The pelican ate the little space man, again.

Shampoo mohawk.

Never thought you would see me do manual labor?? Think again!

Home improvement without killing each other...success!

Whoa- what a weekend. Friday night we attempted to join our friend Kristy for a birthday dinner. Well Ben did not really feel like being there and was all over the place. I guess he was acting like a 14 month old! So, we only ate a few bites of food before we called it quits and packed up our leftovers. Luckily she had several other friends to celebrate with so we didn't feel too bad. It just made me realize again how life and sometimes friends change once you have a babe. We were the friends with the baby!

On Saturday, Andrea volunteered (yes, volunteered!) to watch Ben all day so we could finally get started on our kitchen. Friends will watch your little ones, but family will offer before you ask :). We spent all day pulling down the wallpaper, scrubbing the walls, and ripping off the tile. It felt amazing to get my hands dirty and destroy something! I didn't want to quit. It seems the paper and tile have been up since the house was built because it was just drywall behind both. A few pieces came off with it, so Chad will have to fix that before we can move off to painting. I did smash Chad's finger in the oven door while we were moving it. That was the only major incident of the day, and he survived. We then went to Lowes to get the rest of the kitchen hardware and today I bought some Old English to shiny up the cabinets. I also painted 4 shades of brown on the wall to test it out. I don't like any of them so the search continues.

More about Ben...we were supposed to go see Karra & Ayden for a play date and dinner today, but poor little Karra had a fever all night so we gave them some space. Instead, we went grocery shopping and tried to find Ben some 18 month p.j.'s. He fits into the 12 month find except for his feet. They seems to be too big for the footies and are giving him little blisters on his big toe. It's not his shoes because we just switched him to a bigger size...5's! However, all the fleece jammies for winter are gone and the summer ones are out. Luckily my mom bought a pair for Christmas without footies that he can wear until we figure something else out.

In addition to all the other words we enjoy him saying, his new favorite is "mine". Oh yea, it happened. He will walk around saying it for everything. Luckily it doesn't mean too much to him right now because he doesn't throw a hissy if we don't give whatever it is to him.

We have been extending his bed time to 7:30 instead of 7:00. We don't see him enough in the evening, but also with summer coming up it would be nice to have him enjoy the day a bit longer. It seems to be working just great with him going to bed on his own. Yay!

I took this video this morning and I just had to post it!

I love to watch him turn the pages!

Biker dude.

It was a fairly uneventful weekend for Ben. Unfortunately I was still feeling a little under the weather on Saturday, and Sunday turned out to be a cold, yucky day. So we pretty much played indoors and read books. We had a few outings so Ben didn't get cabin fever, but that was about it. I did go to Andrea's for a bit on Sunday and Ben's coat was in my car. So when Chad wanted to go out with Ben, he found this cute coat in his closet. It's for a 24 month old, but it fit him quite well. Maybe we should start our Y membership up again so he can swim in the baby pool and prepare for the water parks! Hmm...I think I may do that soon. He does have the cutest little swim trunks.

We measured his height on our kitchen wall the other day. He was 29 1/2 inches tall - average I suppose. Good thing because we were thinking he was on the shrimpy side. His weight on our bathroom scale was 22.5 pounds. He was 19 something a few weeks ago when he wasn't feeling the greatest and didn't want to eat. He is back! We keep trying to find new foods for him to enjoy. He really likes coco wheat's for breakfast and blueberries. He hates raspberries and strawberries, but maybe when there are fresh and in season it will be a different story. He loves avocado, In fact he almost eats an entire half at a sitting. I have to cut him off. His waffle phase is over and now he won't touch them. So, he has tried Kix and Cinnamon Toast Crunch - winners! He like pancakes too, but only the made from scratch kind. We tried the pre-made ones only for weekday breakfast because it was fast. Apparently daddy makes the best because he won't eat any others. As far as meat, I am convinced that he could eat breakfast sausage and nothing else. We have tried several meats but he is rather picky. He is just waiting for something fresh off the grill!

