Dear Desmond, on your 2nd birthday.

{traditional birthday breakfast at Original Pancake House}

Dear precious Desmond,

You have grown from my baby into my little boy very quickly over the last 2 years! You've worked hard to keep up with your big brother and are always found by his side, usually mimicking his every move and word. You've picked up on a lot language over the past year and I'm still in awe over the full blown conversations we've been having over the last few months. I love that you can easily tell me how you are feeling and even why. Your verbal skills have surely come in handy in holding your own when your brother gets a bit bossy. 

You've always been our little climber, before you were walking you were climbing. Just the other day I caught you climbing your chair to reach something on the table, you waved me off and said "no problem, no problem." Sadly you're starting to tune me out when you're intent on doing something that you know you shouldn't. I see the same fierce independence Malakai had at this age coming through in you as well. 

I love watching you learn and grow. You love numbers and shapes and devour books by the dozens. We have to go to the library once a week to keep up with your appetite for reading both with someone or thumbing through picture books on your own. 

Your favorite things are animals, especially those that say "ROAR", like lions, tigers, bears and dinosaurs. You love to say chomp like a crocodile as well. You are obsessed with trucks, trains, planes and pretty much anything that goes "vroom". Your party theme was modeled after this, "things that go". You remember the different sounds that fire trucks, dump trucks, trains and other automobiles make and you've memorized a few of your favorite books. 

Running and hopping come easy to you. I'm sure you'll be pedaling a bike with ease by next spring. You are a phenomenal eater, trying almost anything and going back to try several times even when you've decided "I don't wike it!"I'm so thankful you haven't started to mimick your older brother in this regard. You have always grown fast and are now growing into Kai's clothes almost immediately after he grows out of them. 

Sleep has been a struggle for the past 10 months or so. You did well as a baby, but since last December you haven't been able to go to bed for anyone but daddy at night. The last few months have been rough even with daddy by your side. Thankfully you nap pretty consistently, although that tide is changing as well. I'm praying hard you hold on to your afternoon nap for at least another year, I know you need that rest because you get VERY cranky at dinner time without it. 

Your favorite places to go are Grandma's, Mima's and church. Whenever we get in the car you say, "go to church!" and half the time, that's exactly where we are headed. You've learned the look of our neighborhood and shout "we're home!" when we turn onto our street. 

Sweet Des, you are very social and love to play with bigger kids. You shout hello to the neighbor boys whenever the front door opens and run to greet your daddy each afternoon when he arrives home from work. You transition to new environments quickly, even when you shed a few tears of protest they dry quickly and you have a great time making friends wherever you go. 

My good natured boy, I love you dearly and am so proud to be your mama. Let's continue on this adventure and keep on growing together. Happy Birthday Desmond!

Yours, mama.

_______ ___ _______ ___ _______ ___ _______

On Desmond's 2nd birthday we woke him up and whisked away, just the 4 of us, for an early breakfast at Original Pancake House. This is a tradition we started on Malakai's 2nd birthday. It's easily one of my favorites. 

Desmond was very excited for pancakes and especially blowing out his candle. He blew it out as soon as the plate was set in front of him. We clearly needed a do-over, so the waitress came back to re-light the candle so we could sing to him and I could capture the obligatory photo. That scrunchy face didn't disappoint. Oh how I love a good 2 year old facial expression

{waiting is more bearable with a bendy-straw}

Both boys were on their best behavior and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as usual. Taking kids out to breakfast is much more preferable than dinner!

Just before we headed out we got a quick family "selfie" and by some miracle Ben captured all of us smiling (albeit Kai's is quite goofy, but it's still a smile). 

Ben headed off to work and I took the boys to play indoors at the mall (it was freezing cold and windy that morning so the park was not a great option). They had a great time and walked hand in hand so sweetly. 

{Des LOVES trains!}

Before lunch we headed to the downtown library, which is much bigger than the little branch on our side of town. Malakai was looking forward to the elevators and Desmond enjoyed running around the aisles. I grabbed a ton of books to keep them happy later that afternoon. 

