Best Buds, Babies, and Feasts!

We started this week with a very fun day!

We had a playdate with one of Ben's best buds at Happy Hollow!

 Look!! I have a cup too!

Cruising with his buddy!

He kept pointing at Tyler - look, Ty's in here with me!

We won't be riding this one again for awhile, probably more for the mommies' sake than the boys although Ben was definitely not too happy. He was leaning over trying to get out half the ride :( he got used to it by the end but I felt super sad/stressed out for him. Especially being empathetic about not liking rides (hence the website name).

Danny the Dragon train was more up our alley! :)

We then got to go meet baby Dexter at the hospital - look at those sweet baby feet!

Tara with baby Dex.

 

Later we went to the Moveable Feast with our friends for dinner! We have seen this gathering of food trucks every Monday since May and have been wanting to try it out and finally got a chance.

There were about 8 food trucks and a farmer's market stand. They also provide those red buckets for you to sit on, although we saw some families that brought folding chairs as well. There was also some live music which was fun.

Getting our sandwiches from the Mayo & Mustard truck (a sandwich shop in SF - that I would highly recommend because it was delicious!!)

Ben chomping down on Daddy's sandwich. We brought his own dinner but he was more interested in our sandwiches.

Jackie and Tyler joined us for dinner and are modeling how fun it is to eat your dinner on a red bucket! :)

 

Ben enjoyed drumming on the bucket, trying to pick it up, and later throwing rocks in it!

Then we got cupcakes for dessert at Fairy Cakes.

Ben got his very own Ben-sized cupcake for free!

Cute sprinkles you could put on your cupcake next to their free milk.

Ben really enjoyed his cupcake until Jon took the wrapper away from him because he had started eating it. It's very devastating for Daddy to "steal" your cupcake...wow, so glad we introduced sugar. ;)

Jon got a Boston Cream Pie cupcake and I got Salted Caramel - it was seriously the best cupcake I have ever had. Unfortunately, or maybe, fortunately they do not have their own shop just a truck.

 Pretty much every night, or really, any time we are at the changing table he must stand up and look out the window. It's such a fun little nook in his room and I love seeing how excited he is to look at everything outside. We point at dogs, airplanes, neighborhood walkers, blowing tree branches, cars, etc. It is a special excitement when the garbage truck comes down the street. If we are downstairs we race outside for that one.



Ben also loves to point at all of the animals and waits for me to name them for him. This was the blanket that came with his bedding and it ended up being the perfect size to be curtains for his tiny window in the changing table nook. Which was great because we were having trouble finding any cute curtains that would fit that size.

I got to sneak in a nice snuggle at the end of the night because he fell asleep on my shoulder before we got to the crib. 

What a great day!!!

Worth the Mess

I am totally a fan of letting kids get messy - they love it, you make fun memories, and really, is it that hard to clean up? I found a fun list on pinterest (that site is so incredibly amazing, addicting, and dangerous) which you can find here: Fun & Easy Activities for Kids Ages Newborn - 5 years - it will open to the Cornmeal Play activity (which you will see is what we experimented with) and on the left you can open up lists for different ages.

I just bought a package of cornmeal and poured some into a plastic bin with some spoons and measuring cups, etc. and Ben LOVED it! He was practically leaping out of Jon's arms when he saw me on the ground with it..

He then climbed into the box which was so funny!

It was so fun because he was actually playing with it. He did try to taste a few times, but it wasn't like he was shoveling it in - like he has done with sand before. He would put handfuls into the cup and then take it out. I was going to post a few more videos of him doing that sort of thing, but one, they take too long to load and two, I'm sure I'm way more entertained by them than anyone else. :)

This is so fun mommy!!

This picture is the exact reason why messes are worth it to me! He was having a ball! :)

13 Months

So last Friday was the 13th and I almost didn't blink an eye that I used to count each month of Ben's life on the 13th - once we got to his one year birthday I guess my brain shut off on that a bit. Once it did hit me later in the day though I felt sentimental and a bit sad that the first year was over. sniff. I would still like to continue to reflect on how much he changes month by month because right now he is in the amazing stage of seeming like he is learning new things every single day.

Here is my darling 13 month old..

Funny story with this bear and these outfits. Before Ben was born my mom and I were shopping in Hallmark and found this adorable overalls outfit - it seemed perfect because my husband is Mr. Fix-it. So of course Grandma HAD to buy it for her soon to arrive grandson. The outfit said 6-9 months or something. So of course that seemed a loooooong way off. It hung in the closet for several months while Ben was born and growing. Then I moved it to hang on the doorknob to remind myself that I needed to snap a picture of Ben with this outfit. I kept thinking it looked HUGE and figured I had lots of time. I then had to remind myself that on several occasions I thought outfits looked ginormous for my tiny little baby and then would fit him almost perfectly (can we say denial?) so I figured well I better put it on him and get some pictures even if it is a little big.....it.was.too.small. :( :( I got some pictures but Jon could barely slide the legs down his side. I was devastated because it was one of the outfits I was most looking forward to putting him in and getting pictures. So I had an emotional breakdown that only fellow hormonal mothers who are mourning the growing up of their teeny tiny baby would understand. I then scoured the internet to find the same outfit to get it in a bigger size. My mom then thought of the brilliant idea of putting the smaller one on a bear which we figured would make an even cuter photoshoot someday. Well, this new outfit was sized 12-18 months and I seriously almost did it again! The snaps at the diaper area were coming unpopped while I was getting pictures of him and he couldn't sit down. Plus he had no interest in holding the adorable matching bear and his now mobile legs were carrying him all over the lawn which made it very difficult to get a non blurry picture. Oh well, we got a few, and hopefully I have finally learned my lesson to put on outfits even if they do seem twice his size.

