Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone! Benjamin enjoyed his morning! We started with a fun Easter Egg hunt... we made it really easy for him and just scattered the eggs on the floor. Benjamin understood the process of picking up the eggs and putting them in the basket right away. He also had a fun time taking the eggs OUT of the basket and giving them to me and Jonathan or trying to bite them (He's working on four molars and biting everything these days).

He also had a good time finding the toys in his Easter Basket. The Easter Bunny left him a bucket and some sand box toys, a box of Animal Crackers, and some bubbles. I think he liked the bubbles the best.

Benjamin's Park Adventure

I finally had time (and energy!) on a nice day to take Benjamin to the park a couple blocks from our house. He was mostly interested in the other kids playing, but he had some fun exploring on his own. Here are some fun pictures. He seemed to enjoy the swings the best. as you can tell by the goofy smile...

He was very quiet most of the time we were there. I had some things to do at home and we didn't have sunscreen on so we left after about 20 minutes. Benjamin was fine in the stroller walking across the grass, but as soon as I got to the parking lot he started to cry. He obviously had fun and didn't want to leave! I told him we'll go back again soon. (He doesn't know that the Easter Bunny is bringing him some sandbox toys so we'll obviously need to try them out!

: )

It's a GIRL!!!

Here is her beautiful face...

And here is her cute hand (don't worry, I'm having a hard time really seeing it too!)

And finally, the between the legs shot- definitely no " boy parts" hanging out between those legs.

What is really funny is that this little girl was just like her brother- crossing her legs and keeping all the umbilical cord strategically placed over the parts we needed to see. So I got up and went to the bathroom and when I came back she had moved just enough to let us take a peek and then crossed her legs again. What can I say- I have modest children. At least we didn't have to go back 3 times like we did with Benjamin until we FINALLY found out that he was a boy.

And before you ask- we do have a name picked out for her. We are going to name her McKenna Ranae Gibson.

(disclaimer- this is her name unless we have some sort of divine intervention that tells us to name her something else, or if she does end up magically becoming a boy between now and August.)

Benjamin's 12 Month Pictures

While scanning our ultrasound pictures I realized I never scanned and posted Benjamin's 1 year pictures. Now that he is 14 months old and I promised my mom I'd post these 2 months ago, I guess I better do it!

Stayed Tuned...

We're finding out the gender of our new baby tomorrow morning!

Rascal Flatts!

So Jonathan was the biggest sport and took me to see the Rascal Flatts concert last Friday for my birthday. Jonathan "despises" country music (that's his word) but he said, "I didn't like half their songs, but they were entertaining." Ummm... of course they were! I have loved Rascal Flatts since their first cd came out in 2000. I've seen them one other time in concert, about three years ago when they opened for Kenny Chesney. This was so much better! We got some great videos and pictures of the group and the band (mostly because Jonathan was in awe of the stage) but we forgot to get any of the two of us! Oh well.

I wish I could get some of the video we took posted, but I think the files are too big. I'm even having a hard time uploading them to You Tube. I'll keep trying because these pictures really don't show how awesome this concert really was.

The best part of the whole concert was that Jonathan didn't complain once. The second best part was when he said he wouldn't mind if I wanted to go again next year for my birthday! Now that is wonderful progress :)

Thank you again Jonathan for taking me. It was one of the best birthday presents you have ever given me!

The Funniest Story...

I don't have any pictures for this post, but the story is too funny not to tell. The other day I was changing Benjamin's poopy diaper and I asked him, "Who has a stinky butt?" And Benjamin looks at me and says, "mmm... DAD!"

It's times like these that I'm actually glad Dad is the only word he says right now.

Oh, and yesterday Benjamin was trying really hard to say "Bath." It sounded more like "taath" but he was getting close! I'm sure he'll be talking in no time!

First Swimming Lesson!

