Bennett is 10 Months Old!

Our little Mr. B is already 10 whole months old. *Sniff* It's all so bittersweet. He is really coming into his own and with each passing month I feel like we see more of who he will become. It's a complete joy watching him develop and to witness the changes in him.


As per usual, it's really tough to get a shot of him with his trusty chalkboard. He's just not interested.

Bennett mastered crawling up on his hands and knees this month. He's also pulling himself up with ease onto EVERYTHING. Walls, the couch, his brother, you name it. In the past few days he's even stood for a few seconds without holding anything. He's so... brave. He just goes for what he wants with gusto. He doesn't think much before just giving it a shot. And, the great news, is that he's totally fine when he falls. No big deal, just try again. I love his tenacity.







He still slays me with his enormous grin. You cannot help but smile right back. This is his signature smile:





It keeps getting bigger and bigger and his eyes become almost closed and he tilts his head back so far that he's actually fallen backwards before. His toes curl up and he doesn't even know what to do with his hands. He's just so freaking happy. This happens simply because he spots you there. It's an incredible feeling really.





Ben's favorite things right now are nursing, Max and anything he's not supposed to have. He wants whatever Max has and likes to find hidden treasures on the ground (think rocks, lint, old cheerios...) to munch on. I finger sweep this kid like 10 times a day. He's getting really good at eating in his high chair and eats a wide variety of foods now. His favorites are blueberries and strawberries and mum mums.







Ben is very chatty. He will yell talk your ear off and frequently wakes his brother from naps with his screeching. He's SO happy almost all of the time, but come 5pm he's a nightmare. Clingy, whiny, cranky - straight up until bedtime. We like the babysitters to come right about 4:45 ;)

We've gotten into an awesome sleep routine. He goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00pm and usually wakes around 1:30 and cries for a few minutes before putting himself back to sleep. Then he's up any time between 4 and 6 for a feeding before sleeping for another 2 hours. His waking time varies, but lately I've been able to push it until 7:00 am at least (finally!). He takes 2 naps a day, one morning and one right at the same time as his brother. I'm super happy that I've coordinated this so brilliantly. Just kidding, I just got lucky.


We don't know what he weighs, but he's worth his weight in gold, that's for sure!

What else can I say about Ben? He's seriously the sweetest and I think I fall a little more in love with him every day!


We love you, Bennett!!

A Very Busy Weekend

Whew! What a busy weekend we had last weekend! It's been followed by an equally busy week and I've kept meaning to blog about it, but time has gotten away from me! Here's a few snippets from our weekend:

On Saturday we had our pictures taken by Blue Lily, a traveling husband and wife photography duo. I found them online years ago and it's always been a bucket list item for me to have family pictures done with them. I found out not long ago that they would be in San Francisco last weekend so I signed us up! I can't wait to see the pictures. I obsessed over our outfits. Like, OBSESSED. I ended up changing Ben's outfit and mine 3 times each. Here's a little sneak at what Ben wore...



And here are my boys and me before we got dressed (we obviously waited to get into our outfits until MINUTES before we started the shoot - duh).



We had an amazing time with Wendy and are looking forward to seeing the pictures. Well, that's putting it mildly, actually.

The next day we went to Carmel to help my stepmother celebrate her birthday. We had so much fun taking the kids in their first pool this summer!


Well, okay. Ben didn't enjoy it at first.


Being with mommy always helps, though.


Then, he warmed right up to the water!






Max was right at home in the kiddie pool. We could barely get him out to eat lunch!






While I love the trees and angle of this shot, look at poor Max. He was not in the least interested in being mommy's muse that day. He just wanted to swim, poor kid!




That was about all the enthusiasm I could get from him. It must be hard when your mom wants to be a photographer.

But, jumping into the big pool?


That was SO his thing.






So, I guess we made up for the whole swing fiasco by letting him do lots of jumping in!









After lunch and swimming my dad and Ritchie went to play golf while I got the boys to nap (with me). After naps we went and made s'mores by the pool.






His first experience was a success!

Finally, we went and had yummy pizza before heading home. It was a late night, but worth it because, as you can see, the day was a blast! Don't get me wrong, there were moments of pure frustration and sometimes I wonder if it's not worth trying big day trips like that away from our beds for napping and our toys for entertaining, but overall it was really fun and I think always worth the efforts.






Ben is a complete trooper. He had been up for HOURS at this point and was still quite happy!



While we were off having fun in Carmel, Ritchie's sister was giving birth to her first child. I was not without my phone for even a second anticipating baby's arrival. I went and saw my first nephew (aside from my friend's kids who are like nieces and nephews to me!) the next morning AND evening because I missed him already.


Mister Vincent Scott - A whopping 9 pounds 13 ounces of pure love.









Oh, Jen and Scott - you guys did SO great. He's perfect and lovely and I can tell you two are going to rock out parenthood. They're naturals already.

So, that was our very exciting weekend! We're ready for a little bit more relaxation in the coming weeks, but I'm not sure that's in our cards. We'll see ;)

Our Weekends Lately

We've been busy around here! The weather has been lovely and we've taken advantage of it in between illnesses, which have been plentiful this past month.



For Memorial Day, we went to San Francisco to ride the cable cars. We have a chalkboard that is a list of things we want to do with the kids this year and cable cars was on it! Check!


Waiting in line. We did A LOT of that.

It was an... interesting day. Max LOVED the cable cars and even Ben got a huge kick out of them. The first line to get on wasn't miserable, but the line to come back was horrific. I think we waited over an hour and it was about 2pm at that point. Nap time and long cable car lines don't mix. Needless to say, it was rough.





Luckily, we made it through and got in the car where everyone (myself included!) promptly fell asleep.

This past weekend Ritchie ran his second 1/2 marathon. The man never ceases to amaze me.

We drove to Aptos (near Santa Cruz) to watch him cross the finish line!


Grandma and Grandpa came with us!


Max ran around while we waited for Daddy to cross the finish line!




Bennett was a little cranky because he decided that 4:30 a.m. was an awesome wake-up time that morning. I was pretty pissed about that, too.


I had to wear him most of the time.


Oh, but my man! Waving even after running 13.1 miles.


Love this! A strong finish!


He was exhausted! But, we're so proud of all of his accomplishments!

Just a little weekend update for you all! What have you been up to on the weekends? Does your family do a list of things to take the kids (or yourselves!) to go do? I'd love to know your plans!