Journey Home

Today we made the long journey home to Champaign, Illinois. It was a loooong journey. It took 12 hours to drive home, a result of having a baby and bad snowy weather! We started the day in Minnesota, waking up to some snow, which was quite nice.

Trading smiles with Grandpa and Grandma.

A picture of us with the Minnesota snow.

Sleeping while driving through a Winter Wonderland.

Along the way to Illinois, we picked up Steve's mom at the McDonald's in Rochelle, Illinois. Vicki had spent the Thanksgiving holiday with Shelley, Amie, Doug, and Colin and Lexi. Shelley (full name is Rochelle, coincidentally!), Steve's sister, dropped her off and then we all had dinner together. It was fun to see Auntie Shelley, and she commented on how big Benjamin is now and how he looks like a baby instead of a newborn.

Auntie Shelley with Ben at the McDonald's.

We all (my Mom, me, Steve, Benjamin, and Vicki - a full car!) made it home safely, thank goodness!

Party Time

We had a busy day today - two birthday parties for three birthday people! First of all, today is Steve's birthday! We had a celebration with my family tonight for his birthday and for Natalie's (whose is on Dec. 4th). Earlier in the day, Benjamin and I went to our family friend Deb's daughter's birthday - Ava turned two yesterday! Steve had around 80 tests to grade for Monday so he stayed home for that portion, not a fun part of his day I am sure. Benjamin didn't seem to be feeling well today - I think he was a little overwhelmed by being passed around so much. He was a trooper, though, and he received many compliments about what a good baby he is.

Steve turned 30 today!

The first set of pictures were taken at Ava's birthday party:

Benjamin with Deb (Ava's mom)

With the birthday girl, Ava.

Ava wasn't too pleased that her mommy had another baby on her lap. At one point she told her mommy to put the baby on the floor. Ava did try to offer Benjamin her little doll's pacifier, which was very sweet. Ava will have a new little brother in February!

This set of pictures was taken tonight at the family celebration:

With Grandpa and Grandma

Just before the birthday song. Benjamin was quite impressed at everyone singing at once and was looking at everyone as they sang.

The birthday people and their candles.

Hanging out on Uncle Rob's leg.

Gnawing on Uncle Rob's finger - see video below.

Checking out his toes - this seems to be a recent favorite thing to do!

Steve showing Benjamin the Notre Dame logo.

Time to go home!

Aunt Jessica is not asleep, but Benjamin is completely out. He was unfazed by everything going on around him. When I moved him to his car seat to go home, he woke up but was just smiling at me as a I strapped him in. He fell asleep again right away in the car. In fact, he is still sleeping in his car seat as I write this entry, three and a half hours later.

Video of Benjamin sucking on Rob's finger. I like how we can see his tongue working.

Black Friday

My Mom and I would sometimes in the past go out for Black Friday deals early in the morning, but this year sleeping is too precious to lose on shopping for things we don't really need. So we spent the morning lazily enjoying our time together.

Benjamin cozying up to Daddy.

In his raccoon sweater in honor of being in Coon Rapids.

We did decide to head out to check out some stores, during which Benjamin joined us for part of the time. When he is not hungry, Benjamin is such an easy baby to have as a shopping partner. He had a good time feeling all the different fabrics as we looked at clothes and when he spotted himself in the mirror he smiled. He probably thought that he was such a cute baby! We ended up getting a really good deal on some cute gingham fabric at Jo-Ann's for curtains for his nursery. We have been looking for the right fabric for awhile now and we are excited to get started!

Having just come in the store from the cold.

After a busy day shopping, Benjamin was ready for bed. During his baths lately, he seems interested in sitting up in his tub. He is currently using the newborn part where he lays back, but maybe it is almost time for him to use the other side where he can sit upright. Tonight, as during other baths the last few nights, he looked like he was trying to do a sit-up. It was the first time he really successfully grabbed his toes during his bath too, which was quite adorable.

These toes are so neat!

So fresh and so clean.

Benjamin has grown more hair on top, so now he can have a little mini-mohawk.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Steve and I certainly have a lot to be thankful for - each other, our families, and of course Benjamin! Benjamin's first Thanksgiving was very nice. Rob and Natalie hosted the dinner at their house and we had lots of good food. In addition to the traditional Lucken family dishes (baked corn, sweet potatoes, lefse with butter and sugar, cranberries, mashed potatoes, and of course turkey), Rob grilled a hickory smoked turkey and Natalie made pumpkin cheesecake that were both quite tasty. After dinner, Benjamin took a two and a half hour nap! This is doubly surprising as he usually only takes hour long naps and he often doesn't sleep well in the afternoon! Perhaps it was the turkey? During his nap, my nephews (Trever and Zack) and I had some fun on the trampoline outside (even though it was a little chilly!). Benjamin and Lucy provided much of the entertainment the rest of the night.

