I'm 9 months old!

Favorite Toy: He still loves playing with his remote control toy.  He would prefer the remote that controls the TV but he likes anything he can push buttons on and see the cause and effect of his efforts.

Favorite Activity: I bought a bucket from the dollar section at Target with the intentions of putting his bath toys in it... I ended up putting his toys we have downstairs in it and now one of his favorite activities is having the bucket in front of him, taking all of his toys out, one by one, and the playing with the bucket.  This is a great thing to keep him busy for a few minutes while I  get things put away.  Also - he learned how to "high five"!!!

Milestones:

1. Sleeping through the night in his own room.  As many of you have known, Bennett has never been a fan of sleeping, especially if you have to put him down.  He prefers to sleep in your arms.  Over the last few weeks we have been "sleep training."  It sure has been a difficult road but on Thursday night I put him down at 7:00pm and he slept straight - without waking up - until 4:30am!!!  That is the longest amount of uninterrupted sleep either of us (Bennett or me) have gotten since he was born!  Amazing!!! 
2. Getting his first tooth!  Its been a longggg time coming but he finally has a little tooth coming in on the left bottom.  He loves how it feels on his tongue so you can see him always trying to stick his tongue out to feel  it.
3. He moved into the "Older Infant" classroom at school.  It is much more structured.  Morning snack at 8:15am, Lunch at 11:00am, Nap Time at 12:00pm.  I was very worried on how he would do since he is not used to this kind of thing at all.  First week has been a transition but he is doing great.  Accomplishments this past week: eating real pears and bananas (given real food to try during snack time), sippy cups during the day filled with water.

Dislikes: Still dislikes the carseat.  But is getting better.  He somehow always manages to fall asleep during the 5 minute drive home from school.

This one looks like he is trying to be a serious model... pose and all

I melt when he looks at me.  How did I get this lucky?!

So proud of himself!

This is one of my favorites!

The dogs are always so confused when we take these photos!

Cause its Christmas!

(these should have been our Christmas card!)

Santa Hat Bennett!

Curled toes!

Squealing with glee... can't you hear it through the photo?

Going away party 12-7-14

Chris is finally on a daytime schedule which has been amazing! He switched over to days awhile ago.. I want to say a week or so before Halloween. 

Well his old work area finally threw him a "going away" dinner - even though he didn't go away - just moved to a different area in the same building.

So I guess this party was also delayed because the personalized gift they got him misspelled Rafacz the first time they got it.

Bennett and I got to come for about the first hour but then it was bedtime and Bennett's crankiness shined through.

Bennett's charm attracked the ladies

It was so cute. They kept staring at each other and when thy were close enough Remi (short for Remington) would try to hold Bennett's hand!

Chris's buddy Mueller was in town so he came too. Bennett really liked him even though I couldn't get a good photo of them! 

The coin box they gave Chris

And proof that I was there too

Christmas Tree Lighting in Our Neighborhood

So every year our neighborhood has a little celebration for the Tree Lighting at Styron Square.  It is the big courtyard area when you first enter our neighborhood.  We went to our first one 2 years ago when Georgia was our only baby :) and yea, Chris is wearing reindeer antlers that they handed out to everyone!

This year we walked down with Bennett.  I know this one is blurry but kind of artsy fartsy!

wearing his sock monkey hat.  Made sure he was bundled cause it was a bit windy and cold.

Doesn't he look excited?!

We walked around and came across a horse drawn carriage! They weren't giving out rides or anything... so I'm not sure what they were doing there... But we took the photo opportunity!

Santa hat makes his outfit!

We took a lot of selfies...

Christmas choir

The tree in all its lit glory!

Santa was there too... but the line was so long!  Chris said it was like in the movie "A Christmas Story" - needless to say we decided we would see Santa a different day.

 We took a seat to listen to one of the entertainers... He was a story teller that told a really gross story involving yellow puss that came out of his ear when he was a child that smelled like ranch dressing... We decided to get up and keep walking after that one... Chris said someone should have vetted the entertainment! 

We ended up going to dinner at one of the restaurant on the square.  It was a Thai/Japanese restaurant.

Thai for Chris and sushi for me.  Boob milk for Bennett!

He had the cutest outfit on before we left that was Christmas themed... but he decided to have a blowout so that outfit didn't last long. So he ended up wearing his handsome outfit with the bow tie.  When we walked in someone told me I had to most cute little girl... He's wearing a bow tie... really?!  

He's pretty cute even if they thought he looked like a girl (which was a first for us to be called a girl).

Can't wait for Tucson to walk around Winterhaven!  Bennett will love that!  People watching and christmas lights!  He will be in big heaven!

Thanksgiving at The Blake's

This year we stayed in Newport News for Thanksgiving.  We had originally planned to go up to my cousin Maddie and john's house who live near DC but since I only had Thanksgiving Day off work we decided against it.

My friend from work, Amanda, invited us to join her family for their Thanksgiving meal.

It was so sweet of them!  They have young grandchildren so they brought out all the toys for Bennett to play with!

Riding a bike/rocker!

This is pretty fun Dada!

So proud of himself!

Added on the "steering wheel" attachment

What mom?!

So tummy time

Amanda's little cousin Layla was so excited to play with Bennett.  She read him stories (notice how he only likes to wear one shoe)

so many fun toys to play with! oh hey Amanda (in the background!)

More bike fun

Then they brought out the big legos.  Bennett enjoyed chewing on them best :)

Too bad I didn't get more pictures of the actual Thanksgiving!  Bennett really enjoyed Amanda's Grandpa who goes by Pop Pop.  Also her Grandma Loiuse (who she was so excited she would be able to remember my name since it was so close to hers! How cute is that?! :) )

Thanks Blake's for having us!  It was so nice being part of your family for the day!