Monday, August 31, 2009

A special weekend

Benny was lucky enough to see both sets of his grandparents this weekend as they came to visit on consecutive days. He had a blast! Here are some pictures from the visits.

One of Ben's new favorite toys.


Ben greets everyone by feeling their face.


Everyone tries to get our little guy to eat.



Bath time!



Out running errands.


Cuddling on the couch.




The best swing in the world! Just try to get him to stop swinging and go inside. :)




And we are moving!!

On Saturday, at Cousin Carl's birthday party, Ben exhibited a preview of his newest trick - the army crawl. We successfully caught it on video yesterday...


Before we know it, he'll be zooming around on his hands and knees! We are in trouble now. :)

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Mt. Washington Trip (Part 2)

I'm re-posting our pictures from our trip to Mt. Washington because I got a few more pictures from the other cameras on the trip. They are mixed in:

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Our stop in Rhode Island

Jill sent me some pictures from our visit in RI to see Ella and Julia...




Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Peek a Boo!

Ben has already mastered peek a boo with a towel/blanket/etc. on his (or my) face. However, he was so cute playing peek a boo with Nick around the kitchen wall today. He was scooting forwards and backwards in his jammies on the wood floor and giggling the whole time!




Mt. Washington Resort

We returned home today from our "tour" of New England. We drove up to Mt. Washington Resort in New Hampshire to celebrate Kathy and Don (Nick's parents) 35th wedding anniversary. We had an awesome time relaxing and spending time with the family. Thank you, Kathy and Don, for a wonderful vacation. Click to see a few pictures:

We made a few stops on the way home to see all of our Grandparents (Nick's grandma in Worcester, MA and my grandparents in Manhasset, NY). We also stopped to see my cousin Jill and her family, including the newest addition - Julia (2 months)! It was awesome to see everyone. Thank you for having us.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

8 Months Old!

Another month has gone by and again, I cannot believe it. Not too much has changed with Ben in the last month or so, but I'll give an update anyway (sorry about the weird spacing):

- Sitting even better on his own and can (somewhat) gracefully get down from the sitting position. He cannot yet sit up on his own from laying down.
- Loves standing (assisted) and enjoying the world from a different view.
- Still rolling all over the place as his sole mode of transportation.
- Loves having two toys in his hand to shake as much as possible...it doesn't even matter if they make noise or not!
- Giggles, which we love, but also has the best belly laugh in the world. (See previous post with video if you missed it!)
- Has a new favorite toy....his outside swing (I need to post pictures of it!). He holds on tight to the ropes and will NOT let go when it's time to go inside.
- Has TWO TEETH!
- Sleeping pretty well and is on a solid schedule of two naps a day. I'm loving how predictable he is these days.
- Eating is still the same....he'll get it eventually.
- Will be visiting his 12th and 13th state this month as the Kray family vacations in New Hampshire and we meet cousin Julia in Rhode Island.

I guess that's it...that's more updates than I thought. Happy happy birthday Ben. I love every single day with you!

Ben lounging in his birthday chair.


It was hard to keep him sitting still again today.


Nick was home today. Always brings a smile to Ben's face!


A preview of Ben's standing ability!



Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Some recent info

Ben's 2nd tooth (also on the bottom) poked through today!! Though we still can't get a picture of them, I promise you they are there. They are evident as he continues to love to chew on both his own fingers and ours, which has become a little painful.

Also, caught in the rain the other day, it was a little chilly in the air conditioning and Ben was bundled up for a bit (yes, I know it's August). We took the opportunity of being fully covered in (slippery) clothing to try the hardwood floor to see if he could push himself around. It was cute, he did some backward cruising.



Again, Ben is naked. I don't know why it seems we had extra naked time pictured this week. Anyway, Ben was jammin' on his guitar. This was a solid 15 minutes of entertainment without any Mommy interaction. Awesome.




Friday, August 14, 2009

The best sounds in the world...

In the last year or so, I've heard three sounds that I have classified as the best EVER.

1. Hearing my baby's heartbeat.
2. Hearing my baby's first cry in the operating room.
3. Hearing Ben laugh.

Since the first two aren't recorded for your listening pleasure, I was lucky enough to get one of the best giggle sessions ever on video today. The lighting is not good and he's naked, but you can't be picky when these amazing things occur. The video is 2 mins straight of Ben laughing SO hard. In case you can't tell, all I'm saying is "Say Mommy! Say Daddy! Say Benny!" I have no idea why that was so funny....but apparently I'm hilarious. :) I was laughing so hard at him, I was crying.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

A Tooth!!

Riding the coattails of Ben's friend Michael's announcement yesterday ("The Sher Family").....Ben's first tooth has broken through his gums (a week shy of 8 months old)! It's very hard to see being that I have to use two hands to get his mouth open and then move his tongue out of the way. It's a minor form of torture so I'm definitely not going to get a picture. He doesn't understand why I struggle to see in his mouth and then pull back smile, clap and cheer. I guess it's a big day here in the Kray household.

I'm actually not sure why I'm cheering. Teeth may cause me some problems in the nursing department. HA!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

New Toy

Why is it always the part of a toy you least expect that babies are most interested in?


There we go...right side up.




"Mommy! What happened to the legs?"


"Nevermind. I'll find them myself."



Photo Shoot - almost 8 months old!

Benny was quite calm yesterday so we had a little photo shoot in his seersucker romper from Mimi. I love my precious boy!







Is this really the same boy??


(Birth announcement picture - taken 1/16, just shy of one month old)


Monday, August 10, 2009

Playing around

This is about as close as we get to crawling. Ben pushes up...then goes back down on his belly and kicks his legs and twirls his arms as if he's swimming or something. Maybe he thinks he's moving...I don't know.



Trying to teach Ben clapping and "high fives" but he just likes to grab our hands...progress, I guess.



It's a rarity to get Ben to sit still these days for a picture.


Meet Ben's new friend!


Sitting next to the puppy was followed by a dive forward and his version of crawling (see above for description).


Here's a little of the arm twirling...you can hardly see it he's moving it so fast!


Babies are so flexible!


Typical Ben look.