Crazy Man

~So this crazy little man of mine has decided that he doesn't want or need to crawl and is now pulling himself up to stand at the coffee table or anything he can get his hands on these days. I am trying not be to protective but it's hard when you see your baby wanting to be so independent. The other night Adam and I were watching a movie (National Treasure #2) and he very quickly decided to scoot over on his little rear end and pull himself up to the couch. I quickly grabbed the camera to get some video of his victory. he was so happy and just a little to brave for my liking.

Can I have some of that?

So Ben and Darla have now bonded in the food department. I know Darla has been waiting for this day for a very long time :) Last night after dinner I gave Ben some Sweet Potato puffs and a teething biscuit. Well Darla started stalking him and he quickly realized if he put his hand over the side she would come eat what he had. Of course he thought this was hysterical! The more we told him no and told Darla no the more he laughed and continued to feed her. I knew this day was coming, I guess I just didn't expect it so soon :P

And We're Back!!

~Ok so I know I've been a bad blogger lately and haven't posted anything but things have been kinda crazy around here. June 18th we flew to St Louis for cousin Laura's wedding and had a great 4 days with family. Ben met his Aunt Heather for the fist time and was able to spend lots of time with Aunt Lauren, G.G. and Grandpa Mac. we got our fix of Ted Drews(Yummo!!) and saw Laurens place. We took in a Cardinals game while we were there and Ben still wasn't impressed with all the yelling and loud music. The wedding was on Saturday June 21st which happened to be out 5th wedding anniversary and it brought back a lot of memories. We danced to our wedding song at the reception and even got in a little alone time to go have dinner before we flew back home.

After being back for 3 days Adam called me to say they finally were sending him to Eglin for the TDY that had been pushed back since February. We left the following Sunday(exactly a week after getting back from St Louis) and were able to spend 3 weeks with my family. My brother and his family were there for a little vacation and Dave was interviewing with an engineering company in Ft Walton that wound up making him a job offer and they excepted so they are moving back home in a few weeks. I am so glad they will be close to both sides of the family after being away for so long. Both sets of Grandparents are just thrilled with the whole thing! We also got a little Marlin fix since the TDY occurred the same time they were moving to Niceville. It was real hard having to leave the kidos and Elizabeth was so upset that we had to come back to California. She really wants Adam( her Big boyfriend close by her) Thank Goodness they moved somewhere we visit and Nana Barb is thrilled to have the kids close by. Mikayla and Elizabeth hit it off, were instantly best friends and are looking forward to going to the same Elementary School in the Fall.

Mikayla went back to NC to say goodbye to her friends so it was just Ben and I with my parents while Adam worked everyday. We went to the pool a few times and Ben has been trying to crawl these last few weeks, thanks to the help of Adelyn. He is really starting to get the hang of it and I think he will be off in no time :)

We had a long day yesterday of travel and Ben was a champ as always. we are so lucky to have a baby that is almost always happy and a great flier. After things settle down around here I promise not to wait so long to post.

Cooling off in the Desert

I finally got Ben a little baby pool and blew it up(boy was I dizzy) and We tried it out today. He had such a great time and quickly realized that if he splashed then Darla would try and eat the water and so he thought that was funny. I can tell this will now become one of our daily activities :P

That was Yummy :P

I loved this and thought I would share. This is what happens in my house after dinner and the boys tummies are full :) How cute is that!!!

Family Picture time

~Since Ben is now 6 months old and we have not had our family pictures taken yet we went into Sear today and finally got them done. They turned out pretty well ! Here are just a few for now

6 Months Old

~Ben had his 6 month well baby today and he is doing just great. He weighed in at 18# 2 oz and was just over 27 1/2 inches long(he's going to be very tall). He is growing well and doing things beyond the typical baby milestones. He can grasp food with his fingers and has had a few banana puffs and tried his first Ritz cracker today and loved it! He still doesn't have any teeth but has tons of drool so maybe he's starting to work on them. His normal daily routine now is up at 7-7:30am play in his jumper for an hour, then he has a little breakfast of either oatmeal with bananas or just a bottle then he takes his first nap around 8:45 and will sleep for 1 1/2-2 hrs then he has a veggie(usually green beans ) and we have playtime on the floor. Around 1:30pm is his second nap of the day and is usually for the same length of time as his morning one. then it's more jumper time(he loves this thing!) and then we usually head out the door for some fresh air and sunshine and a little stroll around the block. He has Oatmeal with bananas for dinner at 6pm a tubby at 7:30 and then it's Jammie's and his nighttime bottle by 8pm and we start it all again at 7:30 the next morning. He is such a loving, laid back happy baby and Adam and I are so blessed to have him. Every Evening we look at each other and wonder what we did before him because it seems like he's always been here.

Hello from Cali!!

