Funny Boy

So, if spit up grosses you out- then don't watch. Otherwise, this is quite entertaining! Ben finds particular things funny at different times. Last night we were with my sister and friends and an ambulance drove by and it was pretty loud. In order to distract him from the loudness and the possibility of him getting scared- I was saying the word and he thought it was HILARIOUS! It was out in the car so it was dark and I didn't get him laughing really good on camera like he was at first, but this captures enough! Enjoy!

Ann & Mike

These are some of the pictures I took of my lovely cuz and her now hubby! Congrats you two!

I Will Possess Your Heart

I LOVE the new DCFC song in the subject line. It wasn't until recently when I REALLY listened to the lyrics and put it all together that it's a freakishly stalkerish song! But I still love it...

How I wish you could see the potential, the potential of you and me

It's like a book elegantly bound, but in a language that you can't read - just yet

You gotta spend some time--love, you gotta spend some time with me

And I know that you'll find--love, I will possess your heart

There are days when outside your window, I see my reflection as I slowly pass

And I long for this mirrored perspective, when we'll be lovers, lovers at last

You gotta spend some time--love, you gotta spend some time with me

And I know that you'll find--love, I will possess your heart

I will possess your heart

You reject my advances and desperate pleas

I won't let you, let me down so easily, so easily You gotta spend some time--love, you gotta spend some time with me

And I know that you'll find--love, I will possess your heart

I will possess your heart

Our Trip

Oh my... I am SO tired. I'm falling asleep. I am lacking sleep... and need a lot, and I'm pretty sure I wont get "a lot" anytime soon. We got home from our vacation Sunday and I went to bed much later than I should've especially since we got to our house at 6pm. We should have been home earlier than that but there was a LOVELY traffic jam we were stuck in for about 2 hours because of a fatal accident on I-285. Anyway, the point is I should've had plenty of time to go to sleep early both that night and last night. But... I took pictures at my cousin Ann's wedding and was just to anxious to get working on them. It's hard to stop when you've started. ANYWAY, we're home and we had an awesome time with our family and friends.

To answer you Christina (and everyone else who is curious), here is what we did get to do:

• Ben met his Auntie Shauna and Randi, cousins and Uncle Greg and Aunt Samantha for the first time.
• Drove the Alpine Loop, stopped at Cascade Springs and walked around a little. Saw a motorcyclists that had driven his bike off the rode on one of the switch-backs! Oops!
• Had a Father's Day BBQ and celebrated Ryan's first Father's Day
• Went to the bank and the mall and saw a lady in our stake here at the distribution center when I got a new temple dress.
• Ate at Tucano's with Andrea Green, Ryan and Kate
• Got sealed as an eternal family in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. It was the most beautiful thing ever to be there with my man and then to have our little one brought in dressed in white! I will never forget it!
• Ben met his Uncle John and Aunt Clau and other cousins from St. George.
• Wednesday we celebrated Ryan's 27th birthday and went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point and then to the Mayan with the Webb's and Andrea. We had a lot of fun! We even got to play some Wii and XBox at the Webb's house.
• Ate at the Happy Sumo and rode the moonlight lift at Sundance with Andrea and Ryan Andersen. We even took Ben. Read here about it.
• Took Ben to Grandma's and Grandpa's house for the first time.
• Shopped some, got some good deals and cute things... Ryan was a little bummed though, we couldn't ever find anything for him. Pooooooorrrrr Ryan....
• We got to attend the sealing of my cousin Ann and her husband Mike at the Idaho Falls Temple.
• Took pictures of them until all of us couldn't stand it anymore. (I was their photographer.)


• Got too hot and went to Chili's and then to Wal-Mart and saw a lady (only in Idaho...sorry if you live there) with a GINORMOUS sunflower pin on her shirt! I think she must have just hot glued a safety pin to a flower she got out of the flower bins at Michael's craft store and decided it was PERFECT to make as a pin for that navy blue shirt. It was seriously the size of her head.
• Basically pigged out all week. We ate at a lot of yummy places. Cafe Rio was a must and I got to go. YUM!
• Drove a lot. A LOT. Ben was a champ and quite the little traveler. In his short little 3 1/2 month life he's been to TN, UT and ID! Go Ben! He only fussed when the plane was landing but other than that slept most of the flight. In fact, we had him sleeping on the tray tables. He was too squirmy and uncomfortable on our laps. It worked out perfectly!

