Here Comes Santa Claus...

I used to roll my eyes everytime I walked past the mall Santa Claus. Why would parents waste their time and money waiting in line to watch their children sit on Santa's lap? But then Benjamin was born...and I became one of those parents. And I made Tom come along. I even dressed Ben in Christmas gear. Complete with shirt, socks, and Santa hat.

Benjamin did really well, no tears at all. He did give Santa the "who are you and what is with that beard" look.

As well as the "I'm not so sure about you" look.

But then he quickly shifted to standard 3 month old apathy.

As Santa was handing Benjamin back to me, he said "I just love being the first Santa that gets to hold them."

3 Months Old

First Day of "School"

Well we survived Ben's first day of daycare. Lets be honest, Ben was always going to do fine, it was Tom and I that needed the help. Fortunately, Grandma Lois came down last week for my first few days back to work. It made it so much easier knowing that I only had to get myself ready for work.

(I wonder who put who down for a nap.)

Today was Ben's first official day at daycare and we all did well. Tom even made it home from the hospital to wish us luck. He's working nights so Ben and I are cherishing every moment we get to spend with him.

How lucky am I?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our little turkey!

Guess who's two months old?

Benjamin!

Oops!

I forgot to post photos of my boys in their Halloween costumes yesterday.

Well I guess Henry was the only one with an actual costume-a banana split that came from my Aunt Kris.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Tom, Katie, and Ben!

Pumpkin Flavor

Not long ago, Tom made a sweeping declaration-"if you are ever offered anything pumpkin flavored, you must take it." In the last two weeks, this statement has forced him to order a pumpkin cupcake and a pumpkin Sonic blast. So today when we were in front of the beer case at the grocery store, he was required to buy...

Pumpkin Beer!

The jury is still out of whether it's any good.

One Month Old

Benjamin is one month old today!

Grandpa and Grandma Howard

Well, I've been meaning to upload these photos for about a week, but for some reason I've been a little distracted. Fortunately, my distraction is getting cuter by the day!


Grandpa and Grandma Howard came to visit last week while Tom was on vacation. It was great to have the visitors (and the help). It was a week of firsts: Ben's first dinner out, his first trip to the outlet mall, and Tom and I even managed to sneak in a date night courtesy of our wonderful babysitters. It wasn't easy to leave even though Ben was in wonderful hands.
Here are some photos of their visit.

Benjamin Thomas Howard

I cannot believe it, but today Ben is two weeks old. It's been an amazing couple of weeks. Here are some photos of our changing life.

Taken right before my c-section

Skyping with Grandpa and Grandma McDonald

Meeting Grandpa and Grandma for the first time

Taking a nap with Dad

Getting ready to go home

Trying to figure out the car seat

Better than a pacifier

First car ride

Sleeping like Dad

Big Brother Henry was very curious

Thanks for the Cubs gear Aunt Beth and Uncle Eric

First doctors appointment

Another Belly Photo

39 Weeks

I look a little different than our wedding photo, huh?

Belly Photo

36.3 Weeks!

We're getting closer! According to the doctor, this little guy already weights 7-7.5 pounds. Yikes!

Poor Henry

Which one of you shot my paw?
Warning: no vizslas were hurt in the making of these photos. Henry licked his paw raw so the vet wrapped it to prevent further problems.

Henry was not happy about it.

Belly Photo

34 Weeks down, 6 to go

Surprise!

We have met some great people since moving to Oklahoma. Want some proof? Last night was like any other night at our house, with the exception that Tom and I were going to meet our friends James and Amy for cupcakes. (Which as an 8 month pregnant lady, I was very excited about.) Tom texted to say that he and James were going to the golf course and they would meet Amy and I at the cupcake shop. Not unusual. So I change out of my work clothes, and thankfully, into something somewhat presentable and head out the door. I get to Amy's house, ring the doorbell and...nothing. Hmmm, their dog wasn't barking, did I get the time wrong? Nope! Surprise! Amy had gathered together some kindred souls (aka other residents wives) to throw me a surprise baby shower!

It was absolutely wonderful! They had food, flowers, gifts, and cake. Amy had made and decorated a cake for me to take home a share with Tom.

The girls very generously gave me all kinds of baby essentials. Swaddleing blankets, rattles, teething toys, bibs, diapers, bottle brushes, baby wash and many other bathing necessities.

Needless to say I am very grateful for the wonderful friends we've made so far.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have posted photos of the cake and now I must eat some.

Bird on a Car

A bird on my brother-in-laws car!

Discovery

I made a very shocking discovery this week. Oklahoma has scorpions. Apparently I am the only one who didn't know this. I feel I was much better off not knowing because now I have to add scorpions to the list of creepy crawlies I am scared of.
This lovely fellow was in the breakroom at work. And while I feel that any scorpion is too big, this one was a "baby" according to the branch manager.

Strange

It's 103 degrees outside. Where do you think my dog is?

That's right, laying in full sunlight in the middle of the backyard. Strange!

Catch-up

So once again, I have been delinquent in posting to the blog. I'll try and catch you up on the recent events in the Howard household.
First things first, we had a week of vacation at the end of May where we went to Sioux Falls. Tom got in a lot of golfing, I got in a lot of family time, and Henry...well he pretty much spent the whole week doing this-

He was our VERY diligent watch dog. You never know when a robin or squirrel might try and attack the front yard.
Most importantly, we had our Reveal Party for Baby Howard. An amazing number of our friends and family came to Tom's parents house to witness the cake cutting. We had wonderful food, great conversation, and of course, cake.

Two of the three great-grandma's to-be were there to cut the cake.

And, we're having a...

BOY!

Everyone enjoyed the cake, especially the proud papa-to-be.

We had an absolutely wonderful vacation! Thank you everyone for helping us celebrate our growing family!

27 weeks

Baby Howard

It's been a very exciting week at the Howard house. First, (and most importantly) it was Henry's 3rd birthday and second, we had our ultrasound on Monday. Both Tom and I were very excited, but also slightly nervous. What if something was wrong with the baby? We ran through any number of scenarios in our heads and I think we both said more than one prayer. But in the end the ultrasound was better than I could have imagined. As my somewhat nerdy husband said "there's a brain in the head, intestines in the belly, a four chamber heart, a 3 vessel umbilical cord, and two arms and two legs." I couldn't have put it any better myself!

So without any further ado, say hello to Baby Howard:

And now from the outside:

You'll notice that I left out all gender revealing photos. One of the future grandmas has requested a gender reveal party complete with pink or blue cake. So you'll have to wait until May 21 to find out if it's going to be a Charlotte or Will, Julia or Ben, Norah or Graham.

It has been absolutely wonderful seeing photos of our little one. I think the ultrasound has made it so much more real for both Tom and I. The minute we left the doctor's office, Tom ran to Barnes and Noble and bought several parenting books and I started researching the safest car seats. (Which I could use some advice on from current parents) We are both so happy!!!