The days they are a flying

Every day I think to myself, today i will post something on the blog. And every night I say to Matt, why dont you post something on the blog. And then when I finally get down to writing something I realize its been weeks since we posted. Bad parents.

Its crazy that Ben's five month old milestone is coming up so soon. On one hand it seems like such a short time but on the other hand it seems like we've had him forever, and on the other hand sometimes I wish we could just have a weekend afternoon off from having him. Yes I know I have three hands listed above, but quite honestly after becoming a mom, I realize I do have more than two hands or at least I must in order to get all that I get done with a kid in my arms!

Today Ben took his first ride in his real stroller (not the car seat and snap and go). According to Nanny Sharon he was enthralled with it. He does look like such a little niblet in it though. For some reason this picking of the stroller was such an ordeal for me. I must have read every review in the world, and test drove at least ten in the stores (Babies R Us shakes when they see me and the Nanny go down that aisle!). Thanks Aunt Ness for the gift card that we used to get the stroller.

Tonight I am writing this with hopes that there really is some truth to the 'cereal helps them sleep better myth'. Matt and I are about to embark on some tough love with Ben and letting him cry at night and not plopping him automatically in the car seat just so we can get some sleep. Currently we are on a feeding which leads to him not being able to get back to sleep in bed because he becomes the rolling maniac, and then mom saids "F it" through him in the car seat. Though the car seat keeps him quiet for a while it does not stop him from his 4 or 5 am I AM UP AND READY TO PLAY yapping session. I love my son but good god the high pitched yelling and talking is making me insane. He is in such a good mood when he wakes up and wants us to join in the fun. When Matt's not around I just put on Sprout TV, turn the car seat towards the TV and try to fall back asleep or try and fight to open my eyes. Here's to hoping that TV really does not rot the brain...

I have to laugh though. When we interviewed the Nanny we said we dont want our kid watching TV. So what do we do when she's not around, plop him with us in front of the set. In the mornings we watch the Today show, in the afternoons we cycle between 90210 (I've explained the Dylan, Brenda, Kelly love triangle to him countless times) or something on Bravo. I have to laugh when Matt is watching him downstairs and I find Ben tucked in the crook of Matt's arm, enamored with whatever Discovery show he's got on.

It really is easier to take a stand on parenting... before you have a kid.

You Cry, I Cry

Last night poor Ben woke up in a meltdown with a stuffy nose which made it hard for him to breathe. He went from 0 to 100 in a crying, coughing, fit from which he was unconsolible. Of course it didnt help that I was playing the plumber role with the aspirator as we dodged and weaved trying to get it in his nostril.

The little niblet had tears streaming down his face, which led to tears in my eyes as I tried to rock him back to sleep. Finally my singing calmed him down (see Matt dont mock my voice) and he drifted off to sleep for a few hours (in the car seat of course!). I couldnt help but think... oh boy... here starts a lifetime of colds, infections, and my own heartbreaks.

LMAO - and U Will 2.

Sorry to go all text-speak on you but, since we're in the medium, I figured it appropriate.

For those of you who may not know - LMAO = Laughing My Ass Off and that is exactly what Ben is doing below.

Prompted by the always hilarious mom-and-the-stuffed-animal routine, Big Ben provides big laughs. As you know laughter is infectious so we also started to laugh. And each time we play it, we get more and more cheerful. We hope that this spreads a laugh or two your way as well.

Enjoy!

Pix Galore

A special note to the grandmoms who have been checking the site religiously and complaining..... the Flickr page is updated. Enjoy. Anything with a little arrow on it means its a video.

WE ARE STILL ALIVE

Good lord, we stink at updating. I can’t believe it’s been so long since we last posted. My apologies, especially to the grandparents who are complaining about no updates and no new pix. New pix are on the way, I promise by this weekend. Niblet just went to sleep and I am watching him on my monitor. I swear I don’t know how people with the audio monitors do it, I watch Ben TV all the time. I mean ALL the time.

This week is Ben’s four month Dr’s appointment. I am going to try and convince them to let me try cereal with him. He seems interested in watching us eat (who wouldn’t be) and I really want to see if there is any proof to the cereal helps them sleep better myth. Ben goes to sleep usually at 7 or 8, then wakes up around 11ish or 12 ish (usually because he’s rolled on his stomach and cant get back over), then one other time around 2:30 or 3:30 and then by 4:30 or 5:30 he is wide awake, chortling about the day ahead, yelling to stretch his vocal cords and pretty much blathering non-stop. At this point, I usually schlep him in bed with me and lay next to him while he prattles away and pulls and scratches at my face – I never knew neck skin could pull that far from my actual neck. His dagger fingers grab at my cheeks and I silently pray for him to lose interest and want to go back to sleep. Sometimes I can get him back down, and then sometimes this routine just marks the beginning of our day. Usually I can convince Matt to change the first diaper of the day, and on a good day, I can get a cup of coffee delivered to me in bed.

