Wrapping up April...

Yesterday was "Papapapapa's" Birthday! Benson went to visit him at work! He had so much fun crawling around in the halls of the office chasing a ball that my dad had on his desk. He had everybody cracking up laughing!

We went to the doctor yesterday because Benson has had some congestion for the past four days. They checked his ears (while he was screaming his lungs out) and found that he has an ear infection. They put us on amoxicillian for 10 days. (Side note: I have no idea how they are doing it, but Publix is giving away FREE antibiotics- no purchase necessary- so we got it for free- I love free!)
They also referred us to an eye doctor because Benson's left tear duct has been clogged since he was born. We have continued to hope that it would open on its own, but it has yet to do so. The eye doctor that we saw is going to monitor it for three more months and if it doesn't open on its own, he will have to do a procedure where they put Benson to sleep and insert wires of successive width into is tear duct and through the passage into his nasal cavity until it is unclogged. We are SO hoping NOT to have to do that! We've asked for prayer for snot before... now we're asking for prayer that the eye boogers would STOP! Thank you for praying with us!
Probably the most discouraging report from the doctor came when they tested his diaper for blood. It came back positive which indicates that he is indeed allergic to soy as well as dairy. This complicates things in the sense that EVERYTHING has soy in it. (When I tell people that I can't eat soy, many people say, "You eat soy?" As if its a weird thing or something and I want to be like... "Yep, and You do too! It's in everything! Even chewing gum!!")
So this means that Benson will not be able to drink Soy milk at 1 year. Once I stop nursing him, we are going to have to figure out a way to get sufficient calories and calcium into him. Basically, the only thing he can eat is fruits, vegetables, unseasoned meat and homemade bread and oatmeal and we have no idea how long this will continue. I feel so very blessed to have been able to continue nursing him even through the strict diet. I've found all sorts of recipes and ways to eat that I never would have known about had I not had to eat that way myself. Now I know how prepare foods for him that are safe and that actually taste GOOD!

That's the medical update. We've had a lot of other, more pleasant things going on lately. Here are some recent pics from the fun times...

Will Turned One on April 4!






We celebrated Christa's Birthday and an Early Mothers Day this past weekend with the Ryan crew.





The tomato plants on our back porch are blooming! Bring on the tomato sandwiches!!

Watch, Mama!

Benjamin was so proud of how Benson was standing up all by himself outside... so he called me to see. This is what I saw...



Want some more green beans?

there is way too much fun stuff to do, why take a nap?!

It was so pretty outside today and since Mr. Tom and Mrs. Lula gave me my mothers day present early (a gi-normous umbrella for our back porch! how perfect!!), Benson and I got to enjoy sitting on the porch out of the sunshine!

He must have really enjoyed it, because he refused to take a nap all afternoon after being outside. Instead, he has been motoring around here at full speed, chasing after Peaches and pulling up on everything. I caught this video of him standing up all by himself, without even holding onto anything! Whoa! I couldn't believe it!



And here he is going a mile a minute around the living room...

The Latest on Benson's Eating...

If you're a regular around here, you know that food has been a real issue for our little guy. It started with what I ate... first it was no milk... then no soy... then he had a horrible reaction to rice cereal (THAT was crazy!) SO... To be honest I was a little scared of what in the world this little boy was going to be able to eat! But ... Good News! He's done GREAT lately and we've recently made the switch from jarred baby foods to homemade smooshed foods! I discovered a website called www.wholesomebabyfoods.com that gives recipes and ideas for wholesome baby foods. I have had so much fun experimenting with different things and Benson has surprisingly LOVED it too! Here's a little sampling of what he's been eating...


Here we have 1/2 of a mashed up avocado along with 1/4 of a smooshed, baked sweet potato and pureed chicken with apples (or, as Benjamin likes to call it: chicken smoothie.) He's also started drinking about 3 oz. of water with his meal and this is the best cup in the world... (His Aunt Christa told us about it.) We've tried a bunch of different kinds and normally he shakes it and splatters the drink everywhere, but this Gerber Soft Spout Two handle Cup is the greatest! No spills! I highly recommend it to all you mama's out there! We got it at target! Don't you just love target?!


Thanks to my Mama Jama's hard work, our back deck is a very pleasant place to be and since today was SO BEAUTIFUL, Benson and I spent all afternoon on the porch! We had a picnic on the table and Benson ate:
1/2 of a Tilapia fish fillet (baked on 350 for 11 minutes- no seasoning)
mixed peas and carrots (this was his first time eating these and he LOVED the peas, which surprised me because he HATED baby food peas! I just bought some frozen, organic peas and carrots and microwaved them with a little water for about 5 minutes until they were very soft)
1/2 a piece of homemade whole wheat bread (I've been making bread that is both dairy and soy free-- you can't find any in the stores-- and I like it so much, I don't think we'll ever switch back! It's delicious and way better for you than the store bought stuff- Easy as pie to make too! Email me for the recipe!)

