3 more months

Hey - I know I just posted a long and detailed message about my firstborn, but I wanted to take a second to jot down some current realities of little miss, before I forget...and I forget a lot lately! :)

God continually reminds me of the miracle of life.  I am embarrassed at how easy I forget how miraculous pregnancy is, and even how quickly I forget how unsettling the first 19 weeks of this pregnancy was.  Just the other day I was telling someone that so far this pregnancy has been uneventful...um, hello...did I forget that I bled for 9 of the first 19 weeks, and was scared out of my mind?!?!  I guess its a blessing that the last 8 weeks have been great and have almost wiped away my memory of the unpleasantness of the previous weeks.  I just dont want to stop being thankful, and recognize the true gift that life is.

So, yes, the last two months have been very calm, and although I feel like I've popped out quite a ways the past couple weeks, I'm still not hugely miserable, so its easy to be pretty happy go lucky about life.. I'm not sick, not bleeding, and not uncomfortable...yay! I have a working scale for the first time this whole pregnancy, and am thinking about taking the batteries out.  I stepped on it and realized I haven't really gained much weight since my apt two weeks ago, and got scared the baby wasn't growing...I proceeded to eat a whole pizza for supper (it was small!)  I get a little extreme when I see numbers, so good'bye scale!

It is getting less fun to pick up Benjamin and hold him for long periods of time.  And although we walk a lot, going up hills makes me feel like the most out of shape person on the planet.  I don't like that much.

She continues to wiggle like CRAZY, and I think she gets the hiccups a lot.  Either that or she is VERY rhythmic!

Well, thats about it.  I can't wait for cooler weather so I can stop DYING from the heat.  I HATE it.  I can't stand my maternity pants because they poof out by the zipper, looking awful, and have SO MUCH fabric.  I can't stand it...Overall I have LOVED being pregnant in the summer, except my failure to buy maternity capris, and overheating problem...also, I obviously dont fit well in normal clothes, but am not good at wearing pregnancy clothes - my bump isn't shaped right, and my stomach is too long.  Dresses work best, but with a long torso and bump, they get pretty short, pretty fast.  alright, thats enough complaining.  Overall, I'm so thankful for the ease of the last few months, and my current pregnant state...I really have a lot to be thankful for.

Keep praying for Lil Miss Littler.  I again have been reminded of God's hand in life and death, and pray that He would keep this little one safe and healthy in this growing process!

Benjamin is 16 months

Benjamin is ridiculous lately.  He loves laughing and continuously invents ways to be funny, just so he can laugh!  He randomly picks people to make him giggle, and a recent favorite was with my nephew Jonah.  Benjamin got up from a nap at my sisters, and my mom and I, plus the two boys sat out in the garage having a garage sale.  Benjamin just followed Jonah around cracking up when Jonah did ANYTHING.  Both the boys were on cloud nine, laughing and being laughed at.

Possibly  even better than that is his new love for "jumping."  Joel was jumping at him the other day, and Benjamin decided he wanted to jump back.  His jump involves bending at the knee as far as he can, grunting and getting NO AIR.  But this also makes him crack up, every time.  I love it!

His stories have gotten longer and much more expressive.  They are VERY detailed for not involving any real words.  They always involve pointing and often include some crazy eyebrows.  If and when my attention fades and I stop answering/responding to his comments, he gets louder and usually squeals/screams.

I didn't think it was possible for him to love books any more, but it seems I stand corrected.  Now that he can crawl up on the couch by himself, it isn't uncommon to come into the living room and find him sitting like a big boy on the couch with a book on his lap.  Seriously.  This morning we had staff mtg at our house, and he just read books to himself alone in his room from 8:40- 9:30ish...then I heard him trying to open the door, so I brought in his computer, and blocks, but most of the time I peeked in to check on him, he was sitting in the corner flipping pages.  :)  (Around 10, he was all done being alone, so I left the mtg to take him on a walk, but I was very impressed nonetheless.)  His favorites are:

• Eloise Wilken Stories - a little golden book collection - he can sit through one of the nine beloved classics while I read, but he also loves to just flip through the book and point to pictures while babbling.  I'm still not sure if he's reading to me, or asking what the pictures is, but I usually identify the object.
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Hop on Pop
• One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
• Usborne "That's not my..." Series
• Monster at the End of the Book (we don't own this one yet, but he loves it from the library)
• Sandra Boynton books.  Red Hat Blue Hat, Lets Dance Little Pookie, ect)
• And anything with animals that he can identify...

