo)

We decorated balloons as lions and zebras
Side note: Sharpie comes off balloons and onto children's faces and hands

Jace loved Uncle Spencer (not at all bitter about that)

but I think he loved this chair even more

And here is our sweetest, smallest guest (and Bampa) at the beginning of the party

and this is Levi at the end

Benjamin at 2 years old

Profile of a 2 year old:
*I will update with his stats after our dr appointment Monday
Interests: balls, animals, make believe
Enjoys: anything Zeke is doing, tormenting Zeke, wrestling with daddy, paci (still...)
Turn-Offs: leaving paci in bed, daddy leaving for work, mommy leaving him anywhere at anytime (oi seperation anxiety!)
Vices: tantrums like no other when he doesn't get his way, having to come inside (example, made to come inside for dinner and proceeded to rip the pin the lion poster from the door a couple days ago...and then got mad because it wasn't on the door)
Strengths: super snuggler, quick to forgive and move on, thankful spirit

Favorites of my 2 year old;
Foods: any fruit, french fries, any kind of snack
Songs: ABC or 5 Little Monkeys are sung all the way through each meal (we enjoy dinner theatre)
Shows: Mickey Clubhouse (as he calls it) but he doesn't really watch it, he has recently shown an interest in my fave movie for the boys Letter Factory! He talks about Toy Story a lot but doesn't actually watch it either
Books: really any book we are reading at that moment
Toys: sports stuff (golf clubs and balls, baseballs and bats, soccer), cars
Activities: anything outside, play doh, writing, attempting to use scissors

Words:
Ben is such a talker! He repeats anything we say and expecially is using some of Zeke's phrasing, such as "I'm not sure" "Mommy can't hold you, she's driving, stop crying, Zeke" and "I-don't-know". He can totally express anything he wants or needs now and does so using sentences instead of short phrases.

How Ben is like...
daddy- loves anything athletic and outside, must.eat.as.soon.as.awake
mommy- loves that paci (I had one when I was little and am quite partial to giving it to him now actually, it is a sanity saver), so grumpy when he wakes up

Treasuring Details of our 2 year old Ben
*still an early riser, sometimes at 4:30! Usually we can get him back to sleep, but that is only on the couch with us or with one of us laying on his floor while he is in his crib (yes both are super comfy options for mom and dad)
*wide emotional scale- meaning he expresses whatever he feels at that moment and expresses it clearly
*adores Zeke and always wants to be with him
*wears size 4 diapers (boy I was hoping to use up some of these left over 5s, but I'm gonna keep holding onto them just in case)
*misses his daddy so much while he is at work
*super, super clingy to mama, I can barely go into another room some days
*told me last weekend that his best friend is Lindsey (our friend from college who is in our small group, he seriously loves her)
*can still fit into 12 month clothes, but mostly wears 18 months. 12 month jeans are to small but the 18 months are so baggy it is funny
*wants snack all.day.long
*pretty decent eater, and will try most stuff once
*would live outside if we let him
*screams like a dinosaur (to which I respond that we scream outside and let him stand in the drive way until he is done- yeah our neighbors think we are weird)
*knows most colors and shapes and numbers
*this past weekend at church recognized the letter B on a sign
*I think we are ready to start potty training and will begin at the beginning of November
*we will be taking his paci this week :(
*can count to 10
*he has enough personality for about 10 people
*so observant, the other day I caught him with my contact case. He was dipping his finger into it (I had already put them in my eyes) and then putting his finger to his eye. Such a smartie!

He lights up with attention

Dressing up is a fave (even if it just with towels after bathtime)



Such a cutie!

I want my presents

After cake, Zeke asked if he could help open presents. I told him they were Ben's presents and Ben responded with "I want my presents!"

Zeke is plotting his next move to take a gift
Ben hugged every person and said thank you after opening their gift
Quick aside: This is Max (he is 3 days older than Ben) while Ben opened each gift, Max asked me "Cutney, WHAAAAT is it?!" SO cute!

Benjamin LOVES money :)

oh and the chair was a gift that immediately was put to use

Rocking cool hat

After opening his gifts, Ben took 2 victory laps through our loop to show his excitement

Zeke found the books that were given and jumped right in

Learnin' the boys early how to mow