Ben - Ten Months

Sweet Ben is 10 months!  And sweet Ben is active!  He is army crawling up a storm and pulling himself up on everything he can get his little hands on.  He is also quite attached to me and prefers that I'm within a 5-foot radius of him at all time.  And preferably holding/touching/carrying him as well.  I looked back at Henry's 10-month post, and I should have just copied and pasted it for Ben - its all the same:  crawling, pulling up, separation anxiety (major!) and the introduction of his two front teeth.  It would have saved me some time!

I love seeing how much Ben absolutely adores Henry.  And I think that the feeling is pretty mutual.  When Ben is not trying to hunt me down then he is probably watching or crawling after Henry.  His face just lights up when he sees him and he does the excited arms and legs wiggle that I absolutely love.  And Henry is just so sweet with Ben.  He calls him "my baby" and will often bring Ben a toy to play with.  This is probably Henry's way of distracting Ben from getting too much into Henry's stuff, but I still think it is sweet.  I'm just really happy that they don't seem to bother one another too much (yet).

I cannot believe how quickly this year has flown by.  There was never a truer statement than "the days are long, but the years are short."  I try to remind myself of this constantly when I have two whiny boys clamoring for my attention when I am also trying to get dinner on the table.  They will only be little for such a small amount of time.  Soon enough Ryan and I will be clamoring for their attention.  Or maybe I should put down my phone and really concentrate on Ben when I'm nursing him to sleep.  This is one of my favorite moments of the day when he is snuggled with me happy and safe, and this such moment cannot last much longer.  I'm actually getting choked up as I write this.  I'm just so, so lucky.

ps - Ben is also in desperate need of a haircut.  I'm going to ignore the fact his hair is getting into his eyes and he may or may not be sporting a tiny mullet.  I just cannot deal with it!

Ben - Nine Months!

 

My sweet Ben is nine months old today!  I was pretty bad (meaning terrible) about taking Ben photos this month, so this is why you get our nine month photo shoot thrown in, as well as a preview of this year's Christmas card.  Ben wasn't the most cooperative model for his nine-month photos, but I thought the pictures captured Ben in all his silly glory.  My goodness he is a silly little man!

Ben has had a busy month sprouting teeth and CRAWLING!  He had two bottom teeth, which made him an appropriate little jack-o-lantern for Halloween.  Sadly, he also had pink eye so he was a pretty sad looking dragon this year.  Super cute, but super pathetic.

Ben just started to army crawl this week.  In fact, today was his first "long distance" crawling adventure when he moved from the den to find me in the kitchen.  I just love the pitter-patter of little hands!  Henry has taken it all in stride and is handling Ben's mobility very well.

When we found out we were having another boy I was a little nervous about nicknames.  Henry has always been "Buddy", and I wanted to make sure that nickname wasn't used for this little guy.  Thankfully, we've been pretty good at using "Buddy" for Henry, though we've definitely slipped now and then.  Ben usually goes by "Ben-Ben" and sometimes "Sweets".  How could you not call him "Sweets"?!?!

Ryan and I had our first night away from the boys since January.  It was glorious!  We went to Chapel Hill to see some friends and go to the football game.  We had a wonderful time, and the boys were in great hands with Nana and Grandpa.  Thanks again for watching the boys!

  

He is no mummy, I mean dummy

So this was Henry's first year trick-or-treating.  He had a vague idea of what he was supposed to do.  You wear a costume, say "trick or treat", and people give you candy.  But it wasn't until the first "stranger's" house that he really figured it out.  Then BAM - it was on!  Henry was having an absolute blast.  Ben and I left the fun a bit early so I could put him to bed.  About 20 minutes later Ryan comes home with Henry on his shoulders.  Ryan said he knew it was time to come home when Henry was staggering down the sidewalk saying they need more candy, but he wasn't actually going to people's homes.  Henry had turned into a trick-or-treat zombie.

My favorite part of the night came right before bedtime.  We counted Henry's loot (52 pieces - not a bad night's work!) and Henry put it all back into his bucket.  Then he proceeded to open his closet door, put his candy bucket inside, close the door, turned to us, and told us not to open it.  This kid is pretty smart.  He must know Ryan and me better than we thought.  Well played, Sir Henry, well played.

