Happy 2nd birthday, Ben

We celebrated Ben's birthday with his cousins, Aunt Leigh, Mia and Papa. His cake was a marble-flavored, Hot Wheels theme. He had a lot of fun playing with all his new presents and sleeping in a big boy bed. He figured out how to climb out of his crib a couple of days before he turned two.  That particular morning he met me at my bedside around 6 am beaming with pride that he had managed to climb out of his crib, left his room, walked down the stairs all the way to kiss me good morning. I was not amused. Immediately after breakfast I took down his crib railing with a screwdriver (my wrists were killing me afterwards) and made it a day bed. 

About a week later we completely took down his crib and moved him into the bottom bunk with Cam and then Millie into his room. She is loving having a room of her own now. It's nice to see the boys together in their marvel avengers themed room. 

Gosh, it seems that we don't have a baby any more except he's still wearing diapers. We learned at his preschool open house last night that they will start potty training in the fall. 

I got my eye on the calendar. Looks like with a little prayer we may not have to pack diapers to disney world at Christmas!! That would be awesome! 

Ben's grown, of course:

Weight: 27.4 lbs 35%

Height: 36" 68%

Shoe size 7.5. 

Ben turns 18 months old!

Ben's Stats:
Weighs 23 lbs (14%) and is 33" tall (62%)
Sleeps from 1:30-4pm and 8pm-7am most days.
He's a happy, easy going kid who loves to eat, sleep, play and bathe. He will do that anywhere and with anyone. Sweet sweet child. I wish I could have a million babies just like him.

'Tis the season

I've been laughing at myself a lot these days. If you can't laugh at yourself, then who can you laugh at, right? I laugh because I find the things I do quite humorous, mostly when no one's watching. This is a season, I tell myself.

 A season of picking up toys or dirty laundry WITH MY TOES because my hands are full of kids or more toys. A season of severe self control. I refrain from licking the spoon of raw brownies because "it has raw eggs in it" and I want to set a good example. A season of sharing my coveted jacuzzi tub for bathtimes and enduring back pain from reaching way too far to clean a kid's back and not to mention all the random bath toys surrounding MY bathtub. A season of eating candy in a closet so I don't have to "go there" with the kids, or hiding from the kids just so I can make a private call to a utility company. God forbid the person on the other end know that my kids communicate at a high volume level, and I ask them to repeat themselves, over and over again. A season of Dora's soundtrack running constantly in my head. A season of total drain after 8:30 when I can hardly remember to do the dishes still sitting in or near the kitchen sink from dinner. And there's more...

A season of staying home while I raise some great kids. A season of saying no over and over again, so eventually I can say yes. A season of being wanted by three miracles of life. They only want my attention, my time and my touch. A season of holding hands and children and guiding them where they should go. 

So in this season, although very humorous to me, I realize it is fleeting. So in any season I will try to remember the blessing in it all. Because that's what it all is... A blessing from the good Lord. 

First Days of School

Ben's first steps!

The other day, the kids and I were at the pool and the lifeguard asked if Ben was walking yet. I said, "no, I think it will be a while." A week went by,  and we were headed up to Virginia to see my brother's family. Low and behold the next day Ben was testing the waters of independent walking. He would move one toy from say a chair and then put it just a step out of reach. In a short time, he was taking several steps at a time. Sweet baby Ben walked for the first time, in front of an aunt, an uncle, cousins and us, about a week and a half shy of his turning 13 months old. Guess he was waiting on an audience. 

Ben turns ONE!

I blink and here we are, a year later, with an almost toddler.

Ben's actual birthday was uneventful. Sadly, he was sick on his birthday. It seems each first birthday that our kids are sick with something. He happened to be running a fever and a little cranky. We made cupcakes for everyone to enjoy any way.  About three quarters of them went to waste. I was hoping by Saturday (three days later), he would be healthy again and alas he was! That night we enjoyed the best homemade purchased vanilla, banana-creme filled cake ever. There was so much icing on his smash cake that he never got to the actual cake part. It was pretty funny, though, watching him devour the icing.

Since our last post, 6 months ago, "Benny" is crawling, cruising, coasting, but just not quite standing alone and walking. He says words like "dada," and "mama" and "ni-ni" (night-night). He points. He plays "indian." He signs "all done." He dances, like moves his whole body, for more food, rather than signing "more." He's fascinated with plugs, cabinets, trash cans, toilet paper, drawers and doors. He climbs and dismounts the stairs with ease. He keeps up and plays well with Millie and Cam. They still adore him and exhibit tons of patience with him.

