Benjamin 21 Months

We strategically placed all of our non-breakable ornaments down low so Benjamin can "explore" the tree with delight and it has worked out pretty well.

This is actually from earlier in the fall but I just could not resist it. He looks like such a "big kid" in his backpack and his glasses.
This is Benjamin in Grandpa Don's hat over Thanksgiving. It was really COLD and he needed a hat. Thanks Grandpa for sharing.
Benjamin loves to help cook or see what's cooking. Whenever I am cooking he wants to be lifted up to see what is on the stove.
This is my ring tail tooter in the raspberry standoff. He managed to sit in his chair for hours and finally at 3:35 in the afternoon he ate the raspberry and then proceeded to eat 15 more!! Clearly, it was NOT about liking raspberries. Needless, to say I have started reading the Strongwilled Child by James Dobson - great read by the way.

Benjamin is 21 months going on 5. He loves to chase the older kids at the playground and Bryce even said that he joined in on a game of tag with some 10 year old girls this past Saturday!

He talks a lot and loves to play the game where is?? All day long he says, "Mommy, where did lovey go or where did Daddy go? Or where did the cow go? etc. Sometimes he goes and hides his lovey in the oven in Lainey Ann's room in her play kitchen just so he can come find me and ask his question.

He still loves to eat black beans and rice and most veggies although he is getting a bit more picky about foods. He absolutely loves being outside and points out all the swings in Dallas when we drive by a park.

After a fun filled time with all his cousins at Thanksgiving, most especially his potty trained cousins, Wyatt and Caroline, he has been asking to go Potty. He has successfully gone number one ONCE. We shall see. I am not holding my breath. It feels way too soon to me. I am thinking its a novelty and that its really about flushing the toilet, but we shall see.

Lainey Ann 6 months

Lainey Ann is six months and I have no idea where the time has gone. She is growing way too fast. She is a healthy, chunky baby girl. She is a really happy baby. She smiles, laughs, and coos most all day. She only cries when she is hungry or dirty and as her Uncle Walker recently called her....she is a doll. We took her to Sevy's for a "Sonny Bryan's Board Meeting" aka family lunch. She smiled and just chilled with the family.

She rolls over from back to front and from front to back but she does not like to perform very often. As her daddy says she is in no hurry to go anywhere. She is most happy in one of our arms, chillaxin!

She loves her jumper and she hangs out in her exercauser although she does not LOVE it like Benjamin did. She rather tolerates it while mommy needs to get some things done like laundry or cooking.

Here she is in one of her favorite places, her swing. It is the best vantage point for watching her brother run around. She seems to be more interested in Benjamin and he makes her smile on a daily basis.

Wonder why??
My first bath with big brother....she is saying What the heck is he doing??
Yummy rice cereal....

Christmas Fun and Santa!

Lainey Ann tried rice cereal for the first time and she LOVED it. She opened her mouth up like a little bird and I could not feed her fast enough.

We went by Grandmommy and Big Daddy's house last Saturday after Santa to show off our fancy Christmas duds!
We attempted to get a shot of the kids together; however, Lainey Ann had had enough and she was not in the mood to sit and smile in her brother's lap. All the Santa fun and no morning nap and she was DONE. Here's the attempt :)

Daddy and Benjamin before School...
This is Benjamin's outfit that I put him in for school that was filled with sand when he came home last Friday. We got a bunch of Christmas hand me downs and I realized it was Dec. 10th and we had not worn any!

We went see Santa this past Saturday and had a really fun time. We went to the DCC and there were Donuts and balloons and the most fun part was the mimosas and the hot coffee for the moms and dads. I say this is the best way to see Santa. No mall lines and refreshments!!

Pumpkin Patch

We recently went to the pumpkin patch at the Arboretum. It was a really fun time especially for Benjamin. He got to run around for hours and chase other kids and play with pumpkins.

I attempted to get a picture of them together. This is a difficult feat because frankly Benjamin does not sit still long enough to "hold" his baby sister and she does not sit up yet so it was interesting.

Holding his sister

Mommy and Benjamin
Here's the best I could do at capturing the both of them.
Benjamin exploring the pumpkin house
Most of my pictures of Benjamin were him running the other way, he was just too excited to stop and post for many pictures.

Better late than never

Welcome Lainey Ann....

Well now that Lainey Ann is almost six months old I figured it was HIGH time I updated the blog to announce her birth :)

She joined us on June 14, 2010 and she has been the most incredible delight to our home. She is a very laid back baby. She is happy, smiley and laughs out loud most every day. She is the best sleeper and this morning I had to "wake" her up at 9:00am because it was time to get started with the day. She tends to be a night owl and then likes to sleep in...just like her mommy.

