The Merrick Family has grown: Back to work...

I have some catching up to do on the blog but a perfectly good excuse for my absence. My maternity leave is up and I am back to work today so I have spent the last several days just soaking in the joy of being home with my sweet boys. I am going to miss being with them every minute of the day and it will be an adjustment for us all. It amazes me how fast 12 weeks can go and how much these two little boys can change in such a short time. Luke has really grown up so much right before our eyes and Ben is growing out of his "newborn" stage and becoming so interactive with us. It has been such a great blessing to have spent the past three months with our boys, I adore them with all my heart and looked forward to what each day was going to bring. We are so fortunate to have Miss Judi with us, so it will make our transition much easier for myself and the boys. Luke loves her so much and I know Ben will too. I have a great piece of mind knowing that she is with them when I can't be. I am thankful that my going to work means they get to stay home with Miss Judi and when I work from home I can always sneak upstairs on occasion to get a little fix of their sweet faces. I will say it is a little harder working from home the older Luke gets, he likes to come down to our offices and he just knows when we are actually home, even if he doesn't see us go down to our offices. I will begin my traveling next week, with my first over night to Memphis, which is very hard for me to swallow. It has to come to happen at some point. Sean reminds me they will be alright and I know they certainly will, its more of a question if I will be alright?!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have so much to be thankful for...first and foremost our beautiful two boys that we have been greatly blessed to parent and our wonderful family and great group of friends near and far. We are thankful for our jobs that allow us to provide for our family and offer challenges to us that keep us going! We are thankful for our house that we have made a home and celebrating ONE year in our new home on November 26th! A year ago we were working our way out of boxes and to say we have greatly enjoyed and embraced the comfort of our home is an understatement. We are looking forward to celebrating another wonderful holiday in our home together, and most importantly with the addition of Ben to celebrate with us, his 1st Christmas. We spent Thanksgiving day with some of Sean's family in Davenport at his aunt and uncles house, and headed north to my parents on Friday. We celebrated my mom's birthday by making her a special dinner and let her sit and enjoy the craziness of her home during the holidays, she truly enjoyed and appreciated being waited on and served for once being she is always stuck in her kitchen when we are home. Saturday we got together with my extended family on my dads side, which is a house full. Everyone from our family was there with the exception of my brother and his wife in Seattle and my cousin from Denver, which hasn't happened in many many years. It was great to see everyone and I know it meant so much to my Grandma.
The goal of my blog has always been to keep track of our ever so crazy lives and capture as much of the excitement and milestones I can. I have printed off our first year and find myself looking back to it quite a bit. As busy as our lives can be with our two boys, our busy work schedules, and all the above, I want to make sure that I am keeping up with our boys so one day they can look back on what their days looked like as an infant and crazy busy toddler. You may not see me on here as often, but I will be sure to highlight what is going on in our family so we can have it to look back on.
I will end this random post with a couple pictures of our cuties, both taken from my phone! I am taking more pictures from my phone these days because it is much "easier" to grab it rather than getting our big, nice camera.

Ben really is a very happy baby, cooing, kicking, and laughing all the time. He still likes his swing for naps and constant movement when it is time to sleep. He is mostly happy unless he is letting us know it is time for a nap!