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

 

Happy 3rd birthday, Camden!

Over the weekend family and friends joined us to celebrate Camden turning three. The Thomas the train themed party planning sounded low key but was a lot of work in the grand scheme. Matt and PaPa ran train tracks made of painters tape throughout our house up and down our stairs. They took such great care and detail in it. Then YaYa and I decorated the rest of the house with streamers and Thomas banners and backdrops. Crossroads sign reading "birthday crossing." cool indeed.

There were over thirty people at he party. We served pizza, chips, cake, ice cream and drinks. I didn't want to make it complicated since I've got a newborn in my arms. Thankfully, my mom took care of Ben while we partied like a three year old.

After the party and the clean up was my favorite part,we traveled for the first time in 3 years down to my Uncle Art and Aunt Pam's place, Naas Farm, about four hours from Evans. We packed up what seemed like all of Camden's new toys and headed south. The kids were perfect car riders.

Upon our arrival, we ate a bunch and the kids fell asleep watching Peter Pan and Toy Story. Bliss for Cam. The next day was Sunday and we rested poolside. Both kids took several trips down the water slide. Millie started to love it while Cam remained resistant. By Monday morning Millie was swimming under water! I could not believe my eyes. So proud. We even managed to squeeze in a family photo shoot.

Monday night when we got home from Naas Farm, we gave Cam his gift from us... Thomas's Trackmaster train track...4 different tracks! It was a long night of fun! Now our playroom is covered in train tracks. I think purging may be in order soon.

Cam's actual birthday came on Tuesday. Cam brought donut holes to share with his class at school, and later Grandpa D'Amico celebrated with us at Red Robin for dinner.

During this last year, our big boy Camden went from hardly saying words to non-stop chatter, from constant diaper changes to clean and dry, day and night, from pushing his trike to riding a bike, and now he has favorites like trains, toy story movies, and cheeseburgers. He's 39" tall and about 33 lbs.