Crawling

Ben is officially crawling. He made his innagural moves on the patio with some friends as witnesses, but we got some video of it this evening at home. It's a good thing I got all the baby latches on the cabinet. Now, I just have to fix the one we already broke :)

More Pictures

because they are just so cute.

This is Ben's homeboy look.
We went to the park early yesterday morning and it was very chilly outside. The hat was necessary, but with the stripped outfit he looks a bit like he is swinging on the prison play yard. This was his first time in a bucket swing and he seemed to like it just as much as his tree swing.
Yeah for beautiful fall mornings and empty parks (accept for the friends that joined us)!

This is one of Ben's new BFFs, Jackson, who is only 2.5 weeks old. Ben was checking him out. So fun to have yet another little boy to play with. Jackson is being held by his aunt, Ben is being held by Jackson's grandma (who happily acts as a surrogate grandma to Ben) and Jackson's mommy is in the background.

This is Ben this morning.

Help! I've fallen in and I can't get out!

Bathrobes are totally unnecessary at this age and a lot of work to get on a damp baby, but oh so cute!

Fussy Baby Update & Some Laughter

If you are wondering, Ben is still not 100%. I think I have decided he is cutting a tooth. At least I am hoping so. I had his ears checked and they are perfectly fine. He is eating fine again, but not napping well at all. He even took a pacifier today. My kid has never ever taken a pacifier. Something is definitely amiss. We are trying the Hylands Teething Tablets and hoping it soothes him some. I even bathed him in the sleepy time soap and put on the sleepy time lotion with all good intentions. I will be sure and let you all know when that tooth emerges.

I have a couple of videos (merged into one) of Ben laughing so you can hear him, but they aren't very good. The laughter is good, but the video quality is bad. Why? Because we have to hide the camera from him. I took these a couple of weeks ago. He has increased his laughter, but I can't get it on video no matter how hard I try. In the second half when Ben is laughing with Ryan - that is Ben's favorite thing to play with Ryan. If you notice, Ryan scoots him back down and Ben immediately lunges forward to almost dangle off his chest. Ben will do this for a long time. But, we got caught videoing, as you will notice, so the laughter stopped and he had to check out what I was doing.

Hope you enjoy.

Fussy Baby Blogging

Ben might be getting sick or maybe just going through a growth spurt or maybe cutting a tooth. Whichever it is, he is not happy about it. He didn't eat dinner well last night, went to bed later than usual, woke too early this morning (but then slept on the couch with me an extra hour) and has been adamant (screaming) that he not take his morning nap. But, 10 seconds ago, he gave up and is now sleeping in my arms. I don't dare ruin this hard work by trying to lay him down, so I will blog quietly and get nothing of noticeable value done. I often say that he wont cuddle with me anymore since he is always so alert and wanting to move around. I will relish this time to be quiet and still and hold my sweet baby.

On a much happier note, Fall has arrived in Kansas. My windows are all open, the breeze is gorgeous (a high of 68 degrees today) and some leaves are beginning to turn colors and fall to the ground. Look at this leaf I found. I think it is the biggest leaf I have ever seen.



Ryan came home for lunch to find me blogging and holding Ben. He took a picture for me. I still haven't made it to the shower this morning, so I am looking quite lovely. And, here is a comparison picture from when Ben was 6 weeks old. If you remember, he used to fuss and cry every night from 5-10pm. I sure don't miss those days, but I did get some good blogging and primetime TV watching done during those hours of holding him.



Wish me luck for the rest of my day!

Our Weekend

We went on a regional staff retreat this past weekend. The theme was (I helped make the logo!) Ryan and I have been a part of World Impact just over a year now and we are still amazed so often at the true Christian community we are able to experience with the staff here. We really do Life Together. We all live within a mile of each other. We go to church together. We play together. We work together. We babysit for each other. We share our lives together. As we were at this retreat, we saw so many staff from other cities that have been missionaries for so much longer than we. They have persevered through the hard times of ministry and continue to love the poor and give of themselves to the call God has placed on their lives. We were so humbled and blessed to be a part of the legacy of World Impact. Our speaker likened our individual role in God's grand plan as bugs on a banana leaf paddling down the Amazon River. What a word picture. We are so insignificant, but yet somehow we play into God's overall plan for his people. He has called us to love the poor. It was a great reminder. It is so easy to get prideful and feel like we are actually important. But, it is really just God working through us that sometimes makes us look good.

Thank you to all of you who read this and pray for us, for our ministry, our family and our marriage. We need your support to keep paddling down the Amazon on our banana leaf.

