Eight Months... No, Nine Months Old!

Dear Ben,

You are nine months old and once again I can't believe how quickly time is passing.  You got to celebrate your first Valentine's Day last month and you sure are my sweetie.  You've hit a few milestones in the past two months.  The biggest?  You are finally sleeping through the night!  You also cut your first tooth and got your first (and hopefully only) double ear infection and you are pulling yourself up on everything.  You've learned how to use your knees to crawl, but still mainly do the army crawl because it's just faster... and you have places to be!  It's been a busy month!  When I took you to the doctor for your ear infection you weighed 21 pounds and 11 ounces.  You're following your big brothers footprints quite nicely!   

What do I love most about you?  Where to begin...  

You're super smiley all the time and you have the cutest little dimple.  You have the best laugh and are super ticklish.  You're love to snuggle and be close, especially to me.   You are a total mama's boy.  You're easy going and don't make a lot of noise.  I frequently put you in your high chair with the intention of feeding you and then get busy with the demands of someone else only to realize you are still just sitting there, waiting patiently, fifteen minutes later.  

We call you the human metal detector because if there is something to be found on the floor, you will find it.  I can't tell you how many times I look down to see you chewing on something only to find chunks of chicken and pasta from dinner the previous night or wrappers or dirt.  Last week you ate your first stink bug (ewwww) and then spit it up!  Totally gross!  

You adore your brothers and they love you!  You follow them absolutely everywhere they go and they love for you to chase them when you are in the walker.  You love that thing, but hate all other contraptions that I try to put you in.  Mostly you just love to move freely.  

You nap pretty consistently and you're also a good car traveler (phew!)  You don't get too upset when your schedule is jostled around.  You're pretty much a typical third born.  Interestingly, you seem to get easily overstimulated... and let me tell you... you live in an overstimulated house!  So I guess you are learning to adapt.  You aren't loud about it and it doesn't seem to bother you, but you are very alert and aware of things going on around you.  You tend to get fidgety and you pinch and pull hard on things.  It is sometimes difficult for you to fall asleep and you tend to be a fitful sleeper at night when you are bothered.  You are very strong and steadfast.  You don't give up easily on something that you want and it's these God given traits that will carry you far in life my sweet little love.  

Ben, you are truly a joy.  I like to think of you as the cherry on top of the sundae.  You are the perfect sweetness added to our family.  We love you and are so thankful that God saw fit to give you to us.  

Happy 9 months!

Lately...

Lately... it's cold and snowy, I have three littles ages four and under and the reality is that someone is almost always getting ready to go down for a nap, getting ready to eat or just getting up from a nap.  Unfortunately they are rarely all sleeping at the same time.  So, I have to come up with lots of activities to keep little boys busy and out of trouble.  Some days I excel at this and others, well... not so much.

We definitely get major cabin fever at times!  But for the most part we have really been enjoying cozy warm days at home and it's nice to have the excuse to stay in.

Here are some snapshots of recent...

There is lots of jumping around and being silly.  For some reason... despite the fact that we have giant bean bags and a trampoline... they still prefer to jump on the furniture.  Why is that!?

We have impromptu concerts

They love to go out in the snow.  Thank goodness for daddy... because I like to stay warm:)

They love to color.  We have recently started using our lapbooks and tot packs again.  On this particular week we were working on The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Ethan loves to recite the pages, especially the one where the caterpillar eats through all of the different kinds of food.  It's so cute to hear!  My sweet James really enjoys coloring and has turned his little brother onto it.  I love his quiet spirit.

Ethan is always asking me now if he can color.  This usually amounts to him scribbling on every page of a coloring book, rendering it useless for the next person.  But I don't mind because it keeps him busy and makes him happy.  What more could a mom want?

We have had a lot of snow this January.  I can't remember the last time we saw the grass!  They wanted to go outside and it was too cold for Benny, so they played on the deck.  They had a blast and managed to drag just about everything out of the deck box in a short thirty minute period!

We made caterpillars out of egg cartons to go along with our Very Hungry Caterpillar week.  They love to paint!  James needs very little direction, which is great since Ethan needs constant supervision unless I want paint on every surface of our house!

Love these sweet hands.  I wish they would stay this size forever!

I love how he has his tongue stuck out in concentration.

The finished product.

Ben is always happy when he can be watching his brothers.  He sat in his highchair at munched on a teething biscuit and watched the big boys play outside.

He loves himself a cookie!

With James off at school these two little buddies have fun together

This past week we have been doing some winter themed activities.  I got the sensory bin back out and filled it with cottonballs, styrofoam balls, small and large pom poms, snowflakes, and blue "icicles"

James practiced sequencing his numbers from 1-10 with penguins

And Ethan did snowflake matching

James decided he wanted to play with a T-Rex in the snow

We also made snowmen

He was very proud of his work!

