Benjamin

Big Happy Ben!!! Benjamin had his 9 month check up yesterday. He was not happy about it. He's going through that stranger anxiety and so did NOT like the doctor messing with him. But he's doing GREAT! He's 28 1/2 inches and only 22 lbs!! He's actually lost weight and it's not from lack of food, he's just very active. At least he didn't have to have any shots, that was a nice surprise. Benjamin is my curious one, he loves to explore. He is now crawling on his hands and knees now, no more camo crawling. With the new height he's found that ne can reach new things and has now begun to pull himself up and cruise around the furniture!! We used to be able to play with Andrew on the couch and we'd be out of the way of Benjamin. Not any more!! What Benjamin loves... eating! If there's food, he'll eat it and if you don't share, he cries. Just the other day I was eating a cinnamon roll and he saw it, but because it was still hot I gave him a graham cracker. Bad move mom. He threw a HUGE fit! Needless to say as soon as the cinnamon roll cooled, he ate most of it. He also loves music, his favorite toys are those that make music and those that belong to Andrew. Whenever an upbeat song comes on the radio Benjamin starts dancing. I Love it!! Whenever Andrew sings, Benjamin dances. It's a lot of fun. Benjamin found the other day that he likes to play with doors, especially if someone is on the other side, he'll close it just slightly and then open it and laugh. He used to crawl into the kitchen to find crumbs, well, he still does but I've been much better at making sure there are none, so he likes to play with the heating vent, but we've covered that because it's so hot! So, now with no crumbs and no vent to play with, he's realized that there are cupboards and they open and close, then today he found that there's stuff inside the cupboards!! I went into the kitchen looking for him and found the tupperware on the floor. Andrew used to follow behind me and close all the doors and drawers, Benjamin goes around now and opens them. His other favorite thing today is play with the laundry, he loves pulling it OUT of the laundry basket. He is a very sweet boy and makes us laugh everyday. He LOVES Andrew and thinks he is the greatest thing on earth and follows him all over the house.

Sunshine!!

Kylie
Benjamin
Kylie and Benjamin
Andrew and Trevor
Drew and Kylie, Andrew was so proud that he was pushing her gently and not letting her go to high (of course she actually loves to go high, but he was making sure she was safe)
Yesterday we had sunshine!! We actually had snshine for 3 DAYS!!! I couldn't believe it! I'm glad we took advantage of it. It's all gloomy today:( I've added some pictures of our adventure outside to the park!! We went with some friends. Trevor and Kylie. Kylie is only 5 days younger then Benjamin, though you'd never believe it. We used to say she was Benjamin's little girlfriend, but you should see the way Andrew treats her. He is sooo sweet to her. He tells me all the time that he loves her:) I know, of course it's only because we see them all the time and he probably loves her like he does Benjamin, but it's sooo cute. I guess maybe we should say she's Andrew's little girlfriend.

Andrew

We started this blog to keep family and friends up to date. So far so good! We have actually been lucky enough to reconnect with family and friends we haven't heard from in YEARS!!! I'm loving it. So, because we've reconnected with so many long lost loved ones I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a little more about our family. This entry gets to be about Andrew. Andrew is 3almost 4!! He'll be 4 in May and he's very excited!! He keeps asking me if he'll get to go to school now. I guess my little preschool attempts aren't enough for him. He loves to learn and so I've been working with him, we 'play preschool'. It has been a lot of fun. Although I haven't been as diligent as I would've liked, we have been able to tailor it to what he likes. For a while he was into letters and learning words, he still loves to do flash cards but right now he's really into countries. We have a world map and he wants to go to China, Japan, Canada, Venezuela etc... He can tell you and show you where mom and dad as well as his aunt and uncles served their missions. He's our world traveler. As well as learning he LOVES to play games and we play everyday. OF course he likes to win but he cheers everyone on and a game isn't over until everyone wins.(everyone's finished the game). He says his best friend is Benjamin and he loves to make him laugh and get Benjamin to tackle him. I have to say, Benjamin enjoys it too. He's very patient with Benjamin getting into his toys. If anything, he can be to loving. I wouldn't have it any other way. We love you Andrew.