Happy birthday Papa!!

 

We headed to Nana and Papa's house this morning to meet Aunt Linda, my cousin Kristin, and her two boys Jonah and the newest addition Jasper! My dad knew me and my aunt were coming but we kept Kristin and the boys a surprise! Bennett brought his papa a balloon and his card that he signed all by himself ;)

(that is the best handprint I could get)

We had a great lunch and my mom was able to take off for lunch and come home for a bit!

2nd cousins Bennett and Jasper - Jasper is 7 weeks younger than Bennett and weighs in at 13lbs! I guess big boys run in the family!

Bennett and his great aunt linda

Bennett not too happy his Nana is giving another baby attention

 

 

My dad wanted to get everyone together and go out to dinner.. but with his health steadily declining we are not able to even get him out of the house (he hasn't left the house in a long time) :(

So tonight, my mom is picking up Los Cucos to go (he thinks it will just be him and my mom) but oh no. Me, Bennett, Adam and my Uncle are all going to surprise him again tonight! Hopefully Bennett will behave ;) Tomorrow I start my first day of work and Adam will be on his first all day baby duty shift..... send prayers! I told him about our schedule for feedings, naps, playtime etc... pray daddy doesn't mess it up! :)

 

Tuesdays Randoms!

I am slacking a bit on the blog, but Bennett's naps have been few and far between! I got the job at Brookwood Community! It is weekends only but I will also help out with events that the community hosts on week nights as well. I am excited!

Last week (I think it was Thursday) Ashlyn, Natalie and baby Hadley came over! Hadley is 9 days older than Bennett, however baby girl was 8 weeks premature due to mama's preeclampsia. She is so tiny and so sweet! I am serious, even her little burps and cries are so sweet! Bennett is all boy that is for sure! lol

 

Adam was supposd to come home Friday... yeah that didn't happen :( Just so happens Friday was Bennett's first bad day. He cried and cried and cried. We were so happy daddy came home Friday! Bennett went to Nana and Papa's and mommy and daddy went out for sushi (Ok, I had hibachi and Adam ate sushi)

 

 

We had a good time and Bennett had a great time at Nana's. We picked him up Sunday morning and headed to HEB. We had the family over for football Sunday and all had a great time. Bennett decided to NOT take a nap all day. By 8:00pm, he was out for the night. Saturday I also managed to get out my fall decor and all my pumpkin candles!

 

 

The newest thing I have discovered on Etsy is appliques. I got this one at Hobby Lobby along with a tie onsie that is so cute.  I made him the shirt below last week,

 

 

I also got an I phone! Okay, I never understood people's obsession with apple products and I have been reluctant to spend that much on a phone, but with the I phone 5 coming out Friday, I got the I phone 4s with the 5 software for $100! I no longer mute myself, hang up with my cheek and somehow I always 3 way call my my mom with my cheek with my old phone. I also never got service on my droid at our house so now I have awesome reception! It takes great pictures too!

 

Had to share this funny picture - Bennett's walker has this owl on it and the owls eyes are huuuge. This is what Bennett does every time he gets in his walker

He is so  confused by this owl. It is so funny! He can't walk yet it in, but loves to be pushed around the house. He giggles and when you stop he moves back and forth trying to make it go again.

 

 

I will end this post with some pictures from HEB yesterday... Bennett stared at me the WHOLE time and just smiled! We had so many people come up to us and just swoon over him. He was hamming it up big time!

 

 

 

Bennett will be 4 months old next Sunday (he was born on the 31st, and September only had 30 days so we said the 30th will be his monthly birthday) I cannot believe how fast time is flying by! His doctor's appointment is on Thursday the 4th, and I am anxious to see if we can start solids. Last week he has really started getting interested in us eating. He watches every bite you take like a hawk and will eventually cry when he cannot have any.

What's better?

A stopped up baby or a baby that has prune juice? Bennett has passed a BM... 5 times today. Good news is he loves prune juice.... bad news is he now has the big D and I don't mean Dallas!!

I called the doctor the second they opened and talked to a nurse.. she said give him an ounce of prune per month of his age (3 ounces). She said this is most common in breast fed babies (i wish) but not formula fed babies.  If he has not gone by tomorrow, we need to get into the doctor ASAP. We rushed to the store, got some prune juice, and 20 minutes later we had our first poop! I never thought I would be so happy to change a dirty diaper.. and then they kept coming and coming and coming.


Good news is I had a happy baby tonight and we do not need to rush to the doctor tomorrow morning!! Woohoo!!

I love you

Yup. Bennett's first words occured on 9/19/12. I know he has heard mama say it 15 million times and is just repeating what he heard but Bennett said I LOVE YOU!!!!


