a no-fun adventure with sick babies

we've had a loooong weekend. it's really the last weekend before holiday craziness ensues & the boys got some kinda bug-and i'm fighting it. well i guess we just wanted to have a little chaos of our own before the holidays! of course, gabe has it the worst, his poor little body just can't fight as hard as us bigger people. bless his little heart. he struggles to breath cause of his stuffed nose & drainage. PTL for aspirators (aka booger suckers)! they have been his life line the last few days. he absolutely hates it, but he can breathe so much better afterwards. we have to do it every couple of hours, especially before he eats. he's a little champ and is still trying to be himself. he slept a good portion of the day today, but has been up most of the afternoon trying to play. ben's got a cough & runny nose but doesn't seem to be put off too much by it. he's a little lethargic & snuggly but still wants to wrestle. the worst is at night of course when the fevers come up and they lay down to sleep & everything runs down their throats. yuck! so it's been several little sleep kinda nights. i'm thankful they aren't too whiney in the midst of it. so grateful for my sweet boys-i don't do well with cranky even if they are sick! :)

hoping they get better soon! we're heading to spend a few night at a beach house with friends for the thanksgiving holiday & don't wanna be spreading this around.

love to all! thankful for you who love, support & pray for us!

adventures in communications and manuvering

all i can say is...FINALLY!! i know how my very own computer! so hopefully instead of updating every 6 weeks or so, maybe i can get on a better routine. so we'll just call this one a catch up entry.

ben: my oh my! he is a nonstop talker. his thing is repeat a word until you interrupt or repeat it so he knows that he's been heard. he's comprehending so much more & able to communicate in new ways. he tells me what he would like to eat & when. we're still working on the potty stuff, but i'm not trying to push it. i know it'll come eventually. but for now i'll take the "i wuv mama" and "gabers" . he truly does love his little brother. he most definitely alerts me when gabe is crying and makes sure that i help him out. then other day i got out of the shower & found him in the crib with gabe reading him a book. i guess gabe had woken up & was crying. my sweet boy! ben is really into robots, planes & cars. oh and dinosaurs! great! here come all the non-pretty boy things.

gabe: well geez louise! this kid is growing out of control. at his 6 month check up he was 21lbs! yes there are days when he wants to be held & it breaks my back. but there's plenty of him to hold onto that's for sure. :) he's such a sweet baby. he will smile at anyone, anytime. he's too easy. i love it. even when he's teething he's sweet & snuggly. so thankful! he seems to be quite the momma's boy though. i finally, at 6 1/2 months, got him to eat baby food! he seems to enjoy it most of the time, but he'd still prefer me. i'm trying to just enjoy that because i know i'll wish i had when the time comes for him to become his daddy's shadow. well my little chubba has also figured out the army crawl right about 7 1/2 months. he can really get places when desired, but he also likes to pull the i'm-gonna-fuss-til-you-give it-to-me method as well. i thought it would take him longer to get the crawling down. i've noticed that he actually struggles more with pulling himself up. one must have lots of upper body strength to get those arms to work.

they're both growing like weeds & seem to find new adventures for us all to embark on together. i'm loving being a momma to these 2 sweet little guys-2 is more than enough for now!

adventures of teething & talking

my life is full of teething babies & talking toddlers! gabe has another tooth...so that's 3 total & all on the bottom. i can feel another one pushing on the bottom & not a top tooth in sight. he also won't eat any food for the life of me. i'm dying to give it to him and he just refuses. he's also learned to sit this week. he's doing great. he'll sit in one place for a while before he topples to the side, usually because he's reached for a toy just out of reach. love this stage....the one where they don't go anywhere!

ben has really started to talk up a storm lately. he goes from not saying anything to becoming my little parrot. well, actually matt's little parrot. he follows matt, imitates matt & says whatever matt does. it's sweet to see his love & admiration for his dad at such an early age. it's been nice to actually communicate with him better. if you ask him to choose between 2 things he'll just repeat whichever you've said last, but it's a start. and i'll take what i can get!

they both seem to be growing leaps & bounds every week!

an adventurous rolley-polley

well i put my finger in gabe's mouth today and got a little sharp surprise. the once barely poking tooth, is most definitely a full blown tooth. 5 months old! hooray! i'm glad his waited til now! ben's first one (two!) came shooting through right at 4 months. thankful my boys get teeth early because it helps with the transition to food. so now gabe will have some teethers to help with that chewing of food puree he'll start next month. :)

his second new trick, besides cutting teeth, is rolling over. he's done it a time or two before but nothing consistent. well today was the day apparently. every time i put him on his back to play he'd roll himself over. so no more walking away...he's on the move. i doubt he'll be an early crawler since he has all the extra weight to haul around, but i guess we'll see.