He has gone through a crazy growth spurt and I can't wait for his 18 month sats.  I think he's going to be inches taller than 12 months.  Oh, and his feet grew...in length and chunkiness.  We bought shoes 2 months ago, and they are now in storage...At the time of purchase I thought they would last through the winter...haha

Benjamin has gotten a little naughtier lately. He isn't doing well with the "no standing on the couch" rule, and is struggling with the command to "come here Benjamin".  Over all, he is pretty obedient, and definitely knows the consequence that is coming should he decide to disobey, but his curiosity gets the best of him, and sometimes he decides its worth the risk.  He's also gotten very independent and can't stand being held or holding my hand while we walk through the church foyer, or most any where else that looks fun to explore.  Pretty soon I'm going to have to get serious and not give in to just letting him run wild.  But thats one area I haven't been a stickler on.  

   

 I know I'm so fortunate to have such a content little guy.  The other day we visited a church and were asked out to lunch afterward.  Benjamin has been going down for naps at 12:30 or 1:00, and in the two minutes from the church to the restaurant he was OUT!  Well, we woke him up to go inside, and he made it an hour and a half, only getting whiny the last 10 minutes.  I'm really trying to appreciate this character trait before it changes or before his little sister comes and rocks our world.  Until then, we hope the next 3 months continue to be GREAT...

FYI - as much as I went on and on about our disrupted sleep schedule it seems the sole issue was letting him stay up too late.  We now have the routine of reading some books at 7:45, going to his room, singing a song and he goes down FANTASTIC.  Once in a while he whimpers or cries for a minute, but never longer, and sleep ensues!  Although those 12 nights were pretty miserable, I think they served the purpose of making me thankful for schedule and ease...I am NOT a good guesser!

Well here's some recent pictures of Mr Benjamin.  Enjoy!

telling me stories!

reading to himself

taking a break from dancing to daddy's guitar playing, to give him a smootch!

Well, happy September to all!

my "lovely" lady bump

about 6 months

I finally took a picture.  I didn't want to, but when talking to my friend last night I was sharing that I had TONS of pictures of my pregnancy with Benjamin (who probably won't ever be interested in looking at them) and that I didn't have any pictures so far of my pregnancy with Little Miss.  After verbalizing it, I realized that it was up to me alone to do something about it.

I also had convinced myself that I wasn't very big yet...then I took the photos, and there is no denying the truth...the turkey has popped! she's just not done cooking yet!. (I'm 26 weeks)  

I'm feeling pretty great.  SUPER tired today, but great overall. Miss Littler wiggles constantly and my sister tells me this is a sign of whats to come.  oh boy!  I'm sleeping better than before and starting to have a lot less self control eating well. (As I'm sure you were able to tell by the photo :)  Benjamin and I took a couple weeks off from walking which had been a bad deal, but it was SOOOO HOT.  I am not handling heat well, so being outside by choice when its 90+ degrees isn't happening.  Hurry up fall!

Also in prep for my life with a little girl, I decided to take on a 2nd and 3rd grade UPWARDS football cheerleading team.  O.k., so that wasn't completely the reason, but it is so much fun, and I'm excited to get to love on these little girls, and share Jesus with them for a couple months.  Hopefully this makes September and October go super fast!  Hopefully there will be more pictures of their adorable selves to come!

Well, thats about it!  Gotta go put Mr Benjamin down for a much need nap!

 and this is me 26 weeks with Benjamin and 26 weeks with this ms littler.  I was 10 lbs bigger with Benjamin, but I must have been storing all the weight in my arms and face cause my bump isn't much smaller this time! :)

friends, books...everyone - you were all right!

