Ben - 41 Weeks to 1 Year Old

I just realized that I never loaded the last few weekly pictures that I took of Ben. I decided to stop taking his picture every Saturday once he was a year old. I'm glad I did it for the first year but honestly, it was hard to keep up with it all. Of course this doesn't mean that I've stopped taking his picture altogether so you can definitely keep checking back to see how big our baby has become!




41 Weeks





















42 Weeks












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49 Weeks












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51 Weeks












Happy 1st Birthday!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving dinner with Joe's family at his Mom-Mom's house in Delaware. It was nice for us because we didn't have far to travel, especially since we went to my Aunt Maureen's for a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner later that night in PA. Both dinners were great and we were stuffed! Ben had fun playing with all his cousins too.

Walking

Ben began walking independently without holding on and by his own choice on November 15th. Of course, he chose to do this while I was at work but Joe was home with him and called with the good news. I was a little sad to have missed it but luckily he did it again for me that night. At first he took just 1-3 steps at a time but before long he was walking all over the place. I don't have a good video of his first few attempts, but here's a link to a video I took about couple weeks later. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkohvuP0VYA

Wedding Weekend

The weekend of November 10th and 11th, we attended 2 weddings. One was for my co-worker Stacia and the other was for Joe's cousin, Bobby Dale. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries for Stacia's wedding, but she was a beautiful bride and we had a great time at the wedding.

Bobby Dale's wedding was in Maryland so we left Ben overnight with my mom and headed down for the night. We got lost on the way there but luckily found the venue before it got started. It was a small wedding and the ceremony and reception were at the same place. Here are some pictures of the good times we had.

The happy couple, Michelle & Bobby Dale Sikes

Joe's Mom and Victoria

Chrissy & Matt

Victoria & Joe

Joe's Aunt Sheila & Uncle Jack

Joe's Dad and his sister, Aunt Arlene

Joe's cousin Jeff and his wife Debbie

Joe's Uncle Freddy and his fiance, Claire

Joe's cousins Bob, Megan and her boyfriend

Michelle and her new sister-in-law, Joe's cousin Mandy getting their groove on

The Dancing Queens - Chris & I had to drag Victoria out onto the dance floor but I think she secretly had fun

First Haircut

At some point I had heard that you should wait until after a baby turns 1 year old before you cut his hair. For a few months before Ben's 1st birthday, Joe kept telling me that his hair was getting too long and it really didn't matter if we went ahead and cut it. Apparently most people agreed but they didn't bother me too much about it. I found out later that one of our friends put her daughter's barrette in Ben's hair during a playdate because it was in his eyes (if only I had a picture!!).

Anyway, I waited stubbornly until after Ben's first birthday (plus 2 weeks) before I finally agreed to cut his hair. On November 10th, we took Ben for his first haircut. We went to Michael's Barbershop which is the same place that Joe has been getting his haircuts since he was a little boy. The whole experience was a little sad for me and traumatic for Ben. He doesn't really like to have his head touched and he kept swatting his hand at the barber. Finally Joe gave Ben his cell phone to try to keep him occupied so the barber could finish...Ben's crying in the last picture not because he didn't like his haircut, but because afterwards Joe tried to take the cell phone away! In the end, I have to admit that Ben looked much better after the trim and he looked so much more grown up!

Happy Halloween

Ben was born 2 days before Halloween and was still in the hospital for his first Halloween. So, although this was officially his 2nd Halloween, it was the first time he was able to dress up and enjoy the festivities. It was also the first time that Cooper got to join in on the fun. Unfortunately, Ben wasn't feel very well but he tried to have a good time. His favorite part was seeing the kids come to the door...he cried when they would leave because he didn't understand why they weren't coming in to play with him!!

Linvilla Orchards

Joe and I took off from work the day after Ben's birthday weekend. We decided to go to Linvilla Orchards to pick a pumpkin and take Ben on his first hayride.

Ben's 1st Birthday - Part 2

We hosted a second 1st Birthday Party for Ben on his actual birthday, this time for our family. It was a lot of fun and Ben definitely enjoyed himself. He received more presents than we knew what to do with...thank goodness our house has lots of storage!! Here are some pictures of the good times had by all that day.

Ben's 1st Birthday - Part 1

On October 28, 2006, we began the celebration of Benjamin's 1st year with us. We hosted 2 parties at our house, one for friends on Saturday and one for family on Sunday. It was a lot of fun and a little stressful but totally worth it. We so appreciated everyone coming to help us celebrate Ben's birthday.

Business Trips

For almost the last 4 years, I've been involved with a project at work to implement a performance management system. There have been a variety of delays for a variety of reasons but finally it looks like we are going to go live with the system this month. So in preparation for the implementation, I got to go to San Francisco for 2 different weeks in October for training.

