It's the Great Pumpkin, Benjamin Byrd!

Well, it feels more like Fall in Florida thanks to some cooler weather and a pumpkin patch! One of our neighbors has some family down in Sebring that put together a beautiful pumpkin patch this year. I hope they do it again next year because it was one of the nicest ones I've seen. Happy Fall Ya'll!

Ben's 1st Birthday!

I can't believe our first year with Ben has come and gone! Wow! Time needs to SLOW down!!! Jeremy and I decided to go a little overboard for Ben's first birthday. We ditched work on his actual birthday and took him to Downtown Disney. We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, which he absolutely loved! We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and checking out all of the cool stores. I especially loved visiting Ghirardelli. I think Ben's favorite part of the day might be tied between watching the elephant and gorillas in the cafe and riding the carousel. That night after dinner, we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and let him have his first taste of cake. It was the perfect day and one we will never forget. To celebrate with friends and family, we had a party at our house that Saturday. At one point, Jeremy and I counted 32 guests! We feel so blessed to have had such wonderful friends and family with us to celebrate!

Our baby is growing up!

Our sweet little baby is becoming a toddler. Ben is walking like a pro now and is no longer satisfied with "baby" food. He wants whatever momma and daddy are eating (and even has more teeth to eat with). I've posted some new pictures and videos of Ben eating table food and walking--his two favorite things to do these days! There's also a video of him being entertained by the sprinklers last night. Enjoy!

Back to school!

We have been so busy that I haven't had time to blog! School and daycare started back for us August 17th. Ben did very well with his return to daycare. He didn't rest well during the first week back, but he's starting to get almost two, hour-long naps in each day. Mrs. Janet says he doesn't like it when she has to tend to the other babies. He'll crawl up beside her and pinch her to make sure she knows he's there! They've had to put a gate up at the nursery door because he would try to crawl out everytime someone would open it. What a stinker!!!

Jeremy and I both have a really good group of students this year. My advanced classes are the last block of the day, which has turned out to be very nice. They are so much fun! The first two weeks of teaching have been very dull for me. Lots of "review and assessment" per the curriculum maps. I can't wait to dive into fluency next week!

Ben is 11 months old! I can't believe my little boy is almost 1 year old! He is starting to walk more and more these days. He has two upper teeth that have cut through the gum. I think they'll be all the way down just in time for his big birthday party! He still has the biggest, cheesiest, little grin! I've posted some recent pictures of him below. We're all glad Fall is finally here.....football, Ben's birthday, Thanksgiving......lots to look forward to!

Check out this picture!

Daddy caught a hilarious face on camera this morning!

Ben's First Beach Trip!

We took Ben to Vero Beach this past Sunday for his first beach trip. We all had so much fun. Ben started smiling and kicking his legs as soon as the ocean was in sight. We really wanted to go to Dunedin Beach since Jeremy and I used to live close by, but I was worried about the two hour drive there. Ben is still not the biggest fan of long car rides. We headed to Vero around 10:30, which is his morning nap time. He fell asleep before we got out of Frostproof and woke up when we were about 10 minutes away from the beach. We stayed for about 3 hours until it was time for him to have another nap. Again, he slept almost the entire way home. Perfect timing! He really enjoyed playing in the sand and sitting with his feet in the water. We took him out in the ocean once, but the waves kept getting bigger and bigger so we decided to stay at the water's edge. We took an EZ up tent and his kiddie pool so he could play in the shade some of the time. We had so much fun that we think we'll start doing this once a month while the weather permits. Enjoy the pictures!

I forgot to mention......Ben turned 10 months old Saturday, August 1st. Two more months until his 1st birthday!!!!!!

New pictures!

The great outdoors? No, just our front yard! I don't think I've ever mentioned this in a blog, but Ben loves to be outside! He will go to the front door to let us know he wants to go outside (like a dog, I know.....). We snapped some cute pictures of him outside last week that I wanted to share. He loves sitting in the grass pulling it out blade by blade. He also has a different crawling style for the grass. I don't think he likes the grass to touch his knees. He can even pull himself into a standing position. Last week, he took a couple of unassisted steps in the grass. Enjoy the pictures!

We also took a family picture outside last week! Jeremy and I have been trying to get back in shape this summer. I didn't gain a ton of pregnancy weight (only 22 lbs.), but I didn't get back to exercising right away. Jeremy gained a few "sympathy" pounds with me, ha! Anyway, we really started exercising again the middle of June. As of today, Jeremy has lost 20 lbs. and I have lost 12. I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight! I still have some toning to do, but I already have so much more energy. Jeremy is going to start training for a triathlon for August 2010. Maybe I'll join him!