Just for the record - Benjamin has gone down PERFECT the last three nights.  Who knew putting a 1 year old down before he was exhausted equaled bedtime success!  (...I mean who? besides most people who have had kids, and almost everything i have every read...:)...)  I was just so deceived when he was so energetic and crazy at night.  

Well I decided to give the old bed time a whirl, and two of the last three nights he's been down before 8, and the other night, he was exhausted from the fair-all of which, went beautifully.  I hate to count my chickens before they hatch, but it seems the sleep mystery has been solved! 

 Early to bed, early to rise makes a Benjamin and Momma happy healthy and wise!

NiNite Benjamin!

After 9 months of Benjamin sleeping like a champ, you all know he rocked my mommy world 2 weeks ago when his bottle was taken away, and his night time routine went haywire.  Well, the past 12 nights have been rough.  He's continued to sleep 10 or 11 hrs straight but, has shown that he would like to push the start time of his slumber back as FAAAAAAR as he can.  Well, last night, was the 9th night in a week and a half that over an hour of my evening was spent putting Benjamin down, listening to him cry for 20 minutes, and then a prolonged rocking to sleep period. (the other three nights, we got home so late he went down great)  I decided it was the last.

Tonight my game plan was a bath at 7, play time with the lights off, a book, and to have him in his crib before 8. It all went great, and around 7:50 he started getting more clingy, so I stood up and told Benjamin to say ninite to daddy.  He blew a kiss, and we walked to his room.  Joel mentioned orajel because he has been soooo drooly today and I knew it was risky, but when we got in his room we stopped at his changing table for some of the pain reliever.  We started singing the Sandy Patty Sunday School Sing Along, and he got fidgety, I tried sitting while singing and he remained unruly.  So I stood and he kept whining, and when he reached for his crib, I layed him down and said my farewells.  I left the room at 7:57 with him crying, and was prepared to let him go all night.  (I wouldn't have, but I had to tell myself I would so I at least had a good start.)  Well, I don't know the exact time, but he was done a few minutes after 8.  YAY!

Thanks for the advice everyone.  Time will tell if we have more tough nights ahead or if we're back in the clear!  I'm not sure if it was the fact that he only slept 45 minutes for a nap, the bath, the winding down period or the fact that he was in bed before 8...but we aren't changing anything for a week! (except maybe tomorrow night...unless we come back from the fair at a decent hour) With all that said, I can taste victory!

Reviews welcome

Well, I dont feel like I should be losing sleep from uncomfortablness, or worry, but there I was at 4:30 a.m. - not sleeping.  So I spent the wee hrs of the morning looking at baby items that I've looked at a million times, but would love to get your input on.  Well, my computer died and I didn't get it posted, but after a super crazy day, here they are. What do you think of these items, and what other baby items could you not live without?


http://www.babyktan.com/


http://www.mobywrap.com/

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3813331&CAWELAID=427070941

http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=98&products_id=2424

http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=728

http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=2267

Benjamin update again...

touchdown!

I know I have posted a million times this week, but SO MUCH is happening in life that I think I keep writing for two reasons.  #1 - its been a very stressful week, and writing helps me stay calm...so thank you blog!     #2 - I don't want to forget all of these milestones of my little man, and his baby book stopped at 12 months so...I blog!

Well today was the 6th day of being without a bottle.  Afternoon nap continues to be great and the last two nights have had fairly successful bedtimes.  Last night we didn't get home from my sisters till after 9, and Benjamin went down great.  Tonight I decided to just not try until 8:40...we walked into Benjamin's room and he didn't want me to hold him and just started crying, so we walked back out.  He hadn't really been crabby so I wasn't going to insist sleep.  At 9:00 we walked back in.  I held him and sang a couple songs, and then laid him down.  He was out!  I guess our bed time has been moved.  He's been sleeping in, so I'll adjust!

Benjamin has also added to his vocabulary and other skills.  He can...

