Da-Da Confirmed

As soon as John walked in the door this evening, Ben called out Da-Da.

Official "Da-Da"

We are declaring an official first word -- "da-da." When John got home from work this evening, Ben and I were sitting on the bed folding clothes. Ben squealed, kicked his feet, and waved his arms when John walked through the door. He was very excited to see John. John went into his closet to put up his workout bag, then came back out. Ben looked at John and said, "Da-Da." Later, he looked at him again and repeated it. We think this was a real "da-da" because it wasn't his usual da da da da da da da ramblings.

Two Puppy Dogs

My Son

I've always thought Ben looks very much like John, but when I look at this picture, I can see that he does have some of my features. This picture hangs on the wall at my parents' house. I took a picture of the picture so it's not great quality.

Accepting Bribes

The slideshow has been edited. Aunt Connie offered me $5 to take her picture off the slideshow.

A Bajillion Pics

Here is a slideshow of some of my Christmas pics.

**Explanation
"Zac getting revenge. The lamb says, 'Hee Haw'." When Zac was little Will and I would pull the handle on Zac's See n Say, wait for it to say, "The cow says" (or whatever animal) then hit the back of it making it skip to another sound. So poor Zac could have grown up thinking the cow says "baaaa" if we hadn't had a whole bunch real cows in the pasture right outside the house.

The Day After

Today Ben and I have been trying out as many of our Christmas gifts as possible. I wore my new boots to lunch, am currently wearing new pajamas from Will and Danielle, have washed my hands with Bath and Body Works soap from my stocking, lit the candle from Zac, and snacked on Hershey's Kisses. I read Ben books from Zac, he's watched two new DVDs on his new DVD player for the car (our DVD decided to quit working today so I hooked the car DVD player to our TV) while riding his rocking horse. Here is a pic of him on his rocking horse after right after I got it put together.

Where's Ben?

The paper was Ben's favorite part of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

I know it's a few days early, but Ben and I will be out of town through Christmas. Here are a few pics. The Schillings sent a present for Ben home with John from church this morning. We didn't get to go because of Ben's cough. He's much better, but I'm trying to keep him at home as much as possible so that he will be well for Christmas. I let Ben open the present while we were eating lunch. He had lots of fun with the paper in the bag.



Ben learned yesterday that when we're playing on the floor in his bedroom, he can roll under the bed and peak out under the bed skirt.



I took this picture last week, but never posted it. I thought he looked so big just sitting there playing with his toys.

Same outfit, different pic

This is Ben's official Christmas picture that I had taken at the beginning of December. Some of you will be receiving larger versions for Christmas gifts. Sorry to ruin the surprise, but it was just too cute not to post. Ben is currently not feeling so smiley. He has bronchitis and ear infections in both ears. We've been to the doctor and he's taking medication for both problems so hopefully he'll be feeling better soon. We definitely want Christmas to be a happy time for him.

More Pics

Here are a few more pics I've taken this weekend.

Ben in his new winter coat and hat.


Ben and John waiting to see Santa.


Ben with a candy cane from Santa. We didn't take it out of the wrapper.


My new vehicle.


Inside my new vehicle.

Ho Ho Ho

We took Fran's advice and visited Santa at Bass Pro Shop. I thought this was a great idea since John was actually willing to go to Bass Pro whereas he refuses to step foot in the mall even at other times of the year. I thought Santa might scare Ben, but he didn't. Ben sat right in his lap and smiled. Notice the real stuffed reindeer (John said they were elk) behind Santa's right shoulder.

Santa made an early stop at our house and left a 2005 Dodge Durango for me. Actually, we bought it this morning before we went to see Santa. It was dark when we got home so I'll try to take pictures and post them tomorrow.

I just noticed that December's blog looks like a game of "How many times can I post pictures of Ben wearing the same outfit." This is his special Nana Christmas outfit and we are wearing it for all Christmas functions.

Clank, Clank

Ben has discovered his new top tooth this afternoon and that it makes an interesting noise to chomp all three teeth together. Clank, clank, clank over and over and over again.

Commentary on Turkey Rice

Here is what Ben thinks of Turkey Rice flavored baby food.


After having half a jar splattered over the high chair and myself, I gave up and got out a jar of apple baby food, which he ate without protest.

Click, Click

This morning I took Ben's picture by the tree for our Christmas card. While he's napping, I've ordered our Christmas cards. Trying to decide which picture to use was WAY too hard. It's much easier to go to Wal-Mart and buy a few packages of cards. I hope they turn out good.

I'm really looking forward to Christmas. I let Ben open a present while we were taking pictures (I intend to rewrap it and have him open it again on Christmas morning. He'll never know). He LOVED the wrapping paper. Here's a pic.

Laundry Day

Ben's 1st Christmas Tree

We put our Christmas tree up this evening. We have an artificial tree. We bought it a couple of years ago because we have limited space for a tree in our current house. Ben, with John's help, put the first ornament on our tree. It was a gift from Cara and says "Baby's First Christmas." I put the next ornament on the tree, an elf with my name engraved on it and 1978, my first Christmas. We don't have any of John's childhood ornaments so he followed with an MSU Bulldog that I bought him our first Christmas together.

Make a Joyful Noise

Of course Ben had no idea what was going on while I decorated the tree, but I gave him a couple of bells to play with and they made LOTS of noise. Just listen.

Christmas Pics

I had Ben's Christmas picture taken this afternoon. It turned out really cute. The pic I posted is just one I snapped at the house when we got home so that I could show off his cute Christmas outfit that his Nana made him. You may notice that he has a bump on his right cheek. That just appeared yesterday so we turned him at a slight angle to take his Christmas picture.

