our adventure

we had a great opportunity to watch clark and susy's (spencer's brother and sister-in-law) kids for two days and two nights (sun night, mar 18, through tues, mar 20). before sunday night i had a few waves of fear come over me that made me wonder if i could pull it off. it was quite the adventure. monday morning spencer left at 7a (right after rylee and kamryn woke up) and didn't get back until after all the kids were asleep (due to a test review he had that night). we had a great time, but talk about baptism by fire!

i have a new-found respect for mothers of multiple children (and i can't forget mothers of twins - benny and cannon are only 4 1/2 months apart). you are all amazing for what you do and what you have done.
i'm looking forward to watching bethany and nate's kids in the next couple of months (that will be completely alone!) and clark and susy's kids again in august (that time for about 1 1/2 weeks).

benny is getting more and more interested in solid foods. he was enjoying a biter biscuit (thanks, again, courtnie!) that he got all over himself!

kamryn was having a good time with our activity. we made a clay-like turtle and fish that can be turned into magnets.

rylee and kamryn.

it was hard to get a good picture of cannon because he kept getting closer and closer to the camera. he's so smiley!

benny loved plaing in the exersaucer. he had a great time standing and bouncing up and down. it really wore him out, and he took a great nap that afternoon, and he slept really well that night.

benny is still trying to figure out what to do on the grass.


cannon has it all figured out...


i just love this picture of kamryn.

more benny...

he really is one of the best things in our lives now. we can't get enough of him.

he loves chewing on the part of his bear that gets closest to his mouth.


taylor and courtnie were finally able to take us up on our christmas gift to them (christmas '05) and have us watch ashlyn for them. benny had a great time (he loves other babies). ashlyn wasn't quite as excited as benny was... :)


he's happy even when he gets up in the morning!


one sunday we went to get him before church started and found him for the first time up on his knees and chewing his crib. his mattress got lowered to the next level that afternoon.


there's nothing, really, to say about this picture. just that we can't get enough of his smile!


with the blankets on the floor, benny just started nesting.


he wants so much to start walking. he pulled himself up to his feet and walked his toy across the room (he did fall down to his knees fairly often, but he did walk plenty).


again, the bear, whenever he can get it.


these last two were on bath day. we've taken to blow-drying his hair to get it to stick up (otherwise it starts to look like eddie munster). he just doesn't look like the same boy when his hair goes down.

the last week

unfortunately, we missed the byu/utah game last weekend. we weren't planning on going, but it ended up not being on any station that we get. we ended up listening to it online while we watched "the little mermaid." we were babysitting iris (dominic and jen's daughter).
it was a fun game to listen to, we just wish we could have seen it.

benny and iris playing with eden's phone after the game.

bundled up to go outside. we should probably do something about his hair, oh, well.


this morning we were practicing benny's standing and walking.

he has started letting go and falling toward me. he can't wait to walk.

doing wonderfully sitting up on his own. sporting his cougar-wear (thanks bubbe and papa!).

go cougs!

lately...

we've had a lot of fun since the first of '07. right at the beginning of the year benny got his first two teeth - the two middle teeth came in about the same time. we had no idea they were coming in until they were just about through his gums.

he is now getting his top teeth. the right middle started coming in a few weeks ago, and the left middle started coming in in the last week. it's really exciting to see him grow!
more fun includes benny learning to crawl! he started a little on feb 20, but his real first crawling day was feb 21 (happy birthday, uncle graydon!). at first he was really deliberate with every movement. now he's just getting faster and faster.
lately he gets in the bear crawl position (hands and feet) and it looks like he wants to get up and walk. he just wants to be on the move as much as he can!

teething...

getting ready to leave for our first and only basketball game of the 06-07 season

nap time - who knows how he sleeps like that


waking up from nap time - he's always getting stuck!


getting stuck somewhere else! he started trying to roll over, but he couldn't with the table leg between his legs...


he's been feeding himself in the mornings - sometimes things get a little messy.


we went on a walk one snowy day to see grandpa (dirk) give his presentation to the business school. we bundled benny up and had a great time!


he's never really liked to be bundled up tight. whenever he's not moving he likes to spread everything out.


scooting around - the linoleum used to act as a barrier, but it has since been penetrated.


in order to get his hair to stick up now, we blow dry it. it looks much better than when it is all down in the middle - it looks kind-of skunk-ish.
before we get anybody else wondering if we're going to cut his hair, we'd like to tell everybody,
not yet.


crawling toward the camera (after eating, apparently).

the end of '06

it would take a really long time to catch up since last summer, so it's probably a better idea to just pick up where we are now.

here's the benny!

his first photo shoot!


after bath time.


first christmas with his new toy and shirt!


san diego trip - the giraffe in the background was 6 months old - benny's age at that time


waiting to get inside the zoo.