And then we made our own snow, which was pretty cool

You just add a capful of powder to a small dish of water and...

You get snow!

Of course we had to smear if all over the table

 

So then we cleaned with the "buster" as they call it

And all of these "snow" activities occurred in less than an hour!  I have newfound admiration and respect for preschool teachers.

The days can be long at times, but I am truly so thankful for this time that I get to spend with these three  sweet boys.

Seven Months Old!

Dear Benny,

It's been awhile since I last updated this, but I've been too busy just enjoying your sweetness.  Here you are at four, five and six months!

I don't know where to even start... you're getting to be so grown up!  It sure is bittersweet.  This morning I was out by myself and I saw another woman holding a sweet little boy about your age.  He had fallen asleep on her shoulder and for a moment I started to tear up...  all I could think about was how in just a few short months you will be considered a toddler and not a baby anymore... and oh how I will miss all of your sweet babyness!  There is something so different about knowing you are our grand finale.  Every time you reach a milestone and even just in the everyday I am struck by a moment of "this is my last baby"and it makes me a little bit sad.  I am slowly mourning the end of the baby phase.  And you are my baby in every way.  For some reason I just can't seem to let you cry as long as I did your brothers.  I don't mind you coming into bed to sleep in the middle of the night and I don't mind carrying you around a good part of the day either.  You are such a little doll baby that I can't resist wanting to snuggle you all the time.

You have the cutest little dimple on your right cheek.  You seem smaller to me than James and Ethan were at your age... though you weighed the same amount as Ethan did at 6 months old.  Your head is smaller and I'm not sure if that is what makes you seem more petite:)  You are extremely busy!  You started to army crawl a few weeks ago and now you can get into things in the blink of an eye.  I turn my back for a moment and you're across the room.  You prefer to play with your brothers toys and love to watch everything they do.  They are great entertainment for you!  When I put you in the walker you take off like you have found a freedom not know before.  

You are really very quiet, but you let us know loud and clear when you need something.  I am continually amazed by how patient you are as you frequently have to wait while I do things for others.  You've started chatting with us and like to say "babababa" and you especially like to say "mmm" while you eat.  It's quite endearing.  

You are not the world's best sleeper and I think we are going to have to do a little baby boot camp soon, but it's so hard for me to let you cry!  You are still not consistently sleeping though the night and this mama needs her beauty rest, so it's time to break some of our bad habits.  You are napping well in the morning for the most part and taking another nap in the afternoon.  For a while you seemed to be a pretty fitful sleeper and you do quite a bit of rolling all over your crib.  However, you mostly seem to settle on your tummy with your hands tucked underneath you.  You're wearing 6-12 month clothes and size 3 diapers and eating three meals a day.  You love all fruits and most of the veggies I give you and just like your brothers... you LOVE apples and chicken.  We've tried yogurt, which you loved.  You also enjoy puffs, mum mum, teething biscuits and yogurt melts, but you have not warmed up to any chunky foods.  No teeth yet and they don't appear to be coming anytime soon.  That okay though... we adore your gummy smile!  

I just brought down some Valentine decorations from the attic and one of them was a picture frame with your sonogram photo from last year.  It's hard to believe we had no idea what you were going to look like or be like or even what you would be named, and now here you are as though you have been here forever.  You complete our family in a way I'm not sure we even knew we needed.  But God did.  And he brought us the most wonderful gift in you.  Everything about you from your sweet fuzzy duck hair to your ticklish little tummy to your chubby little toes is absolutely perfect.  We wouldn't change a thing.  You are so loved.

Halloween Happenings

Halloween was a blast this year as the boys are getting old enough to start choosing their costumes and actually enjoy getting dressed up!  We had lots of fun in the week leading up to trick or treating.

The Saturday before Halloween we had our 2nd annual neighborhood parade and picnic.  The weather was beautiful!  It was sixty and sunny... a perfect day for parading and eating pizza.  Ethan and his buddy across the street both dressed as Jake and spent the afternoon chasing each other with swords.

The past three years it has been rainy and cold on Halloween... and this year was no exception.  It surely did not stop our little Captain Hook and Jake from trekking around the neighborhood to collect treats at every single house.  They had a blast!

Ben stayed home in the nice warm house and went to bed.  The next day I forced them back into their costumes for a photo shoot. They were thrilled!

I took as many pictures as I could of my sweet little pumpkin!

Halloween has never been one of my favorite holidays, but with littles it sure is fun.  I look forward to many more years of silly boys in cute costumes!  Happy Halloween!