Bennett Update {15 and 16 Months}

 I really wish I was better at this blogging thing, but I swear the days (and months) just fly by. I love the IDEA of a blog, something to track Bennett's growth and remind me what he was doing and when, but at the same time it is so hard to sit down and do this when all I want to do at the end of the day is just relax.

Stats & Recent Appointment: We had his 15 month check mid-November. Bennett weighed in at 23lbs and he is now 32 inches tall. We also had 4 shots this go around. Typically the immunizations have not bothered me in the past, but for some reason this time it just felt like Bennett knew exactly what was going on and let me tell you……he did not like it one bit! He cried more and harder than ever before. Lucky for us, we have a really tough little boy and after a sucker and some hugs and kisses, he was back to his usual rambunctious self.

Teeth: Finally getting more teeth! He really held steady at 6 teeth for what felt like 6 months! But, low and behold, all the drooling, rosy cheeks, and bottom-rashes did mean that two more teeth were coming in. Bennett has always been a good teether, we really have no idea he is teething other than seeing his drool (which, to be honest, he is always drooling), but rosy cheeks and bottom-rashes also alert us to new teeth.

   

Sleep: Some days he will take 2 naps and some days just 1. It depends on what he have going on and when he wakes up in the morning.  If we are out and about, he forgets about being tired and we can usually put him down between 11AM-12PM for a 2-3 hour nap. If we are at home, he can easily take 2 naps, one morning nap and one afternoon nap. Nighttime sleep is still great. Going to bed between 7-8 PM (sometimes later on the weekends), and FINALLY sleeping until 7 or 7:30 AM!!!! I swear this kid was always always going to wake up between 5:30-6:30 AM for the rest of our lives, but in the past two weeks he has made a breakthrough. YAY!

Eating: Sometimes picky, and sometimes great. He loves any pasta, mac and cheese, and hot dogs. He is less fond of any sort of potato (fries, hash browns, mashed potatoes, etc. I know….so weird!), he goes back and forth about chicken, beef, and pork, but recently has been better about eating meat. Still loving any and all fruit, and usually we wait to give him fruit until after he eats otherwise that is all he will eat. He has recently taken up an absolute obsession for dipping; dipping in ketchup, ranch, anything! If he sees you dipping your food, be sure that you will need to share. And typically, dipping just means sucking off the ketchup or ranch off whatever item he is dipping. Hope no one minds double dipping in our house!

Social: Still so, so social! Loves to run up and down aisles in the store, hiding from us. He loves to be chased! He loves to watch people, and does not miss a beat. His vocabulary has recently taken off, and it is so fun to listen to him say new words/phrases!

Best Friends, holding hands:)

dada

mommy

la-la = water

uh-oh

owie (and this one is recently VERY overused!)

ma = Milk

Ba=Bath, or Ball

peeassee = please

Bye bye

Gamma = Grandma

Gacie = Gracie

Baby

Ahh done = All Done

Hahhh = Hot

Eat

Foooball

Bah Ball = basketball

Puppy

 (These are all that I can think of right now, I am sure there are more)

Favorite New hiding place in the bathroom......

Likes: Climbing, playing with the kitchen utensils, pots, pans, etc. Dancing, being chased, reading books, helping mom and dad with anything and everything, he truly is our little helper. Toilets, he absolutely loves the toilet, flushing it, watching the water, etc. Toilet paper and paper towels (anything he can make a mess with), jumping (or trying to)


Dislikes: Waiting for dinner, when he is overtired, when he is told “no,” having his diaper changed

New This Month: 

- Learning how to use utensils, getting better every day! 

- He can point to his belly and toes when we ask “where is Bennett’s Belly?” “Where are Bennett’s toes?”, but is not sure where anyone else’s Belly and toes are.

- He follows simple instructions. “We are going bye bye” and he will run to his coat or shoes. “Please throw this away” and he will throw it away in the garbage.

- Recently started using “owie” to explain anything and everything. I know it does not hurt, but for some reason he thinks “owie” will get a response out of us if he does not want to be put him his carseat or have his diaper changed.

Surprisingly, our Santa visit went really well!! no tears at all

Bennett Update {13 and 14 Months}

We have been so incredibly busy with Bennett that I keep forgetting to update on what is new with him!

Sleeping: He is going between 1 and 2 naps a day. Depending on the day, somedays he will take one afternoon nap and sometimes he still needs a morning and afternoon nap. Usually they are 1-2 hours long, and sometimes the afternoon nap is 3 hours long, if it is the only one of the day. 

