Abby's New Room

Here are a few pics of Santa's Extreme Makeover in my niece Abby Lynn's bedroom at our parents' house. 

Needless to say, she's thrilled with her new digs...

This bed has been in our family for years, but has been at my Grandmother's.  My parents brought it with them when they moved to Jonesboro. 

Perfect for Abby, although she has to use steps to get into it. 

Abby's other grandparents bought her this dollhouse bookcase a couple of Christmases ago, but it has been in storage. John added the wall decals. 

Some family friends sent her a monogrammed pillowcase for Christmas. 

Christmas Day

Well, here they are, the long-awaited, much-anticipated pictures of Benjamin on his first Christmas. It's been a great Holiday. I've been off work since Christmas Eve, and don't go back until Sunday the 4th. 

Just a sweet shot of him Christmas morning. 

Uncle John helping Ben with his Dump Truck.

Ben's cousin Abby Lynn helping him open his presents. 

Ben with his Daddy Christmas morning. Too early...

Ben checking out his busy ball popper. 

"Telling" Pippi and Poppa how much he loves his presents...

Cracking up at something...

First ever cell phone.

Busy gears...from Mommy.

His pile of loot at Jenny's parents'. 

Elmo...his only stocking stuffer. Nothing else would fit in it. 

His stocking from Pippi and Poppa had a stuffed Monkey...

which apparently cracked him up. 

All in all, it's been a great Christmas. Ben has done really well being off schedule for a week, and we won't be back into a routine until after the new year. We went to church with my parents this morning, which was a little weird. 

We enjoyed the service, but it was strange being on the "other end" of leaving a baby. Usually I'm getting parents into the right room and ready for Sunday School or church. This time I was the anxious visitor who had to hand over his precious son to a bunch of strangers. It didn't phase Ben, at all. He just takes to whatever his surroundings are at the time, which I guess is great since we're on the go all of the time. He must have had a great time, because he was asleep by the time we got in the car, and slept on my shoulder throughout the wait to get into the restaurant after church. 

He has so many new presents I'm going to have to take a load home, then come back for Ben, Jenny, and the dogs. I can't imagine what next year will be like with him walking, talking, and laughing. 

Hope you all have had a Merry Christmas. 

And by the way, he's saying "Bye Bye" now.

Christmas Eve eve

This year, with all of the craziness of work, families spread out, and a baby, we decided to do Christmas Eve on the 23rd. Jenny's mom's family is always together Christmas Eve, and I think everyone enjoyed doing it a day earlier. It just meant that we were that much less rushed on Christmas Eve. 

Ben had a great time, enjoyed seeing his cousins and Aunts and Uncles, and was slightly more relaxed with Santa than he was in the mall a few weeks back. 

Jenny's Grandmother, Lillian, Jenny, and Ben

Ben's Poppa. Jenny's Dad Lary.

Jenny's cousin Lana, Lillian, and Jenny.

Jenny enjoying her mom, dad, and sister's version of the Twelve Days of Christamas. 

Jenny's sister Holly, AKA Aunt Bee, who collects 

anything and everything related to Bumble Bees.

The Bunch Fam, Christmas 2008

Jenny's Mom, AKA Pippi, and Ben. 

Santa brought Ben a LeapFrog alphabet 

caterpillar. 

Poppa helping Ben open his present from Santa.

Checking out the fat jolly guy...

The girls, plus Ben. Debbie, Holly, Jenny, and Benjamin. 

Merry Christmas Eve eve!

Early Christmas

Okay, so Benjamin doesn't talk, but if he did, we imagine that he would not not be able to say his L's or R's. 

And this is what we think he'd say about tonight's events. 

Hey evewybody. This is my cousin Hawwison. He and I aw vewy impohtoant cousins. We have the same bouwfday. The vewy same bouwfday.

Dis is Hawwison

Dis is me and Hawwison. Hawwison likes to stick his tongue out. 

Dis is me opening my vewy fowst Chwismas Pwesent. 

It's Vewy, Vewy Lawge.

Dis is Me and Hawwison again. He wikes to stick his tongue owt.

Dis is me wippin into my pwesent. 

Dis is me havin a bawl with my wappin papahs...

And dis is me in my big boy caw seat.

Woo hoo...I have woom foh my wegs...

