Preview

I am tired, and I have no pictures downloaded.

What a way to start a blog, right? I just wanted to tell everyone to stay tuned, because I have the cutest photos and memories to share just as soon as I can get a spare moment…and it might be a few more days. I may be working extra long tomorrow, and then we have to pack for a trip to see Jeremy’s sister Rachel.

But, don’t give up on me! I promise…pictures soon. Just to wet your appetite, I will tell you that Benjamin’s favorite gift this weekend was a car. Yes, he is a little young to drive, but Papa pushed him around on endless loops through the house. He will have to keep pushing until Benjamin has long enough legs to push himself. At that time, the Fisher Price car is apparently insured by State Farm, because it has the sticker clearly stating the affiliation on the back.

Also, I must mention that my baby boy…who up until about a week ago refused to eat anything that wasn’t in a baby food jar, has fallen in love with crab legs and shrimp. He also got his first taste (Ok several tastes) of peppermint ice cream with hot fudge, Christmas cookies and cheesy potatoes that he shoveled in his mouth by the fistful. The kid loves cheese and will sit there and eat cubes of it until you think no more will fit…and then he shoves in a few more. He also likes to shove fistfuls of fish crackers into that surprisingly large mouth of his. His other food explorations this weekend included a cheese ball and crackers, blueberries and an attempt at dog food…again. Daisy got even though, because she ate my mouth guard that Benjamin must have knocked off the table.

That’s all for now.

P.S. Benjamin is winning the bottle war.

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

Our baby boy is going to be 1 year old in two days! We can hardly believe it. This weekend, as most of you know, was his birthday party. I think I was much more excited about it than he was, but he certainly enjoyed himself!

I will have to post two blogs, because I don’t really have many good photos from the day. I have a few from my dad’s camera. My mother-in—law took a bunch too, so I will post those when I get copies. I was too busy greeting guests and taking care of Benjamin, who decided this weekend to develop a serious case of stranger anxiety! Friday, it became quite apparent when we attempted to get a photo with Santa. I will scan it in at work when I get the chance, but picture an absolutely heartbreaking look of betrayal as I left him in the arms of a furry man with an affinity for red velvet.

Anyway, back to the party. We had about 30 people there, so it was a good size crowd. Benjamin CLUNG to the people he knows best and let a few others hold him without too much of a fuss. But, for the most part, he was clinging to legs and asking to be picked up quite a bit! The exception was with the other children. My cousin Davis pulled out a container of cookies, and Benjamin made a beeline for him. Benjamin doesn’t know what cookies are, but he wanted one just the same. He pulled right up and got in Davis’s face. It was hilarious. He also decided that his cousin Claire must have had something better on her tray than his, because when he got down from eating his food, he started stealing hers.

 

 

He also managing to pull Claire right off her feet when she tried to take one of his new trucks. Don’t worry. I will teach him to be nice to girls, but I think he gets in defense mode from his days at the baby sitter’s house with all the bigger kids.

He loved opening presents, and it was difficult to get him to let go of one to open another. We tried to spread it out a little bit so he didn’t get too overwhelmed. Needless to say, our house is now filled with lots of noisy new toys.

Cake time was quite funny! Like he is with all new foods, he refused to put any in his mouth. When I gave him a taste, he shuddered.

 

But, soon he figured out it was kind of fun to squish it a little. He studied it for quite some time. Touched it. And, then finally tried to drop it on the floor and rid his fingers of the frosting.

He did get one good bite in, though!

We hosed him down afterward.

Like I said, I promise to publish more photos later, but here is the pre-party action.

Here is a photo of Benjamin with one of his favorite people…Papa…doing one of his favorite things…vacuuming.

 

In the background, you can see the toy Nana and Papa got him. It was a huge success with both Benjamin and his half sibling… Daisy.

The two typically get along very well, but this weekend…as siblings tend to do… they started to squabble over toys, food and bones.

First, to my horror…they both stuck their tongues out and… well it pains me to even write what happened next… Judging by the giggles from Benjamin, he thought it was a very funny greeting from his “Da Ssssee.”

