I love bedtime!

I really do love bedtime and it's not because I'm ready for some alone time without the boys.  On some days, sure I am counting down until the day is over and they are in bed but every single night, our bedtime routine makes my heart happy.  On a normal night we each read to one of the boys, Jackson is allowed to read to himself and then I go and tuck him in one last time.  This is when I get the extra cuddles and "I love yous."  And yes, I realize at this age, he's trying to gain a few extra minutes of time before bed but I'll take it!

When it's my night to read to Bennett, I sit in the glider and wait for him to bring me two or three books and his "nia nia" and then he climbs onto my lap.  I read to him and then we get up to turn out the light.  He insists on doing this himself and lately has gotten a kick out of doing it with his foot (no pun intended)!  Then I sing to him.  I don't have a great singing voice but my sweet baby doesn't know or doesn't care.  He just lays his head down on my chest and we sway.  Some of my favorites to sing "I sing you a song" (sweetest lyrics http://www.take-note.org/I_Sing_You_a_Song.pdf), "A bushel and a peck," and "You are my sunshine" which I used to sing to Jackson when he was a baby and still do upon request!  After I'm done singing, I say "Night night" and he immediately pops his head up off my chest, puts each palm on my mouth one at a time for a kiss and then leans his head in for a kiss on his forehead.  Then one last big hug and "I love you" and I lay him down.

I wish I could freeze these moments.  Forever.

Bunny Ears!

I've tried twice before to teach Jackson to tie his shoes.  And by try, I mean show him once and help him once before him loosing interest and giving up.  Last month, he needed new shoes for school and BEGGED me for lace ups instead of velcro and I gave in.  I've asked some friends for their opinions and advice on how to teach kids how to tie their shoes but there wasn't one method that stuck out.  This morning we tried again.  I went through all three methods with him a couple times and then we decided the bunny ears was the way to go.  He wasn't that into it and said he couldn't do it and it was too hard and whined through it all but it took less than TEN MINUTES!!!  Then of course he was so excited and went around the house showing Nick and Bennett.

Learn to tie your shoes - CHECK!
Next up:
Ride a bike without training wheels

Not so chatty Bennett

If my memory serves me correctly, Bennett is following in his brother's footsteps as far as his verbal development.  I remember thinking Jackson didn't say many words and then once he turned two, his vocabulary erupted.  Bennett will be two in five weeks (FIVE?!) and so far isn't very talkative.  I started making a list of his words earlier this year just to keep track and here's what we've got so far:

Uh oh (he used to say uh uh)
No
Mama
Dada
Jackson (says all.day.long)
Lila
Nana
Jiddu (Diddu)
Shoes
Sock (caw)
Please
Thank you (doodoo, sometimes confused with Jiddu lol)
Cracker
More
Ball
Nose
Eye
Hi
Bye bye
Nia nia (his blankie)
Down
Up
Off
Tickle
Book
Night night
Car
Choo choo
Vroom vroom
My ball
Pop pop
Mimi
Lilly
Chocolate (ca-ca)
Outside (ide)
Hat
Poo poo (I'm hoping this means potty training will go a little smoother)
Blue
Mooooo (cow)
Quack quack
Roar
Bubble
Change
Auntie (FINALLY!)
Milk (mo)



He seems to be on a roll now and is learning at least one new word a week.  He has perfected the inflections but not always the pronunciation which just makes it cuter.

Back for good! Maybe...

I haven't blogged in a very long time!  To be exact it's been a year but we have had a lot going on and between not having time and not thinking anyone reads my blog, I decided it was okay to just let it go.  But I am also realizing that my memory (while awesome) isn't perfect and I'm going to want to remember or document more of these times.  I'm not sure how often I'll post but hopefully it will at least touch on the big stuff.

Bennett is 10 months old...give or take a week ;)

Oops I forgot to blog last week but in my defense it's been a very hectic month of going back and forth to Atlanta.  One of those trips was to celebrate sweet little Lila's 1st birthday!  I can't believe she's already one and that means Benny is just 8 weeks away from his birthday.  Seriously, how is that even possible?  I adore the baby phase!  Even with the sleepless nights, I just love it and now I can't believe it's almost over.

This last month has been a big one for Benny Bear.  He started crawling a little over a month ago but now he's not only gaining speed, he pulls up on everything and has even started to walk while holding on to things like the couch or table.  He hasn't perfected getting back down to the ground from a standing position so I hear a lot of thuds and thumps during the day.  He hasn't been able to stand alone yet and I doubt that will come anytime soon.  His feet are so chunky and are never flat, he's always on his toes.  He loves to play with toys, especially Jackson's big boy toys.  He is almost always happy and unless he's having stranger anxiety, he'll shoot anyone a smile that just melts your heart.  As my mom says, even his eyes smile.  He can clap and is starting to give high fives.  We're working on "Soooo big" but aren't quite there yet.  He can make kissing sounds by smacking his lips together so I'm trying to get him to make the connection that those are kisses.  He babbles a lot and it's so sweet to hear.  Mama, mmmm, and Dada are the main ones even though I'm not sure he knows yet what he's saying.  He says mmm and Mamamama a lot when he wants food so maybe he does know it's me, who knows.  I still love hearing it :)  And Jackson will tell you he heard Bennett say Jackson one night.

