X-mas, New Year’s, and Snow!

Who’s dying to hear what’s been going on in my meandering world???  I thought about calling this blog entry- sit back for the BIG rewind.  I know!  It’s been far too long since I last wrote–we need to do a little rewinding on what’s been going on.  Who wants to see 3 slide shows???  Go grab yourself a beverage & a snack . . .  I’m serious.  There’s a lot of photos for you to check out!

First off, our X-mas & New Year’s celebrations in the Bay Area. We had such a great time with family & friends celebrating Christmas & New Year’s, wine tasting adventures, an afternoon spent at Pier 39, awesome family meals, and there was even a family outing to do some bowling.  The real kind.  Not Wii :)  Although, we did play a lot of Wii with the nephews during our stay :)  Ben even got to ring in the New Year with his Napa Grandma & Grandpa, & his G-ma & G-pa (my parents).  It was a grandparent fest of LOVE!  I know I’m forgetting some stuff– just check out the show :)

If you want to read more about our wine tasting FUN, check out these posts from Raise the Barn-

Livermore

Napa

Finally, a little slide show of us enjoying the SNOW around our house. Ben’s first time experiencing snow!  He wasn’t that excited about the whole thing– I think he was kinda mad we took him away from his jumpy-jump to take him out into the cold.  But…  Isn’t he the cutest? :)

Baby Ben video alert! This one will make your heart melt!

Jeff put this video together of Ben’s First 1st X-mas at our house.  Definitely, one of my favorite 2009 Christmas memories.  Makes my heart melt.

Ben’s First 1st Christmas!

We started the Christmas celebrating a little bit early this year.  This morning, was Ben’s First 1st Christmas celebration!  (His Second 1st Christmas celebration will be with our family & friends next week.)

Wow!!!  Santa, G-ma & G-pa, Uncle Rick & Aunt Janet, Sword family, and Napa Grandma & Grandpa were all VERY generous— THANK YOU!!!

And… Benjamin surprised mommy & daddy this morning with a little trick of his very own.  He can now roll from his back to his tummy.  Great job, Ben!  Mommy is very proud :)

It’s amazing to think that last year Ben was just a little nut in my tummy.  Now he’s here– and we’re all together sharing his 1st Christmas.  Makes my heart feel very full.  I love it very much!!!  Awesome First 1st Ben Christmas!

Here’s a little slideshow of all of the action around our tree this morning.  Enjoy!

Ben’s First Thanksgiving!

What a trip!!!  Ben’s first Thanksgiving was an adventure of a lot of ‘first time stuff’ for him.

• First plane ride to visit family in SoCal– very exciting!!!

• First time staying at G-ma & G-pa’s house– thank you very much for turning your casa into ‘Ben Camp West’.  Loved & appreciated that!!!

• First beach adventure– including dipping toes into the Pacific Ocean & taking a stroll along the Seal Beach Pier.

• First time meeting his great Aunt Mary!

• First time meeting his great Uncle Bob!

• First time meeting his Uncle Rick!

• First time cruising around the Irvine Spectrum.  Loved playing in the turtle fountains with Aunt Janet!

• First time going to the Long Beach Aquarium.  Awesome family outing!

• First SoCal 81 degree Thanksgiving Day!  Can’t believe we were running the air conditioner!

• And… on the plane ride home Ben decided it was time to start cutting two teeth!

I know Ben really won’t have any memories of his first Thanksgiving, but I’ll be sure to dig out all of the pics of all of the BIG FUN we had!  Thank you SoCal friends & fam for such an awesome visit! :)

Now, sit back and enjoy the SoCal Thanksgiving Trip ’09 slideshow…

Magic Socks!

Today I completed my Magic Socks!!!  You might be wondering… what’s so magical about the socks? :)  You see, they have been knitted with a knitting technique called Magic Loop.  And I love-love-love it!  I don’t think I’ll ever use DPNs again to make socks!  It’s that good.

This project has been quite the labor of love.  You see, the making of these socks took a little over a year to complete. I’m blaming it on being preggers & taking care of my baby— not because I’m a huge procrastinator!

If you’d like read more about the making of these magical socks, check out ravelry for all of the info!  Now for the part you’ve all been waiting for… pictures!  Enjoy!

3 New Videos! That’s right, 3!

Here’s our little star playing in his most favorite toy right now.  His Jumper! We have soooo much footage of Ben jumping in this thing, it was hard to cut it down to just one video.  So I made 3!  All of this footage is from the last 4 weeks.

A word of warning… you might want to cover your ears when our screamin’ banshee gets really excited!  He really loves this thing!!! :)

I Love My Jumper- Part 1

I Love My Jumper- Part 2

I Love My Jumper- Part 3

1st Halloween!

Our little astronaut almost missed his 1st trick-or-treating mission due to an unscheduled nap 5 minutes before we were about to Blast Off!!!  Mr. Ben the Astronaut decided to have a mini meltdown once in his costume, followed by a much needed 20 minute power nap.  Mommy & Daddy thought Mr. Ben was going to miss going door-to-door to show off his very, very, very, special rocket that daddy made him AND of course, showing off his adorable astronaut costume.

