Christmas Day

Benjamin celebrated his first Christmas! He had a great time visiting with Gram and Pop Pop, opening gifts, and playing with the wrapping paper and bows. We went to church on Christmas Eve, and he seemed to enjoy the service and kept pointing to the lights!

Aunt Nicole, Uncle David, and Emma were at our house with Gram and Pop Pop that night, and we opened most of our presents then. Ben got a lot of new books, toys, and clothes. He is a lucky little boy, and thanks everyone for his gifts.

We spent Christmas morning at home, then went to see Ben's Grandpa and Grandma Sawicki in the afternoon. Overall we had a very nice Christmas and hope that you all did too!

Enjoy the pictures and Happy New Year!

Ten Months Old

Benjamin has been busy as usual! He is chattering up a storm, and exploring the house more every day. We feel like we are constantly chasing him around, but I know that will get worse when he's walking. He also likes to climb anything-the fireplace, the bouncer, etc. Not good. Also, he is showing an ever-increasing interest in books. He looks at them himself and has several favorites already. Here are some pictures of the little ham!

Ben loves this box!

Ben and Emma dressed in their finest

These are the chairs that my sister and I had when we were little-just the right size!

Ben pulled all of these books down himself and looked at them for a while. I caught him making this silly face at the camera!

Teeth!

Benjamin was being a funny man tonight at dinner, so here are a couple of videos. I was making faces at him while he was supposed to be eating, and he was easily distracted. The first one he's just laughing a lot, and in the second one, he's more interested in talking and chewing on the spoon. If you look closely, you can see his new teeth! He has the two front ones on top and bottom now. And also if you look closely, you can see the bruise on his forehead from his dive into the ottoman yesterday. Poor baby. He has been exploring a lot more, and is therefore quite dangerous-see the picture below! (He climbed into the windowsill all by himself!)

Thanksgiving

Benjamin went to Ohio for his first Thanksgiving! It was a very busy but wonderful week. He got to meet his Great Grandpa, and also numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins. He spent lots of time with his Gram, Pop Pop, and Great Grammy.

This was at the good old Cracker Barrel!








It was very cold, so Ben got to wear his new coat-he looked like a marshmallow!

Ben did great on the plane to Columbus, but he did not like the plane trip home very much-he was so exhausted. He finally fell asleep after 10 solid minutes of screaming and squirming as we were making our descent into Dallas. I'm sure all of those around us were relieved, and very ready to get off of the plane. Luckily, I don't think we will be flying again for a while.

This is Ben smiling at the lady across the aisle, a few minutes before his meltdown!

The Park

Ben loves to swing! We have been taking him to the park in our neighborhood during our evening walks and he has a great time. Last week he laughed at another little boy swinging next to him, and yesterday he smiled for the girls playing around him. What a flirt!

Sadly we didn't have the right camera with us to get a video of Benasaurus laughing hysterically while he was swinging. Hopefully next time!

9 month checkup

Ben went to the doctor today and got a clean bill of health! Well, mostly...he has a bit of a cold that is lingering, but possibly now is congested because his teeth are coming in. His top two are just now at the surface. Hopefully that won't make him too cranky for our flight next Monday! It will be loads of fun we are sure. Here's a picture of the little man on his 9 month birthday!

Pajama Party

Over the weekend, Ben stayed with Aunt Nicole and Uncle David while we went to a party, and he had lots of fun playing with Emma. Here is a picture of them before the night turned a little sour.

At bedtime, Benjamin was not a happy camper, and in turn he caused Emma to be quite upset as well. Nicole called me saying "Um, they are both screaming..." which I could hear quite well in the background. But by the time we got there, Ben had fallen asleep in Nicole's arms, and Emma with David. We think he was catching a cold, because the next morning he woke up very congested. :-(

Now both Emma and Ben have their first real colds, and it is so sad to see them all snuffly. Hopefully they will feel better soon!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun night last night dressing Benjamin (and Maddie) up and walking around our neighborhood. Ben made an extremely adorable tiger, though he was too tired for any roaring. We took him to see the neighbors, and then to bed! Maddie got to stay up for the trick-or-treaters though, so Ben did wake up once from her barking. Luckily, he went right back to sleep because he is a good baby-we love our little tiger. :-)

"Foul" Play

Friday was an adventurous day for Benjamin. During his afternoon nap, (the one he was supposed to be taking) he decided instead to make the biggest mess ever. His diaper did not contain his poo poo (dangit Huggies!) and so you can probably guess what happened next. Instead of crying to alert me of the problem, he decided to paint himself and his sheet. I am not including a picture of this disaster, because it was much too gross to share! However, I am convinced that he is a creative, very smart little man, making the most of what he had. He greeted me with the biggest, smelliest smile ever when I found him in this state. It was quite a sight. All is well now, and we will no longer be buying Huggies. (Yes, that is a direct plug for Pampers.)

