Happy Thanksgiving

5 months old today!

5 months 2 days ago, I had no idea what life with a baby was like. I could only assume that said baby would been to be diapered, and fed alot, not that I knew how to do either of those though.

Much like my response to my husband when he proposed ("Is that real?"), when the nurses brought Benjamin out from behind the curtain (I had a c-section), I thought to myself "Are you sure that's mine?" Granted, I may not have thought this had I had a vaginal delivery, but I'm from the Show-Me State...and I never saw that baby come out of me : )

Benjamin is now sitting up on his own for a few seconds before he flops to the side, or on his face....he isn't too fond of that. He loves standing and "jumping" around. Jabbering, and making extremely loud noises, especially when he's tired. He is used to his bedtime routine, and protests (screams) if we don't get him to bed on time.

Benjamin and I during nighttime "story time"

He is rolling from tummy to back on a daily basis, and is really good at pushing up. I love this time in his life. He wakes up with the biggest smile, looks around for me in a room, and is just the cutest little thing on the planet! As cheesy as it sounds, I can't imagine my life without him.

How embarrasing, mom is taking pictures of me in my undies again!

See how I gouge myself when I don't get my fingernail clipped every other day

We are very ready for Thanksgiving. We are headed to "the city" to see Hubby's family and have turkey day at his sister's house. But, we are very lucky b/c Hubby has Wednesday off (as do I ), so we will have time to look for tile (bathroom, kitchen, etc) and door handles. And, since I only work Monday , Tuesday, Thursday. I don't work from Tuesday to Monday, yippee! (poor hubby has to work Friday and Saturday)

House News: We have wood flooring! They lay it, cover it, then sand and finish when the house is more done! It is White Oak and will be stained a darker color.

Over the river and through the woods

to Hubby's Grandmother's house we go....
This weekend we took our farthest trip yet to Omaha, NE. I was very apprehensive about the car trip. My wonderful son is still not a fan of riding in the car. But, he did remarkably well! We stopped twice in the first 45 mins, and finally got him to sleep. He slept for about 1.5 hrs! We stopped for him to "eat" and headed out again. Hubby and I took turns sitting in the back seat to "play" with him.
When we arrived, we were surprised by hubby's two cousins (and their husbands) that live close by! We had a great time visiting and playing with Benjamin. He was having such a great time that he wouldn't stop to nap. Which meant by 6pm we were having melt-down time. We were able to give him a quick bath and off to bed he went. He did reasonably well at night, and we had another great day on Sunday.

Benjamin and Mimi

Benjamin having a fun time at Mimi and Pappaw's house
Proud Great-grandparents
Benjamin chillin' with Pappaw

However, when we started to pack up to go home. The keys were missing! Guess who had them last...me : ( Crap, this is why hubby doesnt trust me with keys, I'm notorious for losing them. We searched high and low. Through the bags, under the couch, in the drawers, peaked through the car windows, everywhere! Where did we find them??? think about somewhere that you would never look....that is where they were..... the dirty diaper bag. bleh! (I did get to suggest that hubby look through there, so I wasn't all that stupid)
Anyways, after only a few minutes of crying, Benjamin was fast asleep, and slept for almost 2 hrs!
It was wonderful to he his grandparents, and I'm so glad that they got to see Benjamin. Next trip, my grandparents for Christmas. 5 hrs in the car. Please say your prayers!


In other news, we have a driveway!

Benjamin started grabbing his toes!

Catch 22

I love my job. Yes, it can be very hectic and stressful working with the public and other healthcare professionals, but I get a great sense of accomplishment out of a long hard day at work...however, that means I'm not with my son. ::momma guilt:: I'm about the luckiest person in the world to have my mom watch Benjamin, but being away means I miss things...like the fact that he rolled from his belly to back twice! And this is the "for real" rolling, not the "I'm a tiny little squirt and I get so mad that I accidentally flip over" type of rolling. : )
The good thing about working is that it does give me a break, and I feel much more mentally prepared to handle "meltdowns"..