Here is one of the pictures of Ann's wedding... I need to post more and fix more and do all sorts of things with them... any of you photographers- got any suggestions on where I could post the pictures for her and her friends and family to see with out going to Kodak, Snapfish, or any of those other sites? Something easy? Don't they look so happy? What a beautiful bride!

Vacation pictures to come. I smell another photo montage!!!!

picture survey

The rules are you CANNOT clean before hand, just go take the pictures and post them. (Thanks Sarah!)
1. Favorite place:

in the mountains and with my boys
2. Self-Portrait:

looking rough

3. What are your kids doing RIGHT NOW?

sleeping

4. Favorite Shoes:

Couldn't decide which one.

5. What does the inside of your fridge look like?

6. Show us the favorite room in your house:

our room OK, this was taken on another night... when it was clean.
7. Show us your kitchen sink!

not too bad... just too small in my opinion
8. Show us your second bathroom:

9. Show us your master bedroom closet!

well, my side anyway. Ryan has one just like it.
10. Show us your laundry room!

more like our garage with a cubby area for the laundry. we're going to put curtains up or something... someday

I need a vaca...

Well, I suck huh? I haven't been all too great about updating the blog lately. My life has been a little crazy the last few days. I had to go to Knoxville, TN for work to our "main hub". We're here in Atlanta in the Corporate Headquarters, but all of our support teams like Customer Service and where the paperwork is processed, etc is all there. We left Sunday night and got back to Atlanta on Tuesday night. This meant me leaving my boys... which was not a happy thing for me. Overall though we survived, and I have to give HUGE kudos to my man for being such a good daddy and husband taking care of Ben while I was gone with OUT anyone helping him! Just call him Mr. Mom! After Tuesday afternoon he said he didn't want to be Mr. Mom anymore! He didn't complain once though and I appreciated all of his help. He was worn out when I got home! He's the best though and it made it that much easier knowing that even though I had to leave my boys, they'd have each other.

Having to go on that trip left me with some pretty lame nights of "sleep". I REALLY didn't want to go...I was pretty stressed about it and I was grinding my teeth at night. I'm glad that's over, but I'm starting to stress a little about our trip to UT this weekend. Not to go... but to see what Ben will be like on the plane. He's had an ear infection since Friday (he's on antibiotics so it should be gone by now-crossing my fingers) and I'm hoping the pressure on the plane wont hurt or do any damage to itty bitty ears. Also, Ryan HATES flying too and so this should be interesting. I told him to just keep his focus on Ben and making sure he's okay. Hopefully that will help. So what I'm trying to say in a round about way is that I haven't really had a good nights sleep in a LONG time and I'm just tired! Ben sleeps through the night about 90% of the time... so that's not it... just haven't had a good sound sleep. I wonder if I ever will again... there's still so much to do, we have to get so much ready now with a third little person involved! The kid is only 3 months old and he's got a whole suitcase dedicated to himself! Ha ha!!!

Things I would like to do in UT:

• See my family & friends (of course)
• Eat at Tucanos, Italian Place, Los Hermanos (I long for GOOD Mexican food, there just isn't such a thing here in Atlanta), Kneaders, Cafe Rio, Rubios...
• Go to the High Uintas
• Drive The Loop
• go shopping
• make sure Ryan has a splendid 27th birth on the 18th
• relax and not stress too much
• do something I haven't ever done in UT before, like the Alpine Slide or something.

I just got off the phone with a sales rep, and he ended the call by saying "okay thanks, love you baby". Hmmm. Then he fumbled and I think realized what he'd just said and was like "uh...sorry, yeah okay have a good one heather, uh bye!!" Too funny...mostly because he and I don't really get along too well.

There's a girl here that says exactly like "ExacT-ly". She emphasizes the T. It's kind of annoying.