We headed home for lunch, Des took a nice little nap and once Ben got home we had dinner, cupcakes and gave Desmond one of his presents. Then off to bed! It was a whirlwind of a day but Desmond had a great 2nd birthday and we still have his party to look forward to!

updated: about us

I recently realized that my "about us" page hadn't been updated for almost a year. I made a few changes and of course added information about Desmond.

About Malakai: eighteen months

Malakai Benson is 18 months old today.  A year and a half ago he looked like this-

{my teeeensy tiny, peaceful, + quiet baby}

And today he looks like this-

{my big, wild, + noisy toddler}

These days he is doing something new everyday. Yesterday he pointed at G'Pa and said "whatdat newt?"..."what's that nose?" We all had a good laugh. A little later he found the microphone for his Aunt Nanner's Disney Wii game and started to sing + dance while watching himself in the mirror.

Kai is all boy. He loves to wrestle, run, and jump. He also does a few strange things like bash his head or his mouth into the wall, the couch, daddy's knee. As I type this he is putting his mega blocks in the sink while daddy tries to do the dishes. He knows when he's doing something wrong, he'll say "no no no" or "uhoh" but then continue to do it. He doesn't seem to mind time-outs very much, but they can still be a good reset for unwanted behavior. 

He loves to try to push the buttons on my laptop or shut the lid on my hands while I'm typing. He puts toys into the back of the tv's speakers, tries to push the power button, gets into all drawers + cupboards. He climbs whatever he can to get to the couch, drags the end table from the living room into the kitchen + back, slides the outlet protector off, opens the oven door latch, and unlocks the latch on the dishwasher while it's running. He likes to turn the handle on the diaper pail, throw toys, hit with toys, grab other kids by their clothes to move them out of his way, and he is still resistant to sharing- especially toys that he knows are his. 

He also loves to gives hugs + kisses, snuggles up on daddy's shoulder at night, dance while holding his glow worm, climb into a loved ones lap to listen to a story, flip through the pages of his Old McDonald book + sing "eieio". He still falls asleep in the car + lets mama transfer him to bed. He loves to play peek-a-boo, giggles endlessly at a specific scene of Elmo tripping on a pile of apples, says "bwease" if you dare stop swinging, tickling, bouncing, or pushing him in a basket or box around the room like it's a racecar. He always has a smile for someone new, even when he's acting shy at first. He gets so excited when he sees his grandparents, waves "bye" when anyone is leaving, blows kisses, tries on everyone's shoes, and puts mama's purse on his shoulder. He knows that when the garage door creaks it means that daddy is home, and he does a little happy dance and runs to the door. He's loving + sweet and so perfectly innocent + full of wonder. 

Some of the words + phrases he's saying are:

"what's that?" 

"there you are!"

"Elmo, please"

"hi, mama!"

"bye!" with a wave

"up, please!"

"all done"

"nuh-night"

"eieio"

"niiiice"

"doggie"

"meow"

"nana" (banana)

"nummies"

"pizza"

"hot dog"

"water" (when it's raining)

There are many many more. He's just soaking up information like a little sponge. Ben + I are always looking at each other in awe of how quickly he learns something. 

He's been working on all four cuspid teeth at once and has been for over a month. His gums are inflamed and at times he is visible (and audibly) miserable. Last night he was chewing on everything and despite some pain meds, he would not go to sleep after 2 hours of trying different techniques to calm + soothe him. At 18 months old, we had to go back to the tried + true method of going on a long drive. Thankfully he almost always transfers well. 

So, he is very much a toddler, but still sometimes my baby. It's going by so fast, each stage that has passed is already hard to remember. I want to soak him up and live in the moment. 

We're so proud of our growing little boy. 

flashback

I went to bed with a headache at 8pm with the intent to rest up before tackling some holiday to-do's. I fell asleep for two hours and am now wide awake while the rest of the house sleeps.

I found myself clicking through posts around here, updating my About Us page,  and um whoah, who's child is this?

