10 Months Old

 These pictures are a pretty good indication of how much Benson does not like to sit still anymore.  He had no desire to sit on the chair and hold a teddy bear.  He wanted to stand up and jump around.  He is all over the place nowadays and he is keeping us extra busy.

These shots let you know how fast he can go from happy to mad when it comes to his toys.  He was holding a brush and I wanted to not have it in the picture so I took it.  As you can see from the middle picture, he was not happy about it.  As soon as I gave it back, he was his happy self.

This month was full of fun. We took a drive up the canyon to see the pretty leaves the first weekend of October.  We were planning to go to Granny's in Heber, but didn't realize it was closed for the season until we got all the way there.  We made a quick stop at the Dairy King and took a few cute pics with the little man and then drove back down. 

We watch General Conference got to spend time with the family and enjoy the tradition of waffles with ice cream and strawberries.  (we left out the ice cream)

He is really starting to love playing with his cousins

He loves Grandpa

We did a fun little FHE at the Lehi Trafalga.  We did some miniature golfing, which is a definite different experience with a baby.

The most fun we had this month was taking a trip to Los Angeles to visit my sister, Kristen, and her family.  We drove, which was not something I would want to do again anytime soon (although I did a few weeks later, but that was without Benson).  Benson does not love his carseat.  He did great, but it just took a long time and was a lot of driving for such a short visit.  

We stopped on our way at Jessica and Justins place.  Benson had his first experience with ballooons (it was Avery's birthday the week before)

Benson loved crawling around the kitchen with Regan

We took a little trip to the LA Temple visitors center and the to 3rd street.  It was fun to be back in our old stomping grounds

You cannot go to LA without making a stop at Diddy Reese.  It's so tasty.  Benson was loving the cookies.

I realized we didn't get any pictures with Kristen, Nolan or Aiden.  That's pretty bad.  We had such a good time visiting them.  Benson was FREAKED out by Nolan at the beginning of the trip, but by the end of the trip he was at least ok to be in the same room with him.  We would love to be able to go and spend more time with them, just hoping next time we can fly.

This was on the drive back.  We stopped in Baker to give Benson a short break.  He loved crawling around the Taco Bell floor.  (:))

Another stop.  He LOVES eating the keys lately.

Obviously, this month also included Halloween, but you have already seen pictures of that.  This month was also the first time I have spent a night away from Benson.  I drove back to LA on November 2nd to attend a funeral.  It was one of my best friend's mom and a few of my friends were driving out so I felt like I really needed to be there. I was so glad to go, but it was such a strange feeling to be away from Benson.  It was good that it was a short trip though.

My friend took this picture right before we left for our drive and I just had to look at it every few minutes to keep me from missing him too much :)

I am so grateful for SKYPE.   I got to talk to Benson and Ben before coming home.  Benson was so adorable, waving and clapping for us. 

Benson visiting his Tita DJ at BYU on his 10 month birthday

Benson is growing up and changing so much.  I was just watching a video of him taken at the beginning of this month and the differences are huge.  He still won't stand up on his own, but he is so comfortable pulling himself up, walking along furniture, crawling and climbing everywhere, bouncing up and down, dancing and just being so much fun. 

I know I have mentioned this before, but it has become more and more obvious how much he loves music.  He started "dancing" this month, first just bobbing his head up and down, and now bouncing and swinging and trying to sing himself.  He LOVES his daddy's guitar and loves music in general.  He hears everything and tries to mimic the noises he hears.  I took him for a walk on a very windy day and he kept saying "woooo" to mimic the sound of the wind.  He tries to copy Archie's barking and make the sound of the vacuum or the hair dryer.  Its pretty adorable. 

Bensons personality is coming out so much more.  He is so funny and loves to laugh and especially loves to make us laugh.  

Happy 10 Months Little Man.  We LOVE you!

Halloween 2012

Halloween was so much fun!  Benson made the most adorable dragon ever and it was just so much fun to push him around at our neighborhood trunk-or-treat as well as take him trick or treating with the girls in Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's neighborhood.  He really had no idea what was going on and was a tiny bit afraid of some of the people we saw, but mostly he just acted how he always does...perfectly content doing whatever we were doing.  This kid makes life SO MUCH BETTER!

Trunk or Treat

So excited to go trick or treating together.  Aren't they all SO cute?

What can I say?  CUTEST DRAGON EVER!

Family Shot

And I saved the BEST shot for last!  I cannot even express how in love with this picture I am.  Look at that face.  He is SO happy and just the sweetest little guy in the world (and his daddy's pretty loveable too)

Hope everyone else had as much fun as we did (minus the near choking incident at the end of the night where Benson threw up because he had swallowed part of a candy wrapper.  I could have done without that experience)

Meeting Her

I have felt so much gratitude and love as I think back to what was happening for us this time last year. It was October 14th when we got the call that we had been chosen by a birthmother to be parents.  One week later, on October 21, 2011,  we had the amazing opportunity to meet her in person. 

