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!

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.

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.

Thanksgiving

So the week before Thanksgiving we took Bentley to the doctor for an upper respiratory infection. He was put on antibiotics and was feeling much better by the time Thanksgiving rolled around. We enjoyed Thanksgiving lunch with my family and dinner with Jeremy's family. To say we were stuffed would be an understatement. So much delicious food and so much to be thankful for. I really do have so much to be thankful for. My top 5 things:
1. My wonderful family. Jeremy, Bentley, my family and Jeremy's family.
2. My doggies. Although they are not the most well behaved dogs. I am thankful my husband allows me to have them and that they are not sitting in an animal shelter. I also love that my son LOVES dogs!
3. A roof over my head.
4. That I am a stay at home mom. I get to love on my son all day long and never have to miss a first. He is such a happy boy as well.
5. That my husband has a good job so that I can be a stay at home mom.

Little man is sleeping in my arms, he has had a fever of 101 all day. Looks like tomorrow we will be headed back to the doctor!

MIA

Sorry I have been MIA...my computer crashed, so I have been using Jeremy's computer, which never stays connected to the internet for long.

Things have been good here (minus the computer crash). We enjoyed our first Halloween with Bentley and being parents. It makes the holidays so much more special when your a parent (I cannot wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas). Bentley dressed up in a monkey costume, and really seemed to enjoy being dressed up. He didn't fight the hood or outfit at all. We went to school to visit Yvonne and stopped by some family members houses before landing in our neighborhood at my parents house and our house. We had dinner with my family and then Joe, Yvonne, Dusty,Danielle, and Sawyer came over. It was the perfect day (Jeremy had also taken the whole day off to hang out with us).

Bentley is such a fast crawler and a curious little boy. You can see his mind working as he plays and I enjoy watching him. He loves to climb over and under things. He even pushes toys around so he can climb on them to get where he wants to go. He has also started pointing his hand in the directions of things he wants trying to communicate with us. When he wants something his arm goes up by his head, in the direction of what he wants, and he makes grabbing motions with his hand (it is really cute). I cannot believe he is 8 months old! Shew, time flies when you are having fun.

I a taking a cake decorating class for the next month, every Monday for 2 hours in the evening. Just a way for me to get out of the house since I am home all day, and I would love to be able to make some neat cakes for Bentley on his birthday!

Jeremy's Grandpap is moving down from Pittsburgh either today or tomorrow. I must say the family is excited that he will be around and we will get to see him more often! I really think he will enjoy spending time with Bentley and Sawyer. We are so blessed that he will be around more often!

Well...looks like I better go chase Ben around the house...he is trying to give the dogs a treat right now!

Rainly Day Fun and Pumpkin Patch

This past week was a little rainy. We spent most of the days inside snuggling. After 2 to 3 days of rain what are you going to do with a child to keep him entertained? That is right, build a tent. So, out came the blankets and we made a good ol' fort right in the middle of the living room (I might need to brush up on my fort building techniques...as I have not made one since I was little). Ben had a great time sitting under it and playing with his toys, it was like it made each toy new again and he did not want to come out from under it. See pictures below!

This weekend the weather cleared up and we headed to the pumpkin patch for a little October fun. I have been looking forward to this event since I was pregnant last year. We drove out to Sinkland farms which is a beautiful farm that offers weddings, horseback rides, pony rides, a petting zoo, pumpkins, corn mazes, hay rides, and yummy food. While some of these things we will have to wait for Bentley to be older (like the horseback riding), other things were a lot of fun. He enjoyed walking through the toddler maze, the petting zoo, hay ride, and even got to pick out his own pumpkin and he loves butternut squash so we even bought him one to eat. The weather was beautiful but a little windy. It was the perfect way to spend the Saturday!

Trip to DC

This past weekend we took a trip to DC to visit our friends Nick and Meg who are expecting their first baby on November 1st. They let us stay at their house, which is extremely nice considering the amount of things we have to bring for Bentley. We arrived late Friday night and spent an hour or two catching up. The next morning we walked to a nice place for breakfast then sent the boys to the bro shower (just picture lots and lots of drinking). Meg and I took a short walk and let Bentley entertain us. We even took a quick nap before going to pick up the guys at 8 p.m. Yes 8, Jeremy wanted to be around to help put Ben to bed. We were even in bed by 11, not bad for being out of town. It was so nice to see Nick and Meg and we are so excited for their baby girls arrival!

Ben has been doing well. He is starting to let go and stand on his own, not holding on to anything, but he is very inconsistent with it. He is clapping now and is notorious for waving bye after someone has just left, so I am the only person to see it. (I swear he does it, I even swear he occasionally says "ba ba" as he does it). He LOVES LOVES LOVES doggies! He will chase a dog down, not be scared, and giggles the cutest giggle when they lick him. We have even been practicing sharing. He will play with something and then hold it up for me to play with, but sometimes when he holds something out to "share" with the dogs and they sniff it he burst into laughter. He is so cute and entertaining.

We are going to the pumpkin patch this weekend!