Bye Bye Binky:)

We did it! I say "we" because I think it may have been harder for me than it apparently was for my Ben. Haha--it was just a big realization that he is not a baby anymore--he is getting so big! I am not gonna lie, I was sad too to no longer have a plug (terrible term) when the talking was non-stop or whining was starting or in the car or at church, or what made naps and bed time a cinch, or a quick and easy soothe him when he was upset...etc.

His last night with his binky...

Ben has slowly lost his binky's--or I have--over the last few months and he had been down to ONE for weeks. We prepped Ben telling him that "2 year olds don't use binky's anymore" and his response was always "ok" and "ill miss it" but we didn't really think he got it...Lance was NOT gonna let me back out, as I have done for months, and so ON the night of his b-day (mean, huh?!) We told Ben, "Ok it's time to say bye to binky". One of Ben's favorite shows is Sesame Street and we have watched the "Bye Bye Binky" episode quite a few times (saved on DVR) the last few months in preparation and have sung the song even more times. Ben decided he liked how Elmo gave some of his binky's to the babies so we ran with it and told him Daddy was going to bring the binky to "the babies"--rather ambiguous, I know:) but Ben didnt seem to mind. Ben said bye to his last binky, and Lance went for a quick drive in the car with bink. When he got back he told Ben how much the babies loved it and that made Ben super happy and that night, after about a half hour of singing he went to sleep. With ZERO tears, and only one SUPER sad-break-your-heart face. That was that...naps were rough as in SHORT for about a week but ZERO tears and he never begged for it again (he asked about it x2 but was fine with my reminder that he gave it to "the babies")--can you believe it! I cant!--I thought it would be much harder! He is a rockstar!! LOVED the binky! Love him!!

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he got choked up once or twice but only for a second when you hear his little voice crack--yay for new bday toys to distract him:)

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo, Benjamin just turned 2!!!

I saw the not so original rhyme and decided to run with it:) Choo Choo Ben is turning two! Especially because he just got a train table for Christmas--it worked out perfectly:)

"When you're running low on STEAM, CHUGGA little H2O"

on the water bottles

"CHUGGA CHUGGA--CHOO CHOO, WHISTLE BLOWING--THANK YOU!"

on the gift bags and TY cards:)

I was on a birthday budget and it became apparent that I could make a LOT of decor out of 4 .35 cent posterboards and my computer/b&w printer!:) worked out perfect!

Was a little nervous about the coloring corner with train pictures but after the party I had ZERO crayon on my wall after except from one little spot from my own son on accident:)--YAY!

For the Goody bags (which I actually think are kind of a silly tradition that I may skip in the future:) I snagged some after Christmas super cheap candy coal to use for

"Train Food: to getcha where you're going!", cute train crayons off of etsy, free train coloring printables off internet, train whistles (that turned out to kinda suck as far as sounding like a train) but were a good deal online! and some red & blue candy treats from the food table:)

Most of the crew--a lot of ben's buddies were sick, couldn't come, and some had already left before this pic because I'm retarded and didn't get a picture taken till after...but here are SOME of Ben's bestest buddies:) (L to R: Brady, Lakai, Ben, Jake & Zach)

some serious coloring...

playing with "Brinny" after the partay:) Dinner with Curfs at Hometown Pizza--yum! we left VERY FULL!

The party was a blast! I LOVE this kind of thing-esp the prep & planning:) We were bummed some of friends couldn't come but our TINY house was smoking hot and plenty packed with our fantastic friends and Ben was showered with lots of love (& generous gifts)!

Oh how we love our little Ben and we are so grateful for him EVERY day!! Here's to another wonderful wonderful year!

My baby is TWO!!

I can't believe my Ben is two!

We had a typical but fun day including Costco, naps, playing, and I was a mean mom and scheduled his 2 yr well child appt today. Ben was a champ. Barely winced when she pricked his finger and earned every bit of his promised candy cane for being tough and brave!

After appt we ate, one of Ben's favorite meals, "hambuger samwiches" and sweet potato fries. Then we had yummy chocolate cake and ice cream and opened presents.

Ben is getting a hang of this present thing and was spoiled by family! We are so blessed to have such generous grandmas and grandpas and aunts and cousins, etc.

Ben- my buddy! I love you more than words can say. In so many ways you seem so-oo old and mature to me but at the same time I cannot believe you are already 2! I love playing with you! I love cuddling and watching shows in the morning, sharing breakfast, going on walks or playing at the park, watching shows together, dancing with monkey/bear/hokey with you, running errands with you, and just having you be my little shadow buddy everyday. I miss you like crazy on monday's when I work and live for your hugs and excited "hi mama"s when I come in the door. Your dad and I feel soo grateful to be your mom and dad. You have such an obedient little spirit and teach us so much. You are so sweet and happy and seriously amaze us with how sweet and easy you are every day. You are silly and fun and love to make us happy and your little sad lip breaks our heart. Thanks for being you! for being ours!

