Helmet

We went to the doctor today and found out that Ben is slowly trending lower and lower on the stats scale. For his 9 month checkup he weighed in at 9lbs 3ozs(30%), is 27.5" long (25%), and his head circumfrance is 17.75" (45%). I think part of the less weight gain is due to his mobility. He rarely sits still and even when he sleeps he tosses and turns all night. He's definitely cruising around on his toys and one of his favorite things to do is stand at his play table and walk around it. He's even getting better using his walker and we don't have to help him with it anymore which is nice.

Here's a video from today after the doctor visit. Good thing he has a big head, hopefully it's well padded! Otherwise we may need to consider putting a helmet on him if he's going to keep this up. Let's just say Ben's pretty special or just stir crazy for this never ending winter!



I've updated a few more videos on you tube as well so enjoy!

Bye Bye Binky

We started noticing Ben getting reliant on the binky in January, but since that was the sick month we felt awful trying to break it from him when it was the only thing that gave him peace.  In fact, I wasn't planning on breaking him of the habit at all since he really only used it for naps and at night; however he started waking up in the middle of the night without it and would throw a crying fit until we put one back in his mouth.  If I had a way to keep a stash of them in his crib I would've since he was able to find them and put them back in his mouth, but they always got pushed out onto the floor.  All of us were tired of this trend when it was 3, 4 or even 5 times a night so we thought it would be good to break the habit early.  I've always heard between 6-9 months, but for Ben we should've taken it away at 7-8 months.

We went cold turkey a week and half ago and in reality it only took about three nights for the habit to no longer exist until he reverted back using his resourcefulness tonight (see pic).  We think he may be teething since he's been rubbing his teeth a lot and not eating as well and more irritable, but we could always be wrong.  Once he started using this empty tylenol as a binky though we couldn't help but laugh.  I have to say, he was clever to get a replacement.

Is it Spring yet?!

9 Months Old!

Time really does seem to be flying again now that he's not sick every day.  Knock on wood, it's been a few weeks since he has had anything, but the month of January was enough for the entire year in my opinion!

Things Ben has accomplished this past month include saying mama, crawling, pulling himself up on things (and getting back down), walking while holding onto tables and his walker, clapping hands and pointing at lights.  Yes, he only points at lights and you can all thank Brian for that as I'm not sure what the whole thought process is of teaching him lights before working more on Mama and Dada or food or anything else a little more practical.  I think it's going to turn him into an electrical engineer since he already looks up whenever he walks in a room and I'm not sure if I like this trend being in the engineering world myself.  Otherwise it seems like it was a learning month and everyday I can see him understanding more which is a lot of fun.

He's always full of giggles and is starting to be a troublemaker.  We're working on 'No' and 'Hot' since he keeps trying to play with things that he probably shouldn't be - fireplace, space heater, etc.  With all the toys we have from hand me downs he would rather play with our TV remote or anything else that we use.  I knew this would happen, but come on!  We have tons of great toys and they don't keep him interested for more than a few minutes at a time.  Oh well, I'm not going to fight that battle too much as long as he's happy and it's not anything that could hurt him.

Click here for a slideshow.  Enjoy!

Favorite Things - 9 Month Edition

So I decided to post a bunch of our favorite things we've used to survive these first 9 months with Ben. If you're not interested, just skip this article since it's going to be lengthy, but if you have a little one, need a present for someone with one or are just plain interested continue on.

I have to play some catch up since I'm just starting this so I'm breaking it down into 3 month segments based on what I remember. It's amazing how quickly you can forget some of this though!

(All of these are in no particular order)

0-3 Months

1. Papasan Swing - this was a necessity and the best feature was that the chair part laid down flat or sat up while it swung. This type worked a lot better for us than the other types of swings out there.

2. Bouncy chair - the only way I was able to shower. I could put him in this all swaddled and he would listen to the shower and be content. He never really liked the vibrate feature, but I know lots of other kids that did.

3. Boppy - This was great for nursing and then it transitioned into a support for when he learned to sit. We got a lot of use out of it!

4. Swaddlers - These we used every night until he learned how to get his arms out. He was houdini in those things! We outgrew them before a lot of other kids I know.

5. Other mentionables: Video monitor (moved him to his room around 8 weeks and it was extremely nice to see what was going on without him in our room), co-sleeper for our room the first few weeks, pacifier from the hospital, nursing cover & freezer storage bags, baby bath, oversized mirror for car, play mirror for him to look at himself with (seriously I thought he was vain, but it came in handy at keeping him entertained for a while), burp clothes, grandparents.

