As You Wish

I recently received a facebook message demanding a new post. I won't say names, but I'm just saying he better leave a comment telling me how great this post is! Ha.

Ben has been getting lots more teeth. When he smiles you still really only see the two bottom teeth, but he has one central incisor all the way through, the other half way through, and both lateral incisors are through, but barely. That has made him a bit clingy and fussy, but he is still super cute these days.

He is growing up so fast. He has been fascinated with his spoon lately. A few days ago I gave him the spoon and he just pushed the food around on the tray. Pretty much what I expected. Then, a day or two after that he actually scooped something up with the spoon, but then used his other hand to take it off the spoon and then proceed to scoop again. We encouraged him to put it in his mouth, but he wanted nothing to do with that. Hum, a hint of brilliance maybe. Then, tonight he scooped up a bite and put it directly in his mouth and continued with the next few bites. What? I think we have a little genius. I will also mention that he did it all with his left hand. He does seem to prefer it.

Oatmeal is a very messy breakfast. This morning he ate most of it with his hands. He hasn't learned how much is too much in his mouth at once.

Tonight - taking his own bite.

Isn't he just too cute? I was loving those sneakers.

What is cuter than a baby in a white onesie? hint: the answer is 'nothing' And his cheeks are all rosy because his skin is super sensitive and we had been out in the cold wind earlier that day (for only the time it took to get from the car to the store, but he still gets chapped).

Blurry, but his cute mohawk after bath time.

Another trick - he crawls with books on his hands. Often, when we are playing in the front room he will crawl away down the hall, go through Ryan's office, past our bedroom and into his room. He always goes directly to his bookshelf and pulls out many books. He sits in there 'reading' and 'talking' for 20 minutes sometimes. Then, he comes to find me again with two books in tow. Maybe we are watching too much Olympics and he thinks he is skiing.


We are gearing up for his big birthday. Ryan is crazy busy these days. And we are hoping that Spring is coming, but we keep getting snow. Ben loves being outside and I just know he will love exploring playgrounds, especially if he starts walking.

I love my son

Almost daily for a week or two I have heard myself say out loud, "I love my son." Now, of course I have loved him since the day that little stick had two lines, but he has become more and more fun lately. I find myself mourning the fact that he is hitting the huge 1 year milestone so soon. I feel like he needs me less and less these days. But, the trade off is that he shows more personality and understands more every day. When I put him in the high chair I tell him "hands up" and he lifts them. So convenient. When he is playing he will give me a toy over and over again. How kind. When I need to be washing dishes or cooking dinner, he plays happily by himself. What a blessing. He gives the best open mouth slobbery kisses I have ever received. It feels like an attack, but it is in love. He thinks he is the funniest person he has ever met. He laughs at himself all the time. He also thinks he is the smartest person he has ever met. He claps for himself all the time. I'm not sure what to make of it, but he pats himself on the tummy or the chest often. He knows he's the man! He pats his daddy on the back a lot. It is the cutest thing in the world. He waves bye bye to daddy when he goes to work. Imagine me holding him on my left hip while we say bye to daddy. He waves with his right hand a lot, the hand that is behind my back when I hold him like that. Ryan can't see the wave, but he knows. Ryan has his own ringer on my phone. Ben knows it's him when it rings and gets excited that daddy is coming home. I pull the blinds up on the front window and he waits anxiously to see daddy come across the street. It is usually really sweet except yesterday he crawled to the door and Ryan knocked him in the head when he came in. Oops - mommy should be watching a little better.

I think that is enough bragging for now. I just thought you all needed to know how much I love my son. Now, some more info.

It has begun. The weaning process, that is. Maybe TMI, but it is a big deal in our house right now. I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to breastfeed with such success, but I admit that I am ready to be done. He was nursing 4 times a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime. I have cut out the dinner feeding. I really think he would give up all but the morning feeding cold turkey and be just fine, but my body needs some time to adjust. So far so good. He doesn't seem to miss it and can be pretty easily distracted. I really love when Ryan is working from home and he gets him up from his afternoon nap. Then, Ben doesn't even think about wanting to nurse. He just wants to play with dad.

