Our First Mother's Day

I had such a great first Mother's Day with my special boy :) We went to church, had brunch with Grandmama, and then got a surprise visit by my grandfather (and Ben's GREAT grandfather!). Lots of snuggling and laughs made for a wonderful day with my baby! I'm so thankful to be a mommy...

9 Months In, 9 Months Out!

My little man has been in this world just as long as it took to "cook" him! At Ben's 9 month checkup, he weighed 19 lbs, 2.9 oz ~ whoa! No wonder my arms are aching lately! That seems big, but was 30% for weight, and his height remained in the 90% at 29.5 inches.

Ben's into all kinds of new things. He's learned how to climb the stairs, so we put up the baby gates, in addition to all the other childproofing items in the house. He's pulling up and cruising everywhere and can stand alone for a second or two when he wants to. Little Man is so, so curious about everything ~ trashcans, toilet paper rolls, electrical cords....nothing is safe from his quick little hands. He loves "rearranging" our breakfast and dining room chairs around, and unfortunately, playing with electrical cords. I've done my best to get rid of or hide all of them, but he still manages to make a bee-line for the few that I can't eliminate.

Let's see...he's got six teeth now, LOTS of hair (we had to cut a little over his ears because he kept pawing at them like they were itchy!). He's outgrowing Size 3 diapers, and is now taking a bath in the "BIG" bathtub.

Ben's still not crazy about being spoon fed, and most meal times are a struggle, even with foods he likes. He can feed himself small pieces of whole wheat bread, baby puffs, diced banana, and a few other things. My goal for the next month or two is to really explore foods that are appropriate for him to eat that he can feed himself. He seems to be much more content with those. Oh, and speaking of feeding...we finally dropped his last feeding of the day at 10 p.m. We were waking him up (barely) to eat in hopes that 1). he'd sleep through the night, and 2). get enough calories in the day. We hadn't planned to stop it since he had dropped from 50% to 30% in weight, but after a few days of only drinking 2 oz. and then a few more of refusing it completely, we just quit. He did fine. Maybe now he'll start eating more throughout the day.

Lastly, my favorite new thing is that Ben initiates Peek-A-Boo now! Just this week, I was checking him out in the rearview mirror, talking to him and he pulled the blanket up over his face....he was wanting me to say, "Where's Ben?!". So, I said it (as we always do when we're holding the blanket over his eyes) and he pulled the blanket down ~ so pleased with himself. (Then repeat 80 times, ha ha) How cute!!!

Bring Back the Sunshine!

Right when I was getting used to that bea-U-tiful weather we were having....Bam! A week of rain and thunderstorms :( And COLD, too! I'm so glad Ben and I took advantage of the sunshine while we had it ~ a few weeks ago, we went to Warrior's Path park and spent such special time together picnicking and laughing. I'll never forget what a sweet day that was!


This was one of those distorted mirrors that makes you look funny-shaped!This was Ben's first time on a swing! He giggled and laughed the whole time. He didn't want to stop swinging to get our picture taken ~ look at that face! Ha ha!Cutie-pie on the playground!!

~~ Ben Takes a Swim ~~

A few weeks ago, we took a trip to Knoxville to meet up with my friend Tomika and her baby Tamyra. They live in Houston so it was great to get to see them!!! We had a nice lunch at Calhoun's and enjoyed getting to know each other's little ones :) Ben got to sit in a "big boy" high chair for the first time....you think he liked it?!

After lunch we stopped in Pigeon Forge to spend the rest of the weekend eating and shopping. Back at the hotel, Ben had a ball in the Pack-n-Play, which was really nice considering I didn't want him crawling around on the yucky hotel room carpet.

This enjoyment of his own personal play land, full of fantastic toys, only lasted about a week, though. Unfortunately, he eventually came to see the PNP as a jail-like apparatus used to keep him from having fun with the rest of us - ha!!

Mark and I were particularly excited about the hotel pool; in fact, I specifically searched for a place to stay with a "good" indoor pool so Ben could go swimming. We figured since he was crazy about taking baths, a pool would just be GREAT. Well.....somebody wasn't quite so sure!!!

