Ben's First Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve 2008!

Hanging out at Aunt Chris' house on Christmas Eve!

Ben couldn't wait for Santa to come!

He also liked helping open presents at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Ben and Aunt Stacey

Ben "wrote" a letter to Santa and left him some cookies and milk, too.

I LOVE this picture of Eddie and Ben - the little reindeer was in Ben's stocking.

Ben got Daddy some Auburn T-shirts and a framed signed Bengals jersey for Christmas.

Eddie is training Ben right from the beginning! Ben got me a pearl bracelet from Tiffany's!

Santa left Ben a wagon filled with books and toys.

Maybe he needs to be a little bigger before he rides in it...

A family photo on Christmas day!

A special Santa bag and stocking at Grandma and Pappy's house.

Look what Santa left us! (and check out that hair!)

Ben had a great Christmas and can't wait to play with all his new toys!

Merry Christmas!

As we begin 24 hours of nonstop festivities, we wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We hope the holidays are full of magic for you, as they will be for us as we celebrate with Ben. Enjoy this time with friends and family and be grateful for all you have! We are thankful for all of your love and support and couldn't ask for better family and friends!

"And I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight, 'Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!'"

Ben as Baby Jesus!

Last week, Ben had his stage debut! Eddie's stepmom Jenny works for Bethany School, a local Episcopal school, and they put on a Christmas program. They wanted to have a real baby portray Baby Jesus in the Nativity scene and asked Jenny if Ben was up for the job! Of course, Eddie and I said yes! Ben did a great job... well, except for the fact that he was very squirmy! The poor 7th grader holding him got nervous and started walking around the stage with him. He made it through about 4 minutes on stage and then I rescued him and he was replaced with a Cabbage Patch doll! Overall, it was a lot of fun and will be a fun story to tell Ben about when he gets older.

The Mohawk

Ben's hair is too funny! He has so much on top that we styled it into a mohawk the other day as a joke (and 2 days later it's still like that!)! Here's a picture of Ben hanging out with Uncle Stephen and the infamous mohawk.

Thanks, Stacey, for sending us the picture!

3 Month Stats

Just to update everyone... Ben had his 3 month well check yesterday. He now weighs 9 lbs 11oz and is 22 inches long! Somehow we got a long and lean baby - not a bad problem to have!! Dr. Habel says Ben is still very small for his age (less than 5th percentile for weight and 5th percentile for length), but that everything is proportionate, so he is not concerned. Ben is very healthy and seems to like going to the doctor - he doesn't fuss and responds positively to Dr. Habel. As a "reward" for being good at the doctor, Eddie and I took him to see Santa afterward. Ben did great (but let's face it - he didn't have a clue what was going on!), but he was getting hungry, so he kept trying to root in Santa's beard. :) We are supposed to be getting link to the Santa pictures website, so I'll post that when I get it. Overall, it was a successful first visit with Santa, and we're looking forward to many more visits in the future.

We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

3 month pictures

It's hard to believe our little Ben is already 3 months old! He is getting bigger, stronger, and more fun everyday! He is starting to hold his head up and loves to kick and smile and laugh (sort of - he likes to make noise, we call it laughing)! We go to the doctor on Monday for his 3 month well check, so I'll update you on his stats then. For now, you'll have to make do with his adorable 3 month pictures we had done today at Portrait Innovations. Ben did great - he smiled and didn't cry until the very end. We are very pleased with how the pictures turned out! If you can't tell, his onesie says "best gift ever" and it's so true - we couldn't ask for a better gift than Ben this Christmas!

Gobble, Gobble!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

It was Ben and Cameron's first Thanksgiving!

We had lunch at my mom's and dinner at Eddie's dad's.

Ben napped before dinner in his glider machine at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Grandpa and Ben cuddled up at after dinner... of course Molly had to get in on the action!

Hope everyone had a great day - we have so much to be thankful for!

Next up.... CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

4 Generations

How cool - 4 generations of Meiners Men (and all have Edward in their name!)

Benjamin Edward, Edward George III (Grandpa), Edward James, and Edward George Jr. (Great Grandpa)

Ben likes to snuggle with Grandpa and watch football!

Baptism and Other Cuteness

9 weeks and almost 9 pounds! He's finally wearing 0-3 month clothing so we have more clothing options! In this picture, Ben is wearing the very first sleeper I bought after we had our first ultrasound.

My two favorite boys!

So cute!!!

Ben's baptism was last Sunday. He wore the same gown that my mom and I wore.

He was so good, didn't cry at all!

Ben slept through most of the service.

What a gorgeous kid!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Here we are with Ben's very special pumpkin (my grandpa did the same thing for me on my first Halloween, so I thought we'd keep up the tradition... it's a good thing his name isn't too long!).

My little pooped pumpkin...

Halloween goodies from Grandma's house!

Showing off his "first Halloween" shirt!

At Grandma's house with her ghosts...

Not many people can wear a pumpkin on their butt like my baby can!

Yes, Ben had 3 different outfits to wear on Halloween... it was a fashion show all day!

Wednesday night pumpkin carving!!

Cousin Cameron was a ghost -isn't he cute?

Grandma always has a Halloween party for the cousins the night before Halloween so everyone can show off their costumes! Carson is Mickey Mouse, Cameron is a ghost, and Sophia and Isabella are both Cinderella.

This was the first time Ben got to meet his cousins! Sophia and Isabella were so excited to see Ben and are excited to meet their own brother in January!

Isabella did a great job holding Ben! She even "shh-shh" him when he was starting to get fussy! However, when I asked her to babysit Ben, she said "Aunt Jenny, I'm not old enough!" So smart! She will be a great big sister (again) and a big help to her mommy!