It's the....
Homepage!
Family News:
May 19, 1999:
Not only is this the date of the opening of the new Star Wars movie - it's also a new beginning for this site. I'm going to be doing some updates, changing the site around, and also adding pictures - there's a lot more coming. I should have everything ready to go before Memorial Day.
Now let's see, what's Ben doing lately? Well, not only can he run his head off while waving a sock in the air, he also has one word he repeats over and over and over: "DA!" When he wakes up in the morning, it's not unusual to hear him say, "Dadadadadadadadaaaa", while jumping up and down in his crib.
Now Mel and I have decided that he really doesn't mean "daddy", per se. In fact, I believe EVERYTHING right now is: "Da!" We'll let everyone know when he really starts talking.
He has a total of 8 teeth now - the last one just coming in 2 weeks ago or so. His favorite pastime seems to be watching the Teletubbies. We only have 4 tapes, but he'll plop himself right right down in front of the set to watch the same ones over and over again. It's the one thing we found that really grabs his attention for a while.
Past Entries:
January 15, 1999:
And again, time marches on since our last update. Have you noticed that all the updates here have been quarterly? I just figured that out. Either I have to stop promising more stuff, or just do it faster. I *should* have new pictures, sound, and possible NEWS by this weekend. In case you haven't heard yet, Lance and Norene Hunnefield are expecting their second child sometime this summer!
Current names for Benjamin: Peanut, Benji (Chuck's dad likes that one), Ben, dude, little dude, baby, big baby, HUGE baby, Super Baby (his current favorite), little guy, and toe-biter. Well maybe not toe-biter, but he keeps trying to bite any extremity that looks like it would be good to teeth on and boy are his teeth sharp (all 7 of them).
We didn't have time to mention it last time, but did you know that Benji is in the 90th percentile for height??!!! Its true! He's VERY tall for his age.
In other news, Benjamin can now climb to a standing position. He often greets us in the morning that way, standing in his crib. Stay tuned for more soon.
October 16, 1998:
Time goes very quickly indeed. I couldn't believe
how long it's been since I've updated this page! Finally an update for all of you
out there. There some more photos to be added, but first, a special treat! I have a cute
animation of Benjamin and his Mommy. Benji has discovered the joy of bouncing. Click here to see it! I hope to get an
animation with sound soon, as well as scan in a few more pictures. If you can't view it
and you're running Windows 95/98/NT, you probably need this: 
The video is in MPEG format.
Benjamin, Jodi, Melzie and I have been doing quite well here in Virginia. He is teething now, if fact we noticed his first tooth only 3 days ago. We hope this Christmas to get a chance to visit all of our friends and relatives back in PA and elsewhere.
In other news, we were sorry to hear of the recent passing of Lawrence Hess. He will be sorely missed. Please pray for Sheila his wife as well as his family. This is (of course) a very difficult time for everyone that knew him. I gave a eulogy for him two weeks ago. This is what I had to say about the best musician I've ever known.
August 23, 1998:
Today Benjamin got his first professional pictures taken. They were taken at Focus Pocus / Kids-R-Us. He was so well behaved for the pictures, and if you click here, you'll see they came out GREAT! Thanks to Aunt Janet for the 'Tiny Turtle' song. It made him smile every time!
August 2, 1998:
Sorry, we know it's been a while since this page has been updated, but we've been very busy. Happily, Benjamin is just fine. He now weighs about 15 pounds. Some of his most recent developments include: Smiling, Laughing, Projectile Burping, Drooling, and Batting at Objects Held Above His Head.
We also want to publicly acknowledge our appreciation for all the assistance we've received from our friends and relatives, without whom, I'm not sure how we would've gotten along. Just to name a few: Rudy and Janet Yocum, Fred and Linda McNair, Jodi Taylor, and many more.
On another note, Jodi Taylor is now our live-in nanny! Jodi is taking care of Benji while we're away at work. (Click here for our first family photoalbum).
April 21, 1998:
On April 17th, 1998, at 2:39 P.M., our son, Benjamin James Hunnefield (aka Peanut, aka B.J.) came into the world. He was born at Reston Community Hospital, in Reston, VA. He weighed 7 lbs., 14 oz., and was 20" long. He is perfectly healthy and in fact, he is sleeping in our bed as I write this. Mel and B.J. came home on Sunday (April 19th.)
We want to thank everyone who contributed their gifts, prayers, stories, warnings, and encouragement to us. And to everyone who didn't get informed about our event, I apologize. Due to lack of sleep and time I haven't had the chance to call everyone yet. I appreciate everyone being so understanding about that, and I promise we will be calling everyone personally as soon as we can. Thank you for visiting us at our new site on Tripod!
I know that Melissa and I are looking forward to being new
parents (although I think we could both use more sleep!) 