Who Does Benjamin Look Like?

So I saw someone that had posted this cool little tool on their website and I wanted to try it out! So many people say Benjamin looks more like me, but some people say they see Jonathan in him more than they see me.... so here's what myheritage.com said:

Who do you think Benjamin looks like? Take the poll to the right and let's see how accurate this website is!

11/13/2007 Poll Update- Well, we had a grand total of 3 votes and it was unanimous- those 3 people thought Benjamin looked like Tabitha.

"Bab Bab Bab" has evolved...

Benjamin has been so talkative the past few days! I don't know what's gotten into him, but I love it!!! While running errands yesterday Benjamin had a conversation with me for 10 minutes. We "bab bab'd" and "ga goo'd" while driving around town. It was so much fun! Here is a fun video I took of Benjamin today talking to himself as he plays with his bead maze thing (I don't know what they're called, but it's one of the few toys that keep his interest for more than a couple minutes.) Enjoy!

Benjamin has been to the doctor's office twice this week. On Tuesday he had his 9 month check up-- we have a healthy 19 lb, 13 oz boy. He has grown to 29.4 inches long too! This is a far cry from the 7 lbs 4 oz and 19 inches long he started out as back in January. So the first doctor appointment was a good thing! The second, well, that was different. Yesterday morning I noticed Benjamin was chewing on something so I tried to get it out of his mouth. I assumed it was a small piece of paper because he loves to eat paper... but while I was trying to get the object out of his mouth I realized it was a staple! Benjamin was too fast for me and he swallowed it before I could get it out! The little stinker! We called the doctor and they wanted us to bring him in just to make sure it had gone down the right tube (not into the lungs). Since it was a used staple (the prongs were closed in, not sticking straight out) they weren't too worried about it doing any damage unless it wasn't heading out the right way. Anyway, after 2+ hours at the doctor and a set of x-rays we were told they couldn't see the staple in the digestive tract so it must be making it's way through just fine. Benjamin has been nothing but happy since the incident so I'm thinking he is doing well and we'll find the staple eventually : )

Playing Catch

Benjamin, much to his dad's delight, is learning how to play catch with a squishy ball. The first time he played on Saturday night he kept laughing and thought it was the greatest thing ever. We finally got some video of it on Sunday night, but it wasn't as fun for him at the time. But, of course the next time we played again it was back to being fun and he was laughing again. Go figure. Anyway, here's a short video showing you his developing athletic abilities... enjoy!

Benjamin helps with laundry

Benjamin decided to help his dad start the laundry today. I'm sure you can imagine how that went, but here are the cutest pictures ever... actually, way cuter than the ones we took last night at the portrait studio... but that's another story.

Here he is sorting laundry on our bed... yes, it's been about a week since we did laundry last so there was a lot of it!

Next, Benjamin helped Dad take the whites to the washing machine. That looked like fun, too. But I think Benjamin's favorite part was watching the washer fill up with water... he loves water of any kind, especially when it's filling up the washer or the bathtub.

I know this may seem silly to post pictures of Benjamin helping with the laundry, but it's the little things during the day that mean so much to me. It's the little things that make up our lives and our memories.

A haircut and 2 more teeth!

Benjamin is getting another 2 teeth on top! With the one that started coming in earlier this week, that makes 3 total trying to make their way in through Benjamin's top gum. No wonder he has been a little cranky the past couple days! Poor baby is still suffering from his little cold and having teeth come in at the same time. My heart aches for him! Benjamin has definitely been more clingy and needy the past 2 days. We haven't been able to get much done around the house and I end up doing a lot of my work either while he's sleeping or with him sitting on my lap. I think he's over the worst of the cold, so things are looking positive! Good thing too because Benjamin turns 9 months old tomorrow and we're going to get his 9 month portraits done!

Well, Benjamin got his first haircut today from Jonathan's sister Dianne... he was getting a little scraggly around the ears and his bangs were pretty long. You can tell by this picture here. It's been a challenge keeping it in place, especially after naps!

Here are a couple pictures of him during the hair cut experience:

As you can see, he wasn't too happy about it. So we distracted him with some applesauce. Mmmm... much better!

And the finished product! He doesn't look too much like he got a haircut, just like he "cleaned up" a bit. Kinda like he did about 3 months ago before his hair grew so long. I'm pleased and am sure his pictures tomorrow will end up so cute! I'll post again when we get those done!

A New Tooth and a Fun Party

I found a new tooth in Benjamin's mouth this morning! It's the top left (your left, his right). I've been watching it coming in for about a week now. I saw it yesterday but didn't feel anything and this morning I checked (I've been checking about twice a day for the past week) and there was the little razor sharp edges poking through! When he got his bottom teeth, the second came in within a day of the first, so I'm expecting the fourth tooth to be here soon too. Actually, I think I can see the little whiteness among the red swollen gum...

