Motorcycle Stud

Uncle Frank wanted to see how Ben liked the Harley, so it was the perfect opportunity for a few great pictures! Thanks Frank! Ben looks right at home, but I hope he didn't get too comfortable. It will be a long time before that little guy actually takes a cruise on one of those!!

Old friends, New friends

This past Saturday I was so excited to go visit Kara, one of my very best friends since childhood. Kara had a little girl, Tenley, just 2 short months after Ben was born, so it has been fun for us to compare "mommy" notes and watch our little ones grow. We had a great time catching up with each other and squeezing on our babies. I miss Kara so much and wish we could see each other more often! Thank you for a great afternoon!!

You may remember the belly picture I posted when I was about 9 months pregnant with Ben and Kara was about 7 months pregnant with Tenley... well the picture below is the end result of those big bellies!!

Ben must have said something pretty funny

So sweet!!

Old friends and new friends

Man's Best Friend

Ben has recently become very fascinated with our dog Gunther. Whenever Gunther is in the room, Ben can't tear his eyes away. The doggie also has quite the way of making laugh. I was trying to catch just that when shooting this video... I didn't catch the laugh, but I still think this captures their budding friendship. Note how Ben at the beginning has a death grip on Gunthers fur and he doesn't even seem to notice;)

Tiramasu, a head cold, and a new ceiling fan...

I don't know about you, but we had a pretty eventful weekend at the Vollmer household, as you can clearly tell from the title of this blog:)

I woke up Friday morning with a sore throat, and that slowly morphed into a full blown head cold over the weekend. Ugh- I think I picked it up from Ben who has been battling something similar. But, a runny nose and congestion didn't stop me!

Frank and Lindley came to visit for the weekend which is always a good time. Saturday morning Lindley and I took our Starbucks coffees and Ben downtown for his first trip to Circle Centre. My whole mission was to look at the baby boy clothes in H&M, and well, let's just say they will have to restock the shelves after our visit! I found the cutest things for fall and winter for Ben, and on my way to checkout I happened to pick up one or two things for me too:) Thanks H&M!

Saturday evening Caity came to the house after Ben went to bed so that Nick and I could go out to dinner with Frank and Lindley. We went to one of our fave's, Maggiano's, and it didn't disappoint. And what would a trip to Maggiano's be without a big piece of Tiramasu?!

On Sunday, Nick decided to tackle the ceiling fan project in our living room that we have been talking about since we moved in (3 years ago!). Off to Lowe's he went and luckily he had Frank there as his handy dandy assistant. It's a good thing we finally got the fan installed now that summer is nearing an end:) Anyway- thank you Nick for being so handy to have around!!

Nick and Frank working on "the install"

Frank and Lindley had a good time hanging out with Ben- thanks for visiting!!

Belly Laughs

Make sure to turn your volume up for this one. Ben has been laughing a lot more lately- and nobody was more successful at getting Ben to laugh than his cousin Alexa. Here is an example... how cute are they?!

Ahhhh Pentwater

We just got home last night from our 5 day stretch in Pentwater, MI. For those of you not familiar, this place is a Gutwein family tradition. My family has been vacationing here since my dad and his siblings were little kids, and now, my uncles own a lakehouse on Bass Lake. It was pretty emotional for me this year- my Dad came here as a kid, then he brought me and my siblings here through our childhood, and now I am taking my kid there. It definitely makes me lonesome for Dad, but we are so fortunate for the memories we have there and that we are still able to make new memories too.

Nick and I have decided that this is our favorite way to vacation. It's quiet, you can do whatever you want, whether that be fish, ski, read, nap, eat, swim, or shop... you name it. We did all of these things, and also enjoyed spending time with our little boy, my Mom, my sister Allison and her husband Daryl, and their 2 girls Anna and Alexa.

Nick took me out in the fishing boat on our last morning...

not very successful!

Alexa and Ben taking in the fresh Bass Lake breeze

Aunt Allison brought Ben his very first Johnny Jumper- it was a big hit!

Mom spent most of her time in the hammock piled with her grandbabies!

Ben's first Pentwater sweatshirt

Ben and Alexa keeping each other entertained

The Vollmer family:)

Happy Birthday Alexa and Grandma Sams!

Nick and I had such a great weekend- we hauled Ben all over the place! Friday night we went over to Erin and Mike's to hang out. It was so nice to put the boys to bed around 7:30 or so and just have a couple of hours to visit and enjoy each others company as adults! Saturday we spent the day cleaning, running errands, getting groceries, etc. I love days like that. We are getting ready for our trip to Michigan... just 5 more days!!

On Sunday we met Nick's family in Lafayette at the Trails for Sunday brunch to celebrate Grandma Sams' birthday. We had a great meal and everyone enjoyed the chance to squeeze on Ben!

Ben looks shocked to see Great Grandma!

Afterwards we went to my sister Allion's house to celebrate her little girl Alexa's 1st Birthday. What a sweetie pie! It was a great party!

"What do you guys think, is it too much?"

Anna did a great job of keeping her cousin Ben entertained

Even Ben was captivated by Alexa's headband!

Uncle Anthony spending some quality time with his nephew

Summer of cuteness

Since I wasn't able to blog for a good majority of the summer, I thought I would share some random pics. Unfortunately, because I wasn't blogging on a regular basis, I also kind of forgot to take pictures too- so I don't have that many from the last month or so! I'm turning that around from this point forward. I can't wait for Michigan in just 8 days- we'll get some great pictures there!

Really no point at all to this blog... guess I was just missing it:)

Are these cheeks for real?

Did Nick steal Grandma's sunglasses again?

I can't believe I carried him around in a similar

fashion for 9 months... at least we got him out

before he was any bigger than 9lb 3oz!!

Not too thrilled about starting rice cereal.

I think the bib usually absorbs way more than the kid does.

Tech Support, Please!!

Here I am, about 2 months since my last blog post. Most of you are probably thinking, "oh, she went back to work and doesn't have time to blog anymore." On the contrary, my friends. I have been in a 2 month long battle with my PC. That's right, me and the ol' hewlitt packard have been going rounds. Tonight, a small victory. I'm giving it about another ten minutes before I'm kicked out of here again.

With that being said- a lot sure has happened in the last 2 months! Our precious little boy Ben has now doubled in age (and size too, for that matter). He is 4 months old, almost 4 1/2 now, and is more precious than ever! It's amazing to see him develop new skills every day. He is learning to roll over, grab his toes, reach for objects... I feel like I'm going to blink and he will be driving, dating, and filling out college resumes! Woah there- long time before all of those things. Anyway, it is so rewarding to watch him grow and change. He is also learning to sleep- most nights he's up to about 10 hour stretches! I am loving that... the dark circles under my eyes are starting to fade:)

The summer is flying by for Nick and I. We had a wonderful trip to Hilton Head with Nick's family at the end of June, threw a surprise 30th birthday party for my sister here at our house in July, and we are getting ready to go up to the Gutwein lakehouse for a week in August. Mixed in with all of that, we have been staying busy learning to juggle work, family, taking care of the house, etc. Life never pauses... even when your internet connection won't let you blog!

I couldn't post a blog without at least one picture... and this is even a little old already! This is Ben's first visit to the beach while we were in Hilton Head. How can you resist those cheeks!! I promise to get some more recent pictures posted soon- and to keep up to date now that I think (knock on wood) my computer problems are solved!