11 months!

Dear Benjamin,
Today you're 11 months old. You're babbling! You're standing and cruising around! You have 4 teeth. One thing we've realized is you're no longer a baby. You're a little boy.



You have your dad's eyes and double colic. You love to travel as we went on two road trips and you didn't complain much. On Easter, you got a taste of chocolate and you were instantly in love. You're also in love with your blankey as you have to clutch it in your hands while sleeping.



Your sleep is all over the place. The only constant is you go to bed at 7 p.m. and wake up between 5-6 am. Sometimes you sleep all night. Sometimes you wake up every hour.

The month, you experienced another ear ache and the croup with was pretty scary. The croup then turned into a mild cold but you're still as happy as can be.

You'll be walking soon which is scary because you're super fast at crawling. I love you little man. I'm amazed at how fast this first year is going.

Busy bees

Wow, I haven't posted since March. How did that happen? Oh yea, we've been busy.



Ben has started swim lessons. I've started training for a 5K and my husband enjoying being a stay at home dad (for now).

We started the month off by heading to the Oregon Coast for a few days. It happened to be in the 70s and gorgeous out. Plenty of seafood and Rogue Ales we consumed and we learned that Benjamin is a good little traveler. He was great on the four hour ride there and back. He hung out in the Kid's Kelty and just went with the flow. He did great sleeping out of his element -- all while busting out his two front teeth. Oh and to top it off, the motel had a heated pool so Brian and Benjamin did a lot of swimming.



The evening we got home I noticed Ben was really warm and I took his temperature and sure enough, he was running a 102.5 degree temp. He stayed home the next day from day care but we had no idea why he was running the temperature. Our good ole friends at BMC Peds (disclaimer: I work for BMC) got us in and an ear infection was diagnosed.

Ben is fast. He crawls across the room so fast I'm amazed. He's also cruising pretty good and becoming a good eater though I can't get him to eat papayas. He now signs milk and all done. He is talking though I had no idea what he is saying.

The cutest ... when he is tired, he crawls to him blanket and drags it over signaling nap time.

I love this stage. All the learning and communicating. The hugs and kisses. The cuddling.

I'm sure that I'll love the next stage just as much.

10 months old!

Dear Benjamin,
Today your are 10 months old.
Yes, I'm in disbelief because of this and I'm wondering where did the time go? It flew by so fast! The last month, you spent growing and learning and are becoming more and more aware of the world. You're also into everything. You're no longer army crawling and finally crawling though you prefer to belly crawl. You're into your toys, esp. the feel and touch cards and LOVE books. You've practically worn out Dr. Seuss ABCs.



You're new trick is standing. You want to be standing at all times it seems and it was a blessing once you figured out how to sit down without crashing to the floor.



As for eating is going, you're eating more and more table food and things off our plates. Yesterday morning, you took a bite of French Toast and demanded more off my plate as you were in love with maple syrup! You love juice in the sippy but won't take milk in the sippy. We hope you warm up to this idea as you're not always going to be sucking on a bottle.

With your new standing trick, you have taken a few tumbles trying to walk. Bumps and bruise are evident and I'm always there to snuggle up and make it better.

Son, you're an amazing gift and we're truly blessed. I will take a bet that this time next month, you'll be walking. Better go baby proof the house!



love,
Momma

9 Months!

Dear Benjamin,
Today you are 9 months old. I spent some time today over some of your old blog posts and videos of when you were just a peanut. Soon, you'll no longer be a baby -- you'll be a toddler. It seems with every day, you're more aware of your world. You crawl all over the house. You "tinker" in the corner with your toys (your dad coined the phrase tinker). You giggle at the cat and the dog. You get quiet when you're tired. You sometimes sleep 9 hours straight. Two weeks ago, you weaned yourself and only take a bottle now. You're quite digging peaches but can't stand broccoli. You get impatient when we feed you because you just want to feed yourself but you end up making a mess and the dog happy.. You seem to know that you're supposed to smile at the camera now where as before you'd just stare and wonder what you're suppose to do. Gone is the blue bath tub -- you're taking baths like a big boy. Also gone is your toothless grin -- you have two bottom teeth and by all the drooling and chewing, I bet you'll have two more by your 10th month.

