Living Room/Kitchen Reno

I have a master "to do" list where the house is concerned. We are getting closer and closer to finishing it and I am getting handier and handier as Jon refuses to take part of more and more projects... (apparently I am a drill Sergent- a nicer way to say "nag"). I wanted to paint the bathroom this weekend after my yard sale. It is a small powder room on the main floor and I anticipated this to take about the duration of Ben's afternoon nap. I thought at that time as well that this colour would look particularly good on the whole main floor and gave the roller a good swipe on the entry way hall to prove it...thus committing myself to a much larger and more labour intensive project... one in which Jon said he wanted absolutely no part of (he doesn't paint, that's his get out free card). my quick bathroom face lift actually took 9 hours. Straight. I painted from 12-9 with one lunch break and a few bathroom breaks. By the end my arms were shaking and I cursed my hatred of paint with every stroke. By this time Jon felt so sorry for me and was so impressed with my stickwithitness that he helped me put on a second coat. I am very pleased with the results. This is good because I am not painting anything else for a looooong time!

Just When We Thought He Couldn't Get Any Cuter...

HE DID!!!

NOT Ready for this!

We were lucky Daddy caught Ben's first trip up the stairs! We usually shut the downstairs baby gate but not the upstairs one as Ben cannot do stairs yet. I was not anticipating this for another month or so...except he did it a few days ago. As usual he was thrilled with himself (and his mom and dad are pretty proud of his new feats as well!)

Ben and the Bunny

Ben loves animals. We have geese in our pond with about 20 goslings, there are squirrels, chipmunks and a white bunny as well that Ben will sit at the bars of the deck and watch very contentedly. He as well LOVES Bayley who will eat from his hand as Ben squeals with delight. He will not let him come near him otherwise which is sad as Ben chases him around in vain. Our neighbour brought out her pet bunny the other day when she heard how Ben loves our backyard (and in house) animals. I was amazed with how instinctively and uncharacteristically gentle and quiet he was with the bunny. It was a very sweet encounter.

Tanned?!

Ben has a kind of olive complexion. I am pretty white so I always thought he took after his dad as Jon is a little darker me. He seems lately though to have gotton a little more tanned looking. He always has a hat and sunscreen on in the sun so I could not figure this out. It occuted to me while feeding him his lunch yesturday of squash, sweet potatoes and carrots this is why he looks so tanned...all he eats pretty much is orange food! carrots, apricots, squash and sweet potatoes are staples in his diet! HA

Almost There

Ben is pulling himself up on EVERYTHING and wants to walk so badly. He used to pull himself up and then clap for himself...and falling over. It was so sad but very funny. A few times now he has let go to clap and stood without support for a few seconds before falling. I thought maybe we would try a walking toy. Ben was delighted and cruises around the living room and kitchen with it, squeeling with delight at himself. It won't be long now...

New Game

Ben is very good at entertaining himself now. For the first time I can set him on the floor and he will happily engage himself for up to an hour (assuming I am always within eyesight). This has given me a sense of freedom I thought I would never regain. One activity in particular that he is enjoying is pretending to feed himself with spoon and a washed out yogurt container, it is pretty cute! He gets the fork in his mouth 75% of the time, the rest of the time in his eye.

Nine Months Old!

When did this happen!??? This month has FLOWN by and Ben is growing up so fast... too fast.

Here are some interesting (maybe only to me and gramma...) facts about my little man as he turns nine months-

1- He hates to have his diaper and clothes changed now. He squirms and rolls over and if I hold him down rips the wipes out of the container and graps at everything on his change table. It takes 5 hands to effectively change his diaper. If it is half on these days I consider it successful!

2- Ben is walking around EVERYTHING! He barely needs to be touching something for balance and I wouldn't be surprised if he started walking this month ( I am NOT ready for that!)

3- He is eating solid food now (as opposed to all pureed). He likes diced carrots, apples and pears. Tonight he tried a waffle (glutton free sweetened with pineapple juice with no reaction!) and enjoyed that as well.

