Getting Ready for Singapore

Having a good time with Mama. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see all 3 of his teeth and one more on the way any day now. Hopefully he'll get a little break before the next round starts.

Look Daddy - I'm holding my bottle!
We've been coaching Ben on holding his own bottle lately after seeing some of his friends doing it...he's been pretty spoiled with the full-service bottle delivery.

Just chewing away...

I've been considering the best way to transport Ben to Singapore, but this just doesn't seem like a good option. (just kidding! don't call CPS) We leave first thing Monday morning and thank goodness Matt's company bought us each our own business class seats so the flight will hopefully be as painless as possible. This will be our last post from the States for a while since we don't know yet when we'll be back for our first visit, but I'll continue to post our new adventures from the other side of the globe once we get settled and online over there. Please do pray for safe (and sane!) travel and a smooth transition for little Ben to the new timezone, 13 hours ahead of central time. From what we hear, most kids adjust a lot faster than their old parents so we hope that's true!

I'm Standing!

Look at me...I'm standing!!

Hmm...I just don't know about that...

He is a little rubber ducky addict!

If only the kitty would sit a little closer...

Ben has learned how to make any seat just a little more comfortable.

Road Trip

I gave Ben a sippy cup to see if he'd be interested in drinking from it and he was really excited about it, but not so much for the reasons I'd hoped! It apparently makes a great toy and teether. His top teeth are on their way in so he's still chewing on things non-stop.

Hanging out at the park with his new baseball cap.

Ben and I went on our first road trip together to visit Aunt Stacey in Dallas. He was a pretty good traveler but when he got a break from his carseat he wanted to stay in the front seat with me.

The bluebonnets are still blooming in North Texas so I tried one last time to get some pictures of Ben in the wildflowers. I don't want to leave without some good Texas memories for him. Matt left last Friday for Singapore so he is already settling into work and getting our condo in order. Ben and I plan to leave May 21st and we hope to find that all of our belongings made it there ahead of us as scheduled. He'll be a year old on May 22nd so it seems like a good time to start his big journey overseas.

On another exciting note, Ben has started pulling up on things (mostly nearby shirts for now) and standing himself up. He absolutely will not crawl because for whatever reason he hates to be on his tummy, but he can make the crawling motions. I wonder if he's going to be one of those kids that skips crawling entirely but it sure is nice not having to chase him around yet!

Finally, a Tooth Picture

Having a little fun in the bathtub

Ben has learned how to go backwards in the walker but still hasn't figured out how to go forward. When we eat dinner we just pull him back to the table over and over and let him walk back until he bumps into something.

The first two teeth! It took two parents, one entertaining camera cord, and several tries to finally get a real picture of them.

Pretty Day

Enjoying the sunshine and flowers outside

Is there anything that doesn't fit in Ben's mouth?

Our little guy has finally discovered the joys of sitting up and playing. We love watching him entertain himself with all the new things he can reach and chew on. Once he caught on that it really is worth the effort to sit, now he loves it!

Teeth

Two teeth in, two more on the way! EVERYTHING goes straight to the mouth.

Our happy little boy...he is a long, lean fellow.

Enjoying some unseasonably cool weather with a stroller ride.

Swinging away

We have tried to explain the idea behind the pacifier, but since Ben quit using his froggy pacifier months ago he'll have nothing to do with any of them...except maybe to chew on the wrong end!

Ben loves the kitty! If she accidentally walks too close to him he immediately grabs a handful of that irresistable fur. Lucky for Abby she's still faster than him (for now).

Update

I'll just apologize first thing for not having any new pictures to post! Most of our personal belongings are on a boat somewhere between Houston and Singapore and the rest are scattered between several houses at the moment. Once we get the camera, USB cable, and high-speed internet all in the same house again, I'll get some new pictures up. Hopefully we'll be set up next week.

Ben is becoming more fun by the day! He is so interested in everything now and wants to play with any new object he finds. He's also getting really interested in food and starting to enjoy eating from a spoon. The second tooth finally came in (but I hear this teething thing doesn't stop for months?!) and his smile is just adorable. He's started rolling all over the place to get toys and probably just to work out all of that energy he's got stored up. The doctor measured him Monday at just over 29 inches, which is pretty amazing because it means he's an average 10-month old in terms of length, when in reality he'd only be 7 months old right now. Ben is still a slim guy at 16 1/2 lbs but that's not a concern because obviously he's growing each month, just in a vertical direction.

We've all moved in with my parents for the time being and he's made the adjustment very well. His favorite thing here is the cat and I think that's the first word he's learned. If we ask him to find the kitty he'll start looking around for her or grab a handful of fur. Unfortunately, I don't think she returns the same affection for him!

We'll get some new pictures posted soon!