Ben Says Hi!

Here he is!

Just thought this was funny. What a difference a year makes - not only all the changes in Max, but living back in Michigan and now a 2 month old baby too! St. Patrick's Day 2009 and 2010.

Winter with Two Boys (January-March)

Well, things have been just moving along here! There's not that much extra time to sit back and observe, but then when you do, you can't believe all the little changes that have occurred over the past couple months. First Matt had 6 weeks paid paternity leave for Ben, so Matt was home with us all of February. Then my parents came out from California to help once Matt went back to work. So, the first week I had both boys to myself with no help was when Ben was 7 weeks old. It was wonderful to have all that help!

Max is now stringing words together (ex. "Help Dad trash" or "More water, please Mommy" or "Daddy's shoes" - he loves pointing out what belongs to who). He is also definitely a mimicker of his father. He tries to juggle (which Matt did a lot of on his paternity leave) and wear watches. He's pretty social (can't imagine where he gets that from), loves getting to go to other people's houses, and he's pretty good at remembering people's names. Max has been pretty good with Ben. He's definitely curious about him and will even help from time to time (one time I was holding Ben who was crying and felt something hit me - Max had brought Ben a pacifier). But we have had the occasional hits, scratches, and bites (such fun!).

Ben is now smiling. He had his first smiles right around 4 weeks. He's also cooing and has a little bit of a laugh. He has definitely stayed big! At his 2 month check-up he weighed in at exactly 16 pounds (99th percentile) and is 24 3/4 inches long (96th percentile). Funny compared with his skinny brother! Ben's a pretty easy-going baby and continues to get better and better at sleeping through the night. Sorry there are so many pictures - hey, double the kids, double the pictures! So, I split them into two slideshows. One for January and February and one for March. Enjoy!

Here are Max's juggling skills. Pretty cute!

Playing in the snow with Grandpa Jack - a daily occurrence while Grandma and Grandpa were visiting.

Hanging out with 2 boys - my life now!

Welcome Baby Ben!

We welcomed Benjamin Ryan Bosch into the world on Monday, January 18 at 4:48pm. He arrived weighing 10lbs. 8oz. and 22 inches long! We had no idea that Ben was going to be THAT big until he appeared. The nurses quickly adopted the nickname of "Big Ben." Despite how big he was, the delivery went really smoothly. I wound up being induced on Ben's due date, so that was really nice to know he was coming finally and to set up plans for the family members who watched Max while we were in the hospital.

Max got to meet Ben for the first time when we came home from the hospital on Wednesday. Due to H1N1 concerns, our hospital didn't allow visitors 16 years old or under, so Max was never able to come to the hospital. It all worked out though! He was thrilled to have Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Anna, and Auntie LJ here in different shifts to take care of him.

When we got home from the hospital, Max was down for a nap. So when he woke up, Matt went upstairs and got Max, and brought him down. Here's the video of him right after he came downstairs and saw Ben for the first time.

Here's Max's first time "holding" Ben.

And here's what happened when we took Ben away from Max.

Late Fall / Early Winter 2009 (19-20 Months)

Well, in these couple months we spent a lot of time marveling on how quickly Max seemed to be growing up and preparing for the arrival of Baby Boy #2! Time just flew by! We were thrilled to have some visitors. In early November our friends Michelle and Joe along with their son, Jack (who's just 2 months older than Max), came to visit us from Ohio. It was wonderful to see them and a lot of fun to see Max and Jack play together again! Then after spending Thanksgiving in Grand Rapids with Matt's family, we quickly returned to Brighton to pick up my parents who flew in from California that night. They stayed with us for a week, and they along with LJ and Matt painted Max's and the baby's rooms. Painting the boys' bedrooms brought about other changes - moving the crib out of Max's room and Max getting a new BIG bed. We had a wonderful Christmas with Matt's family in Grand Rapids! We got to see a lot of everyone since everyone was in town! Then the first couple weeks of January were spent waiting and waiting for the big arrival. Max had no idea what was coming his way!

During these months Max's vocabulary just seemed to explode! He has a lot to say and wants to make sure you heard him (ie. you need to acknowledge his statements!). He is still very curious and adventurous - very willing to do something risky (he does exercise some caution and now repeats what I would say to him, "Be careful," in the same tone). You can see signs of his sense of humor. He thinks putting a piece of food or his fork on his head and saying "hat" is hilarious. Max also has definite opinions. He loves watching the movie Polar Express (Matt just bought Kung Fu Panda for some relief for us from watching Polar Express) and has even voiced that he does not want to wear the shirt I picked out for him and wants to pick it himself. My oh my!

As I said before Max loves watching the movie Polar Express, especially the part where they have the hot chocolate song. Here's some of his dancing while the song is going on. Then he breaks into a random somersault at the end - a surprise to us!

Here's Max demonstrating that he really does have an opinion! What you're missing in this video is the 10 books that Max had already turned down.