Thursday, December 1, 2011

Ben 9 Months Old

Since we aren't using this on our Christmas card, I will hijack it for this post.
Photo taken by Love & Whimsy.
Baby Ben -

Today you are 9 months old. You are finally starting to feel better and have been off an antibiotic for about a week now (after 45 days of antibiotics). You are starting to eat solids again and maybe you'll gain some weight! You had your 9 month check up a little over a week ago and here were your stats:

Weight - 19 lbs - 32%
Height - 28.5 in - 66%
Head - 18.5 in -92?%
You have no teeth.

We know we shouldn't compare you and your brother, but wow! Jackson was your weight at 4 months. The bonus is that Mommy and Daddy finally found Jackson's 6-9 mo clothes and they will still fit you for a while. Now you won't have to wear the same clothes week after week. Jackson also had 6 teeth at this point.

Your personality is all about extremes. You are either deliriously happy or pissed off beyond belief. Lucky for us, you're happy more than you're not. You still have no teeth, so we get to have your gummy smile a little bit longer.

You are mobile! You've been pulling up on things for a long time. For a while you kept trying to let go of furniture and walk. After a couple of weeks of bruises from banging your head you finally stopped that. Yesterday when Mommy went to pick you up, you walked all the way across the room at school while holding on to the shelves with one hand. Yikes! That came out of the blue and means you just might really be walking soon. Today we had you in the Ben Pen and you were trying to walk again. Jackson and Mommy had a funny conversation about it.
Mommy: Look Jackson! Ben really wants to walk.
Jackson: Ben wants to walk.
Mommy: And after he walks, he'll run.
Jackson: And then Ben will play outside and wear my shoes.
Jackson: And then he'll play with my Legos.

Not sure where the shoes comment came from, but it's a big step that your brother wants to share his shoes and toys with you. Jackson loves you a lot. He'll try to make you laugh when you cry. He will go and get a toy and tell us it's for you. He even went through his room and pulled out all of the "Baby Ben Toys" and just kept the "Big Boy Toys." But, sometimes he is still too rough (like the time he hit you on the head with his Little People Bus) and sometimes he still gets jealous. He likes to fake cry when you get attention for crying. Luckily he's outgrown that and now just likes to run and jump in our laps when we're paying too much attention to you.

You are waking up like a newborn again. We don't like this and must remedy this soon. Despite the lack of sleep due to this new habit, we still love you to pieces. We should enjoy the quiet, but really we can't wait for you to talk so we can laugh at all of the silly things you say.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Neighborhood Halloween Party

Our neighborhood likes to throw parties. This is the first year that we have had a Halloween one, and Jackson had a blast! We invited Jackson's little best buddy G. They are adorable together! In the mornings when Jackson is sad because we are leaving him at school, she stays right by his side constantly giving him dolls and toys and hugs to try to make him happy. It was fun to see them together at the party as well. They would just grab hands and take off while talking and pointing. So stinking adorable!!

















His pants broke and kept falling down. Poor guy.


Past Superman's bedtime...

Benjamin Parker - 8 Months

The day after Ben hit the 7 month mark, he decided he wanted to be like his brother and walk. He started pulling up on anything and everything. Now Ben will lean on things and let go and he will try to walk. He has so many bruises from his attempted steps. He literally will just let go and try to walk. Every single time he falls flat on his face or bangs into something. It's hard to watch. He will also walk behind something while holding on. We are not ready for this at all.

Ben loves his brother. He watches him with a huge open mouth smile all.the.time. He laughs and laughs at him. Luckily, for the most part, Jackson is very sweet to him. He tries to make him laugh. When he falls and cries, Jackson will run and get a toy to try to make him happy.

On the downside, Ben has been sick for over six weeks. We took him in for one thing and found out he had a bad double ear infection. It hasn't gone away since. That's lead to a lot of antibiotics and a lot of sleepless nights. If his ears aren't better by Friday, we will be taking a trip to the ENT. He's also had lots of tummy issues. We had to switch him to Soy Formula. His tummy seemed better so we switched back. Started getting sick again, so back to Soy. Once his ears are better, and he's off antibiotics, we'll have to see how his tummy is. We might have to test him for a milk allergy. Unfortunately, all of his tummy trouble has lead to him not wanting to eat much. There were days we were lucky if he'd eat 1 oz from his bottle. Luckily, he's back to 4-6 oz (although it's still not enough). He also has been refusing solids (other than cereal). Hopefully things will get better soon. Poor little guy lost some weight at one point, but gained it back. He's now 32% for weight. Keep the little man in your thoughts and prayers.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Uncle Joseph Visits

This week has been pretty crazy between us working, the boys both getting sick and Uncle Joseph visiting. Uncle Joseph lives near Chicago and has an intense job that doesn't allow for much time off. This is the first time he's met Jackson or Ben. Jackson is IN LOVE. He just can't get enough of Uncle Joseph. Jackson has been stuck at home most of the week from being sick, so we took a trip to the zoo to get him out of the house for a couple of hours of fun and animals.





We fed the giraffes, but it started pouring and they had to shut it down.

Soaking wet Jackson. Great for a wheezing boy...

Sad.

