New photos

New photos on the site! Hooray!

New photos!

New photos!

Quick Update

Obviously I have failed in catching up on my posts over the last month. Ben had a fantastic birthday, details to come later. Hopefully the kids will start napping and being less clingy soon and I will feel up to working on all the posts I need to write. I mainly just wanted to let everyone know that the kids and I will be in TX May 22 until June 29. Don will be joining us on June 16 and will leave with us on the 29. So that should allow plenty of time to visit with everyone we miss. We will even make it down to Austin to see my Uncle and his family! So wish me luck in getting everything done in the next two months I need to. (We will also be gone a week in April to NC, so I have a lot to do!) ~Tiffany

Taking out the trash, and other news

Hello everyone, I was standing in the kitchen holding Ben, who had a tea bag wrapper. I put him down, and to my surprise he toddled his way over to the trash and put the wrapper in there! Then he took it back out. And put it back in the trash. At that point, I cut him off and washed his hands. But still, I was impressed. It was particularly endearing given how he walks, with his legs fixed in the shape of a horseshoe and his arms up in the air. In other news, Ben had his second bath tonight, and again Jackie was a good girl and didn’t jump around too much in the tub. Ben was fussy getting in, but after that he played in the tub for about 20 minutes until his feet were wrinkly and I took him out. He had a fantastic time splashing in the tub and bobbing up and down. He stood up and walked around too. The light-up duck toys were his favorite part; he showed one to me with such a scream of excitement it almost seemed to pain him. Oh, and Ben ate like ten to fifteen tortellini tonight, in a heavy cream sauce with bacon. Man, he can really put it away. -Don

Something new

So Ben did something new last night during dinner. Jackie, not wanting to eat as usual, was standing next to Ben (who was eating, as usual). Ben was eating some muffin that Nunni and Pupi made over the weekend. He was taking bites, and then holding the piece out for Jackie to take a bit too. He did this with his water too. Another thing Ben likes to do is use his sippy cup for eating. For example, he’ll put Cherios on the top of the cup, lift the top of the cup to his mouth, and then eat the cereal off the top off the cup. Silly boy. -Don

Bath time

So I gave Jackie and Ben a bath together tonight, by myself as Tif was at a meeting at church. Now, Ben hates water. When I turned the bath water on, Ben half-stumbled, half-walked out of the room into the office. And when he walks, he looks like he’s just gotten off a horse. I found him sitting in the corner in the dark crying. Poor boy. The other night I had put Muppets on for them to watch, and he started wailing when the menu screen came up with Animal on it. He’d bee-lined for me, and whimpered his way through the show’s intro, eventually calming down. And today, I brought the vacuum in to clean the floor under the kitchen table. He was scared of the vacuum, being careful not to get near it. Later, after I tied up the cord around the back of the vacuum, he starting wailing as soon as I started to move it (the power was off). He’s a sensitive boy. I should also mention that I put Ben on the slide for the first time today. He kind of smiled and giggled a little. After he few more slides, he liked it so much he was trying to climb up the front of the slide. -Don

So it has been a long while since I last posted anything. I even have several posts started that just never got finished. Life is busy; life is always busy. That is just how it goes, but it is better than what happens if life stops. So I will try to write a few posts about current happenings and try to go back and finish the earlier posts. I'll let you know when the earlier posts are written as they stay in their time line and won't appear as recent posts.

Now for when all of this will happen. I will try to be updated by Ben's birthday in March. That gives me just about two months. Wish me luck!

~Tiffany

Pictures and Video

So Don has been busy over the last few weeks working on new photo galleries and on the amazing Benumentary. He was able to post them to the website and link them in over the last 24 hours. Just a warning that the Bentastic, first six months Benaversary Benumentary might get a little boring at times as Don found it hard to cut footage out. There are several times where you are literally watching a baby sleep. But on the bright side it should not take you six months to watch, and it is a lot of great footage of Ben and the rest of the family. Enjoy!

Iterium Update! - The Texas Perspective

Greetings from Texas, everyone! The family has been very busy in the last month and a half so, I thought I would let you know they have not fallen off the face of the earth and are actually doing very well. Tiffany, Jacqueline and Benjamin visited Texas in October, while Don stayed behind to hold down "the fort".

Don worked some very long hours, spent time with his mom and Nee (while his dad traveled for business) and kept the home front running while the rest were gone.

