Grandma & Papa visit

Like I had mentioned in a previous post, we had visitors last weekend - Grandma & Papa came down to be here for Ben's first birthday!!!  Just like every time we have visitors - we had a great time with them!  They got down on Friday, and went home on Tuesday.  Had a total break my heart moment after we said good-bye to them, and started walking in the house...Jim started to cry, and says 'Mommy I'm sad now, Grandma & Papa are gone.'  I told him they'd be back down over Easter, but he doesn't quite grasp the concept of 2 weeks, he kept asking, tomorrow?  tomorrow?  We didn't really go out or anything - just hung out at home, which is great to be able to enjoy each other's company.  We did go to brunch on Sunday / Ben's birthday @ Overwood - and enjoyed that!

Papa helped to build a new train track, and both boys loved playing trains with both Grandma & Papa!!!

Grandma with Jim & Ben...

There were a ton of giggles from everyone at night when they boys took their nightly horsey ride - we all loved it!

Jim was very sweet the one morning, resting on Papa & watching Caillou -

More horsey rides -

Papa with Jim & Ben (can't get Ben to smile at the camera...)

And these pictures are from the visit - but a cute series of finding Ben's belly...These 2 boys crack me up!!!

Ben's first BirthDAY!!!!

This past weekend we celebrated Ben's first birthday!!!  Grandma & Papa came down to help us celebrate! They got in Friday afternoon and stayed until Tuesday.  The weather was very nice - so we got to spend lots of time outside, which I think everyone enjoyed!  (Will have to do an update with more pictures from the weekend!)

Here's a look into Ben's first Birthday through pictures (yes, I like to take a lot of pictures!!!) -

Big brother Jim helped to make birthday cupcakes...

Hanging out in his Birthday Suit...

He's a walking machine!

Brother's...

Me and the Birthday boy (ignore my messy hair...)

Present Time!!!!  (Jim did not like this part - he wanted to open all the presents!)

But Jim was very excited about the 'starter thing' on Ben's mower...

A very Happy Birthday Boy!!!

Cupcake time!!!!  Yes, Ben was very excited about that!!!

Happy Birthday to you!!!!

He loved the frosting!!!!

We had a great day together!!!!

One Year Stats

Ben has his check-up yesterday - and all was well!  No issues or concerns at all!  His appointment was at 11:40 which is just before lunch time...and I think he's starting to cut back on his morning nap...that combined with the fact that they were running behind, he was a little fussy, and did not like his shots this time!  He never really is a fan, but this time he screamed a lot louder than he has in the past.

Head - 19" - 96th percentile
Height - 29" - 18th percentile
Weight - 21 lbs. 7.2 ozs. - 53rd percentile

I did all those monthly pictures, and decided to do a collage of them - so here are the different shots I got (the ones of him laying didn't work out, I may try again later...) -  The 3 different pictures are essentially the same...1 without the teddy bear...1 on the couch...and 1 on the floor...

Ben is ONE!!!!

A very Happy FIRST Birthday to Benjamin!!!  Hard to believe that you are a year old now.  What a great year it's been!!  This will be his last 'monthly' post :(  And will have to do another update on his Birthday fun!!

What Ben is up to at a Year:

- He's walking all over the place!!  There's not much crawling happening anymore - he prefers walking as his mode of transportation :)

- He loves to eat!!!  He still will eat anything and everything that we give him!

- He has a few words - ball, bye-bye, and he's been saying Papa...

- He loves our train table!!  As well as any train and truck.  Love that he 'drives' them back and forth complete with truck noises!

- He will repeat Jim and make cow noises, as well as elephant, and duck sounds!

- He loves chasing after Jim - always a great time hearing them both giggling!

- Continues to be a great sleeper!!  He's been going down around 8:30 now - and gets up after 7:00.

- I think he's getting ready to drop his morning nap.  The past couple of mornings when I put him up there he just plays in his crib.  Still takes a nap in the afternoon after lunch time.

- No new teeth this month - I always say this, but am thinking he might be starting to get more, given the amount of drool he has.

- He waves & says bye-bye.

- He's drinking whole milk now - which he likes, and he's finally picked up on a sippy cup!  He is still nursing first thing in the morning, and again in the evening.

- Still in size 4 diapers.

- Wears 12 month clothes, but I am getting out more and more 18 month clothes.  We need the weather to get warmer - I don't have a lot of cold weather 18 month clothes.

- We go to the doctor this afternoon for his one year check-up, so I'll update his stats then...

And for one more time - here are his monthly pictures -

A picture post

Just thought I'd update with a handful of pictures from the past couple of days.  We are busy getting ready for Ben's FIRST Birthday!!!!  How is he one already?!  

Ben is walking all over the place, all the time now - I didn't plan this - but he ended up wearing his Dr. Seuss shirt on Dr. Seuss's Birthday - 

This is the smile I get whenever I tell Jim to say cheese - need to work on him opening his eyes up!  He had fun making this rainbow the other day - not sure if he liked gluing or eating the Fruit loops better!  He's finally getting better with his colors too!  Before everything was always green, except for yellow that he always got right...

Ben had some crazy morning hair the other day - doesn't really show up great in this picture...

Jim has some good moves!!!

They were calling for 6"-10" of snow the other day...What a disappointment it was.  It snowed maybe an inch or two in the morning and then it turned to rain - heavy wet snow for Jim to shovel.  He did have fun out there for a bit, and I built him a snowman!!!  (No picture of that, I didn't want to take my camera out in the rain...)

I love peeking around the corner to see what the boys are up to.  The other day I was in the kitchen and all was quite - and I find this.  Ben was sitting on the cushions playing with his trains...

The next update I do will be Ben's first birthday one!!!