Seven Months Old

Benjamin Joel hit his seven month mark on May 15th! He's just so cute, it's almost wrong!!! Don't worry, I've been photographing him excessively to document every move he makes!

Benjamin has been doing all sorts of big boy things this month! He loves to eat food - fruit and veggies, cereal, and crackers! He doesn't even mind making a little mess!

He loves to have fun in his exersaucer (and Nana/Papa's walker!) He really enjoys being able to look around and check out everything around him! He also loves when I put new toys on the tray of his exersaucer! I think he's gotten a little bored of the pre-installed toys!!! He's already mastered them and enjoys the new things to play with!

We celebrated Easter during this month, and it was so fun to experience another holiday with a little boy! We did all the fun Easter activities, including dying eggs, making a fun Easter-themed spread for our meals, and looking through our Easter baskets on Sunday morning! We spent the holiday with Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Dave this year! It was so much fun!

Here's Ben with his Easter bunny bread!

He LOVED dying Easter eggs! I think every single on had his name on it!

He was loved up by Grandpa Dave and Grandma Debbie. We found out quickly that Benjamin has a special bond with his Grandpa, even preferring him over me!!! Grrr!!!

Benjamin had his own Easter basket, of course! He got some pacifiers, a teething ring, and a bunny blanket made especially for him by his Grandma Debbie! There was also a chocolate bunny in there, but I think that might have been meant for me! :)

We just love this little mug!

Benjamin loves his daddy, and the feelings are reciprocated!

Now that the weather's nicer, we've been enjoying a lot more walks outdoors! Benjamin loves to see and hear the birds chirp, the cars go by, and all the other outdoor action!

Just a few more pictures of my big seven month old!

Benjamin's biggest achievement this month? He's mobile! He doesn't crawl quite yet, but he does get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. He can also shimmy himself backwards quite well! Sometimes he does what we call the "tripod." He likes to use his head as a third arm to help himself figure out how to work his arms into crawling. I'm pretty sure he's just going to take off any day now! We've got to get the gates put up!!!

We've been taking him to the park now that the weather's been so nice, and he loves it! He loves to swing and play, and he especially loves to watch all the other kids!

We sure do love this little man! He's just growing and changing before our eyes! I know this is a month late, but we had some 6 month pictures taken and are starting to get them back, so here's a sneak peak!!!

6 Months!!!

Benjamin Joel just celebrated his half birthday a few days ago, and I'm just sitting here wondering where the time has gone! He is definitely no longer an infant, but rather a big, strong, healthy, active, very happy baby boy! He's been changing and growing every single day, always with a big goofy grin on his face! We just went to the doctor today for his 6 months appointment, and here are his stats:

Height: 25.5 inches (16.68 percentile)
Weight: 13 lbs 12.5 oz (1.93 percentile)
Head Circumference: 17 inches (32.60 percentile)

What a big boy!

He can sit up all by himself these days! I think it's just amazing how this happened... We'd been practicing every day for awhile, and he could never support himself at all. Then one morning I gave it a try and he just sat there for probably 20 seconds, all pro. It just happened overnight! Amazing! Now he loves to sit up and play with the dangling toys in his play mat! He also loves to sit in front of us and play pat-a-cake and itsy-bitsy-spider! We also have to be careful what's laying around, because he wants to touch and grab everything he sees! (Especially if we are using it!)

Benjamin still squeals every now and then, but he's been doing a whole lot of gurgling, blowing raspberries, and trying out a consonant or two (mostly "b".) B for Benjamin, of course! :)

It's no longer safe to leave the boy alone anywhere. He rolls all around! It's his only means of transportation for now! (No crawling yet, but we're getting there!) Changing his diaper is becoming quite a problem because the moment we lay him on the changing table he's trying to pull himself over to his tummy. He just doesn't sit still anymore!

