Blessing Day

Yesterday was Ben's blessing day. For those of you who don't know, I guess it's the Mormon equivalent of a Christening. Jon got to give him a blessing in church. It was a really sweet moment and Jon gave Ben a wonderful blessing. The men in the circle (Jon, his dad, my dad, Lance, Jon's grandparents, Russell, and Bishop Bollinger) later informed me that Ben just stared at Jon and smiled through the whole thing. Jon says it was the best moment of his life. Benjamin really is a happy baby who loves his daddy. Also, Elder Nelson (one of the 12 Apostles, which are sort of like Archbishops I guess) was there since his son was blessing a baby as well. He gave a quick address which was lovely and uplifting. Plus, a girl was giving her homecoming adress after coming home from her 18 month mission. It was a really great meeting and a very special day for our little family.

After the meeting, Jon's parent had a get together, and Ben was so sweet with everyone. He really is a little flirt and just loves gettting as much attention as he can.

So, call me conceited, but our little family is pretty stinking adorable.

Four generations: Great-grandmother Jean, Nammy (grandma Merrill), Mommy, and Ben

Four generations on Jon's side with his family and Grandma and Grandpa Workman.

The Merrill Clan

Moved at Last

So, it's been a while since I posted anything. It was pretty crazy packing up our whole lives with little Ben in the mix. We did manage to get it all done and our stuff is waiting for us in Rockford. Unfortunately we didn't have any help and Jon ended up unloading our entire truck into storage by himself. This the day after he'd loaded almost the whole truck by himself. He's quite the man and an excellent mover. I helped, but only when Ben would let me.

Jon will be in San Diego this summer teaching an MCAT preparation program for Kaplan. I'll be staying with my folks in Salt Lake. Jon and I are not looking forward to being separated, and Jon's bummed to leave Ben. Still, he's glad he can put some money in the bank since he won't have a job in Rockford and he's excited to surf.

As for Ben, he was a champ during the move. He is such a sweet baby and did about as well as could be expected when we made the drive across the country. It was pretty grueling for all three of us. We were glad to make it here safe and sound with plenty of loved ones around to help with Ben. On Wednesday the 18th, Ben's two month birthday, he had a doctor's appointment. He weighed 14 lbs. 11 3/4 oz. (97th percentile) and measured 24 inches (80th percentile). The doctor described him as husky. Ben was so cute for the whole appointment and was chatting it up and smiling at the doctor. He had to get a couple of shots, but took it pretty well. He only cried for a bit then was super pleasant when I went to show him off to my old co-workers.

That's all for now. I apologize for how long this post is. I guess that's what happens when I go so long between posts.

Ben Laughing

I dare you to watch this and not smile. Don't forget to crank up the volume.

Still so Cute

June is Busting out all Over

Sorry that it's been a little while. I haven't had much time to post as I've been using the little bits of free time I have to start packing. We'll be rolling out of here two weeks from tomorrow, so there's not much time to get everything done. It doesn't help that Ben doesn't sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time during the day. I'm told he'll start taking longer naps during the day around three or four months. He still seems pretty uncomfortable a lot of the time and wants to be held pretty much 24/7. However, he will play on his own for a while when we put him down. He's getting more and more vocal. Right now, he's lying on the bed chatting to himself and waving his little fist at something. He's also super smiley and ticklish. He loves having his little scalp massaged.

Anyway, I finally managed to get the video of Ben laughing trimmed down and converted. Hopefully I can post that later today. The video was taken on May 18, and it's pretty precious. Make sure you turn up the volume or you may miss it.

We tried to take Ben swimming for the first time last week and ran into a couple of speed bumps. On Friday, there was torrential rainfall, so we went over to the student rec center to go swimming. Unfortunately, Jon forgot his ID and had to run home and get it (keep in mind the roads were flooded in some places) . He got back only to discover that I needed to have ID as well, and I don't carry that in my swimsuit. We gave up and went home. We tried to take him to the outdoor pool in our complex on Saturday with not much more success. The rainwater made for a very cold pool. I took him in for a second, but he protested to the cold, and I don't blame him. We taped it, but it was more pathetic than cute. Although he was stinking adorable in his little swim trunks and rash guard. I'll upload the video later.

Also, for those of you who were worried about meeting Ben for the first time after he's been pretty isolated, I don't think you need to worry. At church on Sunday when I took Ben out of sacrament meeting to change him, he was totally flirting with my visiting teacher and her little girl. I think he gets sick of me, so he'll be really excited to get some outside attention from his relatives this summer.

I don't know if anyone pays attention to national weather, but we've had some really intense storms here the past week. We had a couple of tornado warnings last night. It was crazy, the sky was lit up the whole night and the thunder was rumbling non-stop. There were a couple of lightning strikes close by that were blinding. I swear one of them must have struck within a block of here. It knocked the power out for a while. I just hope we don't get any storms like that when we're trying to move. Fingers crossed. That's it for now. I'll try to update a couple more times before we move, but I make no guarantees.