1 year!

Boo,
You are a year old! Wow! It’s so funny, people say congrats on surviving the 1st year. I think it was all pretty straightforward but now it’s getting more unpredictable! Oh well, yep we survived the 1st year. You are a healthy, growing boy. You weigh 23 pounds 6 ounces (50-75th %) and are 30.5 inches tall (75%) . You still have a BIG noggin (97%).
You are super verbal. You like to point and “talk” at everything you see. You have a high pitched yell that you like to use when you don’t get food fast enough (we are working on that), and you string syllables together to make words that don’t make sense. We are still doing baby sign and you understand it, but haven’t started doing any signs back yet. You love to play peek-a-boo and clap with other people. You also like to bring us your favorite books and throw them towards us as a cue to read them to you. I LOVE that you like books!
You have taken a few steps (I call them pitter patter steps) before you go to your hands. You are getting more confident to stand on your own. I know it will only be a matter of weeks before you’re walking. Wow!
We describe you as independent. This is so true! You know what you want and you make it well known. This is a tough phase, but I know you are just asserting yourself and soon you will be able to walk and talk and let us know what you want. You are still curious and I love that you want to know how things work. The doctor today described you as bright and that you can see the wheels turning in your head when you are in a new situation. This describes you perfectly.
You are becoming my little toddler. Keep up the good work B! Love you : )

11 months old!

B,

You are 11 months old today! Almost a 1 year old. I can’t believe it. When the pumpkins start arriving in the grocery stores, the mornings turn cooler, and the smell of fall scented candles fill our house I remember the time leading up to your birth like it was yesterday.
You are a spirited little boy and a pretty typical “boy” for those people I talk with. You like to find anything and everything that you shouldn’t find and make a mess with it. I like to chalk it up to you exploring your world. You really are a very curious one! You have such a fun personality. Your smile lights up a room and you can turn it on and off whenever you please. You are a tough cookie with strangers and it still takes you a while to warm up to new people. I think it’s very charming. You weigh close to 23 pounds we think (done on our home scale) and you seem to be getting taller everyday because you can reach more and more things. You are a pro at “walking” around the house holding on to furniture, wall, and anything else you can find. You are able to stand on your own for a few seconds, but you much prefer to crawl everywhere. You are getting quite difficult to take shopping. You aren’t too content to stay in the cart and just want to be held by me or crawling around. My best bet it to go quickly and distract you along the way! You have no problems eating table food, but you are very picky. Mhh, I wonder where that comes from : ) Every once and a while you will try a new food, but you seem to like your favorites: strawberries, blueberries, oranges, peaches, cheerios, and the squeeze pouches of veggies. You also sometimes eat cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, chicken, eggs, grapes, raspberries, and some other random things. You talk up a storm! You point to objects and say you own words. The ones we understand are: yaya for water, dag (with a soft d sound) for dog, da-dee for daddy. You will occasionally say mama, but not too often. You love swinging in the swing outside and you will crawl to the window and point and talk until I take you out. We go to gym class, swimming, and you just started MOPS on Fridays. You are a busy boy and it’s nice keeping you busy since you are so active.
You are almost my little toddler. I can’t wait to see what this month will bring. Love you B bear.

10 month old!

B Bear,
You are 10 months old! You are getting into everything!! You are a great crawler and love to explore you little world. Your favorite things to do are open and close doors, cabinets, and drawers. This makes for some major baby proofing! You are starting to recognize words and it’s so amazing to watch you learn and grow. Last night we said, “B eat a blueberry and you picked up the blueberry, then we said get a Cheerio” and you picked one up. We were so proud! You point to objects and say “words.” Even though we don’t understand what you are saying yet I know you are trying to communicate and it is the sweetest thing! You love dogs and say “da” when you see one. You have been cruising the furniture like crazy this month and are getting much more stable on your feet. You haven’t stood on your own yet, but that’s just fine with me! You are doing pretty well with table foods. You are able to chew just about anything, but you are a picky eater just like your mom. Your favorite foods right now are blueberries, strawberries, pears, apples, bananas, yogurt, and Cheerios. You will eat chicken, ground beef (in lasagna), cheese (sometimes), and other random things that we eat, but you will spit something out if you don’t like it. Notice, there aren’t any veggies on this list….I’m still trying to figure out how to do finger food veggies that you will eat. You still love your veggies purees : ) You still sleep on about the same schedule as you have for the last few months. Wake up around 7, nap at 9:30, nap at 2:00, and bedtime around 7. You still wake up most nights for a bottle around 4 or 5 am, but that’s still fine with us. Maybe by a year you will be sleeping regularly for 12 hours. Wishful thinking maybe : ) You were sick for almost a week this month. You had a really high fever, but really no other symptoms. The doctor ruled out and ear infection and strep throat so we guess it was just a virus that had to run it’s course. You were such a trooper! You have developed quite the stubborn streak. When you are told "no" or moved away from something you want you get quite mad at me. I'm hoping this is just a phase and you will soon learn that I am just trying to keep you safe. We go play at the indoor kids gym a lot and you have really been enjoying that! Next week we start back with swim lessons. You took your 12th and 13th plane flights this week. I must say, these were 2 of your best flights! You did a great job! You have become such a good traveler and it’s so nice that you are able to adapt well in new situations. I can’t believe you are so close to walking, talking, and turning 1. You birthday will be here before we know it! I love you sweet boy : )

