Laughing it up at Mommy's expense

Last night I made Mexican pizzas for dinner (here's the recipe in case anyone is interested; http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jimmys-mexican-pizza/detail.aspx) and Nick added some Chipotle hot sauce to his personal pizza.  He said it smelled so good and gave the bottle to Jackson and then me to smell.  I quickly grabbed the bottle and smelled it but accidentally got too close to it and got a bit of sauce on my nose.  Nick started teasing me about how I smelled things by putting my nose in them and decided to "smell" the sour cream on his plate by dunking his nose in it.  As you can imagine that sent Jackson into quite a laughing fit which only increased after he dunked his own nose in sour cream.  And although they were teasing me, it was worth it to hear all those giggles during dinner, which is the only time we spend together on a weekday.  I had to stop laughing long enough to snap a quick shot of my silly boys...

 

Benny Bear is sick :(

Last week Bennett got a cold that got to be an awful cold pretty quickly.  On Friday morning, I could hear what sounded like wheezing.  I couldn't tell if it was actual wheezing in his chest or just from all the congestion.  Of course Dr. Daddy was already at work for the long day and was on call all weekend so I decided that it was best to go ahead and take him to the doctor.  I thought I was going overboard since most likely it was just a cold but with our history of Jackson wheezing, I didn't want to chance it.  I'm so glad I took him because it turned out the poor thing had a DOUBLE ear infection!  I felt so bad for my little guy, not only was he dealing with his first ever ear infection, he had to get two at once.  He's been quite the trooper though, just a low grade fever the first day, and not much of an appetite for actual food but he's still nursing and sleeping well.  I do hear him moaning a bit through the night and it just breaks my heart, wish I could take away any pain or discomfort he is feeling but I know it will pass.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying the extra cuddles and am thankful it's nothing more serious.

Year in Review

I'm stealing this idea (like most of my blog ideas) from my sister who found it on Pinterest...which I introduced her to so maybe that makes it partly my idea???

 

The Kelly Family
2011 – A Year in Review

home Columbia, SC 3.5 years	wedded bliss 7.75 years		Big year for Nick …finished residency …started 4th year Chief Resident position …passed Pediatric Board Certification exam with flying colors!
big brother 4.5 years	little brother 7 months
Awesome things that happened in 2011 #1 Bennett was born  #2 Jackson started Pre-K at St. John Neumann Catholic School #3 Jackson started to R-E-A-D  #4 We had our first family themed Halloween [with Star Wars costumes] #5 We SOLD our townhouse in Atlanta #6 Jackson played on a soccer team for the first time and scored a GOAL #7 Bennett rode on a plane for the first time
Nick’s Work Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital 3.5 years		Nour’s Work Hampstead Lighting 6 years

Bennett is 8 months old! What?!?!?

I can't believe our sweet baby boy is 8 months old.  He truly is such a joy in our lives.  Bennett is so happy all the time.  If you even just look at him, he shoots you the cutest smile showing off his two bottom teeth.  And of course with that smile comes a fountain of drool out of his mouth.  We go through 2 or 3 bibs a day and that doesn't even include the ones he wears when he's eating!  Luckily these days it's just drool.  His reflux seems to be much better.  At his 6 months appointment, Dr. Shrouds said we should keep him on the medicine but we wouldn't increase his dose with hopes that with him growing, he would have weaned himself off the small dose of medicine by the time he was 9 months old.  It seems to be working so fingers crossed that when we stop the medicine next month, he won't need to go back on it.

We aren't sure where he gets this from but Bennett LOVES to eat!  I'm kidding of course since Nick, Jackson and I all have a love for all things edible.  We've gone through most of the fruits and vegetables and in the next week or so, I'll be introducing pasta, rice and yogurt.  The last couple days, his appetite seems to have increased exponentially or maybe he's just getting better at asking for more food.  Luckily, with the extra food, he's been sleeping much better.  I'm hoping not to jinx it with this post but for the last few days, he's only woken up once in the middle of the night around 3:30am to eat and then he's back asleep until 7am.  I really hope this is the beginning of Bennett sleeping through the night...the entire night!  He is definitely a stomach sleeper.  I keep waiting for his little booty to stick up in the air but he is completely flat with his arms straight down by his sides (very odd in my opinion but must be genetic because it's just like his daddy).

He definitely mastered sitting and can get on all fours and hang out for long periods of time.  He also started pushing himself backwards but no sign of forward movement.  Bennett started this a few weeks ago so I thought crawling was coming soon but I was wrong.  And although I have all the gates ready to be installed, I (selfishly) like having a non mobile baby.  When he gets tired of being on all fours he plops down on his belly and kicks his legs.  Nick is pretty sure he's going to be a great swimmer because he has the kicks down already.

Bennett is definitely a Mama's boy right now although he doesn't have any stranger anxiety.  He can be completely content playing on the floor alone or with Jackson or Nick but if he hears my voice or sees me walk by, he starts whining.  It's super cute and makes this Mama's heart smile.  The other morning, we were rushing around getting ready for school and each time I turned my back to walk away he would start whining but as soon as I just turned to face him, he would give me the biggest smile ever!  The good news is he's totally fine with "strangers" and has a blast playing with anyone.  His favorite person to play with is Jackson and vice versa.  Jackson is constantly telling us that even though he loves us, he loves Bennett the most, gee thanks kid.  I'm definitely not complaining though, and I take advantage of Bennett being intrigued by all things Jackson.  We pick Jackson up from school around 3 and head straight home so I can finish up work.  I put Bennett in the exersaucer and pull it in Jackson's playroom and he just watches Jackson play for an hour or so.  It's the perfect way for me to get my work done and they both enjoy it.

Bennett loves his bunny blankie.  I don't know how soothing it is but he loves playing with it and most of all chewing on it!  Blankie in Arabic is batania so we've named his bunny-nia since it's a bunny.  And now Jackson wants to call his buddy-nia since he named his Buddy a long time ago since he couldn't say blankie.  A couple months ago we thought we'd have another thumb sucker but he stopped last month and hasn't started back up again.  We'll see if that changes.  Here are his pics...I love the look on his face in the first one, my little stinker!

* We had to go to the doctor on the 20th so his 8 month weight is 17 lbs 12 oz! *