Family Christmas

On Saturday we had the Mielke Family Christmas. Here are a few pictures - a great time had by all. I just wish we would all be able to see each other more often! Bennett with Great-Grandma Bennett, Evan & Peytra trying out Bennett's new wagon

There are 6 kids three years & under - here is a sequence of the picture we "tried" to take.

from L-R Evan (Amy's), Bennett, Grace (Amy's), Gabriel (Chris's), Peytra & Stryker (Kay's)

Think we had enough food!!! This isn't even counting the 4 crock pots of snacks plugged in on the counter. And, this isn't including the ham dinner we had later on in the evening either!

Merry Christmas from the Fords!

What a great Christmas so far! On Christmas Eve we went with some of Mike's relatives to Christmas Eve church and then to Mike's uncle Mike's & his wife Trace's house for Christmas dinner. From there we went to my mom's. Bennett's favorite gift from her house was a classic red wagon! Then this Christmas Day morning we went to church and then came home and Bennett opened his present from Santa - a bag of Mega Blocks and a wagon to store them in which also dumps. Then later we headed back to mom's for another big turkey dinner. We have two more family Christmas's to go to so I'm sure there will be more pictures later on in the week.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Mike, Rachel & Bennett

11 Months!

Bennett turned 11 months old a couple days ago. It really is hitting me that in a few weeks he will be 1! This time last year I was very pregnant and counting (and counting, and counting...) down the days. This Christmas time last year is so very vivid for me still since I was so excited and anxious for Bennett to come. I keep catching myself saying, "Last year at this time I was...".

It was another big month with lots of new things for Bennett - here are a few of the highlights.

-2 new teeth on top which brings his total to 10

-walking around furniture and walking with things while holding on

-can stand without holding on to anything

-can shake his head No

-understands peak-a-boo and can cover his face with a blanket

-understands how to give hugs & kisses (I LOVE THIS!)

Grandparents

Grandpa Ford, Bennett & Grandma Stark Last weekend Mike's dad Ken was in MN from FL for his brothers funeral. It was an unfortunate reason that he had to come but we were happy to see him since we haven't seen him since February right after Bennett was born. On Saturday he came to our house to spend time with us (along with Mike's mom LeAnn and his Aunt Dianne also from FL). Then later that evening we met up with some more of Mike's family for supper. We don't see the Ford side of the family very often at all so we all had a great time.

Great-Grandpa Bill & Bennett

Santa Claus

Santa & Mrs. Claus came to town this morning so I took Bennett. I was worried he'd freak out but he didn't at all. He was very interested in the white fur on Santa's sleeve. We've been teaching Bennett to say Ho Ho Ho. If we can get him to say them, it's usually only one or two Ho Ho's but still pretty cute!

Baby Pictures

I finally took Bennett in today to get his baby pictures taken. I had planned that I was going to take him and our future kids in at 9 months to get their picture taken. But, Bennett had a cold and awful runny nose for at least a month so I didn't want to have to worry about green snot in the pictures. So, I'm about 1 1/2 months behind but I took him to Target today since I had my day off. I only ordered two poses but here are some of the best ones I had to choose from.

Weekly update

Last weekend was my good friend Angie's wedding to Jim. Lots of planning and preparing went in to the day and it all turned out great! Here are a couple of pictures.

Rachel, Angie, Missy & Karen

Bennett found out that this window is his height so he can look outside and watch the cars with the kitty.

I went to watch Kristen in the musical at school tonight - Oliver. She was a townsperson in a few scenes where they sang and danced and then also a police officer in one scene where she even had a few speaking parts. This picture was taken after the play. This was part of her police officer costume.

10 Months

Bennett is 10 Months! This has been another big month for him. He is crawling all over, pulling himself up on everything, walking across the furniture and will not sit still for anything! He is "talking" a lot and even is associating words with sounds; like when he sees Elmo or I say Elmo, he says "E". He also has a sound he makes every time we say Kitty but it's not a sound I can type. The best one though is "Bennett, did you go poop?" and he many times will say "Eghhh" and kind of grunt. Hopefully he keeps remembering this one so that potty training is alittle easier!

Bennett and Daddy wrestling

So I found out at work that my hours have been cut to 20 hours a week. Luckily work and my daycare are being flexible with me and I am able to work Mon/Wed/Fri full days and then only pay daycare for those three days instead of the whole week. (at first when they told me about getting my hours cut they wanted every day from 1-5 which would mean paying daycare all those days plus driving all that way for just a few hours every day). So, please say a few prayers for Mike & me as we figure out what the next months hold for us. Hopefully this is only a temporarily couple month hour lose but there is no guarantee how long it will last.

