Ben's Valentine's Day Surprise!

Those of you who know Ben well, know that he hates to be called, "Benny", a fact that my mother is very aware of. You will also know that Ben hates to be the center of attention, another fact my mother is very aware of. For Valentine's Day this year, my mom thought it would be funny to take something embarrassing in to Ben at his work, just for fun. For those of you who are thinking, "That doesn't sound like Megan's mom", you don't actually know her very well! My mom loves jokes and pranks-as long as they are good natured. And, she knows that my awesome husband happens to be VERY good natured. So-here's what happened!

She made him a giant sugar cookie and frosted it. Notice the Benny Boo on it.

She got a bouquet of ostentatious balloons.

And she found some awesome heart glasses to wear. This is her right before we walking into the building to deliver Ben's surprise!

He was shocked! So totally unexpected, and my mom walked into the room (where all of the other developers also are) calling out in a high, silly voice: "Benny?! Is my Benny Boo in here?!" It took Ben a half a second to process that: a) this was my mom, b) she was calling him Benny, and c) that I was right behind her with Noah and a camera.

Then he just started laughing and laughing! He was laughing so hard, he couldn't say anything for a minute, and he even grasped for something to say, which is very unusual for him! He thought it was hilarious, and is already plotting his revenge. My poor mom, Ben doesn't just get even, he will one up!

Mom tried to tie the balloons to his desk, but the knot came loose and the balloons floated up to the rafters above Ben's desk, and there they will stay until they deflate! Ben's reaction was hilarious, and his co-workers called him Benny, and one person asked if he could just call Ben "Boo", which was hilarious.

Ben walked us out after a few minutes, and then went back inside, naively believing the joke was over. But, as soon as he was inside the building (with no windows from his office to the parking lot), we decorated his car.

Mom was especially proud of the big Benny Boo on the back window.

Ben had a great time with the joke, being a very good sport and taking it for the fun that it was. He was still laughing throughout the day, and called me from the car wash-once he discovered his car! I came home to one line on my computer in our chat window, "Your mom is going to get it." :) His plans thus far are pretty funny, and I will be sure to post the retaliation once it happens! (Don't worry Mom, he's going to play nice...enough!)

As for the rest of the Valentine's Day, Ben brought me home a big red Valentine's Day bag, and inside were a whole bunch of treats that I LOVE but never buy for myself. I am very good at not buying junk food-even though I always want to. Some of the treats included Peanut M&Ms (all time favorite!), Sour Patch Watermelons, and gummy bears. Then, also inside the bag, was a note from Ben saying that he had been secretly saving up for blinds for our main floor windows!!! I am SO excited! I have Wal-Mart sheets hanging in the windows of the living room and kitchen, and blinds there instead will be awesome! He knows me very well, and knows that spoiling me with my favorite (but forbidden) treats is more fun to me than flowers, and that I have been wanting blinds for months and months! We had our traditional feast of deli food from Smith's. (Reminiscent of our first Valentine's Day together, we had a candlelit carpet picnic with deli food since we were poor.) Then, after the baby was in bed for the night, I had candles lit all over our room as a surprise for Ben, it was very romantic! :) I love my husband, he is absolutely amazing, treats me so incredibly well, and has made my life a joy!

Noah's 6 Month Stats

Well, we just got back from Noah's 6 month check up! Four shots later...He did really good though, he didn't cry again, which is awesome, and then he just went to sleep on the way home. Hopefully he stays in a good mood the rest of the day and tomorrow. He is 27 1/2 inches and 16 lbs 2 oz. So, he is in the 23% for weight, but the 75% for height. The doctor said he has really muscly legs too, which is not surprising since Noah is SO active! Everything else checked out perfectly, he is a healthy boy! We got the green light to go ahead with fruits and veggies, and we are going to start transitioning to the bottle from nursing this week, wish me luck! :)

Superbowl Success!