The three that came to Texas had some good parent/grandparent time and meet the newest family member (Matthew Crockett Lasiter)! They also spent some wonderful time catching up with friends. There were lots of cuddle, play and showoff times!

Ben discovered hours of sleeping on Granma GeeKee is much better than a cold lonely bed, had a wonderful time rolling and scooting backwards all over everywhere and made progress in the ability to crawl! Jackie did a lot of roaring, quacking, hooting, zooming, and beep beep choo chooing, as well as collecting every stuffed animal in the house (and there are alot!!), "visiting with" my doll Patty Play Pal, rocking on Uncle Russell's wooden horse and "cooking" with her mother's Fisher Price kitchen items. Tiff Ann finished Jackie's lion costume, added a skirt/ruffle to Jackie's fall tee shirt, went through some boxes and items to decide what I am going to ship to her later, shopped and visited with friends and family AND snuggled with the new nephew (just not enough).

We never cease to be amazed at the brilliance of the little ones and are very proud of the parenting observed in our Tiff. The trip home was very long and trying but Tiff does say she will make the trip on her own in the future.

The above mentioned parents/grandparents had a wonderful time and are very grateful to Don for sharing his family with this extended family. The pits and pieces left behind (toys, crumbs, things to be shipped, memories...) continue of bring moments of giggles and joy!

There should be an official update very soon. The preparation time before the trip and the readjustment/catchup time following the trip have left them with little time to share their perspective on the events and happenings. Please keep checking the website. In the meantime there may be items on Facebook. Don should also have pictures soon as well.

Thanks for checking in and also for allowing this Texas Granma GeeKee to share a bit.

Our Six Month Benaversary

So this past Sunday at 9:35 am was the official six-month Benaversary. I am especially glad he made his debut six months ago and didn't wait any longer than he already had. Now we didn't do anything fancy to celebrate the day; we just wished him a happy birthday like we do each month on the 20th.

Tuesday was our six-month well-Benjamin visit so we have all of his latest stats. And thankfully it isn't quite time for a new car seat, but I believe it will be in December when we go for his nine month visit. So are you ready for the fantabulous Ben stats? Benjamin is 27 1/2 inches tall, that is 2' 3 1/2", and he is 18 lbs 10 oz! I am quite pleased with his growth and the doctor is pleased with his progress as well. He had grown 2" in the last two months and gained 2 lbs 10 oz. Now on to a little about what Ben has been up to over the last month.

It took a while after that first roll, but about a week ago Ben started rolling around on the floor. He doesn't really go anywhere and he isn't quite flat on his belly (usually one arm is in the way) but he does roll trying to reach for toys to play with. He sort of rolls back and forth onto his side and then onto his back and sometimes nearly flat on that little belly of his. I am thankful for every day he remains stationary so I don't run myself ragged chasing after two little ones up to no good!

Ben is also sitting unsupported quite well. His balance has gotten much better over the last month in the sitting position. He can sit and play for several minutes before toppling over (usually backwards). Ben likes to sit but standing is still his favorite position. That means I am not getting a lot done these days as Ben is still not too proficient at standing. However he is beginning to learn about moving his feet while standing so once his balance improves I think he will be cruising all over the place. Jackie didn't do much cruising, but I definitely think Ben will. He already knows that he needs to be fast to keep up with Jackie, so I think he will do whatever he needs to to start moving around with her.

This past month was the advent of the next phase of growing up: solid foods. (And by default: solid poop.) We had been given the green light by the Doctor at the four month check-up, but decided to hold off a little while before giving Ben his first bite. After several episodes of Ben trying to help himself to our dinners, we finally decided we needed to start on the solids. It was a good decision because Ben was pretty determined that if we did not willingly give him "real" food then he would take it himself. He had quite a grasp on Don's bowl of pasta the night we finally relented! Ben has done quite well with his solids. He even liked rice cereal which Jackie never really liked. I guess Jackie still doesn't eat overly well, maybe Ben will be our big eater. But he especially likes his yellow vegetables: carrots, squash, and corn with sweet potatoes. This past weekend he really ate well. Ben ate half a jar of squash for dinner and then still had some milk. I was amazed at how well he did! Don has posted some cute pictures of Ben's first feedings, so check them out under the photos tab.

I'll post more about Ben when we get back from Texas in a month.

~Tiffany