Mino's First Thanksgiving

Mino had his first family holiday this weekend - Happy First Thanksgiving. We had a houseful! Nana and Grandpa and Poppop came to visit on Wednesday. Aaron and Sarah flew in on Thursday and Aaron's family came to visit on Friday. What a holiday. I didn't think our little house could accommodate everyone, but I was wrong. It was a very fun and warm holiday. Literally, with the stove, so many people, and temperatures in the 50's in November we didn't need heat for the weekend.
I am a space cadet mother and managed to not capture a single picture of him all spruced up in a dashing sweater vest for the occasion. For that matter, I didn't get any of us as a family either.
What I was on the ball for was capturing our third annual After Thanksgiving Day Sandwich contest.
First. Mr. Klawiter opened the gates:
Not to be outdone by her brother, Ms. Klawiter followed up:
In true ginger fashion, in a claim that she is avoiding carbs, Ms. DeWolf did not want to use bread (but had about 3/4 lb of potatoes and stuffing on her plate) but changed her mind in the end and went with a half roll for hers:
Mr. Felices always likes to go outside the box so went with a triple decker this year:
But the true winner is little Mino. Poor little guy couldn't really partake in the eating, other than what went through into his milk, so he decided to one up everyone:
It was so easy for him to win, he gloated by sleeping while posing for his picture with his sandwich. Now that was off topic from the title of this blog so I will got hot and heavy with Mino pictures for the rest.
He got to meet two very important people this weekend. First his Uncle Aaron who calls with his auntie nearly every day, not to talk to us, but to look at Mino.
Poppop got to meet his first great grandchild and was fantastic with him: Mino would just chill out as soon as Poppop took him. Poor Poppop can't hear very well though, thanks to lots of flying, so didn't really know when Mino was tearing down the house. Hey, maybe we are on to something there. . .
Also, the Packers played, and won (11-0 thank you very much) on Thanksgiving so Mino got to take that in with his Grandpa: He was worried about messing up his freshly cleaned hair so went with a superbowl bib rather than his trademark gnome Packer hat. He is a slave to fashion. What he loves especially about his hair is his little swirl on the back of his head, he is looking forward to being able to hold up his head a little more to show it off to people:
Mino is about to be displaced as the newest member to the family. A little fellow named Gryffindor WolfKlaw will be joining us around Christmas. Auntie Sarah and Uncle Aaron had to go pick out which dog could live up to such a solid name - this guy won. Now, for the photobomb of Mino: He loves this little playmat, but we don't know who gave it to him. It came from Amazon without a packing slip. If anyone wants to claim this amazing gift - I am all ears. He stares up at those little alien faces for hours.
He is learning about his tongue I think and his new face of the week is this one:
And for the finale : A sneeze face!

One Month Old!

Our little baby is ONE MONTH OLD! Holy Cow. I am shocked and awed at how fast this last month went by. Perhaps it is amplified because my schedule is still pretty thrown off, taking lots of naps and being up at night makes my perception of time a little skewed.

So this month we managed our first family picture. Don't we look happy and healthy?! NOT.
The other big milestone this week was quite a lifesaver to us . . . .wait for it. . . the Pacifier! We love who ever invented this little sucking device. IT literally has given us an extra hour of sleep per pop. Mino isn't 100% on board with it yet, he likes it once we convince him he likes it. We are both on board. And I suspect that Portos and Wallace like it too.
Martin has the ability to work from home occasionally, which is fantastic. Even though he is working, I can have him watch the sleeping Mino while I try to detoxify myself. I don't think that I have lost my pregnancy sense of smell, or with all of those hormonal changes my BO took a hit because I am very aware when a shower is needed. He has a bit of trouble though because the pets are happy he is here.Martin and Mino have been spending quite a bit of bonding time this week.
And you can never start too early with making your child the smartest one on the planet.
Mino also has been gaining weight which is fantastic! As proof, here is his double chin!


