Half way to a year

I can't believe my little Blair Bear is half way to a year! She is getting so big and cuter each and every day. She has been sitting up for over a month unassited and is getting up on her hands and knees ready to crawl. We are however, hoping she waits a little longer to do so. She scoots backwards to manuver herself around the house. She LOVES to eat. She is always wanting whatever we are eating. Too bad she is just too little. We do feed her lots and lots of gerber puffs. She loves going outside and will sit and play on a blanket for as long as Lukas wants to play outside. We are still working on sleeping at night but it seems to be getting a little better. We will be talking to the ped about this on her check up on Friday. She is currently sleeping in the pack and play in our room till we get her sleeping a little better at night. She has started taking two naps as long as her big brother allows her too and doesn't wake her while I am getting her down. Today she took two naps one in the morning for an hour and then a two hour afternoon nap! It was great. She is still such a good baby but has been a little fussy lately due too teething. We hope she finally cuts her first tooth soon. If she takes after Lukas she won't though because he teethed from three months until his first tooth popped out at two weeks shy of a year. She is starting to have a little bit of stranger danger and takes a while to warm up to people. Her spitting up is getting better! We are so glad. We did have to take her bumper pads out of her crib because she was somehow putting her little hand underneath them and untieing them. Could be a little dangerous ;) We love little Miss Blair so much!

She still usually takes her afternoon nap in the swing but is taking her morning nap (when she does) in her crib.
She has such big beautiful eyes! They are always open so so wide just looking so curious and in awe. Her hair is also growing in really nicely.
She loves her big brother. He can maker her laugh so easily. Lukas always wants to hold Blair. She is getting so big though he might not be able too for much longer.

Pirate Island Pizza

Today we went to pirate Island Pizza with our friends Neil, Ali and Emma. It is a pretty neat place with lots to do. Lukas was a little scared at first and kept asking to go to Mommys house AKA home. They had a ship that would shoot cannons and smoke out and it freaked him out a little. They also had a pirate that would talk over the speakers which freaked Lukas out because he could hear him, but not see him. Once we showed him there were games to play he was totally on board with being there. The food was pretty good and inexpensive. Neil and Dan got pasta and said it wasn't very good. My pizza was great though. So if you go I am guessing pizza is the way to go. The atmosphere was neat and made me want to go to Disney Land. It reminded me so much of Pirates of the Caribbean. One problem though is so many of the guests/diners would dress up as pirates. The waitress's and workers were also dressed as pirates. This made it a little hard to figure out who worked there and who was a guest.

Lukas wearing his pirate hat.

Blair thought it was fun and kept saying oohh oooh oooh and flapping her arms. She does this when she is excited. She even got a tiny bite of french fry today. I tend to forget how young she is since she has been sitting up for a while now ect. She gets so excited when we are eating. She seriously wants everything we eat.

Skee Ball was Lukas's favorite game. Good thing since it was one of the few games that was only a token. A lot of them were even four tokens too play. He kept breaking the rules and climbing up on the game to throw the balls into the appropriate place. However, he didn't realize the point system and kept putting it in the zero points section!

Blue like cookie monster

Lukas had a lot of fun playing outside today. He was having a little too much fun coloring with the sidewalk chalk. I am not sure what possessed him to color his hands blue but he did. Then he proceeded to tell me "Look mommy I am blue like cookie monster." Silly kid.


Blair finally passed out on our numerous walks around the block while Lukas rode his trike she got to sit in the stroller. She slept about fourty minutes but she was tired. I had tried to get her to take a nap around nine. She had been up since six and had been up a LOT since three in the morning. She wouldn't go back to sleep when she woke at three unless I was holding her. She fell a sleep with her bottle at nine I laid her down and she woke right up. I left her in the crib hoping she would fall back to sleep but I went and checked on her thirty minutes later and she was just laying there playing in her crib. We think we might have to let her cry in the middle of the night soon. She has been waking up a lot for a six month old. I am not sure if I can do it but it does need to be done:(
Lukas loves his cow boy boots. He would wear them all day if he could. Seriously I have to tell him that they are sleeping and they need to rest like him at nap time and bed time. He wear them all over the house and with everything. I was worried he wouldn't wear them but obviously they are going to be worn out by the time he grows out of them.