oh and this boy's smile. :) melts my heart. he's such a sweetie! and yet at the same time he's got a serious temper. but when he's happy, he's happy. smiling & laughing. i wonder if he'll have the same old man laugh (or one with his own twist) that ben has. he sure has the same huge smile. maybe i should have named the blog happy ruckel boys!

adventures with feet & words

it's been quite a busy month and yet i'm not entirely sure what we've been doing! how does that even happen?! 

gabe just turned 5 months on sunday. time is flying!! he found his feet in the past few weeks. they have definitely become his favorite toy. he also prefers chewing on his right foot over the left one. he is now self-entertaining! i'd been waiting for him to start batting at things, but i think he skipped that part and went straight for grabbing. i learned this  lesson once he got ahold of my arm and hair and latched his little sucker onto my shoulder! pretty sure he gave me a hickey! haha. love that kid.  he has also started to really teeth. i can feel a little tiny something or other poking out of his tender gums. but boy i'll tell you-he will attack you if you aren't careful.

ben is doing really well as big brother. he adores gabe & loves on him constantly. he lays down next to gabe when they are playing and talks to him. ben makes the sweetest face while hugging gabe. the i-love-you-so-much-i-could-squeeze-your-head-off-but-im-trying-to-be-gentle face. he is never one to be without an expression. my favorite is the face he makes when he is trying not to laugh, but still be funny. maybe i'll catch this elusive face on camera one day. :) ben's vocabulary has significantly increased in just the past few weeks. he has finally entered the mimicking stage. i love it! i feel like he can finally communicate with me. he's really bright-yes i know all mom's say that, but it's true :) he has started pointing out random letters to me in words. he showed me a "r" on tv one day and totally surprised me. what a great surprise though, to know that all the times i've pointed out letters & read ABC books is paying off!! now is when i wish i had a bilingual nanny (or anyone) in his life so he could be learning spanish too. (that is my secret dream in my perfect parenting life.) so for now, we're working on colors and while most of the time he gets it, he'll still confuse blue & green, but always gets orange. go figure-the kid loves orange! he does always set the pace & run the unique beat of his own drum and care less what everyone else is doing. blue? who cares about blue?!

both my boys are growing up so quickly, but i'm cherishing every second. having a 2nd one helped me to really slow down and take it all in. they are both perfectly individual yet remind me of one another all at the same time....

my life is full...of boys, dogs, and diapers, but mostly joy!

i update my twitter constantly & have connected my picture updates to the blog-at the top right above this post. so be sure to check back here for lots of pics of our everyday (also updates facebook & twitter)

differences between adventurous brothers

here's how ben & gabe compare at their 4 month appt.

ben: 15lbs. 14oz. and 26in.

gabe: 17lbs. 14 oz. and 26.5in.

my big boys! they're close, but gabe takes the cake! i was re-reading old ben blogs to see what he was doing at this age. grabbing toes & rolling over-pretty standard. it amazes me how easily i forgot! but at the same time it's so familiar. gabe's giggling and yelling, rolling and playing, grabbing at everything. he is such a sweetie and will easily give you a smile. and at the same time, this boy has a TEMPER! his fuse is short and he gets worked up so easily. if he can't quite get a good grasp on a toy, watch out! but he sure does love to play. he'll play on his mat for quite awhile just talking & yelling at his reflection in the mirror.

adventures with 2 kids...

brotherly love

 "One kid is an accessory; Two is a lifestyle."

 i didn't quite fully understand this quote until i had gabe. i thought it was funny, but now i know it's more than that, it's TRUE! long gone are the days of picking up and going, making a quick trip into the store, and a nice quiet dinner. :) 

and i think...really? i want more?! am i crazy?

well sure, but i think most moms are. it's gotta be a defense mechanism. we all had times as kids that we were embarrassed of our parents, that now as adults we've come to appreciate. lol! i've come to realize that my mom's singing to any and every song that came over the speakers or just into her head was more to drown out the loud noise of my sisters & i bickering. i still haven't found out a way to explain the dancing, but i'm sure i will eventually. :) love you mom! 

hmm...i wonder what mine will be.....