When did we go from waking 5 times a night to hold our crying baby, to a little boy who puts himself to sleep? Yes, it has happened. Ben has weaned himself not only of a bottle before bed, but also of being rocked to sleep. We have tried for the last few nights to rock him, but he bends his body and fusses until we lay him down in his bed. Last night we did that, and it was 12 hours later that he decided he needed us again. I'm so glad that he has learned how to fall asleep on his own, but silly us thought we would decide when that would happen. We had a plan, and this wasn't it. Maybe it's just a phase, or maybe it's what Chad said - that soon enough he will want to crawl in bed and sleep with us. That is fine with me! Heck, I've been trying to get him to do that all along, but he is such a wiggle worm.

He was so cute today. After a nice potty break he roamed around in his diaper for a bit. The sun made it quite warm in the living room. So, Ben wandered around with my spatula and other random kitchen utensils and showed off his climbing skills. Then, we jumped on the bed and later practiced brushing our own hair. He is quite the smartie because he picked up the brush and knew just what to do with it. I really never brush his hair, so he must watch me in the mornings.

He also loves to nod his head yes and no when we ask him questions. Tonight I asked him if he was ready for bed, and he nodded yes. He knows what I'm saying because when I asked him if he liked my sweet potatoes he said no...after he had spit them out.

So Happy Valentine's Day to all, and to Benjamin. I don't really care for the holiday. In fact, I told Chad that if he bought me a card, I would open it on Monday :). However, Ben deserves a celebration whenever he gets the chance. So, he had vanilla pudding and blueberries to celebrate. He loved em'!

Strong boy!

Ben & Chad are both under the weather right now and life has been a little less than fun at times over the past few days! Hopefully it will pass for both of them soon, but poor little Ben has been down for about a week already. The second picture is typical of him since last Friday. He is always such a happy, cheerful baby but lately it seems everything puts him in a bad mood. He couldn't get the book out of the box and he was angry! However lots of good things have happened lately too. Ben officially said his first sentence. He said "Bye bye Jackie" (she watches him at daycare). He loves to say bye bye and follow it with something now. He says bye to the cats, Kent (Jackie's husband), and dada. It's so cute, and oh boy am I excited for what comes next. He does talk all the time, although we can't always understand him. It''s funny though because we know he understands us. I'll say throw this away and he trots over to the trash can, or I'll say hang up your coat and he puts in on the bench. He is so smart! Tonight I asked him if he wanted water and he did the baby sign for please and then said it! I didn't even have to demonstrate the sign and I've never heard him say please before. It was amazing. Hanging with the older crowd in daycare is really paying off.

Chad bought him an Elmo doll that talks, sings, sits, etc. It's actually kind of funny because when he falls over he asks if someone will help him up. I love it! Ben carries him around by his neck or his arm. He will hug him too...because Ben loves hugging.

This morning I was getting ready for work when I was greeted by a giant yellow duck poking it's head into my bathroom. Chad took the bath duck out of hibernation just long enough for Ben to drag it around and then fall over. It made me realize again how much he has grown. He runs, climbs on everything, and talks non-stop. Gone are the days where we could put him on the bed or floor and he would just stay there. He really does climb on everything. He is always on the fireplace. He stands up there like a champ, but it totally freaks us out. He fell off the other day and was fine, but it was terrifying. Boys will be boys I guess, but I'm not ready for this!

Ben is in the hugging stage. He loves to hug people, toys, the refrigerator, anything. This video is short but so cute (again...sideways!). Even when you ask him for a hug, he tilts his head to the side before he even gets to you. Quite comical. He is also doing really well at identifying things like belly, and when you say hat he points to his head. He also loves to play peek-a-boo and will cover his eyes with both hands. Sometimes he does this while walking unfortunately. That hasn't always worked out for him.

Today we will watch the Super Bowl with some friends. Good news is that Ben doesn't watch a lot of TV, so when it's on he is fairly interested for a little while. He does especially like to watch football, so this is good. He does have a bit of a cold right now which I'm confident he picked up from his friend Jillian at daycare. They are bff's, and love to share their water cup. You can stop them right away, but the damage is done! Poor little kid is having trouble sleeping because of his coughing and runny nose. Hopefully he gets better soon.