13 cute months!

Bennett is 13 months old today! Can you believe it? I know I can't. He is just getting cuter by the day. He is learning so much and really starting to interact and play. Here are some things he is doing lately:

-He is starting to dance. He will go and push a button on different toys and start bending his knees and start "dancing." It is hilarious! He knows the correct buttons to push to provide music for his "moves."

-He is sort of starting to want to be held..sort of. He will run up to you and hug and then when you pick him up he wants to get back down. My boy is NOT a cuddler. He will cling to my legs though...I love that!

-We still have not found 1 thing Bennett will not eat. Neil said that he spit out corn the other day, but I fed it to him tonight and he ate it. Who knows!? He is one great eater. (Can't you tell?)

-He wears a size 4 diaper.

-He only drinks whole milk and transitioned to it perfectly.

-He is STILL waking up at night. We do not know what to do! I know I need to let him cry it out, but it is so hard to listen to him cry. Maybe we will sleep again in 10 years.

-Bennett wears 12-18 months clothes. Most of the time he is right on track with whatever his age is at the time. I hope it stays this way since Mommy is such a clothes fanatic!

-He is such a ham. We have gone to eat with different people and he just shows off the whole time! He will make noises and just bust out laughing to get everyone around him to laugh. He did it on our "Snow Day" last week with the Echols girls Sometimes I have to stop him because I don't want him to think we can act like that at the table...even though I am laughing at how funny he is!

-He still has us, the grandparents, his aunt, and uncles wrapped around his cute little finger.

Snow Day?

We got out of school today because of bad winter weather. It was crazy that they cancelled school yesterday BEFORE any weather even hit. Everyone was talking about wrapping pipes, letting water drip all night, and stocking up on necessities. I did happen to go to the grocery store because we needed diapers. I went ahead and put a thing of bottled water in the cart just in case. The water is still sitting in my car. Anyway, we had a lazy morning. Bennett didn't even wake up until after 9. Of course, I was up at 7! Neil's office delayed work until 10 so he slept too. I just watched GMM and stayed in my pjs. It was nice.

We went to lunch at Fairfield with Gammy, Carol, and Leslie. Bennett was trying to eat the crayons and show off for Leslie and Carol. He is too funny, but I want him to learn he cannot yell and be silly at the dinner table. I don't know if I am trying this too young though!!? This is the only photo I got of our lunch.

After lunch we came home for a nice long nap. We were hoping to get to have a play date with Max, but it didn't work out. Maybe next snow day!

Nana, Grand-Machine, and Aunt Rebecca all came in town to shop and see Bennett. They LOVE getting to see and they just spoil him with attention. It is so much fun to watch.

I had Bunco on the calendar for a couple weeks and was glad to get to see everyone. Teresa hosted it at her neighborhoods clubhouse. She did a great job of hosting! I took one picture but it wasn't that great so I will just leave it off.

Calendar

For the past 3 years, I've made a personalized family calendar for each of Neil's family members. I want to make one for my side of the family, but we only have 9 people total so it might get sort of old looking at the same people over and over. I have used a different store each year and I am starting to get all the kinks worked out. I think this is the first year I haven't left something off...hopefully! This year, I made a calendar for the Lewis side of the family and had 12 printed. I print one for each of the women in the family so that 2 aren't going to the same household. Janine and Richard generously pay for all of them too! Isn't that awesome? I think so too.

One thing I have figured out with the Lewis side is the amount of "doubled-up" birthdays. There are 365 days in the year and there are 5 days in the year with 2 people having birthdays on the same day. I thought that was interesting.

Anyway for our house, I added some photos of my side of the family. I added their birthdays and anniversaries too! It is so easy to keep up with the 50 birthdays we have by having their picture on their actual birthday.

Here is the month of January.

Here is the whole year.

And here is May! May is my family's busiest month with birthdays. My brother, mom, aunt and uncle are all born in May.

It is so much fun to create the calendar every year. Everyone loves it and goes on and on about it. It makes it nice when I can find a coupon online to get all of the calendars 20-30% off too!

Baby Signing

Today is the first day that I think Bennett actually signed "more." It was pretty cool to see him do it. He doesn't do the exact sign..he places his thumb on his palm instead of putting his fingertips together. I had the bowl of chicken spaghetti sitting on the table because I was letting it cool and he started signing! I was so proud! Let's just hope that wasn't a one time thing!

Happy 2010!

We really had a lazy day on 1/1/10. It was nice to get some things done around the house and for 2 boys to get to take naps. I hope this isn't any indication as to how our 2010 will go... (lazy!).

I decided that I am going to try to take Bennett's hand print at the start of every year. Last year, he has his hand prints taken at birth (12/11) so I didn't take it on 1/1. I found this cute little kit at School Aids made of soft clay. It wasn't messy or hard to clean up. Isn't this the cutest hand ever?

After naps and lunch, we headed to Betty Virginia park. It was pretty cold, but that did not stop our boy. He didn't want his coat or his mittens, but I managed to make him keep on his hat. He LOVED the slides and climbing all over everything.

After dinner, I ran and picked up some fireworks because I wanted Bennett to see them. He loved looking at them, but when they started popping he got a little scared.

After fireworks and Bennett went to bed, we watched Julie and Julia. It was a pretty good movie! So that was our New Year's...I guess it was a little boring compared to the wild days of college. And I like it a whole lot more this way!

We don't really have any New Year's resolutions except for lose weight. I think that is our resolution every year. I hope it works!!!

New Year's Eve.

The Hannas invited us over to their home for a fun and festive New Year's Eve dinner party. They even said that we could bring Bennett. It was a good thing because we didn't have a babysitter (Gammy) until 9:30. He was such a good boy the whole time. He sat in his little chair and played with this horn.

The Hanna's ALWAYS make a gourmet meal. Nikki and Jay make pork tenderloin with a blackberry reduction sauce, green bean bundles, and cranberry wild rice. It was pretty yummy.

Here are the Lewis'. Nikki always make a pretty table scape. She always arranges flowers and has the best accessories. She makes everything festive!

Here are Neil, Nikki, Jared & Katie Beville, and Bennett. Don't they looks cute in their hats? I found the big boy top hats on clearance at Paper Shack for $1.50! They even light up!

Neil and I were responsible for an appetizer and dessert. Neil made the most delicious Oysters Rockefeller. Those things were AWESOME! Here is my talented chef:

Here's Bennett and me.

At 9, we went ahead and took Bennett home so that we could make it back to the Hanna's for their neighbor's HUGE fireworks display at midnight.

When we got back to their house, I made dessert. Banana's Foster! It was my first time to make it and I thought it turned out pretty well. I was really excited.

This is right before we lit it on fire.

Here is the blue flame!

Play Dates

Bennett has had the privilege of getting to play with all sorts of friends while I have been on Christmas Break. Last week, Monica and Caleb came over for a visit. They are in town for Christmas from Memphis and stopped by to see us. We were so excited to see them because the last time they really didn't notice each other. They didn't play that much but it was still fun! Caleb is 2 days older than Bennett.

On Christmas Eve, Yitin and Garrett came over to play. They were in town from Houston and we were so glad they could visit us!

Lynsie and John came over to play a few days ago. They even rode Bennett's 4-wheeler together!

On Wednesday, we went to Ruston to see the Mulhearn family. Neil's cousin Rob and his family were in town. This is sweet Elliott. He is 6 months old. He was so cuddly and sweet. Bennett was almost too busy to notice Elliott. He loves to get in to EVERYTHING at Nana's house!