Professional Christmas Photos

Christmas coincided with Ben turning nine months old so I took him for some professional photos at JC Penny. We opted not to do a Santa photo this year since Ben doesn't even know about Santa yet and many babies tend to be afraid of the big bearded guy! Next year...

We had been taking Ben for professional photos every month for the first six months of his life but decided that we will do it every three or six months going forward since every month seemed like an overkill (as much as we love getting Ben's photos taken!). We've tried a number of places and really like Penny's the best -they always have openings when you call to make an appointment, stick to your appointment time when you arrive, have good service and are reasonably priced. So, I dressed Benjamin up in his Christmas sweater and khakis and took him in for a photo shoot a few weeks ago. They took lots of photos but these four are the ones we liked the best.

Baby's First Christmas

Now that I have somewhat recovered from the whirlwind of Ben's first Christmas season (most of which I have caught on camera!), I am finally able to sit down and post some photos to share what a wonderful few days we had last weekend. With Christmas being last Monday, we spent Saturday and Sunday at home just the three of us and then traveled to Manhattan and New Jersey on Christmas day to see both sides of the family. This may sound hectic to some of you but we truly enjoyed having both time to celebrate alone as a new family and also time to see both of our families.

Here is a photo of Andrew and Ben on Saturday. They spent some time together in the morning while I went to the spa for a little pre-Santa pampering, thanks to an unused gift card I had received a while back.

Since Benjamin is so young, we decided to split up his gift opening over the course of two days, so as not to overwhelm him, giving him a few gifts after each of his naps. Here he is opening the first one, the gift Andrew was most excited to give him - Legos.

It's tough to be a little guy. Sometimes, without even knowing what is happening, you, eh, wind up in the Legos tub!


Next he opened his Little Tikes transportation center. This gift has seriously been clanging and dinging every so often in our guest room for the past few months since we purchased it, so it was nice to have it opened finally! We think Ben's serious look is hilarious; he gets this expression whenever he is trying something new that is worth contemplating. So cute (and so Andrew!).




We continued with the gifts on Christmas Eve. Ben finished opening all of his from us and from some relatives who had sent packages to the house. Here he is with his dad on Christmas Eve morning. Nevermind Andrew's sleepy look; it took a lot to get him out of bed at 7:30AM on a Sunday!

So exciting. Ben wanted every gift NOW whenever we were working doubletime to get those blasted wire ties off of every single toy. Yet, when we finished and gave him the toy he seemed to enjoy it for a few minutes but nothing beats...

...the bows!

Here's Ben with one of his big gifts from us: an activity walker, technically called the Around-the-Block Wagon.

Those bows again. So intriguing!

Finally one photo of Andrew and Ben on our way to Christmas Eve church service.

The next day we left our house at 8AM and went first to Manhattan to have brunch and celebrate the holiday with Andrew's family and then headed to northern NJ to have dinner and visit with my family.

Martin Christmas. In the next series of photos, your eyes do not deceive you: all of the girls have on matching pink and white print pajamas and all of the guys have on matching white tees and pajama pants. This was part of the dress code for the day; we had to shed our formal Christmas attire in exchange for the coordinating PJ's as soon as we arrived. So funny!!

Ben sporting his new snowman hat, complete with carrot nose and all. If only he knew what we had put on his head! He looks adorable in it, though, so it was a "must take" photo op...

Stuart opening his gifts.
Kurt and Stacy.
Michelle poses with her favorite nephew :)...

Maggie opening one of her gifts.

And here's Maggie again with her favorite nephew, showing him how to pat the doorframe as Ben intently watches.

Dad and Cheri enjoying the day.

Stuart and Stacy pose for the camera, Stacy modeling her new scarf (that matches her PJ's so well!).

Here Ben hams it up for the camera as Cheri hands out gifts. At least his posing for a photo kept him away from everyone's gifts for a few minutes!

Ben and Grandpa G stop for a photo. Ben usually takes two one-and-half hour naps throughout the day but on this day he napped for a total of five minutes (seriously!). He looks like he may be starting to zone out in this photo, but of course we can always count on....

...CHARLOTTE to give Ben a second wind! He finds her hilarious and belly laughs everytime he sees her!

Ben exploring some of his new toys. Yes, in case you are wondering, I have managed to fit everything into our house but only after spending literally the entire day on Tuesday reorganizing our basement, family room and Ben's room. We're good for now (at least until his first birthday in three months!).