Ryan and I were in charge of registration. It was quite easy to get everyone to come by the table because Ben was looking so good. He was the main attraction of the weekend.

I also helped with each meal, so Ben was passed from person to person, some he had never met before and he was happy to meet each new person. He actually started to get excited when we would approach the dining hall and he could hear the hum of the crowd of people. That was such a relief to me. He generally will go to anyone, but doesn't like crowds. He is so adaptable.

The retreat was at Morning Star Ranch, just an hour from us. There are two very friendly dogs that live there and Ben was enamored. Hopefully, one day we can get a dog like this! I know he isn't looking at the dog in the picture, but he did try to reach out and pet (grab) the dog and his head turned like he was watching a table tennis match while the dogs ran and played in front of him. We were out chilling on the blanket watching Daddy do a high ropes course when I took this picture.

This is a not-so-great shot of our regional staff from Dallas, St. Louis, Wichita, Deer Creek Christian Camp (Colorado) and Morning Star Ranch (Florence, KS).

During meetings like this, Ben would either play on a blanket at the back of the room or be napping. We were so blessed to stay in the basement of a couple's home, so Ben had peace and quite to take his naps. And, I was free to leave him napping or sleeping at night and go and be a part of the activities because everything is so close and all on World Impact's property. He didn't even seem to notice we weren't at home. He kept to his routine as usual.

6 Month Stats

I took Ben to the doctor today for his 6 month check-up. I was crazy enough to also volunteer to keep some friend's kids, so I had Ben and Andrew, a 3 year old cutie. I made a comment to the doctor about the fact I was babysitting Andrew and he looked at me and said, "Oh, I thought you only had the one child." Ha. He must have been a bit confused. So, I practiced what it would be like to have 4 kids today. 8, 6, 3, and 6 months. The older two were at school all day and I only had to pick them up from school and keep them a mere 30 minutes before their dad came home to relieve me. And, the dad did come home for lunch and put Andrew down for his nap. My job was easy. I did however get to drive their minivan. Oh my! My sister Trisha, along with some other friends, have told me that I cannot want a minivan. Too bad people! I have driven it now. It is so smooth and spacious and every door opens with the clicker. I love clickers! And the car seat is just right there at a normal level, not lifting up or bending down. I think I am in love. Now, I just have to convince my husband. I'm not thinking that will happen anytime soon.

Anyways, back to Ben's doctor visit. The doctor said he looks great. He now weighs 16 pounds and 13 ounces and is 26 3/4 inches long, both 50%. Everyone thinks he is soooo long when they see him, but he is just average according to the charts. The doctor also said I could start introducing meats. WHAT? Meats are for grown ups. I am just getting used to the fact that Ben is eating pureed lunch and dinner. I am not ready for meats yet. But, I guess we will try them sometime soon. I haven't finished introducing all the fruits and vegetables that I want to try. It is just now time for all the fun fall vegetables!

Ben posing as a student in Daddy's class.
He is so proud that he can sit in his own chair now.

Just too darn cute not to post.
He was given lot of overalls that are just now fitting, but it is already starting to cool off, so he wont be able to wear them for long.

Great Grandma Sherrill, Mama D and Aunt Can Can went crazy in Children's Place. Ben will be totally styling this winter. I couldn't resist putting him in these clothes to model even though they are obviously still too big.

More 6 month pictures

For those of you that didn't watch the video in my last post, here are some of his 6 month pictures. You know I can never pick just one or two or ten, so here are many!

We go to the dr. on Thursday, so I will have a stats update for you all then.

Blueberries were a messy hit! He loved them.

His biggest laugh/smile.

Too much fun.
Thanks for the gorgeous blanket Cara!

Examining (and eventually peeing on) my first ever baby gift, a blanket from Great Grandma.

Playing with my "wish they were better" picture editing skills. I will just keep playing around until I get good.

These were in the slide show from the last post.

I saw this pose on a google image search, the place where I find all my picture taking inspiration.

On this day, I had only planned to take pictures of Ben, not of myself and Ryan. My friend Salyna caught me on the World Impact property taking pictures of my baby and stopped to take pictures of the 3 of us. Maybe one day we will actually plan for a family picture and dress a little better, although it is funny that we kinda match.

He didn't try to eat them. Odd.

