The Week in Pictures (with a new camera!!)

Thanks to the generosity of both of our families, we were able to buy a new camera for Christmas! We were getting so frustrated with our old camera (well, not literally old, as we got it for our wedding). It would often be blurry and it wouldn't take pictures of our constantly moving baby quick enough! We still love the old camera for its size (so that we can travel with it), for the video taking component (sure easy to upload to the computer!), and it still takes good pictures (there are certainly lots of great pictures on our blog! just not as clear as we would like). The new camera arrived last Tuesday and we have had a great time trying it out this week!

Witnessing the inauguration of our new president.

So far Benjamin has been eating rice, oatmeal, and barley - and likes them all!

A great picture of his messiness (all over his face!)

Trying barley for the first time

Yummy!

Isn't 40 pictures of me eating enough by now?

Post-bath snuggly lion

Sitting up so nicely - holding on to the toy box saved him from falling over one time

I loved that it was actually sunny out - hadn't seen that in awhile!

We love love love this picture and the following two as well

Beginning to raise himself up on his hands and knees (we noticed this on Sunday)

Raising himself up again on Monday

Hanging out in our bed this morning as we got ready for school

The adorable laughing boy

During his rice cereal meal this evening (he eats around 3 ounces of milk mixed with cereal now for dinner after his normal feeding), Benjamin started laughing harder than I have ever seen him laugh before. It was so cute, so of course I wanted to capture it on video. I should apologize for not being able to keep the camera directly on Benjamin the whole time, but I had to hold it while doing my 'num num num' face that was making him laugh so hard. Perhaps I am just that funny, but I think he was a little punchy because we were pushing his bedtime a little bit.

As a side note, I want to mention that Benjamin slept for eight hours on Sunday night and then 10 1/2 hours on Monday night! This has been a little more than two months in the making, so I hope this trend continues!

First Taste of Oatmeal

Yesterday we gave Benjamin his first taste of oatmeal. He was very excited for food, which he gets now when he sees the spoon and bowl, but when he got the first bite in his mouth he just sat there with a confused expression. However, he did not spit it out but decided he really liked it and continued to eat a full meal. Steve and I both love oatmeal, so we were happy to see him take to it so well! I fed him one meal of rice cereal and one meal of oatmeal yesterday and today I am hoping it will help him sleep more. Last night was same as usual (waking up every 4-5 hours), but maybe tonight will be different (please!). He had a full feeding of milk and then 3 ounces of rice cereal before bed, so hopefully his tummy will be full enough for the night!

Yummy!

Post-Oatmeal

Lately he has been really enjoying his toys that make music, especially his leap frog center, his piano, and his building block tower. He has started to sing 'lalala' during these jam sessions and during other times of the day, perhaps from all the music? He has definitely shifted from blowing raspberries all the time (which he did over the holiday break) to babbling a lot. He says a lot of different syllables, such as 'mamama', 'bababa', and 'dadada', as well as 'mmmgoo' or 'mmmgaa'.

In the first video, you can watch Benjamin's first taste of oatmeal.

In the second video, you can see me getting Benjamin up in the morning.

New Friends

Yesterday we had a lovely surprise visit from some of our friends, Jonah and Marty, who currently live in Kansas. They both went to the U of Illinois with us and like me, Jonah teaches Latin at the high school level. It was fun to catch up, talk about Latin, and for them to meet Benjamin. We also joked about how we should be teaching Benjamin Latin right now (I do say a little bit of Latin to him, such as te amo) and that Leap Frog should offer a learning table with Greek and Latin in addition to English and Spanish.

Additions to Ben's Nursery

Over Christmas break, my Mom and I finished the curtains that we were working on for Benjamin's room. I had bought the fabric on Black Friday (a process which took over an hour as there were two lines to wait in - one for the fabric and one for checking out!) and we had started on it when my Mom visited here at the end of November. I must admit, my Mom did most while I helped. This past weekend, Steve and I put them up in Benjamin's room and they look great!

The dinosaur money bank has a new view now.

You can also see that I put up the decorative squares that Steve's family bought that matches his crib set. They are so sweet and match the curtains really well (same gingham print).

We also received in the mail some wood letters that my sister-in-law Natalie made for Benjamin. They are so cute and I am now working on getting them mounted with something so that we can put them on the wall. One last thing I want to get for his room is a clock that has the same aquatic theme that matches his room. Then his room will be pretty much finished!

Second Set of 6 Month Professional Pictures

On Friday, despite the freezing cold weather (both Steve and I even had no school Thursday due to -30 temps with windchill), we took Benjamin for his second round of professional pictures. They turned out so well, we were so happy! Benjamin loved the photographer and was such a trooper. I have included only some of his many adorable pictures.

Ben with his own toys.

About to eat the duck.

