Happy Birthday Bennett!

Giving it a taste...

Giving mommy a frosting kiss...

Done with cake...

Heading to the bath...

Bennett had a great first Birthday with lots of family and friends! He had fun playing with lots of other babies and lots of new toys.

He really liked the cake... He doesnt usually like sweets so we were a little surprized to see him dive in... He got a quick bath right before the presents!

We are sooo happy and proud of our little guy! He has come so far and we couldnt be more ecstatic to be celebrating such a happy time!

Thank you everyone for coming and spending the day with us!

The Best Anniversary EVER

We decided to get our Christmas tree to celebrate our 3rd Anniversary. Joel got off work early and we headed to Hunter's Farms in Yelm, this is the view of the mountain on the non-christmas tree portion of the farm... what a beautiful day! They have acres of trees to choose from and really helpful people with lots of Christmas cheer.

I love noble firs and I love really big trees... My husband, not so much! The nine foot tree we took turns taking pictures in front of is the one that Bennett picked out... Dad had fun lugging that one back to the truck...

We finished the night off with a romantic trip to kid friendly, Red Robin... it was pretty yummy and Bennett was happy because he got a balloon tied to his arm.

I love my wonderful husband and the fact that he cut down and drug this humongous tree just because I wanted it... He sure does love us :)

Our little messy mover

Bennett has had a great week. Not only did he have a great time hanging out with his family on Thanksgiving but I think he officially mastered crawling on all fours. He has always been a scooter and he has seemed like he wanted to walk before crawl but he has taken off on all fours this week and has been pretty happy with his new efficient mobility...

He is very hard to track down with a video camera but in this video he seemed more concerned with the light coming in the window... it is short but it gives everyone the idea of how he is moving :)

As you can see he is also liking to feed himself and although he loves it, it seems to be quite messy.

Almost one?!.... so much to be thankful for

All mothers with a young one in their shopping cart at the grocery store hears the phrase, "He is adorable, how old is he?" The other day when asked this I smiled and quickly said "almost one". I kept walking and thought while continuing my Thanksgiving shopping... I can not believe my baby is almost one!

The last year was definately not what new parents expect, but in all of the craziness we sure had some amazing moments and could not be happier and prouder parents.

It is hard to look back and imagine how we made it through and how our little man was strong enough to amaze us at every obsticle. He has completely blown us away as well as most of the medical professionals involved with his care.

To be writting about my son and all the normal one year old activities and struggles he is having is not something I thought I would be doing. Many things have changed over the past 6 weeks since he made a huge step to recovery by getting his trach out. Here are a few of my favorite.

Freedom: Bennett didnt get to see much of the outside world with his trach, Since being trach free we have been to Seattle countless times visiting his many friends including Charli Miltenberger and Hadley Block. He has spent time with his Grandma & Grandpa Olsen and a been able to hang out with his cousins and Grandparents a lot down in Chehalis. Taking my son to the grocery store was something I thought would be magical at first but soon got difficult as I now have to make sure I drive far enough away from the shelves so he doesnt pull stuff into the cart.... something Bennett thinks is really funny...

Eating: Most of my waking time while he had his trach was trying to get Bennett to eat. Although he doesnt look like he ever missed a meal, it was very important to the Drs and nurses that we kept up his intake. Since then he eats fabulous, we have actually enjoy 3 meals a day of all sorts of fruits and veggies! He even enjoyed some mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving.

He likes to move it: Bennett is definately keeping us on our toes lately, He cruises along the couch and has learned how to pull himself up on everything including the dog (which actually thinks Bennett climbing on her is fun)

Giggles and sounds: He still has a lot to learn with his new voice and loves to yell really loud. But all the giggles definately make up for any crying or yelling that might have been a tiny bit more tollerable when he was more quiet :)

We are so happy that we are looking back at the last year with thankful hearts and excitement for all the years to come as a family!

All the Olsen Grandkids on Thanksgiving day!

Bennett at the Thanksgiving table at Grandma and Grandpa Jones'

Playing with Daddy and Uncle Kippy on Grandma & Grandpa Jones' new fun kid mat.

Getting excited for the holidays

Bennett loves his Christmas hat... it will go great with his red reindeer sweater... I am blaming it all on Grandmama Jones

Bath Time

Grandmama Jones got a brand new sink and Bennett had to break it in!

He had his first follow-up appointment after getting his trach out today. All the doctors were so happy with how well he is doing.

He is so fun lately! We have been able to spend a lot of time with family and get out and about a ton. We are looking forward to the holidays!!

Go Bearcats!!

