Gift Exchange!

The Fourniers had a Christmas party again this year, and Ben took part in the gift exchange! There were 20 kids - it was so much fun to see everyone running around and playing together. Ben was his usual reserved self at first, soaking it all in. After a little while he warmed up and started exploring, though!

Blinds!

Note: This was before he was incredibly mobile, so the extremely dangerous looking surge protector with many plugs and cords tangled together is no longer back there!

Nine Months!

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Nine Months - 21 lbs. 12 oz. and 28.25" tall

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This month has been amazing. I can't believe how quickly he's growing up. It seems silly, but I almost started to cry after we gave him his first haircut. He's starting to become a little boy, and I love it, but I am also starting to realize that he won't always be our baby.

Coming into the room when he's woken up from a nap, and seeing him standing there with a giant grin melts my heart every time.

He is such a fun, silly boy. His big toothy smiles and belly laughs make us so happy! His little games even make him laugh! If you don't make eye contact with him, he'll lean in close until you finally look at him. He thinks it's so funny - and so do we!

He's cruisin' around like no one's business! You can set up a whole obstacle course for him to climb over and maneuver around, and he just plows right through. His favorite places to pull up are the extremely unsteady lamp, and the dangerous, toppling bookshelves!

He gives the sweetest hugs and shoulder-kisses. He bounces back and forth to music sometimes, and squeals with joy when he's holding something he likes. He is such a happy little boy! Except when you take things away from him, or change his diaper. He's suddenly started to hate having his diaper changed. 

He doesn't seem bothered when I tell him no - he actually thinks it's pretty hilarious. He gets a big goofy grin, which then makes me laugh so I'm not sure how we're doing on the whole "no" concept.

We love how excited he gets to read books or get ready for bed. He squeals and bounces, and looks at us with the biggest eyes - full of excitement! He's finally excited about bath time, and loves splashing around.

We love this kid!

Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving in Chicago this year! My mom, Grandma, Uncle David and Aunt Carole were all there, and we had a great time! Ben did really well on the plane both ways - he was just very active! Peeking at the people behind us, and trying to get at the the people in front of us.

Kim and Dan couldn't physically be there this year, but they were there in spirit! Kim sent us a package to open, and some gifts from her traveling and had us do a White Elephant exchange! She wrote out rules, but somehow I messed them up, and it became more of a free for all...

Ben picked his before we even started!

After all the swapping was done, this is what we ended up with! Somehow I forgot to get a picture of myself - I wanted the stationary but my mom had a death grip on it, so I stole a magnet and "roman numerals" eraser from David!

Ben claimed his present by chewing on it, so no one tried to steal his gift - good strategy, kid!

We pretty much all had a part in the Thanksgiving cooking this year, which was a lot of fun! All the food was delicious, and after dinner I felt exactly like this:

1/4 Cup

Ben's new favorite toy:

His pants are also looking a little on the small side! Sorry Bud!

Mr. Curious

I think it's time to move the monitor camera!

On The Move!

Don't Smile!

Eight Months!

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Eight Months

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Eight months old! Wow! I know we say it every month, but he just keeps getting better and better! He is so much fun right now, with his huge grins and belly laughs. He is incredibly curious and so much fun! 

• He's been pulling to a stand on pretty much anything he can get his little hands on! Usually it's my legs or arms, but furniture, toys and boxes will do too.

• Sometimes he'll wake up during a nap or at night, and settle back to sleep on his stomach! He started by mushing his head straight down into the mattress which was a little nerve-wracking, but he seems to have gotten the hang of it now!

• He's scooting and sliding all over on his stomach! He's mostly moving backwards, so it usually leads to him getting tangled in a toy or stuck under some furniture:

• New best friend: himself! He loves to play with the big mirror in our room. He'll stand up and press against it, smiling and mushing his face against it:

• He just got his third tooth! The top left one came in, and we can see where the top right one is starting to cut through as well.

• He is still so adorable when he peeks to find us when we're hiding!

• His hair is getting so long! We should probably cut it soon... but we're not ready yet!!

• He's drinking from a straw now! He didn't like the sippy cup, so we got him one with a straw, and he loves it!

• He clapped for a few days when we asked him to, but now he's stopped... so when he starts again we'll get a good video!

We love you so much, Ben! Happy 8 months!

Election Day!

This photo has nothing to do with the election, or voting... but I was playing with Ben when he got up from a nap and he was too cute not to photograph!

Daylight Savings Time

Ben didn't get the memo.

Grammy Visits!

Last Thursday Grammy came to visit! We all had such a great time, and Ben learned some new things - he can now clap, take steps (with support of course), and drink from a straw! What a week!

We spent Sunday and Monday morning preparing for the storm, and hoping our power wouldn't go out! We watched the Weather Channel, and Ben was very worried about all of our friends and family who live in the area, hoping they weren't hit too hard by the storm.

We were lucky and didn't lose power at all. It was really windy, trees fell, and the power flickered, but we made it through without a scratch! A huge amount of people weren't as lucky - this storm was crazy. The aftermath is affecting White Plains now too, though. Gas is sold out at a bunch of stations, so we're also lucky that we live right across the street from a grocery store! Matt was off work for most of the week, but if he's back on Monday hopefully the gas stations get more gas!

It was strange being so unaffected by the storm when so many people were hit hard.

Grammy brought Ben a pumpkin with his name on it! It lights up, and he thought it was very cool. On Wednesday we got two pumpkins to carve for our pumpkin contest!

Grammy got home safely, and we got to see her for a few extra days!! We're so grateful for the time we had!

Happy Halloween!

Love,
Yoda

Blue Sky Halloween!

Blue Sky had their family Halloween party this week! Matt and Ben were Luke Skywalker and Yoda from Star Wars!

Sunday Funday

Seven Months

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Seven Months

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Got your nose!

Ben doesn't go to the doctor until he turns 9 months old, so we're not sure how much he weighs... but I'm pretty sure it's around 50lbs. At least that's what my arms think.

• Ben has been amazing this month - he's hated being on his stomach pretty much from the beginning. A lot of the time he would just lay there and cry, so we didn't do a ton of tummy time:

Then all of a sudden he loved it! He's been rolling and spinning like crazy ever since!

• He loves pulling to a stand, and will do it if he's sitting up in his crib. Luckily he can't sit up on his own yet, but we're going to have to lower the crib soon!

• He still loves tags. He finds them on everything he can. He studies them like he's trying to read the tiny print, and then of course he chews on them.

• He likes pretty much every food he's tried - he even likes sweet potatoes now! He's tried rice cereal, avocados, sweet potatoes, bananas, peaches, grapefruit, apples, squash, peas, green beans, carrots, chicken, turkey, pears, and black beans. The only thing he doesn't love is banana. He's also been eating cereal puffs sometimes. It's so cute to watch him pick it up, put it in his mouth, and hear his two little teeth crunch into the puff.

• We tried giving him a sippy cup a few times... he tends to hate it! It seems to get him frustrated quickly.

• He absolutely loves playing with two new books he got as gifts! He loves playing with the fish puppet, and sticking his fingers in the cut-outs, and he loves opening and feeling the Halloween book!! Thank you Joan and Aunt Susie!