Being healthy was something I had prided myself on. I wish that this winter I could say our household remained in better health.
Ben has had more colds than I can keep track of. I swear his nose has been running constantly since mid-January. It seems pretty normal that Ben has had so many colds – I guess for his whole first year all of his colds are getting stacked one on top of the next.
Finally, Ben is on the mend after his latest round of a cold and cough, which this time included an ear infection and pinkeye. He seems to be back to his normal, cheery self. It’s amazing what a difference it makes when he’s healthy. He sleeps well, he eats really well, he is in a terrific mood and he’s able to really nail the developmental milestones.
Thankfully Alex and I have been able to stave off most of the illnesses, though both of us have gotten several long-lasting colds this winter. This last week I got hit pretty hard with a migraine that landed me in the ER only to wind up with bronchitis the next day.
Here’s to the end of cold and flu season….we are ready for summer!!
Baby Madeline and her parents, Sarah and Mike, came to visit us this past weekend from Minnesota. It was so fun to have another baby in our house for Ben to play with all weekend long. Both babes did well and really hammed it up for us! Madeline has the sweetest cheesy smile. I couldn’t get enough of it!
Sarah and I grew up together and have been friends for a very long time. Somehow it happened that we got to go through pregnancy and now the stages of motherhood together – Ben and Madeline were due a day apart last summer.
Both babies were born before their due dates and are 5 weeks apart. It was really neat to see how different of babies Ben and Madeline are. They are both super sweet and cuddly, and the biggest difference I noticed is that Madeline sits still!
Alex and I were so shocked at the fact that they could just plop Madeline down anywhere and she’d stay still and take in her surroundings. Even as young as 3 or 4 months, Ben’s little legs and feet or arms would be moving and shaking. He’s really never sat still and always wanted to be moving.
The weather held out for their trip pretty well, surprisingly. We managed to squeeze in quite a few activities during the long weekend.
Sarah and I strolled through the arboretum with the babes on Friday while Mike was spending time with his friend. Coincidentally the best man from their wedding also lives in Seattle {I was their matron of honor}. The weather was gorgeous and it made it a perfect afternoon to spend outside.
The clouds rolled in on Saturday and we headed slightly east to Woodinville for lunch and to do some wine tasting. We tried some new wines and had a great time.
We ended the evening with a trip to Westland Distillery, a whiskey distillery in the SODO neighborhood. Sarah and Mike {and Alex too} really like whiskey so it was a fun place to stop off.
The babies did so well on the outing! It was really fun to get out with them and see, at least for Alex and me, how well Ben did on a full-day adventure.
Our true adventure happened on Sunday. We braved the weather and headed for the mountains to do a hike at Twin Falls. Aside from a few minutes where it was sunny, it was lightly sprinkling throughout most of the hike. That didn’t stop us from lacing up our boots and hitting the trails. It was extremely gorgeous – the hike was fairly easy and followed a roaring river and winded through furry green trees. There were some beautiful views of the falls at the end. It didn’t disappoint.
After a really nice visit, Sarah, Mike and Madeline headed home on Monday. We loved having them here to play with Ben and to spend time together. We’re grateful for technology so that we can keep each other up-to-date with lots of photos and even FaceTime on occasion.
This last month has been filled with exploration, extra snuggling and tons of giggles {mostly as a result of Jackson}. Ben has totally mastered crawling, pulling himself up to stand, waving and clapping. He’s working on furniture surfing and walking with a lot of support, eating solid foods and understanding what the word “no” means.
Ben’s 11 month stats:
Weight: 18 pounds 13 ounces {around the 8th percentile}
Number of teeth: 2 {plus 2 coming in on top and maybe 1 on the bottom sometime soonish}
We’ve been really curious whether or not Ben would keep his pretty blue eyes and it seems like he just might! Alex and I both have hazel eyes, so we weren’t sure. My dad has blue eyes so maybe that’s where they came from.
In the last month or so Ben has finally started getting more hair! It’s going to be so funny to see him with a full head of hair since we’ve gotten so used to seeing him be basically bald for his whole life. It doesn’t show up very well in photos but it’s really starting to come in.
We started feeding Ben solid food at age 6 months. He has had major ebbs and flows where he ate a lot and then hardly anything at all. He became really temperamental at times and seems to want to be in charge of feeding himself.