Benjamin Breakthroughs... and other stuff

1. He laughed-laughed for the first time last week. He's kind of cooed before with a big smile, but he actually LAUGHED out loud. SO cute! And now every time he laughs he gets the hiccups!
2. He started "talking" a lot this past weekend. Like a real jibber-jabber mouth. Here's a little video from my cell phone so the quality SUCKS. Hearing him is what really matters... but seeing him is pretty fun too!
   
3. He's starting to need me to hold him more, which can be good and bad... I keep him pretty independent because I don't want him to need to cling... but I do have to admit it makes me feel pretty darn special that he feels better when he has his mommy holding him. But only for a few minutes until I need to go potty or do something that requires both my hands!
4. I have to leave my boys for the first time this weekend. This is really hard on me and I'm not happy about it. I have to go out of town for work on Sunday and wont be home until Tuesday night. It'll actually be the first time Ryan and I have been apart for more than 24 hours since we started dating... so that will be hard enough let alone away from my baby. My little, only 3 month old baby. ARG.
5. Ben is pretty much sleeping through the night. The night before last I put him down to bed around 10:30 and went to bed and woke up and decided not to go to work. Now we've been basically having to wake him up to feed him before we leave for work. I decided to just let him sleep yesterday morning and he slept until 8am!!! He's a good little sleeper. Occasionally he'll wake up in the night or early morning and I'll just give him his binky or turn him on his side and he goes right back to sleep.
6. He's loving the bath. I think we've got a swimmer on our hands which both of us are TOTALLY okay with!!! I held him up in the water yesterday on his belly and he was kicking and talking and having a ball! So cute.
7. We are going to UT a week from tomorrow and will be sealed while we are out there! We are SO excited to be united as a family forever! I am constantly overwhelmed with the blessing we have in our life, me especially. I have a loving husband with enormous amounts of faith and trust in me, a son who is a precious little soul straight from Heaven, a beautiful house, the Gospel... I could go on. I am just one lucky chick!!!

I will post more video/pictures when I get home tonight.

The joys of motherhood... being peed on while changing a diaper is one thing. But actually getting peed on and some how it getting in your MOUTH is quite another. EW.

I'm going to bed.

Our Weekend

We had an enjoyable long weekend. At least it was for me, I'm pretty sure it was for Ryan also. Friday night we spent with Michael and Lori and ate dinner with them. Ben got REALLY upset/fussy while we were there so we had to leave early. We were both really tired and I had a horrible headache, so it was about time to go home anyway. Saturday we woke up later than normal, Ben slept a good long time, and we fed him and got ready and then went to the mall to use up some gift cards I got over the last few months. We also got my rings cleaned and my engagement ring buffed. It was looking a little rough. We got home and I made a salad just in time to go to a get together with some people from church. The Bishop had a lady in the ward set up groups of about three or four families in the ward to get together and have dinner and games and stuff. I don't know if they'll keep doing it or rotate at all, but it was nice to get to know new people. Especially people with older kids that you don't really talk to when you're younger. Plus we usually stick to the people we know there most of the time. So it was good for all of us in the group that were there to get to know each other. Sunday we went to church and it was a pretty cool three hours. My awesome hubby with much faith was ordained an Elder. I'm so proud of him and it was such a special blessing. Now we're on our way to getting our temple recommends for sealings all squared away. After church we came home and basically vegged out the whole day. I TOOK A HOUR AND 45 MINUTE NAP. ALONE. IN MY BED. It was MUCH needed. I can't really remember what we did after that. Oh, the bishop stopped by to get me my sealing recommend. Monday we went with our friends Ashley and Jacob to Chattanooga, TN to go to Ruby Falls and Rock City. They're right next to each other and you can buy tickets for both. Little Ben did REALLY well, he's such a good kid. He was a little fussy at first when we got in the cave and he was the only baby in there, so I was a little embarrassed because he was noisy. But he fell asleep in my arms and was quiet the rest of the time. He woke up on our way out and was completely intrigued with the cave and everything in it. Every time we walked by people we'd hear a series of "ahhhh! SO cute!" Ryan wanted to start counting how many times we heard it! In between the two sites we saw, we stopped and ate at Sticky Fingers (I almost wrote Stinky Fingers... that would NOT be an appetizing name for a restaurant! ha ha!) and it was SOOOOO good!!! We all pretty much stuffed ourselves. We made a slight (humorous) detour on the way home at some factory outlets... look, they had a Maurice's there and I've only seen them out West and they make jeans for me. At least it feels like they do. It was a GOOD day and we had a lot of fun.

