A Few Fun Things

We've been remiss and so here are several updates.

Two weeks ago we went apple picking at Stribling Orchard in VA, the same place we went last year. Link to that album is below.

This weekend, Benjamin got his first tricyle, a Kettler one that mom and dad can push him on. Even though his feet don't yet reach the peddles, and his negligent parents have yet to get him a helmet, he had a good time trying it out yesterday. And as you can see from the pics below, the box it came in was pretty fun too.

And videos of a bunch of stuff are coming soon once Dan edits them.

Apple Picking 2010

Tricycle (and Box)

A Weekend of Firsts

Benjamin had quite a weekend to celebrate his first year of life!

On Friday (his actual birthday) we celebrated, just the three of us, by going to the park after school and then having dinner at the brand new Ted's Bulletin restaurant.

Saturday morning Benjamin had his first cup of real milk without any complaint (fingers crossed that drinking milk sans bottle continues to be easy).

Later on Saturday, we had a BBQ with some of Benjamin's little friends, but mostly with our grown up friends that we hadn't seen in awhile. A good time was had by all - including two other firsts: Benjamin's first hot dog (Hebrew National All Beef) and his first piece of cake (with the slight exception of a bite from Ezra's birthday cake last week).

Pictures from the weekend are below with a few more likely to come after our Mothers Day spent at Nats Park. We're also hoping to post a video of Benj with his cake.

B's First Birthday (& Weekend Festivities)

Mexico!

We just got back from our little jaunt to Mexico, where we stayed at the Riu Cancun. Dan and Chrissie had a great time. As for Benjamin? The pics say it all -- he had a blast. Swimming, playing in the sand, eating, and even sleeping. More details (and some videos) to follow -- but we wanted to get the pics up for all to see.

Mexico!

Walking (Sort Of)

So Benjamin pretty much went from zero to sixty in the last 36 hours. He went from taking a few steps while holding our hands to walking across the house with the use of his little walking toy. Chrissie's predicting full-on walking by the time we're back from Mexico next week. Check out the video below.

In other news, today was Chrissie's last day of work! We leave Friday for Mexico, return Wednesday. She will start her new job at FDA on Monday the 12th.

Stay tuned for super cute pics of Benji at the beach!

I walk the line from bnzvideo on Vimeo.

Big Boy!

So Benjamin's teacher, Ms. Helena, kept telling us that she sits him at the table at school, rather than in a highchair, to eat his meals (the little babies use the highchairs!), and we were skeptical. So, she caught it on film (well, digitally, but you get the idea). The picture is below.




Benjamin also met his little cousin, TJ, this past weekend in NY. He's pretty cute, and we hope to post pictures of the two boys together soon (we actually went somewhere without our own camera, so we need to get our hands on the pics!).

Benji's First Halloween!

Benjamin (aka Yoda) had several Halloween celebrations this week. The first set of pictures, in the grey stroller you won't recognize, are from his Halloween parade at school. The next set are from Halloween day hanging in the house and then heading out to walk around the Hill. Benjamin did, however, sleep through our sighting of the Obama girls treat or treating in our neighborhood. Oh well, mom and dad enjoyed seeing them anyway!

Look for more pics later this week of Benji's new bath tub and just some all around fun video of him hanging out.

Halloween!

We've Been Remiss

We're sorry - we've left our adoring fans (ok, really, Benji's adoring fans) hanging with little to no information or pictures. We promise that we will share some new pics soon (truth be told, we haven't really taken any recently...), but we did want to update you on the little guy's progress.

We started Benjamin on "solids" nearly 3 weeks ago, and just this week, we are starting to make some progress. Benjamin eats rice cereal twice a day at school (the teachers think he wants to eat because he sees his friends doing so, we're not so sure) and has been experimenting with fruits and vegetables at home for dinner. Last night he ate half a banana and a cube of pureed sweet potato with no fuss. He swallowed it without the aid of a pacifier or a bottle - previously we've had to help him with the concept by giving him something to suck on.

Later this week we plan to introduce oatmeal and butternut squash.

And really, we promise to give you some pics soon!

Report from Benjamin's 4 Month Check Up

We can't believe it's been 4 months since Benji was born, but alas that's what the calendar says. He had his check up today and, well, he's grown... a bit...