Later, I looked over to see Benjamin sitting at Jeremy’s feet. The scene unfolded like a comedic horror film.

Me: “Jeremy, What is Benjamin eating?”

Jeremy": “What?”

He looks up from the television, glances down at Benjamin and then springs into action.

Me; “Please tell me that isn’t what I think it is!”

Jeremy, looking quite sheepish, pulls a bone…yes a bone…out of Benjamin’s mouth. He is OBSESSED with all things Daisy.

“Look mom. I can open and close the door… and…

Crawl inside and get stuck!”

We even caught him swishing his little paws in Daisy’s water bowl. AGGGGHHH!

Finally, the two got into it when Benjamin decided he wanted to keep Daisy’s favorite toy.

Here, the scene unfolds…

Pink socks and peek a boo

Benjamin and I spent the whole day together while Daddy worked. I love the weekend when we can cram as much cuddling, playing and teaching time as possible.

So, this weekend I spent time teaching Benjamin how fun a laundry basket and socks could be, how to eat fish so he can have healthy Omega 3 vitamins, how to make a snow ball… and we are working on how to say words. He spent time teaching me how many things he could get into when I wasn’t looking, and how every time I don’t want him to do something, he will just do it a gazillion times more. I have a feeling we are both going to have to learn a lot of patience, since we both have a stubborn streak.

Here he is playing with my pink fuzzy socks. He is enthralled by them and thinks they are great to chew.

My little teething machine!

I’m so silly!

One of Benjamin’s favorite games is “Peek a Boo” in the curtains. He wraps himself up and then flings them aside with a gigantic grin, awaiting his audiences’ exclamation of “Peek a Boo!”

Here you can see he also was obsessed today with a package of electrical safety covers. Don’t ask me why, but he would not put them down, even to play his favorite game!

Where’s Benjamin?

Peek a Boo!

The cord next to him became the next target, and after a dozen or more trips over there to say “no!” or “Not safe!” I had to relent and move the pole lamp so he didn’t pull it over and do some serious damage.

There are still no new teeth in that very sharp mouth of his, but they have to be getting close! Here is a demonstration of trying to bite Mommy’s leg. Sigh.

 

The most precious moments of the day, though, were the very random things: Benjamin chasing after the vacuum yelling gibberish at the top of his lungs while gleefully trying to catch the cord or jump on the machine; Benjamin singing like Mariah Carey…octaves higher than seems humanly possible; Skyping with Nana; Benjamin bounding up and down the matted play gym in the church nursery like he was king of the jungle; and finally, Benjamin giving mommy a rare gift of cuddle time after his bottle before bed…he rubbed my shirt against his cheek while I sang Christmas songs to him until he got sleepy and wanted to be put in his crib.

Let it snow!

I don’t really care for the cold and snow, but it was a lot of fun introducing Benjamin to the concept for the first time Saturday!

Here he is all bundled up in the closest thing we could come to a snow suit. It is part of the box of clothes we are borrowing from my cousin Jen, and it is pretty darn cute!

Here he is after Jeremy made a pile around him, removed a glove and told Benjamin to stick his hand in the snow. Then, he took a handful and tried to get him to eat it. Poor Benjamin!

Perhaps later I will post the video of Jeremy tossing snow balls at Benjamin and then accidentally smacking one in his face!

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

I haven’t been doing a very good job keeping up with my posts! So, here is a summary of life in the Hilty household since last time.

We still are fighting the coughs that hit three weeks ago. But. we all feel much better, so that is a good thing. Benjamin is cutting more teeth…he never seems to stop… so that has been the most recent challenge. We think he is getting his right side molars and the canines will follow shortly. It is crazy that at 11.5 months, he has 10 teeth! The problem is that when he is teething, he bites…the furniture, random objects…anybody that picks him up or walks within a few feet of him. I could feel his teeth through my leather boots this morning! We aren’t quite sure how to curb this new bad habit. He doesn’t do it unless he is really hurting…but it isn’t something we want to continue!

