Don't let life pass you by...

So life is flying by... Maggie is over 10 months old and always on the go.. about ready to walk any day now, Elliot is hitting milestones left and right, and Rowin, well, he is going to PreK tomorrow! (since starting this post yesterday, I have officially dropped my baby off!) We went by and met his teacher The other day. It was exciting and scary all in one! She was super nice and his school is lovely and full of other kiddos! I mean it was overwhelming for me to see all these kids his size and older and know that I am just throwing my baby to the wolves! Rowin is tough and brave and a wonderful kiddo and I know he is going to thrive there! He is so social and very inquisitive.. he will give his teacher a run for her money I am sure! ;)

Now for Elliot.. he learned to climb up the stairs the other day to my surprise. I was sitting at the computer and he was sitting at the bottom of the stairs playing as usual. Then I heard an unusual sound: someone going up the stairs?! Sure enough I went to the stairs to find him four stairs up smiling away! I eventually let him climb up the entire way.. and he was laughing the whole way! He was so proud of himself and so was I! :) He is starting to pull up to furniture and even cruise along furniture! The other night I caught him trying to feed Maggie from and empty spoon! :) Then she returned the favor later by offering him his sippy cup! :) too cute! Last night I put him in his room and went to get his sippy cup from down stairs, and came back to find him sitting on top of the toy box! I have no idea how he climbed up there, but he sure did! Oh! and he has taken a liking to the drums!

Maggie, sweet Maggie.. she is such a joy. There is something special about having a baby girl. She adds a whole new dimention to our family: drama, beauty, daintiness (if that's a word ;)), sweetness. She is growing up way too fast. She is also pulling up to furniture and cruising along (she is motivated by her brother who likes to attack her). She is attached to me lately, but fortunately does fine in the nursery as long as she has someone to cling to there ;).

Mark is busting tail at work... he is going to be gone out of town three out of five days for the next couple of weeks. Then things should settle back down. He also just released his CD "Healing Songs (for Elliot)". You can email me or leave me a comment to find out how to purchase one! All proceeds benefit the Little Light House! They are only $10 and Mark sang and played all the music on the cd. They were songs that were on Elliot's ipod while he was in the NICU.

Me, well, I am just being a wife and mommy. Trying to stay sane ;) and right now.. a little bothered by the quiet in my house! :) I am doing quite a bit of volunteer work for Elliot's school and I am sure I will be suckered into doing some for Rowin's school soon. Enjoy the pictures! For some reason, my pictures aren't showing up! hopefully, I can get them up soon!

Wrinkles...

So Rowin has really gotten fond of calling my arms fluffy... (even though I have been working out and they are slimmin down). Well, we were in the car the other night and he began again talking about my arms and how he likes how they are fluffy. It was a sweet conversation (despite that my arms are being called fluffy) So, here is the conversation:

Rowin: "Mommy, I like your fluffy arms"
Me (hesitantly): "Thanks sweetie"
Rowin: "Big Memaws arms are all wrinkled, why are they wrinkled"
Me: "Well, Rowin.. when we get older our skin wrinkles.."
Rowin: "All my grandmas are wrinkled..." (side note: he was really speaking of his Great-grandmas! He clarified later)
Me: "Yes, that is because they are older"
Rowin: "You aren't wrinkled mommy. And I don't have wrinkles.."
Me: "No I am not, thank you baby" (This totally made up for my fluffy arms ;)
Rowin: "I don't want you to get wrinkled because then I wouldn't be your son any more."
Me: "Oh sweetie.. You are always going to be my son, and I am always going to be your mommy! That will never change!"

The conversation continued with me explaining how someday I would be a grandma and how he will always be my son and I will always be his mommy. So then, today he asked me when I was going to be a grandma.. and I told him a long time from now.. when he gets married and has kids of his own! He's only four! Sheesh! I still have 20 more years before I get wrinkles right?! :) HAHA!

Mini Laps 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

Can you believe it's almost been a year since Elliot started school at The Little Light House?! It's the best thing that's happened to Elliot! He has grown so much over the past year, and we are going to get to celebrate all he has accomplished at school September 26, 2009 at Mini Laps! Yes, it's that time again! If you don't remember or we didn't get to share with you last year, Mini Laps is a morning where we celebrate all the miracles and milestones the kiddos at the Little Light House have accomplished over the past year. Last year we got to celebrate Elliot being accepted into school, and learning how to sit up in just two weeks of being there! This year…. Drum roll please… we will get to celebrate Elliot WALKING around that track! He has gotten to be a pro at cruising around in his walker, but we hope (fingers crossed) that he will be taking off without it J.

