Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas Time

Christmas was amazing, no....beyond amazing. Jeremy and I are truly blessed! The activities started off with a trip to the doctor for me. In case you missed the announcement, Jeremy and I are expecting another baby on July 10th. We were able to see the baby and the heartbeat and I am 12 weeks tomorrow. It seems as though everything is going well. Ben is really too young to understand what is going on, but we have been talking to him about the baby in my belly and I am pretty sure the baby knows he is there as he likes to climb all over me. I have been feeling pretty well, I have had some indigestion, food aversions, and I have been very tired. However, nothing to awful. I am definitely already showing, which is a change from my pregnancy with Bentley. However, it is to be expected with having two so close together. For those of you trying to do the math, Bentley and the new baby will be approximately 16 months apart. We had planned to have our children close together. Jeremy was raised with his brothers close in age and it was such a good experience for him, although it will definitely be harder on me. Jeremy and I are very excited! Next, we enjoyed a very nice dinner at Jason and Cari's house. It was so nice to have all the Mark's together (and Cari's parents). The food was phenomenal, right down to the home made (and hand picked) blackberry pie I had. We spent time as a family chatting and enjoying ourselves before heading home. The next day (Christmas Eve) was filled with family and more family. We spent some time at my parents house eating a delicious lunch and opening presents from my grandmother. Then we visited Jeremy's parents for a little quite chatting with Aunt Liz and Uncle Tom. Then, back to my parents house to open presents from my Aunt and Uncle, which my Aunt painted Bentley a step stool (one of the many amazing presents Ben got for Christmas). I will have to post pictures of him using it soon. I was exhausted (remember the pregnancy thing). Jeremy and I exchanged presents and headed to bed. Christmas day started early. We opened Bentley's Santa presents before heading to my parents house to open family presents. My mother and father make a great breakfast for everyone. I wish I had a picture of the presents under the Christmas tree that day, we have a big family and the presents take up half of the floor. We really enjoyed watching the kids open their presents. Next, we headed to the Mark's for lots of family time by the fire. We ate a large dinner. Bentley passed out half way through the present opening. What a wonderful day. Monday, we headed to the lake to visit our friends Nick, Meg, and their baby daughter Jordan. She was beautiful and I wish I would have taken some pictures of her. We also got to spend some time with my cousins who are in from Colorado. Needless to say, we are exhausted and are trying to rest up before daddy has another long weekend. Like I said, we are so very blessed and are so thankful for everything people have done for Bentley this season. He is such an amazing child and fills mine and Jeremy's life with so much joy. P.S.- Santa brought Ben his 4th top tooth!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Likes and Dislikes

I have noticed that Ben has become very opinionated lately. Likes - Dogs- he LOVES dogs - Momma and Dada- He seeks us out if we are not with him. It takes Daddy a little longer to get ready in the mornings because Bentley is all over him. - the couch- he loves to play on the couch and throws a fit when we put him down. - girls- he went to a wedding recently when some girls that were about 9-12 age came by....he jumped out of my arms and gave them big kisses...the girls were flattered. I think we have a ladies man on our hands. - sleeping in his own bed, all night long - climbing- he loves to climb on everything,I think it makes him feel like a big boy - crawling- this is his preferred mode of transportation - food- of all kinds, he eats anything - water- he gets excited when he gets a cup of water to drink Dislikes - getting dressed/diaper changed- he screams the entire time, you would think I was killing him. - his carseat- arches back and cries every time - getting off the couch- he prefers to play on the couch - walking- he has taken a few steps and doesn't mind even walking if i am holding BOTH hands, but if I try to just hold one, he loses it. He would rather crawl. - naps- he thinks they are useless, who needs a nap when you can play all day? (Mamma, that is who) - pictures- it is not that he doesn't like pictures it is just impossible to get him to sit still long enough. Yet we are going today to have some professional pictures made of him and taking him to see Santa, this should be interesting On another note he has started saying some words (we aren't really sure that he knows what they mean). He says mama/dada/doggie/ca(coby)/my (miley)/goo (good)/yeah. Like I said most of them are in babbling. We will say, "say good ben" and he will say goo.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Holiday Season...

Oh how I love the holiday season....there is so much to look forward too. This Christmas is extra special, because it is Bentley's first. We have started off the season with decorating the house. We actually put lights up this year and we covered our upstairs living/dining/kitchen with paper snowflakes Jeremy made when he was younger. We also took Ben to the Christmas parade. He wasn't overly excited but did watch most of it. He fell asleep a few minutes before Santa came. This upcoming weekend we are going to watch my nephew and niece sing at church, then during the week we go watch my other nephew play in his band concert. Daddy has a bunch of days to take off work, so we are using one of those days to go see Santa!

Bentley has had a rough month with being sick but is feeling better. Let's hope he stays better. He has been so funny lately. He is practicing standing and can stand without holding on to things for a little while. He actually took 2 steps the other night not holding on to anything. He loves to wave to people and even says "hiiiiiiii" or "byyyyyye". He is going to be walking and talking soon.