13 months

In under a week Bennett will be 13 months.  He's just on the brink of walking- I don't think it will be too long before he gets his cute chunky legs coordinated enough to walk on his own while balancing.  :)  But we'll see, I'm not rushing things.  I'm sure most moms will say enjoy it now while he's not walking.

He still takes a couple bottles each day.  We are trying to wean him off slowly.  He usually has one in the morning when he gets up and then at night before he goes to bed.  Hopefully soon we can wean that morning bottle and just be down to 1 a day.  He doesn't really like cold milk just yet- we are still having to warm it up some for him.  Hopefully he'll out grow that.

He had another ear infection the other week, which meant another round of Augmentin.  That antibiotic really does decrease his appetite.  Since he's finished with the medicine, it's like he's a garbage disposal at dinner.  :)  His favorite foods now are sweet potatoes and CHEESE!  That boy loves him some cheese.  The past 2 nights he's eaten 2 slices of cheese at dinner.  He loves a baked sweet potato too- baked for about an hour to make it really soft and a touch of butter to make it really yummy!!  Usually if I can't get him to eat anything else, I can always rely on those 2 foods.  He also likes the jarred fruits- apples, pears, bananas & strawberries, fruit medley to name just a few.  I tried to give him real fruit the other night but he didn't like that too much.  He gnawed a little bit on a banana but decided he didn't really like it that much.  Didn't like the grapes I peeled and cut up for him either.  I think he's going to be a meat and potato kind of guy like his daddy!  He likes deli meat too, like turkey and roast beef.  Mrs. Bertha said he likes strawberry oatmeal (with butter and sugar of course!!!).  I'm going to buy him some and fix it this weekend.  He's not too sure about green beans anymore.  He went through a phase where he loved them but not so much now.

He's into everything!!  And he loves to test Mommy and Daddy's limit on things he's not allowed to touch, like the Xbox and cable box and the cords for the laptop.  But that comes with being a toddler I guess.  :)  He loves to dance and every time music comes on the TV he's over there just dancing away.  He's not really saying any words but he babbles constantly!  I guess he knows what he's saying.  It's so funny though- when he gets mad at me or Daddy you can tell it by the way he's babbling- likes he's fussing at us in his own words.  :)  Usually he gets mad at us when we won't let him play with something that he's not supposed to have.  :)  I honestly think he's got my temperament, which is probably not the best thing to have.  I'm short tempered to say the least.  :)

One day Jason and I were in Hallmark looking around (I think I was looking for Christmas gifts so it's been at least 5 months ago) and we found this cute cow that laughs every time the motion sensor goes off.  The tail is hard and spins around so it looks like the cow is rolling on the floor laughing.  We thought Bennett would love it.  But, as soon as we got it home and showed it to him, we quickly found out that he wasn't too fond of the laughing cow.  We put it away in his little toy bag.  It's been sitting in that bag since Christmas.  I was digging in the bag the other day to see what other old toys were in ther and I came across the cow and thought Bennett would like it now and think it's hilarious.  Well, I think he hates it more now than he did to begin with.  We put the cow next to the end table by the couch- it's kinda in a corner where we don't want him to go.  It's a good way to keep him out of that area cause he's always looking over there at that cow and won't go near it!!  Every now and then he'll fuss when he sees it.  It really is the funniest thing.  He was sitting in his high chair, which is close to the cow, and kept looking over there, keeping check on it.  I guess we'll leave it there.  :)

So, sleep, another long story in itself.  Bennett still is not a very good sleeper.  He's the most restless person I've ever seen- tossing and turning and waking up at night.  He can go all night without milk now, which is marvelous, but he still wakes up.  Why he wakes up so much throughout the night, I have no idea.  So, needless to say, we aren't getting the best of sleep right now with this little one and his sleeping habits.  This is something that I honestly hope he grows out of.  Maybe he will, maybe he won't- we'll see I guess.

He's got 4 teeth now- 2 top and 2 bottom.  I think he's getting some molars too cause he keeps sticking his whole finger in his mouth and biting on it.  I stuck my finger in his mouth today but couldn't feel anything in the back of his mouth just yet.  I hope they come in without too much pain.  He's got a lot of hair and I think his 1st haircut needs to be in the near future.  It's getting really long in the back and hanging over his ears- we have to keep it tucked behind his ears all the time.  :)  I'm kinda hesitant to cut it though because I know once we cut it, that baby look is gone!  He'll look like a grown up little boy for sure then!  But it's inevitable and I know he'll be so handsome when is done!

We took Bennett's 1 year pictures a couple of weeks ago and got back 3 proofs so far.  I'm in love with all 3!  Amanda Joy Photography is wonderful!!  She does EXCELLENT work so if you ever need a photographer, seriously, contact her.  You will not be disappointed.  I wish I had known about her before Bennett was born.  I'll be sure to share once I get them all back.  I'm already in the process of scheduling his 18 month pictures.  We're going to do family pictures then as well.  So exciting!!!

Mother's Day 2011

So hard to believe that I just celebrated my 2nd Mother's Day!!  I remember last year how special it was because Bennett was just 3 weeks old.  This year we just celebrated with family.  Jason's parents came down after church and we cooked lunch and then went and got ice cream at my favorite ice cream shop, Marble Slab.  My favorite is vanilla with 2 scoops of heath!!  :)  Then Bennett took a nice afternoon nap before we had to go to my mom's for dinner.  For Mother's Day I got a nice wind chime- every time I hear it chime I think of what a great Mother's Day gift that was!  I will cherish that forever!!  And I also got a new storm door for the front door- I can see Bennett now with his face pressed against the glass looking out at the kids playing in the cul de sac.  Here are so pictures from Mother's Day!!

Birthday Cookout for the Birthday Boy

The day of Benentt's birthday party went by sooo fast!  There were things I wanted to do that just didn't get done but the party still seemed like a success!!  Guests started coming at 4:00 and we grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs.  We were very fortunate to have great weather- I was a little worried for a couple days.  Rain came in on Thursday and lasted for 2 days but by Friday night it cleared out and Saturday was beautiful!!  So everyone was able to enjoy the backyard.  My mom has a nice deck and then a play area out back.  I had a bubble machine out there that blew a ton of bubbles and some balls for the kids to kick around.  Then we opened gifts so that when Bennett ate his cake he could get as dirty as he wanted to.  He loved it!!