8 Months

Here's a snipit of Ben at 8 months!

Getting very busy
Dives for things all the time
Kicks legs a lot when he's excited
Gasps with excitement when the door to the garage opens
Sweet as can be
Very easy, content baby
Happy just to be around people
Wanting very badly to crawl
Can scoot forward a bit, but mostly goes backwards

7 Months!

Waving
Trying to pull up
Rocking
Babbling
Seeming less like a baby and more interactive
Broke of swaddling
Started sleeping better
Not a good napper
In love with jack
Cuddle bug with James
Sit forever outside
Great eater
Observer
Loves music

6 Months!!

Ben is now 6 months old!  I am in disbelief that he could possibly be half a year.  He has so quickly turned from my tiny newborn to my 22 pound 6 month old!  

He is sitting up now, but is still a little wobbly.  He just started lunging for me when I come near him, and when I walk in the room, he jumps with excitement.  That melts my heart!  His personality is starting to come out in little ways.  When he wants to nurse, he has started grabbing my shirt and burying his head into me.  He is easy going and is an observer.  He is at a very easy stage, where I can set him down on a blanket outside, and he'll sit happily for hours if I'd let him.  

5 Months!

Our sweet Ben is five months old, one of my favorite ages.  We are so in love with our precious third child. I just am in awe of this little gift from God and what pure sweetness he is. He is such a joy to our family, and the older two just couldn't adore him more. It is so much fun to watch James dote on him.  He is always eager to hold him, runs to give him anything he needs or he thinks he may want, and is very good at making him happy!  Jack is really starting to grow into big-brotherhood. He is starting to move from loving on him so much that he was too rough to running to get him toys, singing to him, and laying by him just to be with him (and not pestering him while doing it). I'm so proud of him!!

Ben's personality is really coming out! He is such a happy, happy baby. He coos squeals a lot, and loudly. He smiles very easily, and even when he's not smiling his big smile, he has a pleasant look on his face. Just recently, he has been screaming with excitement when I try to make him laugh. He looooves his daddy and gives him the sweetest smiles when he comes home from work or hasn't seen him in a while. He also cuddles more with him than anybody. He will still go to anyone, although he has had a few episodes of separation anxiety, where he lost it with other people until I got back to  him. Mainly because he was hungry. :) He is such a big boy. He's thick, solid, and strong. He weighs 21 lbs and continues to eat every 2-3 hours. He is a good eater, although he's starting to get distracted by his big brothers. We are in a bad habit of nursing to sleep, but I'm not too worried about it. He's not a good napper (I'm sure due to the fact that he's a third child and not on a schedule), but he sleeps from 8ish to 6ish most nights. He still dislikes the car, but has gotten so much better about this. He can get distracted by toys or James from behind him now. His teething was rough. He woke up one or two times a night for a about a week with each tooth. He seems to have a very happy-go-lucky, content, and easy-going disposition. He is excited by new faces and places and very interactive with people.

We spent every day last week up at school while I volunteered for Grandparents Week, and he stayed happily in my baby-wrap, loving all the action. He was the star of the show, and the cafeteria ladies referred to him as "our baby". :)

He loves the exersaucer, being outside, laying on his back, and going on walks, but most of the time, he just wants to be held. Who can blame him, though!

A few firsts:
rolled over front to back- 8/27
First tooth-9/3
Second tooth-9/13

4 Months!

Ben is 20 pounds and 26.5 inches long.  This puts him in the 98th percentile for weight and 80th for height.  At his check-up, our doctor told us that he is right on track!  He is sleeping through the night every night and working on his first tooth.  Not much else to add about our sweet 4-month-old!

Ben at 3 Months!