Here is a much cleaner picture!

Bedtime Sillies

This was last night when Mark was putting Ben to bed. I found out what happens when Daddy is left in charge. Just kidding! Somehow Ben did fall asleep about 20 minutes later. Sorry it is so dark-I was hiding in the doorway!

The Great Pumpkin Festival

Today was Benjamin's first encounter with a pumpkin. We took him to the Dallas Arboretum to see the many pumpkins and flowers, and of course to take a gazillion pictures. He is such a ham! He was fascinated with the pumpkins, and didn't seem to mind it when some kid threw hay into the air and it blew all over him. He smiled for the pictures, even though he was short on sleep-he finally took a nap in the stroller after the pumpkin fun. We were so proud of him today!

Grass and Cheerios

Ben was introduced to 2 new things over the weekend--grass and cheerios! He has been in the grass before, but didn't like the feel of it at all. With the blanket as his safe haven though, he did much better, and even picked some. Of course it went straight to his mouth, but apparently didn't taste good to him at all. (He was sans clothing because he was about to have a bath.)



Ben did alright with the cheerios, but only 1 made it into his mouth. He was very perplexed by them though, and concentrated so hard on trying to pick them up. He needs a lot of practice with the fine motor skills...

I just added this picture because it is so cute!

Scooting

Ben is learning to crawl! He is getting very good at dragging himself across the room, especially if there is a fun object to grab, such as the camera or remote. He is much too mature for his own baby toys!

He is at the "frustrated" stage, where he sees something he wants but usually has to struggle to get to it. He will be crawling in no time, though.




Maddie is slowly adjusting to having Benjamin sharing her floor space and moving towards her. She still usually gets up and moves away, but she loves to lick him.

Ben and Emma are "getting along" nicely so far. Here's the proof! Ben does get a little too excited sometimes, and tends to lunge at her if left too close to her on the floor. He needs to be watched like a hawk!

It is still a little difficult when they are both crying at the same time, but usually they take turns, and that makes it a little more manageable for Mommy/Aunt Heather!

7 months old

Ben woke up 4 times last night (yep, 7 months old and still not sleeping all night regularly!) but we love him to pieces. He is now infatuated with bottles and wants little to do with nursing. He is a busy little boy!

Ben is working on crawling, and drags himself across the floor, especially if he sees something he wants, like my cell phone. This morning he did great in church and sat through the whole service without squirming too much or crying at all. He is growing up already!

Tired of rice cereal...

This was Ben's way of showing me that he was tired of the rice cereal. It was a little messy, but thankfully after a couple days of this activity and some new foods, he has stopped this for now! It was pretty funny though!

Upright

Ben has had a very busy 2 weeks! He has been practicing very hard at sitting up by himself, and is now quite good at it. He only topples over occasionally, and doesn't seem too bothered by it. He is working on crawling now, and is in the rocking back and forth stage. He attempted the army crawl yesterday on his arms, and seemed very pleased with himself that he was able to reach his toy!

Ben also has been learning how to share his mommy with his baby cousin and new playmate, Emma. She will be staying at our house during the day while her mommy (Aunt Nicole) goes to work. Ben is trying to be positive (we hope) but still doesn't seem thrilled about the arrangement. He has been jealous of Emma's bottles and the attention she gets, and likes to make that known by screaming at the top of his lungs until Mommy comes to his rescue. He wears her out by the end of the day, but this is only the beginning!

Carrots!

Benjamin had his first taste of real food this weekend. We started him on carrots on Saturday, and he wasn't too sure what to think of them, but he didn't make nearly the mess we were expecting! He made a couple of yucky faces, but continued eating anyway. He also scarfed down the carrots we gave him today, plus a lot of cereal. Ben is quite the eater so far-hooray!

6 months old today!

Ben is 6 months old! It is hard to believe how fast the time has gone-life is now moving at an accelerated pace. Ben is working hard on learning to sit up by himself. In a couple more weeks he will have mastered that milestone. He seems to want to crawl badly-he pushes up and seems to be trying. He will be on the move in no time!

Ben weighs 15 lbs. 8 oz now, so he's growing but needs to gain some weight. We will be starting vegetables next week! He still loves to eat his cereal. Mom and Ben are both getting tired of nursing (Mom mostly, but Ben is getting tired of spitting up all the time!) so that time will soon be coming to an end. Our tiny baby boy is already growing up!!

His budding personality and laughter at the littlest things are the highlights of our days. This week he has developed a new high-pitched squeal that he likes to produce in times of delight, anguish, pain, etc. It is quite entertaining. All we need now is for him to go to sleep at night without crying for what seems like forever. One day...

For now we will just have to keep rocking him to sleep. It can't really get much better than that.