I had just gotten him to my dad's and got his play mat out and we were babbling back and forth to each other. I said I love you and he said I love you right back! My jaw just dropped and my dad and I just stared at each other for a good minute. He finally said.. "Did you hear that...." I said YES! If he was not with me I would have thought, oh god Amy you are going crazy but he heard it clear as day too! Adam was so upset he misssed but so proud of his baby boy!


Knock on wood, we only had 2 small meltdowns yesterday. I think this colic is finally starting to subside! Bennett was all smiles and laughs once again and talked all day long. He even talked to me in the car on the way to my doctor's appointment, talked to doctor P and her assistant Jackie, and was still talking away when we got to Nana and Papa's house! Doctor P could not believe once again just how big he is!


She prescribed me to some medication to help with the crying (me, not Bennett) but honestly, I am not too sure I need it. Now that our colic meltdowns are much less severe, I have not cried once! Woohoo!


On another note, Bennett has now not gone potty in 3 days. I know babies get constipated, but I am one worried mama. We are calling Dr. McGraw as soon as they open. Adam read to give them juice, but I am not to keen on the internet being acurate and would much rather find out from the doctor on what we need to do.

Here's to a good week with smiles, giggless and baby babble!

Just a little bragging..

Yesterday we had the best day in the world!! This is how Bennett looked like ALL day yesterday!

He had one, yes ONLY ONE Colic meltdown and mama was able to get him to stop crying in less than 10 minutes! This is HUGE! Bennett talked all day long! (I am not sure if video below will work as I have it on my facebook page) He does this new sqeual! My theory is that he is trying to get his voice high pitched like mamas lol he is so funny! Also, Bennett only had a 30 minute nap yesterday and never got cranky. Bed time is where we struggle the most. It usually takes Bennett 45 minutes to an hour of screaming to go to sleep. Last night I rocked him and he was asleep in less than 7 minutes! He slept 12 hours the night before, and is now alseep still going on 11 hours. Mama needed this day. Yesterday makes up for the weeks and weeks of having a colicy baby. Wish Daddy was here to see all those smiles. Bennett got to talk to daddy on the phone last night. He was so excited when he heard daddy's voice and even did his new "squeal" on the phone with him.


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Picture Overload!

Before I post of all our pictures from the week, I will first catch up over the week/weekend. We still have a colicy baby. We are finding out what works best for Bennett. For awhile we would carry him around the house for 45+ minutes, causing your arm to hurt and fall asleep. Now we know it works to take him into his room (it is dark) turn his mobile and sleep sheep on, close the blinds, give him a paci and just rock and sing until he is okay. We know have the times down pretty well for his outbursts, 11:00am, 2:00pm, 5:00pm and 8:30pm. He does better on days we get out of the house. He loves going new places and just stares. He always sleeps in the car, but the second we get somewhere he is eyes wide open and just takes everything in.

I would lie if I didn't say it has been rough on me, it has been sooo rough. Adam is out of town this week so I just pray we have a better week. I have not been feeling like myself lately. No energy, a LOT of crying spells and just so moody in general. I go to the doctor tomorrow for my post pregnancy check up, so I will talk to Doctor P then. We had a good weekend with Daddy and just stayed low. We did our family grocery shopping Saturday, Natalie stayed this weekend with us, we had a visit from Granma, and Ben came over to spend the evening with us watching football. Bennett is trying to roll over from his back to his tummy, uh oh! I think by next week he will have it down. Right now he gets about half way!

Now here are our photos! :) (Note, the pumpkin pictures were taken because I KNEW this outfit would not make it until October. I am going to have to go find another Halloween outfit soon)

His face he always makes with Granma, it is so funny

Not crying during tummy time

Hi mama!

Too cute

Closest to a smile we could get, he is NOT a fan of the sun

Sitting up watching Dinosaur train

He is getting some brown specs in those blue eyes!

 

Wish this wasn't blurry :(

Teething is on full force. If he has nothing to put in his mouth, he will always chew on his hands!

Play session with my mama

Helping dad grill some steaks for dinner

After one of his melt downs, his bubba teeth is still his favorite paci

Up early watching ESPN, getting ready for football Sunday. Bennett LOVES football

Crying, crying and crying! Oh my!

