Wow! It's been a while...

So, I've been pretty preoccupied with Ben, and making his breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, and trying (often unsuccessfully) to keep things cleaned up after us. (It's a lot harder now that he doesn't eat baby food!) I think I have a little "foodie" on my hands. There's virtually nothing he turns down! Previously, he didn't like grapes, but those are back on the menu. He's added, among other things, green and black olives, guacamole, and green peppers. He's up to 8 teeth, all 4 front top and bottom. Ben is also growing fast! He's already fitting well in a size 18 months!

Ben is trying so hard to walk. He does really well if he's holding on to something or someone, and can even walk if you hold his hand (but just one, he won't let you hold both). He's taken off across the den a couple times, and can sometimes make it kinda far before he stumbles or sits down. He's so funny. He runs with his arms up over his head. I have a little bit of video of it, it's just a matter of being able to import it and upload it, etc. Ben doesn't like it very much when I sit at the computer for too long. We also found out he's a pretty good drummer! When I get it all worked out, there will be some video of a few different things posted.

Now we are coming up on his first birthday! It's just under 5 weeks away. This has been the fastest year of my life. Some other things he's been working on mastering before he turns one are certain words. He has several that start with "b" and are sometimes hard to distinguish from each other. He has a newfound fondness for boats, and so when he talks about 'em is very excited and says "BO!" He also loves his ball ("bawl"), and I think we have a little southerner (as if he'd be anything else) on our hands. He sometimes sneaks in "bu" for book, "boo" for Pooh, and another "buh" sounding word, with a point upward, for bird. He's getting very good with "Tigger" and "Kitty" and thinks all dogs are "Sadie." He says this remarkably well. He recently started trying to say "Buffy" because I keep trying to tell him that all dogs aren't Sadie. He has more, but i could go on and on and on.... you get my point.

The following are pictures since the last post. I've tried, and think I got it, in chronological order.

July 19, 2008

Ben's first steak at Pop-pop's Bar and Grill.

Playing ball with Sadie

Playing pool with Daddy and Pop-pop.
"What do you mean I'm special?"

August 24, 2008
(yes, I slacked with my camera for quite a while)

A visit from uncle B resulted in a picture where you
can see both their faces! Imagine that!

August 29, 2008

Walkin' with Pop-pop

Making faces with Daddy

Driving the golf cart (in circles)

August 30, 2008
Driving the boat (is that legal?)

He looks like a big boy in this pic. I love his expression!

September 1, 2008Being silly

September 4, 2008

Getting ready for bed (he loves his toothbrush!)

September 5, 2008

Abby says "Here, Ben. This paci must be yours"

September 6, 2008

He's eating fajita fixin's. Chicken, cheese, avocados, and most
importantly, black olives. I think they may be his new favorite.

Ben is a little bookworm.

Fun with Food

Ben is loving getting to eat what we are eating. Tonight we had grilled chicken with pasta and veggies. He almost cleaned his plate and ate very nearly a whole chicken tenderloin. (granted, the one I picked for him was small.) He let me feed him his pasta for a while, but it turned out that what started out as sauce clumped together, and he got to pick that up and eat it, too (thank you, pasta-roni.) He also had corn, which he loves, and got to eat spinach tonight. He's had it before all pureed up with other things in baby food, but tonight, he got to eat just spinach. I DID have to spoon feed him that, for the most part. As dinner wore on, though, he'd had enough of the spoon.

Turns out he's a camera hound. I got it out, and he immediately stopped what he was doing and smiled at me. It was really hard to get the "action" shots of him actually eating. Bibs are also a must now. Why does feeding yourself have to be so messy?

Here's one of those smiles for the camera. Click this one and look at those teeth!

This is when I gave him spinach to pick up for himself.

Another giggle fit for the camera.

Squeezing some more spinach.

I'm strong to the finish cause I eats my spinach.

Edit: I wonder if the spinach didn't give him gas, though. So far, he hasn't slept well tonight. I've always been a spinach lover, but I don't ever recall it making my belly hurt.

Friday's Play date

Last Friday Ben and I went to Morristown for a play date with Aunt Angie and Abby, and Treva and Emma. Our first stop was Chick-Fil-A (which is where the pictures are from.) Ben is loving this new "table food diet". It's all the rage with the babies. He had 2 chicken nuggets, a couple of manadrin orange pieces, some strawberry, a few bites of the baby food I brought "just in case", AND I think he stole a waffle fry or two when I wasn't looking.