Benjamin doesn't have any teeth yet, but he's always chewing on something so I have a feeling we'll be seeing something sometime soon! He does, however, love to brush his gums with his toothbrush every night after his bath! It's so adorable!

I've got the feeling that he's starting to really find some comfort in my arms lately. When he's sad or crying and I pick him up, he will bury his little head in my chest and quickly becomes relaxed. It is the best feeling in the world to know that he reaches for me and wants his mama to love him up. Although it's sad that he's upset, of course, I love knowing that I make him feel better.

Now, I am just busting with pride to be able to type the following: Benjamin sleeps through the night! Twelve hours with no feedings! And he's an EXCELLENT napper! He's come so far... it's just wonderful! We still have our routine that works really well: around 7:30 he gets a bath, then changes into jammies, rocks/eats, and falls asleep in my arms by around 8 or so. It's really the only time of the day that he lets me cradle/cuddle with him anymore!!! (Sad!) He's usually in such a good mood all the time because he's always well rested. Seriously, he smiles and laughs like nobody's business. We've got so many cute videos!

Now that Benjamin's 6 months old, we've starting solid foods! He's gotten really good eating off a spoon, and he's tried a couple different foods so far: peas, garden vegetables, and bananas with apples/pears. He doesn't eat a whole lot yet - I mix the food with some rice cereal and milk, and he eats probably a good Tablespoon twice a day (one meal in the late morning and another meal in the evening.) He's been enjoying it, and I swear he sleeps better with a little extra bulk in his tummy at bedtime.

Well, he just gets more and more fun the older he gets! We just love watching his little happy personality shine! It's not possible to stay in a bad mood if he's in the room! :) He is a little ray of sunshine.

Happy half birthday, Ben! Muah!

I Think He's Ready For Big-Boy Food!

Such a Cutie... We Love His Laugh!

I Feel Like I JUST Posted About Ben Being 4 Months...

...and ALREADY we're at five months! Where is this time going?! Aghh!!!

As of March 15th, my little peanut has officially been living outside the womb for 5 months. And oh my goodness, is he getting used to life in this big ol' world! Boy, do I have myself a little character!!!

 

Here are some of Benjamin's many accomplishments in his 5th month of life:

* Ben can basically stand up on his own, with very little support from us! He just needs to practice his balancing act a little longer and he'll be running around before we know it! He's very strong for a wee guy.

* He has found his toes, and he likes how they taste! (Oh, and did I mention that his feet are huge? He wears 6-12 month socks yet he's not even in his 3-6 month clothes yet! Big foot! Hopefully that means tall boy???)

 

 

* He can roll over with ease from front to back, but prefers not to, as he doesn't like ending up on his tummy. When he turns back over to his backside he thrusts himself with one big JERK!

* He's starting to act a little coy around people! If you talk to him, he'll give you a big old smile and then cuddle up into Mom/Dad's neck! (I'm not going to lie... I love the cuddle!)

* He has mastered his sleep schedule (YAY!!) He goes down at 8:00 pm and wakes up about 7-8:00 am with only one short feeding in the night! The sleep training WORKS, I tell you!

* Even nap time is a breeze these days! He's such a cute boy! I pop in his pacifier, turn on his mobile, kiss him, and off he goes into dreamland.

* He's started eating a little rice cereal, though he's not completely dedicated to it. He can take it or leave it at this point, so I might hold off with the solids a little bit longer.

* He totally and completely LOVES his dad. Sometimes I worry he loves Joel even more than me. ;o)

* Oh, there's one more new thing he does...

... Ladies and gentlemen, I have one LOUD baby.

I'm going to have to get a video of him on this blog at some point, because it's just hilarious how he LOOOOVES to hear himself squeal. And boy, the higher the squeal, the better. He tests himself to see how high he can go. And how loud. It's deafening.

He squeals when he's excited. He squeals when he's bored. He squeals as a means of communication. He just loves it! The boy's got no shame. He's extraordinarily vocal. Mom and Dad are bleeding from the ears.