You're a little traveling -- my guess you get this from your father. Your dad loves carrying in his backpack. You've been carried all over Bend in this pack and even Portland. You survived a long trip in the car with the company of your monkey, bunny and bear. We stopped to visit your girlfriend Sarah and you played with all of her toys while she ate her lunch. You hung out in IKEA and ate French Fries, mash potatoes and Swedish meatballs. You took long naps and watched the gorgeous Oregon scenery pass you by.

You're becoming attached to your blue blankey and white rabbit. You cuddle up next to both when you're tired.

What a month, my little man. I can't wait for next month!

Love,
Momma

8 months olds are fun

Once I start feeling like I have things figured out, they seem to get easier. For example, Benjamin is starting to eat table food. He loves Cheerios and toast and feeding himself. If he doesn't like something, like broccoli, I mask it with his chicken and rice.

Recently, I started putting Benjamin to sleep with his fuzzy blue blanket and Gloworm. I was using the blanket for warmth but little did I know, he has become pretty attached to them and now doesn't cry when I walk out of the room. I'll peek in and he will smile at me and then keep staring at his Gloworm. That same week, he sleep through the night twice. I like to think he's waking up seeing his Gloworm and then falling back asleep.

We've been playing peek-a-boo with his blanket for months. Tonight, he crawled over and put it over his face and then peeked over. He was playing peek-a-boo! It was so cute!!!

I'm proud of my little guy! He graduated to the tub too. He's growing up so fast!

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!

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

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!

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.

What joy! What personality!

Someone told me last night at an event that 6-7 months is when you really see your child's personality. Ben is definitely aware of the world. He spends his day rolling around the floor, giggling at the dog and going crazy for solid foods. Lately, his favorite thing is the Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer his grandma bought him for Christmas or his monkey (The Dude). I thought I had this mom thing down months ago but it's easy to figure out what he wants. Lately, he wants the drops in his mouth that sooth his teeth. He'll be fussy and when I whip to bottle, he gets quiet and opens his mouth. He is not fond of sitting up. He last a whole 30 seconds and topples over.

Ben's sleep is better. It was going pretty good for a while and when he started solids and teething he started waking up every two hours it seemed. Most of the time if I snuggled with him, he'd fall asleep. Other times, he needed a diaper change but lately he's been sleeping 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. He is more than capable of falling asleep on his own. Most of the time, he goes in the crib, rolls around and then falls asleep with in a half hour. He doesn't cry and I think he secretly enjoys his time to himself.

This month, we're thinking about goals for 2009. More about that in the upcoming weeks. Until then, I will watch the snow fall and enjoy the lights from our Christmas tree and feel blessed that I have such a beautiful baby boy.

Prince Needy Pants

Sleepy needy baby
Originally uploaded by Shanlee

Since Benjamin has started teething, he's been a bit of a snuggler. If I don't get him down for his nap in time, he expects to fall asleep on my shoulder or be held like a baby (yes, I know he's a baby). He still is pretty attached to his pacifier as well. On Tuesday night, Wednesday morning -- he slept 10 hours! I woke up at 3 a.m. and ran in to see if he was ok. He was and sound asleep. At 5 a.m. he woke up ate a little bit and took the rest of his sleep cycle sleeping on his belly between his dad and I. I knew better than to think this was going to be a regular occurrence as last night he woke up at 12:30 a.m. and then 2:30 a.m. and then wouldn't go back to sleep until I caved at 4:30 a.m. and brought him into bed with us. Working on 4 hours of sleep was rough but since I was really busy, the day went fast and was pretty painless. Some have suggested just feeding him rice cereal at night and just give him veggies in the morning.

I just want to say, his clinginess is quite cute and I know this stage won't last so I don't really mind sitting on the couch at 2:45 a.m. holding my baby in my arms. I tried to convince Brian of this but he kept snoring.

