Splish! Splash! Fun in the Sun!

Well....Ben is definitely a water baby! We bought a $5 kiddie pool a few weeks ago that he really enjoys. We took him outside to play in it for the first time last Saturday and had a blast. He looked so handsome in his swimsuit. Enjoy the pictures!

Spring Break and Easter

Spring break was very relaxing this year. The baseball team played in a tournament in Lake Placid Monday-Wednesday. Grandma & Grandpa Byrd and I took Ben to the first game hoping he would do better than the previous games we've taken him to. Nope! Ben did not enjoy the ballpark atmosphere! We left the game early and took him to Pizza Hut. He had a great time playing with a spoon ;-) The rest of the week we stayed close to home enjoying the fact that we didn't have to get up and go to work! I finally finished reading The Shack, which I highly recommend to everyone!

Easter was very relaxing as well. Ben was very excited to find what the Easter Bunny had left him that morning! Grandma & Grandpa Byrd, Papa Stone, and Great Aunt Lisa joined us for Easter lunch. Later that day, Jeremy and I hid eggs and took Ben outside to "hunt". Here are some pictures of Ben with his basket of goodies and his egg hunt.

Ben is 6 months old!

How has half a year passed by in what seems like the blink of an eye? I just can't believe that our little Ben is already 6 months old! It seems like he was born 6 days ago! He had a great check-up with Dr. LaRue last Thursday. He weighs 14 lbs. 15 ounces and is measuring 27.5 inches (compared to 6 lbs. 11 ounces and 19.5 inches at birth). Wow!

I think Jeremy and I are finally settling into being a family of three now. I know that probably sounds crazy since he's been with us for 6 months. I just can't explain how surreal the transition to being parents has been. I think we've been so caught up in the day-to-day that we didn't realize how much time has passed! People were not kidding when they said our world was about to be turned upside down. You know, Jeremy and I have been together for almost 11 years now and we were pretty stuck in our ways............used to going and doing as we pleased. Boy did that change! (for the good of course) It really is hard to remember what life was like before Ben. And now...I can't wait for the next one! Am I crazy????

I think I'm rambling now so I'll stop typing. I'll leave you guys with some new video of Ben. One is of him in his jumperoo (he really goes to town these days) and one is of him eating bananas (I can't seem to type "bananas" without singing "I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and bananas--momma & Ben jam to that one). Enjoy!

Ben's eating adventures

Ben has started solid foods! Jeremy and I fed him his first rice cereal Tuesday night. He never spit it out, but sure gave us some crazy looks! For now, we're feeding him the cereal in the evenings. Everything I've read basically says the main source of nutrition during the first year comes from the formula/breastmilk, so the solids are just to get him used to eating with a spoon. We've been having a blast letting him experiment! Here are some pictures of our attempts this week.

6 month photo shoot

Yesterday was such a great day! Ben woke up at 7 am and I told Jeremy some of his mom's homemade waffles sounded great for breakfast. We loaded Ben up and headed over to the grandparents (still in our PJs). Then I got a few hours to myself to go see Anna-Maria. I really look forward to my hair appointments because I know my hair is about to look fantastic, but more importantly because I get to catch up with Anna! Next, I met Jeremy, Ben, Grandma & Grandpa in Lake Wales and we took Ben to Sears Portrait Studio for his first professional photo shoot! He'll be 6 months old April 1st, so we figured this was an important milestone to capture (plus mommy wanted a great picture to use on the Easter card). He was more cooperative than any of us expected! Hats off to the photographer for keeping his attention and getting some good smiles. I don't know where she finds the energy to keep up with that job all day long. The day ended with a great dinner at Olive Garden!

Here are some pictures from the photo shoot.

March Madness

No, I'm not talking about college basketball, I'm talking about the Byrd family! March has been insane! Baseball is in full swing. Jeremy and I have been prepping our kids for FCAT. Ben is teething AND getting over an ear infection. I have been working my butt off trying to finish course work to move from my temporary to professional teaching certificate. Crazy, crazy, crazy!

I haven't been able to blog in forever so I have a lot to write about! The baseball team's doing well. Jeremy comes home with funny team stories almost every evening. He's finally putting on sunscreen before practice (nagging works). The FCAT is finally over! I promised my kids they wouldn't hear me say FCAT again for the rest of the year. I'm excited to focus the rest of the year on reading for pleasure! I am determined to get my students to enjoy reading--maybe they will now that the pressure of passing the FCAT is off (I teach 10th grade intensive reading so if they don't pass they have to take a reading class their junior year in place of an elective). Our little Benny Bear is teething hard core! That poor baby chomps down on anything that comes near his mouth. Thank the Lord for orajel swabs =P We had to take him to Dr. LaRue Monday for what seemed to be just a cold (clear, runny nose & mild cough). We felt horrible because he had infection in both ears! Grandpa stayed with him all week so he didn't have to go to daycare. I couldn't stand the thought of him not getting someone's full attention while feeling so miserable. Thank the Lord for Grandpa Byrd! He is always to the rescue! I submitted my final task to finish my course work Friday. Woo-hoo! I feel so accomplished! Now I just have to wait for it to be graded..................

The Byrd family is looking forward to April!

Our wonderful weekend =)

We finally got to visit with the Bentons yesterday. We hadn't seen them since Hayden's Dedication January 11th. We finally got a picture of Ben & Hayden together!! Hayden kept calling Ben "my baby". It was so cute!!!!! We are so lucky to have such great friends in our lives. I've posted some pictures of the visit below.

So far, our Sunday has been wonderful as well. Ben woke up at 5:30 am, but fell back asleep an hour later and slept until 8:30. I brought him to our room when he woke up and snapped some pictures of him in his new PJs. He looks so big to me. He's growing up way too fast. We had our usual Sunday morning pancake breakfast and have been lounging around ever since! Ben and Jeremy are currently snoozing on the couch =) We'll get dressed and go to Publix later.......