Riley--2 Months (March 19-April 19)

Oh my cuteness!

Riley, you're otherwise known as "Sweets" for some reason...but it's probably because you're just too darn sweet!  You've been smiling for a few weeks now (and it has nothing to do with gas!).  We are loving you as an addition to our family and slowly finding our groove as a family of 4!  Here's how month 2 went down:

Growth

• Weight:  12 lbs even!  Height:  hmmm....can't remember (I'm typing this a month and a half later), but I'll try to go back and look!
• Diapers:  Size 1 for most of the month and then when we ran out, they were snug, so you just moved on over to Size 2.
• Clothing:  Slowly growing out of 0-3 and the 3 month stuff really is fitting better!

Eating/Sleeping

• You had to get on a schedule because I went back to work the day before your 2 month birthday!  Here's how that went:  GREAT!!!  I started the first 2-3 days back to work feeding you around 5:30, but it was stressful waking you up, getting all 3 of us ready, pumping, etc.  You decided you liked to wake up around 6:45, so that's where our day starts now! 
• You eat around 6:45AM, 9AM, 12PM, 3PM, 5:30PM and 7:30-8:30PM (that one depends on the day, but you're usually ready for bed by 8ish)
• You're eating 4.5-5 oz bottles depending on the day.  You were officially at 5 oz bottles by the beginning of April.  You get 2 formula bottles:  one during the day and one right before bed.  I realized that Bennett slept great at this age and I think the formula has something to do with it, so I'll take it!  I still nurse you on the weekends (because I can sleep in and not pump) and any time that you wake up in the middle of the night.

Stretch!!!  Just like Daddy and Bennett!

•  
  Sleeping = We're SO lucky!  You're not consistently sleeping 10 hours, but for the most part, I can put you down between 8 and 8:45ish and you'll sleep until around 6:45AM.  Don't get me wrong; we've had a few nights where you wake up once (or even twice--can we NOT do that anymore, please???), so we're grateful for what we get!  You nap decently at daycare.  Again, it depends on the day!

Bathtime has become one of your faves!

Such a peaceful sleeper---AHHHH!!!

Working on those neck muscles!

Nap time after a mani/pedi by mommy!

What's up ladies??  First time in the bumbo!

Lovin' the swing!

First day at daycare:  he seems stressed, huh?

Riley--Weeks 1-4

On our way home from the hospital!

HUGS!  Bennett loves Riley and would always find him and give him a hug/kiss.  Sometimes he pushed a little on Riley, but it was accidental and we're working on it!  (I'm just glad he's not hitting him!)

This is called "realization"!  The uncertainty of this little thing that's now taking time away from me, but also curiosity at what it is!

Hey Riley!

Life as Riley will know it....with a brother by his side!

Going on our first walk in "The Hoss"!

Bennett has been very loving towards Riley and always wants to hug, kiss, or hold him.

Trying to do some close ups!

 

Growth

• You weighed 7 lbs 3 ounces when we brought you home from the hospital.  By the time we had your first dr. visit 3 days later you were already up to 7 lbs 6 ounces and at your 10 day appointment you weighed 7 lbs 13 ounces.  You're showing us you're a good eater!
• Thank goodness we have a few newborn outfits because the 0-3 and 3 month ones swallow you!

Sleeping/Eating

• We had to wake you every 3 hours no matter what in order to feed you--until you got up to your birth weight. After that, we could let you sleep however long you chose during the night, which was nice for us...even if it was only an extra 30 minutes or so!
• We tried putting you in your crib when you were 2 weeks old, but due to you having a rough night and Bennett waking up several times that same night, daddy and I were exhausted and decided to keep you in our room a little longer.  Not that you couldn't handle it...we were just too tired to mess with going up the stairs!  We officially started you in your crib every night on your 1 month birthday!  (I still hate walking up those stairs twice a night...or more...just so you know!)
• You are a pretty content baby.  In fact, the first week and a half we thought we'd won the lottery since your cry was so quiet!  THEN you woke up!  Oh well!

You've had lots of visitors and have gone lots of places.  Being the 2nd child, we don't necessarily have the option of staying home like we did with your brother!  We need to get out for his sake (and ours too)!  So far, so good.  We'll see what the next month brings!

 

 

Bennett--14 Months

14 Months:  Personality & Independence Reign Supreme!

Heeeyyyyy!  Howdy to Halloween month!

HUGS to Chip!

HUGS to Queso!

HUGS to Baxter (neighbor's cat)!

Can you tell that mommy's been working with me on hugging and being gentle?  She's trying to make my spurts of hitting change course and I love practicing my hugs on animals!  (I'm learning some bad skills apparently from the girls in my daycare room!!)