In the last month we’ve laid off on a lot of purees and food pouches and focused more on giving him random bits of food to feed himself. It seems to have been exactly what he wanted because now he’s really starting to eat more. He loves cottage cheese, meat and Cheerios! It’ll be fun to see how it changes once he has his top teeth.
I’ll be surprised if Ben starts walking in the next month, though he is always trying to stand and walk with support. It’s incredible how much stronger he is today even from a few weeks ago. He still has a little ways to go before he takes his first unsupported steps.
Over the last 6 or 8 weeks Ben’s diaper has become extremely difficult to change. I’m not sure if it’s entirely that he doesn’t want it changed or that he doesn’t want to stay put on his back. Whenever we put him down on the changing table he flips over and the saga continues! Most nights when I’m changing him into his overnight diaper and jammies I am sweating and exhausted by the time I’m done! It’s like wrestling a wild boar covered in olive oil…
April was a month where he was mostly healthy, despite two colds and a cough. There was a 3 or 4 day period where he didn’t have a runny nose! I think that played into him sleeping really well and taking in more calories from solid food. Last night, Ben’s first night of being 11 months old, we opted to discontinue his “dream feed” at 10ish {while he’s still asleep we feed him one last bottle to carry him through the night} and he slept until 7 a.m.! Hopefully that is a sign of good sleep to come.
While he’s sleeping well overnight he’s become a little more difficult to put to bed on occasion. He has been fighting it more than he used to. We’ve got some tricks up our sleeves so it’s not too painful for any of us, though we do miss the days where we could simply lay him down in his crib and he’d fall right to sleep!
Starting around 9 months Ben randomly became really cuddly and thankfully that hasn’t changed. When Ben wakes up early Alex has been going in to get him and feed him and then brings him back to cuddle with me in bed. It’s pretty much the best way I could imagine starting the day!
It’s really hard to believe that Ben is transitioning to wear 12-18 month clothing. I was recently shopping in the baby section of a store and could hardly find anything size 12-18 month and then realized that is now in the toddler section! My little baby isn’t really a little baby anymore. It’s crazy to think he’ll actually be a toddler next month.
Ben is such a fun kid. We just love his little personality. I have a feeling he’s going to be a giant sweetheart. And also a ham. He is smiley and is starting to laugh a lot. Jackson and our nanny get the most laughs, though, so Alex and I are working on emulating them a bit more. I guess we’re not that funny…
In the last month, Ben and I took a trip together to visit my family and friends in Minnesota. He went to story time at the library most weeks and we’ve been trying to get him to play with other babies as often as possible. We are planning on having him go to a baby gym at a local community center during the week to get a chance to play with other kids and with different stuff, and simply get out of the house. We finished out the month with a wonderful visit from my friend Sarah and her family, including baby Madeline, who is 5 weeks younger than Ben.
Now that the weather is finally turning around {did you hear – this was the wettest winter on record ever in Seattle!} we’ve been getting out for more runs in the jogging stroller and our evening walks are getting longer and longer. I’m so excited to spend the summer with Ben.
Ben and I embarked on a trip to Minnesota just the two of us to visit friends and family. It’s hard living so far away and managing to make time for everyone back in my homeland, but I knew it was time to make the trek.
I knew the trip would be hard but I didn’t really comprehend in what ways it would be challenging. I take care of Ben solo quite a bit – every Monday and Friday I’m his sole caretaker, but five consecutive days and overnights is a little bit different. I was pleasantly surprised that the trip ended up being easier than I had expected.
Ben had already taken four plane rides by the time we set out for Minnesota. That worked in our favor because we had learned a thing or two about how to be efficient, what to pack and what to expect. I was approaching our plane trips calmly and with the realization that they were an insignificant, but necessary, part of our trip.
Again, much to my surprise, Ben was a rock star traveler on our way to Minnesota. He took two 30-minute naps, he was engaged in one toy for many, many minutes and was completely chill. Typical Ben is a big wiggler – his little legs are in constant motion and he likes to move from one toy to another. I couldn’t believe it when he was focused on my teething necklace for almost the entire plane ride. As it turned out, I did not need to bring a bag full of 20 different toys!
Our first full day in Minnesota was forecast to be gorgeous – low 70s and sunny — a perfect day for a stroll around Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis with my friend Sarah and her daughter Madeline.
Madeline and Ben were due within a day of each other and ended up being born 5 weeks apart. It has been an incredible experience going through my pregnancy and motherhood with my best friend. We exchange probably between 50-100 text messages a day! I was dying to meet Madeline and it was one of the main reasons for my trip.