Welcome back zoo zoo

Sporting the Santa hat
Originally uploaded by Shanlee

Since Benjamin has been teething, he has his "zoo zoo" in his mouth all the time. Sometimes it is upside down, other times he chews on it. The only time it's not in his mouth is when he's hungry. I hope he pops some teeth soon.

Another fun trick he's started is not going back to bed after he wakes up at 3:30 - 4 a.m. I leave him to play in the crib and after about 20 mins when he should be sleeping, he starts screaming now. This has happened three nights in a row. Brian usually caves in and brings him into bed where he rolls to his belly smiles and falls asleep.

This stage is so much fun. I can't wait to see what's next because he always smiley (even with the zoo zoo) and happy.

Happy half birthday

Benjamin,
Today you're six months old. I was talking to your Uncle Casey and was telling him how you are changing so much. He has three children, your cousins, and he said "that's what keeps having children so interesting." It's never boring around here with you.

This past month you took your first airplane ride. You did pretty good the whole trip until the plane ride home. It might have to do with the fact you went to bed last that evening before and woke up early.

You are grabbing and racking more and more. You grab at hair, daddy and today you discovered the dog and petted him. You love the exersaucer and playing with your toys in the Pack n Play. We have retired the swing and the bouncy seat. Your favorite this to do is lay on your belly and play with your toys.

We started eating vegetables and fruits! You've mastered rice cereal so we tested you out on green beans. You didn't like them at first but now you gobble them up. You did great with bananas but hated the carrots until I feed you carrots from the baby food jar. You now gobble those up. Next up peas, apples and pears. I think we'll stick to baby food in jars and then when you're ready for stage two, you can eat the stuff we made you.

Right now, you had your first cold for three days now and you've been handling it OK. You just need extra snuggles now and then. You had the drops and the nose aspirator but they make you feel better, I swear.

You're sleeping great. When we put you down at 7 p.m., you'll sleep anywhere from 7-9 hours straight. You like to snuggle with me from 5-7 in the morning. I will miss that someday.

You want to sit up and I think it's gonna happen any day now. You love to sit up and have us read you books. You're favorite one right now is "Five Silly Turkeys."

I love you my little turkey! I can't wait to see what next month brings.

Five months

Dear Benjamin,

Tomorrow, you will be 5 months old. Wasn't it just yesterday we just brought you home from the hospital? First off, you met your Grandpa Casey. Your grandpa never thought the day would come he'd be holding you and it stirred up a lot of memories for him of when I was a baby like you.

Over the past month, you've developed your own personality. You love the Old MacDonald puppet book and you've graduated from the bouncy chair to the bumbo chair. You're favorite toy is froggy with the mirror and you love the sassy mirror though we have to take it out of the crib at night because you'd keep yourself up playing with it. We have started to let you play in the exersaucer and the jumper too. I think we're going to need a storage unit for all of your toys.

I'm happy to say, you've mastered sleeping. It was a rough week and mommy and daddy but we toughed it out and BAM, you can fall asleep on your own. You're favorite position to sleep is on your side with your hands on your face. Sometimes we'll find your on your belly but that's OK, you've mastered rolling. We'll put you in one position in the crib and find you in the complete opposite. On a good night, you'll sleep 9 hours straight but mostly it's 7-8 hours, then back in the crib until 5 or 6 a.m. and then you snuggle in bed with me. That is my favorite time of day.

You love to kick your legs too. I'm gonna have to take a video to properly explain what I mean by this but you love to kick.

Dr. V gave the go ahead for us to start feeding you rice cereal. At first, you didn't seem to care about it but then something clicked and you love going in the high chair for breakfast and dinner. I think it's helping you sleep too.

Benjamin, you have discovered your surroundings. You're reaching and grabbing. This past week you realized that we have a dog named Charlie and you reached out with amazement and petted him.