Benjmain Turns 7 Months

I can't believe Ben is already 7 months. He's growing up so quickly. He can sit up very well, going from sitting to crawling, and crawl crawl crawl. He is definitely more interested in toys now (and his brother!). Jackson loves to make Ben laugh. It's pretty hilarious to everyone else watching too when he does it. He makes this crazy fake laugh noise and jumps/dances around. Ben laughs. Today he flipped us out a little because he started pulling up on things to stand up. We are NOT ready for that! We had to lower his crib tonight because he did it in his crib. He can't stand long, but we fear that isn't far behind.

Ben has a wonderfully huge smile. The kind of smile that makes you instantly smile. The kind of smile where you know it is physically the largest smile he can possibly give. We think that smile is what has won him favorite kid at daycare. There are only three kids in his class, so I guess it isn't saying much. But, we agree with his teacher on that one. We know he's well loved at daycare. It's really sweet; his teacher on Fridays always has to give him one last hug since she won't see him for two days. She always says, "I need my weekend hug!"

Ben is eating solids now. He LOVES cereal, but that's about it. He'll eat other things, but he doesn't go crazy for them like he does cereal. He's currently eating bananas, pears, applesauce, carrots, green beans and sweat peas. Earlier today we read about Jackson at 7 months and realized that Ben is getting a little bit of the "second child" treatment. At 7 months Jackson could drink out of a sippy cup (we've never even handed one to Ben) and Jackson could give high fives. We have some work to do now. Ben, though, can give a pretty darn cute wave.

Ben is also obsessed to crawling over to wherever Jackson's Crocs are to chew them. Yuck.

Finally, Ben has a STRONG personality. He is extremely happy most of the time, but when he's not, he will let you know it. Unfortunately, he's starting to get mad when people leave the room or when he's bored. Although we may not post as much about Ben with our busy, crazy lives these days, he does cute/funny things all the time and we love him!

There are 7 mo pics coming, but it will probably have to wait until another day.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Two Year Old's Apology

At dinner, Jackson had kiwi fruit and strawberries for dessert. After being fussy because he only wanted strawberries and didn't want kiwi, he decided that kiwi is now his favorite fruit. I asked him to share a piece with me and he proceeded to quickly shove any remaining traces of kiwi into his mouth. This was after offering me a piece and then changing his mind and taking it back.

I told him I was very sad that he didn't share.

After that he went with Rob, took his bath, and was getting ready for bed. I joined them in Jackson's room. He crawled into my lap, looked sad, and hugged me. He said, "Mommy, I don't like it when people are mean." I asked him who was being mean and he said, "Jackson." He said he was mean because he didn't share with Mommy.

What a sweet apology.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Jackson's Ring Finger

Jackson has been really hurt twice in his life. I am thankful that it's only been twice in his life (excluding illnesses - swine flu etc). The first time, if you remember, was when he fractured his leg. That's right. It was Mommy's fault. He blamed the slide. Good boy.

The second time happened this morning. We came out of the bathroom. I shut the door. After a brief pause, there was a blood curdling scream. Yes, door shut. Finger in door. Mommy fault again. It looks awful. Not as awful as I feel. Yes, I know it was an accident. Jackson doesn't blame me, either. He says the door hurt him. Still feel awful.

Again, thankful that these are his biggest injuries. Not thankful that Mommy caused him the pain.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Carrots!

Ben tried his second food yesterday. We let Jackson pick out what he would have, and since he's on a big carrot kick - that's what he picked. He liked it okay. He ate about half of the container, but he didn't go nuts for it like he does for cereal. 



Brotherly Love

This boy...


LOVES this boy...


It's adorable to witness the boys' relationship start to develop.


Ben constantly watches Jackson. Jackson constantly tries to make Ben laugh. It's quite a combination. Tonight at dinner, Jackson was drumming the table. Ben watched in complete awe. Then, as soon as Jackson stopped, Ben would repeat it and laugh and laugh. In the car Jackson will laugh and Ben will copy it. It's so cute I can barely stand it. I know this imitation will probably get old fast when Ben starts to copy less desirable behaviors, but for the time being...we love it.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Benjamin - 6 Month Appointment

Ben had his 6 mo appointment today.

Forgot my camera. Yay for cell phone cameras!

Height - 26.5 in (49%)
Weight - 17 lbs 6.5 oz (45%)

Otherwise everything looked good. Although he's only been on cereal for a week or two, we got the green light to give him fruits and veggies now. He had a bunch of shots and he didn't like that. Jackson had a flu shot, but did okay. The visit was pretty uneventful.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Benjamin - 6 Months

Happy 6 months sweet little boy. You are adorable. You smile. You laugh. You love eating. You love your big brother, Jackson. He makes you laugh more than anyone. We love listening to you laugh and laugh and laugh at him in the backseat of the car. He loves you so much, too! You're perfect in almost every way.

We say almost, because suddenly, you don't like to sleep. We know your routine is off because you started school this month, you're teething, you are practicing crawling in your crib, etc etc. But, it's time to get over all of those things and go back to sleeping through the night. Otherwise Mommy and Daddy will end up in the looney bin soon! Don't worry; we still love you.

This month you had cereal for the first time. You went to the beach for the first time. You met the Morris family for the first time. You sat up alone for the first time. I'm sure there are other firsts we are forgetting.

Here are a couple of pictures from today. Mommy snapped a couple between Jackson's swim lessons and a photo session, but you'll get a proper 6 mo portrait session soon.