It's a good thing he's the darn CUTEST little baby you've ever met in your whole darn life!

Yum, Yum, Yum

Hmm... What is this, Mom?

I've never had anything like THIS before!

Interesting...

Let me try a little more.

Okay, one more bite just to make sure.

I think I've made up my mind!

I LIKE IT!

My cheeks are filled with delicious rice cereal!

Oh boy, can we have that again?

Okay, now I'm ready to get cleaned up!

Four Months Already???

Here we are, folks! Benjamin Joel turned four months old on February 15th! He is quite the little stinker and sooooooooooooo much fun!!! I don't know when the time flew by, but he's no longer my little infant. He most definitely thinks he's a "big boy" now, and enjoys spending most of his time upright with me or in his exersaucer, looking around and checking out the world! He especially loves his toys! He's been learning how to reach, play, and most importantly - put it ALL in his mouth!

As you can see, he loves his exersaucer! His little toes don't quite reach the ground, but he loves to play with the toys. His favorites right now are the spinning wheels and the book with animal pages. He spins wheels and turns pages all by himself! What a smartie!

He really is a very happy baby. I'd say most days are spent with him looking like this:

He's just so stinking cute. He loves to smile and laugh. He LOVES to hear songs and dance along with Mom and Dad. He also doesn't hesitate to use his own voice... he likes to hear it, too - big and loud! Benjamin is quite the talker! He's also officially learned how to roll over! He can go back to front pretty easily, but coming front to back is still a lot of tough work! He's done both ways for us, though!

He's still really good with strangers, but you can already tell he's quite attached to his mama. He gets a little nervous if I'm not in sight or if he can't hear my voice. We do all sorts of fun things together all day long! One of his favorites is going for walks outside when the weather permits! He even has his own pair of cool shades! I definitely look forward to Spring's arrival so we can do more of this!

It's safe to say that the whole family is having (almost) more fun that we can handle! We just love having this little ray of sunshine around!

Now to the dark side of Benjamin.... sleep.

I thought we'd fixed our issues. I thought we had something good going on. Nevertheless, things have changed. The boy has decided that it's perfectly acceptable to squawk out loud for me to come comfort him if he wakes himself up in the night. He has completely forgotten how to fall back asleep on his own. Gone are the days (however few they were...) of uninterrupted sleep between the hours of 1:00 and 8:00 AM. I know, I know... This is completely and totally my fault for getting out of bed and answering his every beck and call. Things had just gotten a little crazy with his sleep schedule because he started eating like a madman (I've been told it's the 4-month growth spurt) and so I didn't want to ever deny him in case he was hungry! Now I feel like he's totally taking advantage of the good life, since most nights his calls have become much more "hey Mom, I'd like to be held please!" and much less "I'm starving!"

Don't worry - I have a plan. Things are going to be changing around here. Pray for me... We're in for a rough few nights and potential long bursts of middle-of-the-night screaming. I'll be leaving apologetic notices on all our neighbors' doors.

However, don't let his little sleep issues skew your impression of my little boy! He really is an absolute DOLL 95% of the time! We had his four month appointment last week and here are the details!

Height: 25 inches
Weight: 11 lbs, 15.5 oz
Head circumference: 16.5 inches

Speaking of doctor appointments, we're STILL battling his plugged tear duct problem. We even went to see a pediatric opthamologist to discuss surgery. It turns out we're going to have to wait a few months to even consider unplugging them surgically, and the doctor reassured us that most of the time this clears up on its own. I have noticed a lot of improvement, especially over the last week. We'll see how long this lasts! Poor guy - it looks so annoying to constantly have eye boogies! It's a good thing he's so darn cute!

Before I forget, we got the pictures back from Benjamin's 3-month photo session! They are so darling! You can view some of them by clicking here! Thanks to Chelsey Photography for her wonderful work!