Pictures, Video, and Stats

Finally!! Here are some pictures from the past month or so. Hope you enjoy!

Bath time is one of his favorite times of the day!! Before bath toys he would kick and splash and giggle. But now that toys have been added to this mix it's serious business. He zeros in one those turtles trying to figure out how in the world he can grab it and eat it.

Enjoying the Christmas tree! Sometimes when the tree lights were on he would sit there and "talk" to the tree for 30 minutes at a time!

Tummy time! He doesn't push up on his arms yet but he is almost rolling over! He will roll up on his side but the arm he is laying on is back behind him keeping him from going all the way over. A good thing perhaps? I have a feeling that once he starts moving it's all over.

Watching Philomena decorate the tree at his Godparent's house. Soon Philomena will have a little sister! And Chris' cousin, Dana, is about to have another little girl, as well. We are so excited for both families! Ben is going to be surrounded by girls. haha!

Sporting the cowboy hat I couldn't resist buying for him. :) It says "Texas" across the front of the hat. It's still a little big for him but will fit perfectly once he is old enough to walk around and play. Look at those rolls!

Hiking at Guadalupe State Park. And Carl is SMILING! This is a rare photo sure to be worth millions one day.

Chris, Amy and Benjamin Bear. Can you see the little ears on his outfit? So cute!!

And this is video of Benjamin eating cereal for the first time!!! He loved it. Had a hard time keeping it in this mouth but I don't blame him because it was mostly liquid. We're going to try a little thicker consistency today. Our little boy is growing up so fast!

Benjamin had a doctor appointment this past week. His stats are 19 lbs. 1 oz., 26 in. tall, and 17 1/2 inch head circumference. Such a big boy!! He's wearing 6-9 month clothing and isn't 5 months yet! I don't know what we're going to do when he's a teenager! I think he has some teeth coming in. He is usually pretty drooly but has been extra slobbery lately, a little fussy, not sleeping quite as well at night, and I'm pretty sure I see faint white lines underneath his gums. Only time will tell!

Well, that's all for now. I will post again soon, especially with how fast he's developing. It seems like there's always something new to share. We love you all. God bless you!

Happy New Year!

Hello! I haven't posted anything in awhile so I figured now is a good time. We had a nice Christmas and thoroughly wore Bear out. The poor baby slept 12 hours one night after we got home. But we were able to see all of our families! Benjamin is now totally spoiled in that he does not want to be put down unless you are going to entertain him. I am a horrible mother in that I took maybe one or two pictures (literally) the whole Christmas break. So I will have to post photos once we receive pictures from family members. :)

Chris' 27th birthday is on Monday! He keeps trying to convince us that he's only turning 25. To ease the pain of "being an old man" I'm going to attempt to make him a cookie cake for his birthday. The original plan was to order one from the Great American Cookie Co., but after checking their website I decided that I could make one for a quarter of the price and decorate it to his liking.

2009 was a crazy and wonderful year for us and I'm sure that 2010 will have its own set of trials, tribulations, and blessings. We have many cousins and friends that are expecting so Spring will be quite an exciting time! Chris will be headed up to Green Bay, Wisconsin the end of January. Hopefully he makes it there and back without too much craziness from the weather. Benjamin and I are finally on a regular schedule that has lasted more than a week. He's changing more every day and looking more like a boy, which is to be expected, I know, but he's my baby!!

Well, we hope you are all enjoying the holidays. I will try to post more often and get on the ball about photos. :) God bless you!

Boys are made of Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Today Benjamin pooped through his outfit like he does every day and since we are at my parent's right now his extra clothes were allll the way upstairs. So I decided to just leave him in his diaper for awhile. Well, as I was cleaning up his mess he had a big sneeze and when I looked at him this is what I saw:


After I finished cracking up and taking pictures we had some play time and I tried to record him talking. However, he noticed the camera and wouldn't stop staring at it. Watch to the end....




Yes, he always has something coming out of somewhere!!

Our Bright Eyed Boy

I finally got a good video of Benjamin talking. He's so funny! For awhile I would stick out my tongue at him as part of making faces to see if he would smile or make faces back and now he sticks out his tongue whenever he talks! Haha!

