Baby Boettcher Makes 4: March 2014

On January 5 I posted this on facebook:

Just spent the last hour upstairs in Bennett's room rocking and cuddling him while he napped. Not because he was fussy, just because I wanted to. No tv, no distractions. It was wonderful to watch him peacefully sleep in my arms:)

It has been 91 days since that day.

And I can honestly say,

January 5th was the last time Bennett allowed me to hold

and rock him to sleep, until tonight.

Do not get me wrong, I am oh so thankful that our little boy

has great sleep habits, one of which is his ability to put himself to sleep.

However, gone are the days of our rocking and cuddling.

And to be honest, it makes me so sad.

As I sat there tonight, I was overcome with emotion.

His body used to fit so perfectly in my arms.

Now he has doubled in size,

and to be honest, he is a bit awkward to hold "like a baby"

I felt a bit guilty.

Guilty because I thought back to the bedtimes,

midnight feedings, and nap times I prayed and pleaded he would

just fall asleep so I could put him down and move on with my day.

Tonight, I wished it would never end, I wished that I could hold him like that forever.

I actually didn't want to put him down.

I dreaded having to put him down.

I didn't realize time would go so fast.

And I know, everyone tells you, "it goes so fast."

But you don't realize just how fast, until you look back and your

sweet little newborn has turned into a ball of energy and personality,

with his own agenda, if I might add.

I eventually worked up the courage to put him down.

And it will probably be another 90 days before he

cuddles with me like that again. And it took me 6 months to realize this:

I have learned to appreciate every little moment just like that.

I wish I knew this in the first few weeks of his life.

I wish I realized how quickly time passes,

and how some days I beg him to just let me cuddle him.

But for now, I will just appreciated the moments he does give me.

But the next one....the next one I will know:)

Update: It seems weird to have a 7 month old. We are now on the downhill slide to 1 year old. As the weather gets warmer, we are able to take Bennett outside more often. And thank goodness! I think everyone can agree, we all have cabin fever in the midwest. Being outside gives Bennett more room to explore, and let me tell you, this kid does nothing but explore! He is so very inquisitive. He is pulling himself up on anything he can get his hands on, his crib, couches, toys, the bathtub, shelves (which really makes my stomach churn), even the toilet (yuck....). He can crawl anywhere he wants to go. One minute he will be sitting in front of us, the next he will be checking out a heating vent in the other room, looking into the shower (usually while someone is showering), or pulling at the door stoppers (you know, they make such an interesting "BOINNNGGGG" noise). This kid seriously does. not. stop. He will be walking before we know it, and he is slowly learning to walk along furniture while still holding on. And if he had his choice, I would hold his hands and help him "walk" back and forth across the living room for hours. He wants so badly to be on his feet, but he isn't quite there....yet.

Likes:

Anything that isn't a toy-phones, remotes, kitchen utensils, adult glasses (like the kind you drink out of, he wants to drink our water)

"Walking" while we hold his hands back and forth, back and forth, across the room

New love for stuffed animals, especially a stuffed giraffe we have that makes white noise

"Peek-A-Boo" and "Where's Bennett?"

Dislikes:

I can sum up his one and only dislike this month in one sentence, "do not touch this kids nose, don't come near it, don't even pretend."

Stats: Next appointment is 9 months. But I never posted 6 months stats.
Height: 26.5 inches (35%), grew 2 inches (24.8 inches at 4 mos.)
Weight: 16lbs 12 oz. (30%), gained 2.5 lbs (14 lbs 2 oz. at 4 mos.)
Head: 16.75" (20%) (16.2" at 4 mos.)

Features: Blonde hair, blue eyes, and in desperate need of some sun. He is so white, he looks like a ghost. The summer sun will be nice to give him a little color, at least to make him look less "sickly"
Starting to get some curls around his ears. Josh has curly hair, so we expected he might get some curls.