Bennett's Uncle Marty is a coach for the Chehalis football team and we
went to see Bennett's first football game and a big win for the
Bearcats!

A little wild...

Not sure if he could be any cuter!

Halloween... what a scary dragon!

Here are some pictures of our little dragon. He was not too excited about his costume because it restricted his new found mobility... pretty darn cute though!

Bennett is crawling, rolling and pulling up to sit and stand... I am just trying to keep up with him and loving every second of motherhood under more normal circumstances.

Here is one of Monkey Reece and Ladybug Evie. The mommies were having most of the fun and only tortured them for a few pictures :)

Story time...

This is what happens when we let Bennett pick a book for story time... all his favorites end up in a big pile on the floor.

We have had to keep an extra close eye on him since he became a climber and is into everything. Let the serious baby proofing begin...

The Jones girls all grown up!

The first of many crazy days with all three of the Jones grandchildren. Baby Evie is home and doing great! What a pretty girl!

I cant believe we all had our first babies within 10 months of eachother. They are pretty lucky kids to have such fun cousins...

Beautiful Baby Evie...

Bennett being busy busy...

Home sweet home!

Our little jail bird before we left... We are home and settling in... cleaning out all that medical equipment from the nursery... man does that feel good!

I cant wait to post some pictures of our time with our new neice Evelyn Belle Petersen this Saturday... So proud of my sister and Uncle Kippy today. She is beautiful!

Our FIRST giggle!

Bennett wasn't laughing yet when he got the trach in March. This is the very FIRST real outloud giggle we have ever heard! He started doing it and I grabbed the camera right away.

At the hospital the cribs pull up really high for the kiddos that tend to want to get out... This is the first time we have had to put him in a crawler crib and Bennett thinks it is really fun.

He is doing great! We couldn't be happier!

Bennett can't wait to giggle at his newest cousin that is being born RIGHT NOW... Welcome baby Evie... we love you so much already!

He did it!

Bennett got his trach removed!

Here is a very exciting video... well not that exciting but the outcome is huge for our family. He is still being observed here at the hospital but so far so good. It is looking like we will be heading home tomorrow.

He is sleeping and acting like nothing really happened.

It is actually kinda hard to tell when the Dr. removed the trach, it was right before the little cough in the very beginning.

Also, that is a different baby crying... we had a very vocal neighbor :)

10 months already!

As difficult and exciting as the last year has been for us, it has sure flown by! We can not believe he will be a year old in just a couple short months. We have had a great week hearing all his new sounds and enjoying our last week with Stacey, our day nurse that will be moving this weekend.

He has been a funny eater since we have known him :) First he loved his bottle, then he got his trach and hated it, then he had his tongue surgery and hated it more. He was finally getting the hang of eating and loving to eat from his bottle when I tried to feed him baby food... this was not his favorite thing no matter how pretty we made it. But, being the stuborn, independant child that he is, he loves to feed himself little snacks like puffs, and especially these biscutts... he LOVES them and loves the mess they make even more. We are exploring new foods but not too worried about pushing him and just letting him enjoy it.

We have nursing here at night to watch him sleep because of the trach and equipment he has. When someone can't come in to watch him I get to stay awake all night and make sure no alarms go off (which they dont, so it makes it very boring).

The nurses called in sick a couple nights in a row this week and I finally caved to letting him sleep in our bed for a while so that I could try to relax. This is Bennett finding the beginning of his slumber party with mommy and daddy fun... lots of junk to hook up to a little boy just to sleep... thankfully after the trach is out this will all be gone!!

Bennett has not quite figured out crawling but he loves to pull him self up and stand to play. I think he thinks this is how he is going to get around in the world so he is trying to get it started this way. He has this new table that he can play with standing up like a big boy and he loves it.

Bennett goes to the Dr. on Monday... we are hopeful he will be getting his trach removed making most of the craziness of the last year the past... but we couldn't be prouder of where he is after such an eventful first ten months!

Don't Lick

When I said "Don't Lick" I should have been more specific.

They sure love eachother and we have been so happy with how gentle Hurlie is with him.

Bennett just being cute this afternoon. We talked to the Doctors today and it looks like we will be trying again with the trach removal on October 19th!

Lots of new sounds!

Bennett is trying out the new sounds today and has started sounding a bit like an angry elf.

He was actually pretty happy but just sounds mad. I am sure it will take him a while to get used to it.

We are teaching him how to sing Happy Birthday for his Auntie Katie tomorrow :)

Most beautiful sound in the world

I promise he is happier today than it seems in this video but it definately captures the new sound in our home.

I hope to post lots of cute giggles tomorrow. We are trying to give his little throat and voice some time to heal and rest.

