Bubbles, Bubbles, Everywhere...

Well, our favorite time of day is bath time. Which is good, because he seems to need one almost every night now. 

Note to both of our mothers: The tub is clean...but the bubbles he slung everywhere make it look a little dirty. 

And let me brag on my wife for a minute. Normally, she is a little non-observant when it comes to noticing the price of items in the store, or noticing which ones are on sale, etc. etc. 

I want to give her special commendation for purchasing the Target brand of Nighttime Baby Wash, trying to help out a little bit. 

However, contradictory to the label on the bottle, it does NOT compare to Johnson and Johnson's. It smells nothing like it. We'll be taking it back tomorrow. Seriously. It's terrible. There are some things you just have to spend the extra dollar on. This is clearly one of them. 

Game of Tag, Anyone?

So Jill tagged us, and here we go.

1. Go to the fourth folder of pictures. 

2. Post the fourth picture inside that folder. 

3. Explain what the picture is. 

4. Tag 4 others to do the same.  

This is Jenny and Ben on Christmas Morning. The game is Busy Gears...recommended to us by Katie. So far, he loves it. 

Becca and Scott, Katie and Jason, Mike and Katie, and Hillary and Josh...you're it. 

Playing Catch-Up

It seems as though lately all we have had time to do blog wise is check on the Stamps. What an amazing thing it has been to follow their baby's progress. 

Aside from blogging, we're pretty busy. Basically every night of the week for the past couple of weeks has had something planned. 

Tuesdays are Todd's practice night for Upward, and Ben and Jenny usually go and walk the track at the gym. Last week Ben discovered how much fun basketballs can be. 

Another thing that Jenny and Ben have begun to do is come up to the church a couple of days during the week to let Ben play in the creeper room. He didn't waste any time learning the slide. 

So much fun to play with a ball....he never has the chance at home with our dogs...

Walking from one thing to another...

And showing proper fire escape techniques. 

Our food capers have been even more entertaining than walking and climbing. We've given up on Zwieback toast...it always ends up here (although one of our dogs will dispose of it rather quickly). 
This is our latest thing. Food all over the face. Food in the hair. We're taking baths daily now. 

And this is another new thing...if we laugh at him, he laughs back. The funniest thing is that it's a little sarcastic on his part. 

Last weekend we went to see Todd's parents and took ben by to see Poppy B (92) who is about to have a pretty serious operation. Ben surprised him by walking into the dining room with his walker. All of the residents (mostly women) were going crazy over the red hair. 

The Great Haircut Debate

So, I'm in need of advice from other parents out there.

When, exactly, do you cut your child's hair for the first time? Jenny was told yesterday that you "Don't do it before their first birthday pictures because they'll look like a big boy and not like a baby..."

What do we do about the over-the-ears fringe?

What about the mullet-like hair in the back?

The kid's definitely going to have thick hair. He doesn't stand a chance for thin or even average-thickness hair with either of our genes.

The birthday is 6 weeks away. Photos will be in a couple of weeks.

What to do, what to do...

Questions to Ponder...

So yesterday morning, I wondered and wondered about the gift that Michelle Obama gave Laura Bush. What does one give a former first lady?

I'm impressed to know today that she gave her a pen and journal (to use, according to ABC News, in writing her memoirs). So, that question is answered. Nice gift. Simple, classic, and a bit charming. Southern Accents could do a bit on the top 10 timeless gifts to give an outgoing first lady. Surely a journal and pen would make the cut.

But what about George's note to Barack? The one he left in the famous Resolute Desk? What did it say?

I'm hoping that it showed George's sense of humor and absolute joy at finally being off the hook. I'm hoping it said something like, "That toilet in the oval office bathroom over there has a sticky handle. Jiggle when you flush."

TB

Baby Harper

I'll just say, the amount of people who are friends of friends or have other connections with this family is insane.

I've never seen so many emails, text messages, phone calls, and blog posts criss-cross through so many lives at one time. What an amazing testament to how many people still believe in the power of prayer.

Thought for Tuesday

So I have to thank Fisher-Price for taking the time to add the disclaimer to the front of Ben's high chair tray: "Dishwasher-Safe Tray."

Really? Dishwasher safe? 

Could someone please show me a dishwasher that it would fit inside of in the first place?

Happy 10 Months, Little Man

In honor of our son's 10 month birthday, I've decided to post my favorite picture of him (thanks to Hillary's amazing wedding location...) and list my 10 favorite things about being Benjamin's Dad.

10. Watching him splash in the tub

9. Hearing "Da-Da" and "Bye-Bye"

8. Random people stopping us in public to admire him

7. When he is sitting in his high chair eating, and gets tickled for no apparent reason. Much like his mother does...

6. Rocking him to sleep

5. Seeing him share his Cheerios with the two dogs

4. Pulling in the driveway to see him standing at the front door with both hands on the glass.

3. Hearing the "mmmmmmm" sound he makes when he gets a bite of real food

2. His baby face when he has his passy in

1. Knowing that the high point of his day is when we finally tire of hearing him laugh and play, and we walk into his room to get him up and out of bed in the mornings. He grins from ear to ear, bounces up and down, and we know that - whatever happens today - everything we do and every decision we make is done in order to make his life a little better.

Recent Days...

Just thought we'd follow up with a few After-Christmas pics...Jenny and I decided not to get each other presents this year, but just do stockings. Of course, I went over the $20.00 stocking limit and stuffed Jenny's with a new camera, since mine is so large and she can never take it anywhere. 

These were taken before we learned how to use it, so excuse the graininess. 

Here we have Benjamin playing with his new Jungle Ball activity center from Grammy and Granddad. He's all about the monkey dropping the ball into the chute. 

And here we have the teething little monster working on some 

linkey-doos that his Pippi gave him. 

After Christmas, but before we had returned to Little Rock, Aunt Bee Bee 

decided to lay out all of his toys at Pippi and Poppa's. 

A little over-stimulating, one might say. Check out the busy poppin' balls toy

in the bottom right corner of the pic. It TERRIFIES him. Sounds like a 

hair dryer. Freaks him completely out!

A rare shot of the bottom two teeth. 

The two Bunch Grandbabies...Abby Lynn, age 4, and Benjamin. 

Benjamin, during the Cotton Bowl, rocking out with Granddad Bunch.

Woo hoo! Grammy finally bought a high chair for her house!

Hardwoods have nothing on this kid's sock feet. He cruised right

through the house....no shoes.

Cruisin through Grammy's kitchen. 

What we neglected to get was Benjamin walking all the way through St. Bernard's Village, the retirement home where Poppy B (his Great-Grandfather) lives. We took the walker to show PaPa how he is walking, but we were unaware that he had undergone a test at the hospital that morning and was apparently radioactive, so we didn't get to go in and see him! 

Who knew!!!???!!!

A couple of random senior gals at the home were most amused by his walker. Ben's walker, not PaPa's. 

For My Fellow Hogfans...

So for just over two hours tonight, I sat, but not in amazement, and listened to yet another pair of commentators fall all over themselves every time our opponent did anything slightly above mediocre. 

Why is it? Why is every nationally-televised Arkansas game - regardless the sport, or of our ranking - subjected to the "Poor, Inbred Arkansas" phenomenon. We can't do anything right in their eyes. 

It's been this way my whole life. I've always been bothered by it.

And I won't even begin to talk about the ridiculous calls against us by the referees. I hope they had escorts to their cars tonight. 

Nor will I mention the fact that if I heard the phrase "Butt Post" one more time I was going to either vomit or throw the remote through the television.

All that matters is this: We won. Go Hogs, Go!