Happy Halloween!

Bennett was a very cute lion for Halloween tonight. We borrowed the costume from Amy - Evan wore it last year - Thanks Amy!

He didn't like getting his face painted (I think he thought we were going to wipe his nose)

Bennett says Hi

I was taking a picture of Bennett tonight after he was done eating supper and he started waving at the camera. So, "Hi" from Bennett.

Ugh- what a weekend...

Well, this is an end of the week that I hope doesn't get repeated any time soon... Let's start with Thursday. Bennett's babysitter had Thursday & Friday off since her kids would be home for MEA teachers break. That wasn't a problem cause Josh, Kristen & David would also be home for break so Bennett was going to go there. Well, on Thursday morning when I was taking Bennett, as I was driving up on to my mom's yard, I accidentally hit the new puppy Buster :( . Not a good way to start off the day. He ran to the garage right away hobbling on 3 legs so I could defiantly tell that one of his front legs was hurt. Plus, he was spitting up a little blood too which didn't look good. So, not knowing what to do and mom being in Mankato for the teachers meetings, we decided that David and Josh would take him to the vet. So luckily "all" that is wrong was a fractured leg. He spent the night at the vet and now has a huge splint on his leg. I need to take a picture and put it up here cause it actually is kinda funny looking and a site to see! Poor thing though - hope he is scared to death of cars now! I felt so bad... So anyways, Thursday night after work, I took Bennett and went grocery shopping. As soon as I got home I told Mike right away that I wasn't sure if I felt quite right. Well, sure enough, by the time I went to bed I had the chills, a fever and could not sleep at all that night. Knowing I couldn't go to work Friday, I had to call and wake up Kristen very early so that she'd be awake when Mike dropped Bennett off at 5:00 on his way in. So Friday I was sick with the flu and out of energy all day with a pretty high fever so Bennett spent the night at my moms. Saturday, no flu but still didn't feel that great and no energy. So today, Sunday, I still have a sore throat but otherwise feel much better. So when we went to pick up Bennett today, we found out that this morning, Kristen got the stomach flu too and had thrown up alot! So, Bennett has defiantly been exposed to the flu and I wasn't able to get him his flu shot yet cause the clinic was out. So, that was our crazy messed up weekend that, like I said, I hope does not repeat! And hopefully, my sore throat is nothing but a sore throat, Bennett gets over his runny nose that he's had for a week now and doesn't get anything more and hopefully Mike stays away from all of this and stays healthy! On a lighter note - this weekend, besides having a blast being spoiled for 2 straight days, started crawling on hands and knees, is pulling himself up to standing all the time, and is walking across furniture while holding on to it! Couldn't believe all the stuff he mastered in these past 2 days.

9 Months

Bennett turned 9 months old on Monday!!! I can't believe how fast this first year is going. Tuesday he had his 9 month checkup and things are great. He is 21 lb 5 oz and 28 inches. This puts him only in the 50% for both weight & height which, even the doctor said was surprising cause he looks and seems much bigger than that. Oh well, nothing wrong with average I guess - haha.

Tonight was Josh's last home football game so Bennett and I braved the cold and went to the game at halftime. Here is a picture of him all bundled up.

Growing Boy

Bennett had a big week this week! It's like he's grown more in the last week than the last month.

-He scooting everywhere! He no longer stays put and is finding lots of things to get in to. He is also now chasing the cats around which I don't think they are enjoying. They'll get up and move a few feet and next thing he's right there, so they get up and move again (and again and again).

-He tried spaghetti last night and seemed to like it. The potatoes and broccoli tonight though were not a big hit.

-He waves Hi, Bye and Night which is verrrry cute! Even when I said tonight, "It's time to get ready to go night-night", he started waving.

-His 7th tooth showed up - didn't see that coming at all - it just showed up.

-I found him sitting up in his crib the other night so he apparently can pull himself up from laying to sitting. He is also starting to pull himself up from sitting to standing. So, it's time to move the mattress lower.

