Thanksgiving and Beyond

This next post in what will likely be a marathon of posting covers from Thanksgiving day up until Secret Faux Christmas (explanation to follow in the next post). Anyway, Jon's dad came for Thanksgiving, which was great. Everything turned out really well. The food was really delicious if I do say so myself. I do have to say that cooking a Thanksgiving meal by myself in our kitchen with very limited counter space was a bit stressful. Still, I think it was worth it. We had salad, homemade rolls, a very delicious and moist turkey, homemade stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and apple pie. Pretty much all of the recipes I used were new to me, so I was pleased that they all ended up being good recipes. I do think some of the credit on that front has to go to allrecipes.com. That website is pretty great. We lived off the leftovers of our meal for a full week. Anyway, Ben was generally a very good sport about me basically ignoring him all day while I cooked. Of course, Richard and Jon were happy to entertain him. Here's a video of Ben getting a big kick out of watching his dad and grandpa play the boxing game on the wii.

Also, here are some pictures of the little guy in his Thanksgiving outfit that my mom gave him. The adorable dog hat was one of the many gifts that Richard brought with him. We were so glad to have Richard with us, we were so surprised by the diapers and high chair and clothes and toys he brought with him. We are blessed to have a lot of generous family members that make sure that Ben always has everything he needs. Ben has already made good use of all of his gifts (pictures to follow)

(The shirt says Baby's 1st Thanksgiving, I'm sure there's no way you could have figured that out on your own)

Another thing we've recently learned about Ben is that when he misses a nap he goes through a grumpy phase and then enters a crazy baby phase. It's pretty entertaining but makes it almost impossible to get the kid to make up some of the missed sleep. Here he is getting super excited every time Jon says "hi" to him.

This next video is actually about one of my accomplishments. I guess it's a combination of breastfeeding, lugging around a very heavy and squirmy baby, walking to the grocery store, and not having time to snack as often as I used to, but I've lost quite a bit of weight since we moved to Rockford. I'm about the same size I was Freshman year of college before I went to Spain. This has made a lot of my wardrobe pretty saggy, as evidenced by the following:

We've also had some requests of a video of Ben getting a big boy bath. I would have done one of these sooner as Ben has been getting bathed in the tub for a while now, but Jon is opposed to bathtime videos. I'm not sure if this means there's a bath video of him somewhere of which he is embarassed. Still, his mom finally talked him into taking one. I'll put together a highlight reel of the bath and post it here when it's done. It's a pretty long video, so it might take a bit for me to trim it down. In the meantime, here are a couple of freezframes from the video. I picked the ones that are G-rated.

This is a picture of Ben in the adorable Sunday outfit that Geri sent with Richard. It's a great outfit, but of course Ben added his own personal touch by drooling on it.

Oh the joys of taking a baby outside in wintertime. Here Ben and I are ready to run a quick errand. Ben is not a big fan of having his coat in his face, but he got used to it.

Here's the highchair that Jon's parents gave us. It was very welcome by both Benjamin and by me. Ben was getting way too big for the Bumbo chair and way too messy. Plus, I feel better because the highchair is a more secure place. I can turn my head and not worry about it tipping over.

Ben loves his juice. He also loves to backwash. Trust me, do not share a drink with this kid.

Last, but certainly not least, here is a video of one of Ben's newer tricks. He goes from the sitting position to the crawling position to reach things in front of him. He's not crawling yet, but I think he's getting close.

Pre-Thanksgiving

So, once again it has been awhile since I posted. I guess this one will cover from Halloween up to Thanksgiving. I was in Pittsburgh for Halloween with my two sisters and my mom and my brother-in-law and two of my nephews. It was lots of fun. It's always fun to see family. I didn't really take any pictures of the trip because my mom and my sister had that pretty well covered. I'll have to get a disc of the pictures they took, but for now all I have is this video of my nephews right before they went trick-or-treating. Owen is a dragon and Ollie is the chicken.

As for other happenings, Jon had his White Coat Ceremony on November 8th. It's basically a ceremony to give the students their white coats before they start doing clinicals. It was really nice and there was some delicious food, which was a bonus. Ben was really popular even though he was really grumpy because he missed his nap.

Ben with Jon after the ceremony in front of our house. He's wearing the really cute pea coat that my mom gave him.

Isn't my husband all handsome and professional? That's the tie and shirt that we got him for our anniversary. He looks really good in them.

Here is another video of Ben dancing to some real music instead of just Jon making noise.



I'm not sure why Jon decided to put the furry hat on Ben's head, but I'm glad he did. The results were stinking adorable. It turned into a game of Jon dropping the hat on Ben's head, and Ben trying to pull it off.

Ben also likes to play in his exersaucer and play peek-a-boo with anyone who will pay attention to him. The focus is a little funny and the framing is bad and such because I was holding the camera out in front of me so the camera could see Ben while I was hiding behind the wall.