Happy Half Birthday

I get so excited about each new milestone Ben achieves, but I do not think I am quite ready for him to be half a year old. He is rolling around right next to me as I type, desperately trying to reach my laptop that keeps inching farther and farther from him. He is babbling and blowing raspberries and rocking on his hands and knees. Some friends here in Wichita just had their baby boy on the 6th. We got to meet baby Jackson when he was only 12 hours old. Ben came with us and looked like a giant compared to that precious newborn baby. They were in the room across the hall from where Ben had been born just 6 months earlier. It brought back a lot of memories.

A year and a half ago, my friend Darby's little girl turned half a year old. She made a half a cake to celebrate. I loved the idea and stored it away in my "I wanna do that one day" file in my brain. Well, today was the lucky day. Here is our little family with Ben's half a cake for his half year birthday.

This is Kate on her half year birthday. She will be 2 years old in a couple of weeks and she has a little brother now. Miss you Koogs!

Our life has certainly changed since Ben joined us, but we have loved every bit of it. Mommyhood has fit me better than I expected. I love staying home with him. I love watching him scoot around, laugh at my tickles and looking for me when I call his name. I know the life of being home all day with a baby isn't for every woman, but it is definitely for me!

Here is a video overview of the last 6 months. I will warn you, though...it is 14 minutes long. Of course, I think it is worth every second. Turn your sound on.

Here is a (long) glance at Ben at 6 months:

• He sleeps 7pm - 6am (we just recently gave up the dreamfeed).
  
• He takes a morning and afternoon nap (10-12pm and 2:30-4pm).
• He nurses at 6am, 12pm, 4pm and 7pm.
• He gets solids at 12pm and 5:30pm at the table with us as we eat lunch and dinner.
• He has had rice cereal, green beans, peas, carrots (maybe allergic, so gave those up quickly), yellow squash, sweet potato, applesauce, banana, plums, mango and avacado. He eats them all happily except for the avocado. He immediately gagged and spit and tried to wipe his face :) I have loved making his baby food and love that my freezer is full of colorful cubes (thanks mom for the freezer!).
• He doesn't like any solids at breakfast. I have offered it quite a few different times and he gags every time, so we just do lunch and dinner.
  
• We are introducing water in the sippy cup at lunch and dinner, but he doesn't like the contents. He downed it all when it was full of breastmilk, but only takes a few sips of the water. He knows how to work it, but doesn't like to drink it.
  
• He has still never taken a pacifier (his preference...there were definitely times I wished he would take it) and has never taken the bottle (same reason as pacifier).
• He is full of personality and babbles constantly, but ONLY when no one is looking (with the exception of mom and dad). He will actually stop all noise making the second he sees someone else or the video camera. He makes very specific sounds, but I have no idea how to spell it!
  
• He generally reserves all laughing and giggling for mom and dad only too.
• He will let anyone hold him, but he stares with his furrowed brow look and doesn't interact much, but will never cry if taken out of sight of us.
  
• He rolls both ways and can roll and scoot to get his toys.
• He can go from his tummy to sitting up.
• He sits up pretty steady, but will fall when reaching for a toy that is just out of reach.
  
• He rocks back and forth on all fours, but lunges backwards much more than forwards which frustrates him because he usually has a toy in sight.
• He plays independently very well and for long stretches while I work around the house.
• He prefers to be free on a blanket with his toys rather than in his entertainer.
  
• He loves the tree swing and does his best talking there (unless someone else walks by, of course.)
• He does very well in the stroller when we are out (this works great at work functions so he is contained, but able to see what is going on).
• He is not a very good car traveler. We think that is maybe because he has slept on his tummy for so long and just doesn't like being reclined and restrained in his car seat. We are looking forward to graduating from the carrier to a bigger boy car seat.
  
• He loves his bath, watching the water coming from the faucet, trying to grab the foam alphabet letters and splashing.
  
• Everything that he can reach goes straight to his mouth. He shows no preference...hair, clothes, straps on car seat/stroller/swing, etc.
  
• He is very interested in everything that other people eat and drink. He loves to chew on the side of our cups and take some sips of water.
  
• He is long and skinny. He wears 6-9 month sleepers, but is still wearing a pair of Newborn size shorts. His summer outfits were mostly 0-3 months. Pants will probably be difficult this winter because they will fit in the tummy, but be too short or be long enough, but way too big around the tummy.
• His favorite toys are the tags on the toys. He can find a tag on anything. He even has a Taggies book, but he plays with the actual tag rather than all the colorful tags on the book. He was playing on the floor in his room while I was switching summer clothes for fall clothes and he found a tag on an outfit and was chewing away happily!

I am sure there are many more things, but I will stop there. He is so much fun and constantly doing fun things.