You want me to do what??Pep talk from Daddy..."Mama, are you sure?!"Awwwww! There's a smile!!! :)

How About This Weather?!

Haven't these sunny days been just wonderful?! Ben and I have been thoroughly enjoying them...getting out every day to take a ride in his "new car", blow bubbles, or just hang out on a blanket in the yard. I mentioned in my last post that Ben doesn't like the grass too much, so for ONCE, he will actually stay put if I put him on a blanket, in order not to touch the icky grass (that is, unless he decides to eat the clover like he did a few days ago)! He will not, though, keep his sunglasses on...they stayed on for about 5 minutes the first time and haven't ever since ~ ha!

His absolute favorite thing to do lately is to take a "car ride". My friend Lisa gave him this push car and he's crazy about it! I can't get over how cute he is holding onto the steering wheel like he's really driving :) Here's his first ride:

Soooooommmmmeeebody knows they're CUTE!Well, I think he's right!! (And I promise, I didn't pose him like this, either! He's such a ham!!)

"Hoppy" Easter!

Ahhh....warm weather is here! I just HOPE to stay :) We had a great Easter weekend ~ of course, the Easter Bunny came to see Ben! We didn't actually visit a furry, costumed bunny-person, but did spend a lot of time at church and just enjoying the beautiful sunshine. I just loved Ben's cute little bunny outfit...I don't get the chance to "dress him up" this much very often ~ it was so fun!!

He's always so good for the camera. He seems to just know when he's supposed to smile :) But he's still not crazy about being in the grass, and THIS is what he thinks of (even worse) being in a basket. GEEZ, Mom....gimme a break!

Finally, fun times blowing bubbles at the church Easter Egg hunt on Saturday!!

Tales from the Cell Phone Cam

Every now and then, there's just not time to grab the big camera to catch those sweet little things you don't want to forget :) Here are a few shots from my cell phone camera...

Here's my little monkey in his Johnny Jump-Up. Apparently it's not fun enough just to jump; it's better to swing back and forth until you reach another toy and then climb up on it to eat the plastic parrot-on-a-spring on top :)

Sometimes in the car, the mirror back there gets knocked sideways and I can't see Ben. So, if I'm wondering if he's asleep or not, or just OK because he's been quiet for a while, I stick my phone over the seat and click a picture. Precious!!Ben's found a great new toy. His brother's baseball cup. HA! He's discovered that it spins nicely on the hardwood floor, so he probably spent a good ten minutes throwing it around. Oh well. I guess there are worse things to play with!Hangin' at the mall, smiling for his big brothers :)

These are pictures of the video monitor on three random days. For some reason, after a nap if I don't get up there right away, he looks into the camera like, "Hey MOM! I'm awake, you know!! Where are you?" Of course, he can't comprehend that I see what the camera sees, but it's WEIRD how he always looks right into it, as if he KNOWS!!Finally, my favorite lately....his first ride in the shopping cart like a big boy!! I wiped that thing down better than I scrub our toilets ~ ha!! He did pretty well, and it was much easier than hoisting the car seat into the buggy (leaving no room for groceries!).

Eight Month Little Man

I feel like I haven't blogged much lately, but we've been so busy ~ Ben's 7th month has flown by :( He's rapidly gone from mastering sitting up and crawling to now pulling up on everything in sight and trying to cruise around a little bit. In just a week's time, he's gotten very good at standing assisted, and I don't have to chase around behind him to keep him from bonking his face on things now that he's figured out how to "land" when he wants down. He's also mastered handling the paci - yay!! Now he can just find one and pop it in his mouth whenever he wants....ahhhhh, so nice!

I'm so glad I take TONS of pictures, because looking back, so many little things come and go so quickly. Ben used to do the cutest thing before he could crawl ~ I called it his yoga "Downward Dog" pose :) Already, though, he's left that move behind for something new!

It's so fun to see him being such a big boy...even though this means I have less and less time to do things around the house, such as take a shower, chores, etc. The ONLY thing that can safely "contain" him now is the pack-n-play or crib. Unfortunately, he figured out how to escape the Exersaucer a few weeks ago!!