He is now 25 1/2 inches long (+2 1/4 since 2 month check up) and weighs in at 15 lbs. 14 oz. Yes, you read that correctly, he weighs nearly 16 pounds and has gained 3+ lbs. over the two months (remember when he couldn't gain weight!?). He is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight, so now he's officially an overachiever (which his Daddy always knew he would be).

We also got the go ahead to start introducing solids so look for some cute (read: really messy) feeding pictures soon. Rice cereal is first on the agenda, followed by some other cereals, then veggies, and then fruits. Mom and Dad plan on figuring out how the heck to make "baby food" this weekend so that Benji can enjoy the produce we're getting from our CSA in the weeks to come.

As always, stay tuned.

Benji's First Days of "School"

Benjamin started his transition to "school" (daycare) this week, spending 2 hours on Wednesday and 4 hours on Thursday with his teachers and new friends at Bright Horizons East End.

The report Dan received when he picked Benji up on Wednesday was "a typical first day," which, we're pretty sure was code for he cried a bit (not entirely abnormal for Benji...). But, he didn't cry when we left him in the morning, and he wasn't crying when Dan got there to pick him up, so it couldn't have been too bad!

On Thursday, Dan received a glowing report from Ms. Iris (his main teacher) who said Benji had an excellent day, even slept for about an hour, and that he was likely ready to do a full day rather than continue the 2-, 4-, 6-, 8-hour transition. We were very excited to hear he did well (though we really had little doubt he would) and were also relieved that we wouldn't have to figure out the logistics of short days next week as well (when Dan goes back to work and has jury duty!).

Friday is Benjamin's 4-month check up where he will get measured and weighed, as well as receive another round of shots. This should be an excellent way for Dan to spend his last day of paternity leave! We are also hoping to get the go-ahead to start introducing cereal and additional solid (pureed) foods. We will post the vital statistics over the weekend.

A few pics from the last week are in the album below.

Early September Misc. Pics

Links for Halloween Poll

Here are the corresponding links for the halloween poll at the right, in case you need to see the costumes to decide.

Yoda

The Red Chili Pepper

The Baseball

Pool Party!

Sorry for the delay.... we've been meaning to post about leg two (Chrissie's Dad's) of our journey, but we've been very busy at leg three (the Cape with Dan's parents).

Anyways, after leaving the north fork, we journeyed to Dix Hills to hang out with Chrissie's Dad, Stepmom, and sisters. Benji had lots of fun getting used to the pool and meeting lots of friends and family at a bbq/pool party. Pictures are below.

Benji Visits Dix Hills

Coming soon: pics/blog post from our time on the Cape.

The First of Many Posts This Week

So Gram (Chrissie's mom) is here in D.C., which means lots of pics, and Dan is in Muncie, Indiana for work and has demanded pics and videos on a daily basis. The confluence of these two events means lots of posts this week so stay tuned!

These pics are of Benji chilling and also of his bath - which he is finally starting to enjoy. There will also be a video of tummy time appearing soon too, but the internet isn't cooperating, and Chrissie wants to go to bed.

Gram's Visit Day 1

Benji's One Month Birthday

It's hard to believe -- but Benji has now been with us for an entire month.  He still sleeps alot, seems to be crying a bit less (knock on wood...), and he's eating a whole lot more.  He has his 1-month doctor's appointment later this week.

In our first multi-media video post, you can see Benji trying out tummy time! He's still a little shaky, but he's slowly starting to hold his head up high!

Benji celebrated the big day with Uncle Alan, Aunt Renee, and Cousin Ez at the annual MOTH (Mom's on the Hill) picnic.  It was quite an event!  Benji wasn't all that aware of his birthday -- but we got some great pics anyway.   Click on the link below to see some pics of the big event. (Most are of Ez -- who is quite photogenic these days!)

MOTH Picnic

The Time has Come...

Ok, not THE time, but we're getting close. Without giving y'all too much information, suffice to say that Chrissie's body is readying itself, and we're thinking the little guy may make his appearance a wee-bit early.

So we're proposing a friendly little contest... Fill out the polls on the side about the babe's specs.

That's it. And watch this space (and your inboxes) for updates!