Last, here are some more pictures of Jon reading to Ben. These are some pretty precious moments. Ben sure loves his dad.

I sure am blessed with the two greatest boys in the world in my life.

More Videos

Here are the last two videos.

This first one is Ben practicing his sitting in his giraffe costume.



Last, but most definitely not least, Ben just picked this one up today. Jon was beat-boxing to him in the basement and Ben started shaking his head along. I wouldn't call it sophisticated dancing, but I would call it dancing and it's stinking adorable. If you don't believe me see for yourself:



*Note, it's hard to hear, but Jon is beat-boxing, not just shaking his head. Also, Ben did the same dance to some music we played as well.

Also, I should mention that I've become quite proficient at typing with one hand while I hold Ben in the other. Does anyone know if that's a marketable skill?

Lots of Videos

So, as promised, I have uploaded a bunch of videos of the little big guy that we've taken over the past couple of weeks. We've caught some pretty adorable moments on film. I didn't do a lot of editing, so some of them are kind of long. Nothing too much more than a minute or so.

First, here's a video of Ben getting really excited whenever I take a drink. We're not really sure why he does this, but he did it really consistently at first. He still does it once in a while but not as much. It's pretty hilarious



Here's Ben sitting and playing with a racquet. He's got the sitting thing down pat. Also, he likes to grab stuff. It's what he does.



Here we see Ben showing off one of his newer skills: high-fiving. He only does it with his right hand, and he has to be at least in a semi-good mood. Still, I'm calling it a new skill.



I had some technical difficulties with two of the videos. They will be in a later post, hopefully shortly.

Mucho que decir

So, it's been a while since I updated. I don't really have a good excuse for not posting, but I have been taking some good pictures and videos. So, this post will be a mixture of pictures and news to keep everyone interested. I'll probably post videos a little bit later, but this post will be really long regardless, just a warning. I have a lot of pictures I want to show off.

I don't really remember everything that's happened in the last month, but I can pretty much guarantee that Ben was adorable for a majority of it.

EXHIBIT 1A:

Ben loves to grab his feet while he's being changed these days. Actually, he likes to grab just about everything within his grasp at all times. He usually finds something to grab onto within seconds of being set down somewhere.

EXHIBIT 1B:

Ben, getting his cute on in the swing while mommy gets ready in the bathroom. He doesn't like to be left unattended. As long as someone is making eye contact with him, though, he's more than happy.

EXHIBIT 1C:Ben in his winter coat looking a little distressed, but still really cute. He cheered up as soon as we got outside. He loves going on walks.

This month, Ben also continued to eat like a big boy. He's still working on that one and tends to make a big mess.

EXHIBIT 2A:He tends to get more carrots on his bib than in his mouth. I did however discover that he likes peas and green beans much more than carrots. He keeps much more in his mouth.

EXHIBIT 2B:

Anyway, I gave up on finding a bib that would actually prevent Ben from getting food on his clothes. Hence the mostly nude feeding times as pictured above.

EXHIBIT 2C:

Ben also likes to chomp on a really big boy cup. I don't put anything in it, he just likes to eat the rim. Also, he likes to yell into it and hear it echo.

Ben has also grown an impressive amount of hair. Mom couldn't resist attempting some hairdos with it. Ben obliged, as he likes getting his scalp massaged.

EXHIBIT 3A:

While I change him, I sometimes let him play with a rag to keep him from trying to grab at the shades covering the window next to his changing table. He loves to roll over onto his side and grab at it.

EXHIBIT 3B:
EXHIBIT 3C:
Just a note, it took a lot of hard work to get this profile because Ben has started posing for the camera. Every time I pull the camera out he turns to face the camera and smiles big. It's pretty crazy. He can be crying and I pull out a camera and he stops and smiles.

EXHIBIT 3D: EXHIBIT 3E:

Daddy's hair is crazy in this picture. He recently got his hair cut, but here he is with Ben with the long locks.

Ben did hit the six month mark on October 18th. I measured his length on his half-birthday a couple of times and came in consistently at 29 inches. His 6 month check up was on the 22nd and they measured him at 28 inches. Whatever, he's somewhere in that vicinity. He weighed in at a whopping 21 lbs. According to babycenter, that's above 95th percentile length and 90th percentile weight. That seems weird to me as he seems much heavier than he is tall.

EXHIBIT 4A:

EXHIBIT 4B:EXHIBIT 4C: Those pictures are pretty self-explanatory. Can you believe all those rolls?!? These pictures also show off Ben's new car seat that we had to get since he's outgrown his infant seat. He's been pretty pumped to have room to stretch out his arms, but it isn't as comfy for him when he falls asleep in the car.