I knew before Madeline was born that Sarah was going to be an excellent mama. It was wonderful finally having the opportunity to see her in action. Sweet Madeline is lucky to have Sarah as her mama!
In addition to our walk around the lake we planned a gathering with our group of girl friends from high school back at Sarah’s house. Another one of our friends had a baby a week after Ben was born – it has been so fun to share the journey with Sarah and Cammy and hear what their girls’ are up to.
I really enjoyed my time with the girls. The three other girls are mamas to older kids and they were quick to jump in and offer to hold the babies so we could eat or relax. I loved catching up with these girls and so appreciated the time together.
The rest of my trip was mainly spent with family. Sunday I joined my mom and aunt Sarah at the Como Zoo for the afternoon.
I think Ben really enjoyed the zoo. He was interested in the giraffes and waved both of his arms and feet with excitement whenever they moved. He didn’t seem to totally get the concept of the zoo, unsurprisingly, though the bigger animals that were awake and moving around were the ones to grab his attention.
Later that day I stopped over to visit my brother and his girlfriend, Becky, at their place and have dinner together. My brother went above and beyond and put together a terrific meal with Ben in mind. In advance, he asked me if Ben had had some specific cuisines because he wanted to prepare something new that Ben hadn’t tried before.
John prepared vegetable samosas, lentil soup, risotto and roasted vegetables. Everything was delish! I especially liked the risotto and Ben loved the lentil soup. Ben loved crawling around their big, open, carpeted living room too!
My dad got to spend a lot of time in the mornings with Ben while I was pumping and getting ready. It was so sweet to see the two of them together. Ben almost never falls asleep on anyone during the day but he did three times with my dad! I guess he’s got the magic calming touch.
One of the activities we did with my dad was go back to the YMCA that I grew up working at. I hadn’t seen it since the facility underwent a massive renovation. I spent 8 years working as a lifeguard, swim instructor and childcare staff at that YMCA and it was really neat to go back and see it thriving. We took Ben for a quick swim in the pool before heading over to my mom’s for dinner.
My mom and my friend Kelsey have become rather close over the last several years. It’s really nice that they have such a great relationship and my mom can see her “other daughter” more often than her biological one. Kelsey joined us for dinner one night and it was such a treat to see her. Ben was really out of sorts that night so we didn’t get a good chance to catch up or relax much, but I enjoyed the visit, nonetheless.
I was able to make up for the visit the following morning with some Ben and Mamie cuddles and time together before Ben and I headed to the airport.
It was really nice to see my family and friends and to see everyone get the opportunity to spend time with Ben. Until he was born I didn’t really consider the grandparent relationship or what it would look like. Alex and I are still honing in on that and working to find a balance that works for all of Ben’s grandparents. Each grandparent is so different and it is hard to meet everyone’s expectations and make sure the grandparents are feeling included and like they get to see Ben enough.
When it came time to head back to Seattle my dad dropped us off at the airport. I approached this flight the same way as I did our flight out to Minneapolis – with a calm demeanor and whatever happens, happens.
I also decided to consolidate and put my handbag inside my suitcase so I only had to carry the diaper bag onto the plane. In doing that, I went against advice I normally followed – I took out my extra outfit and the second extra outfit for Ben. Of course that quickly bit me in the bum – when I went in to change Ben’s diaper before we got on the plane I realized that his diaper leaked all over him, me and the baby carrier! We were all soaked! I did what I could to clean us all up and I got Ben into his one and only change of clothes and then we boarded the plane.
About half of the plane ride heading home was great – Ben was really happy and then fell asleep and was taking a really nice nap. It seemed like something woke him up and he got scared and woke up suddenly and I could tell wasn’t ready to be awake. He was really out of sorts for the rest of the flight and we spent most of it in the galley hanging out with the flight attendants.
{Mid 70s, thunderstorms and snow all in 3 days… only in the Midwest!}
All in all, I’m really glad I made the trip back. It was empowering to do it by myself and heartwarming see my family and friends with Ben. I’m not in a hurry to solo-parent an infant again for a while, but I’m very pleased with how well the trip went.
I recently celebrated my golden birthday {March 31st} and it was very golden and special, indeed. I waited as long as a person could wait to enjoy my golden birthday and it was surely worth the wait.
