Before and After...

I thought it would be fun to show everyone what Benjamin is capable of doing in a matter of an hour. This is a little glimpse into my daily life. I clean up this mess at least 3 times a day when Benjamin is down for his naps or sleeping for the night.

Here's his toy shelves before Benjamin woke up from his nap:

And here are the same shelves an hour after he woke up:

Here are the DVD's nicely lined up on the shelves before the baby woke up:

An hour later:

Just for fun, here is the "blockade" we put up to protect the precious Christmas tree from the wrath of a 10 month old. Notice the ingenious placement of (from left to right) the bookshelf, Benjamin's crawling tunnel, the banana chair on its side, the computer desk, and the big wrapped presents under the desk. Benjamin has tried to get around each and every one of them, but no luck yet. We're holding our breath, though, he's smart and will surely figure it out sooner or later.

We put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving. We decided to do it early this year for two reasons. First, I really wanted to put it up and start enjoying the Holidays as soon as possible. Second, we're leaving on December 20th for California and we wanted to enjoy the tree as much as possible before leaving. There was no point in only having it up for a couple weeks.

Ok, ok... I admit it. The second reason was just a logical excuse for putting the tree up so early. I just really wanted to and Jonathan was very nice to comply with my wishes. Thanks Honey!

BYU COUGARS WIN and letting Benjamin "cry it out"

Yesterday was the biggest football game of the year- BYU vs University of Utah. We went to the game and took Benjamin with us. We were really worried about him because he slept for only 5 minutes during his morning nap instead of the hour he normally does. But surprisingly, he did better than we thought! In fact, we even got him to sleep a little bit. The weather was really cold- only the mid 30s, but Benjamin stayed nice and warm in his new hat and mittens that Grammy sent from California. The mittens came in handy as teething helps too. Benjamin couldn't get his thumb in the part it was supposed to fit in, but it worked great as a something for Benjamin to chew on- he has another tooth coming in on top.

Tonight we decided to start letting Benjamin "cry it out." We've been rocking Benjamin to sleep at night and during naps. Most of the time he falls asleep within 5 minutes or so, but sometimes it's a struggle that can last almost a half hour. We figured it was time to let him learn to soothe himself to sleep. This was hard... but not as hard as I expected it to be. We went through his routine, and instead of rocking him I put him in his crib and said goodnight. I expected him to cry for a loooonnnngggg time... I was predicting at least an hour or an hour and a half. But.... 36 minutes!!! WOO HOO!!! I went in to check on him after 10 minutes of silence and he was asleep in the corner of his crib and all tucked up in a funny position- kinda like he had collapsed after standing up for 36 minutes of crying. So cute! I dared to lay him out flat and he hardly stirred as I put him in a more comfortable position. We are so grateful!!!

"Ben Jammin' " on the piano

I've been having problems posting videos lately, which is why we haven't been adding more than just pictures lately. Today I'm attempting at posting a video on Blogger again. So here goes... this is Benjamin playing the piano at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Thanksgiving Day.

Yay! That worked so here we go again with another video... this is Benjamin's reaction when he realizes he's going to get to take a bath. He is usually a lot more excited than this video shows, but it's a pretty good example of how cute he is!

Now that I know I can post videos on the blog again, check back soon for more!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow, did Benjamin have fun on Thanksgiving! We spent the day in Layton at Jonathan's parents house. Benjamin got to play with all his uncles and cousins. He also was introduced to a piano for the first time and he was a natural! He did well at eating too... he loved the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and the rolls. He wasn't too interested in the sweet potatoes. We're hoping it's because they were too sweet :) He doesn't get sugary things except very rarely and when he does, he usually doesn't care for it. Hopefully this is a pattern that will last a long time...

But the biggest news of Thanksgiving Day was that, with Uncle Dave's help, Benjamin stood up on his own! He did it twice for about 5 seconds each time. And he was very in control and didn't fall. The first time he reached back out and grabbed Uncle Dave's arm and the second time he lowered himself, very slowly and carefully, to his knees. His grin when he knew he was "safe" from falling over was so big! He was obviously very pleased with himself and what he's learning how to do. Judging by the past, Benjamin should be standing completely on his own in a matter of a couple weeks. He learns so quickly once he starts to get it. We're so proud!

Anway, here are some fun pictures of Benjamin on his first Thanksgiving.

Mom and Benjamin at the dinner table



Benjamin enjoying his mashed potatoes and gravy



Benjamin playing the piano



Benjamin's first bite of pumpkin pie (with cousin Jordan)



Hmm, we're not quite sure what he thinks of it



We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Jonathan's family. We're sorry we didn't get to speak with many people on Thanksgiving day, but we wanted to let everyone know we thought of you and counted you as one of our many blessings! Happy Thanksgiving!

I have such a good baby!

I think he understands so much more than we give him credit for sometimes. This video shows exactly what I'm talking about. It was the first time I asked him to sit back down in the tub and he actually listened! Now he does that every time I ask him to! I guess being consistent in taking him out of the bathtub when he stands up does work! Yay for Daddy and Mommy helping Benjamin learn to obey his parents and learning consequences! Ok, maybe I'm over thinking this and tooting my own horm a little, but hey, I'm a first-time mom, it's ok!

