Pictures from our phones

1. Lamoni has too much fun with Benjamin. Whenever he gets home Benjamin gets so excited and immediately wants to play with him. 

2. We started to let him snack on certain things that he grabs from us (within reason). Here he is with guacamole. I think he's really only tried chocolate shake (see last post), guacamole, spaghetti sauce and lemon. He doesn't really "eat" - just tastes it and then does a nasty face and gives a big shiver. It's pretty cute.

 He loves to stand up. I think he might walk before he crawls (he just recently started getting on all fours but hasn't moved yet). He can stand alone already without holding onto anything for a couple seconds! That's a little hard to get a picture of, but I'll work on it. :-)

On the go. He still likes to go out. Stroller rides around the neighborhood or with our friends Heidi and Ruth in the open space are among his favorite activities.

1. Whenever he sees this toy dog he gets a big smile on his face (the same smile he gets when he sees our phones unguarded). It sings songs and says different things depending on where you touch it. Thank you Jamie Linn!
2. He has a thing for shoes...Any shoes any size. And they usually go straight into his mouth! These are clothes that Anna gave us from D'Marco.

 Uncle time - with Ryan and Jacob

1. I don't remember where this was, but I thought it was a nice picture of the two of them!

2. He really likes to play with water bottles. He even sucks on the lid like he knows what he's doing. It's cute to see him scoot/roll after them.

 

Listening to daddy playing him music.

Sucking on an apple is a treat. I use it for when I need him to be really good. For example, last night I accompanied a couple of my students at a recital so obviously I couldn't hold him and Lamoni had class, so  I pulled out the apple and he let one of the moms hold him! It works like a charm.

Fat rolls :-)

 I'm sure you're flabbergasted at how this picture shows Benjamin just laying down while he's awake. I can count on one hand the times he has done that since he was born. The past few days he has not felt well at all. He had a fever for a couple days (no other symptoms) and he just lays around whimpering. If I set him down for even a second he cries a really sad pathetic cry. So no, my kitchen is not clean right now!

He scratches his legs bloody unless I watch him like a hawk. :-(

Happy Easter!

Easter was fun! We started the day with an Easter hunt in the orchards near my parents' house. He loved grabbing the eggs and sucking on them. Aunt Kathy was visiting and got some good Benjamin-loving in.

General Conference

It was my birthday on Saturday (the 5th)- which was also the broadcasted general conference for our church (https://www.lds.org/general-conference). Lamoni was able to get work off which was really nice. I can't remember the last Saturday morning that we had at home together! In the morning we woke up and went to a 100 mother yard sale. The line was 45 minutes long so we didn't get anything but there were some really neat crafts/homemade clothes that were fun to look at. We watched the Saturday morning session (yay Elder Holland!) I taught a lesson then we went to Tucano's brazilian restaurant for lunch. That's a tradition. It is sooo delicious. It definitely is only worth it if you have the free birthday meal, though! Otherwise it's over $50 for two people which is a week's budget of groceries for us! We returned to watch the afternoon session and then I left to show a business plan while Lamoni went to the Priesthood session at the church. Overall it was a nice laid-back day and we've enjoyed the continuation of that today (the 6th)! I love hearing all the talks at conference. I remember when I was younger it seemed to drag on forever but now it flies by and I enjoy every talk.

4.22.14

This is how I have time to get my blog updated... He LOVES playing the piano. He'll sit there the longest time just banging away and shrieking at the top of his lungs (maybe he thinks he's singing?)

We were in Las Vegas last weekend for a business conference. Here w are with the 27 year old Emerald speakers - Dustin and Amy Delay. Benjamin got to suck on my chocolate shake straw from In-N-Out. He thought that was pretty cool!

He showed off how he knew how to drink XS (he just doesn't know what it tastes like yet!). Doyle Yager did a mini-photo shoot of him with an XS can because he thought it was so cute! We went to the pool between sessions and he enjoyed kicking his feet in the water.

Now that he can roll/scoot all over he likes getting into things he shouldn't be into.

He LOVES playing with toys. As long as he's not tired or hungry he'll sit and play with toys by himself. Look at his cute smile in this picture!

He gets along well with Uncle Jarrett. Jarrett watched him at UNM for me while I played the piano for Charity's preview for her recital and when we went to the temple.

He enjoys daddy playing guitar and ukulele for him.

...and playing with Daddy after work/school.

He goes a little overboard with the pacifiers!

4.4.14

I dropped Joseph, Sara and Joy off at the airport to go to Peru and a couple other South American countries for a few weeks. It was weird being the one to drop off instead of the one to get on the plane. I think it will be a big growing experience for Joy. I was thinking that down the road I'd like to start a program where teenage kids can go to developing countries and serve. It is such a good recipe for selflessness and growing up. I know when I went to Russia as a teenager and worked in the orphanages with disabled orphans I developed empathy and a deep testimony of Jesus Christ's love for all of us. I saw a drastic change in Charity when she came with me to Russia when she was 13 years old for the first time. I would like to see that in all the youth and I can't think of a better way than an opportunity for service among those much less fortunate than us. I hope Joy will have the same awakening while she's there. So, I guess it's ok that it's them going on the trip and not me. :-) 

Remember last post where Benjamin is sleeping in Faith and Jason's swing? Well, they lent it to us and a couple nights ago he slept in it for five hours, then I fed him and he slept for another four hours. That is honestly the most I have slept in a row since before he was born!

Here are some pictures of the last few weeks:

Benjamin likes to smile at us...

 Not the camera!

Modeling a cute hat at Buy Buy Baby

He loves to mess with his pacifier. Since a couple months old he could take it out and put it in by himself. Some people try to help him because they think he can't put it right-side in, but he just loves chewing on it and sucking on it upside-down sometimes! And no, I don't think it's because he's teething because he's always done that.

We couldn't resist...

Testing out cars for the future. I think Lamoni's love of nice cars has already rubbed off on him.

In the Audi he's standing up. He grabbed onto the steering wheel and just pulled himself into a standing position! First time he's ever pulled himself up. I ran to grab him but Lamoni insisted I wait til he took a picture. :-)

A little blurry but I love that smile!

I'm thinking that Benjamin might have some sensory processing issues. He usually wakes up every hour (even during the night) and someone suggested I try a weighted blanket. We don't have one yet, so I thought about using books. I knew my music history books would be handy one day! He slept for 2.5 hours like this. Usually he wakes up right after we get home if he's in the car seat.

Playing with his friend, Joseph, at our marriage class at the institute. Joseph is 11 months (Benjamin is 5 months) but they're the same size!

Laughing