Tunneling Through Life

Here's some good/funny pictures for all you grandparents out there (and all others who are interested)!!! This first one is Dave being cruel......Benjamin plays with his little Tigger airplane all day long now and gets on and off it all by himself, so of course little Tigger needs a battery change. So Dave took the airplane away from him and changed it on the other side of the gate. Needless to say, Benjamin wasn't too pleased and kept his eye on his airplane!


Here are some funny close-ups..........

On our way out tonight, we ran into a new neighbor of ours and she was taking out her boxes. She offered us this one to make a tunnel for Benjamin. I'm suprised he would actually go through it, but after some coaxing he actually did......over and over and over again!

He even figured out how to turn around in it! Too funny!

So the saying remains true.....why buy kids toys when they really just love the boxes??? Dave even took the tunnel for a spin and went through, he took a little longer than Benjamin though! (Sorry Mom, I didn't get a picture of that one!)

Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Only fifteen more days til we're back in good ole Indiana!!!!!! Yea!!!!

Knockin em Down Left and Right

I'll tell you what, Benjamin is learning new tricks left and right! He learned how to go from sitting to standing today! He usually has to pull himself up with the furniture or use us to help him stand up and start walking. But today the little guy did it all by himself! I love my little guy so much!!!!

He's so funny! We were watching Walk The Line tonight and Benjamin went crazy dancing along to all the music! He is so funny how he dances to music whether its his toys or the tv, he starts waving his arms up and down and gets more and more excited til he finally squeals with delight and usually falls over! Its hilarious, you should all see it!

He's getting really funny with his clapping too. Everytime there is clapping on the tv (whether you can see it or not) he claps along and gets so tickled with himself! His personality is just fabulous!

There's a lot of cute pictures following of us just hanging out this evening. He's been talking so much and not just babbling......he throws his head back and talks his cute gibberish and it has a conversational tone now! He's got a really sweet voice! So I was trying to catch a picture of him doing it, but without success. Never fear though, I'll get it! But until then, here's some funny ones from tonight!


"Don't worry mom and dad, I can get myself out of this sticky situation!"


Dave has been jealous of me because I'm the only one who can tickle Benjamin. Well not tonight! Benjamin got a good tickle from his daddy!


I just thought this was a funny expression of the cutie pie!

I was able to capture Benjamin climbing into his doggie chair for the first time tonight! He usually just plays with the doggie's head, but tonight he figured it out that its a chair! Thank you Jimmy and Shawna!

Our Last Downtown Adventure

We spent our last day in downtown Charleston today since we're moving back to Indiana soon (yea!). It was a lot of fun.....we drove around on a bunch of streets and looked at houses that we hadn't seen before, walked around a lot, and ate at Jestine's (the pic below) which is a restaurant that Rachael Ray went to for her show, $40 a Day. The restaurant was really small and quaint and the southern food was really good! The weather was fairly nice today (high in the low 60's) but it was kind of breezy. Benjamin looked really cute all bundled up in his winter gear! He did really good for us and seemed to really enjoy riding with his daddy! The highlight for me those was my great purchase! I've been looking for awhile now to find a picture of the colorful houses downtown. They are always so expensive and always come with a big frame. Well today we found a shop that will sell you just the print and I found one that I love!!!! I think it'll be a great way to remember our time here!

Fun Fun Fun

"Hey Mom, I'm in a box!!!!!!!!"

Walking Man

So I finally got some of the pictures I promised of Benjamin walking. Its not an easy task! He didn't walk all that well today because he's been getting so excited as soon as he starts walking and waves his hands up and down. This of course messes with his balance a little bit and causes the poor guy to fall! He already has a couple of marks on his face from falling! He's really cute though, how excited he gets and seeing him doing it whenever he wants. Most of these pictures are staged as I encouraged him to do the walking. He still walked though!


This is him on the way down!

This one's for Kelly and Andy. Just wanted you guys to see how much he loves his Tigger airplane! He played with it most of the day today! He has so much fun putting stuff inside the seat that lifts up and then taking them back out.