We are so thankful to have Benjamin in our lives.

Our Family

The cousins - Zack with Benjamin and Trever with Lucy

Rick and Jessica practicing for a new little one that is on its way!

Rob and Natalie

Natalie got lots of smiles and laughter out of Benjamin.

Benjamin loves kisses!

Arriving in Minnesota

After picking me up after my last class, we all headed up North to Minnesota. We started out at 4:00 p.m. and hoped that it would coincide more with Benjamin's sleep schedule. He must have been very tired because he was asleep by 5:00 p.m. and maybe could have stayed asleep the whole time had not the car needed to be refueled and we not needed a bathroom break! We ended up stopping at a gas station past Madison at around 8:30. He woke up as soon as we were on the exit ramp (how did he know??) and we took a 40 minute stop. While resting, we took some pictures of us and Benjamin.

Happy after being fed.

Ready to do some driving.

In the back with Daddy.

After we were on the road again for about an hour, Benjamin seemed to be hungry still so we made another stop. After that, we didn't stop until we got home, which was at 1:00 a.m.! Nine hours - not bad, considering it has been more like 11 hours in the past! I was concerned that he wouldn't sleep in his pack'n'play after having slept for 8 hours in the car, but he did pretty well. I got up with him once and he didn't get up for the day until 8:30.

The next day, Wednesday, we just hung out at home (we were all exhausted and we all took naps during the day!). In the morning, Benjamin examined his toes and was quite successful at grabbing them.

He then played with an ostrich that Grandma has in her toy box.

Sucking his thumb while hanging on to the ostrich.

Chewing on its legs - he chewed on other body parts, too. It must have been a tasty ostrich!

Later on, before dinner, we gave Benjamin a bath in the kitchen (one day, we will take a bath in the real bathtub, but I enjoy the extra space). As usual, he had a good time splashing around.


Then Grandpa Lucken arrived home from work and got to see a fresh and clean Benjamin.

Happy to see Grandpa.

Benjamin must enjoy Grandpa's voice - after dinner, while sitting in Grandpa's lap, he would just stare at him while he was talking. He also started falling asleep that way at around 6:30 (his bedtime), which was cute because he was still sitting upright.

Ben's First Exersaucer Experience

Today, after I got home from work (really, I agree with my students, why not have the whole week off from school for Thanksgiving - the college students at the U of Illinois do!), we had Benjamin try the exersaucer that Amie and Doug brought for Benjamin to use. It was a lot of fun to see what Benjamin would do with it - he was quite interactive with it. He started with the book that makes noise as you turn the pages (see video of this below) and then started grabbing at the various other toys. He got a little frustrated when he couldn't reach certain things and his legs didn't seem quite able to support himself standing for a long time, but overall I think he is very ready for this and it will be fun to see what draws his attention.

Checking out the book.

Looking up at the dangling toys.

Looking down at the rattling toys.

After the exersaucer, Benjamin took a quick ride on his pony.

Here are Benjamin's first moments in his exersaucer:

Waiting for Grandma

After our busy day on Saturday, it was nice to relax and hang out with Benjamin. I enjoyed being able to spend some quality time with Benjamin for the first time since working (that is - more than two hours before work and two hours after work)! We were also eagerly awaiting Grandma Lucken's arrival. She was coming down to visit and then we are all going up to Minnesota on Tuesday for Thanksgiving.

The following pictures were taken after Grandma arrived and we were getting Benjamin ready for his bath. I included all the pictures I took because he looked so cute!

Sitting up with just a little bit of help from Grandma!

Look at those arms and legs! So cute.

Happily hanging out in just his diaper.

Big smiles for Grandma.

Reading "The Going to Bed Book" - a common bedtime book for Ben.

Saturday in South Bend

Today we drove in to South Bend, Indiana with Steve's mom. We left early in the morning (7:00 a.m.) and it took 3 1/2 hours. As Benjamin was happy the whole time, we didn't have to stop! While Steve and his mom attended the Notre Dame game, Benjamin and I hung out with Grandpa Zusman and Grandma Jane. Although Benjamin didn't seem to feel very well (i.e. spitting up like crazy), we all had a good time. Benjamin took turns cuddling with each while watching the game.

Benjamin enjoyed Grandma's whiskers. He liked to grab them.

Enjoying his time with Grandma Jane.

Checking out Jane's daughter, Jennifer