Ben's "official" 8 month photo

Is it just me, or does he look a little bit sinister? Kind of like he's plotting world domination?

And more vacation pictures!

Eating sand on Inverness beach. Yummy!Cuddles from Mommy on the beach:
Ben and his cousin Sarah:
Bathtime in Grandpa's sink:
Looking at waterbugs with Daddy in Ingonish:

Family pictures from our vacation

Ben and his great grandmother "Mimi" (my mom's mom):
Ben and Grandpa:
Ben and his great uncle Vince:
Ben and his great aunt Elaine:
Ben and Nanny Jean:

I think it's time for an update!

Sorry I haven't been as good as usual about updating Ben's blog. I promise to get back on track.

First of all, our vacation to the east coast was a lot of fun and Ben appeared to enjoy all of the attention he was getting.

While we were away he really honed his sitting skills and learned a new game from Nanny Jean: she would start by saying "Ahh!" and Ben would reply with an "Ahh!" of his own, only louder. And this would continue on for a while. It was as if Ben wanted to be the loudest. He was pretty funny!

Grandpa was very happy to spend time with his grandson, playing with him and feeding him. I didn't get a diaper change out of him though!

Ben also got to meet his great grandmother "Mimi," his Nanny Anita, great Uncle Vince, great Aunt Elaine, cousins Thomas, Sarah, Shannon, and Shannon's husband Tommy. Very exciting!

Also, while we were away Ben started saying ah-da-da-da-da-daaa. Too cute! It has no real meaning just yet, but he does say it with a different tone depending on his mood. Sometimes it's a subtle whisper, other times it's a yell or giggly sounding. Very sweet. Now we just have to work on those ma-ma-ma's. ;)

And Ben has just cut an upper central incisor - the right one. He was absolutely miserable on Saturday, but was coming around to his old self yesterday, and seems to be doing really well today. I think he's still a little sensitive, but he has his appetite back, so that's a good sign. I can feel the tooth with my finger (carefully because he likes to chomp with those sharp little bottom teeth of his!) and I can feel that the upper tooth has *just* broken the skin.

Oh, and Ben is taking to falling asleep without his pacifier. Nic and I had nothing to do with this, really. We'll offer Ben his pacifier, and he normally spits it out, makes a bit of noise, and he's usually out within 5 - 10 minutes. He's growing up too quickly!

I had intended to upload some pictures, but Blogger isn't cooperating with me, so I'll get to those later on. Stay tuned!

Back from Cape Breton!

We were away for the past two weeks visiting my family in Nova Scotia. The flight down was a bit rough for Ben, but he was a champ the entire time we were away despite the travel (although we didn't drive more than 2 hours at a time, aside from the trip to and from the airport to my dad's place.) And Ben was wonderful on the flight home.

I will post a more detailed update later about Ben's recent changes. His fine motor skills are forever improving, his vocabulary is expanding, and he's finally coming around to appreciating chicken, the one food he wasn't so fond of initially.

In the meantime, here are a few photos of Ben sitting on the grass in Louisbourg enjoying a dandelion.