Benjamin's 1st Birthday!!

So, Benjamin's birthday was over a week ago, but here are some pictures from the celebration.  We can't believe how fast he's growing up!

So these are pictures from his actual birthday, but we did
most of the celebrating the following Sunday.

He wasn't sure what to think about the presents at first,
but then he had fun tearing the wrapping paper off.

This was his favorite present - he loves playing with it!
Mostly because it plays music when you open its mouth or you roll it. 

Before eating his (cup)cake.  He's holding it by the candle there.

After trying to eat the cake - not much ended up in his mouth.

What is this stuff?

Well, this little guy has been through a lot in his first year, especially 3 surgeries!  But, he hasn't let that stop him.  He even learned to walk with his cast on from his most recent surgery.  Now he gets around like there's nothing to it!  He loves music, books, getting into things, and just being cute!

Just a little update on his left hand - it's doing pretty well, but it still isn't really pretty (still healing and waiting for ugly scabs to come off).  He's even trying to use it a little bit to grab things.  I'll show pictures as soon as it is done healing.

Benjamin's Hand

Just an update on Benjamin - he went to the doctor on Thursday and got his cast off.  Yay!!  The doctor said everything healed well, but Benjamin's hand has an infection.  So now he's on antibiotics and it's got to take a week to heal.  So, hopefully he'll have a happy little hand to use in a week!

Benjamin

So Benjamin is almost a year old now - he's a cute little guy!  He's been through a lot in his first year of life.  He's had 3 surgeries and should be all done with those now.  He was born with syndactyly where the fingers on his left hand didn't separate.  So he's had surgeries to separate the fingers - he had bones for all 5.  We're excited because he gets his cast off from his last surgery tomorrow, so we can see what it looks like with all of his fingers!  So, I think his biggest birthday present is going to be having 2 fully functional hands!  Here are some pictures of him:

Here's the little guy

This is his left hand before any surgeries - we like to call it his little "paw"

This is his left hand from the other side (before any surgeries)

After each surgery he had to wear a cast like this for 3 weeks - no fun!!
A few times it even came all the way off and we had to figure out how to get it back on.

Getting ready for Christmas

Benjamin's enjoying his first Christmas - he got presents!!!

Here's Benjamin doing one of his favorite things - looking out the window.

And here's the little guy with his favorite teddy bear.

Bye bye!!