Beniah is 1!

November and December has come and gone with out any updates from us. Life has been pretty busy with Beniah's 1st birthday, Tim's graduation from college, and Christmas. So without further ado, here are some of the highlights of our past month.

On November 15th, Beniah turned 1 year old. It is hard to believe that my little baby is over a year old and walking, jabbering, and occasionally spearing a piece of food with his fork and eating it. We celebrated Beniah's birthday in style with friends and family on November 14th.

Each of the 5 children (who could eat cake) that were there was given their own pumpkin shaped carrot cake.






My sister, Evie, with my niece, Evie.


Beniah had a blast dancing with two of his older cousins.

Playing Catch up

Life has been rather busy this fall, so I have been remiss in updating this blog. Beniah is almost 1 year old, is over 25 lbs, and has been walking like a pro since Halloween. Here is a little snap shot of what has been happening since September.

In September Tim, Beniah, and I went down to Roseburg to visit with my family who had come from back east. Beniah and I met my grandparents and aunt in Portland and had our 1st train ride down to Eugene.



Beniah turned 10 months old.


In October, Beniah and I traveled down to LA to introduce Beniah to his Great Grandma and Grandpa Gillies.


Beniah turned 11 months old.


Beniah's 1st Halloween. He was a lamb and didn't like having the hood on and his nose colored on.


Beniah is so proud that he can walk now.

Sometimes I have Days Like These

I Should Have Known To Leave the Lid On.

Battle of the Century

The Faceoff.


The 1st Move.


The Attack.


The Result.


Andy - 0
Mongkut - 0
Sliding Glass Door - 1

9 Months Old

Beniah is now 9 months old. He weighed in at his last doctor's visit at 24.8 lbs and is 25" long with a 19.5" head. Life has gotten a lot more interesting with Beniah around. He is pulling himself up and walking along furniture, walls, and giant overstuffed bears. We are constantly having to rearrange our area to accommodate his growing "no touch" zone.

Beniah is becoming more vocal and has a few words in his vocabulary.

"DaDaDa" (keeps repeating many times) - Daddy, Monkey, anything that is exciting
"DuDuDu" (again, keep repeating this many times) - Duck, Fish, Light up Frogs that don't light up anymore, any bath toy.
"Do" (The "O" as in ostrich) - Donny
"Bu" (as he waves) - Bye Bye!

Beniah staring down a friend's dog.


At OSU in Corvallis.

Beniah loves playing next to his cousin, Donny.



He also loves swings.



9 Months Old.

That's So Camping!

This past weekend, we took Beniah on his 1st camping trip. My parents, Beniah, and I found a campsite at Diamond Lake and was joined by Tim later that night. Within 5 minutes of arriving at our campsite, Beniah had a mouthful of mud, a huge grin, and a stick in his hand. He is such a boy. We awoke the next morning to frozen water and a campground of frost. We all donned 3 or more layers of clothes and looked like the marshmallows that we ate the previous night.

Mama and Beniah (notice the frost on the camp chairs). We all took turns cuddling Beniah that morning to keep him warm.


Beniah playing with Daddy.


We decided to tear down our campsite and find another one that was lower in elevation so we would be warmer in the night. While we did that, Beniah was off investigating the area off of the fake grass mat that he was put on.


His favorite campground toys, small pebbles.


We were joined by my sister and her family at Horseshoe Bend campground.

Cousins.


Beniah tried to eat pinecones.


Jeshu


We celebrated Evie's birthday (with trick candles, of course).


I made the cake for her. It was a yummy Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with a sweet Lemon Curd Filling and Lemon Buttercream Frosting. It was very sweet, but had a bit of tartness to it.


On Sunday morning, my dad, brother in law, and Tim went fishing. Ravi caught a couple of small fish for Jeshu to look at.

Jeshu looking at his "Ishy".


Jeshu's "ishy's"

8 Months Old

Beniah is now 8 months old. He got weighed at the doctor's today and he is now 23 lbs 11 oz. That puts him in the 90-95 percentile. Beniah has grown a lot this month. He has perfected the crawl and has actually taken 5 steps by himself. Not for the camera of course, but there were witnesses! He loves to hold someones hand and walk everywhere.

He loves to see what we are doing...


...unfortunately, he fell off of the couch and got his 1st goose egg.


On Tusedays, we watch his cousin Donny. They have the greatest time playing together.


Beniah has been eating solids for awhile now, so we thought that he would like to have his 1st taste of lemon.


Beniah has been enjoying his mobility and has discovered Mama's full length mirror.


With crawling comes rug burns, so I have devised a way to save Beniah's knees. We'll see how it works out.


I thought that I would add this picture, as this is typical photo during a shoot. Beniah really wants the camera and lunges for it resulting in this...


Beniah at 8 months.

Family Visits

Last week, my family came up to visit us. We met up with my sister and her family on Sunday at Multnomah falls. It was a fun, but slightly damp hike.

Cousins.


Evie and Tim


Typical Multnomah Falls picture.


We hiked a little bit beyond the bridge. When we got to the bridge, Tim looked over the side and said, "I had that made just for you." Ahh! How sappy sweetheart!


Evie and Ravi left on Monday morning and my parents arrived that afternoon. We spent the next 3 days visiting, touristing, and spoiling Beniah. I wasn't apart of the last item, but I let his grandparents have fun.

Mom thoroughly enjoyed giving her grandson a bath.


On Tuesday, we were going to hike up to Beacon Rock, but realized that the path that was touted to be good for young children was to rocky and steep for a stroller. We ended up walking on a nature trail that was back up the road a bit.

Grandpa and Beniah


Grandma and Beniah.


Beniah loved Grandpa's shoulder rides.


On Wednesday, we went to Fort Vancouver and looked around.

Not a very good photo of me, but it's a fun one. We are all laughing because Beniah just got done trying to eat my hair.

Grandpa and Grandma with Beniah


My parents.


Beniah was so tired by the end of the day that he fell asleep. He didn't even wake up when I moved him from the stroller to the car seat.


After the fort, my parents took us to Burgerville, where Beniah happily sat in a restaurant highchair for the 1st time.


After Beniah woke up in the morning, my parents would bring him into their bed and play with him. I had to take a picture because I remember doing this with my grandparents. I love the smell of Foldgers coffee (not the taste though) because they would be drinking a cup of it while I was curled up next to them.