Lucky me – my birthday was on a Friday this year. The weather was really nice that day, too, as it often is in the beautiful city of Seattle. We had a relaxing morning at home before Alex headed to work, then I stayed home with Ben that day. One of the fun highlights was taking our new jogging stroller out for a spin!
That night we met our friends Mary and Ryan for dinner at Tilth, a terrific restaurant in Seattle. Their specialty is a five-course tasting menu with wine pairings. We were happy to sign up for that! The food was terrific – our favorites were the sunchoke soup {I know, right?!} and the albacore tuna. Yum!! We have so much fun with Mary and Ryan and it was extra special to have an adults-only birthday celebration {Mary’s birthday is two days before mine} for the two of us.
Saturday was my big birthday hurrah day. Alex and I had our first overnight away from Ben. We went out to Woodinville and stayed in our favorite hotel, Willows Lodge, and enjoyed an afternoon of wine tasting, which led into a fantastic dinner at Barking Frog and an overnight in a beautiful hotel.
Ben did great with his first night at home without us. The nanny kept us up-to-date with some adorable photos throughout the evening.
We finished off our rendezvous with a fabulous breakfast at Barking Frog and then headed home to hang out with our little guy.
The theme of this last month has without a doubt been movement. Now as a 10-month old, Ben is constantly on the move! His body has basically been always moving, but now he can get from one place to another and then across the house in 2.832 seconds.
Diaper changes are proving to be quite interesting with our wiggle worm – within .3 seconds of putting him on his back, he flips onto his tummy. Repeat 253 times until diaper is loosely on and parents give up. In any case, we are having so much fun with this kid and watching him grow up is pretty much the best thing ever.
Ben’s 10 month stats:
Weight: 17 pounds 12 ounces (5th percentile)
Number of teeth: 2!!!
Won’t know height until 12 months unless we measure
In the last month Ben has gone from crawling within about a 5 foot radius to exploring the whole house. He is really getting fast, too! Within about 2 weeks of learning to crawl, Ben had become adept at pulling himself up. Now he can pull himself up simply by balancing on something – he’s been using my shirt to hold sometimes. It’s really impressive how quickly he picked it up.
So far he has only taken a couple of steps when he’s holding onto something, so no furniture surfing yet. I have a feeling that will come very soon!
Ben has become such a cuddle bug. It is the sweetest thing! He’s surely making up for lost time. He’ll crawl over to a plush toy, scoop it up into the crook of his neck and just nuzzle it. Sometimes he’ll crawl over to one of us and bury his head in our lap. I’ve been able to sit in the chair with him and read him stories – something I’ve longed for for quite a while.
In the middle of the night Ben has been waking up a lot over the last two weeks – partly because he was sick. Many times it seemed like he just wanted some love. I was happy to oblige and cherished the moments of holding him like a baby, something he never used to tolerate. There really is something special about the middle of the night. Perhaps that sounds crazy, but it’s the only time when our house is silent, I can sit in his beautiful chair in his bedroom, peacefully rock him and look at the stars and the moon. He isn’t going to be a baby for much longer, so I’ll savor these moments while I can.
Alex is less enthusiastic about the middle-of-the night cuddle parties and last night we didn’t have any! I’m ok with sleep too 😉
In the last week or so Ben has made really exciting progress on feeding himself. We’ve changed our course a bit and are pushing finger foods over higher-calorie purees and it has made mealtimes more fun for everyone.
Our initial thought about the purees was to replace calories from breastmilk because I couldn’t produce the 36 ounces he kept eating each day and he refused formula. Now, thankfully, he’s been taking a bottle of formula every day so we can all breathe a bit easier and focus more on finger foods. I’ve heard that 10 months is a big turning point in solid food for babies and they really start ingesting more finger foods.
We’ve started having family breakfasts and dinners together and share with Ben whatever we’re eating. It’s infinitely easier than making purees. We do still try to spoon feed him a little puree or cottage cheese, yogurt, soup or something similar because he seems to enjoy it. I love our mealtimes together and it seems like Ben loves eating with other people and not just by himself.
His personality is really anything but little. It is so fun watching it emerge and getting to know him. He’s started yelling at me when I’m on the phone and not paying him 100% of my attention and he’ll squak at us when we don’t feed him fast enough. He is really finding ways to communicate with us.
Ben has started trying to be sweet when he’s doing something he’s not supposed to. It’s really hard not to laugh! He will look up with sweet puppy eyes, smile, giggle and then grab something he knows he’s not supposed to get. I have a feeling he’s going to be a big sweet heart and a piece of work!