• sign - eat (fingers to mouth)
• sign - more (finger tips together)
• sign - all done (waving of the hands)
• sign - please (he rubs his chest or tummy)
• cow sound - zmzmzmzo (his cow sounds like a bug but is very consistent)
• sheep sound - ba ba ba
• puppy sound - high pitched(sometimes not so high) short squeal
• elephant - siren squeal with a waving hand (thats my favorite)
• snake - our newest and not consistent but occasional sssssssssss
• locate consistently - eyes, hair, head and tongue
• locate less consistently - ears, nose and toes
• give great kisses (with a very open mouth)
• give great hugs
• DANCE! whenever he hears music
• Shut doors whenever you say "shut please!" He thinks he's pretty cool.
• SO BIG!
• SO STRONG! (Another favorite)

These are most of Benjamin's positive accomplishments so far.  One of our more negative ones is our scream.  Sometimes he screams because he has been signing and I'm just not looking, but most of the time, he just screams to say ANYTHING.  It can be happy, angry, a request, you name it.  We want to kill this habit very soon.  It is maddening.

He also likes to stand on the couch and pull things off of the ledge under the kitchen opening.  He knows when I say "bottom" to drop to his knees and he's VERY good at sitting or laying down once I say "bottom". However, I'm not sure the point in which I start punishing for standing up in the first place.  I know he remembers he's not supposed to stand up there, because he looks at me the whole time he stands to see if I'm going to stop him.  I'm not worried about it, and we'll just see how the next week plays out.  Maybe he'll get told "bottom" enough to lose interest in standing (although I highly doubt it).

We lost our play room this week due to the flooding in Ames and our basement, so we're trying to find other creative ways to use our energy.  We always love walks and the swings at the park.  Last night Daddy got us to not be petrified of the slide!   I don't know how he did it, but we'll see how Benjamin feels this next week at the park.

It's so fun to watch Benjamin grow and figure out new things.   We realized that we really don't need an entertainment fund anymore because watching him and his crazy self is pretty much as good as any movie right now.  Hopefully that lasts for quite some time!

Picture I keep forgetting to put up of Benjamin...

For dessert Daddy thought he would just put whip cream right on Benjamin's plate.  Benjamin discovered that whip cream is very hard to pick up!

Benjamin's new hobby : emptying my spice drawer and shaking them all over the floor.  If I run out of the room I come back to find Paprika foot prints in the living room!

YUM! spaghetti!

The first produce from my "garden" :) I was kinda proud...

Benjamin's whiney stance

Usborne "Thats not my..." series.  we LOVE it!

He's started actually creating things with his legos, and not just banging them together.  Its pretty fun to watch!

X Box isn't supposed to be on when Benjamin is awake, but when mom's away the boys will play.  He was actually moving the character on the screen.  This was right before I entered the room, the x box went off and he completely lost it with dismay.

another whiney pose

Benjamin telling me stories.

Benjamin "all done" telling me stories

Sunday morning photo shoot. :)

frazzled

This bottle-less sleep difficulty was supposed to last 2 or 3 days.   At least that's how it played out in my head.  Today was day 4, and I'm afraid I cannot claim victory.

We have officially cut out morning nap.  Benjamin doesn't seem to be suffering, or crabby in the morning, so it seems like the right call.  He wakes up around 7 or 7:30a.m. and plays for 15 to 30 minutes.  We take our time eating breakfast and then if its not too hot,(which it has been lately) I like to go on a walk.  Before the flood, we played in the basement and I make sure Benjamin has 45 minutes or so of quiet time in his room.  

Lately we have been eating a 11:30ish lunch and taking our sweet time with that also.  He's been pickier about what he eats this week,along with a semi-boycott from milk, so that has been frustrating.  He has discovered a passion for watered down grape juice, and always loves water.  

We go down around 1ish for his nap, and he goes down like a champ regularly.  He also sleeps for appx. 2 1/2 hrs which is nice.  Our afternoons usually involved a lengthy book reading time, a 1/2 hr or more, or an actual trip to the library (which is worth a whole other post!). I try to get some stuff done after a book time, and he's pretty good about loving to play by himself.  

