7 months!

Ben is 7 months old! (Well technically, he's 7 1/2 now...) This 7th month has been an eventful one for Ben.

• He moved away from the only home he's ever known. 
• He had his pacifier taken away (again!)
• He now has only 1 bottle a day - the rest is oatmeal and other baby food (and man, does he pack it away!)
• He reaches up when he sees mommy or daddy
• He can sit up and grab his toes (but only for a little bit then he topples over)
• He sleeps through the night, and when he wakes up, he can put himself back to sleep
• He likes to Skype his Grandparents
• He LOVES to bounce in his bouncer! He is a bouncing machine!!
• He rolls all around - he can be all over the place when he wants to be, but for the most part he still stays in one place and chews on his toys
• He met his future wife - a Tongan YSA in our ward at church with long, pretty hair who smiles at him a lot. :)
• and he went down a slide with Dad for the first time!

(My adorable blue teddy bear!)

Ben loves sucking on his fingers. And he loves sticking his fingers in Mom's mouth, so that I can taste how delicious they are, too. (6/10 - would taste again)

This little boy is such a happy boy. It is so easy to get a giggle out of him. It is not always an easy job, but it is an honor to get to be the mother of this sweet little one.

How can you not love that adorable face!?

Oh yeah - and since we're talking about milestones I guess you're wondering how much this chubster weighs nowadays. Well.... 

Height: ~27 inches

Weight: ~19.6 lbs (Yes, my kid is a fatty mcfatterson, but we wears it all in his double chin.)

(I had to include this picture - because these two are pretty much best friends. Ben cracks up when the Dog is around, and Owen always gets a slobbery, wet, regurgitated snack when he hangs out near Ben. Plus, Owen is our first born and this picture is just too cute to leave out!)

Christmas & Moving

So, this post is way late! But I figured you'd all want to see Ben's 1st Christmas! :) We stayed home in Idaho for Christmas. So it was just the 3 of us + Owen (the dog). Right after we opened presents, I packed up the tree because we moved a couple days later! Ben was very tired Christmas morning, because I had taken his pacifier away the night before. So he was a little out of it. Most of the pictures we took of him had a really flat, sleepy expression. But we still managed to take a few happy, smiling ones too! 

 Ben LOVED sucking on the wrapping paper. (Don't worry - he was supervised the whole time and did not consume any. :) )

 I think his favorite part was crinkling the paper. Right after his first present, we decided he was just too sleepy. So we laid him down for a nap and put Christmas on pause for a while.

 Once he woke up from his nap, we was ready to go again. With all the pretty bows laying around, I just couldn't resist.

 He REALLY loved the presents we got him. We got him a bunch of things that rattle (I'm shaking a rattle in the above picture). He went nuts for them!

 He was amazed by the wrapping paper. He had no idea what this nonsense meant.

 "What the heck is going on!?"

 "Oh, I love it!!!"

 Playing on the floor with his new toys!

I told you Ben loves the Dog. They have a very symbiotic relationship. Owen loves to come clean-up the messes Ben makes (aka spit-up) and Ben loves to pull the dog's hair. They get along great!

Some of our favorite Christmas presents:

Kendra's - meat slicer, recipe binder, a few clothing articles

Doug's - a blue tooth speaker

Ben's - Anything that rattles and some books that have tails sticking out of the pages

So with Christmas over, we packed and cleaned as much as we could and then hopped in the truck to Salt Lake City. Doug is going back to school. I am soon to be working full-time (which I am both nervous and excited for!) We have a little tiny apartment, in a very culturally-diverse neighborhood. We have lots of friends and family near-by and there are tons of things to do here. So far, we love it!

I'm excited for the change of pace and since we'll be here for the next several years while Doug is in school, I'm glad to feel like we can lay down some "roots" while we're here. No more moving every 7-8 months. And hopefully, since I'm planning on being here for a while - I'll be able to progress a bit in my field and advance to some higher positions. (We will see!)