11/12/07

HAPPY 18 MONTHS

My little boy turned 18 months today. It is usually a big deal for a LDS parent because their kid finally gets to go to nursery. But since I am the nursery leader in our Ward, Ben's been in the nursery since he was about 7 months old. He absolutely loves nursery. A couple of weeks ago, our 2nd and 3rd hours of church got canceled and as we were leaving the building after the Sacrament meeting, he started crying and saying "nursery".

It's so fun watching your kids grow and learn new things every day. Every little milestone seems like such a huge accomplishment and make you the proudest parent.

As a little tribute to my big boy, here's 18 fun facts about Ben:

1. He loves music and dancing. He starts dancing whenever he hears music or sees anyone dance. He asks for music to be turned on when we are in the car. He will even tell you "no" if he doesn't like the song, or "yes" if that's the one he wants to listen to. No joke, he picks the songs he wants to listen to.

2. He loves going to the park. If I dare to try to skip our ritual trip to the park, he will always remind me with "go to park".

3. He LOVES water in any shape or form. He loves baths, swimming pools, lake, rain, puddles, playing with the hose, playing in the toilet water... you name it.

4. He talks A LOT. His latest language accomplishments are "brush teeff", " wa hands", "brush hair", "drink of water", "piece of bread", "get me out", "watch Nemo", "thank you, you're welcome", "real hot", "bunk the head", "read the book", "dig dirt", "go to park", "grandpa here", "I yove you", "don't do it", "no touch"... the list goes on. He really has no problem communicating. He talks all the time, our house is never quiet unless Ben is asleep.

5. He can count till ten.

6. He loves the "Old McDonald song" and sings along with it.

7. He can recognize most of the animals, he knows their names and the sounds they make.

8. He wakes up really grumpy after his afternoon nap.

9. He is Mamma's boy. He asks for mamma all the time, whether he is hungry, tired, hurt, needs someone to play with or just needs help.

10. He has Scott's laugh. If you ever heard Scott laugh, really laugh... it's this deep laugh that sounds like it comes from the bottom of his stomach or something. Ben laughs the exact same way. It's hilarious.

11. He loves books. We have tons of books and he carries them around and says "read the book".


12. He loves chips and salsa. He will dip his chip no matter how hot the salsa is. He's eaten salsa that was way too hot for me. He kind of pants and blows a little but then asks for more. I guess you can't be a Hardy and not love salsa, it must run in the genes.

13. Ben's favorite thing in the morning is to brush his teeth. He goes to the sink and says "brush teeff", then he makes sure I put toothpaste on it. He won't brush unless there is toothpaste. I think he just likes the taste of it, it's the kiddie one so it's flavored.

14. He loves when daddy chases him. In fact, as soon as he sees Scott he starts running away laughing and screaming "get ya".

15. He likes playing with the ball, throwing it, kicking it, whatever. He really gets a kick out of it.

16. He has 2 favorite blankets and, lately, he has to have both of them in his bed.

17. He loves his bed. We had so much trouble with his crib, he kept climbing out of it. Since then we converted his crib into a toddler bed and Ben absolutely loves it. I just tell him that it's time for sleep and he goes and climbs right into his bed. Going to sleep has never been easier.

18. He has the most contagious smile.

11/8/07

I LOVE YOU

So the cutest thing happened this morning. As Scott was leaving to go to work, he picked up Ben and said "I love you, Benjamin". Ben responded with "I yove you, mama". He quickly corrected himself with "I yove you, Daddy". It was so cute. He's said I love you before, but he never before attached a name to it. Moments like this melt a mother's (or father's) heart. Moments like this make all the sleepless nights, all the dirty diapers, all of the broken things, and all the chaos in the house completely worth it. I am so grateful for the blessing of being a mother and having such a sweet little boy as part of our family. I love you, Ben.

11/6/07

Jaxon's baby blessing

This last weekend we went up to Utah for Jamie and Matt's little boy's baby blessing. It was a really neat experience. Jaxon is such a sweet little baby. As I was holding him during sacrament meeting I couldn't help but think how weird it must feel for this huge spirit to be stuck in this tiny little body. It was a special day for everyone involved. I feel so blessed to have such a great family.
That Saturday we took Ben to Cornbellys at Thanksgiving Point. Here's a few highlights...




10/31/07

Benjamin A. Hardy, M.D.

Ben was a doctor for Halloween. He loves my stethoscope, so we got him some scrubs and he got to play a doctor. It was cute. He would put the stethoscope in his ears and try to listen to his own heart or belly. I guess he remembered Mommy doing that to him :o)

Today we had our Ward Trunk-or-Treat party. I’m not sure what Ben thought of it. He got really excited when we got there and he saw all the people and his little buddies from church. But when we went around trick-or-treating he got all quite and was just holding out his baggy to collect the candy. He did say “trick-o-treat” a couple of times. Most of the time he was just staring at everyone and everything. I haven't quite introduced him to the scary side of Halloween. I think he was in a little bit of a shock.

Here are some pics...
Our little M.D.

Ben and his girlfriends
Trick-0r-Treating
Stuffing as much candy as possible in his mouth. I think he was worried I would take it away, which usually I would. But hey, it's Halloween...let the kid have fun, right?

10/29/07

California trip

This last weekend we went to California where Scott had to take his 8-hour Professional Engineer test. We decided to make a little vacation out of it. Scott's parents came along and we all had a lot of fun going to the LA zoo and going for train rides while poor Scott was stuck in a testing center for the entire Friday. We spent Saturday hanging out with Scott's aunt and uncle who live there. They took us tide pooling, which was way cool. We got to see all kinds of sea life. There were star fish, Hermit crabs, some other crabs, anemones, huge snails, and other sea creatures whose names I don't know. Ben had a lot of fun and wanted to touch everything and even tried to put it in his mouth...eww... gotta keep a close eye on that kid. We all had a lot of fun. It was a little smoky when we got there on Thursday but then it seemed to clear up quite a bit.

It's nice to have Scott done with his test, though he won't know the results for about three months from now. It's been consuming all his time lately, which means virtually no time for me and Ben. So we're very excited to have Daddy back.










10/22/07

Fitted Sheet Fairy

So this is kinda silly, but I’ve always had a hard time folding fitted sheets. They just don’t come out nice and neat no matter how long I spend folding it. I came across this video and I think it’s great. Finally someone has figured it out. A man too, of all the people :o). I have tried it out and it works great. You can barely tell the difference between a regular sheet and the fitted sheet. So, if you’re as OCD as I am, you’ll appreciate it.

10/15/07

BYU vs UNLV

We went to the BYU vs UNLV football game this last Saturday. It was a pretty good game. I was glad BYU won, even though I was wearing a red UNLV shirt. I guess there is still some blue in my blood.

Wow, there's a close up of my braces.
I think the final score actually was 24:14. BYU rocks!!!