Family Reunion

This last weekend we attended a family reunion in Star Valley Wyoming. This is where my dad grew up and I haven't been there in five years! We use to go several times a year so not going for five years is really a long time. I was excited to see how things had changed in this small town after this long. It of course was still gorgeous and we had a good time camping on our property in my parents trailer. The first day there we went to Jackson Hole and hung out. Lukas and I took a ride in an old fashioned carriage. Lukas thought that was fun. We watched a mock shoot out which Lukas did NOT think was fun. He started crying because of the loud noise. I also think he cried because he was scared it was real and thought they were hurting each other. The next day was the family reunion and it was so nice to see everyone we hadn't seen for a while ( I didn't get many pictures at the reunion. I forgot to take them I was too engrossed in talking ect.) A lot of my dads sisters and family hadn't met my kids yet. I also hadn't met a lot of my cousins kids as well. It was nice to see and visit with them. All of their famalies are so cute. My Aunt Jan ( My dads twin sister) kept saying Lukas looked like Mel Gibson. It cracked me up. We had a fun weekend. It did take Lukas a little while to warm up to the idea of camping. He was homesick at first and kept asking to go home to mommy's house ( he calls our house mommy's house for some reason.) but once it was time to leave I think he wanted to stay. My only complaint was my kids didn't sleep all that well at night. They were both so good though and were even good on the ride too and from. Well Lukas rode with my parents but they said he was good. Blair barley even cried and slept more then normal.



Us in front of the elk horn bridge in Jackson
Lukas thought the Buffalo was cool.

Blair rode in the stroller and enjoyed being out of the car.
Lukas thought it was so fun to watch his movies on the portable dvd player.
Lukas playing frisbee at the family reunion.
Blair hanging out on the blanket at the family reunion.
Lukas slept like this on the last night there.

Blairs favorite toy was the suit case. She loved playing with it.My mom bought Lukas and Blair cow boy/girl boots. Lukas loves his and wants to wear them ALL the time. He even wore them with his jammies. Blair's are pink but they are size four so she won't be able to wear them for a bit.

Wheres the butter?

After I got home today from a Hawiian Dance class with a friend Dan said Lukas had hid the butter. I said "What!" I thought I heard him wrong. He said it again saying Lukas had hid the butter. Apparently, Lukas got the butter out wanting to eat it straight out of the container and Dan said no. Well I guess that made him mad and he thought he would hide it and save it for later. Dan went to put Blair down so he could take it away and then Lukas and the butter were gone. Dan checked the fridge thinking he put it away and he didn't. When I got home I looked for it and couldn't find it either. We kepts asking Lukas where it was and he would either repeat us saying wheres the butter or run around and laugh or say he didn't know. I wanted to find it so he wouldn't make a mess with it later or so we wouldn't get bugs. We tried bribing him and everything. It didn't work so I threatened him saying he would go to bed early unless he showed me where he put the butter. He wouldn't so he went to bed at 8 ( I have to keep good with my threats right?) I looked everywhere for the butter! I checked his play kitchen fridge and everything. Dan and I checked the toy box but apparently not well enough because when I dumped it out, out tumbled the butter! AHHH Little boys they sure keep you on your toes!

Cuter then Janet Jackson

Our little Lukas pulled a Janet Jackson today. He went into the bathroom and got into the "owies" (This is what he calls Band Aids.) and came out with them as pasties! Who knows why little ones do the things they do. He came out and said look where I put my owies. Dan and I couldn't stop laughing. I told Dan he pulled a Janet but at least he is cuter. I think Janet would have gotten a better response if she would have used Sesamee Street Band aids instead of star pasties. Oh my little Lukas you crack me up on a daily basis!

We though it was pretty funny that one was vertical and the other one was horizontal.

Look how big my little Miss Blair is! She now takes tubbies sitting up all by herself. She loves it too! Sort of sad but it is a little easier to bathe her this way.

Blair

Blair just melts my heart more and more everyday. A part of me wishes she would stay little forever. She is just getting so big. However, this last week I have been dreaming of hiring a night nanny ;) She just hasn't slept well. She got an ear infection and we are pretty sure she is also teething. She is getting a little too big for sleeping in the swing since she wants to move around. However, she doesn't want to sleep in the crib either. After a few nights of trying out the crib and it NOT being successful we have borrowed the pack and play from my mom to get her sleeping through the night better before we have her share with Lukas. She just cries so loud we don't want to disrupt Lukas's sleep if we need to have her cry it out. She is still such a good baby and she has, mommy, daddy and Lukas wrapped around her finger. Lukas loves to hold and touch baby Blair. Whenver they are seperated for a bit Lukas gets so excited to see her again. He is always saying " I love her" or "Blair loves me." We are glad that he loves her we were a little worried for a bit.