Growth

• Height--up about 1/2 an inch from last month...but that depends on how wiggly I am on my growth chart!
• Weight--stable at around 24 pounds--give or take the day of eating!
• Clothing--18 month (some 12-18 month depending on brand)
• Diapers--still at size 4 for regular and night-time

Eating

• You want whatever is on our plate--even when you've got the exact same thing on your plate!
• Restaurants are much more work for us since you're so active, so we're not visiting them as frequently as we were.  We'll still go to them because we want you to know how to behave in public (as much as possible), but boy, is it exhausting!
• You're apparently using your spoon more at daycare, but we still struggle with it at home.  You do like to bang the table with it and then drop it to the floor though....is that progress???  :)  (Once again, our "pick it up once" rule has come in handy with this action!)
• Right after your 14 month birthday we completely quit all bottles.  You now just have a sippy/straw cup.  I still haven't tried to change the bottle routine--it's been a rough month of teething and the two nights I lessened the amounts of milk you got at bedtime you "told" me you weren't happy!

Sleeping

• You are napping GREAT at daycare and getting better at home just taking one nap.  It's hard because so often you're ready for a nap before lunch, but we try to keep you on your daycare schedule, which is a nap only after lunch!  Sometimes you sneak one in though--and that's okay with us!
• You had a few nights where you woke up from around 12:30-2:30ish, but we think (and were hoping) that it was due to teething.

The World of Bennett

Getting better at going down the slide!

You're hilarious in the tub now and LOVE to splash and "GO" from one end to the other! You love putting your Little People boat captain in his spot on the boat, bring the boat to your mouth, drink the dripping water, and then bite off the captain!  Silly boy!  You also love putting the drain stopper back in, as well as putting it on the side of the tub when I ask  you to.  It's a rush to get the toys out of the drain so you can put it back in!

 

*You love bubbles.  HOWEVER....the day you stuck the bubble wand into your mouth multiple times instead of trying to blow on it (even after me saying "No, no, no!!!") that washing your mouth out with soap when you get older probably will have the opposite effect!  (Not that I'd actually do that...but it's good to know now that it might backfire!   The day you sat on my lap for literally 20 minutes dipping the wand in/out of the container was such a great time with you.  Love you sweet boy!

*Your molars are now coming in--yikes!

*You taught yourself how to open the back door at the end of October--so now it's dead bolted if we're inside!

*Started giving good hugs (arms around neck) at night when you're not so ready to get into bed!

*Brought me my shoes one morning because you knew they went on my feet--that was a pretty funny move!  You definitely see/learn more than we think you do!

*You can move yourself backwards a little bit in your car.

*Gilbane Picnic, Pumpkin Patch, Turkeyfest (blog to come), and Halloween (blog to come).  Whew!  It has been a busy month!

Petting the animals at the fall festival in Will's neighborhood.  You loved giving all of them hugs!

Yep--you now can make it onto the couch on your own...when you're not whining about being put up there!

Halloween skeleton

Playing in the sprinkler with Chip!  Gotta love November weather in Texas!

What?  The stick was just sitting in the yard waiting for me to pick it up!

Playdate fun with Violet, Will, Rory, and Carly

This is my favorite.  Somehow he decided that he liked to eat on this rug by the back door.  We only have afternoon snack there, and he will sit if he just sees me with the container!  Love it!

Taking after mommy and using my Chic-fil-A dipping sauce for everything!

Sensory play with pom poms.  Thank goodness mommy uses Pinterest to find ideas!



 

 





Bennett--9 Months (May 7-June 6)

9 Months--Whoa!

Stop me!  Just try and stop me!

I refuse to sit still for a photo op, Mom!

Growth

• At your 9 month appointment you weighed 21.5 pounds and were 28.5 inches long.
• Size 3 diapers
• 12 month clothing

Sleeping

• Still sleeping 10-11 hours at night.  Your routine now is to go to bed between 6:45 and 7pm and you're waking up between 5:15 and 6:15am.  I think we'll have to work on that for summertime! 
• Naps:  maybe an hour or so at daycare, but better at home.  Your internal nap clock is set for 30 minutes I think.  Gotta find that reset button!
• You're getting SO much better at going down without a fight.  Only every now and then do we hear you cry for more than about 4-5 minutes.

Eating

• You're on to Stage 3 foods!  I sometimes wonder if you even taste what you're eating!  You're such a great eater and I don't want to take that for granted! (obviously this bullet was written about a week before bullet #4--see below!)
• You LOVE different flavored yogurts. Good for you.  Makes me sick just thinking about yogurt--blech!!!
• Waffles are a no go (so far!).  Don't worry--I'll keep trying!  If you're 50% me, you'll eventually like them, right???
• You went through a period (about 3-4 days) where you gagged on anything that wasn't either a) what you wanted, or b) had a texture you had to chew.  This was kind of frustrating b/c you'd been doing so well.  We just kept trying foods.  One night you gagged on your meal, so you just got water.  Things are gonna be rough for you, kiddo.  Mama's not a short-order cook!
• However, right after this period, I made chicken and black bean something for daddy and I to eat.  I took out some beans, chicken, and veggies for you, pureed it, and you ate it like a champ!
• You LOVE it when we eat Mexican food because you get "people" food like beans, guacamole, and chicken just like a big boy!  We're getting there!

