Christmas

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas with Benjamin this year. It was so fun to see him get excited about all the lights, presents, food and baby Jesus!

Here are a few photo highlights of our visit!

The night before Christmas Eve, we prepared Benjamin for what was to come, talking all about the presents he would get the next day. He was super excited. He also was thrilled to have Dada with us to tuck him into bed.

The next morning, he found this waiting for him!

 

Papa spent so much time putting it all together. We have had to modify it, since he kept knocking everything down. Benjamin is still enjoying endless hours of train time days later.

We just got Benjamin a stocking with some small things in It this year, but he didn’t seem to mind. He loved the choo choo train on it, and it even had his name embroidered on the front. Luckily, it arrived in time, even though someone stole the first one from our porch when it was delivered!

 

Papa read the “Polar Express” to Benjamin

And Nana helped him open a few presents.

GG and Bob Bob arrived with a carload of gifts, and Benjamin could barely stand waiting to open one. We caved and gave him his a little early.

 

My dad is going to have to send me the family shot he took, because I don’t have it on my camera!

The next day we went to Bluffton.

Benjamin adores his Aunt Rachel and all the fun they have!

Aunt Keri was gone by the time I had my camera out, so we missed her…and Uncle Brian.

 

Benjamin enjoyed playing with the gifts given to him and the boys. He especially loved the tool sets and the COnnect 4 game.

 

We went to see Grandpa Bob Bob (Hilty) on Monday.

The highlight, besides opening a few gifts, was Uncle Brian’s tractor!

I wasn’t sure how B would react to it, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. He wanted to stay in it forever, and cried when he had to get out to give the other boys a turn.

We went inside to play with a toy tractor while we waited for Benjamin’s second turn.

We got back in for a photo, but then had to leave again. I think that made him even angrier. But, we promised in the Spring we would go out again.

Whew! That is a lot of photos! WE had an exciting weekend!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It’s a girl

We are super excited to be having a girl. I am sure you all have heard by now, but here are a few more details from our ultrasound.

The baby is healthy, weighs about 14 ounces (so is on the big side thanks to all the food I ate over the holidays) and is VERY active. She has really long legs judging by one photo, and she likes to move them!

Benjamin was excited to “Skype” with his new baby, though I think the experience was a bit of a let down for him. We went to Target and bought a little newborn sleeper that said Little Sister, so now I am on the hunt for a big brother shirt for him!

Tis the season to be jolly!

We are having so much fun with Benjamin this Christmas season. He is such a character. He loves to sing, and so when we discovered a song with lots of “la,la, las,” he took right to it!

Speaking of jolly, Benjamin is having a grand old time opening presents. He gets so excited, and tears right in. Last night, I was trying to wrap gifts, and he would NOT part with a gift for my grandparents. It was in a cardboard box, so he didn’t even know what it was. But, he dragged that thing all over the room, yelling “No, no no!” any time I got close to taking it from him. Did I mention, “No,” is Benjamin’s favorite word right now? Anyway, here he is after opening a birthday gift from Aunt Christy and Uncle Mike.

 

 

He is in silly mode much of the time. And, monkey see, monkey do seems to be the theme. My nephew, Eden, had plenty to teach Benjamin.

More gifts…Benjamin got to open a present from my friend Katie, who came to spend the evening with us while we were in Findlay and my parents were out of town. She played Mr. Potato Head with Benjamin, who was thrilled with the toy.

And, we baked cookies!

The next day, we went back to Bluffton, where Benjamin got a few lessons in Wi sports. OF all the cousins, he says very few names, but he says “Asher” quite clearly.

He met a lot of first and second cousins this weekend! I think this family is overrun with boys!

 

Opening presents was chaos, but Benjamin loved it. (except when he learned he couldn’t keep everyone else’s presents.)

His favorite gift was…you guessed it…a train. Here he is with his grandpa “Bob Bob.”

The next few photos are here, because Benjamin is obsessed with the camera. He likes to get his photo taken and then immediately see it displayed on the camera. He comes running whenever I pull out the camera, and he likes nothing more than to see himself on it! So, we played this game while cuddling on the couch for quite a long time yesterday!

I just love this little guy! I forgot to mention, we had his 2-year well visit last week. He is still close to the 75th percentile in height and he grew and inch and a half since his last visit six months ago. He is in the 20th for weight, but the doctor wasn’t worried about it. She said he is always going to be on the skinny side. Not much of a surprise there. He was such a ham…he even did a summersault on the floor of the exam room while I was talking to the doctor. Show off!

That’s all for now!

More Benjamin from this week

I have a bunch of photos to share, so here we go!

After Benjamin fell out of his Little Tykes car window, where he was exiting rather than using the door, he had a large lump on his forehead. We decided to get milkshakes, because who doesn’t feel better after a milkshake?

Another night, we decided at the last minute to go to the zoo to see the lights. It was a great family outing, even if it was a little cold!

We loved the Christmas train, especially when it went around Swan Lake, and we got to say hi to the ducks and swans.

Jeremy took very few photos, and didn’t want to ask someone to take a family photo…so it looks like he wasn’t here. In fact, he was merely sipping his hot chocolate from afar.

When Jeremy packed up to leave, Benjamin got a little concerned.

It is difficult to explain to a toddler that Dada was going on a trip for a week. He kept looking for him everywhere, and cried quite a bit when Dada didn’t make an appearance.

But, on Tuesday, we headed to FIndlay, and things got better. He is used to going there without Jeremy, so it didn’t seem as strange to him and he stopped looking everywhere for Dada.

We went to see Benjamin’s cousins Tody, Aubrey and Emma. Toby shared his train so nicely with Benjamin, and they both were fairly quiet except for occassional, “choo choo” noises.

 

When Jeremy arrived, he brought snow with him! So, he took Benjamin outside to play while I went shopping with my Dad. It was a big success. Both Jeremy and Benjamin were super excited to play.