 

We spent our Thanksgiving in Bluffton and Findlay. It was so nice to visit family and have some down time to catch up on sleep and relax. Benjamin learned so many new things while we were there. He learned to say “Nana,” something that sounds like “see” for Daisy, and Ba for bottle. He also learned how to sign “all done,” but instead of waving his hands, he waves both of them at the same time. He thinks this is how you wave “bye bye” also. I wish I would have caught it on camera. The funniest moment of the weekend was when he sat in his high chair at the top of the basement stairs, happily watching Papa paint the stair walls while he ate his dinner. He just grinned and grinned! Again, I didn’t get what would have been an awesome photo!

We also spent some time with his grandparents in Bluffton. He got his pictures taken at Grandma Jan’s house, and we plan to order some next week, so stay tuned!

Benjamin LOVED playing with Nana. They spent lots of time reading books and singing songs.

When we got back to Cincinnati, he didn’t know what to do with himself after such an exciting weekend.

Here is a photo of him trying to break out of his gated kitchen. One of his new skills is turbo crawling. He can turn it on when we least suspect it and take off for the stairs before we even notice he is gone. That means, we have to keep the gates closed ALL the time. This does not make him happy!

While Benjamin has always had a sense of humor, he has been cracking us up with his antics. He loves to make us laugh as much as we love to make him laugh! His “pig nose” is the cap from my shaving gel. We use it as a cup in the tub to wash his hair. He also decided it is a nice cup with which to drink tub water. Eww!

Jeremy insists Benjamin needs a hair cut. But, I can’t imagine cutting these precious curls. Just look how adorable they are!

Finally, here is a photo of Benjamin watching story time with Nana. We recorded my mom reading books, so if we can’t Skype or we can’t visit in person, he can watch her on television. He especially liked her puppet, Charlie Bear!

I am trying to think if there are any more developments. I guess the only other thing is our adventure in trying to get Benjamin to eat regular food that isn’t delivered in the pureed form. So far, it is a challenge. He will eat graham crackers, apple slices, cantaloupe slices and Gerber snacks that resemble Cheetos. Yep. That’s it. Occasionally, I can sneak in a few bites of Cream of Wheat if I am lucky. Otherwise, that’s his diet. So healthy! The other challenge is getting baby food in his mouth on a spoon, because he likes to throw temper tantrums when he doesn’t get to feed himself. If you hand him the spoon, he just flings the food on the floor. My precious baby is turning into a VERY strong-willed toddler! But, I love him to pieces and wouldn’t trade him for the world! :)

Here is a video of me trying to convince him to eat Cream of Wheat. He was laughing so hard he was crying. Jeremy just recorded him when he was winding down, so he wasn’t really laughing all that much. Then, you can see the stubbornness…he was ready to fling that food onto the walls!

 

 

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11 months!

Our precious baby Benjamin is almost a toddler! He is 11 months old and is growing like a weed. Last time we checked, he was almost 23 pounds. I haven’t yet measured to see how long he is, but I imagine he is close to 30 inches now. We will find out in December at his 12-month checkup. I wanted to get a really good picture for this blog post, but Benjamin has been so sick all week, it proved difficult. Today, he finally felt a little better, and here he is showing off his dance moves. You will notice the music is coming from a card my parents got him months ago that continues to be one of his favorite amusements.

 

Benjamin has been up to a lot this month.

He loves to laugh and jump and play peek-a-boo while hiding in the curtains. He thinks it is hilarious if you crawl after him a sneak peeks around corners. If we ever leave a gate open, he will either crawl to the other side and swing it open and close, or he will make a beeline for the stairs. He has this turbo mode to his crawl that actually is difficult to keep up with if you aren’t paying attention.

Opening and closing doors, cupboards, drawers, books, etc. is a major fascination as are playing with shoe laces, strings, ribbons and anything else that catches his eye…like earrings, necklaces, lace, sequins, Jeremy’s arm hair (ouch!)

Benjamin has a major independent streak, but he also likes for Mommy and Daddy to do some things for him. I was concerned when he wasn’t really holding his bottle, so I asked his babysitter if he holds it at her house. Apparently, he does all the time.At home, he likes to do other things while we hold the bottle…like twirl Mommy’s hair, rub Daddy’s scruffy chin, watch television or just go limp with relaxation. It is pretty precious, since he rarely likes to sit still long enough to cuddle.

