Sunday, September 27, 2009

Lauren and Jen were here!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lauren and Jen!! Yesterday, Ben's aunts came to visit to see their favorite nephew and take me out for some shopping (minus the little guy). He LOVED seeing them and can't wait for them to come back. He was all smiles and cuddly while they were here.




There was some crawling training as they really wanted him to do a new "trick" before they left. Ben has been getting up on all fours to do a REAL crawl, but hasn't figured out how to really move like that yet.







Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Ben's Breakfast

Ben had yogurt for the first time and loved it!


Can you see all 4 teeth?


Ben "chatting"



Tuesday, September 22, 2009

9 month stats and an awesome play date

We had Ben's 9 month doctor's appointment yesterday so here are his stats:

Weight - 20 lbs 10 oz (50%)
Height - 29 1/2 inches (75-90%)

He did great with two shots and truly seemed to like the doctor so much that she had to sweetly say "I need to go work Ben. I can't hold you again." Lots of things to work on here with getting him to eat more food and dropping a feeding....but most importantly, he's happy and healthy!

Today, we had a play date with Gavin (8 months) and the boys were ALL over the place!

Oh, this first picture is from this morning. Funny lighting...but such a Ben-face!


This is Ben's "are you looking at me?" face.


The standard stance these days. Standing and holding on to something that's pole shaped.


Gavin arrives and Ben shares his toys.


ALL of his toys!



Gavin's a pro at standing up on his own and was showing Ben. Ben only got about this far...look at that leg placement.


Gavin also mastered the stair while he was here.


We thought Ben was going to follow Gavin's lead, but he slipped down a little bit and just rested his head on the step to watch Gavin climb up and directly at Sophie.


A fun play date as usual. Thanks for coming over, Karen! Glad we could introduce Gavin to watermelon and Cheerios!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

The rest of Ben's weekend....

Nick was on dinner duty last night. However, I'll admit he looks like this sometimes when I'm on duty too!


Ben is a true boy and looks pretty darn cute in his football jersey!




From standing to sitting...from sitting to a dive forward.....


....to a crawl towards the camera! His technique is pretty unique. I think the open mouth is part of the crawling package along with the full arm swing and the head usage. Ben does things his own way.


Saturday, September 19, 2009

9 months old!

Wow! I am the mother of a 9 month old. I've given an update recently, but as always, I will recap for his birthday.

- Ben definitely has a mind of his own these days. He moves, grabs, reacts, protests, etc. with obvious intent. It's fun to start to see things that he likes and dislikes, things that make him laugh and (although we don't try to do it on purpose) things that scare him.
- Ben has 4 teeth! If you click on this first picture to see it bigger...I think you may be able to see all 4.
- In the last few days, he's finally started to babble/sing a little bit. This gives us a little relief from his screeching - which was his favorite way to communicate previously.
- He can sit on his own, get up and down from the seated position on his own, roll, army crawl and stand supported. He still has yet to get up on all fours and do an actual crawl. However, he's getting around pretty well in his own way.
- He's still not really eating too much food. He does seem to like Cheerios and watermelon. Those may be the only things he can successfully get his mouth himself.
- He got sick for the first time a few weeks ago and we all survived.
- Lastly, just putting it in here so we don't forget that he did it....he has started this really strange tongue thrust thing where he puts his tongue down and to the right in his mouth. I guess it's just him experimenting.

Anyway, happy 9 months Benny! We love you more than we can express in words and we are thankful every day for you. XOXOX


If you notice, the focus is a little off of the camera...Nick took the pictures this time and I was trying to get him to laugh. :)


Ben's favorite play toy came to visit during our photo shoot.


Umm....Wally gets a strange reaction these days. It's funny how his opinion of the doll changes each month.


I love my little guy!


One of these things is not like the others....



Friday, September 18, 2009

Ben this week

So serious!



Daddy's method of entertaining Ben....dump ALL the toys in front of him and let him choose.



A boy's favorite past time...knocking down a tower of anything.


I missed Benny when I was sick....catching up on my kisses.


Ben is all about standing and holding on to stuff. Don't worry, Daddy was close by for when he decided to let go!



Ben and Sophie are usually separated by the step up to our dining room from the family room. Now that he's moving pretty well, he's often in her territory. She's not thrilled with the new game of trying to grab her tail.


Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Ben's Mommy is BACK!

I'm back! After a bit of a head scare, an overnight in the hospital, a lot of tests and medication and a full week in bed...I am feeling a ton better and so happy to be able to get back to "work" as Ben's Mom! It was very difficult to not be able to feed him, play with him, hold him, etc. Thank you so much to my Mom and Nick for taking over for me. Over the last week, we've missed a few things....

- Ben almost has 2 more teeth (top). One is poking through and you can see the other one is coming soon.
- Ben can sit up himself from laying down.
- Ben can (sort of) cough on command. :) Thanks Grandma for that really fun game..haha.
- Finally, Nick and my Mom swear that Ben will eat table food now....but I think it must have something to do with me because I've yet to see it.

Ben showed his Grandma his guitar skills while Mom and Dad were at the hospital...



These pictures are from Labor Day weekend....but never got posted. Ben was swinging with his friend, Brenna (who's about 5 weeks older than Ben). He LOVES to swing!





Sunday, September 13, 2009

Ben's Giraffe

Kris has been a bit under the weather, so that's why there hasn't been many posts in the past week. Ben's been doing his darnedest to make her feel better. This was one of his cute looks to make Mommy smile.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Recovering

Ben is doing great with his Roseola rash. Looks sad, but he seems to be feeling fine.


Friday, September 4, 2009

First sickness

Well we have almost made it through Ben's first illness. He caught Roseola last week and has been laying low for the last day or two. A few cancelled play dates and a missed Gymboree....but he's still giving the occasional smile!




And the sleepyhead has been yawning up a storm...