Bathtub

So I had the video camera out taking some video of Bennett this past week and last night I decided to take some video of his bath time. After I had a few minutes of him splashing around, I put it away. Then, a few minutes later, he grunted like he does when he's about to poop. Usually though, it's more than one grunt so I didn't really think much of it. But, of course, he pooped in the tub! So, what do I do but grab the video camera for a quick tape of this. Mike though is hearing this from the living room runs in and is freaking out that he's going to eat his poop - obviously I wouldn't have let that happen and I seriously had only been taping the poop for seconds. Anyways, I cleaned up Bennett and let Mike clean up the tub. I debated about putting the video on here but I figured I probably shouldn't and you might not want to see it anyways - so, settle for the poop in the tub story instead. But, I will defiantly make sure Bennett and his future girlfriend or wife watches this some day :-)

It's been too long...

Wow - it has been way too long since I've had a chance to get on here! Quick updates on everyone...

Bennett is changing constantly these days! He has 2 new teeth over the past few weeks. He has 6 total now - 4 on the top & 2 on the bottom. He bites our shoulders while we're holding him. I don't think he means to or knows that what he is doing is wrong, he just gets too excited sometimes while giving hugs. He also is defiantly getting close to crawling. He does move from place to place on his belly but hasn't quiet figured out how to move on all fours yet. So, he doesn't stay put anymore which is making it a little harder for us since he still complains when he is on his tummy - and he's the one that puts himself there! He also seems to be enjoying playing more by himself, bath time and he gets a new treat of Animal Crackers. Oh yea, and he is very close to waving hi or bye and clapping. He's really at a fun age right now!

Mike's hours at work are changing with the season so he doesn't get home till almost 4:00 now. He doesn't like getting home that late but now I don't feel so bad being at work since he only has Bennett alone for about 2 hours instead of 3-4 before I get home. He had a problem with his truck last week but luckily was able to temporarily fix if for $30 instead of the quote he was given of $300! Wish us luck that the "fix" will hold for along time!

I have been able to get together with my friends Karen & Angie a few times in the past month to do some wedding shopping and helping for Angie's wedding which is in November. This included my first trip to Ikea last weekend. Wow, a person could really buy a lot and go overboard there! We were kind of on a one track mind for the things for the wedding so I didn't do much looking but I'll have to head back there with the girls when we have more time. I do have to tell you about my great find tonight at Michael's Arts & Crafts. This fake houseplant was originally $69.99 on sale for $9.99. But with my 40% off coupon I only paid $6.00! Finally, a plant I CAN NOT kill!

Another "New" Toy - Walker

Mike and I have been talking about getting Bennett a walker for awhile now but Target only has one in stores for $40 and it doesn't look too exciting - no real toys attached or anything. So, I decided to go look at Once Upon a Child today after work and I found this one for $25. It was still more than I was hoping to spend but it looked like it was still in good shape plus the toy tray has buttons to press that make sounds and music. And, the added bonus is that it is Sesame Street. (Every morning while I'm getting ready I turn on PBS in the background while he plays. The second the Sesame Street song comes on though, he stares at the TV until the theme song is over - every morning! - it's cute). So anyways, I brought it home and let him try it out and he got the hang of it immediately and was moving around the kitchen. It was so fun to watch him that it almost brought a tear to my eye - thinking how big he is getting and so impressed that he could do something like this already. It made me realize that it was worth spending the $25. I also got him a really cute winter sweater and a pair of khaki's that he can wear to church for $5! You just wait - that'll be a great picture coming this fall :-)

New Puppy!

Ok so it's technically not our new puppy but my mom's. We are saying that it's Bennett's new puppy at Grandma's house. Today there was a pork chop dinner and silent auction benefit for a guy from our church. There were two puppies up for bid at the silent auction and they were not getting much bids or high bids at all. So, I told Josh that he should bid on a puppy (mostly just to get the price to go up alittle). Well, "lucky" Josh was the winning bid for the male puppy at just $12! So, hence Bennett gets a puppy at Grandma's! There is no name for him yet but it is a male 3 month old Black Lab/German Shepherd mix. Really cute! Also, it's been a full week since I've updated this so since then we have done the following: Last Friday night Mike & I went to Timberlodge to eat for our 3rd anniversary. Bennett spent the night at my mom's. Saturday I shampooed all of my carpets which needed to be done since Bennett is moving so much more on them these days - he's scoots backwards Sunday we went to my mom's for a Labor Day get together with some family This Friday night Bennett & I went to Josh's football game again. Saturday night Mike & I had to go to his work for a 30th Birthday party for his golf course. A few of my siblings came over to watch Bennett (and the Gophers play since we have cable) Sunday (today) got a puppy :-)

Football Game

Bennett went to his first (of many) football games tonight. We went to watch Josh play - he's a Senior this year. He subs in and out on defense (I think...). There was enough to watch to keep Bennett entertained. He feel asleep in the 3rd quarter though but that's ok since it was past his bedtime. Mayer won 11-7.