These days Ben is ACTIVE. All he wants to do is sit or stand. Anytime he’s laying back he tries to do ab crunches to pull himself up. He exerts so much effort and makes little grunting noises. I feel like I am back watching the guys at Golds Gym (they didn’t drool so much though – seriously this kid is a faucet, and saturate two bibs at minimum in a day). Ben can sort of pull himself up using your hands and loves standing on our legs. With Nanny Sharon pushing him along, Ben has been playing with a lot more of his toys. He loves his exersaucer, his swing, and does baby squats with his bouncy from Aunt Aimee.

Ben and I have been watching videos in the morning as we wait for Nanny Sharon to come. Some of his favorites are the Mah na mah na mah na song -- http://www.kideos.com/content/mah-na-mah-na-mah-na, the baby that dances to the Beyonce video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikTxfIDYx6Q , Furry Happy Monsters Laughing (http://www.kideos.com/content/furry-happy-monsters-laughing# -- a take off on REM) and this weird Baby Einstein rap type video - http://www.kideos.com/content/baby-einstein-baby-break-beat . I need to find more songs that he’d like so if anyone knows where there is a big resource of muppets songs, please let me know. Yes yes, I’ll also be searching Discovery Streaming….

Ben dances along to his videos and yells out and laughs. Boy does he laugh these days. Matt and I run a gag into the ground to get him to keep laughing. I promise to add some video of him cracking up and doing other activities that can only be amusing to his parents up on Flickr this week. And I’ll post after his four month dr visit.

Roll with it Baby

I know that significant milestones should not be met with the thought of ‘oh crap’ but that was my first instinct this week when Ben rolled over for the first time. I got a good early preview of this feat the other morning when he was in his cranky I don’t want to go back to sleep even though its 5:30 and mommy wants to lull me back to sleep mode. He was half awake when I put him down swaddled. I went to pat the dog, hoping he would settle himself down. Instead the burrito was face down in the crib when I came back a minute later. Don’t worry grandparents he had his head to the side but my first thought was oh good lord, the easy days are over. The days of ‘stay here on the changing table while I go across the room to get an outfit for today’, the ‘days of wait here on the bed so I can pee’, the days of let me put you here while mommy goes to write her blog, are OVER. Later that day when down for a nap he flipped full over for the first time.

Nanny Sharon started this week and since then he’s been rolling every so often. Nanny Sharon thinks I am nuts because now that he does this I am too scared to let him sleep all night in his bed for fear that he will suffocate himself. He is after all still just a niblet and only three months old. Damn him for being advanced. Even the pediatrician I think stifled a laugh when I called them. Oh well I am a first time mom I am supposed to be paranoid… right? Needless to say the swaddle is out of our lives for good. I will miss you swaddle. Though Ben hated you, you kept him asleep for longer and you spawned the Ben Burrito song.

We are loving having Nanny Sharon here. She is putting Ben thru his paces. They sing, read books, practice flipping, do work outs and take a lot of walks. She’s been teaching Ben to go to sleep on his own rather than mommy’s previous method of having him drink himself milk drunk and pass out. Ben is getting pretty decent at it, doesn’t really cry but does amuse himself for a while before falling asleep.

YOWSA. Ben is three months old already. On one hand it feels like such a short time, but on the other hand it feels like he’s been with us forever. He’s transformed so much from a boring lump to quite the funny kid with his oh so serious quizzical expressions, big cheeked smiles, coo and YELLS. So far on his resume he has skills such as ‘able to keep head straight without support’, ‘able to stand a good five seconds of open mouthed kisses from max before complaining’, ‘able to sing along with mommy to old standards such as whitesnake, meatloaf and guns n’ roses’, and ‘able to bring parents out of any bad mood by standing or sitting on their laps and gurgling away.’

Ben has decided to celebrate this milestone by going thru what we think it a growth spurt so he’s waking up more at night RAVENOUS. He’s breaking out of his swaddle and sucking on his hand with such intensity that when you go in there to pick him up and break the hand suction he becomes a yelling fool. Hopefully this will only last a few days.

This is my first week back at work but the nanny doesn’t start til next week so Ben has spent some significant time in my office in his bouncy chair. He really loves holding his soft toys and of course trying to put them all in his mouth. There is also quite a bit of dancing going on. Judging by his not smooth moves, I can see he will take after daddy in that department. If only he would nap like daddy…

I am so very excited for Nanny Sharon to start next week. She seems very high energy and I am excited for Ben to get some quality one on one person time during the day and not just be vibrating away in his bouncy. I am hoping she helps us out with developing sleep habits. I tried a few times to put him down without the swaddle or while awake and it hasn’t gone well. Given that I am multitasking with kid and work I have been taking the easy way out and swaddling him then feeding him while swaddled which on a good day puts him asleep within minutes, sometimes under a minute. Would love any feedback on developing good sleep habits – whats worked for you and what hasn’t and when to start trying techniques. I’ve got some books but haven’t had the time to really sit and read them