It has been a rough LOOONG week. Bennett's spitting up has been soooo much better, but the crying is getting worse. Yesterday we (yes, WE) cried from 11:00am - 10:00pm with a 2 hour nap in between there. I am almost 99.9% positive we have colic on our hands. My friend/next door neighbor's son who is 3 weeks older than Bennett has reflux and colic as well. They told us about Gripe Water, tried it and nothing. Baby boy has the worst burps. He seriosuly will have 8-10 burps that takes about an hour for him to get out, or until he falls alseep. We do tummy massages with warm oil, bicycle legs, burp him over shoulder, burp him on his tummy, burp him sitting up. You name it, we've done it. Bennett just screams and screams, face red, hands clenched, back arched and all. I know he hurts and it breaks my heart knowing I cannot do anything. (This is when my crying begins) If he is not better by this weekend, we will be going back to the doctor. I am sure I will be a basket case by then.

Speaking of crying - I have been way more emotional than I ever was when I was pregnant!!!!! I get so mad at Adam because no matter how hard of a day he had at work, I think "he has no idea" about how hard my day was. He comes home, picks Bennett up and Bennett will stop crying, and he will say "see, he's fine" Ugh! I know sometimes a baby just needs a new set of arms to be held in but it drives me crazy to the point to where I get mad at the hubby! I know it is just my crazy hormones, geesh! Ready for these emotions to go away! I hope I am not the only one.

On another note, I have an interview today to work weekends at Brookwood Community and to also help host events on week nights. This means... daddy (sometimes Nana) will be on baby duty from 8:00am-5:00pm on weekends. I am happy daddy we will see how hard being a stay at home mom is. It truly is the hardest job I have ever had to do, but it is by far the most rewarding job in the whole world. I am happy Benentt will get some one on one time with daddy too. It will be good for the both of them. I will miss my baby so much on weekends, but I think it will be good for me to get out of the house, other than to go to the grocery store, etc.

Okay, I am done with my venting. Send some prayers that baby boy has a better day and mama can stay sane.

Houston..

we have a scoocher!!!!

 

2 minutes before this photo baby boy was laying underneath his toy and kicking his piano. He was all giggles when mommy caught him laying the other direction! He has now done this several times. Daddy caught him in the act (he does it when no one is usually looking) He arches his back and kicks with his big ole legs. He is getting stronger every day!

 

He is talking now and one of his favorite things is to sit there and watch you talk and try to say what you are saying. For instance "I love you" comes out as ahhoooo. It is so funny! Daddy always says hungry and Bennett will say "Hunnn"

 

Tomorrow we will be 1 week since he has been on Zantac... I think we are making some progress. He definitely isn't throwing up with every bottle like before. He is pretty much down to one big spit up a day, or a couple of little ones. His crying is somewhat better. He stayed with Nana and Papa Saturday night so mommy and daddy could have some alone time. I told Nana "Good luck at 9:00pm" and sure enough at 9:01pm, the fussiness started. I am thinkin since it is so consistent on what time he gets fussy we may have some colic on our hands.

 

 

His sleeping is awesome! He is sleeping a solid 9-10 hours a night now..!!!

 

 

Which lets mama have time to do her make up in the morning, this is a first!

 

 

We had a great weekend with daddy! Saturday litte man stayed home with daddy while mama got out of the house for a little while. I stopped by Hobby Lobby and tried to think of something to make Nana, Papa, and Granma for Grandparent's Day.. this is what we came up with!

 

 

We tried doing hand prints.. that didn't work out so we used feet! It was such a mess but was so much fun!!

 

 

 

 

Bennett was covered in paint, which lead to his first "half bath" in the sink!

 

 

Luckily, I read to use acrylic paint and it came off with water!

 

 

After we got the paint off my little forggy

 

 

 

Saturday afternoon we dropped Bennett off at Nana and Papas. We had a relaxing night in, daddy made mama some short ribs with a tomato cream sauce over penne pasta and we watched the 5 year engagement - pretty funny!

Sunday after delivering our present to Nana and Papa, we picked up baby boy and headed to Mary Jo Peckham park. The weather was amazing and baby boy was amazed by the ducks!

 

I love our little family! Nana snapped this before we left fot the park

 

Sleeping at the park

 

Daddy and his mini him

 

 

Mommy and her #1 man

 

He gave the ducks the weirdest looks

 

"Ok mom I'm ready to go home"

 

 

 

Last but not least, this was today at Babies R Us. We put this hat on, went to take it off and he got fussy. He won the battle and got the hat. :)

 

Found a winner!

Well, it's a official!! We LOVE Doctor Pamela McGraw with TCPA Town and Country! She was so so so sweet and actually spent time with Bennett, played with him and gave him a big old hug when she left! I could not believe it, makes me realize how much I really hated his doctor! I had to get there 30 minutes early to turn in all my new paperwork and we were still in and out in less than an hour and we were called back 10 minutes before our appointment time. I was in shock!

