House Update

Our laminate flooring is here!


View of our mountains...


It's been super cloudy this summer...


We just keep wondering when summer will show up!

Well our flooring came in and Brent moved everyone of those boxes upstairs all by himself! Poor guy! I guess it's not the worst thing he's had to do while building though...
He and his dad will be installing it this holiday weekend. Hopefully it goes quickly for them. The painting is finally done just a little touch up here and there. If you think it's a lot of work painting one room try an entire house!!! This past weekend Brent had been working on getting the hot water up and running and also hooking up the outlets and light switches. We have about 90 outlets throughout our house so that's a lot of work! Our doors are in at Home Depot and I think they will be delivered this weekend...
Things are really coming along!!! :)

8 Months Old :)

Posing like a good boy for his 8 month shot...


On our almost daily walk...he held the camera case or ate the camera case while I took pictures of the flowers along the way!


Pretty flowers along the road


More of the flowers

Wow is time flying!!! Ben is 8 months olds which just seems so strange to me. He is getting so big and doing so many new things everyday. It's so fun to wonder what each day will bring. His most current "new thing" is turning pages for me when we read our stories before naps and bedtime. He has also started "yelling" at me when I change him. Not in a mad way - in a fun way because I had been growling at him and I think this is his way of doing it back. It's pretty funny! He has started to imitate things like putting a toy on my head because I put it on his head and "feeding" Brent a toy because Brent "feed" it to him. He is also growing more hair - Yay! He's been working on it for awhile but it's really starting to come in.

Grrr!!!

Trying out his new bear suit from his Great Aunt Baba!



I just pulled out all of Ben's 12 month clothes because his 9 month clothes are starting to get a little small. What a chubby monkey!!! :)

My 1st Tooth

If you look real hard at Ben's bottom gum line you can see his tooth! (you might have to click on the picture to enlarge it)
I have been trying to get a good picture of him with his little tooth showing but how do you tell a baby to "smile with your tooth showing!"


Just so cute...


What? I'm an angel...don't let my momma tell you different!

Ben got his first cold this past Saturday. It hasn't been too bad...just a little snotty and now he has a bit of a cough. The last few nights he has slept propped up in his boppy pillow on the bed with me so he could breathe better. I wasn't looking forward to his first illness but it wasn't scary at all!

Ben Update

Pooped out after all his hammering...


Trying to mail himself to Granma...

What's new with Ben:
** The most exciting new thing is he got his first tooth! I noticed it on the 9th of June. It is the bottom left middle tooth. I had suspected he'd be getting a tooth soon because his sleeping had been off and he'd had a few pretty fussy days which is unlike him.
** He has started pulling himself up occasionally on things like my shirt when he's sitting next to me or on someone's hands.
** He is eating a ton of solid foods now and is SO into it! He gets all excited and starts flapping his arms when I bring the food to the table. I am having a lot of fun making his food and finding new things for him to eat. His newest food is Quinoa which I gave him this morning - he just gobbled it right up!
** He won't have his next checkup until 9 months but I weighed him the other day and he is about 21 lbs give or take a few ounces.
** I have started putting him on his tummy a lot more in the last couple weeks and today he actually tried to pull his legs up under him to move forward.
** He loves to sit on the floor and play with his toys and is doing really with lunging forward and to the side to get things and manages not to topple over the majority of the time.
** He also loves to talk and does it quite loudly sometimes. It's super cute but not as cute when it's 5am and I really just want him to go back to sleep! Yesterday in the grocery store he was talking or yelling up a storm and everyone who went by us was laughing...
** He is very attached to me and is developing strange anxiety. He still smiles at everyone unless I hand him off and try to walk away.