Just call us the Brown's instead of the Smith's. (In the Ruby Falls cave)

I also got sad news yesterday about a coworker of mine who has been battling cancer for a long time. She passed this weekend, and although I'm sad I wont see her again in this life- I'm glad she's no longer suffering. I bring this up because she was seriously a TROOPER. She came to work in a wheel chair when she could no longer walk , she worked from home for as long as she could. Sometimes I feel guilty when I think of my "not feeling good" compared to what she went through, and yet she ALWAYS had a smile on her face and was insistent on doing as many things on her own, including work, that she could. I'll miss that Cathye.

Ben is starting to roll over... seriously. We put him on his play mat the other night on his back and all of a sudden when we looked again he was on his side! He did it again last night. And today when I went to go get him for lunch he was asleep at the mirror they lay them next to, on his side! Too cute. Hopefully he wasn't there for too long, but he WAS being paid attention to- don't worry. He loves to cover his little face when he's sleeping. Love that kid.

Talk

I often hear some interesting conversations in the break room. Today this guy and this lady were talking about the movie Sex and the City and how he was really excited for it to come out this weekend and how he was going to go see it. The lady explained her distaste for the show, I didn't catch why... but she knew a lot about it for not liking it. They were just talking about how Mr. Big did her wrong (or something, I really have never watched that show) and seriously discussing it like it was real life!!! Then just as I thought that exact sentiment, one of them said "it's just like real life". Whose real life? Not mine! But my FAVORITE part of the conversation was when they were talking about something that happened in one of the episodes (couldn't make out what) that was apparently crazy and the guy said "and I was like... WOW." *pause* "I was like........ WOW." So he was like WOW. Ha, ha... it was amusing to say the least.
This conversation however was much more entertaining than the conversations the computer geeks have about their computer games and how they got a new sword or made it to another level or something very exciting to them... I tell ya. People are just really interesting.

Tornado Alley

Yes, I know- three blogs in a day. I needed to catch up though.

Since about March 14th we've had a handful of tornadoes rip through here. We've been untouched so far. Tuesday night I got a call from Ryan saying I needed to rush home because there was a tornado warning. This is the stage after a "watch"... warnings aren't a real good sign. I had no idea what he was talking about either because it was bright and sunny here at work. So I buzzed home as fast and safely as I could and came home to DARK cloudy skies and wind, a grumpy baby, Ryan running around the house gathering up blankets, candles, cameras, things of value, etc. Ryan had an appointment with the Bishop that night for receiving the Melchizedek and it was inevitable we were going to miss it since the storm was making it's way right by our house. Me and Ben and Ally went and hung out in the guest bathroom bath tub since that bathroom has no outside walls. Delinda and Ryan were roaming the house and checking out what it was doing outside, which I thought was pretty unsafe. I have to say that one of the most unnerving things is to hear sirens going off in your neighborhood. Ryan got the picture above of the hail that started falling at one point. If you can't tell, it's about ping-pong ball sized (you can also see me in the background sitting on the edge of the tub). The storm passed and luckily we had no tornado hit us... just a lot of rain, hail and lightning. It was pretty scary though I wont lie. We even got make it to see the bishop AND the stake president after it blew over and are on our way to getting sealed soon!

Seperation Anxiety

So... we decided it was time.

Big Boy Ben slept in his crib the whole night through for the first time last Saturday. In honor of his triumph, we dressed him in this cute little outfit our friend Erin got us the next day. Boy did he earn that... except for he SLEPT an all nighter. :)

(Look at those juicy cheeks!)

