Dancing Boy

We're practicing our dancing for a September wedding...  and a November wedding...

Benjamin's 1 year old video

I made this video about Benjamin to document the blessing he has been in our lives :)  I'll let it do the talking...

Best way to watch the video is in HD, here's how to do that if you aren't familiar with youtube:

• Click on "Benjamin's Birthday Video" below and pause the video when it first comes up.
• Click on "360p" on the grey bar and change it to 720pHD.
• Wait about a minute  (better to wait now than for buffering during! Get yourself a drink of water or something...)
• Make the video full screen (click on the icon of 4 arrows)
• Hit play!

 

Benjamin's Birthday Video

 

 

 

 

Benjamin hearts dogs

Benjamin loves dogs. He also likes signing "dog" and making woof woof sounds :) I decided I needed to preserve his antics in video form one morning so I experimented with the webcam on my computer- having it record while I played a youtube video of a dog barking. This was originally filmed June 20th.

Nap Prayer

I wanted something to say to signal to Benjamin that it was time to take a nap and thought it would be nice if it was a prayer too.  So here's what I came up with.  I printed it out and matted it in the colors of his room.
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Dear Jesus,

It’s time to nap, please help me rest,

So that I’m always at my best.

And when I wake, dear Lord I pray,

You bless and guide me through the day.

Amen.

First Hair Cut

I know that it probably violates some rule, giving a haircut before the first birthday but my little boy was starting to look like he had a mullet if his baby curls didn't curl up real tight. Therefore, we cut off just a TINY bit to keep him looking like a well groomed little boy :)
Here's a picture just before we got started.
How to keep this little guy still while cutting-- put on a Baby Signing Time video and you are good to go! He loves them and is starting to sign more and more!

New Van

Wahoo! After months of searching we stumbled on the van we wanted. Ended up that it was as the dealership that my parents have bought a few vehicles from! So a week and a half ago we travelled to Noblesville for a short visit and to buy the van.  Luckily we got there just in time.   It drives so smoothly and quietly.  I loved being able to hop back a seat to be able to take care of Ben for a second on the way home.  It should serve us wonderfully for years to come!

PS. I was SO sad to leave my CRV at my parents but at least I know that it is in caring and appreciative hands. (perhaps my sister's, wink, wink)  There's something about your first car...

finally updated

Phew... it seems that my blog has finally showed up as being updated even though I've been updating in the 2 months that it didn't show up in blog readers or blog lists as such.  I spent hours yesterday trying to figure out why it wasn't, perhaps I fixed it?  Either way... welcome back! :) 

Look through the last couple months!

How the mundane can feel new

Went to HyVee today and used coupons to save about $10 off the total bill, didn't use any plastic bags because I brought my own and took them home in our new van... I almost felt like a different person!

I'll post pics of the van as soon

You are my sunshine...

Gotta love big hats for pale boys :)

my little Learner

Whoa... we're learning! It seems like just this past week Benjamin has gained a certain level of conciousness I haven't seen before. He's already started on some basic things like waving, clapping, making a number 1 (pointing), dancing and blow a kiss. Usually blow a kiss has to do with Jesus which made for a funny moment yesterday at Mass when I whispered, "see Jesus?" as the cross was carried in the procession at the end. He responded with blowing a kiss in the general direction of it... Of course the former religion teacher/rel ed director would have her kid blowing kisses to a crucifix at 10 months- it may be a bit cliche but I'm thrilled! :)
Since he's doing these basic motions I feel that his signing should start to take off a little too. I'm trying to teach him super basic sign language for fun and help in our communication. We're watching the "Baby Signing Time" videos, he loves the characters and songs that go with it.

I got him to do a few things on command the other morning, here's the fruits of our labor so far...