Ducks and Fish

The other day my mom and I took the kids to feed the ducks. Lukas loved it and he would throw out BIG chunks of bread and say "here are some big pieces come and get it ducks!"

Just looking cute.

Lukas would not turn around and let me get a picture of him. He seriously 100 percent refused. He was really engrossed.

I have so many lovely pictures of Lukas's back.

The fish ate way more then the ducks! They would jump out of the water so quick for a tiny piece of bread.

My adorable children.

I got my pictures back that I chose of the kids and of Blair. It was such a hard decesion because they were ALL so adorable. In the end these are the ones I chose. I was surprised at how many I had to choose from with Lukas and Blair together because Lukas refused to hold Blair and she wouldn't sit on the bench we chose at first. We put them on their stomachs and it lasted all of maybe five minutes and Nately of course was fabulous and still got awesome shots. Blair's turned out so cute as well even though she was eating her dress and props the whole time. I have the cutest kids! Thanks again Nately and Chris (Desistodigitals.com) your the greatest best friends ever! We appriciate you using your talent and taking such wonderful pictures of our kiddies.

Why?

Why, is now Lukas's favorite thing to say! Pretty much everything I say is followed with a why from him. I then give him my answer which of course is followed by ANOTHER why! I love his inquiring mind but seriously, it is starting to get old. Especially when he asks why and I say because I said so or just cause and then he says why AGAIN! I have started to just ignore it sometimes because I honestly don't have an answer besides the I said so and just cause. I remember hearing the why a lot from other kids but I was thinking it started around four not two! I guess I was wrong.

Lukas loves wearing his apron when he helps me cook.

He was dancing to Life is a highway while watching his vroom vroom cars movie in this picture.

He just got new swimming goggles and loves wearing them. I can't imagine them being that comfortable to wear but okay. He can't wait to try them out at the big pool!

Benson family party

Today we had a party up the canyon with my moms side of the family. It was so fun because almost everyone was able to come. Even people were here from AZ and WY. (We missed EVERYONE who couldn't make it!) It was nice to see family we don't get to see on a regular basis. It was so pretty where we were and the kids had a blast playing.

Blair loving playing with her daddy!

Sofia and Lukas weeding. Seriously, I asked them what they were doing and they said weeding. Sure enough when I looked they were pulling weeds! Whatever, floats their boat I guess.

Sofia and Lukas have had so much fun playing with each other while they have been visiting. They have played so well together I never witnessed one fight between them. Lukas is always asking to play with Sofia now. Too bad they are going back to AZ tomorrow. We sure will be missing them!

Throwing rocks into the river.

Grandma B with all her great grandkids. We are missing two great grandkids who weren't able to make it. This is such a great picture and we will treasure it always.

5 Months!

I can't believe that my baby is 5 months old. Time sure does fly when you have such a cute little girl. She is getting so big. She is growing up a little too fast for my liking though. She now sits for long periods of time (at least she isn't fully sitting by herself for good.) she rolls all over my living room to get what she wants. Yesterday I caught her underneath the end table pulling out all Lukas's coloring books. She wants to crawl so bad but we are hoping she waits at LEAST two more months. She is getting better at taking naps (still not as good as a normal baby, but good for Blair.) Right when I think she gets into her groove about night sleeping she goes back to waking two times a night and being restless. She still mostly sleeps in her swing. We think it is because her acid reflux bothers her. We are okay with it but we are going to get her crib fixed up and give it a go and see how she does. If not she can continue to sleep in her swing. As long as she sleeps we don't care. She loves loves loves her baby cereal and prunes. She eats a lot of it at night before bed. We have also given her squash and sweet potatoes and she likes those as well. She is turning into a mommys girl and always wants me to hold her. She plays by herself a lot and is very self entertaining. She loves her exersaucer and can play in it for hours. She is still her happy smiley self and we sure love her!

We attempted to go swimming yesterday. However, when we got to the pool it was closing in fourty five minutes for a swim competition! We were so sad and Lukas didn't understand and was so upset. We felt bad. We at least got some pictures of Blair in her bikini. I wasn't sure if this swimming suit would fit her because it is 6-12 months. It was still pretty big but it stayed on without falling off. I bought it when I was still pregnant for two dollars and figured if it didn't fit her and she didn't get to wear it, it wasn't too big of a deal since it was so cheap. She looks so so cute in it though I am glad she got to wear it.

Such a smiley baby! It doesn't take much to get her to smile.