Mewwwy Cwistmas!!!!

And yes, we are so stupid over the kid that we sit around putting imaginary words into his mouth...Oh well. 

Anyone else think this was a GREAT idea?

So my brother and his 4 year-old daughter have been living with our parents since my sister-in-law died in June. And it's busy and bustling all of the time.

But, you make do. When John moved them in, he stored all of his personal things, except for his computer, golf clubs, and of course, their clothes. Abby really never had a space, although the whole house is free game for whatever she decides to do...be it freestyle dance, kickball (and how funny is it that the grandkids get to play ball in the house...), or Hungry, Hungry Hippos.


Since around Thanksgiving, Mom and Dad have been trying to figure out how to better make use of space when Jenny and I descend upon them. Add in our two dogs, and it's a proverbial madhouse.


So a while back, Mom moved the crib into their bedroom. When we arrive, they sleep in Abby's room, Abby sleeps with John, and then Jenny, Benjamin, and I have Mom and Dad's side of the house. It works pretty well until Dad forgets his cholesterol medicine or house shoes, and decides to bang around in there at 9:15 when Ben is already down.


Okay, so you pretty well should have a picture of what's what. Except for one thing. Abby's room has remained pretty much untouched where the decor is concerned. Mom and Dad replaced about 80% of their furniture when they moved to the new house. Mom's focus has been more on the living rooms and the more used parts of the house. So Abby's room has just had the antique iron bed, a small dresser, and some of her toys.


This is all about to change.


I had been thinking about this in the back of my mind for some time. Apparently, the apples don't fall too far from the trees, because John has had the same thoughts.


Recently, he purchased a couple of paintings for her room at our parents'. When I heard this, a bell went off. "Let's do the whole room," I thought. "And Christmas Eve. And she'll have NO idea."


So I checked with Mom, ran it by John, and we all came to the conclusion that it was a terrific idea. He has since purchased a few extra things, retrieved her dollhouse bookcase from storage, had the paintings personalized, and I have purchased the bedding and some sheer panels to go over the blinds at the ends of her big window.


Here's what her bed will look like on Christmas Morning, after Santa has worked his magic:

I am so sad that we won't be there until around Noon. I'm sure she will be calling us that morning to tell us what Santa did. I can't wait to post more pictures of the whole room when Santa's finished.

TB

9 Months and Growing

Here's a happy boy...

Yesterday we went to the doctor for Benjamin's 9 month checkup. 

Fortunately, nine months = no shots. Unfortunately, flu shot = big needle. He did really well, though.

We were also told to start brushing his teeth. All two of them. I mean, seriously. Come on. If he thinks the booger syringe is the end of the world, what on earth is he going to think when we start irritating his two piddly little teeth with a brush?

He's either going to have a complete meltdown or he'll laugh hysterically. Can't wait to see.

Here are his stats:

Weight - 21lb 3 oz...75th percentile

Height - 29.5 inches...90th percentile (Have you met his Daddy?)

Head - 75th percentile. (That melon he's got now, believe it or not, started out in the 20th percentile. Thank the Lord it grew into his body).

He's healthy and happy, and all is well.

Today's Top Ten List

Here you go: The top ten things we can be heard saying to Benjamin:

10. No, no
9. No, no
8. No, no
7. No, no
6, No, no
5. No, no
4. No, no
3. No, no
2. No, no
1. No, no

All I Want for Christmas is a New Car Seat...

Bless the child.

He's over 20 pounds, we're pretty sure, and he's still being crammed into his infant carrier car seat.


So, we bit the bullet and ordered a new one tonight. We've shopped all over town, compared all sorts of models, and basically went with the best.





So we continue these early steps in a lifelong journey of putting his needs first. And he's worth every dime.


Happy Monday.

Recent Events

So this is his newest thing...standing at the door in the afternoon waiting on me to get home from work. I guess by 430 or 500 he's had enough Mommy time. 

It's probably the best part of my day when I see him standing there. 

Here's the tree. Excuse the lower branches. Little curious hands tend to go straight for the ornaments...so we left them off of that part. 

Benjamin needed lights in his room, according to his Mommy, so I hung a strand of icicle lights along his windows. 