The Chick-Fil-A Cow was running around on Friday, and he really caught Ben and Emma's attention. Ben in particular watched his every mooooove. The kids got balloons and got to spin the prize wheel. Everybody got a stuffed cow. After all that, the kids played in the playground area. Pictures follow.

Then we went to the mall for some more indoor play. We thought about the splash park, but it was just hot, and mid-day, which is never good for all our fair-skinned babies. Upon arriving, the first person we ran into was Mamaw Debbie! She's getting ready for a trip to Texas to see Uncle Bob. We had a pleasant little visit, and she, of course, got to say hello to all the kids. We then proceeded to the play area where the kids had some more good times. Sorry there's no pictures from the mall, but the camera was the last thing on my mind with all the too-big-kid hoodlums running around in there.

Ben enjoyed his day, and we hope we can get together some more before Ms. Treva has to go back to work!

Ben had never been in the play area before. When we first arrived there were some big kids making noise. I think he's looking up at their shadows in the tunnels.

Abby had lots of fun. I love her little hair fountain! In the back, Ben has found the wheel. Emma gave him lots of help with it.

Emma is showing us the clogging moves she learned on vacation. She's really good!

Ben loved all the visual stimulation in the play area.

He hopes to ride the slide someday!

9 Month Check-up!

Yesterday Ben was 9 months old, and today was his 9 month well-baby visit. He's been a big talker all day and even charmed the other kids in the waiting room (which, of course, made me nervous. WHAT IF THEY WERE SICK!) He was so good that the doctor even commented that he smelled good!


He's a big ol' boy, but is right on target for his age. He weighed in at 21 lbs 8 oz and is now 28 inches tall. He's half a pound and half an inch away from outgrowing his car seat! Ben was also pretty much cleared for table food. With the exception of the common allergens (nuts, fish, shellfish, eggs, etc.), he can eat anything as long as he can chew it or it's small enough to swallow. (Swallow comfortably, i would guess. I don't think I'd give him a bite-size raw carrot or anything.) In honor of that, he ate a cheese Krystal for dinner last night, along with an extra patty from one Daddy didn't eat. We're taking cues from Angie and he had green beans as his side. Greasy hamburger is enough without adding greasy, salty french fries. As I expected, he loved it. I didn't give him the pickle (it was too big), but he did eat the onions that were embedded in the cheese, and seemed ok with what mustard he ended up with. Turns out, a steak probably isn't so far away, as long as it's tender, and tiny.

(He had blood drawn today. Notice his little bandage on his left arm. He was a trooper, though.)

Say "Hello" to Summer!

The older and more active Ben gets, the more time slips away from me. I find myself not having as much time (or gumption) to look through everything and make blog posts. I like these "month in review" posts, though. They're a nice way for me to look back and remember what we've been doing. So, here we go for June!

June 2, 2008

Uncle B came over to visit and play some xbox with Daddy. It was a long time in the making, but Ben is finally pretty comfortable with B (Bryan). Here, they play xbox together before Ben has to finish getting ready for bed. (Don't worry, Ben had on a diaper, and no one got pee'd on)

June 4, 2008

Ben and I visited with Abby and Aunt Angie the day before they left for their big beach trip (which Abby ADORED, I heard). Ben, Abby, and Angie had a ball playing in the toys. Angie and I had a ball reminiscing about "the good old days" (the late 80's and early 90's) when New Kids on The Block were "it". We're very excited about their reunion. You can see them on the TV in the background.

I just had to include this one. When we arrived, Abby was just waking up from a nap. What a nap it must have been. Her hair has it's own shadow! We love rhino-head Abby, though.

June 7, 2008

Another boat trip with NanNan and PopPop. Ben stayed up past his bedtime (as is evident by the beautiful sunset), but he had a good time and slept well in the car on the way home. He still doesn't "love" the life vest, but it isn't so bad.

DO NOT WORRY! I checked TWRA guidelines and he can take the vest off if we're anchored, aground, or moored. Here, we are anchored. The boat has nice high sides with doors that lock and open inward, as if anyone's hands were off him the whole time, anyway. Click this picture to see his face better. This is a boy who is very happy to have his vest off. He hated putting it back on so we could move again. In this picture, he is walking with PopPop.

June 8, 2008

Ben had a very busy weekend the 7th and 8th. First the lake, and now Pepaw and Nono's. They had just gotten back from vacation in Texas, and we all gathered to welcome them back. Aunt Tonya's family was there, as well as Letti and Tori. We had dinner (Ben had some really good homemade Spanish rice and soup beans without the soup to go with the rest of his dinner. He loved it!) Here, he is so excited to meet Pepaw and Nono's new kitty, Dingleberry. Dingle is only 8 weeks old here. He didn't mind Ben a bit. He actually played with Ben, and was very gentle. Ben practiced lots of new skills trying to get at Dingleberry. He crawled across the living room, then tried to use the doggy to pull up (which he can do very well), but we were afraid the pup wasn't very steady. He settled for staring...

