It's All About The Benjamin

We're about to fly home tomorrow, but just wanted to get a quick entry about our trip to Arizona and Mexico. We've had a wonderful time visiting with dear friends (Rick, Belinda, Harrison and Oliver) and got to relax in gorgeous weather in Puerto Penasco, Mexico - Ben's first trip out of the country! On this trip he crawled for the first time and waved yesterday! He's babling a lot more (mamamama ba ba bababababa dadadadada lalalaalalalala nanananana). He tried guacamole, wheat bread, rice, beans, butternut squash and loved them all. He saw the Sonoran Gulf, palm trees, pelicans, hermit crabs, Mexican markets and sea shells. We have a plane ride tomorrow back to Pennsylvania then it's back to the cold! He's getting over his very first cold, which was harder on Mommy than it was on him (especially because he gave it to me and it's only going away now! ) The picture above was taken on the beach outside our room. More to come! ****Now updated with more pictures...

Ben will be seven months old tomorrow! I'm just constantly amazed, and I'm sure I always will be. Happy seven months, Ben. You've been the absolute light in our lives. We're just so happy you're here with us. He's had a busy seventh month. The beginning got off to a very sad start as we said goodbye to Ben's Uncle Will. I'm sorry he never got to know Will, but we have lots of pictures and stories for Ben as he gets older. I know his Aunt Kris, Noona, Pop-Pop and many others will help flesh out the picture of Will. On his pediatrician's appointment of October 10th, he weighed 15 pounds, 14 ounces and measured 26" long. He handled his immunizations well and barely cried. What a trooper! The two bottom front teeth have come through, after a particularly cranky weekend, but all is well on the dentition front. He's now taking baths in the inflatable tub which fit into the big tub, and he seems to enjoy being able to sit and splash. He has, howeve...

Oh, what a busy month it's been! Ron and I have been swamped with work, having lost our other illustrator so that didn't leave a lot of time for updates. Our new illustrator has started and doing very well, so! On with muffin news! We started Ben on rice cereal, which he wasn't sure quite what to make of it at first, but he now absolutely loves it. Mouth-open-wide-for-next-bite kinda loves. Once he was having cereal for breakfast and dinner, we introduced butternut squash for lunch. He was less than thrilled, but did manage to eat the entire wee jar in three days. Next! On to carrots! He was okay with the carrots, not excited, but again managed to finish the jar in three days. Mommy also learned how much carrots stain! Ooooooh! What a pretty orange! Mommy bought Oxy Clean so we'll give that a whirl. Next stop: peas, glorious peas! Small, green and round! He doesn't spit them out, and that's good enough for me. I think tomorrow we'll go back to the squash and...

Sure, right after I posted the last entry, Ben started waking up in the middle of the night. He wasn't waking up to eat, just waking up and talking animatedly to himself. After a while he'd sound annoyed, so I went in to check on him. He had flipped himself over from his belly to his back, so I let him know it was still very early, he needed some more sleep, but it was great that he rolled over. I rolled him back, which he protested and rolled himself back on to his back. I flipped him back over, and he fussed. I went back to bed, and when he sounded louder, Ron went in to flip him back over. He cried for a bit, then fell back asleep. He eventually awoke for the morning at about 7 am. He repeated this the following few nights, with his "back-to-sleep" time getting shorter. Last night, he woke up at 2:30, chatting. At 3am I got up to say hi, tell him it was still the middle of the night and rolled him back on to his belly. He put his thumb inhis mouth an immediately we...

Okay, we pretty much realize that we are the luckiest parents ever. Ben is sleeping about 11 to 12 hours a night. When he wakes up, do we hear howls of hunger? Nope, he's all smiles and makes adorable noises talking to himself. Sometimes he's on his belly, head held up high propped up on his hands, other times, he has flipped himself onto his back, looking up at his Pat the Bunny mobile. He is so adorable, and we just love him oodles. Oodles of poodle noodles. I love the startled look on his face on his changing table! He had a busy month - get got to meet some more family - his Nona, Uncle Will and Aunt Kris on Long Island, as well as his great great aunts and some cousins! He's starting to get a little shy but he did great. He turned four months old while we were in Boston last week. In fact, he turned 4 months old on our 5th wedding anniversary (August 2nd). We didn't get a chance to celebrate it, as we were attending the 61st conference of the Association of Medical...