Development: He is a jabber mouth! He mostly babbles but lately, we catch him repeating things we say such a "All Done!" he will say something like "ahhh duuhhh," so that has been a lot of fun. I think he says about 7-10 words, but many times words have multiple meanings (ex. "ba" can mean ball, bath, book, bubbles, anything that starts with a B). He also overuses "uh oh," everything is "hahhh" (hot), and he is specifically calling me, mama and Josh, dada. He is very athletic, and loves to throw balls (and he has a good arm!). He does not miss a thing! If you try to sneak away to get a snack, he knows right away that we are eating something and will follow you until you share. He loves to throw things away in the garbage, which is fun but also annoying (I find several non-trash items daily in the garbage). And he LOVES to copy anything we do; cooking, cleaning, vacuuming, even when I am putting on makeup or brushing my hair, he wants to pretend he is doing the same thing with the hairbrush or makeup brush (sorry Josh!)

Likes/Dislikes: Bennett absolutely loves daycare and his little friends at daycare. Books have become more popular in the last couple of months. He will now plop himself down on our laps with a book for us to read to him. Although, he typically just wants to turn the pages faster than we can read, it is still really fun. Bennett absolutely loves being outside, and I am seriously concerned for when the weather gets cold. He will stand at the garage door and pound on it until we go outside. Recently, he has fallen in love with his fuzzy blanket, and we have to carry that with us immediately after bed or nap-time until he fully wakes up. Bennett's dislikes these days are definitely the camera: phone or real thing. He could be doing the cutest thing and we get our camera out and he is over it. He hates to sit still and it is near impossible to get a picture of him unless he isn't looking. He also hates getting dressed, having his diaper changed, getting into his car seat, being put in timeout (yes, we do timeout already), or anytime we tell him "no" to (which is a lot these days). Josh and I are struggling with how to teach Bennett boundaries because it seems he wants to do anything and everything and does not care if we tell him "no." For example, he loves to play in the street, he will just walk into the street, throw his balls, play with his toys and the moment we pull him off the street he throws a fit. Oh, and don't even get me started on the tantrums! He is a passionate, determined, stubborn little boy (where did he get that from? his mom?! no way!!). We are constantly pulling him away from dangerous situations or having to tell him no and redirect his attention. I will keep you updated on how this goes because it is still a work in progress.

 (Top Left: enjoying the last few days of warm weather, playing outside. Top Middle: He loves washing the car and/or playing with water in general. Top Right: outside at the park. Bottom left: Enjoying a Waukee High School Football game. Bottom Middle: see what I mean about climing in things?? Bottom left: playing so hard, he fell asleep in the middle of the living room!)

Melissa is so great about sending us pictures throughout the day while Bennett is at daycare, these are a few fun ones I received this past month

Bennett's 1 year Pictures

We had Bennett's photos taken by Sarah McConnell a day or two before his actual Birthday. Bennett started out really strong, hamming it up for the camera and very curious and smiley for Sarah, however as the session went out it was more and more difficult to get good pictures out of him. You will notice that most of his best pictures are in his first outfit. Overall, they turned out great! I only need a few anyways and next time I might just choose to do one outfit. I definitely would use Sarah McConnell again, she does a great job!

Bennett's 1st Birthday Party

 This blog post is SERIOUSLY overdue. I have taken a bit of a break from blogging, not sure if I wanted to continue it. However, I really would like to continue my blog so I can look back and remember special events in our lives. Forgive me, I am really lazy about doing this diligently though:)

We had Bennett's 1st birthday party on Sunday August 17th, his actual birthday is August 14th. It was a Baseball themed party. We had a lot of friends and family come to celebrate.

 

For lunch, we served hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, pretzels, popcorn

Luckily, the weather was not too hot for middle of August, so the party was in our garage.

 Bennett thoroughly enjoyed his presents!

 He was not too sure about everyone singing to him (top right picture), but it did not take long for him to dig into his smash cake

After the party, it was play time!!!



Lake of the Ozarks {2014}

We spent another week at Lake of the Ozarks this July. It was an amazing week filled with swimming, sun, drinks, relaxation, and boating. We had so many great pictures I didn't want to miss anything, so I created collages of each of our activities!

 The house we rented this year had a great little pebble beach. It was great for the kids!

 These are some of my favorite of Bennett from the week

 Jordan is the fisherman of the group, but sometimes the other partake in the activity to change it up. They did a great job this year and Jordan fried us up some fish our last night there.

 We spend A LOT of time floating!!!

 A few of Miss Grace, being adorable!

 The kids were our captains for the week, and the collage of 3 pictures does not even do it justice for how much these kids actually were in the drivers seat.

 Some great pictures from the week to share

 Some more of my favorite pics of the week

 There are so many pictures it is hard to pick which ones to include!

 We have so much fun at Lake of the Ozarks

Bennett was not so sure of swimming in the lake, but Grace really came out of her shell on vacation. Swimming was fun had by all!

 We don't tube too much, but when we do it is a riot. Even Bennett and Grace got in on the action this year.

 But of course, wakeboarding is the reason we go to Lake of the Ozarks to begin with. And it is hard to include just one or two pictures, because there are hundreds to share!

This year we even took up a new activity, Wakesurfing. Even Emily tried this out (6 months pregnant)!