6 Month Appointment

We had Benjamin's 6 month well-baby appointment last Wednesday and everything went really well. We have a healthy little boy! We talked about solid foods (that we can start feeding him more cereal each day and then start introducing veggies and fruits), sleep (Dr. P's hope was that more food will mean more sleep - that is my hope, too!), and safety proofing our home (he will become very mobile soon - he can roll across the room slowly but surely now). Ben also received more of his shots, which he handled pretty well. There was a bit of crying, but it was short-lived. He is also now a 'leg' model, for they took a picture of his leg as he received a shot for instructional purposes.

Here are his current stats:

Height - 27 inches - 80%

Weight - 17 pounds - 39%

Head - 17 inches - 30%

The doctor also said that he saw the ridges of teeth coming in! You have to look carefully, but you can see the little ridge on the bottom.

6 Month Professional Pictures

Yesterday we went in and got Benjamin's six month pictures taken. Benjamin was not really in his usual picture-taking mood (i.e. lots of smiles and laughter) and it didn't help that our photographer didn't really seem to be trying that hard (she later informed us that it was her second to last day). We still got some cute pictures and we are actually heading to another portrait place later this week.

We're almost to the point where he can take his pictures comfortably while sitting up! I was right next to him for these pictures to catch him if he fell (which was one time, so not bad!).

A cute smile! Hooray!

This was the typical response we got although all three of us (Steve, the photographer, and I) were trying to get him to smile.

Sitting up all by himself and with his teddy! He spent some quality time attacking the bear with his mouth inbetween takes.

Our family picture

6 Months Old!

Today we celebrated the fact that we have had Benjamin with us for half a year now! It has been amazing to watch him grow and I marvel at how he has changed from the tiny newborn he once was. His tiny legs (or 'wiry', as our doctor called them) have been replaced by pleasantly plump legs, his tiny bit of hair has been replaced by a small amount of hair, and his eyes have gone from dark blue to a mixture of blue and sometimes green or sometimes brown. He has stayed the same in certain respects as well, such as always being alert and interested in the world, smiling all the time, and being so delightfully cute!

13 days old vs. 6 months old

Some pictures taken today:

Taken early in the morning in his reindeer outfit

Yea for teethers!


Big yawn - yes, why are we up at 6:45 in the morning...? Certainly not Mommy's idea!

Playing with some cute penguins (see video at bottom of post)

Trying out the jumper for the first time (see video below)

Some of his recent achievements/attributes:

-rolling from tummy to his back (and we are now happy that he is just starting to do this sometimes when he gets himself onto his tummy and is not happy about it!)

-rolling from his back to his tummy (still an issue during nap time - he often cries once he flips onto his tummy while trying to fall asleep)

-smacks lips

-blows raspberries a lot

-sometimes falls asleep on his tummy

-sitting unassisted briefly (he has fallen over a couple of times and cried, but for the most part he is doing pretty good!)

-grabs face, hair, glasses, lips, chin, etc.

-rakes objects/toys towards him and then picks them up

-is pretty good with his thumb and index finger grabbing things. Today he got hold of the cord for our camera with his thumb and index finger and then picked up the camera.

-transfers objects from one hand to another

-sounds like he says 'mama' when he cries

-has had a couple of rice feedings, which he has enjoyed every single time. he smiles when he sees the bowl and spoon!

-loves his toes (they are pretty darn cute)

-I am able to cut his nails now without having him feed at the same time

-still using bath tub (I like to have him on the newborn side to clean his front and then on the older baby side for the rest)

-I can clean between his toes (I was not really able to do this when he was a newborn!)

-babbles a bit

-laughs and smiles a lot

-smiles while he dreams (sometimes makes sucking noises)

-has a tiny bit of cradle cap near his forehead (not a fantastic detail, but we want to remember the details

-Steve calls it wishful thinking, but I sometimes see a hint of a first tooth! He seems to drool and love his teething toys, so who knows! Maybe soon.

In the first video below, Benjamin is trying out his jumper for the very first time. At first he wasn't quite getting the idea, but as you can see in the video I took, he started to realize what fun it can be.

The the second video, he is having fun with his penguin bowling set. He decided to skip over the step of throwing the ball to knock them over to knocking them over directly himself.

Last Batch of Five Month Pictures!

As the day he turns 6 months approaches, I have included here a few pictures taken today, his last day of being 5 months old!

What a cute cuddly-bear

Starting to sit up a little

But then his toes needed to be mouthed

Sitting up! Though immediately after this picture was taken, he fell backwards. I felt so bad!

Feeding time!

Eating some rice cereal (yes, in his room - I prefer his comfy room to our cold kitchen)

What a cute, albeit messy face

Happy, post-feeding, with Daddy

Enjoying a quiet Saturday night home with my boys