How this works... His trach is now a smaller tube and taking up less space in his windpipe. So when we put a little cap on it allows for air to sneak around it and come out his mouth and nose. Hopefully with lots of practice over the next couple weeks he will be great at it and they will just pull the trach out!

Obviously this makes for a quiet little cry but still the most beautiful sound to a momma that hasn't heard her little man make a sound since he was 2 months old.

New Plan.

We are all home after a very uneventful day at the hospital. When the surgeon went to take a look into Bennett's airway they discovered he had quite a bit of scar tissue that can come from irritation. The surgeon said it was common in active little guys like Bennett.

They removed the scar tissue and felt like his throat would be too sore to try to remove the trach today. He sent us home to heal up and we have a plan to try again after a few weeks of healing.

They put in a smaller trach which allows him to breathe through his mouth around the trach a tiny bit. This makes it so he can practice over the next couple weeks. He loves his new sounds he is making today. Hopefully they will just get louder in the next couples weeks and he will be a pro when we try all of this again.

Thankfully the next time he wont have to be in an operating room or under anesthesia.

Bennett did wonderful today up at the hospital. He was a trooper and he always gets so many "oh my goodness what a cutie" which makes him smile even bigger.

Thank you for everyone's good thoughts and prayers, although it wasn't the outcome we had hoped for, Bennett is very happy playing at home and I think he has already forgotten he spent most of the morning at the hospital.

Grandmama multi-tasking

Getting ready for his week...

In anticipation of his surgery this week where we will determine the best way to remove his tracheostomy, I have been trying to take a ton of pictures and capture our little guy being cute with that trach in.

Bennett will be heading to Seattle Childrens once again this Thursday. We are meeting with the surgeon in the OR to determine what to do next... Our goal is to remove the trach but we are not sure how long this process will be. We just have to wait and see... Please keep our little guy in your thoughts that day. We have been waiting a long time to get to this point and we are very anxious to see what the surgeon comes up with.

Here are a few pictures from our weekend while daddy was away in Eastern Washington.

Cousin Reece... what a charmer

These kiddos are going to give us trouble together... what a cutie!

Our Nephew Reece Marquez!

Loves the Puffs, Yummy

With all the crazy surgeries Bennett hasnt really been a fan of anything but his bottle... until the sweet potato PUFFS. He loves finding them and plunking them in his mouth... I think he has had a few too many in the past couple days but I cant help myself... just too cute to watch him gobble them up!

Bennett sure loves the ladies...

Bennetts good friends Charli and Hadley came to visit today... what a treat!

They are the sweetest girls and it is so fun to see my best friends be such great mommies.

Helping daddy at work

Bennett and I have been loading up the jogging stroller and running to Joels work lately... He loves it!

And yes, that is a Dwight bobble head on his desk...

Happy birthday Stacey!

It is Bennett's nurse Stacey's birthday this weekend... So we had a
party for her. Well we wore hats and made a cake, but it was still
fun. Bennett couldn't wear the hat without trying to look at it the
whole time.

Stacey is moving next month and we will be so sad! We will really miss
her!

Crawling is so hard

Bennett is trying so hard to crawl. He sits on all fours looking
determined.... So far he can move his hands out and then it ends like
this... It is cute but still gets him nowhere.

The ZOO again!

Bennett took his friend Charli to the zoo today. He wanted to show her the tigers and elephants he saw the last time we went earlier this summer. Bennett got to see a few more of the animals up close and actually seemed a bit interested in them.

Thanks Stacey, Jania and Charli for a fun day!!

Bennett checking out the Tiger...

The Walrus checking out Bennett...

Yum Red Robin!

I don't know anyone who doesn't love Red Robin... Bennett was no different. This was his FIRST restaurant experience and he sure thought it was great...

But after a long day out he was pretty tired and caved to a nap right in the middle of lunch...

Aquarium!

We went to the Seattle Aquarium today! Bennett had a great time seeing a few of his friends and definately loved the seals!

Learning all about Northern Fur Seals

Checking out the seals from above

The babies and mommas

The Beach!

The family spent Sunday at the beach in Tokeland! Bennetts Great Grandmother Laurie lives there and finally got to meet him. We were able to make it down the the windy beach so that bennett could see the Ocean for the first time.

Bennett was a little confused about the wind but liked the feel of sand on his feet. He also got to wear his firemans rainsuit and his firetruck rubber boots that his Auntie Katy and Uncle Rock got him. (I think mom enjoyed it a little more than he did :)

Hurlie was the happiest out of everyone... she loves the beach for chasing the ball and getting dirty.