He is making a lot of new sounds, still only says “dada” but he’s really seeming to start to understand more of what we’re saying. He definitely knows what “no” means.
As a 10-month old, Ben has one stamp on his passport and he has been on two plane trips, with a third coming up next week {he and I are going to Minnesota}. He’s been to three of the 50 states {Washington, Illinois and Arizona} plus Canada. Hopefully we’ll get him at least to California, Oregon and Wisconsin, in addition to Minnesota, by the time he’s two.
This little boy makes our hearts so full and we can’t wait to see what Ben is like as a 10-month old. Stay tuned for more updates!
P.S. – our 10-month “photo shoot” was the hardest one yet. Ben didn’t want to sit up in the chair so he kept sliding down, rolling over and farting… I have a feeling this is only the beginning!
The latter part of our trip to Whistler ended up becoming a staycation. Under different circumstances we always welcome a staycation, though we wish it wasn’t because Ben was recovering from hand, foot and mouth disease. The timing ended up being great for Ben to be sick while Alex and I had nothing else going on and were both able to be home for the 5 days it took him to bounce back.
I had heard of hand, foot and mouth disease before Ben got it while we were in Whistler and was aware that it is no joke. Sadly for Ben, that’s the darn truth. HFMD is the @)(*)($@*$#($* worst. He got blisters all over his face surrounding his mouth, his hands and his feet and then the rest of his body had little spots like chickenpox. The blisters were also in his mouth. Some of the blisters seem to be extremely painful, particularly those in his mouth, so Ben was refusing to eat or would only eat a little at a time. We were pumping the Tylenol as often as possible and learned the hard way that Motrin did not do a darn thing to relieve the pain.
Poor kiddo was miserable for the better part of 36 hours, then the next couple days he seemed better but far from 100%. Today {day seven} he’s mostly back to normal, though he’s still in both a sleep and a calorie deficit.
We were really happy we came home from Whistler early. It made taking care of Ben much easier, particularly in the middle of the night. It was such a relief when he started turning the corner on Saturday.
Over the weekend we got a few breaks in the weather and enjoyed some sunshine and warmer temperatures. I took Ben on a couple of long walks in the neighborhood so Alex could get some stuff done around the house. We created a giant {and very advantageous} spring cleaning list and managed to get a few things accomplished. I even got my entire weekend to do list accomplished – that rarely happened before Ben was born, let alone after.
It’s Monday now and Alex is back to work and we’re mostly all back to normal. The blisters on Ben’s face have dried out and are starting to peel off. About 2/3 of the skin around his mouth has peeled off and is working on healing. Thankfully we all caught up on some sleep last night and have our fingers crossed that the rest of the week will only get better.
Whistler is one of Alex’s and my favorite places to visit and ski. The village is adorable and the mountains are extraordinary – Whistler Blackcomb is the largest ski resort in North America! We thought it would be the perfect destination for our first family-of-three vacation. Alex and I hadn’t been there together since 2013, though I was there last winter with my dad. While the trip was very different than we expected, we had a great time and we’re scheming on making an annual family Whistler trip every winter.
Our trip began on Friday morning – we had gotten pretty much everything packed up the night before and were hoping to wake up and load up the car and then hit the road before Ben took his morning nap so that he could snooze in the car. The timing worked out really well, but I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a train. I was operating at about 20% and that’s being generous. Alex took one for the team and by some miracle we were out the door by 9 and Ben quickly fell asleep, as did I.
The drive to Whistler is 4.5 to 5 hours, depending on Vancouver traffic and border wait times. Once you pass through Vancouver the drive is absolutely breathtaking along the Sea to Sky highway. Sadly I did not enjoy any part of the drive other than when it was over. By then I was feeling better but not 100% {by the next morning I was fine}.
This was going to be our “big vacation” and we had reserved a condo for a full week – Friday to Friday. We scheduled a babysitter for three days so that Alex and I could ski. In addition to downhill skiing we brought our cross country gear so that we could take Ben out too. We’ve heard from several friends that there is a lot to do with babies in Whistler and we were really excited to experience that first-hand.
The condo we stayed at had a really good location for being a young family in Whistler, though it wasn’t as close to the lifts as we had hoped. It was situated just outside the village, quite close to the Olympic Plaza, which has a skating rink, a sledding hill, and a playground. It was also near the library, a grocery store, several coffee shops and other great restaurants. Next time we visit we’d opt for a place closer to the gondola and more in the heart of the village.
