if you give a bennett a cookie....

She will LOVE it!

AND make a big ole mess...

She loves all REAL solid foods--no baby food for this baby!

oregon

during Porter's winter break, we (meaning ME along with TWO kids) took a little (ok, LONG) trip out to Oregon to see Mimi and Pop (along with Uncle Logan, Aunt Lindsey, and Brycen!). 
On the way out there, we missed our connection in Portland by MINUTES (I could still see the plane attached to the gate) so we got stuck, and it took us nearly 20 hours to finally get there!  The kids were great though--but I'll admit I had a mini meltdown when we finally arrived in Medford only to find out they BROKE Bennett's car seat and had lost ALL of our luggage--UGH! 
But at least we were FINALLY there!!  Now, I am not the person to talk to if you want to visit Oregon (don't think the Oregon visitors bureau will be offering many any jobs)...it was COLD (mind you, we had 2 weeks of sunny 70-80 degree weather right before our trip), rainy/snowy EVERY day, and everything is muddy (from all the snow melting!).  But we had fun visiting with all of our family :)

I was thinking the trip back was going to be a piece of cake since we were going to be home by 8pm--boy was I WRONG!  We got stuck again in Portland for nearly 8 hours, and missed our connection in Dallas (which was the last plane to NOLA), and had to stay the night in Dallas--by the time we got to our hotel it was 2am, and we had to be up at 5am to catch a shuttle to the airport.  Still the kids were GREAT!  They were so happy to be home though, and I think they both slept for about 2 days straight :)

the night before we left...they were so excited!

her winter hat for the big trip!

Bennett's first plane ride!

This was Porter's tenth or so plane ride, but it's the first he'll probably remember well!

feeding the baby lambs

watching the snow...

st patty's day 2011

{I'm catching up...in reverse!}

We made it back home from Oregon in time for what has to be Porter's favorite "holiday"--St Patrick's day!  He loves him some GREEN!  He was so excited that we all wore his favorite color for the day

bennett--7 months

Ok, well she's actually almost 8 months old now!!

She is just so much fun right now {and yes, I know I say that EVERY month}

She is:

still nursing 4 times a day

 still not a huge fan of the bottle, but will take on every now and then

loves to eat FOOD just NOT baby {as in pureed} food

the only "baby" food she likes is rice cereal

loves all the new finger foods she's getting, and prefers real solid foods

still has 2 teeth, but I can see 2 more on the bottom that should be coming in any day

sleeps good all night

doesn't cry much, and is pretty laid back

I have no idea what she weighs--maybe 17 pounds?  

crawling {eeeekkkk!} sort of :)  {she gets up on all 4's and goes a few "crawls" then collapses}

loves her toys in her crib

I caught her this morning trying to pull herself up in her crib {we lowered the mattress last week, thank goodness}

LOVES to be held!!

still loves Porter, Mommy, and Daddy

She was very excited to see Ryan this weekend after he had been gone for a week

loves her paci--I think she's even more attached to it than Porter was!

has started "clapping"--close fist style--it's the cutest thing {if you're her parents/family--maybe not so cute to the rest of you}

she is just so sweet & a really happy baby...

BUT, she's not happy ALL of the time!

the "beach"

we {meaning I} are in desperate need for a beach trip and SOON!  I LOVE the beach and we are planning on going a couple of times this summer when Ryan is done with work....BUT for now, we can just go up to Fountainebleu State park to the "mini beach" as I call it :)
The kids had a blast!  And I'm so excited that Bennett seemed to enjoy the water AND the sand!  She's going to be a good beach baby this summer!

Somehow I did not get one picture of Porter--which isn't too surprising if you saw how he acted when he sees me get a camera out ;)

bennett enjoying some sand with her cookie:

Kinley was there too, and she LOVED the water:

Porter's best friend Kamryn was there too!

I love the fat baby rolls in this picture along with the cheeks STUFFED with gerber baby cookies (oh, and a TON of sand)

**recognize bennett's swimsuit?? Porter has the SAME ONE :)  I've been waiting a year for her to be able to match her brother :)  {I'm sure Ryan is cringing right now}

I wouldn't say she exactly enjoyed eating the sand, but she just could not stop!

I'm back...

well, I will be back....SOON!  We've been very busy--and just got back from a 10 day trip to Oregon {that unexpectedly turned into an 11 day trip!!!} and I have TONS to blog about!
But for now, here are some pictures of the kids from today in their matching Easter outfits (Ryan is probably cringing right now at the mention of "matching")

bennett is SEVEN months old now!

 she is sitting up so good!

favorite thing to do right now when outside: eat grass!

Porter still loves his baby sister...

 but it's nearly impossible to get a good picture of the two of them together:

"throw me something mister!!"

Porter learned this phrase quick! We've had so much fun last weekend at TWO mardi gras parades! This is porters first time to be able to enjoy the parades ( we misses it last year because of the superbowl). I think he liked it since he told me during the first parade, "mama, this is the best night EVER!!"

Bennett got a sword too :)



Porter and his best "girlfriend" kam:




At the madisonville boat parade






He stayed in the jumphouse For about 3.5 out of the 4 hours we were there


Which explains this when we were driving home:




After the boat parade all three of us were tired and took a nap...I woke up hearing PORTER not Bennett on the monitor...he had woke up, went in her room, turned her light on, and climbed in her crib to play! He LOVES his "boo boo" ( what he has started calling Bennett :))
What I saw on the monitor:



We're headed out of town before the rest of the parades, but we had a great time last weekend and I know porter can't wait til next year!

Silly

Bennett ADORES Porter! She lights up whenever he is around, and he just loves his baby sister too. He is constantly wanting to play with her and make her laugh! Tonight after I got them dressed in their pj's, Bennett was sitting up smiling and playing so I told porter if he'd sit by her I'd take their picture and send to daddy (he's been gone to the combine for a week and won't be home for a few more days).
Of course Porter was all for that since the only time he'll agree to a picture is if we're sending it to daddy!
They were sitting and smiling so cute and then I took the picture...

Porter decided that this is what daddy needed to see (meaning him and not bennett!). What you can't hear is how loud Bennett was laughing! She thought it was the best thing ever! Of course she thinks anything with her big brother is great and hilarious!
Love these two and their little (make that BIG) personalities sooo much!

Big girl!

Bennett is getting to be such a big girl, and a baby on the move! She was pretty lazy there for awhile, and refused to even TRY to sit up--when ever I would sit her down, she would push her legs out so you couldn't sit her up! She was perfectly content to just lay there and roll around! She just decides this week that it's FUN to sit up like porter :)

And as soon as she realized sitting was fun, she thought crawling might be too!



I am NOT READY FOR THIS!! Luckily for mama, she hasn't quite figured out the whole crawling thing yet--though not from lack of big brother trying to show her how its done! (though somehow I think he's not gonna be as excited as he thinks he will be when she's mobile and into his stuff)
Right now she just rocks back and forth until she wears herself out! She can "scoot" pretty good--but as of right now she's a reverse only driver!
I just can't believe our little Bennett is almost seven months old!

love