He gets pretty restless before the hr is up, and Curious George saves us at 5:00!  Then I can get some supper ready!  We eat around 6:00 watch The Office and Wheel...and then play, read, walk or HGTV till bed!

This is when my happy go lucky little boy has been stumping me the last 4 days.  We used to take 1 1/2 hr nap in the a.m., 2 hr nap in the afternoon, and be ready for bed around 8:00 p.m.  Now that we have taken away bottles, and the morning nap, I haven't gotten him to sleep before 9:00.  He doesn't act super tired, just a little more naughty than normal, and after 12 hrs of mommy duty, I shut down around 8:00.  For him to whip out some strong will at that time of night has me in a tizzy.  I can't figure out if he isn't tired, overly tired, or just likes getting out of bed, cuddling/playing, and then going down a second time.  I let him cry for 22 minutes tonight, and it got us no where.  I don't like cry time, and especially when its not productive.  And I really don't like that he's not drinking more than a couple sips of milk in the day, and sleeping 3 less hrs.  It makes it worse how lovey and adorable he is when I get him out of his crib.  You don't even understand how great he is.  If I wasn't SO TIRED it would be my favorite part of the day.  He cuddles against my chest as we watch t.v. and he looks up at me out of the corner of his eye and smiles.  Its like he knows there is nothing he could do at that point to make me angry.  Little stinker!

On that note, I do need to record that today, I gave Benjamin my first spank'n.  I'm not sure if Joel has before, and honestly it was super light on a diaper, and hardly worth the title of a spank'n, but it caused an intense amount of tears nonetheless, and a cry for Daddy while he clung to my neck.  I normally say things once, and then if he repeats he gets a small swat on his mouth.  We usually are done with the issue at that point.  Tonight it was between 5 and 10 repeats of the offense, and it was after 8:00, and tapping his mouth was not effective.  To the bottom I went, and I'm not sure if it was the act of spanking or my tone that caused water works, but he stopped repeating the offense.  Wouldn't it be great if he just learned now, that obedience would prevent any future acts of discipline.  I'll keep my hopes up! :)

Well, if you stuck around to read all of that feel free to give me advice on getting my little man to bed.  I'm running out of ideas!

24 weeks

Today I got to hear sweet Ms Littler Lewicki's heart beat.  It took much longer than normal to get the heart rate, because although we found the heart beat right away, this chick is a mover.  She's crazy when I sleep, she's crazy when I'm awake, she did somersaults during the ultrasound and continued to do gymnastics and kick today.  We finally got a heart rate of 140.  I'm getting tired just thinking of  the fact that she doesn't seem to need sleep!

We were also excited to get to the 24 week mark on Tuesday.  After I bled for so many weeks, my Dr. wanted us to be aware of the risks of pre-term labor.  But the bleeding stopped at 19 weeks, and our little girl has stayed put.  YAY!  PRAISE GOD!

I had a list of questions this time.  They were questions that aren't important enough to call from home, but when I look on line for answers, I'm never confident in the website/source.  One thing I asked about were the holidays and travel with my due date being just days after Thanksgiving.  She has no problem with me traveling 3 or 4 hours away, but Joel's family is 8 hrs away (minimum) and she wasn't excited about that.  She advised not to.  I also asked about turkey lunch meat and Pella Bologna sandwiches. She said if I avoided every risk I'd live in a miserable bubble, so meat from a deli counter with health codes and what not, is a minor risk.  She just advised avoiding anything I know has sad out or Jimmy Johns delivery etc.  YAY! 

She's happy with my weight gain, which is pretty opposite of my pregnancy with Benjamin.  At 24 weeks, I've gained about 11 lbs which is 9 less than last time at this point.  Who knew not eating Mc Donalds every morning and having 2 or 3 diet cokes a day would actually make a difference?!?!  haha :)  I still really wish I could have a Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit every morning, and I would wish I could justify a bowl of ice cream every night but thankfully I can't afford a Mc D' run every morning, and we think Joel might be lactose intolerant, so I feel too bad eating ice cream in front of him!  Other than that, I really just want water ALL the time, and really get excited about fruit.

