Christmas in Chicago (Part 3)

Now, on to the fun part of the evening...PRESENTS! Ben was kind of getting the hang of things...

 Trying to rip the paper

 Showing Ben the noise the train makes

 Cool, but let's see the next one!

 Oooh...what's this? A walker...Neat!

 Is that all? ....Don't worry Ben...there's plenty more, we might have to leave you here!

 Surrounded with tissue paper!

 Mom, why are you trying to put me in the stocking?!  It wasn't my idea, Ben - Blame Aunt Kae!

On Sunday, our last day, we went back to my Grandparents' house for brunch with Lois & Bill, Shawn, Uncle Harry & Aunt Donna, and Ed & Jeri (Grandma's friends). Of course everyone LOVED seeing Benjamin and thought he was super cute! Ben got a few more gifts as well! Then, as the ladies chatted, the men watched the Bears (Did you really think it would be a good idea after last week????)...Needless to say that was not a good idea and by halftime, they were no longer interested. Daddy was stuck watching the insanity because Ben was all tuckered out!

Later that evening, we had one more important adventure...Meeting Jen and Mike for dinner! :) Ben was a little cranky - again the stuffy nose and the teeth - add to that it was almost bedtime! But Jen was still able to get some laughs of him! :) He also showed his great talent of eating his foot! 

 At one point I was trying to occupy him, so I was going to give him his spoon to hold...it was so funny, because when I went to hand it to him, he opened his mouth like there was something on it. I thought that was pretty smart that he associated the spoon with opening his mouth, even though there was no food! I did order applesauce with my meal and gave him a few bites, which he enjoyed! Luckily, he has loved everything we have given to him! :) Our waitress told us that all the other workers said that her table had the cutest baby! Eric says there were lots of babies too, so that makes Ben pretty special. We definitely agree he is the cutest baby ever!  Here is a shot of Mike, Jen, and Ben....with a bite of applesauce so he didn't have a fussy face!

We had a wonderful visit with all of our friends and family, and luckily we - and all of Ben's loot - made it home safely. Our ride home was uneventful...no blowouts and perfect weather! We didn't get stuck in any rush hours or crazy construction! Despite being 14 hours, it was fabulous. We are glad to be back home and it was fun to watch Ben look around his room last night with a look that said "Hey, I remember this place!" We arrived home around 11pm and he went down easily and slept until 7am! I think he is back on his regular sleep schedule as he went down around 7:30 tonight...hopefully he sleeps through the night and sleeps in tomorrow morning!

We hope you enjoyed reading about our trip and looking at all of our photos! We wish everyone a Very, Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!

Just when you thought the fun was over...here's a little extra something!