I didn't think I'd have separation anxiety but I did. I missed having the little tyke next to me. When I have him in the bassinet I keep him right close to the bed so I can just sit up and help him out if he needs something. He did so good though, he really is an awesome sleeper. We had him sleep in there again last night... I know it was a while from the last time! A little at a time though okay? Not for him, but for me! ha, ha!

Here are just some cute pictures of him from the past little while. He's getting so big and changing so much. I love it. I look at him everyday and think "you'll never be this small again!"

1. In the first picture he sometimes makes this face when he's not sure if he wants to cry, but I think it's his sneaky way of getting mommy or someone to hold him!
2. he was out in the second picture, such a sleepy bear. I loved how his arms were positioned.
3. I love his hands. They are small and cute.
4. I was trying to feed and burp him and he was TOTALLY asleep, his head was flopping everywhere and he was all hunched over. So cute.
5. Sleeping so soundly in his crib.
6. Showing off his GT pants Jennifer bought him before he was born. I can't wait for her to see the pict in Mongolia!

Mother's Day

It's been pretty busy, and I became forgetful when I got pregnant and it SO hasn't gone away. We didn't ever make Mother's Day a huge deal in our house- because my mom said so. :) She always hated it for some reason... I don't know why. Anyway, because of all of that I forgot to post. So here's my post about my FIRST Mother's Day.

Ben and I were sick still, so I was pretty tired. But Ryan made me breakfast in bed before church and it was yummy. We went to church and then came home and prepared dinner for his parents to join us. Ryan got me a beautiful plant and some GORGEOUS roses and a sweet card. His mom gave me $20 which was extra nice and a wonderful very sweet card. Overall it was a good day. We had an enjoyable time with the Smith's, and I'm even pretty sure Ben said "happy mother's day" to me also!
My nagging pulled off as well... my sweet, suggestive nagging that is. And as an extended Mother's Day gift I came home from the temple the next Tuesday night to this! Not the big diamond ring, but a new wedding band! My wonderful, sweet, HOT, loving husband bought me a new wedding band, and even had our names engraved in it! I sure love that guy of mine. He is a very thoughtful man. And I sure do love my new wedding band! Not that the other one was bad, it was just turning yellow and really didn't compliment the big diamond as well as this one does.
So yeah, I scored for Mother's Day. In SO many ways. I love being a mommy to my Ben. I feel so blessed to have such a beautiful child that my love and I created. We are very lucky parents!

Another Random Thoughts Post

• I despise shoes that tear the skin off the back of your heel and make it so you can't wear other shoes with backs on them comfortably for AT LEAST a week.
• I'm dizzy today, and I think it's because I could have a slight ear infection.
• It hurts my heart just about more than anything in the world to leave Ben with someone else to take care of him everyday.
• I really like the new Death Cab for Cutie song. A lot.
• I wonder if I'm going to die early because I'm still drinking out of Nalgene bottles with a 7 on them.
• I'm grateful for good news.
• Someday Ryan and I should start a company for WOMEN that have small feet like me that sell nice, good quality, good looking shoes.
• I am really liking the White Pizza from Papa John's. Usually not a HUGE fan of Papa's, but it's REALLY good.
• Cherry Coke, Mmmmmm.
• I hate hand washing baby bottles when the dishwasher isn't an option. (Don't worry, I still do...)
• I love a good salad. I had a yummy one today; lettuce, craisins, goat cheese, pistachios, pears, strawberries and mushrooms with a lovely vinaigrette.
• I'm such a mom in my car. I have spare binkies in a plastic baggy in case Ben spits his out and I can't reach far enough back to get it. I have a little toy hanging around in there too for him to look at. The other day I had a bottle in the cup holder instead of a drink for me.
• I love hearing songs that remind me of good times. Like Icicle Works-"Whisper to a Scream". It reminds me of being in a jeep with the top and doors off up in the mountains. (it just came on the radio)
• Plane tickets are too expensive.
• I just remembered that I had a blog book I was working on. Hmmm. I should get going on that.
• Have I mentioned I have the cutest baby in the universe? (slightly biased)
• We have a psycho robin that is tormenting our back doors, bar-b-que and deck. (Post to come for that. We have video.) It's been at it for about 4-5 days. We have bird poo EVERYWHERE back there.
• I'm sick of being at work. Period. In general. I want to be home with my boy. Or at least working part time or from home. I also want to get away from having to answer phone calls. My arms are starting to go numb in places from sitting at a computer all day. My back kills...Just for that, I'm going to go home now.
• Most posts to come. I have a few things to catch up on!