Sleep: Sleeping great! Bedtime is around 7:30 everynight. Bennett sleeps from 7:30-6 AM typically every night. He takes 2 naps a day, usually for an 1-2.5 hours at a time. One morning nap, and one afternoon nap. Lately, I look at Bennett's monitor around 5:30-6 AM and he is already sitting or standing up in his crib babbling to himself. I love that he can entertain himself in the morning. He could be awake for a while, and we would have no idea. We don't turn the sound on on his monitor, he will cry if he needs something. Plus he is so NOISEY when he sleeps, and he "talks" in his sleep too.

Eating: At Bennett's 6 month check-up, his Dr. gave us the go ahead to start feeding him table food. He had been eating purees since 4 months old. Since that appointment, I bought Bennett baby food that has meat in it and small chunks of food. Making baby food with meat in it is no easy task. It is so nice to take him out to dinner now and know we can just mash up some of our food and feed it to him. He loves spagetti, mac and cheese, rice, french fries-yeah it sounds like we only feed him junk food, but I assure you, he is eating fruits and veggies primarily, and sometimes he gets to eat the good stuff, especially if we are out to eat without baby food. He also loves his baby snacks-puffs, yogurt melts, and these little "cheetos" looking apple/sweet potato puffs.

Diapering: Wearing size 2 or 3 diapers, but also size 3 night time diapers. We had about a week where he was consistently peeing right through his onesie, jammies, and through his sheets. Since putting him in night time diapers, that has stopped completly.

Clothes: Pretty consistent with size. He is wearing 6-9 month clothes, and even those are sometimes big on him. Depends on if the size is truly just 6 months, or 6-9 months. BabyGap runs their clothes 6-12 months....that is crazy, there is such a difference in 6 months to 12 months!

Social: Bennett has zero stranger danger. I can leave him with just about anyone and he has no issues with it. Thanks Bennett, we love you too.....:) But in all honestly, I think it is great that he is easy to drop off and pick up when we leave him with daycare or sitters. The only time Bennett gets a little needy for my attention, is immediately after I come home for the day. I have to sneak in the house so he won't see me. If he sees me he wants me to hold him and when I need to change out of work clothes. This typically lasts about 30 minutes, and by then he has gotten his "mommy-fix" in. He also will crawl to my ankles and try to start pulling himself up my leg to get me to pick him up. So. Adorable! He has the best smiles and laughs. He will smile for (just about) anyone. Bennett can say "dada" "baba" and "blahhhhh" he is always babbling. He also growls and grunts, which is just so freaking adorable! Bennett absolutely adores other kids. He is fascinated by people his own size, and other kids entertain him for hours. He does so great at daycare for this reason.

Mommy: Have I mentioned how adorable just about everything he does is? I really must say he is the cutest kid I have ever seen, but I am biased. Love....Love....LOVE 7 months old! He can sit up, crawl, pull himself up on things. He is so much fun to play with. Yes, we are usually chasing him around, pulling him off of things, taking things away from him, and I feel like all I am saying lately is "no, no.....that is hot, that is not for babies, you are going to hurt yourself, I told you that was going to hurt:), etc etc..." I truly wonder what goes on in his little mind, you can just see the wheels turning and the connections being made as he analyzes everything around him.

Daddy: Josh wants another baby, enough said. He has been bringing it up a lot lately. But lucky for me, my "excuse" is I am not eligible for any maternity benefits yet. And that is all it takes. Anyone who knows Josh well, knows that if anything has to do with finances/budgeting, he will let it go pretty quickly if it means we would need to go a portion of time unpaid in order to have another baby. Don't get me wrong, I definitely want to and it is so great to hear him excited about having another baby, especially so soon, I never would have expected to hear him push the idea so quickly.

No, my child is not a giant. This is a babydoll stroller:)

We have been loving the swing on warmer days!

Dinner time is always messy

One of the best parts of having a 7 month old-they can finally sit in the big kid high chair and going out to eats starts to get easier.....as long as there are lots of activities to keep us occupied (here, we are playing with a beer menu....no judgment, whatever works!)