Halloween (FINALLY) and New Door

Ok, here's some video, finally! Sorry it's been a while! We are finally settling down here. Dad is still here and we just finished our work for the weekend. We have been SO productive! The front door is basically finished which includes all the painting. We just have to re grout the inside a little bit next weekend and it's a done deal! I can't believe we did it. We could not have done it without Dad! We'd be paying someone big bucks for the amount of work he put in this weekend. He just asked for a place to relax sometimes and to be fed. So, I fed him and he relaxed in the evening (sometimes). Other times we played lots of games and had a great time! He also helped with fixing our stupid garage door and cleaning our yard. We had perfect weather for all this. It was nearly 70 degrees the last couple of days. It was very nice considering we have had to keep the front door open throughout the day for painting, installing the storm door (oh yeah, Dad did that too with Brian's help), and other various projects. I can't believe we finished it all.

Ben's doing ok. He has a little tummy bug (thanks Daycare). He has felt ok other than his first diaper rash that he got as a consequence of the repeated diapers. He's handled it well. He has been very curious of all the construction going on and it barely seemed to slow him down.

Ok, Ben update time! He is REALLY mimicking everything we do. He's trying to use his own spoon and holds the phone up to his ear just to name a couple. I am including some cute video of Ben using the phone. About 30seconds in he does it really well (and that's my Dad's dog Madie in the back, Abby's off sleeping on the bed more than likely). He loves going through the mail with me. He has also gotten in the habit of taking a toy out of his box and then puts it back. He will carry a pale around and gather other toys into it, and loves putting his basketball into any bucket! He's crawling faster and faster. He's cruising along furniture and has let go from time to time holding himself up like a champ. Yesterday, he even let go and tried to take a step. It wasn't successfull but I'm sure that's right around the corner.

We're holding steady at 7 teeth but he's acting like another one is well on the way. He's sleeping ok, too. We're having about one bad night a week where he wakes up once and needs some TLC. Other than that he's still sleeping about 10 hours a night. Those hours are just from like 7pm to 5am which makes for an interesting morning! I can't complain, I know people who have it way worse.

I'm finally getting around to posting Halloween video! He LOVED riding around in that wagon with Jackson! Again, he was Woody from Toy Story. Such a good cowboy! We were in Detroit for Jackson's Baptism and took the boys over to Jen's parents house for a while (which is within walking distance). The whole ride there and back he just talked to Jackson and laughed out loud (which I never really caught on tape). Note Max the dog in his Superdog costume in the back!


Jackson's baptism went really well. Yes, you can call me Godmother! Ben did great in church. The service lasted almost 2 hours so I was a little nervous. But with all the singing and music he just clapped and danced. We were sitting in front and at one point the pastor's were laughing and pointing at him during one hymn because he was so into it! It was great!

So, hopefully I'm making up for neglecting the blog over the past couple of weeks with several cute videos.

Next weekend we will be home getting some rest. And by that I mean me climbing the steps of the Willis (Sear's) Tower Sunday morning! Everyone pray for me! You can still support me in donations to research and developement through Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago at

http://ric.convio.net/site/TR/SkyRise/General?px=1018741&pg=personal&fr_id=1030

Of you can just search it out through www.ric.org, click on the Tower Up Chicago Link, then on the left click on Sponsor a Participant and enter my name. All proceeds go the the Rehab Institute of Chicago (my employer) for their amazing work in research and developement in rehabilitative medicine. I may only bug you one more time. I have until Thursday!

Enjoy the videos!
Love ya'll!