Ben - 8 Months

Where is the pause button?  Because Ben needs to stay at this age forever.  Seriously.  I think that the world would be a much happier place if everyone was required to spend some quality time with an eight-month old baby.  I could just eat him with a spoon!

Ben continues to be such a wonderful, easy-going baby.  He is all smiles and squeals.  I'd say our only downfall is his naps.  He isn't much of a napper.  They are generally pretty short, but sometimes he will give us a break and take a really awesome afternoon nap.  Sometimes.  Nighttime sleep is great, however, so I cannot really complain.

This kid also loves to eat.  Ben is all business when it comes to his meals.  There is nothing that I've offered him that he won't eat.  I'm really hoping this continues to work in our favor so I need to be pretty diligent about continuing to offer him a good variety of food.

Ben still is not crawling, which I'm honestly grateful for.  I think Henry's world will be rocked once Ben goes mobile.  Speaking of Henry, he has been such a wonderful big brother.  He just loves Ben and wants to interact with him.  He brings him toys to play with and loves to give Ben kisses and toys.  Henry also loves when they have similar toys/clothes to wear, which is great for me and my plans to have a few years of coordinating brother outfits!

Ben - Seven Months!

Sweet Ben is seven months old today!  This month has gone by in such a blur.  I've gone back to work, we went to the beach, Ryan got his cast off and we are currently dealing with a stomach bug.  Last night, I was thinking about Ben turning seven months, and I admit that I started to cry (but just a little).  I just cannot face the fact that I will technically only have a baby for five more months.  I know he will always, be "my baby" and I have to let him grow up (blah, blah, blah), but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Little Ben has reached one of my favorite baby stages - he can sit unassisted, but cannot go anywhere!  I love that I can put him down with a couple of toys and he is just as content as he can be.  He is now bored with his toes and now currently obsessed with a teething ring. OBSESSED.  If the grip Ben has on this ring is any indication of future athleticism, then he is going to make a pretty awesome wide receiver or baseball player.  He won't drop that toy for anything.

Ben is such a good and happy baby.  He is all smiles and loves to watch Henry.  He has adjusted well to daycare so I'd say his first month at Primrose has been a success.  We'll just see if he catches this lovely stomach bug Henry picked up from school...

Here are some photos of Ben's seventh month and our trip to the beach:

A few things

So I know that I haven't been as good about posting as I've wanted to, but here are a few things that are really making me laugh lately:

1)  This guy is just hilarious (and thinks he's pretty funny himself)!

2) We spent Labor Day at the beach with my parents.  Ryan set the timer on our camera so we could try to take some nice family pics.  Someone sneaked into our picture, and we didn't realize we had a furry friend in our photos until we reviewed them.  I cannot stop laughing at this picture.  Say "cheese" Cotton!

Six Months!!

Big Ben is six months old!  We've made it to the halfway point of babyhood and it has been a blast. Ben has been showing us his wonderful personality and my goodness is he a sweet little man!  He is all smiles, drool, silly faces and toes.  His toes are his absolute favorite toy, which is understandable since they are always around.  I believe Ben would be content just sitting around and holding (or chewing) his toes all day.

Ben will take a bottle, but only if it is warm enough for his liking.  And if it has gotten "too cold" for his halfway through his feeding, then he wants you to warm it back up for him.  Otherwise, he will not finish it.  However, he is turning out to be a pretty great little eater - eating peas, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and pears faster than you can shove it into his mouth.  I hope this trend continues! 

We have slept through the night twice, and I'm hoping that he will start doing this on a more frequent basis.  Fortunately he is just getting up once a night, so it's really not that bad.  I lie, I'm tired.  Ben, won't you please, please, please start sleeping through the night?  Mama needs her sleep!

So I went back to work today.  It was hard, really hard.  I've really enjoyed having this one-on-one time with Ben - perhaps more than I expected.  I will really miss spending my days with this sweet little man.  I know he is in wonderful hands at Primrose, but I wish they were mine instead.  It is comforting to know, however, that Ben will be spending his days at the same place Henry loves so dearly.  I can only hope that Ben thrives at Primrose as much as Henry.  I am truly thankful for that place and the staff.

So here are some pictures to enjoy:

Five Month Photo Shoot

I love that I don't have to work so hard for smiles anymore!  I'm also loving the flat smiles that Ben has been so fond of making lately :)