I also wanted to remind you guys that you can leave comments if you want. You just click the link under each post. You can choose the annonymous kind and sign your name at then end of the comment or choose other and leave your name where it says "your name". We love hearing from you guys and what you think of our boy!

Milestones

So I know I already posted tonight, but I wanted to do a special post for this too. Benjamin has been hitting quite the milestones! Last night and today he has really started walking. He'll walk all on his own and can take quite a few steps. He doesn't stand up from sitting and start walking or anything, but if he's already standing he will start walking to something all on his own now! So cute! I will try to get some pictures, but its kind of a hard thing to capture with a camera!

Something that we were lucky enough to catch with a camera though was Benjamin's first word tonight. We were sitting around watching the Colts game and Benjamin came over to me and said Mom Mom. He has been making the start of a mom sound the last couple of days, but this was the first time he came up to me and seemed to deliberately say it to me. I of course got excited and picked him up. My excitement made him more excited and he just kept saying Mom Mom (in sets of twos) and alternating them with kisses! How sweet is that! Dave grabbed them camera real quick and was able to get some great shots of this special milestone! Now, Benjamin's been saying dadadada for a long time and sometimes its toward Dave, but he also says it to everything else. So we think this counts as his first word. Its hard to tell with all these firsts. But we are really excited! What a night! Thank you my sweet little boy, your mommy loves you so much!

You can kind of see in this picture that he was saying it!

Yea Colts!!!!!

We are so happy about the Colts winning tonight! We are tired from how much we got into that game, it was an amazing game!!!!! We are so excited to have our team finally do it! Here's some pictures of Dave and Benjamin in their gear! I'm disappointed that Benjamin doesn't have a Colts outfit right now because they aren't very abundant here in South Carolina! Of course he had a cute Colts outfit when he was like 2 weeks old (see picture below) and they lost their first game in the playoffs!!!!! He had some cute socks though (for like 2 minutes until he took them off again)! Anyways, we are so happy for the Colts and Coach Dungy and Peyton!!!!!! Can't wait for the Superbowl!!!!!

Dave and Benjamin had fun throwing the football around tonight. Benjamin is getting quite the throwing arm!

Looking back........the Colts playoff game last year! Look how little he was!!!!!

Tea Plantation/Angel Oak

We went to a Tea Plantation today. It was neat learning how they make tea. This is Benjamin touching a tea leaf.


This is Dave and Benjamin with all of the tea bushes in the background. They were dormant right now, so they weren't making any tea. It was still cool to see the factory and how they make it though.


We went to see the Angel Oak tree again because its on the same road as the tea plantation and Dave hadn't seen it yet. I think this is a pretty picture with the sun shining through the branches.


Do you like Benjamins' new coat? I got it yesterday from Baby Gap for $4.97. Pretty awesome deal! I got the cute, soft pants he's wearing too for $3! So many great deals I got!!!!

Kitty Love

Benjamin loves his kitties, really really loves them!!!!!! We went to the mall tonight and as soon as we got back and Benjamin was on the floor he bolted for Milo and chased and tackled him all over the living room!

The Most Beautiful Baby......to me!

I took this picture tonight at a restaurant. I've been trying to get a good one to submit for Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Contest. So think I'm going to submit this one. You can see how pretty his eyes are and he has a cute smile! I'm silly, I know! But I can't help myself!!!!!!!

Look at that cute little bod! He's so fast!

Isle of Palms

We went to Isle of Palms to go for a walk on the beach for probably the last time before we go home to Indiana. Its one of our favorite beaches and it was a really pretty day today....sunny, nice breeze, and around 75. We enjoyed a nice walk, it was really hard to leave.