Benjamin doesn’t say any words besides the occasional “mum mum mah” and “da da da",” but he chatters all the time and has the funniest noises and expressions. He carries on conversations, even if we have no idea what he is saying. Perhaps he is calling things his own words, and I just haven’t learned them yet. We are trying to teach him a few signs, but so far he makes it clear what he wants without them. Hands raised high means “up please.” Climbing up your leg means “up NOW!” Batting away the spoon and making faces definitely means “I am ALL DONE!” as does throwing food on the floor. (grrr)

Exploring is by far his favorite activity. What is he in search for? Cords, electrical outlets, electric space heaters, dangling objects, paper to eat, lamp poles to tip… basically all dangerous things that keep us on our toes. He also is constantly on the look out for the remote controllers, the mouse and keyboard. He LOVES to play with them more than anything else. For Christmas, his Aunt MB and Uncle David got him a laptop computer that makes music. He likes to groove to this as well as his musical cards.

Here he is Friday when I had to bring him home early from his baby sitter’s house, because he was so sick and miserable. We sat outside in the leaves until his doctor’s appointment. It was 70 degrees and probably the last warm day of Fall…unless we get lucky again. The doctor said he didn’t have an ear infection, but he was wheezing. So, we have been giving him breathing treatments and doing our best to distract him for 10 minutes, so we can put a mask near his mouth and nose. Typically, we can do this for a few minutes by playing videos of Benjamin laughing on Jeremy’s iTouch. Benjamin thinks there is nothing funnier than seeing himself laughing. Who is that hilarious and adorable baby?

You will notice a walker to his left. It is a gift from his Aunt and Uncle…we spent some time with them last weekend. He didn’t show a lot of interest in walking with it – just spinning the toys on the front. So, much to my surprise, when we got home on Sunday I looked up from the e-mail I was typing and he was motoring across the room with it. Of course, It has been nearly impossible to get him to do it again when I have the camera handy.

Here is a video of the closest I could come to getting him to walk. He wasn’t feeling great, so you can tell he is a little bit in a daze.

Benjamin loves to shred paper, empty clothes baskets and knock over blocks…he is a little bulldozer!

Next month will be Benjamin’s second Christmas, and we decided to put up the tree we purchased when I was in labor and walking laps around Target last year. Benjamin thinks the box is the best part and likely will play with it all weekend.

Here he is exploring the branches with Daddy. We are trying to decide if he will leave it alone, or if we will need to gate it. We are starting with the approach of letting him play with it to get it out of his system, and then see if he ignores it.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving when we can put a bunch of yummy food in front of Benjamin to see if he will eat any of it. He still refuses to eat any food with chunks, though we are working on it. He will now eat  Puffs that are crushed into smaller bites, but he still swallows them whole. We are trying to teach him to chew, since he has 10 teeth! His top and bottom left molars have finally popped through. We are waiting on the other side, and then we hope to be finished with teething for a while. He hasn’t caught a break! So, we will keep putting food in front of him and hope he figures it out before he turns 1 and switches off formula!

It is so much fun to see him grow and change. I will try to take more photos this weekend. I have part of the day off tomorrow, and plan to stay home with Benjamin. It has been wonderful this week to spend time with him. Jeremy took Monday off and I took most of Wednesday off. So, Benjamin has had a lot of TLC. Tomorrow night, I have to go to a VERY LONG and likely dull black tie dinner for work, so I am leaving my two favorite guys home to play and get better. Jeremy still has no voice after three days and Benjamin gurgles when he breathes. I am praying my voice holds on, because I have to work Saturday too. I already spent two weeks of this year without a voice, and it is NOT easy to do my job without it.

Until next time…

Dinner entertainment

I was feeding Benjamin, when all of a sudden, he thought Jeremy was the most hilarious person in the world. Jeremy just looked at him and Benjamin would crack up. This kept up for a while, but here he is at the end.