4- He has just this week taken a bottle out of something other then a newborn nipple with 4 oz of formula in it. This meant that is took at least half an hour to get him to drink such a small amount. A size three nipple on the other hand means he can chug 6 oz in ten minutes....what will I do with all my free time now?!

5- He is being naughty and it is SO cute! He is not to touch the dvd player and pvr on the TV stand, nor is he to touch the wires that attach them. He knows this as he is told 15 times a day and removed from them. Now he crawls over there as fast as hew can and puts one hand on the dvd player, looks at me and grins, I say "noooo Ben" and he smiles bigger...I get more "stern" and he laughs harder...then I laugh and that is why I suck at discipline!

6- He can have a bath with no bath ring now so he can splash around on his own, he loves this new found naked freedom.

7- He can roll over and sit up in his AMBY bed which the website says is imposable and thus offers no solutions to... I am a little devastated that we may have to put him in the crib at night for his own safety.

8- no one still knows for sure what colour his eyes are.

9- His favorite toys are ones that were not expert tested, parent award recipients and over priced wooden, natural rubber toys imported from Europe like the ones collecting dust in the toy box. He prefers plastic margarine, cream cheese and baby food containers, plastic cooking utensils, remote controls, portable phones, land like cords, x box controllers and empty water bottles.

HAPPY NINE MONTHS BEN!!!!

Cling on Pass off

Ben still likes to be carried everywhere and held as much as possible despite his new found mobility that I thought would help this. Ben is getting to heavy to be attached to me all the time and by the end of the day my back hurts and my arms ache. I bought Jon a masculine looking baby carrier that can go on his front or back where Ben can face in or out. I am very pleased to say that Ben loves it!

Happy Mother's Day

For mothers day I wanted one thing... to sleep through the night. Ben sleeps through the night 3 out of seven days usually and otherwise is up once. I wanted a guarenteed full nights sleep, which I was grateful to recieve. I also got a lovely painting of Ben's hand made into a tree with daddy's help and an IOU for this tree in our yard. Jon also planted me a garden with a friends help. My goal is to keep these plants alive until next mothers day!

Expirament update

Jon just read the blog on his leaving the tool out in the kitchen for so long. It is gone...
He would also like to ad that one does not use a wrench for floor instalation...he used it when he put our water purifier on the sink (which I would like to ad was a week before the floors!)

Other then that Jonny... your a 10 :)

Eight Month Comparison Pictures

Awwww... What a sweet boy!

Backyard update

We put up a fence last week and a play structure- really it was for Ben but currently Bayley is really benefiting from it! He tears around back there and is an expert fetch player. We didn't know this since we have never had a fence. We are really happy with it and plan to have lots of BBQ's this summer!

Our Very Own Ice Cream Truck

When I picture the idyllic Leave it to Beaver suburbs of the 1950's they always come complete with an ice cream truck. I did not think there were any left in existence until this morning when we heard very loud music coming from down our street. It sounded like circus music and we looked around to see the source when a gigantic ice cream truck just how I'd always imagined pulled into view! It stopped by the mailboxes to serve some children and I was surprised to see my thirty something pharmacist neighbour come around the corner, embarrassed at being caught first in line! If I wasn't still on this silly diet I would have ran to beat her there!

My Favorite Time of Day

I love Ben's bedtime routine. One reason is because it is the only time of day generally when it is just him and I. He is very curious and active generally but at the end of the day he is tired and cuddly. I savour these few times when I get them! Ben starts with a bath after dinner, then we he gets in his pajamas and we read a book, sing a song, say goodnight to Daddy and then he has a bottle. He snuggles into me and I rock him to sleep (against the advice of 100% of child raising experts..but I am not giving it up).

...And He's Off

Ben is very mobile now. He can crawl very fast when he feels motivated (usually a water bottle-his favorite toy ?! or a ball). He grew tired of this new ability very quickly and now would prefer to be standing. He can and does pull himself up on EVERYTHING! Unfortunately around the same time he learned to clap at his accomplishments. He stands and then lets go to clap for himself, of course falling over- usually hard and then cries. Dare I say I can't wait for him to walk!