Sunday, September 27, 2009

Summer is officially over :(

Just about everyday Ben and I walk by the pool at our apartment complex, and sadly, this week, they had all the lounge chairs put away and the cover on the pool. So not only does the calendar say summer is over, but so does our pool. We did a lot of swimming this summer, and we will surely miss it. With all that being said, I am a little excited for fall. Besides summer it is one of my favorite seasons.

Ben has been doing a lot these past two weeks. He has taken his first steps by himself! The first time he did it, he walked to me from the couch. I couldn't believe my eyes and first thought it was a fluke, but it wasn't! He does it now a few times a day. He is also not scared of the basketball anymore. When Phil says, "Where is the basketball?" Ben will actually go to it and put his hand on it. He is also very good at the whole, "How big is Ben?" bit. It has been a work in progress since my mom and I started working on it when we were in St. Louis in August. Ben also goes to school now once a week. Our church offers a class for babies 6 months to 14 months where the moms attend too. I couldn't believe out of our HUGE church, there were only three of us. Ben is the oldest by about 2 weeks, but he looks so much bigger than the other kids. I guess he is in the 97% for height. He really likes his class and so do I.

That is about all that has been going on. Phil has been doing a lot of studying for his next exam that is in November, so our weekends have been pretty low key. But we are healthy and happy, what more could we ask for??
What happend to Ben after licking our screen door


I love getting him out of bed, how can you resist this face??

Sooo Big!!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

10 months

We have had the most beautiful weather over the past couple weeks. This past weekend was no exception. It is finally starting to feel like summer!

We had a fun time this weekend. Ben actually had his first trip to Hooters on Saturday. I gave him a head's up about exactly what he would be seeing when we walked in there. I told him it probably wouldn't be a great idea to date any of the ladies (no offense to anyone who has ever worked there). But did he take my advice?? NOO! The first girl that came up to him and ooohed and aahhed over him, had Ben smiling from ear to ear. He is not always that fond of strangers, but these strangers he didn't have a problem with! Needless to say, I do enjoy the wings there and it was quite nice to share a pitcher of beer with my husband and watch a little college football.

After lunch our friends Jon, Glory, and Noah Jansen came over for a visit. We decided to go for a swim. Ben had a lot of fun. He seems indifferent when it is just him and I in the pool during the weekday. But he had his daddy in the pool with him, popping in and out of the water, and surprising Ben, so he had a blast. After the pool we put Ben and Noah in the bath together. I was wondering how that would go. As I stated in an earlier blog, they just don't understand that they are supposed to be good friends. There is a lot of poking and prodding to eachother. I believe they are just figuring eachother out, especially because they are so close in age (Noah turned 1 a few weeks ago). Ben also was a bit jealouse of Noah when I picked him up. Phil said the instant I picked Noah up, Ben saw me and burst into tears. Of course, I had to reassure Ben that HE is my baby boy, and I LOVE him the most. It seemed to work. Anyways, as you can see in the video the bath actually went really well. They each played and for the most part stayed out of eachother's way. When the bath was over, we fed the babies and put them to bed. Then we enjoyed a nice pizza dinner with adults!

The main highlight of our day on Sunday was swimming again at the pool, this time just our family. Ben had his 10 month bday on Monday, along with Grandpa Arnold who turned 61. You will see a naked Ben with his 10 month sign on his back. He is supposed to be getting his diaper changed at this point, and unfortunately he escaped from Phil's grasp. As nature would have it, he also felt the earge to "tinkle" right on our carpet the little bit of time he had his diaper off. I did have to laugh at him though, because he was crawling when he relieved himself and then went up on his feet as to not walk in his own urine. I guess that just reinstates the fact that I need to get the carpet cleaned.
He is a quick little dude!

Reading a bedtime story with Stephanie
Noah and Ben taking a bath after the pool



Maybe this is why he is so skinny, half his food ends up on his face!
Ben and Noah actually getting along!