Our first full day was great – the sun was out and it had snowed a few inches overnight. Perfect for exploring the village and doing some sledding!
Day two was scheduled as a ski day. We requested a babysitter through a local service, confirmed with her the night before and much to our surprise, she never showed up! Our “Plan B” was pretty okay and we spent another day in the village and went cross country skiing.
{Coffee on the couch instead of skiing!}{Coffee on the couch quickly turned into boozy hot drinks on the patio…}
{We skied around Lost Lake – it was a short 2.5 mile trail and by the time we made the first loop the trail was getting icy so we opted to call it quits. This trail was a little more hilly than the one we’re used to at home and I wasn’t very comfortable going downhill with Ben on my back.}
We were able to flex our skiing schedule a little bit and the babysitting service managed to switch us to a different gal who did show up on Monday morning so we could go skiing. Alex and I were more apprehensive about leaving Ben with a babysitter than we expected – something about a stranger and being in another country, not to mention we were going to be skiing, was a little weird. Once she arrived in the morning she put our nerves at ease and we hit the slopes.
What ended up being our one and only ski day was terrific. We skied our hearts out! We skied on Blackcomb Mountain and covered it top to bottom. The sun was out, the snow was soft and we were ripping it up. The combination of being there on a Monday at the end of March meant we skied right on to the lifts every run – we got so many runs in that we found the time to take a much needed coffee break.
{One of our favorite areas was the new Crystal chair – we found some powder pockets and skied in an area that had been hit by a forest fire, which provided a perfect gladed run through the trees with some nice soft bumps.}
At the end of our ski day we were very happy to get back to a content Ben who had a great day with his Aussie babysitter. She offered to come watch him the next evening for us, so we happily took her up on that so we could have a date night together. We went out for a glass of wine first and then headed to a fancy restaurant for dinner. It was a great night!
Taking Ben to restaurants is totally hit or miss {mostly miss right now} – he’s got to be in the right mood and he’s not particularly fond of sitting still {just like his mama!} so it’s not always fun for anyone. If we can get him in the right mood he’ll just sit there and munch on a pickle or a french fry or whatever we’ve got in a similar shape/size. But mostly he just wants to get down and crawl around and say hello to the other diners.
We had some really terrific food while we were in Whistler. In past years Whistler has not been my favorite ski town for good food but it’s starting to move up the ranks. Some of our favorites were a bakery called Pure Bread {should have been named “Heaven”}, an adorable creparie called Crepe Montagne, as well as Araxi and Basalt, where we went out for our date night.
Wednesday ended up being our last day in Whistler, though we were booked until Friday. Ben somehow contracted hand, foot and mouth disease which is a really awful and highly contagious virus that’s very common in young children. After a couple hours Wednesday morning we pulled the plug and started packing up to go home. Since home is so close for us we thought we’d all be more comfortable there and saw no point in staying in Whistler.
The drive home was slightly better than expected, though I spent most of it in the back seat with Ben so I could be there if he needed some comfort, which he undoubtedly did. On the drive home we decided to stop at the famous Tim Hortons because we had heard it is the cat’s meow. Turns out it’s Canada’s version of Dunkin’ Donuts and we’d have been much better off stopping just about anywhere else. Otherwise, the car ride home was mostly uneventful and we made great time. We were fortunate to arrive home to a clean house with banana bread in the oven – our nanny stayed at our house while we were gone.
All in all, even though our trip was very different than we had expected, we had a terrific time and I’ll look back on it with many positive memories. We’re excited to get back up to Whistler!
In the last few days Ben has gone through major developmental changes. It has been so fun to watch. He started crawling in very late February and for about 10 days he had a radius of about 5 feet that he would stay within. Then last week he started testing his boundaries and becoming a little explorer.
So much in the last week or two I realized that my little baby is really not that little anymore. He may be small for his age according to the scale but gosh he is growing up right before my eyes as he crawls towards toddlerhood.
I credit {blame? 😉 } the nanny for this – she “encouraged” Ben to crawl out of his room and down the hallway last week. Since then Ben realized that he can move…. fast!
I’m still in awe of the transformation Ben made last week. He was really sick with an awful cold and cough – poor pumpkin was miserable – and still he managed to make some of the biggest developmental leaps I’ve seen yet!
