9 Month Update

Update: Month 9 is not much different from Month 8. Bennett is busy as ever, getting into everything, and smiling all along the way. I find myself getting excited about the future, and things like, what Bennett's voice is going to sound like, what sort of funny things will he say, what will his interests be. As we close in on the final stretch of the first year, I know that our "baby days" are becoming fewer and fewer. We will soon be chasing around a busy little toddler who repeats everything we say and has interests, like trucks or baseball, heck we already ARE chasing him around!!  

Likes

• Peek a boo still a top favorite
• Eating finger foods (he has absolutely no interest in baby food)
• Other kids and babies
• Anything that is NOT a toy!!

Dislikes

• Being put in the car seat
• Getting a diaper put on
• Getting dressed
• Having his nose wiped
• Side note!!! I have come to realize that runny nose+drooling=teething. Two months ago when he had a month long runny nose, I just assumed it was a cold, and the drooling had been a consistant thing since he was born. BUT then the runny nose and drooling went away for two months. Enter Month 9......runny nose and drooling is back in full force!

Stats: 
Height: 26 and 3/4 inches (3rd percentile-I know, he is a shorty! But we think this is off just a bit, he was a tad wiggly on the table)
Weight: 19 lbs 12 oz. (50th percentile)

Short and Chubby:)

Features: Still just two bottom teeth. I don't see the top teeth even attempting to pop through yet, but his runny nose and drooling tell me they are coming! Hair is getting longer, he has little curls on the end too

Sleep: If we did one thing right so far, it has been in the "sleep" category. Bennett is the most amazing sleeper. We are so fortunate! At home he will go to bed between 7:30 or 8. If we are out and about, and if he is entertained, we can push that to 9 pm. He typically sleeps 10-11 hours straight through, so that puts us as a 6-7 AM wake up time everyday. He is napping twice a day, one morning nap and one afternoon nap, each usually 1.5-2.5 hours long

Eating: Trying to finish the last of the baby food I bought, but not planning on buying baby food again after this is gone. Bennett has absolutely zero interest in us feeding him. I have been steaming veggies, cutting up noodles, and cutting up pieces of meat for him to feed himself. It usually takes longer, and is ALWAYS a mess, but it is adorable to watch him learn to feed himself. Plus, you have to learn somehow right?!

Diapering: Size 3 diapers, and night time diapers which are also size 3

Clothes: 6 and 9 month clothes, plus some 12 month clothes. Also wearing shoes pretty consistently when we are outside and he can wear a 2-3 size shoe.

Social: We have noticed in the past week Bennett has learned a sense of "fear." He will start crying when something scares him like loud noises, different situations, even things on tv or people. He does not have stranger danger, and could not care less when I leave him or drop him off at daycare, but little things scare him that never used to. It is heartbreaking to see him scared and crying, but he rebounds very quickly. 

Still babbling like crazy and oh, his excitement screams just melt my heart. He screeches in excitement, and when he gets going, it is just hilarious. I absolutely love hearing his excitement screams! He is just like his momma! My mom said I would scream all the time also, so I love that he is taking after me. 

Standing and walking along furniture, he is standing briefly on his own for 2-3 seconds at a time. He is exploring the house more too. He used to just stay in one room and maayyyybe venture into another, but now we will find him all over the house, climbing up the stairs, inside the cupboards, etc.

Trying on life vests at Scheels

First time at the play area at the mall.

Eating food by himself!

Watching Dad golf

He LOVES golf clubs, should have figured.....

Exploring at the driving range

So cool

Worn out after an Easter Egg Hunt

Bennett's first Easter egg basket!

Lot's of new goodies

Being silly at the park

Visiting Grandma Sara and watching the cars zoom below us

Walk along the Mississippi river 

Best Buds

Bennett started waterbabies class at the end of April

Dad swimming with Bennett at his first Waterbabies class

He wasn't so sure at first.....

Pictures of me and Bennett are rare, I am usually taking the pictures

Mom and Bennett at 2nd Waterbabies class

Playing with a golf club again

He also loves to play with cars rolling them back and forth

Yum!!! Cheesing for the camera

Still trying to master picking food up

Oh nevermind, I will just put my face in it and eat it that way instead.

