What Can Happen In One Week...

We made it back! It was a fun trip. much too short, but fun all the same. Benjamin has learned to do quite a few new things while we were in California for Christmas. It's amazing how much he can learn in just a few days...

First, he is starting to venture to stand up by himself. He lets go of whatever he's holding on to and stands for a few seconds, about 10, before falling down. He started do this after church on Sunday and is getting quite good at it. Yesterday he even did a few dance moves before falling down.

On Christmas day Benjamin got this really cute car from Santa. He can either sit on it and push with his feet (or, be pushed by someone) or it converts into an upright walker that allows him to push it around the house. He loves it! When he saw it Christmas morning he grabbed the handle and starting walking across the living room right away without any help or a demonstration on how it works. He's such a smart boy :) This picture shows the car in the upright walking version.

Also, Benjamin has learned that cars go "vrrrrroooommm" He drives his little toy cars around and says "vrrrrrooooommmmm" and he does it while pushing around his car toy I was just talking about. It's the cutest thing. He's definitely a boy!

I don't have time to write about the whole week we were gone, but let's just say Benjamin's first Christmas was awesome. The weather was great (70-something degrees) and sunny. Santa came to visit Benjamin on Christmas Eve. Benjamin wasn't so sure about him, but he at least sat on his lap and smiled for Dad a couple times so we could get a good picture.

Benjamin had a lot of fun opening presents. By the time he got to the last present on Christmas morning he knew exactly what to do to get the paper off and see what was inside. His birthday in a few weeks should be fun now that he knows how to open a present! Some things Benjamin got were a wagon of blocks, a Tickle Me Elmo (that he absolutely loves), a toy cell phone, and lots of clothes and books. He seemed to really like everything. And our little family got a webcam from Grammy and Pepere... so now we can "visit" and talk with anyone who also has a webcam. Grammy mentioned that she bought herself one too... how convenient :) We'll let everyone know when we have it set up and ready to go!

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from the Gibson Family!

Benjamin Gets His "Skills" From His Dad

Jonathan always jokes that it was his awesome dancing skills that made me fall in love with him. Well, I'm not so sure about that but Benjamin's dancing skills are the cutest thing I've seen in a while! He is really learning how to "get down." We love this little boy!

Today's the day! We're just finishing up the packing and loading the car this morning. Little guys need so much stuff for just a week! Goodness! But it will be worth it to spend a nice, warmer Christmas in California. Woo hoo! We'll see how Benjamin does in the car. We've got a few DVD's, a couple new small toys he's never seen, along with a few favorites, and lots of snacks to keep Benjamin's mouth full so he can't scream. This should be an adventure... we'll post again to let you know how it goes!

And if we don't talk to you before, Merry Christmas!

3 Days and Counting...

We spent Saturday and Sunday at Jonathan's parents house in Layton. Grandma and Grandpa have a few toys that stay there for the times when Benjamin and his cousins are visiting. Benjamin loves this little basketball hoop and is getting very good at "playing basketball" He makes his dad so proud! We'll be looking around to find something similar for Benjamin's birthday next month.

We also stopped by the "Lights Before Christmas" display that is set up at the park in Layton. We got out of the car and walked along the path looking at the lights set up on either side. They had lots of different animals and dinosaurs and cars and stuff all made out of lights. Benjamin just sat in his stroller with a completely solemn face. Which is why we didn't take the time to go to Temple Square in Salt Lake on our way home on Sunday night. Maybe next year Benjamin will show a little more enthusiasm.

We leave for California in three days! I'm so excited... but we also have a ton of things to get done before then. Jonathan is busy, busy, busy working on his statistics final. I still have to work everyday and take care of the baby boy. Benjamin is just having fun making a big mess in the living room and dancing to the Christmas Songs playing on the radio. He is quite the character sometimes.

We have a Creedance Clearwater Fan....