Now to a more pressing issue. His hair. I knew he was going to have a bit of it because I had heartburn from the second that I saw a second line on a pregnancy test. Martin and I were both suspect that he would have red hair. Both of our sisters have red hair and my Grandma and her twin have red hair. . . our first thought was that it was black, then after we washed it decided it was brown. I know that this isn't his permanent hair, but I am still perplexed as to what it is going to look like - and what it does. In pictures it looks totally different than it does in life.
Example - After Bath:After bath and after combing:
With a red background:And to solve the problem - with a hat:
To cap it off, some interspecies love. Usually that means dog and cat - and OK -it does now toobut one of Benjamin being protected by his big brother Portos.

Three weeks and counting

We are all adjusting to having a new boss in the house. The poor pets have given up the pristine lap postion on Martin for the little guy.

My little vampire baby thinks that night time is time to party and day time is to chill out - so we need to work on that a bit before big mamma heads back to work. That could be disastrous for all involved.
Anyhow, we have had some company and learned how to make even uglier faces if that is possible in this last bit of time.







His first Badger Aunties came to visit him and present him with some WI gear. Holly and Jolynn decided that a baby shower for twins wasn't enough baby for them in one weekend so they trekked over from La Crosse to meet my offspring.


Luckily in a conversation I had with someone at some point I mentioned my distinct lack of Badger gear and they corrected that problem. Little Benjamino was appropriately attired for the WI-MN game this past weekend thanks to those gals - and prego Sarah who couldn't make the trip!

Oddly enough this fall has been the nicest I have experienced in a while, I guess I had to move back to the Midwest for nice temperate weather. Anyhow, for the second weekend in November, with temperatures approaching 60 degrees, we ventured out to the nature preserve a couple blocks from our house and tested the off roading skills of our gigantic stroller.

Unfortunately the poor little guy didn't have the best view - but better because his skin may burn if he is exposed to the sun (Vampire. . . . - not that paranoid -yet- about skin conditions)


Also, Nana got to show off her grandson to one of her peeps for the first time. Diane wanted to have a special memory of 11-11-11 so she drove all the way from Mountain, WI for the day to meet the little bugger. And brought the most amazing hat that she made for him! I almost bought one that wasn't as well made to put my poor child in for a photoshoot! Just you wait little guy, that day is a coming!


The little guy is a sucker, that is for sure. Unfortunately they recommend holding off on pacifiers until he is about a month old to make sure that he has breastfeeding down pat. It makes for some long nights and some experimentation on his part as to what he can put in his mouth if his mom is giving the milk factory a break - there are labor laws Benjamin! Luckily for us - one month is fast approaching and we will get a little break from his grunts, groans and grimaces.

And he wanted to show his dad too I guess.

His neck is getting stronger and he is opening his eyes more and more giving us a glimpse of what life is going to be like with a baby - not just a sleeping crying pooping machine.

Second Week Home

The second week home kicked off with Halloween! I really didn't anticipate Benjamin being here for Halloween, I thought he was going to be late. He is too little to really do anything but I managed to find a commemorative hat for him to wear. His Abuela attempted to get 8 months of snuggling in one week - who can blame her?!

Portos is also quite fond of the little guy and likes to get as close as possible to him (maybe he just likes the smell of his diapers.) That or he is trying to wedge himself between his mom and dad and his newest little brother.

Wallace is also curious but doesn't spend as much time as Portos snuggled up near him.

He is starting to hang out with his eyes open more and more - the best time to catch him is right after a diaper change - he stays alert for a little while.

Mino discovered his fingers this week - although I don't think he really knows he discovered them. We catch him every now and again with a random finger or his whole hand in his mouth. He manages to sneak some fingers out of his mittens at night too and in the morning has little claw hands.

His southern hemisphere family members had to leave this week to go back and prepare for their other little grandbaby that is coming any day now. Sadly they said goodbye.



He also is working on his lady killer smile. We think he is dreaming of boobies. He makes other funny faces too. . .






Little Mino's crouton fell off of his belly button on his two week anniversary of traumatizing his poor mother. It is officially an innie!

Oh and at his two week doctor appointment he weighed in at 8 lbs 1.6 ounces - little piggie is eating well!