You have nicknames too! Benji is what they call you at day care. Daddy penned you Lil B on twitter and I mostly call you Ben, Benjamin or Benjamin Boo Boo Bear. Janette calls you Bennyhanapoopoo. Hopefully, you won't be confused in a few months.

Month five will bring more challenges but if we can get through transitioning from sleeping in the swimg to the crib, we can tackle anything. (I hope)

Love,
Momma

Look at our Lil Jumper

Jumper video
Originally uploaded by Shanlee

Benjamin got his jumper today .... watch him testing it out!

Talking Ben

This is how our little guy communicates with us

Traveling with baby

Now that the cat is out of the bag (meaning Ben's AZ grandma has found out we're visiting) I can talk about gearing up for air travel with Ben at the end of October. This scares the crap out of me and it's only a short 2.5 hour flight. We're lucky that my SIL has a child one year older than Ben so we'll be borrowing items like a car seat and pack n play. My anxiety is more of breaking his routine which we're trying to set right now.

At our well baby check up today we talked about our concerns. I think his eyes are funny but I'm the only one he thinks this (including the day care provider) but instead of dismissing it, our pediatrician is going to calm my fears and have it looked at by a local ophthalmologist. Ben's lopsided head is better and he now weighs 12.5 lbs. I swear he should be bigger but everyone says it's normal. We talked about starting rice cereal soon (I think we'll do this in two weeks) and crying it out (which we won't do for a few more weeks). He is consistently averaging in the 10th percentile so he's a little small. Our pediatrician commented on how Ben is really strong so I'm really going to focus on putting Ben more on his tummy while at home.

The lack of sleep is getting to me. My husband has decided to start feeding Ben around 11 p.m. at night to see if he'll sleep longer and not wake us up. We've debated about supplementing with formula but only until we have to. I just feel guilty about work and being a mom. I feel I'm not doing the greatest job at both so after expressing this, he wants to step in and help. Thanks, Brian!

4 months

Dear Benjamin,
Today you are four months old. I can hardly believe it (I think I say that every month). So much has happened in the past month, I don't know where to begin.

For starters, you're rolling. We put you in the crib on your back and when we check on you, you're on your tummy the opposite end of the crib. You're giggling too! You'll just be looking at my face and then you start giggling. You love to mimic what ever we're doing. If we talk to you, you try to talk. If I blow raspberries, you blow raspberries. If I curl my lip, you try! It's amazing.

You have also discovered your hands though I wish you'd use this to help yourself fall asleep. We often tell ppl you're eating your hand sandwich. You think your thumb tastes pretty good too. You're also grasping and holding stuff too!

Sleeping has been a challenge. I think we're going to have to cry it out but once you're asleep in the swing, you're down for a while esp if you have your fuzzy blue blanket. You're waking up two times a night which is better than three I guess. Often when you wake up, we hear you chattering over the baby monitor and then you fall back asleep. You're a smart guy so I know you'll have this thing called sleep mastered pretty soon.

My favorite thing to do on the weekend is take a nap with you. You have no problem falling asleep when you're next to me, btw.

We look forward to what the next month brings (hopefully more sleeping in the crib).

Love,
Momma

Playing on his tummy

Tummy time with the quacking duck
Originally uploaded by Shanlee

This is a proud photo for me as I've been working with Ben on being able to play on his tummy. He's finally mastered this but gets tired after 10 mins. As long as I put toys out, he's occupied. We put the Gymni away because we thought it was time for other toys but come to find out this is the best time for the Gynmi. He lays in it and pulls all the animals and talks. He's occupied for at least an hour.

As for me, I hate to report that I haven't been doing my best in trying to eat/exercise. My excuse is I'm too tired or I have no time. I told my husband tonight that I just need to make time no matter how tired I am so on Monday/Thursday/Saturday I'm hitting the gym for an hour. I have it marked in my calendar to head out at 7:30 p.m. Ben has been going to sleep around 7 p.m. and my husband is more than capable to helping out for an hour a night. I'll report back next Sunday. Let's hope the report is I actually went!

Benjamin rolling over

I finally got it on video! Enjoy!