And There Was Much Rejoicing...

For the first time, Ben slept through the night on Saturday.  Coincidentally, Bradley did too.  That means so did mommy and daddy.  That's probably the first time in 3 months that the entire family slept through the night.

The Debut

Ben's been in a video on the blog before, but this is the first time he is in the lead role. We put him in the aquarium for the first time this week. (Yikes, that doesn't sound good. Please watch the video.) It keeps his attention for quite a while. He can spend more than 30 minutes at a time playing with it.

Two years Already?

Wow, I started the family blog two years ago this month.  As you may note, I referred to it as the family blog, instead of Bradley's blog due to our new addition.  I have been trying to think of a good name for new blog, but the best I could come up with is  Brad's Pad Now Featuring Ben's Den.  Therefore, I would like you help.  Anyone have a good idea for re-naming the blog?

Neigh Neigh Ball

There was no NASCAR today. So what is a family to do? We took the boys to their first polo match today. (This took very careful re-engineering of the nap schedule.) Bradley liked seeing all the horses, but wasn't always focused on the game. We spent a good part of half-time and most of the 4th chukker in the paddock area. Bradley even participated in the tradition of replacing the divots on the field during half-time. Since children 13 and under are free, we will most certainly be frequenting the polo grounds for the next 10 years.

Remodeling

We have been thinking about a couple of remodeling projects for the house. Bradley got in on the act by rearranging the furniture in the sun room. Yesterday, he engaged in a home deprovement project. He took the cross bars out of a window and broke them. Don't worry, he's got enough money in his savings account to cover it.

Thumb Sucker!

It is tough to see in the picture, but Ben finally has learned to suck his thumb.

Big Weekend

Grandma & Grandpa came to visit last weekend to see the new baby. The highlight of the weekend included a trip to the zoo on Saturday.

Another significant event was that Bradley slept until 7:20 on Sunday. That is a full two hours later than usual. That was great news for dada, since I usually get the early shift. Maybe playing with the Rocket Ship really wore him out (click for video). Even better news is that mama and dada got to go out to a movie. Oddly enough, that is our 3rd one since Ben was born and probably surpasses the number of movies we saw in the year before Bradley was born. A little birdie told me that Bradley did a very good job of instructing Grandma in all the bed time procedures for both Bradley and Ben.

Happy 4th

We started the holiday early by taking Ben to the Taste for lunch on the 3rd. He did a lot of sleeping an no tasting. On Wednesday, we went to Cantigny for a concert. Ben was all decked out in his red, white, and blue. Bradley liked looking at the tanks.

Check Up

Ben went to the doctor and he is doing well. His current stats are 11 lb 0 oz (82 percentile) and 22.0 inches long (68 percentile). His numbers at birth were 8 lb 4 oz (62 percentile) and 19.5 inches long (42 percentile).

Baby's First

We are certainly more adventurous with Ben than we were when Bradley was very young.  For example, Ben's has already been to 11 different restaurants.  Last night, we took both of them to the Cascade drive-in.  It took Bradley a while to fall asleep.  He stayed up about an hour later than usual.  Unfortunately, that did not cause him to sleep in an extra hour on Sunday.  This was the first visit to a drive-in for both Bradley and Ben.  We saw Live Free or Die Hard.  Mark that down as Ben's first movie.