The Merrick Family has grown: Week in review

We survived...this week I had my first overnight travel for work since returning from maternity leave, my first nights away from Ben...AND Sean was gone too! We called in reinforcements, my mom, aka Nannie! What would we do without Nannie and Miss Judi?!!? I had to travel to Memphis for work and Sean had to be in Omaha for meetings, so my mom stayed with the boys, Miss Judi was here during the days, and Uncle Mitch and his girlfriend Kolbi came to visit and help out during the evenings! I had a big sense of relief knowing my mom was with the boys, but it is always hard being away, especially when Ben was just 13 weeks old. I had a very hard time being away and staying focused, but I survived and so did everyone else. When Thursday came and I could hug both of my boys, it felt oh so good! They had fun with Nannie and Luke was so sad when he woke up from his nap and Nannie wasn't there, boy, does he love his Grandma. Ben brought back the sleepless nights to my mom...unfortunately he didn't sleep so hot one of the nights for her. We are still trying to figure out what works best for him, about every third night he will sleep through the night from 730pm-530am, but those other nights, it is hard saying if he will be up at midnight or 4 a.m??? One of these days we will get it down. It is amazing how much little Ben changed in the three days I didn't see him, I felt like he was bigger when I came home. He is laughing a lot, having longer alert periods throughout the day, and absolutely loves to be talked to. The other day I was in the toy room with the boys and Luke was pretending to shoot bucks and does, I would ask Luke what he shot, he would tell me and I would relay to Ben, "Luke shot a buck" and he would just giggle! Luke got a kick out of it too, he loves to make Ben smile and laugh. Friday night Sean and I had an Ugly Christmas Sweater party to attend. I am so bummed, I never got our picture but I will describe, Sean wore a women's mock turtleneck sweater in red with white snowflakes. I, on the other hand, sported a red and white striped collard shirt with small santas on it and a red cardigan sweater with green holly. I could have passed for a waitress from Happy Joes! It was so much fun with our wonderful friends, we are so thankful for! The rest of our weekend spent lounging in front of the fire, listening to Christmas music, playing lots of hoops and football, baking Christmas cookies, and making smores over the fire. We enjoyed our weekend at home with the boys and cherish these special times. Tonight we let Luke stay up a little late to watch the Polar Express, he loved it! We have been talking about Christmas a lot, even though I think he might be a little young to understand it all. We are enjoying this holiday season and getting into the Christmas spirit with our two sweet boys!

Getting bigger everyday

Last weekend we visited "Camp Bop & Nannie" so Sean could deer hunt with my dad. Luke wanted to hunt too, so he hunted from the comfort of the warm living room! He loves to stand at these windows and watch all the excitement on the farm.

"mom, Luke go to gym"

This picture is funny to me because Luke actually goes to the gym more than I do!!!! Monday night as I was getting everything ready before my trip to Memphis Luke was walking around in my gym shoes and hat saying "gym, bye-bye"

off to the gym

Cutie Pie, just hanging out watching all the excitement

My two boys "playing"

This is funny to me...this was my four paged typed notes for my mom and Miss Judi while I was gone! I might be a bit over the top...but it made me feel better

Does it get any cuter than Mr. Ben?!

This was Luke tonight, apparently he thought my cabinets needed to be reorganized. Or he was just bored from being cooped up in the house all weekend?