Ben turned 3 months old on Sunday, July 2. Holy cow, the time does fly! He celebrated by rolling over on Friday morning (July 7th) for the first time from belly to back. He has since done this nearly every day, and usually seems surprised and annoyed, of all things. We both got to see him do this on Sunday while we were outside at a picnic, so we were pretty excited. He can't roll the other way yet, but I'm sure he'll eventually get the hang of it. He's sleeping well through the night, getting up at the earliest at 6:30 a.m, but usually between 7:00 and 9:30 a.m. He's making more sounds and looks like he's really trying to talk. We talk back to him, mimicing the sounds he makes, talking and singing to him all the time. He hasn't laughed out loud yet (just in his sleep), although when he smiles, he opens his mouth all the way like a soundless laugh. He gurgles and makes bubbles, hasn't quite gotten the hang of swallowing his saliva. He's grasping thi...

Hope all you great dads had a lovely weekend. Ron's first Father's Day was oh-so-pleasant, and we all enjoyed ourselves. Here are some pictures from the weekend of the cutest muffin ever:

Benjamin is doing just great! At his two month check up, he weighed 11 pounds & 13 ounces. His head increased 1 inch in circumference (now 15.5") and hew grew another inch longer to 23 inches. His eyebrows also seem to be coming in, although his eye color is still indeterminate and slate grey. Good growth all around, though. Getting big for the co-sleeper... He makes all kinds of wonderful noises now, and seems to try to talk, ernestly trying out "ah-oooo", "mwaaah" and "eh". It's so adorable, we need to sit down frequently. Ben definitely seems to be a morning person. He starts stirring around 5 or 6 a.m., making little noises or talking to himself. Once his muttering become a bit more urgent, I go in, put the lights on and sing morning songs to him. He gives me those million watt smiles and I pick him up, continuing to sing and bid him a good morning. I change him, where I get more of those lovely smiles. It's so hard to get a picture, b...

Ben is 7 weeks and 3 days old, and is somehow sleeping through the night. I keep thinking it's a fluke, but he goes to sleep around 11 pm and awakes around 7 - 8:30 am the next morning. Amazing. We're ticked pink, but even more excited by his smiles! He's outgrowing this outfit in a hurry, which is a shame because it has the cutest little bear faces on his feeet! Here he is with his Dad at work on Sunday, May 21. The next picture was taken today during his visit with Opa (on his way to La La Land). Must get back to work - deadlines abound, and I want to get everything done as quickly and well as possible so I can get back to the muffin. Baby bee says hello to everyone! And then spits up. ; )

..to all you wonderful moms out there. We had a lovely day yesterday; Ron took Ben & I out to brunch at our favorite restaurant, the River Grille in Easton. He did very well, sleeping most of the time, and then quietly ate. Here's the stylin' boy back at home in his crib: Over the weekend, Ben stunned us senseless by sleeping through the night. That means from midnight to 7:15 a.m., and 10:45 pm to about 6:00 a.m. Stunned! We thanked him profusely for such a good night's sleep, although last night he awoke at 3 a.m., and after feeding went back to sleep at 5 a.m. Every day is different, and today he seems particularly under the weather and crying a lot. Work has been a bit crazy, so I'm back at work (downstairs) while Ben gets to spend some quality time being looked after by his Opa (upstairs). I miss him terribly, but go upstairs to visit whenever I can, deadlines permitting. My 6 week check-up with my doctor was uneventful and all is well. Must get back to work ...

Last Sunday Ben was one month old. Today he is 5 weeks and 3 days. Not that I'm counting. (When you try for so long and jump over so many hurdles to get pregnant, believe me, you count every day). Monday we went to the pediatrician... Ben weighed in at 9 pounds and 9 ounces and grew 2 inches to 22" long. Not bad! He's right on target so that's nice. He had his Polio and Diptheria immunizations and did very well - we were so proud of him! Not that he was terribly pleased about being stabbed in the thighs with huge needles (well, huge to him). He's been smiling more and focusing his eyes. He often sleeps for three hour stretches at night, which I think is fantastic because I can get some nice rest during this time. He was getting very fussy and had unbelieveable quantities of gas in the evenings, so we started trying Mylicon gas drops. This has made a wonderful difference in reducing his gas and fussiness. I'd be fussy too if I were that uncomfortable! It seems ...