Ben Meets his great aunt Nancy

Ben has been enjoying getting to know his great aunt Nancy from Tucson....

A Big Day For Ben

....although he doesn't know it...
Mom and dad established his 529 college savings account! They chose the Utah plan for the diversified low cost Vanguard funds available. Hopefully, after 18 years there will be enough money in it for him to attend the community college of his choice or at least a good accredited trade school.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Ben is now 8 weeks old and will be 2 months on Sunday. We couldn't find a beer mug sippy cup, so this will have to do...

(click on each picture to see a larger version)

Parenthood changes you.

Until you have a child, it is difficult to understand how fascinating poop can become. We find ourselves conversing about poop on a daily basis. Like discussing fine wine or art, we talk about colors, textures and aroma. Lately, frequency has become the topic of import. I guess Ben decided to give me a birthday present by taking a break from pooping. Of course, by day 4 I was getting a little worried. I then found myself doing things I never thought I would do (or hoped not to have to do), with the thermometer and a glycerine suppository. After a little assist, he is back on track, and the best part of it was that he waited until his Omi could change the diapers.

6 weeks old

For Ben's 6 week birthday, we took him to Town Lake. We think he enjoyed it (click on photos to see larger version).

Going Mobile

Ben is starting to "scoot" himself around on his belly. He doesn't have the strength yet to elevate his big torso but when he wants a closer look at something he pushes with his feet and pulls with his hands to move himself closer.

The Latest

Early this morning while Courtney slept, Ben and Tom had their usual routine of feeding, tummy time, lap time and diaper changing. The latest: Ben appears to have discovered that the knobby things that keep hitting him in the face are his hands. During feeding he held the bottle and looked at his hands. He also appears to have discovered that the other knobby things that occasionally come into his line of sight are his feet. He put it all together by taking hold of his foot while looking at it more than once. And finally, he sucked his thumb, more than once, and while doing that he wrapped his index finger around his nose the way Courtney used to do, all the way up to the age of...And that's the latest.

A Post Without a Picture...Sort of

While Courtney is awakened throughout the night to see to Ben's nourishment, Tom's sleep as well is not without issues - marked by extreme fitfulness, frequent awakening, punctuated by an endless littany of dreams about babies: baby situations, baby scenarios. The dream Tom just awoke from merits mention because of the way it veered into interesting new territory. In this dream there was a clown, very tall and fully grown. The clown looked like Bozo but with the coloring of Ronald McDonald. In the dream, the clown was in fact supposed to be the actor John Cleese underneath the makeup and costume but in point of fact turned out to be our baby boy Ben as evidenced by the sounds he made when he opened his mouth.

Back to bed...

Ben takes a walk

Filling diapers and screaming for more milk is hard work. Though Ben is dedicated to these tasks, he is learning to take time to smell the flowers...