During a somewhat disastrous photo shoot Thursday night, in an effort to get Ben and both dogs in a photo (didn't work like we wanted...), we managed to get a couple of him playing with an ornament. 

Such a perfect little face. 

Have a great weekend!

The Best Gift

Okay, so bear with my sappiness, if that's a word.

I'm sitting here at my desk listening to Christmas music, while it's freezing outside. There was ice on my car and ice on our trash can this morning. It will be 28 tonight. Winter is here. Christmas is here. And Baby Kelley is almost here.

Jonathan and Lauren are some of our favorite people. Jonathan is the student minister at Calvary, and we spend more time with each other than we do our wives, it seems. He's probably my best friend in the city, and I'm glad to have spent my first year working with him.

Their son, Spencer Vinsant, should arrive sometime today. Jenny and I are so excited to see how this changes their lives. I guess it's something you're more excited about after having a son yourself. If I didn't have a million things to do to prepare for the events of the coming weekend, I'd be at Baptist in the waiting room all day today. We cannot wait to meet him.

In the meantime, here are the lyrics to one of my favorite Holiday songs. And I'm pretty sure it's a favorite of my mom's as well. Enjoy.

"The Best Gift"

The best gift that I ever got
Didn't really weigh a lot.
It didn't have a ribbon 'round,
And it sometimes made a terrible sound.

The best of all it seems to me
It wasn't b'neath a Christmas tree.
And yet, I guess I'd have to say
That it made all the other presents twice as gay.

The best gift that I've ever known
I'd always wanted most to own.
Yet in my dreams of sugar and spice
I never thought it could be so nice.

The best gift that I'll ever get
Was sometimes dry and sometimes wet;
Was usually pink, but often times red
As it lay so innocently in its bed.

The best gift of the year to me,
The one I hold most dear to me...
The gift that simply drove me wild
Was a tiny, newborn child.

- Barbara Streisand

Settling for something better...

Okay, so let me just own up to it. We're not going to the Dallas Symphony this year, and I'm a little sad by that. Jenny and I have attended Christmas Celebration 5 out of the last 6 Christmases that we have been together, and we've always enjoyed making a weekend of it...shopping, eating, and just enjoying the hustle and bustle of mid-December in Dallas. 

One of my favorite parts of the concert every year is the performace of Still, Still, Still, an Austrian carol that I can only describe as the perfect holiday lullaby. So each year I listen to various arrangements and performances of this particular piece to get me ready. If you've never heard it, download it on iTunes. The UCLA Madrigal performance on "Hark, How the Bells" is particularly nice. 

This afternoon, as I attempted to rock Benjamin to sleep after a nearly four-hour battle, I popped in Still as a last-ditch effort. As I watched his face go from exhausted frustration to complete peace, and I felt his body relax as he fell asleep, I've experienced the peace which that song brings in the most perfect way. 

And with regards to missing Christmas Celebration 2008, I feel that I've found a suitable alternative. 

The Perfect Tree

Well, thankfully, we are back at home, and both feeling a lot better. 

I don't know whether or not Jenny gave me what she had, or if I contracted another mutant strain of something. I felt terrible all day Friday, and ached from head to toe. Not a good week for the Bunch Fam. 

But we're home, Arkansas won (though we had to hear it over the radio as we traveled back to LR last night...), and we're unpacked and ready for Sunday. 

Since we didn't have a real Thanksgiving meal, Jenny's parents brought us a full spread today, and cooked a turkey for us while we all went out and searched for trees. 

For the past few years, we have found Mary's Nursery in Bryant to be the best selection of trees. Ours last year came from there, and was perfect. 

So this afternoon, Jenny, Ben, Lary, Debbie, Holly and I piled into our vehicle and headed off. Jenny's mom picked a perfect tree for their living room, but Jenny and I couldn't decide on one for our house. While we were there, we managed to get some pics of Ben at his first tree lot. 

After we got their tree back to our house and into Lary's truck, we had our abbreviated version of Thanksgiving dinner...two days late. Once dinner was over and cleaned up, Jenny and I headed down to a different lot and found the 2008 Bunch Family Christmas Tree. Our house is a wreck, and we're both still wiped-out, but it's in its standing and fits the space perfectly. We'll post more pics once it's decorated. 

Enjoy the last day of Thanksgiving weekend.