My typical routine once I put him on the floor to play involves a child-proof quality check. If I forget, Ben is sure to remind me that the stair gate was left open or, worse, the toilet seat was up. When he's headed for trouble, I'm usually watching. I say, "danger Benny," and he responds "Da-duh" but in a way that makes it sound like "danger." Cute stuff.

He's eating everything. No more baby food. His favorite foods are peas and bananas. His food adventure is only beginning! Whole milk here we come, once weaning is complete. That may be a while though.

Here are his stats:
Weight- 19 lbs
Height- 31"

Milestones include:

4/15 first tooth

4/30 crawling on all fours

5/15 2nd tooth

7/2 pointing

7/24 discovered security blanket

At a year: nursing 2-3 times a day and eating mainly small bites of regular food like spaghetti, pizza, edamame, potatoes, waffles and strawberries. 

Ben turns 6 months old!

On Thursday, January 10, our baby turned a big six months old. Even though we are still on the fence about him being our last child, I am relishing every single moment! Ben still maintains his easy going, happy, sweet baby status. The other children still adore every waking second with him.
Because of his wonderful demeanor we haven't pushed an on-time schedule, although there is routine.
He is thriving and developing right on track. We've got his well-baby appointment on January 29 where he will receive more vaccinations.
He's wearing 9 month to 12 month clothing. Napping without crying and finally this week, we have seen a positive trend to sleeping through the night 10 hours (8 pm- 6 am).
We love our little guy as a family unit. If that makes any sense. Millie and Camden instinctively discovered their inner responsibilities for taking care of Ben. Everyone protects the baby. It's so hard to explain because I'd never experienced it before. Millie and cam aren't babies anymore. They are interactive humans with opinions, ideas, and identity in our family. I am loving being a Morris and raising more Morrises. Corny, I know, but true.

Ben turns 4 months old!

I'm 4 months old today!

Ben turns 4 months old today! Since our last post, a lot has changed. He moved into his room about a month ago, I think. Matt and I are sleeping in the guest room next door so I can access him easily in the night. He typically sleeps from about 8pm to 4 or 5am.  Then I nurse him and he goes right back to bed until about 8:30am. It's the perfect schedule for me because it gives me time to get the other kids ready for school, nurse him then out the door, in the car and to school we go.

He still proves to be a very easy going baby. No witching hour in the evening like with Millie and Cam. He adapts pretty much anywhere I lay him down. He really likes tummy time probably due to all the attention he gets on the floor from his siblings. He has rolled over from tummy to back a handful of times. His torso is stronger. As of last week, he can jump in the jumperoo, sit in the bumbo, and swing in the playground swing for a good amount of time.

His is such a drooler and loves chewing on his fist and fingers. I wonder if he'll get teeth sooner than 12 months old like the other two children. As of yesterday he has been tugging at his ear. We suspect it might be his first ear infection. I'm taking him to the doctor on Monday to get it checked out. I'll get his growth stats then too. In the meantime, we treated his ear with droplets of a mix of vinegar and alcohol before bed. It seems to work fine because he seems to feel fine afterward and sleeps well too.

Some of his favorite things are mirrors, tickles, eye contact, rattles and squeaky toys. Here are some photos I took tonight at bath:

Back to Ben! He's 10 weeks old!

10 weeks old, Ben!

I love Benjamin! He is the sweetest baby a mother of three could ask for. He is so so so easy going. He coos, ahs and talks right back to you like he's having a real conversation. I'm sure those coos mean something like "I love you so much, mommy, and won't ever stop."

The sibling love still stands strong, too. The love Millie and Camden have for Ben is quite astounding. They want to be with him every minute. Millie is getting good mommy practice as she loves mothering him.

It is hard to believe he has been a Morris for 10 weeks already.

Yesterday was Ben's 2 month check up. He is now 12 lbs, 12 oz and 23.5 inches long. Both around 50 percentile. I haven't looked yet, but I think he has to be my biggest baby at this stage considering Millie and Cam were 6 lbs at birth. No way they were already 12 lbs by 2 months. Also, he does have a little bit of chest congestion. The doctor didn't hear it in his lungs so we didn't get any medicine for it, but he did have to have his 4 vaccines. 3 shots and 1 oral... I always feel so sad and guilty. He's cried for about 5 seconds  then was happy to be in his Daddy's arms again.

10 weeks