Benjamin had a good time at his first swimming lesson last night. Jonathan was a good sport and went too so we could get some pictures. We learned to do a lot of things in the water. First Benjamin was taught how to get in holding the side of the pool. Then how to blow bubbles (or rather, how to drink the water since he wasn't quite getting the blowing out part). Then I helped him float on his stomach and his back. After that it was time to dunk the little boy under the water. He did much better than I thought he would. He didnt cry, but I could tell he did not enjoy it.

Here's a cute video of Benjamin going after a toy (this was to help the kids learn how to paddle with their arms)

Benjamin's favorite part was at the end when he stood on the edge of the pool and got to "jump" into the water. He pretty much just lunged forward as I lifted him into the air and then into the water. But his grin was absolutely adorable. Too bad Benjamin had his back to Jonathan otherwise we could have gotten a better picture or video of it. Maybe another time.

So that was the first swim lesson. We have 8 more and hopefully in a couple weeks we'll have a boy who is comfortable going under water :)

Update on Benjamin...

It's been awhile since I gave an update on how much Benjamin is growing and learning these days. He is so full of character and personality. It is so much fun to be around him all the time. Bear with me, this will probably be a long post!

Benjamin has started to make the connection between sign language and words. We have been watching the Baby Einstein sign language DVD for months and he is now starting to use the signs a lot. He knows "more" and uses it when he wants more food or more time in the bath. He knows "all done" and "ball." Actually, he was watching the DVD yesterday and I was sitting with him and helping him make the signs and I stopped for a minute to get a drink and when I turned around Benjamin said, "Baa" and did the sign for ball. Woo hoo! It was so cute and I was so excited to hear him speak AND do the sign. There is some concern that babies take longer to speak when they learn sign language, so I was glad to see and hear him do both at the same time. New signs we are working on are milk, bath, and please. I'm sure he'll understand those soon!

Benjamin is also turning into quite the little athlete. He has loved to throw and roll balls around for months now. But just a couple weeks ago he learned how to kick his ball around the room. It was really neat to watch him learn to kick the ball after he did it once by accident. He was just walking around the living room and his foot hit the ball. He watched it roll and then went right for it and started kicking. At first he was kicking with his right foot and if the ball happened to be in front of his left foot he would still try to kick with his right one. It was so funny! He figured that out pretty quickly though and now will kick with whatever foot the ball is in front of. He now plays soccer with anything that will roll when he kicks it- the ball, his bottle, toy cars.

One of Benjamin's favorite things to do is "look" for Dad. Often times Jonathan will come home from school and go back to our bedroom to get some more studying done. After a little while I'll ask Benjamin if he wants to go find Daddy and he gets excited, claps his hands, and runs for the baby gate blocking the way down the hallway to the bedrooms and point down the hall. He'll let me lift him over the gate then he'll run down the hallway to our bedroom and bang on the door. He also likes to watch for Dad from the living room window. As soon as he sees Jonathan get out of the car he'll bang on the window until Jonathan looks up and waves. It's so cute and I'm so glad Benjamin loves his dad so much! "Dad" is officially Benjamin's first word too. He uses it correctly when he sees Jonathan or sees a picture of him. My favorite is when the front door opens and Benjamin yells, "Dad!" and runs for it before he even sees Jonathan. Too cute!

Benjamin also loves to watch videos. He has figured out how to turn on the DVD player, turn on the TV, and change the channel until it gets to the right one to show the video. We're having a fun time trying to keep the TV off and let him only watch a half hour or so of a video each day. We already moved the DVD player up another shelf and are now looking for something to block the TV buttons from little fingers who like to push them.

Benjamin also loves to go out in the car. When I'm planning on taking him somewhere, I'll ask him, "Do you want to go for a ride in the car?" and he gets this big grin, grabs his blanket (because he won't wear a jacket in his car seat so we wrap him in a blanket instead) and heads for the door. I can't ask him if he wants to go until I'm ready to walk out because he gets too impatient if we don't leave right then. I guess I'm not the only one with cabin fever these days. I'm so ready for spring!

Benjamin and I start "Mommy and Me" toddler swim classes tonight. We'll let you know how those go. I'm sure Benjamin is going to love it.