In my last post I said he broke out in hikes from cow's milk. My grandma graciously mailed me a carton on Blue Diamond Almond Breeze. Yummy. Ben really likes it and no reactions. I am looking around Wichita to find something like it. I also plan to try Soy and just see if it works. I have read so many different things about milk allergies vs. lactose intolerance. I know he isn't lactose intolerant because I drink a ton of milk myself so he gets that when he nurses. So, we will see how it goes. I welcome your advice or stories of what worked or didn't work for you.

Now, for some cute pictures.

My mom gave him these child sized cooking utensils. I love it and so does he.

Remember Bozo the Clown?

Happy 11 Months

Sorry I am so slow in getting this blogged. It has been a bit of a whirlwind around our house since returning from our trips.

My baby is almost a year old. I cannot believe it. I am trying to get it to hold off, but it just keeps creeping closer and closer.

• He is still cruising all the furniture and using his walker toy, but he refuses to let go. He sits immediately if we let go of his hands.
  
• He has gotten even better with his pincer grasp and the use of his hands in general. He loves to touch everything (like his father). He can pick up the tiniest piece of anything.
  
• He loves using his pointer finger. He touches most things while pointing. I love watching him "read" his books by touching every page with just that one finger.
  
• He has figured out how to put things into each other. He puts his ball in a cup or tries to put his cup in a ball.
• He is very quick to pick up on something we show him and imitate us. If we do something with a toy, he wants to try, and generally succeeds.
• He remembers little games we play and wants to play them over and over. Ryan's favorite (or maybe not) is that Ben loves shoving things into his (Ryan's) giant mouth over and over and over again.
  
• He is getting to be very opinionated about things. (A less than desirable trait from me, I'm afraid.) He is quick to tell us which bite he wants, the meat, fruit or veggie. He will shake his head until we get it right. Oh boy!
• He is also getting very independent. He likes to hold his cup himself and wants to hold the fork or spoon even though he cannot get a bite successfully to his mouth. I can hear it already, "me do it! me do it!"
• He giggles all the time and I am not ashamed to say I induce it often. It is just so cute.
  
• He thinks his daddy hung the moon. He gets so excited when Ryan comes home every day or even when we just walk through Ryan's office and he catches a glimpse of him. Very sweet.
• He still takes 2 wonderful naps, 10-12pm and 3-5pm and sleeps 8pm-6am at night.
  
• He eats pretty much whatever we are eating and I supplement fruits and veggies if our meal isn't as well balanced as it should be. Although, it is forcing me to cook better meals for us which I love. And, he still nurses 4 times a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime.
  
• I attempted 1 ounce of whole milk and he instantly broke out in hives. Hum...plan B for weening which is scheduled to begin soon.
  
• He has 3 teeth (2 bottom and one top) and the other top one is coming in, but seems to be taking much longer than the others and causing more pain. Poor baby.
  

Happy Valentine's Day

My two favorite boys in the world!

My Valentine's Day gift from my mom and sis. Silly, but I just love them! If I gotta do dishes for hours a day, I might as well be cute doing it.


His first battle wound. He finally hit the coffee table and made a good-sized bump. (See it close to his hair line?)

At the beginning of spaghetti dinner night.

The end of spaghetti dinner night. He refused to use his fingers and waited until it was spooned into his mouth. Crazy kid. Where is the messy spaghetti face picture?

Flying alone with a baby is like childbirth...

...I will probably do it again one day, but no time soon! The pain is all still too vivid.

Ben and I took our first solo plane trip to visit Mama D and Aunt Can Can and so many of our friends and family in Midland, Texas. The plan was to have a big "meet and greet" for everyone to meet Ben for the first time.

Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a turbulent ride through the next section of this blog.