Well, 16 more weeks!  The next 4 months are busy, and will go by just as fast as the summer has.  Praying for her health and safety during the last little bit of her incubation!

Bye Bye Bottle

Monday August 9th, 2010 marked a large milestone in the Lewicki household.  Big Boy Benjamin said Bye Bye to Bottles.  I guess I don't know what is a "right" age, or even the correct way to be rid of bottles, but I think it was encouraged by dr.s and magazines at 12 months (1yr).  Well between people visiting us and being on the road to Colorado, TX, Northern MN, and Eastern IA 4 times, I wasn't about to change his routine when nothing else in his life was remaining "normal".  So Sunday night we got back from Dubuque (in a horrible thunder/lightning storm, and that was the last night of the bottles.(15 months)  

NAP #1 - 

Monday morning we hosted our first staff mtg of the collegiate year, and Benjamin decided not to take a nap that morning.  I had tried to give him milk in a sippy cup, but he wasn't really that interested.  So, I put him in his crib and after playing a while, he was wide awake, and let me know he wanted out.  So I let him have some quiet time in his room for a while, and then put him in his crib with a couple books.  He stayed in his crib for 45 minutes this time, but again, was not interested in sleep.  So, again, he had some quiet time in his room, until our mtg was done and then we "released the hound"  

NAP#2 - 

After a late lunch with some staff members Benjamin and I meandered into his room around 1:45 with his sippy cup, which he took a couple sips of, and the went to sleep like a champ.  YAY!

BEDTIME -

Bedtime was not a super happy time.  I tried putting him down at his regular bedtime but that didn't go well.  He wasn't very interested in his bottle, and finally I tried to just put him down.  Well he cried for a while.  I struggled with really wanting to establish a new norm, and killing our habit of getting him out of bed...For a couple months now he's been going down and then crying 5 minutes later, and I've been getting him up and letting him play a while.  He's not crabby so its not that big of a deal, but I am SOOOOO tired and my Mommy Mode shuts down, and I just can't handle it.  So with the new norm being bottless, I want it also to not involve him going down and getting back up for an hour long bed time.  Well, I gave in eventually, and he had a dirty diaper, and I felt horrible.  Then he took a tiny bit more milk, and I just rocked and sang him to sleep.  It was a horrible hour, with a fantastic ending.  If only he would have let me rock him from the beginning, I would do it every night. 

Well today we skipped our first nap.  I realized that he's at the age where he might only need one nap, and he does pretty well, without it.  And if its not essential to his good spirits, than I'm choosing not to fight that battle.  Not when I have two battles coming later in the day, that I really must win.  So good bye morning nap for now!

AFTERNOON NAP - 

He went down for his afternoon nap around 12:30.  He had done pretty well with a sippy cup of milk all morning, and then again right before his nap.  He went down like a champ, and slept for 2 1/2 hrs!

BEDTIME - 

Well, bedtime was a little rockier than his nap, but not as bad as the night before.  It started with a battle of the wills even before he had his P.J.'s on.  I got some milk for him, and was going to read him some books.  He freaked when I set the milk down and it wasn't in his hands and then freaked more when I sat down and he couldn't get on the couch by himself.  I was going to give him the milk and help him on the couch but when he started freaking, I didn't want to give in to his cry/scream.  He has recently learned "please" in sign language so I asked him to say it.  He got a very determined look on his face and kept wailing.  This kept up for a few minutes.  He was NOT going to say please, and I was NOT giving him his books or his milk without it.  Finally I asked him if he just needed to go to bed.  He kept wailing so I picked him up and went to get his jammies on.  Finally I came to the conclusion that an exuberant amount of slobber and finger sucking called for some tylenol and oral gel.  He drank a whole cup of milk but then wanted nothing to do with sleep.  He wasn't interested in rock a bye or even being in his bed room so I decided to let the pain killer take effect before sleep.  We watched T.V. for a little while and when I asked about going NiNite again, he started walking to his room.  So I followed with some more milk.  We drank about half the cup, and then started to squirm so I held him on my shoulder and scratched his back 50 times (I like counting :) ),  I laid him down, and he never let out a peep!

