Milestones

#1 - Ben celebrated his one week birthday in a variety of ways: lots of naps, a trip to Heaven on Seven, and a hug from big brother.
#2 - Mr. Hankey returns!

Field Trip

Our first family outing was at the Arboretum on Sunday. There were a ton of cicadas there, but we don't have any in our neighborhood. Ben was not impressed by nature's display. Bradley had plenty of fun in the children's garden. (In case you were wondering, they don't actually grow children in the children's garden.)

Big Brother

Bradley has been getting along nicely with his brother. He always gives out nice hugs (video below). Last night he even held Ben for a little bit.

The Roethlis-baby

You may be interested in knowing the source of the new baby's name. Well, we have continued our tradition of naming the children after Steeler quarterbacks, specifically Super Bowl champion quarterbacks (Terry BRADshaw, BEN Roethlisberger). We have also continued to reserve the middle name for race care drivers (Tony STEWART, DANica Patrick). By the way, Tony Stewart won the championship the year Bradley was born. You may want to put a couple bucks on Danica Patrick to win it all this year.


I hope you realize that I am just kidding. I am not going to reveal the true inspiration for Benjamin, but I will give you some hints - famous person, dead, not on the $100 bill. The name Daniel comes from Ben's most ancient relative. Daniel de Labarre was born in France in 1670 and is Ben's 8th great grandfather.

New Baby

Benjamin Daniel was born on May 30th at 8:40 AM. He weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces and is 19.5 inches long. Both mommy and the baby are doing well. Below are just a few of the pictures from the hospital. Bradley is adjusting well to being a big brother. I will be posting videos of that separately.

At Least He is Honest

More Birthday

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for Bradley's birthday. There was the party on Friday, but even more fun on Saturday. In the morning we went to the Arboretum and checked out the new sculpture named Xanadu. It is kind of like an igloo made of twigs. See below for a video. (It is the longest that I have ever posted - over 3 minutes, so it may take a while to load.) After dinner, we went on a donut run. Sorry, no video of that.

Earning His Keep

Brad has been doing a good job in helping with the indoor chores during winter, like cleaning the countertops and doing the laundry. Now, we finally have him working on some outdoor chores. Last month, he we was in charge of spotting weeds in the yard, which have now been mostly eliminated. Lately he has been helping to water the grass and flowers. Every Monday, he brings in one of the garbage cans.

Piggy Bank - part 2

Since Brad just had a birthday, I figured it was a good time to empty out the piggy bank. I had been filling it up with change for more than a year now. The results were quite disappointing. There was only about $32 in there. This is far short of the record set by my dad.

The Uno is Dos

Brad turned 2 last weekend. There were lots of gifts. He didn't take too kindly to the clothes. They were immediately tossed in mama's direction in favor of opening the next present. Some of his favorites include the coupe (see video), bubble mower (which is already out of bubbles), and the drawing table.