Ben was enthralled with Dingle for quite a while. He's a happy little dude!

Ben wasn't the only one taken with Dingleberry. Kenzie and Dyl loved him, of course. If you'll notice, Dylan has thought of a new way to "Save Gas."

June 12, 2008

This is just a random night when Ben was playing. Here you can see he has pulled up to a stand, AND has pulled toys out of his toybox. He picked his frog (his favorite love).

You can see frog fell to the wayside for a time. He wants to see what else he's got.

Wow, this box is DEEP!

June 20, 2008

It's bathtime! We're getting ready for a big day out with Aunt Angie and Abby. Abby had to be quarantined from Ben for about a week after her vacation. Her cousins came down with hand, foot, and mouth and we wanted to make sure Abby hadn't caught it, too. It's very contagious. Luckily, she was fine.
Lauren and Megan, we're so sorry you guys got sick! Hope you feel better now.

I thought this was too cute. Click the pic to see a larger version. I couldn't not take this picture with the bubble on his head. I was just hoping it wouldn't pop before I got my hands dry enough to touch my camera. I can't believe how independent he's gotten since that first sponge bath on the kitchen counter!

It took some doing, and some distraction, but Ben finally put his hat on for our trip to Ijams Nature Center. We didn't stay long because we had never been and didn't know what to expect. Next time, we'll be prepared to start early, while it's still cool, and see more of what there is to see. Maybe someday we'll be able to take an unpaved trail.

This is a view of the pond in front of the visitor's center. It's hard to believe this place is right in Knoxville. It was quiet, beautiful, and best of all, free! (Donations are graciously accepted.) To learn more about Ijams, visit their website here!

June 22, 2008

There is no picture to go with this date, but Ben FINALLY got one of those upper teeth to cut through. Obviously, it's so little I can't get a good picture of it yet, but never fear. The 2nd top tooth is still trying, and I just KNOW it'll be close behind, but as of now, all I can see of it is a tiny white dot, rather than the whole width of it. Before we know it, he'll have a whole mouth full of teeth! I wonder how it'll change the way he looks? I guess there's nothing to do but wait and see.

Well, that's the month of June, so far. Tomorrow we visit with Angie, Abby, our friend Jennifer, and her two babies, Mia, who is 3, and new baby Reece, who is now getting close to 3 months old! We are excited to meet Mia. Jennifer has told us a lot about her! Some other things that are coming up, that I will try to write about in a timely fashion, are the 4th of July, Daddy's birthday, and turning 9 MONTHS OLD!! It's so hard to believe, but that is another post for another time (like, 2 weeks away!) Until then...

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, Ben went on his first boat ride! We originally had thought we would go the day after because I was worried about boat traffic and it being a holiday, but there was virtually no other traffic on the lake on Memorial Day. (weird, huh?) Charlie (aka Pop-Pop) said it was because it was a little windy, which made the lake choppy. Good thing we were on a pontoon boat because that thing was good and steady! As for Ben, I think he enjoyed his lake excursion, but would have more so if he hadn't had to wear that darned life jacket! The life jacket wasn't ALL bad... except that he tried to eat a cheerio, but his hand wouldn't reach his mouth, and it came up under his chin and lifted his head a bit. When he gets taller it won't be as uncomfortable. Ben also drank a whole cup (6 oz.) of water during his boat ride. He typically only plays with his sippy cup, but the breeze must've left him parched. He hasn't shown quite as much interest since then. All in all, I'd say he had a big day. On to the pictures!

Shortly after getting out of our cove, Ben got a driver's seat view with Pop-Pop.

I have no idea what he sees here, but I think it's cute that he looks like he's really driving the boat.

He's makin' raspberries here, I think. He does that a lot. Like the new sunglasses?

Making motorboat sounds with Daddy!

Playing in the floor with Mama.

Notice the little red marks around the eyes? No wonder he doesn't like sunglasses.

Playing in the floor with Daddy.

Looking at the water. Don't worry, that door won't open very easily (I couldn't even get it to.)

...from a different view. Mama took pictures from the lounge deck.

Such a tired baby. We were only out on the water for maybe an hour or so (not much longer, if it was).

He really wasn't quite sure what to make of everything, so there's not tons of smiles like usual. That'll change as he gets used to his life vest, and grows into it a little better.

Until next time...