9 Months!

Love Bug,
You are 9 months old! You are such a chatterbox. I forgot to mention this last month but you have been saying da for a while now which makes for a nice dada, and you have started saying ba and ya and I’m almost hearing a ma! We still need to work on that last one. You have been crawling for a few weeks now and it’s amazing to see you develop more and more everyday. You are pulling up on the windowsill, the coffee table, the hearth, the couch, the stairs, and anything else you can get you hands on! You’ve also begun to “cruise” around holding onto the furniture or me or your daddy’s hands. This month we have been doing swimming lessons twice and week and you really love the water. You go under the water just fine and it doesn’t seem to bother you. This summer is really hot so we haven’t been spending much time outside unless we’ve been in the water so you’ve been swimming a lot! You eat 3 meals a day of pureed fruits and veggies and still take a few bottles each day. You are still taking two long naps and I LOVE that I can predict your nap schedule each day. You take your morning nap about 9:15 and your afternoon one around 1:30. You go to bed anywhere between 6:30-7:00 each night. Sometimes you sleep the entire 12 hours until 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning but more often than not you still wake up around 4:00 for a quick bottle and then you’re back to sleep. At the doctor today you weighed 21 lbs and are 28.5 inches tall. You are getting so big! This month you got your DOC Band off and finished PT. You were great with both and I’m so happy those things are behind you. Your head looks great and the therapist doesn’t see any indication of your Torticollis. This month you’ve also become very attached to your dad or me. You are having a lot of separation anxiety when we leave you with other people. I know this is normal around this age but I hope it passes at some point. This month you also went with your dad to your cousin’s 1st birthday party in Saratoga Springs. Daddy said you did great on the plane rides and had a great time with the Rubacks in NY. I missed you so much, but I was so happy you had a good trip! We are going to start feeding you tables food this month. Yikes! You are getting so big! I can’t wait to see what is in store for you this month. Love you baby.

Cooking!

Yep, you read that right. If you know me at all you are probably a little bit surprised. I will admit, so was I! As I've written about about before Dave and I have decided to make B's baby food. It's been pretty easy I must say, but I also must admit that Dave does 75% of the cooking most of the time. He's great that way!
After a yummy dinner at the Grove this evening we ran to HEB to grab LOTS of fresh fruits and veggies to make some new meals for B. We bought items for 5 different meals, but only made 2 tonight (yes, I helped too!). We will make the others throughout the week.

Here is our stash


1st we made the "Very Blueberry and Apple" recipe


Here is how we did it! 1st rinse the blueberries (1 cup) and peal the apples (4)




Cut the apples and remove the seeds and core


Combine the apples and blueberries in a pot and add 8 oz of water. Cook for 8 minutes on high heat (stirring once).


Pour everything into the blender and puree until smooth



Pour puree into ice cube trays. Cover and freeze.



Then we made a Papaya Banana recipe


Cut the papaya in half and scoop out the seeds (we used 2 meridol papayas equalling about 5 pounds)


Cut into pieces and remove the skin (like a watermelon)



Peel and cut 3 bananas


Cook the papayas on high heat for 4 minutes


Add the bananas and cook for 1 additional minute while stirring


Pour into blender and puree



Pour into ice cube trays. Wrap and freeze.



I know lot of people use food processors to puree the food but we find that the blender works just fine for us and we already had one so it was free! After the cubes have frozen we pop them out and keep them in labeled Ziplocks. I must say I was a bit skeptical at first but it is fun seeing B eat food that I know is fresh and heathy.

Crawling!

Yesterday (7.11.11) Bennett really started to crawl! A few weeks shy of 9 months he has really figured it out. This is a BIG deal for us because we have been working on this skill for a few months now. He has been going to physical therapy for about 2 months and has been getting closer and closer each week. He has been "army crawling" for a few weeks now, but yesterday was the 1st time he he crawled on his knees for more than one or two seconds. I'm so excited for him!

Here is a video from yesterday (I'm hoping this works the 1st time : )

8 months old!

