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! *