Well, another Superbowl party is done and done! We had a really nice turn out again this year, about 15 people and a few little kids and babies. I was shocked, but Noah still took his afternoon nap, even with all of the noise and everything! He did awesome! He liked watching all of the people in the house. One of the other couples there had a little girl a few months older than Noah and they used the high chair to feed her. I showed Noah the other baby in his chair-and he scowled at her! It was really funny! We had plenty of food-we made BBQ pulled pork for sandwiches, homemade queso and chips, little smokies (in chili sauce and grape jelly!), peanut butter bars, smore bars, and then we also had cake pops brought in by a friend. Plus, we had more pop than we knew what to do with and lots of chips, as well as a nice veggie tray! I think it was a successful party since we had a few people ask for the recipes for the meat stuff. That's usually a pretty good sign...Plus we didn't have too much food leftover, another good sign! :) I didn't get any pictures, unfortunately, but we set up a 6 ft table in the family room for all of the food, and we turned the office into a playroom for the kids by putting lots of toys in there (from my mom's house) and our extra TV and DVD player so they had their own little movie party. We also put the Love Sack in there, which was a hit! It all turned out great, and, quite unintentionally, the plates, cups, and napkins were even in the team colors of the Giants-the team we were cheering for! I am pretty sure that's why they won...

First Tooth!

Well, Noah officially has a tooth! It's poking out a pretty good amount, and his disposition has improved dramatically compared with the couple of days before the tooth poked out! Poor guy, good thing none of us remember teething, it sure doesn't look very fun! Noah will turn 6 months old on Saturday, which means we have his 6 month check up on Monday! Stay tuned for his measurements and pictures from the Superbowl! :)

Recent Happenings

Well, this past weekend my whole family got together at a friend's cabin and had a fantastic overnighter! This cabin is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and has lots to do, everything from a theater room to ping pong to air hockey to hot tub to a barn with animals to visit! It was a blast. Noah had a little bit of a hard time going to bed that night, but once he was asleep he was out for the count until 8:30 the next morning, which was awesome. We had a family bingo game that we played too, I learned a few things about my siblings which was really fun. My niece and nephew LOVED the house, it is really big so they ran around like crazy trying to see everything. It was a lot of fun, and we even got to watch the snow fall which was gorgeous. Then on Sunday we were all over at my parent's house to celebrate two birthdays-Mom and my sister-in-law Ashli. It was a lot of fun as well, although all of the kids (Noah included) were pretty tired from the late night at the cabin. On Monday was my mom's actual birthday and as a surprise I took dinner over for her and the family. It was my sister's idea-and she took care of all the planning and everything, right down to having sparkling cider for the beverage! It has been nice to have a couple of days just at home since all that happened back to back-I have my work stuff to get turned in and it was good to get Noah back to a set routine. All in all, it's been a lot of fun lately! :)

The Solid Food Experience!

Our first day eating rice cereal! Noah's bib says, "This is what handsome looks like", which is actually the VERY first thing I bought when I found out that I was having a baby boy! :)

I don't think he is smiling for the cereal so much as he is smiling for daddy making funny sounds behind the camera!

Feeding him cereal takes FOREVER, but he is so cute that it's all worth it! He is getting better and better at eating it, we will be moving to vegetables soon!

Wax Museum Pics

Ben, Me, Noah, and Uncle Derek (Ben's brother) at the entrance to the Madame Toussard's Wax Museum inside the Venetian hotel on the Strip in Las Vegas. We had fun looking at all the "celebrities", I even bumped into a wax figure and apologized before I realized it wasn't a real person! They all looked extremely lifelike!

Me and Noah with Shaq!

On Evil Knevil's motorcycle (it actually made revving sounds when you sat on it)

Kicking back with Beyonce

Ben getting his "Snoop" on.

Noah is the treasure with Johnny Depp. I actually had two ladies take pictures of Noah sitting in the treasure chest with the little hat on!

Ben, Noah, and The King himself! (He even sang when you touched his hand)

My pose is kind of ironic considering what actually happened to this circus act...

Ben and Nicholas Cage

Ben, "walking" on the moon

Ben Franklin, George Washington, and us!

George Bush and us

Getting an autograph from Elvis!

This is a moving walkway leading to the wax museum, Ben sat Noah on the arm rail to take a little ride.

Some Random Pictures

This is Noah "helping" his dad put a bookshelf together.

Daddy is already helping him with handling tools! (Don't worry, Ben didn't let Noah handle the screwdriver unattended...)

Laying in the base of the little bookshelf.

My boys!

Ben likes to put his hats on Noah's head, and then he will say something like, "Yo yo yo" in a really deep voice, and Noah thinks it's hilarious!

Me and Noah all dressed up for Ben's work party. We make a cute little couple, don't we?

Playing with his "baby friend".

Since he scoots around and rolls all over the place while he is playing with his little friend, he usually ends up sideways under the toys. He thinks it's quite funny, a lot of times the toys will kind of bonk him on the head, but he giggles and thinks it's a game!