More Cute Pictures of Benjamin

I just can't get enough! And I'm sure there are a few of you out there who don't mind seeing more pictures of Benjamin... (Grammy!) This is Benjamin is his outfit for church today. His cute blue blazer and button up shirt just came in the mail on Friday from Grammy in California. They look so cute on him!

10 Months old today!

Time flies! I can't believe we've only had Benjamin in our lives for 10 months, but I can't imagine life without him! For comparison, I've posted a picture of Benjamin on his birth day and one of him today. He has grown up so much and we're so proud of him!

9 Month Pictures

We finally got Benjamin's 9 month pictures back. The studio had a problem with the DVD they burned of the pictures so it took twice as long to get them. But here they are. I think they turned out cute, but I think that of every picture I see of Benjamin. It's a mom's earned right :)

Benjamin Slept Through the Night!

So we got Benjamin down a little late last night. His usual bedtime is between 7 and 7:30, sometimes earlier if we think he's being too much of a grouch. He usually gets up sometime in the night, sometimes as early as 2am and as late as 5:30am and is up for about an hour to drink a bottle and then climb all over mom and dad as we are trying to sleep. But not last night! We put him to bed about 8pm... and he slept like a rock until 6:30am! This is wonderful! We think we may be on to something here- a later bedtime means a later wake-up time. We'll try it for a few more nights to see how it goes. Hopefully we'll have a well-rested parent - I mean, child - and life (and naps!) will go a little smoother for awhile.

Ha Ha... thought this was kinda fun.

I took this quiz and this was my result:

54%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

San Jose Dating

Not too bad! I just think blogging is fun and I love to read about other people's adventures. Plus, in a way, I think this blogging stuff is an outlet for all the pent up scrapbooking creative-ness that I can't unleash as often as I'd like to.

Just Hanging Out

I took this picture of Benjamin and Jonathan hanging out at home this afternoon. Benjamin is really good at smiling when I pull out the camera and say, "Benjamin, smile!"

Freezing (and fishing!) in the fog

Well, Jonathan went fishing yesterday and caught some pretty good sized fish. The pictures he took are amazing. Apparently, he was having fun because he said he'd be home by 1 or 2 in the afternoon... I didn't see him until after 5! But, I'm glad he got in a good day of fishing, who knows when he'll be able to go again.

Jonathan said it was about 20 degrees outside when they got there and there was so much fog that he couldn't see more than 25 yards away.

This is the fog as it started to clear up.


Here is Rob (our brother in law) with both the fish Jonathan and Rob caught at the same time.



Some nice Cutthroat Trout...



And these weren't even the biggest fish caught that day!

Happy Halloween!

Here's a photo recap of our Halloween activities this year.

4 Doctors in 1 week!

Well, Benjamin has had a busy week full of doctors. Last Tuesday was his 9 month check up. He is doing well, but they did a blood test and found out that he's slightly anemic. So the doctor gave us a prescription for a multi vitamin that contains iron and they'll check him again at his 1 year check up in 3 months. Other than that, he looked great!

Then on Thursday (yes, just 2 days later) I noticed Benjamin had something in his mouth that he was chewing on. I stuck my finger in there and almost got out what I discovered to be a staple! It was a closed one (like it had been used and then taken out of a piece of paper). Benjamin did manage to swallow it before I could get it out... so it was back to the doctor again! 2 hours and an x-ray later, they didn't see it in the stomach or the lungs so they assumed the staple was moving through the digestive tract the way it was supposed to.

We had a couple quiet days until Sunday when we were visiting Jonathan's parents in Layton (about an hour's drive north of us). Benjamin came down with a pretty high fever. It was about 103-104 degrees most of the afternoon. It did go down for a little while, but jumped back up. We put him to bed after several doses of Tylenol every 4 hours and several warm baths, but at midnight he woke up crying and when I picked him up I saw that he was bright red and felt hotter than he had all day. So we took him to the Emergency Room where they gave him Motrin and checked to make sure the fever wasn't anything more serious. The doctor said it was probably a virus or an ear infection that could be showing up in a day or two and to watch for it.

Monday and Tuesday Benjamin's fever kept coming and going. We gave him Tylenol and Motrin and that helped keep the fever down, but it would still spike to about 102 at times. Tuesday night Benjamin woke up at 3 am screaming crying and wouldn't settle back down to sleep until after 6am... that was a long night for me so I called the doctor and we took him in first thing in the morning, and sure enough - there was an ear infection! So since yesterday we've been treating him for the ear infection and he has been so much happier! He had a decent night's sleep last night (I was SOOO grateful!) and has been a pleasant, smiling little boy today!

We are so glad that he's feeling better, he hasn't had a fever since Tuesday night and we're very grateful for that. It's hard when a baby is sick because you can't make it better fast enough! Hopefully, we'll be doctor-free until Benjamin's 12 month check up in January!