At the same time as he was becoming a power crawler he was learning how to pull himself up on things. No sooner has he mastered that and his mattress has been dropped to its lowest level.
Long before I became a parent I knew I would be different than most parents. Independence and self-sufficiency are two of the most important qualities to me. These seem to be lost in the days of helicopter parenting. In any case, I also disagree with the many parents who “warned” me about when the kid becomes mobile how much “harder” life will get. Sure, I’ve got to watch my kid more closely, but it is becoming so much more fun.
Just this morning he was playing with something in the kitchen and crawled over to check out what I was doing in the cupboard. He became engaged with some baking dishes that kept him entertained for 10 minutes while I emptied the dishwasher and got breakfast ready. His curiosity, independence and ability to interact with his surroundings makes life more fun and easier in my book.
Seeing the world through the eyes of a baby who is experiencing the world for the first time is heartwarming and exciting. I love watching the wonder and curiosity in his eyes when he sees something new in our house or out in the world. These are the days, and I have a feeling they’re only going to get better.
Holy cow. When did this happen!?! Nine months sounds really old….
Ben just had his 9-month check up with his new pediatrician {we switched doctors to one that was closer to our house}. We love the new clinic and I really like Ben’s new doctor.
Ben’s 9 month stats:
Weight: 17 pounds 7 ounces (~ 5th percentile)
Length: 27.5 inches (25th percentile)
Head size: 43 centimeters (5th percentile)
As with the last several months, Ben has become a new baby each week with all of the growing and developing he has been doing. As a 9 month-old he is crawling (!!!), giggling, chatting and wiggling his little body all over the place. We are now on our toes more than ever before!
It was so fun to watch Ben figure out how to crawl. It was such a slow and steady progression over the last 6 weeks or so. First he started scooting backwards and then one day after countless days of rocking back and forth on his knees, lunging himself forward and rolling to get to something he figured it out and took his first few crawling steps forward. Even before he started crawling he began to pull himself up on some things around the house. It’s hard to believe the next major milestones will be standing and walking.
Ben continues to be an absolute delight. He is so happy and gives us oodles of smiles. His grins are still toothless and adorable! Ben is a total wiggle worm and full of curiosity. He always wants to see what’s going on.
His personality is so fun and sweet. He’s even becoming a little more cuddly. On a rare occasion he’ll lift his arms up and let you know he wants to be held. That’s the best! And when he snuggles his head into my shoulder I just melt!
Ben has been giggling a lot {mostly at Jackson!} and is generally super smiley. Despite having an ear infection followed quickly by a cold, he had a terrific attitude through it all. No “man colds” for this little boy!
Lately Ben has been eating more food that is not in the form of a puree. Some of his new favorites include pickles, french fries, cheese, chicken and anything with a tomato base.
While we were traveling recently I picked up some store bought baby food pouches of pureed food, similar to what we make at home. Turns out, he loved them! I think the consistency is a little bit more thin and smooth than what we do at home. He devours them in about a minute or two!
While he was sick and while we were traveling Ben didn’t eat as much solid food as he usually does, which meant that he needed more milk. My supply of milk has been declining over the last couple months so we’ve had to transition him to having a bottle of formula every day. It was a really difficult transition for us all but I’m happy to report that he usually takes the formula without much issue now.
Lately Ben has been really engaged in reading. He has a few favorites, but mostly I try to mix things up a bit. He has quite a library! I’ve been trying to read him more animal books and talk about animal sounds a bit more. I’m thinking that Ben’s first trip to the zoo is going to happen soon.
We’ve tried to have a lot of social time for Ben to get to play with other babies. Since he doesn’t go to daycare we’ve got to make up for the social interactions. A couple weeks ago we got together with some of our close friends and their kiddos, all of whom are close to Ben’s age. We love watching Roslyn grow – she’s only 4 weeks older than Ben and they both had IUGR.
Sleep has been really hit or miss the last month. Since Ben had his first ear infection plus a cold plus a trip this month his sleep has been intermittent. Overall, though, aside from the ear infection, he’s slept pretty well, though.
The one and only time Ben has ever fallen asleep in a real bed was one morning on our recent vacation. Alex and I are really cautious when it comes to sleep for Ben so one of us was glued to the side of the bed making sure he was okay while he was snoozing.
We’ve loved how delightful and fun Ben has been this last month! We’re having a blast with him and can’t wait to see what this next month has in store for us all.
