carrie's first pregnancy

Since my mom got Ben his first Santa suit last year, she did a repeat and got him another one for this year :) So Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!





















1 year 1 week 3 days old

Posted by carrie at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

Oh and yes, Ben is now getting his molars! I knew he was teething from seeing him jamming his hands in his mouth, chewing his thumb towards the back, and general crankiness. No where near as bad as his first teeth over the 4th of July, but still not his normal self. And sure enough, as he was laughing today, I see huge swollen gums and even specks of white where they are breaking through in the back! I saw them on the top, but I feel them on the bottom as well. So hopefully this is as bad as he gets, and it won't ruin his Christmas spirit next weekend :) But he'll definitely be able to chew some fun foods once those guys grow all the way in!

1 year 4 days old

Posted by carrie at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments

Ben's first snow! We are getting a record snowstorm here in DC, and we're loving spending the afternoon inside with Ben. It should stick around until Christmas, and so we'll definitely have a white one this year! :)















We don't have snowpants for Ben, so no photos of him outside... yet! Hopefully over Christmas he can bask in the Michigan or New York snow drifts :)

1 year 4 days old

Posted by carrie at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

Since our daycare provider got sick on Thursday, I had the day off with Ben. So instead of waiting until Saturday to get his first haircut, we did it a little earlier! We went to a salon that was recommended by the moms in my neighborhood, and the stylist did a great job! Ben kept laughing at himself in the mirror, and she commented that he was the best 12 month old that she had given a haircut to! Here's our photos marking the occasion... such cuteness!

Before:







During:

















After!









Then we went to my office Christmas party to show off his new 'do, and then we trekked out to visit Joe at work, and let him roll around for awhile :) I think his haircut looks great, and makes him look like such a big boy! We also snapped a video of him in action, complete with "uh oh!"'s :)



















1 year 4 days old

Posted by carrie at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

Ben had his 12 month checkup today. He's still solidly in the 90th percentile for height at 31.5 inches, and in the 80th percentile for weight, at 24 lbs 11 oz. It's slightly lower than I thought he'd be for weight, since at 11 months we took him in for his ear infection and he weighed in at 25 lbs. But that was with all his clothes on, so it explains why he was heavier. So he's officially over double his birth weight, and over half my size :)

He is doing great, the pediatrician was not at all worried about him not crawling on all fours, and said he was doing great with everything else. His language was great, he's healthy and very happy. Well, not so happy after his vaccination shots, but he was a trooper and it was over quickly. He's up to 10 teeth now (he got two more over the past two weeks!), and pulling up to standing in his crib, without my help :)

So a great checkup! We have to go back in a week or so for some bloodwork (the nurse wasn't there to do it at his checkup), and then we'll be done for a while! Well, barring any more ear infections (knock on wood)!

We leave Wed for Michigan for Christmas, and we can't wait to see our friends and family! 1 week to go! Ben gets his first hair cut on Saturday afternoon, so be on the lookout for those photos this weekend. I'm going to try to save as many curls as possible, and hopefully they do a great job (and Ben doesn't give them too much trouble) :) Should look great for the holiday vacation!

1 year 1 day old

Posted by carrie at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments

From this:
















to this:



1 year ago today, we met you for the first time. You were the biggest baby in the nursery, and it was love at first sight! It's been an amazing year getting to know you, and falling in love with you more each day. We are so proud of everything that you do, and you've given us more than we could have ever hoped for.

Happy Birthday, Benny... we love you!

Love,

your sappy parents :)

1 year old

Posted by carrie at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments

We had an awesome time at Ben's birthday parties... the first party was thrown by Nonna Becca over Thanksgiving weekend, and the 2nd party we had here in DC on Saturday. Grandma Dee and Grandpa Jim flew out to celebrate, and our friends stopped by for some birthday cake and ice cream. We are so lucky to have such awesome friends and family, and they gave Ben a great party (both times!) :) Below are some photos of the festivities :) Hope you enjoy! As you can tell, Benny did!

Ben's First Birthday Parties - Slideshow

Or you can just find all the photos here:

Ben's First Birthday Parties

Some of my faves:





































































Only 12 days til Christmas!! :)

11 months 4 weeks old

Posted by carrie at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments

I only had time to download the photos off our small camera (the Canon SD1000), but I still managed to get some fun shots :) Here are the photos of our Thanksgiving vacation in NY! More to come later!







Playing with Uncle Mike!



He started doing this face whenever someone took his picture... we call it the "cheese please!" face :) Couldn't have anything to do with a camera being shoved in his face since birth, could it? ;)









Ben's first piano lesson!













We also managed to get a video of Ben playing... so cute (even though the piano is woefully out of tune) :)



Grandma Dee and Grandpa Jim arrive tomorrow for Ben's small party (just a few friends and my parents) for his birthday on Saturday :) We're excited, and then we have our family portrait scheduled for Sunday. I really hope the photos turn out well, and that we can get them in time for the holidays!

11 months 3 weeks 4 days old

Posted by carrie at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments

I just got an email reminder that Ben's birthday is a week away :) It brought tears to my eyes to read "9:01pm weighing 11 lbs 6.6 oz, 21 inches long" in the description... I can't believe it was almost a year ago! It feels like yesterday and I can still remember everything about that day and those first few weeks. I can't wait to celebrate this weekend with my family, and I'll be sure to post some pictures here soon!

11 months 3 weeks 2 days old

Posted by carrie at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

I was trying to get Ben to repeat after me with his "uh oh"... but instead, because I usually clap after he says it, now when I say "uh oh" he claps :) We had an awesome Thanksgiving holiday, complete with a small family birthday for Ben that Nonna Becca threw, but I'm still downloading photos. When I get them up and running, I'll post those, but for now, here's Ben showing off his clapping skills:



Enjoy!

11 months 2 weeks 4 days old

Posted by carrie at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments