Sunday, January 25, 2009

When mom's away ...


Brian babysitting Benjamin
Originally uploaded by Shanlee
... dad makes a time lapse video of Benjamin. Enjoy!

Teeth

As I reported on Friday, Ben has one tooth that has popped up. On Saturday, Ben was smiling and I noticed that the second tooth has pooped through as well. He wasn't fussy and slept really good. I know there was only one tooth on Friday because I check every morning so between Friday morning and Saturday, bam -- a second one popped.

My baby is growing up!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Happy 8 months!


Splish splash!
Originally uploaded by Shanlee
Dear Benjamin,

What a month of accomplishments! You survived a long trip to Nebraska where you met my crazy family, played with your cousins and got lots of presents. You survived a plane ride with no problems and jumped back into your routine like it was nothing. You continue to eat solids. Suddenly, you don't like cereal unless we mask it with fruit. You are into feeding yourself Cheerios. You would rather feed yourself than eat what ever I feed you. You're digging yogurt. You like sliced avocados but not mashed ones.

On Jan 12, after a night of fussiness, you popped your first tooth on the bottom. The day your started to army crawl, we found out you had an ear infection. Your sleep was off for a week and momma was a little exhausted. You're really sitting up well too! Finally. I never thought this would happen. You're waving too but sometimes you wave for nothing.

We are teaching you baby signs too. You go crazy for the milk card with a nursing baby on it. Speaking of nursing, you refuse to nurse unless your tired. You go crazy for the bottle. Even at night when you do nurse, it's for just a minute or two until you are asleep. Most of the time, you come into bed and fall asleep without nursing. This is telling me our tender moments are ending soon. Now, if we could get your sleeping though the night! That would be a blessing.

As seen in this video, you love bath time. You splish and splash until the water is cold.

Until next month,
Momma

Sunday, January 18, 2009

I think we're in trouble!


"Crawling"
Originally uploaded by Shanlee
Benjamin is starting to crawl. It's more of a creep but he is all over the place. He also has his first tooth and a second is coming in pretty fast. Each day he amazes us with all he's learning. We started baby signs and he is taking it all in. Enjoy the video!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Changes

Benjamin has been changing almost daily since the first of the year. Each day it's something new and it's exciting.

Benjamin can sit up. He preferred hanging out this way playing with his toys until be started to figure out he could get somewhere by laying on his belly and scooting to objects he wants to learn more about (it's been mostly the dog and my shoes). Benjamin really wants to crawl. He will get on all fours and rock for a bit but he is mostly scooting and rolling.

He can feed himself! I put little bits of puffed cereal, banana, bread and today when we were eating sushi, I ordered his first meal out -- steamed rice! It's really cute and he picks up his food and puts it into his mouth and chews.

He's teething. It seems like he's been teething since October but last week, two bumps appeared in his mouth. I hope it doesn't take two more months to appear.

He can wave. He won't do it on command but I will catch him wave at me every once in a while. We're starting baby sign language so I can't wait to see what other hand signals he will pick up.

Benjamin's sleeping is all over the place. He goes to sleep at the same time (7 pm) but he wakes up btw midnight and 3:30 goes back to sleep and wakes up at 5:30 a.m. Sometimes he will go back to sleep if nursed but then there are days when he just stays up. Fun times! He is also resisting naps. I need to pull out my healthy sleep habits book and read up. This morning while I walked the butte, Brian said he only took a 10 min nap. When we got in the car for sushi, he fell right to sleep and slept 45 mins and then at 3 p.m. I laid down with him and we slept for two hours. I need to get them regular again. I also think we'll be crying it out again soon. I've been nursing less -- only at night and I think that's is coming to an end though I still seem to be producing milk. We'll see.

As for me, I've been eating better and this week I'm starting to add in more exercise. I've been trying to walk the butte on Sundays and this week will add in boot camp after work and working out in our new gym at work. Wish me luck.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

BPA freein' my house

I spent some of my time this week replacing plastic items around my house that have BPA in them. All of the Take and Toss items I got as gifts contained BPA as well as all of my Avent bottles so I recycled it all and went out and bought new Take and Toss items. When I registered last year, BPA wasn't a problem but now that it's up in the air if BPA is really bad for you, I'm not taking chances. Since Benjamin is nursing less and drinking from cups and bottles, I wanted to make sure the products weren't leaching chemicals into his formula and juice. We've been using Born Free products since about three months old and I picked up Parent's Choice 9 oz BPA free bottles from WalMart when I was in Omaha (note to Super Walmart -- I miss you! I know, I should like WalMart but I do esp the grocery part).

I had a brand new set of Avent 9 oz bottles I never opened and tried to return to Target. Apparently, I can't return them because they now sell the new Avent BPA free bottles which sucks. The lady in line told me to put them on craigslist as some moms don't care about BPA. I'm not sure how I feel about that -- even giving them away I feel liable.

It didn't cost much to replace everything I had -- maybe $20. Small price to pay for the health and well being of my child.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year


Whippersnappers Photoshoot
Originally uploaded by Shanlee
I never in my wildest dreams thought I would love something as much as I love my son. Remember when I was convinced he was a girl. In the back of my mind I thought I would be really disappointed if I found out he was a boy. At first, I will admit, I was a little sad for a hour and then I got into the boy mindset. With each kick, I loved this kiddo more and more. After his birth, that love grew and grew. Even tonight, after he fell asleep tucked next to me, I marveled at my beautiful son. Now, my life is more than about me, it's about my family. And that is why I'm setting new years resolutions I need to keep.

1. Be more green. I'm horrible when it comes to recycling. I am a big gas waster. So I'm resolving to put more in the bins and hopefully bike most of next summer. This means I need to buy a bike!

2. Be a better wife. Since I've been so focused on the baby, I need to take time out and appreciate all my husband does. He is an awesome dad and is always willing to give me the space to do my own thing.

3. Do something for me. Not rush so much. Dress nicer for work. Fix my hair. Get out of the house. Head to the gym. Eat better.

4. Lose 3 dress sizes. This is more for my health than my vanity. Since giving birth, I have high blood pressure. I need to get that down for my family. My goal is to do this by October.

5. Be more grateful. Stop complaining and quit being so annoyed. The lack of sleep of being a new mom has made me snappy and I'm sure the people around me would love for me to be a bit nicer.

6. Get financially stable. Pay off the hospital bills and pay down the people/place we owe money. Since having Benjamin, our finances are out of whack esp since we now have a large daycare bill each month.

7. Get a sitter once a month and get out with my husband.

That's about it for now. Wish me luck!