Can you find the grape skins? That's what was left over the first time he ate grapes!  (I used to leave the skins too!)

Growth
 •You're trying more and more every day to stand on your own--by Mid-May you could do it for about 5-7 seconds!

 •The window ledge apparently won the first battle between it and you.  Bruise #1 (the main one that wasn't just from crawling/moving around--this one actually required an ice pack and mommy/Bennett loving time).  I think I'll just stop counting at that!

Obstacle course fun!

Big bruise!

Ridin' my car! 



Smushy window face!  Silly boy!

 •This whole "big boy" pajama thing is adorable!  I can't believe you're in them, but you're so stinkin' cute in them, so it doesn't matter!



• Lock him in!  We now have to literally strap you in sometimes when changing your diaper!  You've always been a wiggle worm!
• You now love to shake your head no.  It's even funnier when you do it as an answer to something we've said/done.  No, you don't realize it answers anything, but it's still funny!
• Lip smacking--you do it a lot because of drool, but you've started doing it to mimic us if we do it--cute!
• The fake cough.  You are FABULOUS at copying anyone's cough!  It's cute...especially when you put all 3 of your "tricks" together!



You like to get into whatever I'll let you!  This is your cabinet...nothing's off limits!

Bennett--4 Months (Dec 7-Jan 7)

4 Months Old

Starting to get chunky--legs, cheeks, belly--and SO cute!

You are one stinkin' cute kid!

Growth

• At your 4 month appointment, you weighed 15.8 pounds and were 25 inches long! (A week later you weighed about 16.5 pounds...what a chunk! But, the day you had your 4 month appt, you also caught a bug at daycare and hadn't kept much down).
• You got your 4 month shots and although you screamed, you didn't scream much longer than 30 seconds. As soon as that mean nurse left, you were good to go!

Sleep

• Still 8-10 hours, depending on the night, and mommy and daddy are SO thankful for that!You've woken up around 2:30/3:30am a few nights this month, but go right back to bed after we feed you. We don't care for this middle of the night thing, but since you don't do it often, we really don't have much to complain about!
• Swaddling: will this be the last month or no? You are in the medium size Summer Infant one and stretch your legs out to the end of it. You fight 5 out of 7 nights with your arms--so we try one or both arms out--and you cry, so we usually put both arms back in and you pass out! Right now (Dec. 15) I'm researching how to best wean you from it....I'll update later if things change.

First ever completely un-swaddled nap!

• You now rub your eyes when you're tired, which is great! Sometimes we already know if it's definitely nap/bed time by your actions, but this is great for both us and if someone else is watching you so you can be put down!

Eating

• You are now eating rice cereal at least once a day. Mommy and daddy try to feed it to you after picking you up from daycare, but if it's a busy evening, it doesn't get added. When I was on my Christmas break from school, I also added it to a morning feeding, so you got it twice a day!
• Tried organic brown rice cereal the Monday before Christmas to see if you'd like it---you DID! (Think I liked it more too. When we went back to white rice, it was goo-ier and just didn't seem as good!)
• You're still at 6 ounce bottles if you're not eating rice cereal---you're growing into quite the chunky monkey, but you're healthy and we love it! You get a little less with cereal since I use the bottle to make your cereal.

Personality

• OMG can we say HAPPY BABY??? You are such a happy baby and every day we comment on how lucky we are that you are the baby that God blessed us with! Your laugh makes everyone around you giggle with delight and I try to get it on video whenever I can!
• You wake up happy and go to bed happy (most nights).
  
  

Activity

• Doorway Jumper--LOVE it still! You are a bouncing baby boy in every aspect of your life!

• • • 

• Jumperoo--starting to love touching and pulling on the toys on it. Your feet are just touching the floor, which makes it easier for you to entertain yourself in it.
  
• Swing---STILL love it! We took it to Gram and Pops' house for Christmas--that's how important it is!
• Playmats--LOVE touching/hitting things on it
• Tummy time---still not a huge fan, but you're holding up your head so well and kicking/pushing off things more and more. Rolling over is on hold because you hate tummy time so much, but we try it every day!
• Bumbo--LOVE it! You are now a huge fan of sitting up/standing up (with help) to see what's around you. You'd much rather do that than lay down flat.
• Grabbing--bringing things to your mouth and reaching for them when they're around you
• 
  
  
• Throwing--started doing a slight toss of objects you have in your hands (did this right before Christmas)
• Sitting--you're working on it....let's just leave it at that! The pictures pretty much say it all!
  

• The week or so before turning 5 months old, you started reaching/grabbing for things a LOT more.  You actually started coming at me with your arms out if I was feeding/burping you, or just holding you in my lap and playing.  You've started to love it when I eat your hands and it really makes you laugh!