This is what my little boy would look like as a little girl:)

One more with the golf club:)

8 Month Update

Update: Busy Busy Busy this kid is. Month 8 was full as ever. The weather is getting nicer, so we have spent much more time outside, and we try to get Bennett out as much as possible. We all had a little cabin fever after a long winter indoors. Bennett sprouted two teeth, in what seems like overnight around 7.5 months. We didn't have much, if any, trouble with teething. It barely even noticed he was teething until I looked and there they were!

Likes:

• Being outside
• Guys......seriously, this kid is a guy's guy. He absolutely adores Uncle Nate, and pretty much any guy that plays with him.
• Babies and other kids
• Peek A Boo, Patty Cake, and any sort of "wrestling" with him, "smelly feet" game
• Being tickled
• Almost any food we give him.....almost anything, see below.....

Dislikes

• Waiting for food
• Avocado
• When things get taken away from him
• Being held and rocked, or contained in any way.....

Stats: No Stats, 9 month appointment is next month in May

Features: Blue eyes, two bottom teeth, blonde hair with curls on the end. The absolute ugliest toenails I have ever seen. Seriously, everything about Bennett is cute, except for his toenails (typical boy)

Sleep: Sleeping from 7:30-8:00 PM until 6:00-6:45 AM. We have discovered that it does not matter what time we put him to bed, he always wakes up at the same time. There have been a number of times we were out and about and he didn't get to bed until 9 or even later, but that still means he wakes up at 6 AM.

Eating: 5-7 oz. of formula 4-5 times a day, around every 3-4 hours plus 3 meals a day in addition to formula. Usually baby food for breakfast and lunch and then for dinner, depending on what we have, he will eat baby food or what we eat. If we have something spicy he won't eat our food. He loves to eat when we eat, we cannot feed him first and then sit down alone. He wants to sit at the table with us, so that usually means mommy takes a bite, Bennett takes a bite, mommy takes a bite, Bennett takes a bite. Bennett has begun to acquire his pincer grasp, and usually at dinner we will give him small pieces of food to pick up and put in his mouth. Right now, more food ends up on his shirt or in his high chair, but it is a good thing to practice!

Diapering: Size 3 diapers, and night time diapers which are also size 3

Clothes: 6 and 9 month clothes, plus some 12 month clothes. Also wearing shoes pretty consistently when we are outside and he can wear a 2-3 size shoe.

Social: Crazy, hilarious, wild, happy child. He is seriously the happiest baby I have ever seen, but yes, I am biased, I know many babies are just as happy. He is (almost) always smiling. He screams in delight when he is excited, and grunts when he wants attention. He also recognizes his names as of this month. Bennett is BUSY! He is entertained for about 5.5 seconds and then moves onto the next thing. He is fearless, and hardly cries when he falls, but don't get me wrong, he does cry if he is scared or falls hard enough. Josh and I are working on  teaching him to wave bye bye, and say "uh oh"

Bennett has become very much a "mommy's boy" this month. He still does not have stranger danger, and I highly doubt he ever will, but if I am in the room or close by, he wants me to be the one holding him. I do love it, but at times it is exhausting, and I just want to get things done. Sometimes I have to make myself scarce so he won't crawl right over to me, tug on my pants, and reach his arms up to me (seriously, I know, how do I resist that?!?! it is hard.....)

Love those baby blue eyes!

New fun toy!!

While mom makes dinner, I play with anything and everything in the kitchen cupboards

Messy Eater!

You are too big for this now Bennett!

Again with those blue eyes!

So cool

Two peas in a pod

It took me a week to post his 8 month update, and this is why.....It is next to impossible to take a picture of this kid-wait, let me rephrase that, it is next to impossible to take a picture of this kid SITTING STILL!

Nighttime Cuddles

               

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:)



7 Month Update

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!)

Post-bath

 

Lowered the crib mattress, now you are stuck!!!

 

 

It is like a mini jail!

Fun new toy to try at Grandma Kate's

We attempt to let Bennett feed himself, see how he does. He is not quite there yet.....but spaghetti is so much fun otherwise!

Riding the train at the mall with my big cousin Morgan

So much fun!

Not the greatest picture, but a wagon ride with Gracie on a warm day!

 

How precious! He loves his giraffe

Whole new world of toys now for big kids like me!

looks like he is up to something

It is a little people recliner!