He's also been eating a whole banana (I usually try to get organic if I can) mashed up with 1/2 avocado for breakfast. Sometimes we do Mott's organic applesauce out of a jar or steamed apples cut up in pieces, although he isn't quite used to the texture of those quite yet.

It's been so much fun to introduce him into the world of "real" foods. The faces he makes are so funny! I'm having such a ball with this little boy! What a blessing from the Lord he has been to me!

Benson Crawling.... The Real Way....

Benson and Daddy Pictures from last week

Um... Daddy, we need to discuss my allowance.



We went to the new Gibson Park here in town and took Benson's racecar on our hike.


We had so much fun!



First tractor ride with Daddy! (Mama and Donny brought the tractor and aerator over so Benjamin could get our grass lookin' good!)

This snake was in our back yard last week! EW!!!! yeah, I flipped out.

Waiting on Daddy to come home...

Happy 25th Birthday to Mamamamama!

I had a wonderful 25th birthday! I ate lunch at Moes with my Mama, B and Benson, Kelli came and spent the afternoon with me and gave me the sweetest little charm bracelet with a silhouette of a little boy, my mama planted my whole yard full of beautiful flowers, Ash gave me some really cool earrings and Dad and Mrs. J took me out to Outback and gave me some darling clothes! Stephanie even baked me a cake and was all excited about giving it to me until she realized I couldn't eat it! :) Still a really sweet thought! :) I received phone calls and messages on facebook (so neat how it reminds you of people's birthdays!) I felt so blessed all day!!
As an aside... I am so thankful to live in the age of digital photography... I just love taking pictures and it's great that it is free to take them and free to blog them. This makes me happy :)

Since we're on the "dairy free diet" for Benson, a REAL cake was out of the question, so I had some birthday S'mores instead with some dairy free chocolate. They were quite yummy!

My birthday card said, "Mamamamamama" because that is what Benson calls me! So cute!!

Dad and Mrs. J took us to Outback for a birthday dinner. What a TREAT!

Benson was saying "Papapapa" while we were the! So cute!!



Hannah, on the move...

Hey Hannah, I wanna come too!

Bye Bye Benson! I've got some golf balls to get!

What a cutie!

Hannah picking up golf balls and Benson eating grass.


Hannah taught Benson how to pull up. This is a picture of when we walked in from his afternoon nap and he was standing up for the first time. What a big boy!




Working on his golf swing for the first time.

The Adorableness Continues...

Scrub-a-dub-dub Hannah

We have had such a fun time with Hannah. Benson and her are playing well together and I was able to capture a few little videos from today. This is a video of Benson being a boy and Hannah thinking it is hilarious. Hope you enjoy...




What a handful! We got to go see Benjamin's Granny yesterday! These babies wanted to be on the MOVE... you can see by the looks on their faces that they are plotting their courses of action!

What a smile!

Benson's First Sleepover!

Last night before bedtime

Benson had his first sleepover last night! He was SO excited! Hannah's parents, Thomas and Susie just bought a new house in Spartanburg. They closed on Friday and are trying to get all their things moved from the house they were renting into their new one. Susie (8 months pregnant) is a labor and delivery nurse and was working last night and tonight. (I have no idea how she is doing all of this- she is amazing!) Thomas is on spring break this week, which is great timing for the move. SO with all the busy-ness going on in the upstate, Benson asked Hannah if she could spend the night and her parents said yes! So she stayed last night and is planing on staying tonight. If Benson sleeps the way he did last night after chasing Hannah around all afternoon, we're going to have to do this more often!! Hannah slept from 9:30 to 8:30 and Benson slept from 10-7 woke up for a snack and slept three more hours! THAT was awesome!

Benson has had so much fun watching Hannah walk around and crawl (the normal way instead of Benson's army crawl.) They have played together so sweetly. Hannah would grab one of Benson's toys and run away with it and off he'd go scooting behind her trying to chase her down. He has just smiled and laughed at her constantly. It has been so cute!

This is Hannah, before she woke up this morning. She sleeps sitting Indian style with her body folded over the front of her knees. Now THAT is flexibility!


Hannah's makeshift nursery. We were going to put her in our guest bedroom, but didn't have two monitors to be able to hear her, so we put her in our closet! She loved it!


Hannah helped me wake Benson up this morning. (This look of amazement on his face hasn't left since she got here!)


Good Morning Sunshines!


It's amazing how much better a pacifier looks when it's in someone else's mouth!

Here's a video of the cuties playing this morning:

A few visitors to mention...

Kelli and Trey (aka marathon runner extraordinaire) came over to play!


"Uncle" Bud stopped in for a visit. (He's responsible for the adorable Easter afternoon outfit -from head to toe, mind you- that Benson wore) Doesn't he look so natural holding a baby? Ladies, he's single :)!!

Benson's Great-Grannie Hite brought him the cutest Easter basket and enjoyed getting to watch him scoot around!