{10 months, May 2010}

This year has gone by crazy fast. I sense a year-in-review post coming soon...

Good night (I hope), 

new page

After blogger ate my first draft, I've finally published an "about us" page for anyone who wants to know a bit more about our little family's background.

Happy Weekend!






P.S. don't forget to check out Ben's new blog if you haven't already. Click on follow + keep up with his unique stories each weekday!

a blog party

So I have a list of other blog posts in my head right now, but they're all too complicated for my mush-brain to type out right now. I actually wasn't even going to blog today, but Kai just went down for a nap and I need to just sit and take a break for a bit. Poor little mister has a terrible cough and a fever.

I've noticed a few blogs that I follow doing the D-Listed Mom Blogs, Blog Party 2010 and thought I'd join in on the fun.

It technically started yesterday, but I'm the fashionably late type anyway.

For those of you who are new here from the blog party, thanks for visiting! My name is Shandell, but everyone close to me calls me "Shan". In fact, on the rare occasion that my husband {Ben} calls me Shandell it's worse than that feeling when your mother breaks out the middle name. Anyway, we got married in 2007 {I'm actually planning a post on our background and such later this week} and our 10 month old son, Malakai was born last July 16th. I am a devoted yet fatally flawed follower of Christ, teacher, learner, homemaker, photographer and procrastinator.

I started this blog under a different title when I was about 4 months pregnant in February 2009. Shortly after my son was born the previous name no longer fit and wasn't as unique as I thought so I changed it to Breaking New Ground as at the time we were experiencing many new trials, tribulations + triumphs in our lives. And just as life imitates art {or is it the other way around} we haven't stopped experiencing new things one after the other since then. I think it's called parenthood?

In the last year 2 years my husband quit a job, got a job, lost that job and got another job. I had a pretty eventful pregnancy from a scare at 14 weeks, an ER visit at 20 weeks, left my job at 36 weeks followed by  a month of long exhausting early labor before the little muffin decided to grace us with his presence. Once he was here we barely settled in before having to worry about possibly surgery not once, but twice. Currently I'm a stay at home mom, make my son's baby food, watch my former boss' son part-time, and just 7 weeks ago we bought a home of our very own.

For more on who we are I recently wrote these posts about Ben, Malakai, + myself. I hope you stick around so we can get to know each other. Don't forget to follow me on Google Friend Connect {to the right}, and twitter. And of course comment on this post to let me know you stopped in.

lists of five

I am one of those nerds that loves to do the surveys and lists on Facebook so I'm stealing this idea from Blair & Gussy :)


5 most recent purchases:

• All Bran & blueberries for my "stopped up" baby boy
• Lansinoh's original double pump (as blogged about yesterday)
• A new waterproof mattress cover from Overstock.com (wow, I'm so exciting...)
• Malakai's 1st Easter outfit
• Little black rubber hairbands, because my last one broke in the middle of church.

Top 5 Etsy favorites (most of these I want but do not actually own)

• Felt baby shoes

• This gorgeous clutch

• Personalized Stationary 

from my little buffalo- where I happened to win this through The Outdoor Wife's blog

• This purse, which was actually made by my mother and is featured on my aunt's Etsy shop. I have one in green (with brown vines) and one in red (with black vines) and I really want this pink one!

• These turtle prints that are in Malakai's room

5 links on my toolbar:

• Facebook
• Blogger
• Pandora {John Foreman playlist}
• Amazon wishlist
• Netflix

5 thoughts running through my head right now:

• I'm SO glad Malakai is napping right now (and has been for almost 2 hours), he needs this and so do I!
• I really should be doing dishes or packing boxes right now.
• I haven't had the desire to dye my hair for 5 or 6 years now, until I saw this hideous photo (please excuse the nasty mess I call a pony tail, this was after a day of packing)

           now I can't stop googling "semi permanent hair  color + grey coverage"

• Feeling like I need some good quality girl time...sigh.
• When will I find the time to read a non-parenting book again?

Now tell me yours (in a comment or with a link to your blog)!