New Toy

Here are pictures of Bennett with his new toy. Some people I work with have grand kids that are outgrowing some of their toys. So as they do, they have been passing them on to us! We got some smaller rattles when he was a baby, the exasaucer and now this toy from them - thanks Barb & Tom! I have had it for a few months but he is now able to stand and play with it. He does fall on his butt a little but for the most part he is really doing well and enjoying playing with it so far. He has very strong legs but after standing for long periods his legs give out and he falls - to be expected. He does kind of put his belly weight against it to help hold himself up but whatever works I guess. This thing plays songs, counts, does the ABC's etc. It's fun watching him learn all these new things!

Yesterday he went over to my mom's for the first time in a week. Boy did they miss not seeing him everyday! They all kept telling me though how much he's grown in the last week. I guess seeing him daily you don't realize just how much he is growing & learning. These are the things that they said he is now doing or getting better at just in the last week: -he now sticks out his tongue constantly -he 2nd top tooth is fully through & the 1st top one is very noticeable now -he can walk reallllly well when you hold his hands and walk with him -he jumps and bounces up and down when he stands on the floor or your lap -he's getting much better at holding his body weight off the ground getting ready for crawling -his baby babble has more sounds, syllables and is defiantly louder! Also just a "funny" side-note - I'll make this quick - Friday morning I had my first changing catastrophe with Bennett. In the mornings, he gets fed and then he plays while I shower & get ready. When I'm ready, I change him and get him ready to go. Well I was getting ready he was playing in the exasaucer and when I went to pick him up, I noticed he leaked through his diaper and pee was running down his legs & he was splashing in it! But, that wasn't the worst...as I was putting him on the changing table, I now saw that he had pooped and he had poop also running down his legs (and on his tummy and in every single crack of his butt). So as I'm taking the disgusting diaper off, he sticks his fingers down there, and puts poo on the wall & then proceeds to put it on his face! Gross! Needless to say he needed and a bath and we were late to daycare.

Weekend & Daycare

Saturday - Mike took Bennett to his mom's for a visit in the afternoon. It was nice for them to see him and nice for me to have a few hours of peace & quite! Then that evening, Bennett & I walked to my mom's. It's exactly 3 miles. It wasn't that bad except that the bugs got bad towards the end. It took us just shy of an hour to get there. If I wasn't pushing him I'm positive it wouldn't have even taken that long.

Sunday - I cleaned and took Bennett to my mom's for the afternoon. Turns out David didn't move on Saturday as planned so they got to hang out for a little bit again.

Monday - Daycare started. From the report I got back, he did great! There is another little boy just a few months older than Bennett so I guess they "played" together for awhile. I felt really weird dropping him off - like I was sending him to school or something - but I knew he'd be fine so I wasn't too worried. Heidi had him eating Cheerios when I left so he didn't even notice or care that I left - he just cared about the FOOD.

Tuesday - Daycare went good again today and then tonight we went to Shirley's to see cousins Amy & Evan who are in town visiting. I can't wait for her new baby to be born in about a month!!!

Bennett's 4th tooth came through over the weekend (thank God) and ever since then he has slept the night again!

Mike's mom took this picture. He almost looks like he's about to cry but it's still so cute!

Week's Update

It's been alittle awhile again so I'll do a quick catch you up tonight.

• Bennett has been working on his 2nd top tooth all week and by the end of the weekend I think it will poke through. This is the worst one so far. He ended up with a fever of 100.9, hasn't slept well at all the past few nights, has been more crabby and lots of yucky poops!

• This was his last week having Kristen babysit for the summer. And this week David did alot of it since everyone else was gone for parts of the day. Kristen has started Freshman volleyball, Josh has football and my mom has started teachers meetings. It has been GREAT having him with my family this summer and I thank them so much! Bennett loved it and so did Mike & I. Next week Bennett will start going to a daycare at Heidi's - wish us luck!
• Last weekend we went to my Grandparents for a family get-together. We had a great time seeing everyone again!
• I had to clip my little baby's first little lock of hair this week....sigh. He was getting Joe Mauer sideburns on one side so it needed a little trim.
• David leaves for college tomorrow for his 2nd year in the carpentry program

What a great babysitter. Thanks Kristen!!!Bennett wearing Josh's hat

Bennett with David the night before he leaves