Benjmain had a tough night last night. We were out late at Cassidee's birthday party (more about that in a minute) and then about midnight Benjamin woke up crying cause he couldn't breathe well. He's had a little stuffy nose for a few days and I didn't think too much of it until last night. He ended up sleeping on the floor in our room for awhile and then ended up in the middle of our bed propped up on the Boppy pillow to help keep the congestion out of his nose. Poor baby must have been miserable with being stuffy and having that tooth come in all in the same night. He did sleep in this morning untl 8:30 or so and then took a nice warm bath. He seems much more like himself this morning.

Ok, on to the party... It was a lot of fun! The party was patterned after the game Clue... We had all the favorites, Miss Scarlett (Cassidee), Colonel Mustard (Tyler), Miss White, Professor Plum, etc. And then we had a few extra characters as well, including Dr. Gold (Jonathan), Widow Black (Tabitha), and Father Cobalt (who Benjamin "played" cause the guest ended up not being able to come last minute). There were 13 guests, 13 rooms (library, ballroom, lounge, etc) and 13 weapons (poison, wrench, candlestick...)

Jonathan and I had fun getting our costumes ready. Jonathan was Dr. Gold, an arrogant and "fake" friendly doctor. I played Widow Black, a woman who has been married countless times to rich men who have all had tragic deaths.

After introductions and a self guided "tour" of the mansion we were served the first course of our dinner and made our first accusations. Each time we were served a course (four in all) we were given more clues or instructions of what to do or who to accuse of doing what. In the end, we made our final accusations-- and then the murderer was revealed to be Miss Scarlet in the Conservatory with the Candlestick.

Here's a picture of us with Colonel Mustard and Miss Scarlett:

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Benjamin was introduced to peppers yesterday and actually enjoyed them! It's actually a mini sweet pepper that is kinda like a bell pepper, but smaller and sweeter. They are actually really good when you eat them raw. Here is a video we took of him eating a mini sweet pepper.

Well, sorry about the many posts I've made lately. It just seems that Benjamin is doing the cutest things every day and I'm a proud mom and have to share everything. Plus Grammy and Pepere in California are saying they need more pictures... so here you go!

Benjamin gets a Halloween Costume

I'm surprised his costume got here so quickly because I ordered it on Tuesday and it came this morning! We had to put it on and see how it looks! In case you can't tell, he's a fish. (Some pictures he looks like chicken, but it's a fish) These pictures say everything...

Bab Bab Bab Bab Bab....

Well, Benjamin continues to "talk." He's actually just making one sound over and over again "bab." But he's getting good at intonation and pausing to let someone else say something back to him. We're trying to move onto other sounds... like "Ma Ma" te he he... Here's a short video Jonathan took on our digital camera of Benjamin talking away. Notice Jonathan's stealth secret moves he does to try to keep Benjamin from seeing the camera so he'll keep talking. Benjamin LOVES the camera... every time we bring it out he stops whatever he's doing and goes straight for it. So it's tricky to get him to do anything on camera.

We have an exciting weekend planned... a play at The Off Broadway Theatre tonight and our sister in law's birthday party tomorrow night. We'll have plenty of pictures from the party- it's a Clue-themed Murder Mystery party... Whodunit? Check back soon to see! And trust me, you'll want to see the pictures : )

Crawling everywhere

Well, Benjamin is still at it... the DVD's come down at least 3 times a day. Sometimes only 5 or 6 come down, but usually it's all of them. And every time Benjamin just looks at me like "What? I'm just playing." It's the cutest thing ever!

Benjamin is also crawling all over the place all the time. This child of mine does not stay still, EVER. Well, except maybe when he's sleeping... nevermind, he's all over the place then too. He tends to flip over onto his stomach and then pushes up into crawling position, all while still asleep. Then he doesn't quite know how to get back down and starts fussing until we go in and flip him back over. The whole process starts all over again a couple hours later.

So I've been trying to get good pictures of Benjamin to post on the blog this past week. But every time I pull out the camera and Benjamin looks at me he starts crawling over to grab the camera and stick it in his mouth. And he's such a fast crawler now that most of the pictures end up looking like this:

But I did manage to get a couple good pictures of him standing along the couch today, here's a good one:

Meanwhile, Jonathan is studying hard in school and doing very well so far. He doesn't have much time to do much except study, eat, and sleep. Once or twice a week he gets out to play basketball with some friends at the church. I'm glad he's finding time to do something he enjoys since he hasn't been able to go fishing for awhile.

As for me, I'm still working full time from home and keeping busy with a very active little boy. Sometimes I find time to read a magazine, scrapbook a little, and oh yeah, take a shower every once in a while. Ha ha. No seriously, it's hard to find time to take a shower. At least the 20 minute long ones I used to enjoy so much... ahhh. All you mothers out there know what I'm talking about... I've also been asked to start a Scrapbooking Club at church. We'll have our first get together in a couple weeks. I can't wait to have several hours devoted just to scrapbooking with friends every month. Hopefully it will help me stay current with Benjamin's scrapbook. I don't want to be scrapping his first birthday when he's starting Jr. High.

Well, that's about all this week. So long for now... and as always, keep in touch!