His sleeping habits haven't changed much.  He still goes to sleep very easily for naps and at night.  He wakes up once during the night for a quick feed and then goes back to sleep.  I'm ready for uninterrupted sleep but once a night isn't that bad and I do love our one on one time...even if it's at 4am! 

Bennett's eating slowed down drastically a few weeks ago and I wasn't sure if he just wasn't into the chunkier foods or just annoyed with eating all together but luckily he's back to normal.  He is trying new foods almost every day.  I will give him a small portion of whatever we are having for dinner and then he usually gets fruit and yogurt for breakfast and vegetables and fruit for lunch.  A few weeks ago we tried scrambled eggs and he had an immediate reaction.  We waited a few weeks but knew the next step was to try something with eggs so last Monday I made him a pancake for breakfast.  Not only did he love it but he had NO REACTION!!!  I was so happy.  I will continue to try little things like that until we can figure out how sensitive he is to eggs but at least we know it's not extreme.  We had introduced a sippy cup a few months ago with water.  He can bite it, tip it up and somewhat suck the water out but he doesn't really drink it.  One day, he got a hold of my water bottle and went to town drinking my water through the straw.  So next time I was at Target (which obviously was pretty soon) I picked up some straw cups for him and he loves them!  He also loves the veggie puffs.  Once he's done eating his main "dish," all I have to do is show him the container and he literally squeals with joy and his little feet start kicking under the high chair.  It's adorable!

These pictures were very hard to take and I didn't really get any great ones but here you go...I love the look on his face in the first one, as if he's trying to be sneaky and grab the turtle!

Allergies...child # 2 round # 1 :(

Last night we gave Bennett eggs for the first time.  Immediately after the first bite, he began to rub his mouth and eyes.  I continued giving him a few more bites but then his face starting getting red.  Even though he was rubbing his eyes viciously, I had a feeling that wasn't the reason for the redness.  I stopped feeding him, completely wiped his hands and face down and waited...within MINUTES he had small rash-like bumps all over his face (mostly around his mouth and forehead) and his eyes began to swell.  I took him upstairs and gave him a bath.  We gave him some Benadryl.  He was breathing and acting normally, thank God!  He went to sleep and woke up a couple times which isn't much more than normal.  Of course, Nick and I both went in a couple times to check on him throughout the night. 

This morning he woke up with his eyes even more swollen but the redness and rash were gone.  While changing him I noticed he had the same rash on his stomach and legs.  I consulted with Dr. Dad who asked an attending he worked with and we gave him more Benadryl.  He seems to be improving so we'll just wait and see.

We'll wait some time but next we have to try simple things that contain egg like pancakes.  I'm really hoping and praying his allergy isn't severe and is only to eggs and doesn't include anything made with eggs.  Here are some pictures of what he looked like last night and this morning, poor little Benny Bear :(

Bennett is 9 months old!

SO much has changed in our little Benny's life in the last month!  He is still the same as far as his demeanor, pretty quiet (big change from months ago when he talked ALL THE TIME!) and so so happy.  He's meeting his milestones especially stranger anxiety!  He's quite the Mama's boy and if I'm being honest, I can't say that I mind.  He now has 4 teeth, the two on the bottom and now two on the top and boy can he use them!  He bit Nick and left a mark the other night on his shoulder but Nick won't be getting much sympathy from me (or any other nursing mom for that matter!).  He puts his arms up and reaches for you when he wants to be picked up, especially out of the car seat or high chair, it's super cute.

And the biggest/latest change is that he is now officially crawling!  He's been on all fours for quite some time and he has been scooting backwards for over a month.  On Saturday, just one day shy of 9 months, he finally got it!  It was pretty funny to watch.  He would get up on all fours, stick one leg straight out behind him, hold it there for a couple seconds and then lunge it forward.  He's still moving kind of slow but definitely has it figured out.  He has also started to reach up with one arm and try to grab hold of anything higher up whether it is his crib rail, my pant leg, ANYTHING!  Time to bring out the baby gates and probably getting close to lowering the crib too! 

Bennett has been eating everything when it comes to fruits and vegetables but everything so far has been pureed.  Last night we gave him pieces of avocado and banana.  He did really well.  It's crazy to see how much gums can do without teeth!  We'll probably give him some pasta and rice soon and then some meat.  I'm still nervous about him choking even though we've been though all of this before with Jackson.  And of course, I'm worried that he might be allergic to something so I'm definitely making sure we try certain foods with Dr. Daddy is home!  We're planning on giving him eggs soon but waiting on peanut butter and shellfish at least until he's one.

Here are his monthly pics...definitely a challenge getting him to sit still, all he wanted to do was move and put the stuffed animals in his mouth!