Movin' Right Along

Sorry for the LONG delay in between posts, but we've been busy... For those of you keeping score at home, we're starting week 36 in the great countdown to 40 so things are getting serious.

Over the past month, we've gotten lots of "stuff," redone the woodwork in the baby's room, had a ceiling fan installed for the little guy, re-tiled the radiator box, had the room painted a fabulous blue, AND gotten all of the furniture in to the room. We're still arranging and getting organized, but we wanted to share some preliminary pics...







We also splurged on ourselves (not EVERYTHING is about the babe, right?) and had our patio redone. Last week we started planting veggies and like. Pictures to follow soon.

Dan also mulched our "tree box" out front this weekend (though we haven't yet done our front yard planting) and added a new highlight for 2009:



Finally, we had our birthing class today so now we're ready for everything and anything (yeah... right!).

Stay tuned for more updates and pics which should be coming soon.

Brunch for the Babe (Well, His Parents)

We had a small brunch with a few of our closest friends last weekend to celebrate the impending birth of the little guy. It was co-ed in nature, but we're pretty sure the guys had a good time anyway, and their presence assured that no "shower games" would be played. It was a good opportunity to see our friends and help the babe get some "necessities" for life outside the womb. Courtney and Grady came in from Michigan (and Travis was missed by all), so between him and the other 5 kids in our living room, we were able to see what we were in for at all different stages....

Here are some pics of the kids:

D.C. Shower - Kids

Pics of the rest of the brunch to come later in the week.

Coming soon: an update on all our house projects.

Oliver & Alanna Got Hitched!

So we spent last weekend in not-so-sunny or warm northern California. The wedding was in Santa Cruz on Sunday. We then spent Monday day/night in San Francisco, having fabulous dim sum for dinner and finally seeing the movie, Frost/Nixon - the combination of the two made for a great date night. We highly recommend the movie and the dim sum.

But I digress... we were there for Oliver and Alanna's wedding, which was a lot of fun. Most importantly, they had a blast. They also made it into the NYT's wedding announcements. See some pics below.

(2009) Oliver & Alanna's wedding weekend

Back to life, back to reality this weekend where we have made real progress on getting the babe's room in order. We have sold our futon and are zeroing in on paint colors and the like. Stay tuned for an update soon.

Our Visit with One of Baby Z's Friends

Baby Z has no idea how many friends he already has (even if he still is in utero)!

This past weekend, we went to visit Carter - one half of Chris & Ashley's twins who you've all heard about. Alanna, the female half, is hopefully coming home later this week.

Anyway, it was great to see Carter at home (after 2 visits at the hospital) AND we got to hold him. It was lots of fun!

Chrissie gets a turn first (after he FINALLY woke up!)....




And then Dan!



Dan got to hold him for awhile, but then Chrissie got tired and hungry so we had to leave.

By Popular Demand

Despite having pledged not to fall victim to the infamous belly shot, the moms (grand-moms, actually) have spoken. So, we're posting a belly shot. Don't get used to it though, this will not become a regular habit. As of today, baby JZ is 25 weeks EGA (estimated gestational age). And the mama to be is starting to show it (though proud to say only 18 pounds heavier!). So enjoy the shot below.



In other news, we are making progress on all the various "to-dos" that need to be accomplished in the next 15 weeks. We have put up all new wood work in what will be the baby's room, have an electrician (hopefully) coming this week to put in an overhead light, and have even registered for all the things the little one will "need" when he enters the world.

We're taking next weekend off from baby prep as we journey to California for Oliver and Alanna's wedding in what should be Chrissie's last plane ride for the foreseeable future. Look for pics late in the month as we are close to picking a crib, colors, and have pretty much finalized the "theme" of the room.

It's a....

Below are family-friendly pictures, but we are happy to report that we did indeed see some external genitalia Monday morning so... It's a boy!

Dan is proud to say he saw "it" before the sonographer confirmed its presence. Chrissie is proud to say that all the "old wives' tales" that imply boy, like being all baby in the front and craving mad protein, held (Dan keeps telling her those are stupid).

The pics below are from the ultrasound, probably our last glimpse until the big day.

The face - still looking a little alien like - is below. (We have some concerns about the size of his nose...)



Here's one of him waving.



These two are "full body" if you will - the greyish dot is the heart, which was beating at a healthy clip.