There is no Normal

Today I am very excited and I hope I don't jinx myself by sharing this but for the 3rd night in a row Bear slept between every feeding!!!! Woohoo! It starts anywhere between 10 and 12 and ends between 7 and 9. Isn't it wonderful?! Granted I am still up for at least an hour during feedings, this is bliss compared to being up for 3 and 4 hours!

I feel like Ben is growing and developing at an incredible rate. He doesn't just smile when he's sleeping and has gas, but he smiles when I talk to him and smile at him and stick out my tongue at him. He has even started sticking his tongue back out at me! haha! Hope I'm not cultivating a bad habit. :) We have daily "conversations" now, too. I'll do the excited "mommy talk" and he will get a really big smile on his face and "talk" back to me. SO CUTE!!! I could just eat him up!

I'm not sure how much he weighs or how tall he is, but I do know that he is busting out of the 8-12 pound diapers and at 8 weeks old 3-month clothing fits him perfectly. He has his two month appt. next Wed. so we will get his current stats then. He will also have to get his first set of shots! :( My poor baby. I'm not looking forward to that at all.

When Benjamin was born he was the spitting image of Chris, but as he's getting older we're starting to see more of me in him (yay!). He has my eye shape, and I think my forehead and head shape. He has Chris' build, hair, eyebrows, and so far his eye color (I think, its kind of hard to tell, sometimes). And he has Chris' pretty long eyelashes. :) I don't know who's ears, nose, and chin he has. We thought at first his chin came from the Antoine side of the family, but it's possible it came from the Tull side, as well. I think he has a cross between my mouth and Chris' mouth. The hands and feet are hard to tell. I'm sure no one is as interested in all this as I am but it's fun to see how he changes and looks like different people at different stages.

I uploaded some pictures onto Facebook today, but I will put some on here, as well. I tried to take a picture of his freckles but our camera doesn't zoom in that close. They're really tiny. Well, I need to finish this up before Bear wakes up from his nap. Hope y'all are having wonderful cool weather like us! God bless you!

Benjamin's Baptism

The pictures are posted in the opposite order of when they actually happened. Sorry! It was a really nice baptism on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary church in Frenstat, Texas. Chris went to this parish throughout high school and his parents still go there. It is a small Czech mission parish that has been there for a really long time (not sure how long, exactly). The priest that married Chris and I, Fr. Stephen, drove up to do the baptism. Our good friends Chris and Kendra Bartlett are Benjamin's Godparents. Benjamin's baptismal gown is the one that my Grandma Carpenter made for Scott when he was born. It is pretty long and goes past Bear's feet but he was a little fussy and by the end it looked like he was wearing a dress because the gown was all bunched up. :) Chris' mom gave us a big seashell from Galveston and some water from the Jordan River that was blessed by the Pope to use for the baptism. Quite a few of Chris' family members were able to come celebrate with us. Unfortunately none of my family members were able to make it, for various reasons, but I know they were with us in spirit. Afterwards Chris' parents had lunch for everyone so we were able to visit. Thank you to everybody that celebrated with us and made it even more special than it already was. Well, I need to wrap it up. Bear is squirming and may be hungry again!

Benjamin Bear

Benjamin is now 1 month old! It has gone by so fast already. And he is growing like a weed. At his doctor appt. a week ago he was already 10 lbs. and 5 oz. I think he's gained another pound since then. There isn't any doubt that he is healthy and eating enough. Chris and I noticed that his cheeks will fill out right after he eats and then go down over the next couple of hours. He's like a little chipmunk storing food for later. He's quite the pooping machine, as well. I told Chris I'm going to need to start working nights at Starbucks just to pay for the diapers and wipes.

We've had lots of visitors over the last month and have enjoyed every one of them! Bear's baptism is coming up this Sunday. We're having him baptized at Chris' home church in Frenstat by the priest that married us. I'll try to post more pictures afterwards. I hope to post updates about Bear at least every month with pictures so you can all see how he is doing. He is such a cutie and we love him so much!

I had more pictures I wanted to put up but for some reason the blog wasn't letting me. I will try to post them later. Have a great week everyone! We love you, God bless you!