About Ben

This third and final "about" post is focused on my wonderful husband, Ben. All is written from my point of view. You can find his perspective on his blog. My other two about posts are here and here if you missed them.

{February 2010}

First and foremost Ben is a wonderful father to our son Malakai.
Ben is the middle child and not maladjusted as the cliche goes.

He is an amazing musician. He plays acoustic, electric, and bass guitar. He also sings. He majored in Music Industry in college and has played in a couple bands. He currently plays in the worship band at our church and leads on occasion. This past Sunday he covered Switchfoot's Meant to Live and rocked!

{March 2006}

He also minored in Business Management, which has been a life saver in this dreadful unemployment crisis. He was unfortunately laid off when I was 8 months pregnant, but took it in stride with a positive attitude. He found a new job (thanks to his minor, a friend, and God of course) fairly quickly.

Ben is a picky eater, but not in the typical sense. He will try things that are different (although, from his family's perspective this started when he met me) but doesn't like bold flavor or anything spicy. Because of this some of his favorites are spaghetti, hamburgers, chicken strips, and PBJ earning him the nickname "kid's lunch" from our college friends.

Another nickname of his from another set of college friends is "Benson Peculiar". I don't know the details...and I'm not sure he even remembers them- but he subsequently named his Senior project band Benson Peculiar. Also, our son's middle name is Benson (Ben's son).

Although Ben's hair is now a light brownish, he was a VERY blonde child. Malakai is like a chunky little clone of his daddy.

{1985}

Ben loves Conan O'Brien and was pretty bummed about his Tonight Show getting cancelled. I got him an "I'm with CoCo" shirt for his birthday. He also loves Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and it's usually what is on when we eat dinner.

He's a technology guru in this family- including our extended families. Sometimes he tries to explain something about computers, televisions, or musical gear to me and I just slowly smile. He knows this to mean, "I love you and I'll care because you do- but I'll most likely never understand that stuff." I let him explain anyway...because he likes to.

He's a phenomenal teacher. He really could teach me all about the technology stuff, it's my lack of desire to learn it that's the problem. He's patient and thorough and rarely uses "expert" talk that makes the learner feel like a moron. He taught me how to get up on a wake board and how to run the TiVo. I can't wait to see him teach Malakai and our other (future) children.

{winter 2005}

He is the most caring and thoughtful person I know. He always thinks of others. I don't doubt that he'd let me sit around all day and pack this house by himself for our move if I needed him to.

Ben is also a talented actor. He worked out at a summer camp for multiple years and ran the daily/nightly programs. He had many characters and was great at all of them. He has recently been putting this talent to use again at our church for skits during service, and will be in this spring's play.

{summer 2006}

Ben's a dreamer and almost daily tells me another vision he has for the future whether it be about his career opportunities, our family, or our house. I love dreaming with him and knowing that God will make those things a possibility in His timing.

{7.7.07}

about me...

There are a lot of new readers/followers around this space so I thought I'd have a little fun and do some "about" posts. I did Malakai's for his 7th month post last week. So here's a little bit about me-

My first name doesn't have a significant meaning. My dad wouldn't let my mom name me Tiffany or Porscha so I didn't have a name at first. My mom's sister babysat a little girl named Shandell and suggested it, they both liked it and ta-da!


My middle name "LeAnn" however, is my Dad's middle name, Lee, and my mom's middle name, Ann. All the women on my mom's side of the family have Ann in their middle name. This started because we are relatives of Shakespeare's  wife (not the Princess Diary's) Anne Hathaway.

Last night I had a dream about going skydiving. It was a lot of fun and I kept going and teaching all my friends and family. In real life, I wanted to go for my 18th birthday but couldn't afford it and so I've never been. I'm not sure if I'd still do it now that I'm a mom.

about Malakai

He just turned 7 months on Tuesday.

He thinks it's hilarious to arch his back and look at people upside down.

He has MANY nicknames, the newest of which is "snaggle tooth" because of his one sharp bottom tooth. I finally got this picture of it, can you see it?