From my childhood

I was looking through my mom and dad's picture on the computer and my dad has scanned some pics from when I was a kid. They are pretty fun to look at. And since I haven't had any wedding pictures to look at for over 2 years, I thought I would add one too. In case you are thinking about moving, don't ever pack up all your wedding pictures and put them in storage!!

To Grandma's house we go....

Oh, I am so excited. So excited that even though my 8 month old slept through the night, I couldn't! To busy thinking about all that needs to get done between now and then. We have 3 full days before we head to the airport to get on the plane for the VERY long trip home. Ben is all over the place now. So we went on Thursday and bought a walker for him. He likes it a lot and keeps him a contained and off the cold tile floor for awhile. Here are some pics of our little guy. I am sure there will be plenty more after our trip to America!! YEAH!!

Family Photos!

Isn't our Father good to give us little gifts along the way? Well, I have really wanted some good family photos but was nervous about going to a studio here. My taste are a little different than theirs. Anyways, there is a highschool student here who takes amazing pictures and so I asked her to take some of our family. She did a great job and I am so thankful for her!! We are getting photos done at Christmas which I am super excited about but wanted some of us here in this country to remember.

A weekend of firsts

Ben has been working on crawling for awhile but had never gone more than a couple of crawls(is that a word?). Anyways, Friday we put up the Christmas tree. Apparently having christmas lights on the ground to crawl to was the motivation he needed to get the hang of crawling.
Now that he can crawl to things, he discovered that he can pull up on things to his knees.
Then yesterday, while he was having crib time he discovered he can pull all the way up to his feet!
And then finally first was the appearance of his first tooth! We knew it was on its way, due to the fussiness, drooling, etc. Well, this morning while he was eating breakfast, I noticed that his little tooth has broken the skin on the bottom right side(his right). Needless to say, his sleep has been a little interupted this past weekend with all of his new tricks to practice!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our "family" here. We have celebrated with this group for the last 3 years and it is truly special! We are going to miss you guys next year!! We had SO much food and it was all so good! Oh, I have so much to be thankful for this year! Here is our family photo from the day!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. So, Ashleigh and Jenny have been doing this for awhile now and I think it is hallarious. So, I thought I should post a not me moment from this past week.

So, a couple weeks ago, I posted about how we had taken Ben's passie away. He was doing great without the passie. However, this past week we went to England and he didn't do so great. The great family we were staying with has a daughter that loves the passie. The first night we arrived she carried around two and three passies at a time. So, in the middle of the night, when my son was screaming hysterically, Allen and I both DID NOT go searching through their house to find a passie for our son. Our son being the one who had done so great without the passie. I was not so desperate that I even searched through our friends purse and under the couch, to find NO passie!! The next morning I definately told my friend all about this and as soon as she offered a PINK passie, I did not immediately give it to my son and let him use it for the rest of the trip. In fact, he is not in his crib right now with a pink passie!! Allen did not promise to buy 5 more passies after that night of having a miserable son. In all fairness, Ben did come home with a cold and so I don't think it is the right time to take it away. In fact, we are going to the states in three weeks, so he will probably get to keep the pink passie until the new year, or maybe longer!

Quick Trip to England

We visited a quaint little town where parts of The Holiday and Bridgette Jones' Diary were filmed.


Allen driving on the opposite side of the road!! He did a great job.

Check out that mowhawk and his favorite toy of the trip, a nasal aspirator! So much for buying toys!

Off to England

We are headed to England for the week. Super excited about it, though it would be nice if I didn't have a cold! Anyways, we will post pictures when we get Ben. Just a sweet one of Ben chewing on an apple to tide you over!

7 Months

Wow, I can't believe our little boy is 7 months old!
-He still has no teeth. Drooling like crazy but no teeth.
-We noticed this week one evening that he was sitting up on the carpet. Allen and I both looked at each other and asked if the other had gotten him up. Then yesterday I saw him do it several times. Ben has learned how to sit up from being on his hands and knees. It is amazing to me how he figures things out.
-Still not crawling but getting close.
-He is eating solids but is really not very interested in them most of the time. He especially has a hard time when someone else is in the room or there are things going on. When we went camping he was so distracted.
-He is loved by all the people here and gets all kinds of attention. This week we had to go to the equivalent of the DMV and multiple men came up to us and tried to get him to smile or they would want to hold him for a little bit. Fortunately he will go to strangers with no hesitation. At first this scared Allen but he is slowly getting used to it.
-We took his passie away this past weekend! ICKES! I am a bad mommy and had made it a sleep prop. Not every night but often I would go back in his room in the middle of the night and put it back it when he would fuss. So, we had to stop that. He is doing great and has quickly attached himself to a stuffed animal, tiger. Oh, the things you learn as parents!
-Ben is a joy and a pleasure to have as part of our family! I love seeing him grow and learn stuff all the time! It is amazing. Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

Camping in the desert

We took Ben on his first camping trip this past weekend, Friday and Saturday. He did great! He went down for naps better in the tent than he does at home and slept through the night both nights. Unfortunately, we had our time change on Friday and Ben didn't get the memo that he could sleep an hour more! But that was ok, we all snuggled in our sleeping bags together. It was a fun time out of the city. Here are a few pics from the weekend.

6 Months!

Where has the time gone? My sweet little boy is already over 6 months old!! We went to get his six month check up and shots last week. Here are the stats: 8.3 kg (75%) and 29 inches (above the 95%).

This month we tried real food and he loves sweet potatoes, green beans, and pears. He was not a fan of bananas at all! He is sitting on his own well and all over the place on the floor. Not yet crawling but he is getting there. He has the legs motion down but can't quite get the arms to move forward. We continue to think teeth are just around the corner, but I think that drool and teething toys will continue to be our friends for awhile. He loves people. My language nurturer loves him and is always bringing him presents. I promise he takes shorter naps on days she is here just to get to spend time with her. He is loving bath time and is quite the splasher. It is a lot of fun and because he takes a bath in a tub in our shower we have to shut the doors slightly to keep the bathroom from being soaked.

He continually brings us such great joy and we are loving being parents. We have the awesome privelege of coming to the states for Christmas!! I can't believe that some much of our family has not had the chance to get to meet him yet. We are counting down the days to show him off, and of course go shopping!!

GRRRRRreat Gr. Ma is GRRRReat!!

Thank you so much Great Grandma Richardson for the money to buy this super cute outfit!!

Splashing...

Ben learned to splash in the bath tub this week. Bath time is lots of fun now and VERY wet! I love this guy!!! He is amazing!

UGHHH Bananas!!

We have started some solids with Ben. I tried bananas thinking he would like them. But he was not impressed. I think that Allen had something to do with it. Allen HATES bananas!

On his hands and knees...

Our big boy figured out how to get on his hands and knees this week. He is so proud of himself! It is so cute, like he knows he is figuring somthing new out. I love to see him explore and figure new things out. The pictures are a little blurry because he is moving.

Good Times with Dan!

We made a sign to Welcome Daniel at the airport, but of course Ben was asleep by the time we got to the airport.

Everything goes in the mouth right now!

We had a great time with Daniel this past week! The time went by really quickly. Thanks Dan for coming!! Miss you already. Ben had a great time getting to know his Uncle. Daniel is the first of our siblings to get to meet Ben. It was a fantastic time!!

Just a few for fun!

Papa and Gr. Ma Hawkins brought Ben a bumbo seat and it is great!! He sat and played in the kitchen yesterday while I cooked and washed dishes. Thank you!!!

Hawkins visit

We had a great time with the Hawkins. Here are pictures of our time with them and Ben's first experience with rice cereal!

Hawkins visit to Jo