Here are some photos...

Benjamin getting ready for baby...helping mommy clean the carseat!

The whole family... Benjamin was not quite sure what to think of his new sister.
Sleeping peacefully, looking a bit like her big brother.
Sweet little one. 7 lbs 10 oz.

I LOVE TO EAT!! Benjamin is a true Erickson...

We have graduated from rice cereal and we are now on to veggies as of September 2009. I decided to start with carrots one of my favorite foods. Benjamin LOVED them and even now 4 months later if we are snacking on a carrot he kicks and moans because he wants one. We even use them raw "supervised of course" as a teether when he has teeth coming in. He now loves to just knaw on carrots. What's up Doc??

We have been working on signing and teaching the sign for more, but as of now (Sept, 2009) He just likes to bang on the high chair for MORE FOOD! More food, mommy more food!!! He eats like an adult. The other morning he ate a whole banana, one cup of yogurt and a whole bowl of Cheerios. That is more than I eat for breakfast and I am pregnant!

When things get a little plugged up we try prunes and he even LOVES those!! Yummy prunes. He has been known to take two jars in a sitting. We learned the hard way and now have to limit him to only ONE! Otherwise, we have diaper disasters in the morning.:)

I was trying to be so good and make my own baby food. I made some spinach for us for dinner and just thought, hmm I wonder if I pureed this if Benjamin would eat it?? SO, I put it in the food processor and made some Spinach soup. I had it in a plastic bowl for feeding and made the mistake of setting the bowl down on his tray while I reached for a napkin. He got a hold of it and had a Spinach soup party!! In his high chair. Needless to say we have started feeding him naked with only a diaper on. We were running out of OXICLEAN to clean his laundry! Popeye, here I come!!! His grandparents are so proud, his Grandmommy loves to eat and cook veggies and grandpa Erickson loves the fact that Benjamin loves tomatoes of all things! Especially the cherry tomatoes!
Benjamin even loves to cook with Daddy - he is passionate about food!! We love that about him and cannot wait until he is stealing food from his cousins like all of his uncles do!! hee hee

Busy, Busy Benjamin - long post!!

Benjamin is a very busy little infant. Whereever we go ... the church nursery, Women's Bible study at Watermark, his mother's day out or even just in the grocery store, people are always saying "wow Benjamin is really BUSY!!" I am not sure what that means, but judging from my fatigue and my aching hips I think it means he is really on crack cocaine. Not sure what Daddy is slipping in his bottles, but he has so much energy I don't know what to do with him. We rarely can even get a good picture of him without it being blurry.

Busy eating....yummy I LOVE rice cereal... August 2009
Busy Jumping with Cousins Ainsley and Mckay - they are "teaching him how to jump" in the Johnny Jumper. As if he needed training :)
Busy Being Cute for Daddy....Smiling and Cooing and babbling (I took these pictures for Bryce's 34th birthday back in July)
Busy in his Exercauser - he does take small breaks sometimes to suck his two fingers for support when he gets frustrated. Praise the Lord for the Exercauser. It was one of his "Happy Places" and truly contained him for two months. Sad to say now that he is mobile he is OVER the exercauser. We have it cleaned and ready for Baby #2! - August 2009
Busy at the Denver Airport - we spent 8 hours there on our way to Colorado in August. Just Benjamin and mommy day. Thankfully he was a total champ. However, by the end of the day I had to get him out of the stroller and have some wiggle time on the floor. Thankfully I had a big blanket in my diaper bag and his favorite froggy for his blanket time on the floor of Denver International Airport. It was so gross I was constantly "purelling" him after he would roll onto the real floor of airport. Thankfully, we finally made it to Aspen to see friends Alana and Sally in Steamboat. Mommy needed her Colorado fix!! - Mid-August 2009
This picture is his first time sitting up. He seems to perform well at the grandparents house and this time he was practicing sitting up all by himself and very proud of himself. Big Daddy says he looks like a "drunk indian" when he cannot catch his balance, but we think its pretty cute!!

Uh Oh I'm falling over....whoa!!!

Busy wiggling with Mommy - he loves to stand up and have us prop him up and he LOVES to March in place - Sept. 11, 2009
Busy with playing with "Hannah Montana" AKA his cousin Ainsley. This was Halloween and she even had her own microphone and gold sparkly pants!!

After many hours of playing, wiggling, rolling over, practicing walking with Daddy and kicking everywhere Benjamin is not afraid to just CRASH. Sleep is not a punishment to him and we are so grateful for that. He was so tired he fell out in his high chair this night! We could not even finish dinner. Too tired to eat tonight.