Who me? I wouldn't do that!!

Last month, Ben also got more teeth! One of his top ones broke though, and the other top one is on its way. The top ones are much worse than the bottom ones for him. So, we've had several nights with lots of waking and crying, but it really hasn't been too bad.

Ben also got dedicated at church a few weeks ago. He looked so handsome in his little khakis and sweater!

Ben's main objective each day is to pull up and explore everything in sight. This is the first time he pulled up in the Pack n Play....doesn't he look so happy with himself?!

More Picsee Pics

Whew! We have been a super-busy family this past few weeks, and I feel like I've got so much to catch up on for Ben's blog ~ he's changing so much and into so many new things, it's amazing and SO much fun! Hopefully this weekend I can go through our latest pictures and write a new post. In the meantime, if you're interested, here's the complete "collection" from Ben's last visit to Picsee Studios. We went yesterday to see them all, and I CANNOT make up my mind which ones to get...they're all keepers!! :)

http://www.picseestudio.com/index2.php

Click "Clients" on the top right, then

Password: benjamin1

PS...THANKS for everyone that left us a comment on the Picsee blog - we got a free 8x10!!!

Man Around Town ~ Ben's Downtown Photo Shoot

I was SO excited when it was time for Ben's next photo shoot with Picsee Studios. We got their "Sweet Pea" package that documents him as a newborn, six months, and one year. So I'd been waiting six months - ha!! It was well worth the wait, though. So check Mr. Ben out, and (as usual :) if you leave a comment, we might get a free print!!

http://www.thepicseeblog.com/?p=3831

Seven Months Old and ON THE MOVE!

Another month has flown by for us! "Little" Ben is growing like a weed and having so much fun doing it! The best way to describe him lately would be BUSY. Busy, busy, busy...he's starting to crawl and just cannot wait to explore every single little thing he can possibly find. No sitting still for this boy...EVER! For the past few weeks, his crawling style has been more like "the worm" - bring the knees up, then belly flop forward and do it all again (grunting allllllll the way because he wants so badly go faster, faster, faster!!) But just today, I was on the phone with Mark at lunch and right before my eyes, he crawled perfectly with his hands and knees about the length of the coffee table ~ how exciting!!!

So what else is new? TEETH! Two of them, actually, and sweet little Ben hardly uttered a peep when he got them. They came through at the end of his sixth month, and I did notice in his fifth month, he was quite fussy for a few weeks. I've read that teething pain can bother babies even six weeks before the teeth cut, so maybe that was why he was fussy. But when they came through, I didn't even know until they'd already popped out! Here's a pic where you can see them...
As I mentioned in my last post, Ben's doing great sitting up. He's gotten good enough to where I don't need to stay by him every second to make sure he doesn't fall over. This new development meant that it was time to lower his crib mattress to the lowest position. He really looked like he could just pop over the edge anytime if he happened to pull up, so Mark took care of that right away :) Over the weekend, he also figured out how to get himself into the sitting position from crawling, so he's much more content now that he's not stuck on his belly all the time. Here he is ~ sitting handsome!

At his 6 month check up, he weighed 17 lbs 2.8 oz , which is in the 50% where he was last visit. I was excited to hear that he was also still in the 90% for height, at 27.5" long. He also got another round of vaccinations as well as seasonal and H1N1 flu shots. Thank goodness, he did very well and didn't even run a fever!

We've moved to eating on a 4 hr schedule finally, and Ben still takes 3 naps a day, going to bed at 7:30. He does sleep though the night, but for some reason wakes up around 5 a.m. every morning. So, I go up and give him the paci and he'll usually sleep until 6:30 or 7:00. My only guess is that even though he INSISTS on sleeping on his belly (no matter how many times we roll him over!), when he wakes up in the morning, he doesn't like it. Unfortunately, he hasn't figured out how to roll from belly to back yet, so he calls for Mama!! That's OK, though....how could I resist a face like this??

*** Love is in the Air!! ***

Last week, April and I had a BALL taking our babes to have their Valentines Day portraits made. Afterall, they ARE Sweethearts!! It was a task requiring monumental effort to get these two rested, fed, dressed and clean and to the mall at the same time of day. Whew! But it was so worth it...the pictures are adorable!