Charles Towne Landing

Today we went to Charles Towne Landing. It is a state park where settlers established their first colony. It has a little zoo and miles of walking trails. We took a picnic and ate lunch, then went through their zoo that had animals that the colonists would have encountered like bears, pumas, bobcats, bison, elk, deer, and otters. Then we spent a couple of hours walking all around the park. They had archaeological sites throughout the parks, mock buildings of what they would have built when they settled there, and a nice house with gardens. It was a beautiful path that often went along salt marshes with downtown and the suspension bridge in the background. We had a nice time, enjoying another wonderful weather day.

This is a picture of a woodpecker that we spotted when we were eating our picnic. It was the first time either of us had ever seen one. He was pretty cool to watch as he pecked at the wood and he even had a little red top of his head.

Dave was a bad boy...........

This is the house that I mentioned. It had a beautiful oak path in front of it and a pretty lake behind it. The lady that lived here and planted the oaks donated the land and house to the state. Pretty nice lady.

Do you like Benjamin's shirt? It says MOM on the front in the middle of the heart. I found it at Target the other day and I think its pretty cute, Dave thinks its silly though! He asked me if I wanted to put a fake tatoo on Benjamin too! Which I of course replied with a big NO!

Benjamin taking me for a walk! He held onto my hand and the back of my pants and just walked right along. He's not very fast, but he does a really good job walking! He took me for a nice stroll!

The End!

The Park

We are having beautiful weather here today and this weekend! Yipee! So today Benjamin and I went to the park and enjoyed some fun in the sun. There were lots of other kids since its so nice out, which is all Benjamin needs to have fun. He loves watching them run around. He did really good walking all over the park just holding one of my hands. Dave asked me to take some pictures since he couldn't come, so here are a few good ones. There are a couple of him making the funny face that I talked about in previous posts.

A Little Communicator

Benjamin is gaining quite the personality! He can wave now, give kisses, and of course do the puckered/wrinkled nose sniff. He also has a wide variety of smiles and other cute facial espressions.

I have a hard time getting him to listen to the word no, no matter how I say it. I usually shake my head no and say it sternly. Well obviously Benjamin is just a selective listner to the word no and can understand me, because when you try to hand him a toy that he doesn't want or put your arms out to pick him up when he's not interested he will now shake his head no. Its not a perfect side-to-side shake, more like he's making a small o with his head. This of course just makes it all the more funny and as with all small children the more you laugh at something, the more they do it! Its really cute though!

He's learning so much so fast, its a lot of fun to watch his little mind work! By the way Dave said a funny thing yesterday in reference to Benjamin's sniff face that Dave does not enjoy. He told me that Benjamin's mind is like a sponge and I'm filling it up with crap. All because I taught him how to make a cute little expression that he just happens to do over and over again. That's a fine thank you for mothering my child, huh? :)

Benjamin's 1 Year Old Pictures

I finally got access to the pictures we had taken of Benjamin as a 1 year old. They took like 20 pictures and almost all of them were great. He did really well this time! It was hard to pick just a few, but here are the ones I ordered........

Yep that's my baby standing all by himself!!!! Such a big boy!!!!!!!

I had them take some pictures in this outfit since these are the clothes he actually wore that day! Gotta love Charleston!

12 Month Check Up

Benjamin had his 12 month check up today. He now weighs 22 lb (50th percentile) and is 31 inches long (90th percentile) and his head circumference is in the 90th percentile. The doctor said he looks great. He had to have 3 shots today, but did really well. He didn't even cry until the last one! He got to miss one shot since he already had the chicken pox, so that was nice! He's running a little bit of a fever but that's to be expected since he got the Prevnar vaccine today! I still can't believe he's one!!!!!!


These pictures are from last night. He had his football pj's on because we were watching the Championship game (poor Ohio State). I taught Benjamin a new trick yesterday. Dave is really upset about it, but I think its hilarious! I was trying to teach Benjamin how to sniff things and so now he just randomly wrinkles up his nose and puckers his lips and inhales really deeply. It is so funny! I got this picture at the end of him doing it, so you can kind of see what I'm talking about. Its much more exagerated in real life though. As soon as Dave got home today, Benjamin did it again.....much to Dave's dislike! Oh, well! I enjoy it! ;)