19 lbs
Sleeping 11 hrs most nights (8:30/9- 7:30/8)
Very happy disposition
Laid-back
Very smiley, interactive, and talkative
Hates the car and screams at lots of red lights and drive-throughs
Giggles spontaneously , when I laugh at him, and when he's tickled on his thighs
Strong neck
Tries to sit up
Tries to Stand in our laps
Loves to be outside
Has discovered hands and feet
Falls apart when scared with loud noises from jack
Eats every 1 and  1/2 - 2 hours when he's awake.
loves to be sung to and will coo along, especially "adleweis", "in my life" by the Beatles, and "mamas going to buy you a mockingbird" song
Loves to be swaddled and gets really calm aNd waits for his before bed feeding by smacking his lips
Started squealing recently and raising his eyebrows
Gets comments constantly about how much he looks like his bros

2 Months!

My sweet Ben is two months old now!  At his check-up, he weighed 15.24 pounds and was 23.5 inches long, which put him in the 98th percentile for weight and 73rd percentile for height.  Needless to say, he is a chunk!  Things have really turned around here lately with Benjamin.  He is becoming much more content, although he still prefers to be up and moving around.  His doctor said that he thinks he is "a mover and a shaker". He is happiest with new faces, things, rooms, etc, and likes to be facing out and walking around where he can see everything.  The moments when he does snuggle, I just take in, because they don't last long!  He loves to be sung to and will coo along with us.  His diaper changing table is his talking spot, and he just grins and coo's away there!  He's starting to do big, scrunchy-nose smiles.  He already seems to know the difference between James and Jack.  When James holds him, he feels secure, and James can hold him off from crying if he's fidgety.  When Jack holds him when he's fidgety, he'll fall apart much more quickly.  He is starting to talk to James a lot when James engages him.  James is so good with him and just loves to sit and have conversations with him.  Jack adores him in a smothering way.  :)  He kisses him constantly and usually ends up seeing how far he can go before I say, "That's too rough!".  Ben is now sleeping through the night most every night!!!  He sleeps between 6-8 hours each night, from 11-5, 6, or 7.  He is so good about going to bed at night.  We swaddle him, I feed him one last time, and put him down awake.  So thankful for a good sleeper this time!

1 month!

Ben is one month old now and is getting a lot more active and alert!  He still sleeps a lot and prefers to be held, but he likes to be on the move and bounced instead of just cuddling on the couch.  He has been a good bit fussier the past two weeks, mostly due to silent reflux. He has a fussy period at night when he only lets me hold him, and I have to stand up and bounce him, feed him, or go outside with him to make him happy.  He started smiling and cooing at four weeks, but he'll only do it for his daddy. As soon as Josh picks him up, he'll start cooing at him.  It melts Josh's heart!  He's only given me one smile so far, and I'm ready to see more!  Ben eats every hour and a half to two hours, for about 20-30 minutes at a time.

First Two Weeks

Ben is two weeks old now and is such a sweet baby!  He sleeps almost around the clock, just waking up to eat!  He eats and sleeps so much, that his doctor thinks he's going to grow to be a big boy.  We hardly ever see his eyes open.  Pretty much all I do is hold him, except at night, when we swaddle him and put him in his bassinet.  We are so in love with this boy!!!  The couple of times a day when we do see his eyes, he has huge, beautiful eyes.  I can't wait to see them when he's more alert!  At his doctor's appointment, his doctor mentioned several times that he is just perfect!  I couldn't feel more blessed to have such a healthy baby.  His weight is very good, surpassing is birth weight and then some, and his coloring is great.  He says he thinks he'll have olive skin like Jack.

I was so blessed to have my wonderful mother take off work stay with me all week. I don't know what I would have done without her.  She helped me get some sort of routine started, and just helped me each step of the way as I tried to figure out how to be a mother of three!  She also took some great pictures of Ben, which I'm so thankful for, because I don't think I would have remembered without her!!  

Easter 2012

We had a wonderful first Easter as a family of five!  We were woken up early, after having been woken up lots by our newbie, to see what the Easter bunny had brought!  It was kind of nice to have a normal kid moment to give us some orientation!  The boys got dressed while I fed Ben, and then I let the boys hold him before church.  It is so much fun to watch them be so excited and into their new baby brother.  With James being almost six, he's so much more aware of how special this is, and with Jack being three, it's so much fun watching him as a big brother now.  I was just overwhelmed this morning seeing my three precious boys together!   

After church, Josh picked Ben and me up, and we headed over to Elizabeth and Bryon's house for a delicious Easter dinner.  We enjoyed good family time with the whole family and had a mini Easter egg hunt for the kids.  After that, we went home and crashed!!  That was a big outing for me, having just had a baby a few days before!