Does anyone SEE what's wrong with this picture? NO? I DO! And DID! Let me tell you, people FREAK OUT in the rain here. If you can't see what I'm looking at, it's a bus blocking the intersection while MY light is green. Shouldn't he have been stopped at his light and not in the middle of the road? So those little lights underneath the bus are cars needing to turn left or go straight that can't. I couldn't turn left either because of mister big butt bus. I sat through a whole light because jerk face bus driver HAD to block the intersection. I'm pretty sure he DIDN'T get there any faster. This happens in Atlanta ALL the time. A radio DJ the other day said people should get tickets for doing that, I agree. If your light is green, but the people ACROSS the intersection are not moving, stay where you are until you know you have room over on the other side as to not block the intersection in case the light turns red. COMMON SENSE! Arg. SO annoying...

It's already been more than 2 months...

I can't believe how much Ben is changing. EVERY DAY he looks a little different. He changes in some small (but what seems huge) way. He's such a happy and content baby and is really a little champ. Yesterday Ryan took him (I had to work and couldn't go) to get his 2 month immunizations. Ryan said I was probably glad I didn't go because poor little Ben cried his little head off. He said to think of the worst cry I'd heard from him and times it by ten. He said I probably would've cried too! Ha, ha... probably! He handled it well afterwards though, and got to spend the rest of the day at home with my sister. She said he slept all day long and wasn't even grumpy. My favorite thing is coming home and holding him and him cuddling up to me. You can tell he missed his mommy. And I think he knows I missed him too, at least I hope he does anyway. Here he is at the doc's office, obviously BEFORE the shots! Ryan said he was having a good old time on the table kicking and waving his arms. Cutie patootie I tell ya.

cold

Here's the thing... have you ever so stuffed up that you can't taste anything you're eating? I'm having that issue right now. It's the weirdest sensation because I can feel in my mouth the spiciness or sourness or savory- but no flavor. It's SO annoying! Like, I'm drinking orange Fanta and I can feel the tartness of it. But can't taste the orange flavor. I'm eating a steak burrito and the steak is spicy and I can feel the texture of it, but can't actually taste the FLAVOR of the meat. The only thing this loss of taste has been good for today was licking a bunch of envelopes. Part of eating for me is enjoying the flavor! I feel like it's completely useless to eat right now! Oh well... I guess I need to for survival or something.

It's Official, I'm tired.

Poor little Ben hasn't been feeling well. He's been coughing and is congested and a little out of sorts. I took him in to the doctor to have them check on him just in case, and luckily it's nothing worse than a bad cold. A lot of the kids in his daycare class have been sick... so the nurse said to bring him in. The little guy weighs 10 lbs 6 oz now, and is 22 inches! He's getting so big. He's too tall for all of his newborn clothes. He has his 2 month check up on Monday, so we'll see how he's doing then. Sad for him he has to get all his nasty shots. Daddy is taking him though and then he gets to hang with his Aunt DJ for the rest of the day.

It's stressful being a mommy. Not in a bad way, but wow there are so many emotions and feelings and worries that suddenly arise when you become a parent. I say it's stressful because all I want to do it to take care of him and I feel like I really can't while I'm working. I don't really have a choice but TO work for now... and I feel frustrated that I'm not in the swing of things yet even though I shouldn't be because it's only been a week and a half. I'm feeling the pressure right now because I don't feel well either (he and I are sharing this cold with each other) and it's taking A LOT of energy to be a mommy, wife, and full time employee. Again, I'm not complaining- I LOVE being a mommy and I have the best husband in the world, I'm just tired. :)He let me rest tonight though, in fact MADE me rest. I wasn't allowed to touch the computer or watch TV, I was sent to my bed! I got a little rest and I'm feeling like I could sleep for the rest of the night!

