Bluebonnets on Easter and Ben is 8 months!

This stupid blogger is about to give me a heart attack, it's making me so mad.  I've spent so many late nights trying to upload pictures and it wasn't working, which is the reason I haven't posted in forever.  Now I thought I had it working, but it's not uploading half of my pictures.  ANYWAY!  Time to play catch up!

Easter Sunday, we had an opportunity before church to take a few shots in the pretty bluebonnets (a MUST every spring if you live in Texas).. These crack me up because Ben looks like such a rolly pollie in the middle!

 A few shots at the house on Easter before we left.

 Over at Mom's on Easter

Always smiling!

Now let's get to the sweet 8 month pics of my big boy!

Ben is still sleeping like a champ, eating like a growing boy (8 oz. bottles already), and he's starting to try and get around by himself (Uh-Oh)!  When Nate and Lilly aren't smothering him, he really wants to be on the move, chasing them around.  He gets so mad when Brian or I walk out of the room for a second.  You can tell he wants to follow us and see what we're doing!  He's trying to crawl, but then just ends up sitting back up.  Any day now!  He got his first two teeth on the bottom, but no more yet.   He loves most foods except peas and green beans.  He's eating puffs now and LOVES those (such a life saver to stuff a few of those in his mouth when he gets fussy).  We've been making more trips to the park with friends since the weather has been nicer, and Ben loves to get out of the stroller and sit on a blanket.  He also sat in a highchair at Chick-Fil-A for the first time this month!  Yay to not having to bring that stupid carrier everywhere anymore (he's just about too big for that too).  Lots of firsts for this big guy!!

GO RANGERS!

 Chatting at a park with an older woman ;)

 Soooo big!

 That's my childhood blanky on his head :)

 I was proud of my non-crafty self for getting these painted and up in Ben's room!

 Sometimes an evening walk in the stroller is the only way to get any peace.  Maybe he was fussy because of his new teeth?  He loves stroller and car rides!

 Trying to crawl..

Love this of Nate and Lilly before their spring show at school.  They did so good, and they look so grown up!!

My big 7 month old

Ok, our baby is growing way too fast!!  LITERALLY!  Ben was seven months old on March 16.  At his check up at 6 and a half months old, he was 20.11 pounds and 27.25 inches long.  In the 90th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height.  Ben is WAY bigger than Nate and Lilly were at this age. 

He's becoming more independent, spending more time on the floor playing with toys (of course usually with big brother and sister in his face).  He isn't crawling but he figured out how to move a little way by hopping up and down on his bottom, scooting forward little by little. 

The BEST thing I have to report this month is that Ben is SLEEPING for 12 straight hours at night AND sometimes he even takes long naps for me during the day!  Somehow, no matter what, he is still pretty fussy in the evenings, though.  It's a challenge to hold him over until 7pm for his last bottle and bed time.  He seems like he's ready for bed around 5!  What's really nice is that Nate and Lilly have actually been sleeping later too, sometimes I even get to get up, shower, have my coffee and watch a few minutes of the news before anyone in the house is awake.  Talk about heavenly bliss.  Sigh.  I'll enjoy it while it lasts!!  Pretty soon Ben will be teething and in a few more months, I'll have to be waking everyone up early to get ready for kindergarten :(.  Boo! 

 

In the mean time, look at these pictures of my sweet baby boy playing on the floor!  If you don't want to smooch his cheeks right off, I don't believe you!!

 

Can't you just hear him grunting?  He wants to crawl so badly!  He is ready to get moving!

 

Doing the "Superman"

Loving some green beans!

 

Beautiful window light and mushy green beans.. a photographer's dream :)

 

Are you talkin' to ME?

 

I know, I'm adorable.  What are you gonna do..

 

Hello, Mr. Brown Eyes :)

 

Now on to some of my favorite phone pics from this month!

Having fun playing in his room!

 Holding bottle like a big boy!

 Making friends with Mattie one very cold day while the big kids were in school..

 Superman!

 Loving his first time in a swing!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this age!!!! 

Big kids are conquering fears..

..and I couldn't be more proud!!

Nate started soccer a few weeks ago, and has done such a good job!!  He has practice once a week and a game every Saturday.  He listens to his coach, and hustles all the time.  I am so proud of the big boy that he is becoming.  I LOVE watching him run back and forth out there and go after the ball, even though he doesn't know what's going on all the time!  He is having so much fun, and that's what I love the most.  It would be so hard to drag him out there for practice and games every week, and I think we'd stop when/if we got to that point.  But for now he counts down the days until he can play soccer again with his new friends.  He says his favorite part about games is when the parent make a "bridge" for the players to run through, and of course the SNACK they get at the end (all this boy thinks about is FOOD!!).

Lilly started taking some tap classes, which turned into a tap class followed by a ballet class.  When I saw how she lit up and started gaining confidence little by little, I just couldn't see any reason to not keep her in dance as long as possible.  The teacher of her little class at the activity center started her own studio, and last week we started a ballet-tap combo class there with 4 and 5 year olds (other class was 2 to 5 year olds).  She was a little nervous about it being all new friends in her class, but she walked right in and did GREAT.  The class is an hour and she said she liked it, so we'll keep doing that until she tells me otherwise.  The difference in Lilly from December to now (for whatever reason) has been amazing.  She still has her days, but the crying has pretty much stopped, and when she does it only last a second.  She is speaking up and sounding more confident.  She is initiating conversations with new friends (which NEVER happened before).  I'm SO glad to see her be more comfortable with new adventures, especially since we are getting so close to the big KINDERGARTEN!!! 

And what's a post without PICTURES!?

This was the class she was taking with the younger girls at the activity center..

 Easy to see Lilly because she was the tallest (oldest) one!

 Practice!

 First game!