This post is in commemoration of Noah's 5 month (calendar) birthday. I can't believe he is 5 months old already! He can now roll from his back to his tummy, and he started solid foods (rice cereal) last weekend. He continues to be a very happy baby, and he is a joy to be around! He sleeps 10 1/2 hours continuously at night, and has 3-4 naps during the day, usually averaging 1 1/2 to 2 hours long. Stay tuned for pictures of Christmas, Las Vegas trip, and the solid foods experience!

It's a Very Growl-y Christmas!

So, I just had to post about this because I think it is hilarious. Noah has learned how to growl! Not the cute little baby grunts that they make about this stage, but full blown, from the chest, deep, throaty growls! He sounds like a little bear cub! It's really funny, he will just growl and growl and growl over and over again. I have some pretty good videos of it that I should post, as soon as I figure out how! Even now as I type this, Noah is laying on his play mat and growling away at the mirror, the ceiling, his hands, everything he can see! It honestly doesn't sound like a noise that should be coming from the throat of a darling little baby! He smiles the whole time he is growling too, which adds to the comedic effect! It makes me laugh, he growls for about 15 minutes straight before falling asleep at each nap, and he will do it for even longer than that when we go for drive in the car now. We will see how long he can actually do it when we drive to Vegas on Monday... He has also discovered how much he likes people's faces. Whenever you pick him up now, he will look right into your eyes and rest his hands on your face. He usually likes to hold your chin or rest his hands on your cheeks. Almost every time I pick him up from his naps now he will pat my cheeks and squeal or growl. It's so cute that he likes to see me after his naps so much! :) Also, he is just starting (CROSS YOUR FINGERS!) to like cuddling! He will curl up with me more and more or rest his head on my shoulder and just lay there for a little bit. This hasn't ever happened! Since he was born he has had to always have his head up and looking around, so this is a treat for me! I hope it lasts, and I hope he does it more! :)

Noah's 4 Month Pictures

I found Noah this way after one of his naps. How he got his blanket up over his head like that after being swaddled is quite impressive! :) I like his face too, like he is saying, "What?"

He has discovered how delicious his thumb is and what a good sleepy time friend it is! He will usually suck it for a moment or two, and then when he falls all the way asleep it falls out of his mouth.

He's sleeping on the couch since he refused to take his nap at the time he was supposed to, and then realized that not taking his nap made him tired!

Thumb on it's way out of his mouth.

Noah really like to sit up more and more, he can actually sit up pretty good on his own for a while, but we have to really watch him because as soon as he decides he is done he will immediately fall over!

Playing with Mommy

Sleeping in his stroller

Back awake in his stroller when my mom and I went to the Festival of Trees. He really liked being pushed around and looking at all the lights and people.

After his bath one day.

I got this face when I came at him with his antibiotic for a minor ear infection. He got to where he recognized the little syringe full of medicine!

Enjoying being pants-less!

Noah is SO incredibly close to being able to roll from his back to his tummy, he did it once already, but I think it was a fluke. He looked incredibly confused that he was on his tummy! He is getting more and more social all the time, he will smile at anyone and everyone that talks to him! I get comments all the time on how social he is. He loves to listen to voices and music. He really loves his bath time, he will splash like crazy and squeal and grin the whole time. He likes to sit in his baby swing and look out the window, especially if it is snowing or raining. He also really like to sit in his boppy pillow and watch me cook dinner and do the dishes. He is getting really good at sitting up on his own, he is slumped forward for balance a little bit, but he is getting there! At his 4 month doctor's appointment we found out he is a little over 14 lbs putting him in the 33 percentile for weight, but he is 27 inches longs, putting him in the 85 percentile for height! He is a long, skinny guy! He is doing great with his nap times, he don't usually cry at all, or if he does, it's only for 2-3 minutes. He usually plays in the crib for about 35 minutes before actually going to sleep though! I can hear him in there rolling around, blowing raspberries, talking, and cooing for a while after I put him down. He is so funny! He still loves to babble and talk a lot, and when we go in the car now, instead of falling right to sleep like he used to, he will sit back there and talk and talk and talk and spit and make noises for a while, and then fall asleep. It's so fun to listen to all of his little sounds! :) Noah is about the happiest, content, pleasant baby I have ever seen, which makes it so much fun! I sure love my little guy!