Boo Bear,

Wow! 8 months old. You are a pure joy to be around these days. Everyone loves your sweet eyes and just this week I was told “you smile with your eyes.” That was a wonderful compliment for you. You are almost crawling. You scoot backwards and turn in circles to get where you need to go, and you have just started pushing up on your knees for small amounts of time. Life will sure change around here when you are moving! You take 2 naps each day ranging from 1-2 hours. This is a great change! You take your first nap at 9:30 and your second one around 1-:30-2:00. This new nap schedule means we can plan our days out nicely and you are awake for lunch dates that I like to take you on. You were sleeping 12 straight hours at night for a few weeks, but are back to waking up once around 4am for a bottle and then back down ‘til 6:30 or so. This is a just fine schedule with me. I love our early morning snuggle and feeding. You are starting to eat 3 meals a day. We usually do oatmeal and a fruit in the morning around 8:30, lunch around 1 with a fruit, and dinner about 5:30 with a veggie. You have liked most foods we’ve given you, but you don’t like peas, carrots, or bananas. You are almost done with your DOC Band! You have done great during these 7 weeks and we are so happy your are getting it off earlier than the 10-12 estimated weeks. You’re head looks just perfect! You still have your 6 teeth and I’m just waiting for more to appear. Your teeth make you look so much older!
Soon you will be on the move and I can’t wait to see what else will change for you this next month.
I love you little bean.

Tummy Sleeper

B is now a tummy sleeper at night and sometimes at naptime. Yikes! I must say it does put a little more worry in my mind, but I know that he can easily roll himself over if he needs to. I've read that once they can roll from front to back and back to front and lift their head it's OK if they sleep on their stomachs, but it still is strange. With all the "baby back to sleep" talk I feel like I'm doing something wrong by letting him stay on his tummy, but every time I roll him to his back he just flips right over. This made me feel better...from sidscenter.org: "Once babies start rolling and choosing their own sleep position, you do not need to keep turning them over onto their backs."

On the bright side B has slept a full 12 hours the past few nights. He hasn't woken up for a feeding. That's been strange for me, but I'll take what I can get. He has also put himself to sleep much better both nights.

Here are a few pictures of my tummy sleeper.

This is from a nap one day this week. He wears a sleep-suit as a blanket. Yep, next item on the "to buy" list is a breathable bumper.


A picture of the video monitor from tonight


I'll take any words of wisdom to ease my mind : )

Sweet B,

You are 7 months old today! You are such a bundle of joy these days. I can’t believe you are closer to being a one year old than a newborn. This past month you have gotten 4 top teeth in., and it makes you look so much older.

You have done great with your doc band and we got it decorated today. You have also started going to physical therapy to help straighten out your neck and work on pushing up, rolling, and the beginning stages of crawling. You are such a trooper with medical things and you are making great progress! You take 3 naps each day (9,12:30, and 4ish) and go to bed between 6:30 and 7:00 each night. You still wake up one time each night usually around 4am, have a bottle, and then you sleep each day until 6:30 or 7:00. You are eating 2 meals each day. You have fruit in the morning and a veggie at night. You have becoming a pro with eating off a spoon and you sure do love to eat! You seem to like every food we give you. You have learned how to use you fingers rubbing on your mouth to make noise. It’s so cute! You are becoming such a wiggly worm when I hold you. This is a new thing for you, but it’s neat to see you develop in different ways. I can’t wait to see what this month brings!
Love you little one.

New Look

Today we got B's band decorated! A place in Austin that does vynal wraps for business wraps bands for free. This is a service that would normally cost 200 dollars but they do it for free. Such and amazing service they provide for these babies. I thought for a while about what I'd like B's band to look like and looked at a lot online. I finally decided on a baseball since it's baseball season and it has somewhat neutral colors. I didn't want anything too bright or flashy. I think the final product turned out great!

Here he is showing off his new bling!

6 month photos

I decided I didn't want to pay to get 6 month photos of B taken and thought I'd try my hand at photographing him. Here are some of the shots I took and used Photoshop to help make them more professional looking.

Enjoy!

Doc Band!

Introducing "Buddy the Band"



And B showing it off...

New Seat!

We finally decided on a high chair to get for B. This was a big decision in my mind. I wanted one that would look good in our house (not too "baby") but one that was functional and got good reviews. Up until now we have been doing meals in his Bumbo chair which was fine, but it was time to transition.

The chair came in the mail today (LOVE Amazon Prime!) and I put it together by myself! We decided on the Fisher Price Zen Collection high chair.

Here is a picture of B after I put it together. Oh and BTW I change his bibs about every 3 hours...he just drools and blows raspberries that much!


Here is his first dinner in it...Avacados...yum!


So far so good. I give it 5 stars!