That's about it for now from the world of Ben! :)

Our House

The office


Ben's room


The kitchen/living/dining room - the floor is stained concrete


Jim laying the tile in the upstairs bathroom


Our bedroom - it's hard to tell from the photo but one wall is red and the others are a warm brown

Our house is almost done! Well sort of... it's almost ready to move in! Then there are still plenty of projects! We hope to be in sometime in the next month or two as long as everything goes well. Brent is going to wax the downstairs floor this weekend and then paint the walls. When that is done we can start moving stuff in down there. Our laminate flooring for upstairs has arrived at the store so after Brent installs that we can move things in upstairs! Yay! We ordered our cabinets and appliances a couple weeks back...the appliances should be here sometime this week and the cabinets will probably arrive when my parents are here.

Rodeo Drive Baby!

One of the fancy streets off of Rodeo Drive


Rosie with the biggest hanging flower basket I've ever seen...


Mmmmm....Sprinkles Cupcakes!

We of course had to go to Rodeo Drive since I've never been there. It was pretty much what I expected - ladies with big expensive purses and sunglasses, fancy hair and stilettos shoes. But it was fun to walk around. Before we went home we stopped at Sprinkles a cupcake shop (that happens to be Oprah's favorite). Usually there is a line but we got right in and ordered our little cakes - dark chocolate (my favorite), red velvet, coconut, and mocha.
The funniest part of the day: my little tiny sister parking her HUGE lifted truck into a little tiny parking spot I never would have tried even with a little car. We could barely open our doors but hey we found a parking spot! LOL!

BluJam Cafe

Eating at the BluJam Cafe


Love the straps on my stroller!


Melting...

On our last day in LA we had breakfast at the BluJam Cafe an all organic resturant. I had Blu toast which was french toast with berries and jam inside. Yummy!

More from Santa Monica..

The park above the beach


Sporting his Elmo hat and beach shorts with his Auntie Rosie!


Sitting on the grass for the first time

Benny at the Beach :)

Wow...


Ben loved playing in the sand!


My favorite picture of him to date - ever! (Notice the sand on his face from when he ate some!)

While in LA we went to Santa Monica Beach. We walked along the 3rd Street Promenade and had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp. Then Andrew took pictures of Ben at the beach. The day was perfectly sunny and very warm. I got sunburned on my arms and head but that's okay because it may be my only chance at a burn this whole summer!

Ben and Starbux

"Sit Starbux, good dog"


Who dropped a toy?

At first Ben cried every time Starbux barked but then he got used to her and would smile when he saw her. She was very interested in her and even started getting up on the couch, which she had never done before, to see him.

Pictures from our LA trip - Finally!

Just changed in my "summer gear"


My favorite "West Coast" Auntie


Checking out the fountain at The Grove shopping center


Little Man and Rosie at the fountain


Errrr!!!

Well this is all a little backwards but I am finally getting around to updating about the LA part of our trip. We flew into LA first, a night flight, which Ben did great on - slept the whole 5 hours! We got in to LA around 7am and Rosie and Andrew picked us up. We headed back to their apartment to eat and clean up before we headed out for the day. Rose made me breakfast - It was so good! Eggs with salsa, black beans, red peppers and other stuff and an english muffin with jelly. My mouth still waters when I think about it! Then we went to The Grove shopping center and looked around and had lunch at a crepe' places which was so tasty! Later we had Pinkberry frozen yogurt before going home.

Already working...

Ben loves to hit the keyboard - you can't do computer stuff with him on your lap anymore!

Hanging Out in the Colorado Sunshine

Taking off my hat...


Almost got it...


Gone!


Having a drink


Ben wouldn't put his left foot down I think because the grass tickled his feet!

The Sunday before we left Colorado it was a beautiful day. Super sunny and very warm. We spent most of the day outside. I helped my mom and dad do some yard work and Ben chilled out in the shade.

Beau Joe's Pizza in Evergreen, CO

Chillin in my highchair


Pictures out by the river after dinner


Granma, Great Uncle Gene and Ben (Uncle Gene traveled all the from New Jersey just to meet Ben!)


"Grandpa's Little Sidekick" Ben loves his Granpa!


The fam :)