Okay, sorry, back to 13 months!

-Ben is now officially a walker! He took his first steps before his 1st birthday but still mainly crawled until just before 13 months.

-He has 7 teeth with one on the way!

-He does seem to be trying hard to talk and is starting to try to imitate some of the sounds when you say words for him - especially (I think) when it seems like sounds he is familier with - for example yesterday he saw a picture of an owl and I said "that's an owl" and he repeated "ow". He does say moo, meow, and roars. Not always at the appropriate time - he roared a pig the other day at the farm, haha. But usually if he sees a cat, cow, or lion then he usually imitates the appropriate sound. He is starting to say "d" and some version of "woof" more often when we see dogs. The other cute thing he does is inside one of his animal books there is a picture of a gorilla and when I was naming that one for him I pounded my chest with one fist and said "gorilla" so now he whacks the picture of the gorilla whenever he sees it.

-He has said mama a few times which seemed intentional but it has been few and far between and hasn't been repeated for a few weeks. One was when I was having a really stressful day, so I said, I'll take it! *Although, I just had to pause this post because he was in his crib going "MA!MA!MA!MAAAA!MA!" because he had thrown his binkies and blankets out and I am assuming wanted me to come in and rescue them. So it does seem like he knows "mama" it just only gets used when he is really desperate apparently, haha.

-He understands lots of words even if he doesn't say them - he knows breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and if I ask "are you hungry for/ready for, etc. _______ (insert meal name here)?" he walks over to the doors of our family room (which are usually shut) and whines for me to open them to get him into his highchair. He for the most part dances and claps on cue. He knows how to sign "more" and "all done" but is just now starting to do it more often.

-He is starting to share, especially food, even when it has been partially chewed - yum.

-He is definitely much more aware of all of his and our body parts and for the most part points to my nose when I say "where's mommy's nose?"

-His favorite food is blueberries. He could eat a whole container by himself in one sitting if I let him. He also loves chicken apple sausage from Trader Joes (that is one of his staples) and cheese.  He seems to like most foods we give him, but those are definite favorites. Some new foods that he is enjoying are mango, hummus, and cream cheese.

-Our house feels a bit like a toy shop after his birthday but it has been fun to watch him explore all of his toys and see his new abilities of being able to push buttons and maneuver things that mommy and daddy used to have to do for him. He also knows for the most part which pieces and toys belong together and is in the beginning stages of helping to put things away (they just don't always stay in their container for long once he puts them there).

-Even with all of the new toys he still loves his books! He will sit and listen to me read them for a little while, but mainly he wants to turn the pages and explore it himself.

-He is now definitely fascinated with airplanes and knows their sound. He points to the sky and does his new Ben-ism of pointing and saying "oooooh!" whenever he hears one. We can hear them pretty loudly from inside as well so even if we are in the house he points up. Actually, he is pretty familiar with a lot of sounds now.  He knows the front door opening means Daddy's home and knows the garbage truck that we frequently run out to watch drive down the street.

I'm sure there are things I am forgetting but that's a glimpse of some of the new stuff that has been going on!

He is getting faster and faster each day so it gets harder for mommy to get pictures in focus or with all body parts - but I still love this shot.

Fun on the Farm

It has been such a blessing that several of our good friends have kids that are about the same age as Ben and it has been so fun to go on playdates together! One place that we go to regularly, Rancho San Antonio, has a cute little farm. When we started going there the babies were confined to the strollers and were completely unaware that there were any animals there. This time it was so fun to see some of them walking around and all of them able to stand up at the fence.

Isn't this the sweetest?! The five little ones are all within a few weeks/months of each other.

Lovin' those chickens!

God made dirt, dirt don't hurt! ;)

I love that the kids are copying each other in this video and it also captures the new Ben-ism of pointing and saying "oooooh!"

 

Starting Traditions

I already mentioned that I love summer nights and I am a huge fan of the beach so what could be better than a summer night ON the beach plus add in some fun music and I am a happy camper! :) Capitola is one of our favorite beaches. A big reason is that it feels very family friendly. We discovered last year that they do concerts every Wednesday night during the summer and went to about three last year with our brand new little bundle of joy!

Here is Ben last year on his first trip to the beach at 2 weeks old! Oh how I miss that tiny little face!

Here is the adorable little man a year later! Now, walking all over the beach!

Spotted the birds!

Hunting down the birds - look at that sneaky smile!

Sand in my snack cup is a casualty I'm willing to take.

Watching the birds

SO excited about the birds!!

I think this will be one of our family traditions during the summer! :)

Back at the car I realized Ben's food pouch had gotten squeezed into my hair when I picked him up - purple carrot, blueberry & pear - Yum! :P

Favorite part of the night - he held my hand on the car ride home and would bring it up to his cheek. Melt. my. heart.

Just found this one on Jon's phone - I love this kiddo soooooooooooo much it's ridiculous!