Wouldn't you like to be apart of that? Elliot is motivated by school and all his friends there. He would not be excelling this much without The Little Light House. Did you know that The Little Light House runs solely on private donations? They do not accept any government funding or United Way money. They want to be able to keep being a ministry and teach the Bible to these precious children. It takes people like you and me who are willing to support them and their wonderful ministry to keep them going. As I sit here and write this letter to you, my eyes are welling up with tears just thinking about this school and how much it has done for just our family, let alone the other 64 families that are enrolled right now. I can't or don't want to imagine Elliot's life without The Little Light House, do you? I know that the economy has a lot of people worried, but even $5 will make a difference. You can eat in one meal can't you? Please help us pull together to support Elliot and cheer him on this year! Let's see how much money we can raise for this wonderful school and motivate Elliot to walk without his walker (maybe if I tell him how much money people are giving to see him walk, that will motivate him ;) haha!!)

So, here is how: log onto www.littlelighthouse.org and make an online donation in Elliot's name, it's that easy!

Thank you all in advance! I will be sending you pictures of Elliot walking across that finish line in September!

Sincerely,

The Bennett Family- Mark, Andrea, Rowin, Elliot, and Maggie

A Little of Everything...

Hey all! I just wanted to blog about this and that... We are having a great summer so far. It has taken me a couple of weeks to adjust to the new schedule.. just in time for Elliot to start his summer session next week ;) hehe. But that will be ok, it will get me back into a better routine.
We had some friends of ours visit this weekend from Arkansas, and we had a blast letting the kids run and play and enjoy each others company again. We went to a new park here that was so awesome. It is handicap accessible and has some water features that the boys loved playing in (that's what they are for). Elliot loved it, but got chilly quickly and very angry when we had to get him out and keep him out. It was a great weekend.
We are going to Arkansas tomorrow for some appointments and Mark is going to work while we are there also. It should be fun and exhausting for all! :) We will see how staying in a hotel room with all 5 will go. Wish us luck! :)
Have I told you all that I am so happy to have a girl?? She is Adorable! I love her! (Don't get me wrong, I adore my boys! But there is something about Maggie... she's my girl! ;)
Anyway.. Rowin asked about Elliot's school.. I don't remember how he asked about it, but as I started to explain, he lost interest and was on to something else. Mark and I exchanged looks knowing the day was coming when we would have to explain that Elliot has Down Syndrome and what that means. There is something inside me that dreads that day... maybe because I will have to admit it out loud (not that I haven't done it before), or maybe it's because I don't ever want Rowin to see his brother as different (in a bad way), I don't ever want to put limitations on Elliot, and I don't want Rowin to do that either (I don't think he will though), anyway, I just love the innocence that Rowin has with Elliot, and I don't want to lose that. ok, brief kid update:
Rowin is hilarious! He is a different character (in full costume) every day, sometimes every couple hours, or minutes. He loves our neighbors that are twin 5 year olds and he plays with them every minute he can now that they are out of school. I can't believe he is going to pre-k this fall!
Elliot is doing great! He is scootin on his butt and wearing out every pair of shorts he has.. he refuses to crawl. He is a pro in his walker, and I am sure he will figure out soon that walking is so much better than having a raw tush! He is jabbering more and more not many real words but throws in a hi or all done (especially when it comes to eating, don't get me started).
Maggie is Adorable as I said earlier. She is oh so close to crawling. Scoots every where and anywhere. She is a joy to have around and her brothers love her (although Elliot is learning to guard his toys). She loves her brothers! I don't think she will know what to do this fall when they are both in school!
Mark is doing good. He is awesome at his business and worship leading. He just amazes me more and more. He works his butt off for us and I can't thank him enough!
I am doing well. Like I said, I think I am getting in a summer groove (except for getting used to being hot all the time :( ). I am constantly feeding someone (I applaud mother's of multiples!) and that is what I have to go do now.. Maggie is awaiting me!
Until next time!

My smilin' faces! :)

Sweet, energetic Rowin

Precious Elliot, he won't smile for the camera anymore.. so had to use an old pic!

This one of Maggie is recent. It's her new face :) hehe. isn't it soo cute?!
Enjoy the video of her repeatedly making this face... and enjoy Rowin's laugh in the background, it's too precious!

Too much in one week!

So, Maggie is growing way too fast. She is doing so much way too soon. This week, she has started clapping! :) She is getting her FIRST tooth (which both boys did not do until they were over a year old!?)! and she is now very mobile! She started really scooting and going places. My world is turning upside down. With her and Elliot mobile, and Rowin the power-ranger, kung fu, pirate, superhero that he is.. I don't know what I am going to do with myself! You may hear about me in a couple of weeks on the news as the woman who locked herself in her closet with chocolate and dr.pepper and ear plugs! :) haha! if only right? Maybe that is what I should ask for for my mother's day present? Three straight hours of silence, all the chocolate I could want (without the calories of course) and maybe step it up to some wine ;) ! hahaha.
With that being said.. I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's day! and gets some time to themselves, be it, while going to the bathroom, a ten minute stroll around the block, or if you are lucky enough, a night alone!