Everything started well. Ben slept the entire flight to Houston where we were expecting a 2 hour layover (9am-11am). We shared some Shipley's kolaches (yummy) and then made our way to our gate. Delay, fog in Midland. More delay, changing the tires on the plane. Board the plane (1.5 later). Switch seats because gate attendant put us in the wrong seat for an 'infant in arms.' Sit for 30 seconds and pilot says flight is canceled. Off the plane. Call mom, need to cancel meet and greet. Hold back the tears. Notice everyone from my flight is in one really long line. Darn it! I am supposed to be in that line. Now, third from last in line to get a new flight. Assigned a 4:50pm flight. Sister Trisha brings some food for me and Ben and to hang out for a second in baggage claim. Back through security, more waiting. Delay, something mechanical on plane. Seriously? Finally get on the plane and make it to Midland in time to see the missed field goal and the interception to win the game.

Whew. See what I mean about still remembering the pain?

However, through all that craziness, we ended up having a fabulous time (and an uneventful flight back home). A few people were able to come by my mom's house or meet us at a restaurant to see Ben. He wasn't his usual friendly self with all the people coming and going. He was more clingy than I can describe. I think he got too used to me holding him after an entire day in my arms at the airport. (The left side of my body is still sore, by the way.)

He has now met all his great grandparents which was very important to me. Not many people have great grandparents alive and Ben still has all 4. What a blessing!

I didn't take near as many pictures as I might have liked, but here are a few (or a lot).

Meeting Paw Paw (my dad's dad).

Meeting Maw Maw (my dad's mom).

Opening his first 1st birthday present.

Great Aunt Lisa (my dad's sis) showing him how the birthday puzzle works (the animals make sounds).

Trying on Aunt Can Can's shoes.

Aunt Can Can took a picture like this with Ben last time she saw him in July. Ah...

Kisses for Mommy.

Kisses for Aunt Can Can.

Meeting Uncle Zack for the first time.

Aunt Can Can's way to get Ben to stop whining when he was overwhelmed with the guests. He loved zooming all over the house.

I found this! Oops, the diapers were too close to the pack n play.

Ben was scared every time the doorbell rang. This time, he jumped in Mama D's arms and then stayed right there for a few minutes, just touching her face. Long enough for us to get the camera and snap a picture. So sweet.

I got to make a diaper cake with my sister for a teacher friend at my mom's work. So cute and so fun.

If you made it to the end, congratulations! Hopefully, the 11 month blog coming up tomorrow.

Happy Super Bowl

Ben and I are headed to Midland tomorrow for Ben's very first visit out to West Texas. My mom and sister are completely thrilled and have been "preparing" for his arrival for quite some time. Some friends are hosting a meet & greet so Ben can meet all his friends and family in Texas.

Ryan and another missionary will be flying to Chicago for a World Impact recruiting trip tomorrow at Moody Bible Institute. He will be speaking in quite a few different classes and speaking at a pizza gathering Monday night for all students in the urban mission track.

Say a prayer for all our travels, fun in Texas, and a wonderful recruiting experience for Ryan.

I am sure I will have many updates and pictures when we all get back to Kansas!

World's Greatest Sound

There is nothing better than my son's giggles!

And, here are a couple more cute pictures.

Daddy put his pants on. Can you tell what's wrong with this picture?

More cute bath pictures because I love them so much.

This bottle is in his all-plastics cabinet that he is able to make a total mess of. He never took a bottle, but carries this one around and chews or sucks on it. Hum, why not when it had something delicious in it?

I cut his hair again, this time with the clippers. Here is what I got. He looks much more like a little boy now.

Video by Request

Here is a 24 second video of Ben's adapted sign for "all done" which he does when just asked the words, he doesn't need it signed to him anymore. Way to go, son!



Here is 1.24 minutes of Ben pushing his walker with his forehead. Sorry for the bright sunshine coming through the window. We have been very cloudy for a while now and are enjoying the change!
Ben always leads with his head. When we play on the ground together, he rushes at us like a bull and puts his head down just before he reaches us and rams into us. Hum...what would a child psychologist say about that?