(Doctor Razak told me at Bennett's one month check up that Bennett would be obese by the age of 2 and I needed to stop feeding him) Doctor McGraw told me there is no way you can tell if a child is going to be obese until they are 3-4 years old, some babies eat more, some eat less, Bennett's weight shows he is a happy healthy baby with no problems!

Bennett now weighs a whoppin 15lbs 4oz (we didn't get the length). He is TEETHING already and she said she would not be surprised if he had a teeth pop through by 4 months! She walked in and could not believe he was sitting up and trying to stand. She said that is amazing he has such great head control and is baring weight on his legs.

Now onto the acid reflux, since Enfamil AR has been working this long we are not going to switch it just yet. He is going to start on 3 doses of Zantac a day - morning, afternoon and night and go from there. She says it will be about a week before we notice a difference (oh dear)

All and all it was a GREAT appointment and great first experience with our new doctor! We go back October 4th for his 4 month check up! We are ready for the weekend! Since we have a "cool" front coming, we are going to take Bennett to Mary Jo Peckham Park and walk around the lake and see the ducks! We also need to work on some Grandparent day gifts on Saturday! :)

Made the switch!

After calling Bennett's doctor office (TCPA Cinco Ranch) and it ringing and ringing until someone would finally answer and hang up - I decided it is time to switch doctors!

Bennett has a 9:00am appointment tomorrow at TCPA Town & Country West Campus (at Texas Childrens hospital) with Dr. McGraw. I am so excited to meet her! I was referred to her a long time ago by my good friend Cindi, but Dr. McGraw did not go to Katy Hospital when Bennett was born.

So here is to a fresh start with a new doctor and hopefully we can get baby boy's AR under control tomorrow!

Also in exciting news.. I am sort of looking for part time job! We are doing okay with me being home (financially) BUT I would love to be able to get out of the house more often with Bennett and be able to do more things with him. I would love to be able to do some more crafts around the home and eventually take on a new truck payment this Spring. I am looking for weekends only of course and not all day long (since that is the only time we can spend as a family) I would love to do something with helping people or animals! If nothing pops up, then no biggie, it would just mean we would need to continue our budget.

Mini family vacation - My brother's fiancee's shower is late October. I was just going to drive to Corpus that day and drive back (with Adam being home on baby duty) but decided why not make it a family vacation? :) We are leaving with baby in tow early that Saturday morning, wedding shower that afternoon, then out for dinner somewhere on the beach Saturday night for hubby's birthday. Sunday morning before we leave we will make a trip to the beach so Bennett can play in the sand (the water will be too cold for him by then) I am excited! And less than a month will be our drive to Midland, then a month later back to Corpus for the wedding! Whew! I am already exhausted just thinking about it :)

Better late than never..3 Months New!!

Last Friday was Bennett's 3 month birthday!! I seriously cannot believe how fast time is flying by!! Bennett changes every day! Lately, baby has been pretty fussy! We have resorted to several things to get him to stop crying - putting him in his carrier and turning the dryer on (seriously puts him to sleep in 2 seconds), walking him around the house in the stroller when it is too hot outside, carrying him around in his baby bjorn. Bennett LOVES being carried around the house. The second you sit down with him he starts screaming. Bennett was put on Enfamil Acid Reflux, but I think we are going to have to make a doctor's appointment and some medicine will be needed. The Enfamil AR worked great for the first month and a half, but baby boy cries soooo much now and spitting up has increased again :( It breaks my heart.

Sleep - Bennett slept 10 hours last night! 9:30pm - 7:30am, once again mama had to wake him up because I couldn't stand it any longer and knew he would be so hungry. His sleeping schedule seems to be a lot better now that he is in his own room. It also has helped mama and daddy with their sanity. He is now a supported sitter!!! If you hold his hands he will pull himself up with no problem! He loves playing now too. If you are holding him, he will even stand up on you! Ah, baby boy is so strong. He still hates tummy time more than anything. He loves bath time and diaper changes. My friend Amanda posted that they will change their baby's diaper even if he doesn't need a change because he stops crying - we do the EXACT same thing with Bennett!

He is such a big baby (like his mama and daddy was) I say he is probably 17lbs and probably 25.5" long. He can fit into Carter's 3 months (barely) but is mostly in 3-6 months now. We are in size 2 pamper swaddlers, but will be making the switch to size 3 this week. He loves waking up in the morning and has even found his laugh!! His laughs are few and far between (he will get one loud giggle out once a day, and it is a different laugh every day!)

Most precious face in the world

 

We discovered Disney's Chimpanzee is Bennett's new favorite!

On our daily walk around the house

My first Texas game! Hook em!

Safari baby

 

 

 

Our 3 month photos