As much as I love every stage--STOP growing up so fast!!

Ben is currently weighing in at __ lbs and is ___ in. tall (cant remember exacts but they are written down in my diaper bag in the car so I will update details later:) which is back up to 50% in both--way to go Bennerman!

He wears mostly 2 T clothes and size 7/8 shoe:) my baby is growing up :(

Favorite Foods: pancakes!, eggies, "hamburger sandwiches", chicken nuggets, apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, "brooke & jakey cereal" aka Lucky Charms, pb & honey sandwiches, fries, yogurt, any "canny" (candy) esp. candy canes right now:), dum dums and lifesavors:)

Favorites Toys: trucks and cars and tractors and trains:), new train table, his singing monkey, Hokey, Jingle the dog, books, balls esp. dad's nice indoor basketball, coloring, magnets:)

Favorite shows: Elmo's world/Sesame Street, Signing Times (at night), Yo Gabba Gabba, Thomas, Backyardigans, & "Jesus show" aka The Nativity movie from The Living Scriptures collection.

Frequent words, phrases: "wow mom", "thanks guys", "dad-dy!", Ben loves to point out every mode of transportation while we drive and is very specific as to what exactly he sees "mom, look, city bus with a butterfly" or "a bus with a bike on it" or "look, ambulance/garbage truck/etc,etc" or "mom, a school bus, see it? lets go see it!" or "oh wow, a motorcycle!" :)

other frequent phrases are: "one more time!", "it's my turn", "throw me" (meaning throw the ball, monkey, bear, whatever object you are holding to me:), "mommy/daddy, let's go watch the monkey dance, k?".

He frequently uses response "almost!" when we ask, ready for another bite? ready for bed? ready for nap? ready to go to store? Ben's talking in full sentences and we understand the majority of our daily full conversations with him:) He is a frequent volunteer to say the prayer at dinner or night time, LOVES to sing songs and talks non-stop--we love it! He is such a good little talker and 99% of the time he is a good listener too which is pretty lucky for us!

Happy new year! Here's to 2012!!

The Bergeson's are looking forward to 2012 with gratitude in our hearts! YAY for baby girl Bergeson, YAY for Dental school, YAY for maybe a trip to my mom & dad's new cabin?!, YAY for another fun, blessed year in KY, YAY for more visitors!, YAY for Jayhawk's:), YAY for enjoying a year with our happy healthy 2 yr old Ben, YAY for 2012! I've made multiple resolutions re: budgeting, grocery shopping/meal planning on a budget:), having a house of order, time with my kiddos, gym time, sewing etc....Jan is half way through and so far so good--here's to 11.5 more months and then some keeping it up!

Santa says "HO HO HO"

Ben is still making requests for Santa songs, Frosty songs, "gingle bells" , and holding up Noah from his Little People Noah's ark and saying "Santa says HO HO HO" haha. Needless to say, Ben was at a fun Christmas age and next year is only going to get more fun!

This year our Christmas season was so different. It was our FIRST Christmas spent just with the LBBergeson family. It was different and we missed our fams/traditions/2 week break:)! The trickiest part was having it feel like Christmas, other then our many trips to/from the airport to pick up and drop off our friends visiting family, we were working/usual routine. In fact, LB & I both worked fri the 23rd and mon the 26th (fortunately, opposite schedules:) so as opposed to our two week trips to WA or living in WA the last 6 years....Christmas was just a quick weekend, then back to reality:)

On a positive note, it was also nice. It was fun to start traditions and have the time with just with our little family. We kicked off our Holiday Season with a trip to Bass Pro Shops, weird I know, but we heard "Free Santa Pics" and we were there:) Turned out to be a GREAT idea...both of my boys were in HEAVEN!

Ben wanted one of these, we forgot to ask Santa:)

After pics with Santa in the Winter Wonderland section. Ben (&Lance) played with stuffed gators, looked at the fish, quail, turtles, stuffed animals of all sorts, guns, Camo EVERYTHING (Lance's fav joke of the day was that he couldn't even see that whole section of the store:)--love that guy) tents, boats, climbing walls, shooting games, etc. etc. It was a fun, free, family day to say the least:)

Christmas Cookies

He's a little young but I wanted to do some fun Christmas stuff with Ben this year too. We read lots of christmas stories, sang LOTS of Christmas songs (including the whole CHS Swing Choir christmas medley:) haha ) and Christmas Cookies was just a given:)

It was a mess and wouldn't have passed any food handler tests but Ben loved it!