I had never been to San Francisco and technically I was staying in Redwood City/Redwood Shores (the names seemed to be interchangeable but I'm not sure if that's true). Anyway, Redwood is about 20 minutes south of San Fran and home to many major computer-related companies. I really liked the area and the city...much more than LA (sorry Matt!). Since I went out the first week by myself, 2 of the other people in the training class took me under their wing and drove me around to see some sights. This was especially nice since I didn't have a rental car!

On Monday, 10/9, we went down to Fisherman's Wharf . Either my camera doesn't take very good pictures at night or I didn't have it on the right setting...so, the pictures came out pretty grainy.






Here's Alcatraz from the docks















We walked down to Pier 39 to see the Sea Lions laying out...although in this shot, you can really only see the Sea Gulls














Here are some really blurry Sea Lions









On 10/11 we went into San Mateo for lunch. It had a nice couple of blocks of shops and places to eat. I found that most of the different towns had similar areas and that was pretty cool. I also couldn't get over how clean the streets were, even in downtown San Fran. Anyway, as we walked around, we came upon a guy outside a restaurant with 2 parrots. Now, they weren't just any parrots though...they were cowboys!


















Both of the parrots were wearing cowboy hats and the kids walking by were loving it...I guess I was too! I overheard the man say that these parrots are famous and have been featured on the Discover Channel. So I guess I did meet some celebrities on my trip!






That night, some of us went out to a brewery in Half Moon Bay for dinner. It's right on the water and I got this picture of the sun setting.







On my last day of the 1st trip, I got to go on a tour of Alcatraz with some other people in my class. I kind of felt bad because Joe really wants to go there and I didn't have much interest in it. I took pictures for him though and figure I'll do the tour again when we get a chance to go out there together.







San Francisco skyline from the boat to Alcatraz















The Rock - in my head I hear this spoken with Sean Connery's accent













The "Welcome" Sign
















Broadway cell block
















The rumored cell of Al Capone



















The San Francisco skyline on the boat ride back...blurry but pretty







I took the red eye home that night so I could spend time with Ben and Joe. Being away wasn't as hard as I expected it to be but I certainly missed them and I know Joe was glad to have another set of hands to help keep up with Ben! Surprisingly Ben didn't seem to hold it against me that I was a away for almost a week...he's such a trooper!

Funny Baby

Ben has become quite a ham. Whenever he sees my camera, he gets the silliest grin on his face and it's just so funny! I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what he's doing too because if he doesn't see that orange light just before the flash, he totally turns off the smile. It cracks me up!




























This one is my favorite!






Later that afternoon, I guess Ben was completely worn out after so many pictures (I know, I think I may have an obsession). I made one of his favorites for lunch, grilled cheese, and just as he was finishing up, he just fell asleep right there in his high chair. So, of course, I had to get a few more pictures of him!


















He actually ended up sleeping in the high chair for about an hour. He's got this thing now with having at least one hand either on his face or behind his head whenever he sleeps. He looks like he's very deep in thought!

Hard Day

One night in late September I had to work late...well, let's be honest, I work late a lot...but on this particular night I arrived home to the following scene:








Joe tried to keep Ben awake so we could see each other but after he went upstairs to check on dinner and came back, he found that Benjamin had just passed out asleep on the floor. Apparently, we both had a hard day.

Ooohhh...Stairs

Since about the end of the summer Ben has been walking while holding onto furniture and become obsessed with climbing the stairs. As time's gone by, he's become pretty fast at crawling over there and making a break for it whenever he gets the chance. We held out putting up a gate as long as we could but now it's probably one of the best things we could have ever bought...for his safety and our sanity! Here are some pics that I took during his beginning fascination with the steps.








At first we could just yell no and that was enough to deter him...and make him cry sometimes. (8/26)

















Then he would stand at the bottom and taunt us with the possibility that he would get all the way up...a few minutes later he did and I got it on video but I can't put it on here. (9/2)











When we first put up the gate we had trouble figuring out the best way keep it up...hence there was a big gap and Ben thought it was a pretty cool challenge to try to fit his head under it. (9/9)














Eventually we figured out the gate but we also realized we needed to give in sometimes and let him go for it...he loves that and he's super fast! (9/13)

Go Eagles!!!

So back on 9/10, I dressed Ben up in his Donovan McNabb jersey and we watched the Eagles stomp the Texans. I've been an Eagles fan all my life so it's just natural that we raise our boy as a fan too. So here are some pics of Ben hamming it up in his jersey...too cute!!!






Ben gearing up for the game with the Eagles football his Grandpa gave him while he was still in utero














Ben checking out the game up close

















Ben taking a break from the game to play with Daddy's shoelaces














Having lost interest in the game, Ben decided to play his own game












And finally, Ben was out like a light from all the excitement!