Busy Bee

For those of you who haven't heard...I will recount our last Saturday's activities. Hubby and I needed to go to the city to look at stuff for our house. The previous three days Benjamin had gotten up at 5:30 with gas, played for 30 mins, then slept from 6-8:30/9ish. So we thought we could get up at 5:30, get ready, then drive while Benjamin slept in the car. Ha! Benjamin did not sleep well Friday night but still woke up at 5:30. Hubby and I got ready while Benjamin played, and then we loaded up the car. Benjamin fussed, and fussed, and screamed, and turned red.....so after 30 min of crying, we pulled over, got him calmed down, back in the carseat....and the screaming begins again. So we decided to nix the trip and head home. As soon as we got back to Chillville, Benjamin fell asleep. So we turned around and headed to the city. Thankfully he slept the entire way to our destination, and traveled pretty well the rest of the day. But we learned our lesson, just sleep in, and don't try to plan for Benjamin to sleep in the car....it probably won't happen.


What has Benjamin been up to?

• Well, reading books of course!

• Getting spoiled by his G-ma

• Yesterday Benjamin got his second round of shots. No fun. Thankfully the two that he got, they gave them to him simultaneously, he screamed for a few seconds, and was fine. Oh, and he weighed in at 12 lbs 7 oz (with clothes and diaper)
• He is learning to horde toys

• Benjamin is becoming quite the busy bee, and he certainly will let us know if he is bored!

• Benjamin rolled over from his back to his front one time on Wednesday. It was probably a fluke b/c I think he was "searching" for food, but it counts anyways : )
• He has started gnawing on his hands, and if I put something in front of him will grab it, and bring it to his mouth to chew on/slobber on. time for some mouth-friendly toys! (i'm trying to stay away from plastics. you wouldn't think I was crazy if you checked all the recalls on plastic MIC(made in china) products).

And for those of you that are interested, we are still cloth diapering and loving it. We have yet to have a poo explosion and have just had a few pee leaks (due to laundry or user error). My wonderful neighbor lets us use her line to dry the diapers, which is perfect b/c it saves energy and bleaches out the diapers (ever have a nasty stain, sun it out!)

3 months

Sorry for the absence of posts lately, we had a busy weekend. Hubby's parents were in town to visit Mr. Benjamin. We had a very busy day because the Tour of Missouri was in town, as well as the Chatauqua. It was really neat to see world-renowned athletes in my little town! Benjamin behaved very good the entire day, and stayed in his stroller longer than he ever had. Of course, the day would not have been complete without a large bag of kettle corn, YUM!

Now to the important part, the baby.

Bathtime last night was fun for all

Benjamin definitely been getting a personality. He loves being talked and singed to, so he can babble along.
He has started to enjoy sitting up on our laps. He has been sitting on my lap every night for dinner, which him happy while hubby and I eat.
He has unfortunately been giving my mom fits while she has been watching him. She thinks that he knows that I'm not there, and isn't happy about it...which may be correct, as he is doing pretty well today (I'm home with him). However, he is also getting into a schedule of not sleeping all morning, argh.

Benjamin's new game with dad...airplane!

M-I-Z-

Benjamin replies: Z-O-U
In anticipation of the MU-Illinois game, Benjamin had to get in the team spirit:

Uh, Oh

This weekend was very busy! Saturday, my HS friend and her husband came to town to see her family. Her hubby is a photographer, so we arranged to finally get some professional pictures of Benjamin taken. We planned on taking them at 1 or 2, but Benjamin decided to have a nap of a lifetime, and we didn't get started until 4:30ish. They were lots of fun, and as long as Benjamin was laying on the ground playing, he was very happy. Unfortunately this made family pictures hard, but we managed. Sunday after church, our friends from rx school were close by visiting parents in a neighboring town, so they stopped by on their way out of town. Their daughter Annika is only 6 weeks older than Benjamin. She is only 2 lbs heavier, but whoa it sure felt heavy! Thankfully babies grow slowly so mom's arm muscles can adapt. We tried to get a shot of them together, but Benjamin wanted to be held....and soon convinced Annie that she wanted to be held also!
We then went out to celebrate the church softball season ending (yeah UMC won 1st), and then off to my mom and dad's house for a birthday dinner for me. I celebrated the big 28 with some yummy filets, salad, veggies, and choco cake with cream cheese icing ::licks lips::

So when Benjamin rolled over at 5 weeks, I think it was because he was really mad that he was on his stomach. However, this morning Hubby put him on his belly for Tummy Time and he did a good job holding his head up and not screaming, then he started rocking back and forth, and over he went! I wanted to check that it wasn't a fluke...and he did it again for me mid-morning. AH! Thankfully he still only moves a foot or so, so there is no need to start baby-proofing things, but I fear it will sneak up on me quickly!

I have been trying to see if Benjamin can sit in the Bumbo yet b/c his head control is getting much better....up to this point it just ended in a blood-curdling scream...but today, Success!Another picture of Benjamin, chilling on Dad's lap during dinner. He really likes his knee-high socks : )

Another day at home

I had two days off in a row this week.
Yesterday = fussy baby all day, and almost no napping.
Today= ultra sleepy baby...I actually considered waking him up at one point b/c he hadn't eaten in 3.5 hrs....and he only normally goes for 2 hrs. My mom convinced me to let the sleeping baby be. I'm just hoping he can sleep that long tonight.
Everyone asks me how he is sleeping...as if sleeping through the night is the ultimate goal in the baby's life.
The answer: Benjamin wakes up every 2-4 hours. I'm happy that I can provide the nourishment and/or comfort he needs not only during the day, but also at night. He will sleep longer when he is ready. (He did go 6 hrs between feedings one time.)
Occasionally, if he pees on himself during a diaper change, and we have to change his outfit, he will be awakened enough to think that it is play time. (not fun for either hubby or I. I've resorted to laying him on his play mat and getting a pillow and blanket and laying down beside it. I occasionally have to sing a song or talk to him to keep him happy...but he usually tires out after 45 min to 1 hr). If he has no such incident, we will wake, I'll feed him, and he will go right back to sleep...so as long as I do this in a half-awake state, it isn't too bad.

The only bad thing lately is that my carpal tunnel has come back full force. I often wake up with completely numb hands, which is very painful, and often presents a challenge when needing to pick up Benjamin, or change a diaper. Thankfully I have a wonderful hubby around to help out in the areas he can, but it is still very painful when I'm feeding him. Hopefully the more I wear my braces while sleeping, the better they will get. I just don't get an extended period of sleep to let my wrists heal.

As always, here are some cute pix of Benjamin:

Showing off my beautiful smile and long eyelashes

Hmmm how many times will I spit up on Mom today?
Hey guys, check out my big muscles (and my new fluffy diaper with moose and squirrels and beavers, oh my!)
I only have eyes for Curious George

House and Baby

I have to run off to work.. below are progress pictures of our house. The roofing material should go up soon. As you can tell from the picture above, Hubby and Benjamin get along pretty well : )

You know what I like to do?

Help mom with diaper laundry!
Actually, I had just taken the diaper laundry off of our neighbor's clothes line (which they let me use) with one arm, which holding benjamin in the other...then I was presented with the challenge of how to carry back the diapers..place benjamin on top of them and carry him and the diapers back....apparently he didn't mind!