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Adam flew back from Florida Friday so Ben and I drove to LA to pick him up and the three of us stayed for a few days to do some site seeing and visit with some friend from TPS. Saturday we went to the Getty museum http://www.getty.edu/museum/about.html and had a wonderful time. The day started out rainy and cold but turned out to be nice after all. Ben loved the art work and seemed to take a likening to the European sculptors. After 4 1/2 hrs we decided to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner with Doug and Karen. They took us to a Thai restaurant off of Hollywood Blvd that had a Thai Elvis impersonator. It was hysterical watching him and we were amazed at how good he was. Elvis was definitely in the building :). We brought along Ben's new clamp on high chair and the manager wasn't to sure about it. He kept walking by trying to look under him to see how it was attached. Finally I said something to him and he commented that it was "freaky" then proceeded to take a chair flip up the cushion and slide it under his seat. It was so funny because we know it's safe but he just didn't feel comfortable with him like that so he have him a little extra protection :).

After dinner we headed down the street to have some desert at a little Japanese pastry shop called Bear Papashttp://www.muginohousa.com/and had the world best cream puffs. they are so fresh and are filled while you watch. after our little sugar rush we walked down to Graumans Chinese theaterhttp://www.manntheatres.com/chinese/ where we saw some interesting night life for a Saturday night.

Sunday we had tickets to see the Dodgers play the Cardinals and it was Ben's first official ball game. We were having a great time until he got a little tired and the crowd got a little loud so he and I left Adam to head outside for some peace and quiet. After a little snooze and some green beans he was good to go and seemed to manage the rest of the game ok. he let out a few more cries when things got a little loud and we eventually wound up leaving the gave during the 8th inning with it tied 3 to 3. Unfortunately the Dodgers won the game but we still had a great time. Ohh and we got to see a celebrity, Michaela Conlin who plays Angela on the show Bones. http://www.tv.com/michaela-conlin/person/29708/photos.html?tag=stars;more_img;5

Pants

It's amazing what a baby thinks is funny! Who knew putting pants on your head would be a big hit :)

I've got it!!

So it didn't take long for our little guy to figure out how to get his cereal into his mouth and how to work the sippy cup. He's definitely going to be an Engineer :)

Having fun

Benjamin received this really cool lights and sounds music toy at Christmas from his G.G and Grandpa Mac. I decided to pull it out of his closet yesterday to see what he thought of it. He was hysterical to watch and it took him no time at all to figure out how to make it work. Thanks You G.G and Grandpa Mac!!!

4 month well baby

~Ben had his 4 month well baby on Thursday and he is 100% perfect. He weighed in at 15#10 oz and 26 1/2 inches long(he's gonna be a tall guy!) The Dr gave us a heads up that we need to go ahead and start baby proofing the house because he is very advanced with his motor skills and will be on the move very soon. This is exciting and scary at the same time! He was impressed with how vocal he was for his age and told us to watch out! :) Adam says he obviously gets that from me :) He's also being treated for a mild case of thrush that will hopefully clear up here soon and won't go back until the beginning of June for his 6 month visit.

Cute as a bug!

~While we were away on our adventures Benjamin received a beautiful quilt from my friend Martha in Ohio. Ben loves the bright colors and talking to the bugs :) Today he was having some playtime on it and decided to sit up for the first time all on his own. My little baby is changing so fast!

Thanks again Martha for the beautiful/colorful quilt and give the kids hugs and kisses for us.

And we're back!

Benjamin and I had a wonderful time on our little 3 week East coast adventure. We flew to Nana and Papa's then drove to Myrtle Beach to meet up with my brother and his wife and their girls. Then after a wonderful week on the coast we headed back to there place in North Carolina for another week and then drove back to Florida for 2 days before getting on a plane to fly home. It was cold and rainy the last week of our trip but we still had a great time. Benjamin got to spend lots of time with his cousins and already misses them tons. I think he keeps looking around wondering where all the noise went to :). He loved hearing Mikayla sing silly songs and Adelyn was always close by to offer him his Bob(this is what she calls her Pacifier). She was very helpful and you could tell he thought she was the coolest thing ever. she would walk around with her pacifier in her mouth and hold one of his and say Ben's bob...Ben's bob...Ben's bob, it was the cutest thing ever!!!!

We will get a little break from traveling before we head off to St Louis in June for cousin Laura's wedding. Hopefully he will be an excellent flier then too!!

Mr Cheeks!

How can you have a bad day when this is what you see all the time?

Our New Home

well as a lot of you know we finally got a new house and are slowly getting settled in. We absolutely love it here and it feels good living in a place that doesn't smell of raw sewage(YUCK!!) all the time. Darla and Jasmine love having some grass in the back yard to roll around in and windows to look out of from the front bedrooms. Anyways! hope everyone is doing well and now it's off to more boxes :)

Meeting Dr.Marrs

The other week I took Benjamin down to the fertility clinic so he could meet Dr Marrs. It was hard to believe that this time last year we were starting our treatment plan with him and getting ready to do another IVF cycle. Now we have our beautiful little boy thanks to his knowledge and gift of making dreams come true. He was so happy that I drove all that way for him to see the baby, I don't think very many of his patients take in their babies after he gets them pregnant and releases them. He told us that whenever we were ready again that he was hear for us(I think I need just a few more months before we head down that road again).

Anyways!! Thank you Dr. Marrs for making our dreams of having a family come true. We can never thank you enough!!

Belly Laughs

Ben has offically started to do some Belly laughs. I think hearing a baby laugh is the greatest thing in the whole world. You can't help but laugh when you hear it.

Precious

Thank You Carrie for taking some beautiful pictures!!! we absolutely LOVE every single one of them.