Oh, and in Ben's opinion the best toy of the day goes to....Barney's "ugly babydoll" toy from Aunt Charlotte the French Bulldog. She gave all of her nephews - Barney the Lab, Griffie Biederman the Yorkie, and Scout Parr the Jack Russell Terrier - a gift to open.

Now for the unveiling of Ben's biggest gift of the day. It's a bird...it's a plane...it's a...

...tot-sized golf cart rocking chair equipped with his own golf club and ball. Grandpa G and Daddy especially loved this gift since they are avid golfers and will have Ben out on the course soon after he starts walking.

Ha ha, there goes that funny Charlotte again!

Exploring the golf club and ball.

Trying his hand at putting.


Caulfield Christmas. We next traveled the thirty minutes or so to my parents' house in Wyckoff and spent the afternoon and early evening with them. My mom and dad and my brother Mike and his girlfriend Chang were there. Again, Ben was spoiled and got more gifts than he can handle. He even received his very own Leap Frog Little Leaps video game, which Andrew enjoyed. Between the Legos, the golf cart and the video game, Andrew will be busy these next few months. Maybe he'll let Ben play with him every once in a while, too :).

Mom and Dad in front of the tree.

Chang opening one of her gifts.

Daddy and Ben (occupied with those ever-exciting bows and ribbons again!).

Mike watching the action.

Finally, as Ben crawled around getting into everything, he discovered the area underneath my parents' coffee table and couldn't resist exploring. You can't crawl under our coffee table at home so this was a special treat!

Nine-Month Pediatrician Visit

Yesterday we went to the pediatrician for Ben's nine-month check-up. I feel like we hadn't been there in such a long time since this was the longest increment of time we've gone without seeing the doctor (3 months) since he was born. Here are Ben's stats:

Height: 30 inches (95 percentile). Andrew's starting to get a little worried that Ben will outgrow him sooner rather than later!

Weight: 20 lbs. 10 oz. (50 percentile). Our future basketball player: tall and lean.

Head: 17-3/4 inches in circumference. Continuing to fill with knowledge and grow each day!

She was impressed with his skills and he is far ahead of his age in the motor skills area. She couldn't believe that he self-feeds with a spoon for most meals and said that she doesn't even start asking about that until 15-18 months usually! She also warned me that since he was crawling by 7-1/2 months and is fairly strong on his feet, there's a good chance he'll walk early.

His language skills are progressing very well, too. He has been saying "Mom" and "Mama" sporadically over the past week. I'm not sure if he really knows what he's saying since he won't really do it on cue but I'm happy to hear it even if he is just copying me. I've been doing Baby Signs with him and although he has not used any himself, he obviously recognizes several now and will look at me when I say the word, waiting for the accompanying baby sign, and then smile when I do it. His repertoire includes "dog", "frog", "elephant," "hurt", "hot", "more" and "no more."

He had no immunizations at this visit since he is all up-to-date. The next apppointment is just after his first birthday. I can't believe I have the one-year check-up scheduled already. That means that Ben is almost a toddler!!

Dinner and Bath

Tonight was bath night so I let Ben go to town with his dinner and eat one of his favorite meals, albeit one of the messiest: pasta with meat sauce. I make elbow macaroni for him so he is able to easily feed himself without me having to cut it up for him and he loves it. So, I stripped him down to his undershirt to try to salvage today's outfit and watched him go!

Yummy! We particularly enjoy watching him stuff an entire fistful of food into his mouth at once (well, whatever gets there and doesn't end up in his lap, that is...).




Next stop is the bathroom. We'll usually undress Ben in his room and then let him crawl around au natural in the bathroom while the tub fills. Here, he is watching the water run, just as he usually does.


Ah, the favorite pastime: the bath. Ben could romp in the tub for hours if his little body didn't get cold after a little while of being in the water. This could be due to the fact that he leans out of his tub and splashes around so much that the water level drops quite steadily!


Barney always keeps us company when it's bathtime. His head rests on the side of the tub the entire time Ben splashes around.



He doesn't seem to mind being splashed every so often if it means he gets to drink the soapy water. Seriously! It's like we don't give our dog water or something. He has a full bowl downstairs but prefers the warm bath water!

Ben loves to play with Barney in the tub and will stop what he is doing every few minutes to "pet" (aka slap) Barney's face. We are still working on being "gentle" with animals. Soon! In the meantime, Barney doesn't seem fazed...