My Poor, Poor Benny Bear....

My Little Sweetie is super sick. He has a terrible cold and an ear infection. He hasn't been sleeping well or eating well. He has the runniest nose, a terrible cough and keeps throwing up.... His first New Year's Eve is definitely one we are glad he won't remember!

Needless to say, we are spending New Year's here at home.....

Our Christmas....

Cousins (Benjamin, Brayden and Hayleigh)

Of course, Ben was more excited about the boxes than their contents!

Ben is wearing his Pops' (my dad's) overalls and jacket from when he was a baby!

Still wearing Pops' overalls, and really excited about his new horse!

I finally put a shirt under them!!

We were putting together his new wagon, again he loved the box. We have been experiencing a major drooling session over the past week and a half, hence the soaked shirt!

Ben LOVES the wagon, Jake does not.

Look, Santa came....

Somehow we didn't get a family picture on Christmas, so this is as close as it gets for us!!

He also LOVES the firetruck ride-on Santa brought him!!!

More box excitement...

Still loves the wagon...

We had a really great Christmas this year! The Sunday before Christmas Jason's family (his parents, brother and his family, his grandfather, his grandma from Arizona, his aunt and cousin) all came over most of the day to celebrate and spend time together. We had a great time eating lots of food and opening great gifts. It was a good day. Benjamin had a good time playing with all the unwrapped boxes he got. We're still trying to get him to play with everything that came in the boxes!! :o)

My parents and their dog, Macie, arrived on Tuesday to spend most of the week with us. We had a really nice time. We just relaxed, ate way too much and opened even more gifts. Ben got a visit from Santa, I guess it's a good thing he didn't have to see him here at home to get his presents, because as you saw in previous posts, they don't really get along! We had a great visit that of course went by too quickly. They headed home on this past Saturday. It felt so empty here at the house without them that I just decided it was time to take all the Christmas decorations down. I guess I was Scrooge this year!!! lol

Thank you to everyone for all of our wonderful gifts! We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Another Tooth...

I don't have a picture of it, but Ben got this third tooth yesterday. The funny thing is that it is on the bottom also. So now he has three bottom teeth and no top teeth! :o)

My Christmas Present....

I asked for one thing this year for Christmas.... unique family photos.....and I am so thrilled at how they turned out. The weather ended up being terrible the day we took them, but it was the only day we could do them. Despite the really white skies and 18 layers of clothing... I love the pictures. There are quite a few more photos, but these are a few of my favorites! We used Studio Bloom Photography (www.studiobloomphoto.com), Laura is amazing!! I highly recommend her to anyone... she takes amazing photos!! Her website has a link to her blog that she updates quite frequently.... Enjoy!

I don't care what list I'm on, get me out of here!

I took Ben to meet Santa today, let's just say the big man in the red suit is not his favorite person. We waited in line and he was so happy. He had all the mommies around me playing with him and smiling, etc. He even checked out Santa a couple times and seemed fine. When it came time to sit Ben in Santa's lap... dun, dun, dun.... tears just started streaming!! He screamed until I picked him up. I felt like a terrible mother. However, the minute we walked away from Santa, Ben was smiling again. (Side-note: Santa was very rude to me, guess he hadn't had his hot cocoa for the day or something, I was thinking I'd probably cry too!!)

I had to get the terribly over-priced pictures just for memories-sake. Apparently when I was a kid, I cried at Santa too. So my mom was entertained when I called to tell her that her grandson acted just like his Mommy. :o) (The picture is a scan, so it's terrible quality.)

Please Stand Up!

So I don't have pictures for this post, but thought I'd share the excitement with everyone. Ben "pulled up" tonight for the first time. He was right in front of us and we didn't even see it. He was sitting in the midst of all his toys while Jason and I were eating a late dinner. Jason and I started talking and the next thing I knew, Ben was standing up. He was holding on to the activity table with a big grin on his face. He was so proud. I can't believe it and I can't believe I missed it... right in front of my face!

SoI moved him over closer to me and he only wanted to stand so he was moving from activity table, to the couch, to my leg. At this rate, he'll be walking tomorrow! Geez... they grow too quickly!

O, Christmas Tree

I just wanted to share a little holiday cheer, especially to those who are far away from us that we don't get to share our holiday decor with!



Our family tree

Ben's little tree.... there's been some additions since the picture was taken, but you get the general idea!