What else is new? We got Ben's birth announcements in the mail from tinyprints.com and now just need to send them out. They turned out REALLY nice! I love them! Um... we're planning a day at Six Flags here in Atlanta, that should be fun. I'm a little reluctant to ride roller coasters now that I'm a mom. Is that silly of me?

Okay... well, I'm even boring myself with this blog- so I'll go. I'm trying out putting my blog into a book at blurb.com. My friend Jessica did it with hers and it's really cool! I want one!

I wanted to show how much he's changed since he was born. I love that he's making goofy faces in both pictures!

okay bye.

Ben

This is cute huh?

Plethora of Pictures

So I guess I owe you all a post. Monday was my first day back to work. BOO. It was one of the hardest days ever for me. I hated to leave Ben at the daycare and realize I wasn't going to get to be with him all day everyday like I have been the last 8 weeks. It also meant that he wasn't going to be with me like he has been for the past like 10+ months (which sounds like the same sentence twice, but I meant the kid has either been IN me or NEAR me for that long!). Luckily he's pretty much in the next building over. There's technically a parking garage between us. So I will pretty much go over there whenever I can... Monday I went over during my lunch break yesterday and just held him. Tuesday I took him with me to get my lunch. I snuggled a little with him too. I'm so glad he's near by. I hope the ladies at the daycare (Kinder Care) are taking good care of my little guy. Luckily (even though I'm still paying for daycare) Delinda is going to watch him once a week. I'm so grateful for that because he'll be home and with family. The only downside to it is that I wont get to see him at lunch.

Here he is on his first day.

Last week while we were getting ready for our walk I had Ben in his car seat to put in his stroller and Ally all leashed up. She doesn't move if you've got her on the leash, even if you're not standing with her. So I left the two of them to get something from the family room looking like this... and came back to find Ally standing in his car seat (just take the way she's standing in that picture and put her on top of his legs). I of course freaked, and grabbed Ally out of his seat and found this. My poor baby! He was crying, but I think it was because I was! I was pretty much hysterical, but he was bleeding and it scared me and I was REALLY ticked at Ally. His scratch got a little angry that night, but it's already gone thank goodness. He's a tough cookie, he only cried for just a minute and I'm pretty sure he was crying mostly because I was! And he's okay. And so am I... now! :) And we're pretty sure she wasn't doing it to be mean to him, it might've been she thought she needed to be in there with him too!

Ben and I always have a good time at the changing table. When he was first born he HATED having his diaper changed, now he really likes it. He fusses when he's got a dirty diaper so I think it just must feel so great to have it changed. Plus it's a good time for us to talk and smile at each other. I had my first experience of being peed on by the little fella the other day! It was quite humorous. Unfortunately I didn't have my handy-dandy Pee-Pee Teepee's available that Cecilia got us... so I had to use a burp rag that was there. I've been waiting for that to happen.... it finally did- and two days in a row! The second time we were able to get the teepee in time!

Another event was I got my hair cut and colored last week. It felt so nice to get spruced up, especially before I had to go to work. I've looked pretty hammered lately I'm fully aware. Ryan wasn't so happy about the cut though because I chopped 3 inches off, but man does it feel good! And really, you can barely tell a difference in my opinion.

Before
After (I know, aren't I sexy! ha, ha)
We just bought tickets to go to Utah next month! We are going out so I can take pictures for my cousin Ann's wedding. She's getting married in Idaho, but we decided to make it a trip so my other siblings can meet Ben, and our friends too. I'm hoping to make a day trip up to the Uintas, I really really miss them and I think Ryan would love it there as much as I do. I want to go fishing too, it's been SO long. Overall it'll be an expensive trip I'm sure, but I'm excited.

We had some friends over for dinner the other night. They have a little girl that was born just two or so months before Ben. She's twice the size of Ben already, I'm not sure when he'll catch up though- he's too tall and skinny! Here's a pretty cute picture of them.

And now just some CUTE random pictures of our boy. We seriously scored in the cuteness factor with him! I think he takes after his daddy! Check out his cute New Balance shoes in the last picture! Thanks to Megan and Cony!