Peek-a-Boo

Ben and I are playing peek-a-boo with his MawMaw Wilma blanket. We play peek-a-boo all the time, but today he was the one covering his face and then pulling the blanket off when I asked, "Where is my Ben?" Then he would laugh. He's been pulling it off, but this morning was the first time he had covered his face up and played the whole game himself. I tried to video him doing it, but, of course, he wouldn't cooperate with the camera running. I'll keep trying.

More Pics

To make up for not posting for so long, I'm posting a few more pics today.

Warm Ears

Helper Boy

Too big

Ben is definitely getting too big for his bouncy seat, but I keep putting him in it anyway. It's so much easier to feed him in it where he is slightly reclined than in his high chair sitting straight up. When I wasn't holding the camera, he was leaned forward checking out the controls on the front of the seat.

I haven't posted in ages. I have good reasons, though. First, when we were visiting family, John had my camera in Illinois. If you would like to see the view from his deerstand (trees), I could post that. Then at Thanksgiving, we were hurry, hurry, hurrying trying to get to lunch at John's parents and I forgot to bring my camera. Mr. Elder did take pictures so maybe he'll send me a few that I can post.

So I know you really only care about what Ben has been doing during this time.

1. Fran and I had his and MV's picture taken together. That was a horrible experience that will not be repeated until next Christmas, possibly. Then it will probably be even worse since Ben will be around a year and a half and they will have a new baby his age now. It may have gone better had Ben not immediately reached up and pulled MV's hair during the first picture. I think that about did it for her wanting to hold Ben. Also, the photographer was SO slow. You need to click, click, click fast with small children.

2. We visited my parents where Ben did not sleep through the night the entire trip. If anyone who has travelled with small children (Rachel, Dana) have any suggestions, I would like to hear them.

3. We had Thanksgiving lunch with the Elders. I fed Ben a jar of green beans and turkey for supper so that he could be part of the turkey festivities.

4th and 4th

Fran tagged me on the 4th and 4th game. The way this works is to 1. open your picture folder 2. go to the 4th folder, and 3. open the 4th picture and explain what is going on in this picture and why it is important to you.

I just copied a bunch of pictures to a disk and deleted them from my computer so the only pics in my fourth folder (titled "Ben") are the ones of John and Ben that I posted just the other night. The fourth pic is the the one where Ben is leaned over laughing. I won't post it again. I thought about cheating and posting the fourth pic from the 1st folder (titled "Favorites), but that was a pic of my daddy holding a baby doll of Emalee's last Christmas. Although he doesn't know how to turn on a computer and would probably never see it, I didn't think he would appreciate that pic being posted. And the next pic was of Mama with her head wrapped in a scarf carolling last Christmas. She does look at the blog, and I know she would have been upset with me if I had posted that one.

I tag Rachel (maybe she'll actually post a pic for a change), Cara (who NEVER posts), and Casey.

Bedtime???

Ben was wired at bedtime. As you can see, his daddy wasn't helping much to calm him down. They were both having fun, though.





We've been practicing sitting up. Ben is a late sitter. He's getting better, but he still falls over pretty quickly. He's learned that I usually put a pillow behind him when he's sitting so he just throws himself backwards, which he thinks is really funny. One day the pillow isn't going to be there and it's going to hurt. I took this pic a couple of days ago and just forgot to post it.

Off to work we go

John had a cook out at work this evening. Ben and I went for a couple of hours. He was so good. He smiled, jabbered, waved and even let people hold him. One of the drivers has a thick beard. While he was holding him, Ben reached over and stroked his beard and then pulled on it. The driver loved it. Here are a couple of pics of Ben at work then two more that I took today just because I hadn't posted any pics lately.




Someone with a good eye and a long memory may recognize Ben's walker. It's nearly an antique. It was Zac's. I found it in the attic last time I was home. Ben goes backwards really well. I've only seen him move forward once and that was an accident. We call sitting in the walker "driving his car."


Notice his feet. Cara bought these boots for him. They are camo on top.

Fun with Books

Now Ben has to have his own book when we read. He would prefer to have whatever book I am holding, but a similar book will satify him. His favorite book to look at is this Little Critter book by Mercer Mayer. Just flipping it around and looking at the back and front covers will hold his attention for five minutes or more.

Really, it doesn't matter what I'm holding, he wants it -- the remote control, my cell phone, etc. I won't let him put paper books or electronics in his mouth and that frustrates him. I saw a baby remote control at Wal-Mart. He may find that in his stocking Christmas morning.

We both have runny noses so this week hasn't been a lot of fun.

Trick or Treat

Learning Begins Early

Ben had never been in John's car before so after John went driving, we put Ben in it for a couple of pictures. John said if Ben was really, really good one day he might get to drive it. I've driven it and most of you know my driving record so Ben will probably get to drive it one day too.

Cara's gonna hate this

Cara thought Ben's blue overalls made him look too old. I doubt she's going to like the dress shirt and khaki cords he wore to church this morning. We thought he was really cute. Notice the shoes in the picture with me. This is the first time he's ever worn shoes. That pic was taken before church. The shoeless picture with John was taken after church.

Standing Tall

Ben really likes to stand lately. He looks so big when he's standing. Of course the superlong pants don't really show that in this pic. This outfit is 9 months. His one-piece 6 month outfits are too small. I think he has short legs and a long torso.

Hilarious Boy

For some reason Ben thought I was hilarious this evening. Everytime I looked at him, he laughed. He also thinks the word "hilarious" is very funny. You can just look at him and say "hilarious" and he laughs. Here's a video. Everytime I peaked out from behind the camera he would laugh.

I just thought this was a funny picture.