Ben woke up from his nap 20 minutes before his last feeding, I quickly put him back in his costume, and we were able to go to 2 houses before our astronaut wanted his ba-ba.   Oh, to be 7 months old! :)

I know that Benjamin will have no memory of last night– but I’ll be sure to remind him how awesome his 1st Halloween was!  Best Halloween ever :)  Can’t wait for next year.

Here’s a little slideshow of the Halloween Happenings…

October- Ben Show update!

October was Ben’s 1/2 birthday month!  Before Ben turns 7 months old (which will be tomorrow), I’d better get the 6 month old update posted!  Here’s a run down of the Ben Show this past month:

First… an adorable pic of Ben taking a bath… how cute is this?

• Ben’s most favorite activity right now is jumping in his Jumper! He LOVES this toy!  Really, really, really LOVES this toy!  Oh the giggles, squeals, and high-pitched screams of JOY while he’s in this thing; I love to see him soooo happy :)  I really do.  But I have to admit that sometimes I feel like a need to put my headphones on to cancel the noise…like when I haven’t had my coffee yet.  Is that so wrong???

• We all went out to Gentry’s Farm one lovely Sunday afternoon for Ben’s 1st pumpkin picking adventure!  This place is great & very convenient to get to.  It’s maybe 10 minutes away from our house.  Great time spent hanging out at Gentry’s picking out pumpkins & taking pictures on the farm.

• Ben has started the solid food eating adventure.  And what an adventure it’s been so far trying to teach someone how to eat.  In the beginning, I felt like a needed to put on goggles, hat, & a smock to dodge all of the food coming my direction; thankfully, this week Ben is really getting the hang of this eating thing.  So much that he’s now diving towards the spoon before I put it in his mouth.  I’m really happy about this!  Oh, and, his most favorite food to eat right now is bananas.

• Ben is  s l o w l y starting to get the hang of rolling from his back to his tummy.  He’s only done it a few times on his own; I know it’s only a matter of time before he really starts moving.  I guess I’d better start thinking about the baby proofing– starting with our stairs :)  Also to mention… when he’s on his tummy, he loves to push himself backward.  This is pretty funny to watch.

• Ben’s favorite book right now to laugh & smack at is Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? He especially loves the last page when we say… Where is baby? He smacks that page the most :)

• Ben loves Bumbo time.  His favorite ‘game’ to play while in Bumbo is… I put toys on the tray and he knocks them off.  I put toys on the tray and he knocks them off.  I put toys on the tray and he knocks them off.  Get it?

• Ben has the sweetest smile, I love-love-love his laugh, and I love playing a good game of peek-a-boo with him :)  It’s so cute!

• And… the last thing I’ll mention is that Ben does this really funny thing when the TODAY show & the Nightly News starts.  He immediately stops what he’s doing & turns his head towards the t.v. to listen to the theme music.  Just the theme music.  Then, he’ll go back to whatever activity he was going.  It’s so weird & funny!  I need to get this on video to show y’all!  I guess Ben likes to watch NBC like mommy & daddy :)

• Oh, and I have to mention this… Ben had his very first babysitter experience this month.  Thank you Miss Tracy for watching Ben while mommy & daddy went to the Keith Urban & Friends concert!

Wow!  I can’t believe it was 6 months (almost 7) that Ben made his entrance into the world!  Wow.  Ben is so awesome.  Happy 1/2 birthday Ben!!!

SoCal G-Ma & G-Pa Visit!

Ben’s G-Ma & G-Pa (my parents) drove the 2000 mile trip to our house to play for a couple of weeks this month!  We sure loved all of the adventures we had during their visit!  A very special THANK YOU for bringing all of that delicious wine!  You guys are soooo Awesome!

Some of the highlights during their visit (besides the wine!)…

• Ben loved sleeping at the Loveless Cafe, Carnton Plantation, Arrington Vineyards, & Radnor Lake.
• Ben saw his first owl while hiking at Radnor– so cool!  Check out the pic below and check out those claws!  Yikes!
• Ben learned how to suck on his toes– mmmm, delicious!
• We all went out to dinner one night at Logan’s to celebrate G-Ma’s birthday– what fun (Ben’s first dinner out)!
• Ben enjoyed stroller time at the Farmer’s Market and the Factory.
• And, we spotted a few celebrities while we were out and about (ok, Ben’s dad spotted these people– meandering is clueless when it comes to this stuff! :) )… at Arrington, we spotted Kerry Collins (QB for the Titans), we saw Jack White (lead vocalist of White Stripes) at Five Guys, and at our Farmer’s Market, we spotted Kimberly Williams-Paisley with her cute little baby– adorable!

So happy to have so many family members come to the South this summer to hang with us– you got a front row seat for all of the action during Ben’s 5th month!  We’ve really enjoyed having y’all come and visit.  And, Ben has really enjoyed having all of the extra attention too!!!

Check out the pics below of SoCal G-Ma & G-Pa Visit ’09!  Remember, you can click on each pic and make it bigger.  Enjoy!

NorCal Family Visit!

Ben got to meet his Aunt Julie, Napa Grandma and Napa Grandpa last week!  We were soooo excited they made the 2000 mile trip to our house to play!  Ben really enjoyed having other people to chill with, and loved having Auntie & Grandma read stories to him.  He wanted me to pass along a BIG THANK YOU for that!

We can’t wait until X-mas when we’ll see everyone again!

Here’s a little slideshow of the fun we all had.  Enjoy!