All day today I have just been remembering that day, that experience, the moment I saw her for the first time and just the feeling that was with us as we got to know each other better.   It was during this meeting that we had the special experience of finding out that the name that Ben had wanted for this baby, Kekoa, was the name she had written down for his middle name.  I cannot explain to you the strength of the spirit in that moment, but we all just knew this was right.  That was the first of many of those types of experiences.  It was so fun to just sit at the park, eating subway and talking about her and her life, her interests, her hopes and dreams and also our plans for the future. 

I hope those memories never fade.  I want to share with Benson each part of his story, including the special day we met his birth mother. (I also realized today that technically it was the first time we were in the same place with Benson.  He was in her tummy, but he was there.)  One year ago today was definitely a special day for us and one we want to remember.

Benson's birthmom is someone we have so much love and respect for and we hold her in very high esteem.  Throughout the process of meeting her and over spending time with her she was so grown up and mature beyond her years.  She was always the one reassuring us and comforting us. She is an amazing person and we love her not only for the obvious reason, but because of the person she is.  We are so glad we got to meet her and get to know her while she was pregnant with Benson, a lot of adoptive parents don't get that chance.  She let us be part of the process with her and we loved every second.  We are so grateful that he is already like her, so sweet and calm and just a happy person.  We are so glad we can share her with him.  We love her very much!

Ben being Ben:)

9 Months Old

So the other day one of my friends posted on facebook how he doesn't like reading blog posts that have too many pictures.  If you agree with him you may want to just skip this one!   Benson is too flipping adorable to just share a few.

Benson turned 9 months old on October 5th.  He weighs 16lbs 12oz and is 27.2 inches long.  He is still little, but we will have random strangers say he's big and then others that guess he is 6 months old.  Either way it doesn't matter.  He is perfect!  He is actually fitting into 9 month clothes, which is a first for him.  Up until now he has never really fit into the clothes that matched up with his age.

Benson had some huge milestones this month.  He got both of his upper front teeth.  No more gummy smile.  He also started to climb up the stairs! He has gotten so speedy and thinks it is so funny to hurry and start up the stairs and make mommy or daddy run after him.  His little personality is totally coming out and he is hilarious.  He seriously makes us laugh all the time.  He knows just what to do to get our attention.  If I am working on my computer and he wants my attention he will hit the computer or he will crawl towards something he knows he shouldn't just so I have to grab him, but then it's so adorable that I end up giving him all the attention he wants.  He loves to giggle and be tickled by daddy.   He loves music and his toys, especially his little farm animal book that makes the noises.  

He also is getting very close to talking and has decided to communicate through screaming, happy screams, but screaming nonetheless.  He has almost got Archie to pay attention to him.  He will throw food off of his chair to feed Archie and they both love that.  If Archie's mouth touches Benson's hand he giggles.  They both love to chase the ball around the house.  Benson will hit the ball and then crawl to where it is and push it again.  It's become one of his favorite things to do.

This little boy is such a good baby.  We hear it from everyone we know.  He is so calm and laid back and just goes with the flow.  He smiles at everyone, but he has decided that he doesn't really like men with facial hair or glasses.  He especially is afraid of his uncle Brett and his uncle Nolan.  He also doesn't like sunglasses.  He won't cry but he just stares at you like he has no idea who you are until you take them off.  

Since I only post once a month I want to make sure I am recording all of the happenings in our little mans life.  Below are a whole slew of pictures.  I just had to post so many on the chair because they are the perfect depiction of his little personality and the fact that he never wants to just sit still anymore.  It is definitely creating more work and sweat for me, but there is never a dull moment.  Each day I get to wake up to his smiling face I count my blessings that I am his mom!

love this smile!

Had to post this.  This was after daddy had dressed him, thinking the 3 month clothes still fit him.  The best part is that Ben still doesn't see anything wrong with it.  I don't think he realizes that the shirt is not supposed to be 3/4 length sleeves or that the pants are not capris.  Gotta love daddy!

Although I hate this picture of me, I want to keep myself in the picture.  I read a wonderful article all about this and it really struck a chord for me.  I will be stay in the picture.  Read here to know what I am talking about.  

Finally had to put up baby gates.  

On the way up

Loving his gerber puffs!

Starting to climb all over everything

everything goes in the mouth

pulling himself up on furniture

True Blue Cougar fans!  Gotta show our love on the day of the Utah/BYU game

Don't they look so much alike in this picture?  Love taking daily walks with this little guy.

Teaching him young

Cutest baby ever (BTW, don't you love those pjs?)

Walking the dog!

Loves riding in the shopping cart with his new cart cover that Grandma bought for him.

His favorite face right now, smiling with the tongue out

9 months old!

Bensons first time climbing all the way up the stairs

Swinging!