Daddy's little Catfish

Munchkin, Peanut, Little Man, Wild Man, Punkin-head... all commonly used nicknames that Nick and I use when we are talking to Ben. Lately, Nick has also started calling Ben "Catfish". Why?? I did my best to get it on video. He's a little cranky in this video because we were approaching nap-time.

Ben's little mouth when he is doing his "baby talk" looks suspiciously like the wide mouth of a catfish (minus the whiskers). The cheeks are my favorite part:)

Play time

Ben looked too cute tonight "reading" his books... I couldn't stand it! I just had to snap some pictures. One of the best parts of my day is the time we get to spend with Ben in the evenings before he goes to bed. I miss him all day long. He is getting so big right in front of our eyes. It's hard to believe he will be 6 months already on Saturday!

Enjoys the pictures of our sweet boy...

"Mom, I'm not sure what this says. Can you help me out?"

"Look! Monkeys!"

Daddy loves this picture:)

Rough River

Ahhhh, vacation. Even if it's a 3 1/2 day weekend, it's always worth it. For Labor Day weekend, Nick and I were invited by our good friends Erin and Mike down to Erin's family lake house in Kentucky. They have a beautiful vacation home on Rough River Lake, just a short few hours journey from Indianapolis. So Friday afternoon Erin and I left work and loaded up Owen and Ben from daycare and hit the road. Nick and Mike had to work a little later, so they drove down separately... I think they were just trying to avoid spending over 3 hours in a car with 2 babies!! The boys did great on the car ride though, and were very good babies all weekend.

We had such a wonderful time. Erin's parents, Eric and Leslie, were amazing. They had enough food there to feed a small army... and I think I ate everything in sight! From waffles to big steak dinners... we definitely didn't go hungry! The name of the game was relax, so that is just what we did! It was fun to see Ben and Owen play together, go on a boat ride, and even get their first bath together;) For me the best part was being able to truly relax and not have anything to do. We took walks, took the boat out for some water sports, played around on the jet ski, took naps, and just had a good time hanging out together!

We owe a BIG thank you to Erin, Mike, and the Ballenger family for sharing your family vacation spot with us for the weekend- we loved it!

I had so many pictures it was hard to choose! Here are some of my faves...

Ben and Owen in their matching Lake shirts

They were wrestling... looks like Ben's weight advantage didn't matter:)

Proud Mommas

I swear he doesn't have anything in those cheeks... go ahead, squeeze for yourself!

Ben was up most mornings at 6:15, so I was lucky enough to see the beautiful KY sunrise

Bundled up for an evening cruise on the boat

Proud Papas

Erin and Owen take in the fresh lake air

Ben looks a little uncomfortable in the life jacket

Had to end with this one- what a cutie!!

I love sweet potatoes

Ben has started to eat baby foods over the last week and a half and it's definitely taking some getting used from all parties involved. He seems to really love the sweet potatoes the most... that is, the ones he actually manages to swallow. The rest end up on his bib, face, or spit all over momma:) He thinks that's pretty funny, as you can see below!

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;)