So I'm encouraged with our progress.   I hope tomorrow we take leaps forward and not meander backwards.  Time will tell!

15 months and counting

Oh my goodness.  Life with Benjamin couldn't get much better right now.  I think that teeth are the only damper in that little bundle of love.  I want to record how great he is right now, so that when he's not in the "so great" stage, I have some pretty great memories to get me through!

Benjamin and I have gotten very relaxed with our schedule.  I don't regret the months that I worked to get him on a schedule, or the months that I stayed home due to him being on the schedule.  I think they gave him some structure and security, and gave me A LOT of structure and security.  However, now Benjamin can skip a morning nap and survive, or sleep 2 1/2 hrs in the morning and decide he doesn't need the afternoon one.  Unfortunately dirty diapers are what usually mess up our nap time.  Culprit #2 is when he gets his foot caught in the crib from his "pre-sleep gymnastics"  Benjamin usually plays for a while before or after he goes down.  Its not only super fun to listen to, but its a nice 20 minute (or longer) warning saying "Hey, I'm awake, so finish what you're doing so we can play!"

We are in the process of moving Benjamin's awake domain to the basement, but so far it has been the living room upstairs.  He has a corner where his blocks, and legos, and tucks are, along with the foot rest which has a plethora of other toys, but what Benjamin really loves are BOOKS!  He reads to himself quite a lot, but what he really loves is being read to.  He can't get enough of Sandra Boynton books, or Usborne "Thats not my..." series.  He loves flap books, and is usually pretty gentle, but if it starts to tear by accident, he can't help but finish it off.  He also loves Dr. Seuss's, One Fish Two Fish, and Hop on Pop, and sometimes ABC's.  I try to read all the Dr. Seuss books, but he just attempts to close it on  my fingers, and hands me one of these three.  I'm interested to see if Books continue to be our "go to" activity when Benjamin downstairs with a lot more room to run!

We still don't have a lot of words...or really any...Benjamin can say...

• Uh Ohh - very sucessfully
• Mmmmm - when he sees a cow

He can say Mmmaama, Dada, and Nana when prompted, but he doesn't usually call us by name until we play the repeating game.  He does sign three words very well, "More", "Eat" and "All Done".  I love this because it eliminates screaming at the table!  Benjamin jabbers constantly and sounds like he's actually saying phrases which makes for a fun game of making up his stories.  

I've been doing cloth diapers about 1/3 of the time when we are at home.  Joel got me a clothes line which I love to be able to put the diapers on.  The sun does wonders!  Its weird because I had stopped after my original tries because Benjamin was getting very bad rashes.  At the time I was using the recommended scent free ect. detergent.  Now, I just use Tide, and We are fine.  We have learned the lesson of not letting Benjamin sleep in JUST a cloth diaper.  Joel isn't a fan of cloth, so when I leave them I usually try to make sure he has disposable on...well last week I didn't, and Benjamin got put down for a nap with a velcro cloth.  When Joel went to get him up from his nap, he was stark naked with pee EVERYWHERE.  sorry daddy!

That pretty much sums up our life right now.  Benjamin loves to dance and make this insane face clenching his face to the point of shaking.  After he gets laughs from everyone he can't stop and repeats, and repeats and repeats (I dont know if our house can handle this many entertainers!)  

I CAN"T WAIT to get past this teething stage!  Thank goodness for oral gel!  Right now every tooth is visible they just haven't pushed all the way through yet.  It can't be much longer right?

We're looking forward to enjoying the next 4 months with the little man, before he has to share us!  Speaking of which, someones been calling from the bedroom for quite a while now...guess I better go!