Ben and Sophia's First Valentine's Day

Ben only napped for one hour that morning (of course, on photo shoot day!), so he wasn't big into smiling. And, poor Sophia was sleepy and kept yawning...hee, hee!! They were troopers, though, and we got a few good shots, and had LOTS of good laughs :) Immediately after the shot above, Ben started bucking around on his hands and knees (since he's trying so hard to crawl lately), and there went little Sophia and her cute hat, flopping onto the floor while Ben tried to take off!

So, those are the "keepers". Here are the outtakes:

"Hey, Little Mama...come here, I gotta tell you something!"

"I love you, Sophia!" says Ben. "Hmph. I don't kiss on the first Valentine's Day!!" says Sophia.


And last, but not least....my cutie-pie giving us that precious grin!!!

Time Flies!

Wow! Time has really flown....my baby's half of one year old! He has had an action-filled fifth month with lots of new experiences. He had his first "babysitter"....Grandmama and Grandaddy came over while we went to a Christmas party. He had a bottle and went to bed for someone else for the first time, and Mama was so relieved that it went very well!!!

Ben also stopped nursing in his fifth month and went to formula full-time. He's a very flexible baby in this area, so it went just fine. I had a "ticker" on the blog to keep track of how long I'd been nursing, encouraging me to keep going, so on the last day, I took a snip of it "for the record". I'm sad not to be providing Ben with the perfect food anymore, but it was time for us to move on and I am very proud for making it 5 months!!!

Ben also experienced his first snow...several of them, in fact. It snowed so much, our power even went out! Daddy was stuck on the highway in traffic for seven hours while Ben and I got colder and colder in the house with no heat. Mama was getting pretty nervous! Luckily, the power came on about 30 minutes after Mark finally made it home, as we were getting ready to brave the snowy roads and take Ben to a hotel to get warm.

As for his other "stats", Ben's growing like a weed - his 6 month appointment isn't until next week, but I bet he's at least 15 or 16 pounds. He's out of a lot of his 6 months clothes and moving on to 9 months, and just last week I bought his first box of Size 3 diapers.

Ben can also sit up now! It's SUPER cute ~ I'll be sure to post a picture of his newest skill soon. I'm so glad he finally got the hang of it because he was really fussy for about 2 or 3 weeks and I truly believe it was frustration from not being able to sit yet. As soon as he was able to with consistency, he was a much happier baby!

Blessings Abound

My baby is six months old ~ wow! This has absolutely been the best six months of my whole life :) I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with him for the time being, and not a day has passed that I haven't thanked God for overflowing my life and heart with such JOY! Most days, my eyes are filled with tears of happiness at some point in the day because I just can't believe how lucky I am to be Ben's mama.

Before he arrived, I imagined the thing I would tire of doing (and even dread sometimes) was putting him down for naps and bedtimes...I pictured lots of resistance and struggle, "crying it out", etc. Fortunately, it hasn't involved much of that at all. So in his lifetime, I've probably put him down to sleep at least 800 times (!!) including naps and bedtimes, and I find myself loving every single minute of it!! Last night as I rocked him "sleepy" and held that sweet baby in my arms, I actually teared up because I didn't want to put him in his crib yet....just wanted to keep on rocking my little boy all night. I love, love, love being a mommy!!

Here's our little miracle six months ago on his birth day...he's about 5 minutes old in this video. God is so GOOD!

Let's Eat!!

Ben has now eaten "real" food for the first time! A few weeks ago, we tried rice cereal, and he ate it like a pro....for a few days. Then, I think, the novelty of eating with a spoon like the rest of his family wore off and he realized the cereal didn't taste too great. Then we tried oatmeal and he liked it a little better, but not much. So, we moved on to green beans just yesterday and they were not a hit, either!! Oh no! Hopefully we'll find something he likes soon (and not just applesauce and pears, ha!). Mama's just learning how to do this feed-a-squirming-uninterested-baby thing, so here's what Ben looks like after breakfast most days :)