Ben has pretty well mastered sitting these days. He spends most of his time sitting and playing with whatever toys he can grab. His balance is pretty good. He still topples over once and a while, but he stays seated more often than not.

EXHIBIT 5A: Ben's two favorite activities, sitting and chewing on a toy.

EXHIBIT 5B: Smiling for the camera, another one of his favorite activities.

EXHIBIT 5C:Ben sitting all by himself playing with my racquetball racquet. His little overalls are really cute on him. Then again I think he looks cute in everything.

Of course, I couldn't talk about last month without talking about Halloween. Ben didn't really go trick or treating as he was generally sleeping during the times when we could have taken him, but we did get him dressed up. I think all of these pictures are pretty self-explanatory. Ben is the cutest giraffe ever. See for yourself:

Sorry this post was so long. I decided to put most of it in one post to make it easier to follow. I will post a couple of really cute videos as soon as I get the chance and some photos and stories about Ben's and my trip to Pittsburgh.

Raising Arizona

So, I recently got back from going to Arizona to see some of my family. My brother lives there with his wife and three kids. My mom and my sister also came down from Utah to see everyone and all of us wanted to see the musical that my cousin wrote. It's called Blackbeard, and it was fantastic. You can check it out here http://blackbeardthemusical.com/ My cousin, Rob Gardner, put the same show on as a workshop last summer. He made some changes and worked on it and put it on again all through September. It was impressive. I've seen a lot of musicals and it's definitely one of my favorites. The characters are interesting and the story is engaging. But the music is just amazing. The cast really did it justice, too.

Anyway, the play was awesome and Ben and I had a great time with all the family. Nick and Alex were really sweet with him. Mom and Courtney were excited to see him, too. It was good to see Adam and Karlie and their new house. Being there reminded me how huge Ben is. I'm pretty sure he could eat Dylan, who is a month older. Actually, he tried to a couple of times.

Unfortunately, I got back and realized I didn't take any pictures except on my phone. I guess I was too busy having fun. The only not fun part was the flying. Let me tell you, traveling by yourself with a baby should be a part of the World's Strongest Man competition. I must have been lugging 150 pounds of stuff around the airport and getting to the bus and such.

La Dee Dah

Life isn't overly exciting here in Rockford. Ben is super adorable. He's a real chatterbox and a total flirt. He makes friends with everyone we pass on the street. He loves his daddy. I don't know who looks forward to Jon coming home more, me or Ben. Ben won't take his eyes off of Jon for at least ten minutes after he gets home. The other day, I was feeding Ben some prunes and Jon walked in and went into the bathroom. Even after he was out of sight, Ben kept looking down the hall waiting for him to come back.

Jon reading to Ben. Ben seems to appreciate books a little bit more now. Mostly he just constantly tries to grab them, but I do think he likes the pictures.

Ben just loves his daddy so much.

Ben is eating solids more and more these days. I've tried my hand at making my own baby food. So far I made carrots and pears. It's not so bad since I only have one kid and no job. He likes his oatmeal cereal better than rice cereal.

Ben's about as good at eating as I am. Maybe Paige can get me an awesome pilot bib. He does seem to enjoy cereal and he's even had some carrots and prunes.

As for new tricks, Ben rolls over from his back to his tummy now. He isn't super good at it, he has trouble getting his arm in a good position. He was on his tummy when Jon went to get him in the morning the other day, though, so he can do it on his own. He is sitting up really well, but I wouldn't quite say he's mastered that skill, yet. He still leans too far over sometimes and topples over. He also has a lot more interest in toys now that he's got better eye-hand coordination.

Here he is with one of his favorite toys.

And here he is ready for some basketball. Is anyone wondering if mommy wants the little guy to play sports some day? I can't help it, I think he looks so adorable in the sportswear. I like to think that if he doesn't want to play sports I'll be totally cool with that.

Also, we got a really sweet package from great gramma and granpa Workman the other day. It had some really adorable clothes and some chocolates.

Here Ben is modeling one of his new outfits. He's pretty stinking adorable.

Cereal

As promised, here is the video of Ben eating his first meal. I cut it down, but it's still pretty long. If there are weird jumps it's because of bad editing, not because of your player. I'll post the video of Jon feeding him that same night, August 23, as soon as I trim it down.




And, Jon feeding Ben . . .

Ben's First Meals

Dapper Ben

So, just so you know, this is my eighth post today, so if this is the first one you're reading, be advised that there's a lot more where that came from. Anyway, here are some pictures of Ben doing what he does best - looking adorable - our first couple of weeks here in Rockford. First, in the swing. . .

With mommy in our new front room

With daddy in the front yard. Yes, we have a front yard.

On our way to church, aren't my boys adorable. Ben is the star of our new ward.

In this one you can see that he's wearing an adorable belt, too. It's quite the ensemble.