This is Benjamin "dancing." He does this when he hears music playing, even if it's a cell phone ringing. The Dance started with a pointed finger being waved, and he has recently add the bouncing of the knees (both while standing like in this picture and while kneeling on the ground) and a little more waving with both hands. PS- sorry about the shaky camera work in the beginning, that was me trying to encourage Benjamin to start dancing.

Big Boy Clothes and a Moment of "Mommy Enlightenment"

My baby is wearing size 18 months clothes! I can't believe how big he is getting. In September or October we bought him a bunch of 12 and 18 months clothes thinking he'd be wearing them until March or April... but here it is only December and he's outgrown some of the 12 months sizes and already wearing some of the 18 month sizes! Not 2 months ago he was still fitting into some 9 month size clothes. Let's hope he doesn't have a growth spurt too soon or else we may have to go on another shopping spree for toddler clothes. This shirt is a size 18 months and it fits great, except the arms are a little long. I had to roll them up a bit. But other than that, it's pretty much the perfect size.

By the way, Benjamin absolutely loves to sit in my desk chair by himself. It's pretty much a guaranteed smile if you stick him down and snap a picture. Bonus points if you spin the chair around a couple times! I love learning these little tricks that make a baby happy. For example, today while driving home from Target Benjamin was just screaming, screaming, screaming. I had no idea why. He wasn't hungry, he wasn't tired, he wasn't uncomfortable (that I could tell). But he just kept screaming no matter what I did. Granted, you can't do much from the front seat, but my usual "tricks" weren't working. Then, in a moment of ingenious "Mommy Enlightenment" I started rolling the back windows down two inches, then back up. Then down two inches, and then back up. Over and over again. Benjamin stopped crying and watched the windows going up and down the rest of the way home. I'll have to remember this for the next time he starts screaming in the car. We do have a 10+ hour drive to California next week... :)

New Blog Design

I spent awhile this afternoon updating the look of our blog for the Winter season. Legally, I have to give credit to http://www.shabbyprincess.com/ for the background papers that I downloaded to use. So, thank you Shabby Princess!

Also, for easy instructions on how to update your own blog, see this blog: http://sjhblogdesign.blogspot.com/ She does a wonderful job explaining the steps and made it so easy to follow! I've also added a link in the My Favorite Blogs list to the right in case you need to find the website later :)

And, thank you to the lovely ladies of www.pinchingyourpennies.com who pointed me in the right direction to find these great sites.

Happy Sunday everyone :)

Benjamin enjoying a roll

Normally when we feed Benjamin I give him small pieces of whatever food he's eating and let him take one at a time. Every once in awhile though, it's more fun to watch him tackle a whole food. As long as it's something safe to eat... and messy. The other day I let him eat a roll. He had a lot of fun, as you can see. and Jonathan had a lot of fun vacuuming up the mess. Te he he...

Benjamin loves to share his food too. Here he is offering me a bite.

And look at these big beautiful brown eyes... I wonder where he got those ;)

Benjamin also managed to find a way to get close to the Christmas tree and he went straight for my Baby's First Christmas ornament that is now 25 years old... (yikes!)... At least it wasn't a breakable one.

Update on Crying It Out

Sorry, no pictures and I know that's boring, but here's a quick update on our attempt at helping Benjamin learn to fall asleep on his own. It's been a week now and Benjamin is doing so well! He's down to crying for just a couple minutes, literally like 2. Then he'll sit in his crib and talk to himself. It's so cute! This is one of those times I wish we had a video baby monitor so I can see what he's talking to. We're so proud of him! And the best part is that once we put him down for the night, he's asleep for about 11-12 hours :) YAY!

Also, the other morning he woke up at 5am... too early for us! He was talking in his crib and shaking the crib railing. We decided to follow the advice in the book, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and ignore him until 6 am. Well... 20 minutes later Benjamin was asleep again and slept until 7:45am! This really works!

SNOW!

This is what we woke up to this morning.

Here's Benjamin out on the deck with Jonathan. He didn't like to touch the snow, but he sure had a lot to say about it!