3-6 Months

1. Gym - we started using around 1-2 months and he enjoyed it, but really started batting at things and playing with it more so around 3-4 months. (This isn't the one we have, but it's similar - minus the kid)

2. Johnny Jumper - one of our all time favorites. Maybe because it's hilarious to watch him, but also because he loves it and still uses it currently. We have the one with the tray on it so we can put toys on there for him to play with plus a few attach to the strings on the sides. See his videos for live action of this wonderful toy.

3. Exercauser - mainly I used this a little at first to help him be upright (since he had GERD), but he's grown into it with the different height levels and still loves using it.

4. PJ's - once he was houdini we had to transition him to a sleeping sack which was awesome - we used one like below which works so much easier for middle of the night diaper changes and I HIGHLY recommend them instead of the sleeveless ones cause then you have to undo the long sleeve onsie you put them in also. We probably started using this around 2 months until about 4 months. Then we had to graduate to footy pj's once he rolled over and started sleeping on his tummy.

5. Bumbo - we probably didn't get as much use out of this as most other people, but it defintely came in handy to keep him upright and in one place. Also was handy as a portable high chair on a few occasions.

6. Other mentionables: Humidifier, pacifiers, lotion, children's tylenol (he was sick constantly once in daycare), lots of bottles so you can go at least a day without washing all of them for daycare, highchair, bibs, play phone with lights and sounds, busy bee toy (has rubber wings for teething), and Baby Cubes for homemade baby food - easy to pull out of the freezer at night and into his bag for daycare in the morning.

6-9 Months

(we had a photo shoot this weekend for the pics and he's very active so there's a lot on this list)

1. Learn & Groove Table - take the legs of for sitting playtime and then once they can stand put them on. He loves this mainly for the standing part and all the lights and sounds. This is one of his current favorites as you can probably tell from the huge grin on his face.

2. Learning Hoops - not sure if Ben or Brian like this one better, but it seems to be used on a more than regular basis. (Thanks Lara!) Also, he's figured out you don't need the balls to make the sounds and lights, but rather just push the button in the hoop.

3. Music Station - This was a hand me down also (Thanks Traina's yet again) and he loves the dancing monkey and music. It converts also for sitting and standing.

4. Activity Walker - This converts also for sitting and then walking. He loves walking behind it and is starting to get a better hang of it, but he tends to fall once he reaches to play with all the moving parts on front. (Yet another fantastic hand me down)

5. Books, Books and More Books - He can't get enough of books and loves being read to. He will lay on the ground and try to flip pages on his own, but loves the 'touch and feel' and 'peek a boo' ones best.

6. Old Skool TV - This was a Xmas present and it was one he gravitated to a lot. Thanks Bensons! Who knew a blast from the past on such a simple toy could be so much fun!

7. Pull Up Ball Blast - The best part is seeing him learn with this. He loves to push the ball in the top and see which one of the four holes it comes out of on the bottom.

8. Laugh & Learn Puppy - Another Xmas present that he has a lot of fun with and has fun songs that sound like Amy Adams in Enchanted. Yes, you read that right and that movie is one of my favorites. How can you not like a movie that pokes fun at fairy tales and has Patrick Dempsey in it?!

9. Other Mentionables: Sippy Cups, lots of spoons, Teething Tablets, Baby Motrin, Pacifiers, bath toys, pet dog (his favorite thing in the house that he now chases), Puffs, Cheerios, noise machine for sleeping at other places, and all baby proofing things.

Mini Casanova

Kickin it old skool for the ladies.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Genius!

Boy genius with his NY Times crossword puzzle. It's not very complete, but at least he can write pretty legibly.

Who Dat that won the Superbowl?!

First off I want to apologize for the delay in my updates. It was a busy week with a healthy Ben and then of course the last couple days we've both had a cold. Luckily it's not too bad and already starting to go away.

So this past week Ben has been a crawling fool. He's all over the place and getting much faster with every passing day. Just today he crawled from the family room where he was playing with Dada all the way to the kitchen sink where I was making some food. It's a lot of fun to see what he actually wants to play with now that he can get to where he wants to go so my next post will probably be a "Favorites" post as I've seen a few friends do.

Anyway, he's also figured out clapping although I'm not sure he really understands he's clapping, but he does understand he's doing something. We of course go on to clap and say "Yay!" as he does it which usually leads to an uproar of giggles. He's also using the clapping to say he wants more of whatever we're doing or that he's really happy.

For the superbowl we decided to have friends over again which is now starting to become an annual tradition. It works out well with our basement and the playroom for the kids. Just last year we only had two kids over and this year we had four. Next year we already know there will be more with twins on the way for Erin - yippee!! The kids all got along great and Jack ruled them all since he's a year older which he seemed to enjoy. Great friends, good food, fun game. Here are some pics.

Jack on a truck ride

Milo & Ben Playing

Nicola hanging with her Dad