Be my Valentine...

On Valentine's Day we think of those

Who make our lives worthwhile,

Those gracious, friendly people who

We think of with a smile.

I am fortunate to know you,

That's why I want to say,

To rare and special people:

Happy Valentine's Day!

My intention was to get some cute Valentine Pictures of Ben but that is a lot easier said than done. Here are a few of them...

Ben in the morning...

This morning when I went in Ben's room, I took the camera so you all could see how he is in the morning when he first gets up. If you click on each picture, it should make them bigger.

New videos of Ben

This was a few nights ago. Whenever Lewey goes out in the backyard, Ben follows him to the door and watches him.




Ben is finally getting the hang of his rocking horse and isn't so scared of it anymore. (Sorry, this has bad lighting)




Playing with his jungle cruiser. He knows what to touch to make it play music (watch him touch the monkey's hand multiple times). Pretty smart if you ask me.

This is what happens when you turn away for ten seconds...

Seriously, within about ten seconds, he opened the cabinet 

and climbed in. This is how we found him.

The difference of a year...

January 29, 2008

January 30, 2009

A Special Day...

Today marks one year since Ben came home from the hospital. At just 5 pounds, he got his first taste of freedom as he left the little room that he had spent 7 weeks in. It was his first time feeling fresh air, taking a ride in the car and not having to be hooked up to multiple machines with wires attached all over him. I had been so nervous in anticipation of this day but by the time it came, I was surprisingly calm. I was ready for Ben to be home and to have him all to myself (well, for 13 days until his dad came home, then I was happy to share him). He was such an easy baby when he came home. He barely cried and just wanted to be held all day long. I had to make up for not being able to hold him much while he was in the hospital.

All ready to go!

It was finally our turn to go home after 7 long weeks.

I will have to get a picture of him in his crib now so you can see how much he has grown.

Right away he was comfortable. It was like he knew he was finally home.

Right after his first bath at home. 

Sledding...

Since we have a good amount of snow on the ground, I thought it would be a good time to try out Ben's sled somewhere other than the family room.

As you can tell, he is not a big fan of the snow.

Ben popping bubbles...

Just a little note, Ben is usually barefoot not because I don't put socks on his feet but because he takes them off when I do.

He's on Strike!

Ben has decided that he showed us that he could walk and that was good enough. The silly boy does not want to do it again. He becomes more stubborn every day and is becoming more and more like me (a scary thought). Poor Drew is going to have his hands full with the two of us. Ben is acting like a typical one year old: getting into everything he shouldn't, learning something new every day and becoming more independent. I think his growth has slowed down a little but that hasn't stopped him from eating a lot and sleeping about 14 hours a day (12 hours at night and a two hour nap). 

We have been having some cold weather (and I mean cold! Like -4 when we woke up this morning)! Everything is covered with snow and this afternoon, Ben is going to go sledding (on flat ground of course). I will definitely get some pictures of that.

Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday! 

Could he get any cuter?

Ben taking some of his first steps...

It's a little blurry, I think the lens needs to be cleaned.

He really is a little man...

This was before church this morning. He looked so cute!

Mum Mum...

Ben has been saying "mum mum" all evening! It is great to hear something besides the usual "ba ba."

Here are a few pictures from the past few days. The rest are on the shutterfly page.

More bath pictures...

One of Ben's favorite things to do is take a bath so of course, I like to get pictures of him in the bath every so often. There are more pictures on the shutterfly site.

Mad Ben...

Everyone has this idea that Ben is a sweet little angel. He is, most of the time. This afternoon, he was not. I have pictures to prove it... 

On a different note, my baby is getting hair!

Getting back in the swing of things...

It seems like life has been busy for the last month a half. First, we had our trip to California at the end of November and then we spent the three weeks after we got back, getting ready for Christmas. Between Ben's birthday, shopping and decorating for the holidays, company, being sick, it has been busy. Drew had lots of time off last month and when he did have to go to work, he was getting off early every day. Today is the first day that life seems like it is back to normal. Now I am trying to catch up on cleaning, organizing and grocery shopping.