McKenzie Family: September 2008

We've made it to 3 months! August was a big month. Actually, that's a lie. There was a whole lot of nothing going on, and some people (Ellen) were actually pretty ready to go back to work. However, it was super fun hanging out with Ben. He has turned into quite the smiler and laugher. In fact, when I took him to school to meet the other teachers, he was a little flirt. Lots of smiling and cooing.

I've been back at school for 2 weeks, and Ben seems to be settling into his new schedule. We are so lucky to have an awesome daycare lady. Her name is Jen, and she is a Frenchtown mom. She takes care of Ben, a 5-month old baby, and a toddler. All boys, and all kids of Frenchtown teachers. It's right near school and is pretty ideal. It was much harder to leave him there on the first day than I anticipated (not wanting to be one of those sappy, attached-at-the-hip-to-my- child-until-adulthood moms). It's gotten easier now, though, and is good for both of us. Ben really doesn't care where he is as long as someone will snuggle with and feed him, so he is very content.

Of course, even without much going on, we managed to take many, many pictures. This set shows one of our favorite August activities: jogging with the jogging stroller! Although Ben is really much too small for the stroller still, I read that it's safe to take them at this point, so I just buckled him in and padded him up as much as possible to make him fit. He loves the stroller. He usually stays awake and enjoys the scenery for the first 20 minutes, then conks out for a nice nap for the second half.

Here we are in the stroller. Looking tiny. His feet will eventually rest right above the front wheel there. Someday...

Mmm... sometimes we are not interested in the stroller at the beginning of the run. It's BORING.

Yeah, I'm not so sure about this... and do I really have to wear this hat?

OK, I admit... I know I'm going to have fun...

Hee hee hee... so mischievous...

Jogging stroller. YAAAAYYYYYY!!!!

Another new thing we've just barely started using this month is the exersaucer. The exersaucer is today's P.C. version of the walker. My pediatrician and other new mothers have informed me that walkers are the devil and my child will immediately meet his doom when placed in a walker. Instead, we have the exersaucer, which they stand in like a walker, but it doesn't walk. It does, however, wobble around a bit. They have to get used to it and balance themselves. Ben is not a fan of having to balance himself, and thus gets very angry after a short time in the exersaucer. We'll keep working on it.

Here we are in the exersaucer. Not so sure about this activity.

Yes. I might hate this.

I'm so cute. Do I need to exercise?

Cute and chub-faced.

I might just give this a try.

These pictures are from July, but I thought I'd put them up. Peter's sister Angela visited and got to meet Ben. She spoiled him rotten with lots of presents and love!