Benjamin's current favs:

• Patty cake
• Hokey Pokey
• Exersaucer (he practically dives out of our arms into it)
  
• "flying" in the air
• Looking at himself in a mirror
• Getting his shirt taken off
• Little tickles on the tummy/underarms (ticklish like his mama!)
• Bathtime
• Waking up in the morning (he is all smiles)
• gnawing on anything
• Grabbing paper (sunday coupon section was his fav) and chewing on it (yeah,yeah, the ink probably isn't good for him....he just does this when Gpa Cow lets him)
• Staring at the bouncy seat from afar
• Nursing
  

Benjamin's current dislikes:

• Going to sleep (we often resort to running the vacuum to calm him down, then he will sometimes conk out)
  
• Being propped up in a chair
• Riding in a car for a long time (short distances, much improved!)
• Getting his jacket on (probably learning to associate this with the carseat : (
• The bottle

Benjamin with his favorite chew toy: Grandpa's hand!

Look, I'm starting to push up! Tummy time is much more fun these days.

In other topics, I recently came across a cosmetics database. It lists almost all products on the market, and the amount of potentially harmful ingredients ( such as products that cause cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, allergies, or other concerns such as an irritant, organ system toxicity, neurotoxicity, etc).
It has in them and ranks them 0-10 with 0 being the least harmful/toxic, and 10 being the worst.
Feel free to visit it and plug in your shampoo, face moisturizer,etc. It is quite eye opening.

Since I've been begged

I guess I will post some more pictures. Lafa and Square are correct, Benjamin does change so rapidly. He is a very happy baby and laughs when we tickle under his chin or on his tummy. He has started jabbering really loudly, especially when he is very tired. He had about 1-2 weeks of being really easy to get down for a nap, now it is a major struggle. I think he has way too much fun when he is awake, and just doesn't want to miss a thing.
On Tuesday, I went to the monthly Breastfeeding Support meeting at the Health Center. I really enjoy talking to other moms who have been bfing longer than me, and others who are pregnant and have yet to start. I also like that we get to weigh our babies at the meeting. With clothles on, Benjamin weighed in at 14 lb 4 oz....and I know that his clothes don't weigh a pound, so he certainly put on some weight from his Dr. Appt the week earlier (13 lb 5 oz naked).

"Reading" his new book (Circus McGircus, thanks for the BN gift card Marilyn) during tummy time

Thanks for my "green" sleeper Aunt Danie

Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch

Nighttimes.
Better than a few weeks ago. We have been faithful about our nighttime routine:

• 6:30-7pm Bathtime with Hubby and we dim all the lights in our house
  
• Sit on one of our laps and read as many books as we can until he is fussy(1-3) The Big Red Barn is our current favorite.
• Lay on our bed and sing quiet songs (poor boy has to listen to his momma's bad voice)
• Nurse sometime in there depending on his fussiness level and when he last ate.
• As we can tell he is getting really sleepy, we either rock him to sleep (by that I mean walk around with him in our arms going up and down, patting on the back, playing lullabies in the background, and sometimes singing "She'll be comin' around the mountain" because it has lots of verses) Or I nurse him to sleep. The nursing works well, but is a habit I really would rather not establish.
• If all else fails, we resort to running the vacuum to calm him down.
• He generally falls asleep by 7:30 to 8
• If we are lucky, he sleeps in 3 hr increments.
• The darn time change = 5:30 awakenings. not fun.
• But, last night he slept until 7am (by that I mean he went to bed at 8pm, was up at 11, 12:30, 3:30, 5:30, then 7) It still felt like sleeping in.

Downside to all of this. He is starting to only want his mamma. Yes, it is nice and sweet, but when he awakens in the middle of the night, it would be nice if he would let my dear wonderful hubby get him to sleep.

House:
Yeah, drywall!

Scott and Benjamin in the entryway
Great Room
View from great room to entrywayWe also picked out the stone that will be on the exterior of the house, and I'm almost ready to order the cabinets.

What I need to do:
Get cabinets ordered
Pick out linoleum color
Find tile for bathroom
Pick out house colors (interior and exterior)
Pick out door knobs, kitchen pulls, etc
Order all bathroom cabinets and pick out countertops
oh the list goes on. : )