We fish-sat Gill for the Tafoya's and Ben LOVED greeting and feeding Gill every morning! so cute--but not quite cute enough for this mom to be ready for any pets of any kind:)

We set the tree up right after Thanksgiving and enjoyed the yummy smell all month. Ben loved the tree and thought the lights were "so pretty". He seriously was amazing as far as not touching any ornaments or present underneath--seriously not more than 1-2x and we said "Ben, don't touch bud" and he didn't ever again--he's a wonderfully peculiar 2 yr old:)

One night a week or so before Christmas there was a knock on the door. Our friend Brittany who was over looked out and informed me "It's Santa"--I didn't believe it till I looked out window myself! I quickly called for Lance and our surprise made it even better for Ben. He was convinced and was a little nervous that Santa was at his house. IT WAS AWESOME. He told Ben he was here to check on him, bring him a candy cane, and remind him to be nice all week. (dont worry by then, Lance had recognized his eyes, voice and we were safe letting him into our home--we heard lots of Santa horror stories this year:(--Thanks Greg for such a fun surprise!) If Ben didn't get the whole Christmas thing before, he did now!

On the 23rd we went to Lights Under Louisville with the Sonicos. Scott and Cassie are our good friends who were also staying in the Ville for the holiday vs. going "home" and we wanted to do something holiday-ish with them. There are these caves/tunnels under Louisville (why? I dunno) but each Christmas they fill them with Christmas light displays and charge people to drive through and look at it:) Because $25/car is a little steep for us poor students, we all piled into one car at the entrance sans car seats (the 3mph speed limits weren't super intimidating) and I'm so glad we did. The kid's were enthralled and it was even more fun for them to see it together on laps right by the window:).

Ben LOVED the lights and Santa on the motorcycle was his favorite!

I dont have a fancy camera so my pics leave a lot to be desired but tried to capture the idea:)

The Sonico's treated us to some yummy homemade hot chocolate after that was fantastic--Ben thought so too!

Ben & Riley enjoying some hot cocoa:)

and then a post-cocoa wrestling match. Ben is ALWAYS down to wrestle and can typically hold his own with any kid:) Thattaboy! Ok to wrestle girls at this age only:)

On Christmas Eve some families in our ward got together at the Parker's for some appetizers, christmas carols, and the nativity. We had a good time and were glad to have some festive activities with friends:) Ben played Joseph in the nativity and was very reverent:)

(*didnt take too many pics:(--story of my life lately!)

after we enjoyed some yummy peppermint hot chocolate at home and watched the Nativity with Ben. The Nativity movie is now termed "Jesus Show" and Ben loves it and daily requests to watch "Jesus be born" . I love that he loves it so much! Its pretty cute to hear him say "Oh its Mary", "they're almost there mom" (when Mary & Joseph go around the last bend on the donkey before Bethlehem) and "Be nice Herod" or "Herod is mean" --love it!

After Ben was all nestled all snug in his bed....Our front room became Santa's workshop. It was really fun for Lance and I to put together the train table for Ben. It took a good 2 hours but having kids makes the holidays so fun and we knew how much he would love it!!

and love it-he did!!

He was thrilled with all his new stuff thanks to our VERY generous family!!

he especially enjoyed the "canny canes" left by Santa all over the tree--he's easy to please:)

Bergeson Christmas Family photo---all 3.5 of us:)

Ben was a little overwhelmed with all his new, fun stuff and didn't know how to play with it all:) He was a little bummed to leave it all to go to church. While having to skip Christmas breakfast tradition and rush a little--I loved escaping to Sacrament meeting as a reminder of the true meaning of the season. Our ward had two beautiful talks about our Savior, Jesus Christ and some beautiful musical numbers.

We are so grateful for our testimonies and relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ,

for his living example and saving atonement. We know he LIVES and we KNOW Him and

LOVE Him and are grateful for His hand in our lives.

After church, we headed home for a loungy day, cozy in jammies, talking to family, and enjoying Ben's new toys:) and a yummy Christmas dinner--if i do say so myself:)

We read Jingle All the Way about 5000 times:) and memorized all the key lines that make Jingle bark or sing, Ben quite enjoyed it:)

a week or so later our beautiful tree was dry dry dry and we were ready to be rid of the "neenles" that Ben requested we vacuum up daily--this kid LOVES to sweep and vacuum!--He was all over sweeping up the mess dragging it outside left and we are still finding needles hiding places:)

We skipped Christmas cards this year as we are anticipating a baby announcement in a few months so consider this our Holiday greeting and know that we wished a Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight:) from KY!