My Valentines

I love you Valentines.

7 Months

When in the world did I wake up to a seven month old? Well the short answer is today....but seriously I just cannot deal with how quickly Ben's life is moving. I love watching him move from phase to phase and I am excited to see all that his life will bring....but the momma in me just wants him to stay little and snuggly and my Baby Ben. We pulled out some of his preemie clothes today to pass them along to Baby Graham to use and as I looked at all of them I remembered each of those first days by the outfits he wore. I remembered the order of the outfits he wore each day in the NICU and the outfit he wore home from the hospital and the one that he grew out of first. 4 lb 9 oz.....was he really ever that little??!! Big Boy Ben just does not have the same ring as Baby Ben...besides what will Adam call him? I don't think Ben's cousin Adam even realizes that Baby Ben is not his actual legal name...when Adam finds out he has to drop the Baby from Baby Ben...I think it will devastate him. And so I resolve to eat up the remaining hours of his infancy...to intentionally soak in these days because they just don't last forever.

Bennett has changed so much in the last month. We lowered his crib as far as it will go and put the bumper back in. He graduated out of the baby carrier and into a big boy car seat. He eats solid foods like they are going out of style. He loves food and is less and less interested in formula everyday. He reaches for anything I am carrying or using and it is getting harder to feed him from a spoon without him wanting to reach for the spoon to help. He drools and drools and drools...I am constantly putting lotion on his chin because it is chapped from all the drool...maybe this means teeth will be coming soon...not sure....I think it could be a while yet. His sleep is very consistent...one morning nap for 1 hour....one LONG afternoon nap for about 3 hours....one cat nap on the way home from daycare and finally a long nights rest from 7pm to 7/7:30am. Ben still puts himself to sleep by sucking on his fingers while listening to his bedtime tunes and his hand lays by his face all through the night. He wakes up very happy and we usually hear him babbling in his room and we wonder how long he has been just hanging out awake in there. He is now a sitting machine....and this allows him to have a lot more fun with toys. He still does not have much interest in rolling over or being on his tummy so I am not sure where crawling will rank on his list of things to do. He is exerting his will more and more each day. He stiffens up flat as a board when he does not want to go in the car seat, he turns his head away and puckers his lips at his bottle when he is not ready to eat and he will sometimes whine now if there is something he is trying to tell us. He makes lots of noises with his lips. And the biggest surprise of all has been the stranger anxiety that he has started to show in the last week. He has always loved crowds. He loves to observe at church and check all the people out. He loves to flirt with anyone that will give him a smile. This week, however, when there is somebody that he does not know that makes eye contact with him....he will drop his lower lip and let out the saddest cry. He looks around frantically until he sees Pat or I and even then it takes him a minute to calm back down. I find myself just scooping him up to hold him tight when this happens to make sure he knows I am there (I am sure I am doing it all wrong...but I just cannot help but want him to feel secure in knowing we are right there). This caught me a bit off guard the first time it happened because all of a sudden one day its like he realized who he knows and who he does not know. I am pleased that he has attached so well to momma and daddy and that he is so observant of what is going on around him but given how much we are out and about and the fact that he is at daycare everyday I figured he would be well adjusted to meeting new people. I guess it is just another phase and it does give me comfort to know that he is recognizing and connecting with people that he knows and sees often. One thing he certainly knows is Hudson. If she walks in the room, his face lights up. He is in love with that pup. I usually have to put her in another room in order to feed him...otherwise he is too fixated on watching her to even think about eating. He is such a sweet boy. Pat and I find ourselves just sitting and talking about him and how special he is on a regular basis. God really does create each person so special and so unique and so beautiful and it has been a privilege to witness the miracle of God's creation in Bennett. We love you Baby Ben.

Benny's Blow Outs

Benny's dinner routine lately has ended with a giant blow out in his diaper. It's like clockwork.....the second I see him start "working" on it, I pluck him out of his highchair and head upstairs to change him....but it is always too late....it is everywhere. Onesies...socks...pants...legs...shirt...you name it...it is covered. It does not seem to bother him one bit...in fact tonight I almost felt like he was rubbing it in my face a little bit. This is what he did the whole time I cleaned up his poopy mess....its like he made me relive the horror all over again with his noises. 100% boy all the way!

(Remember to hit stop on the music player on the lower right hand side of the blog before you play the video...otherwise you will hear the song and then it is hard to hear the video.)

Random Milestones

Two Random Things to put in the Record Books:

1. Last week Benny graduated to a big boy carseat. No more baby carrier for him. Our arms were coming out of their sockets hauling him around in that thing. So now when we go to the grocery store, he sits in the cart like a big boy. Pat felt that this meant he was ready for the "free Target cookie" so he pushed Ben in that cart over to the SuperTarget bakery and got Bennett his first Target cookie....then Pat proceeded to eat it for him.......ok I may have had a bite too.

2. Bennett's fingernails are getting way thick. It's like it happened overnight. They went from paper thin little infant nails to real people fingernails. Its a good thing he does not mind when I cut them because it takes me a little longer now:)

Ben's Big Sleepover

Bennett is very excited for his very first slumber party at Grandma Grape's tonight. Grandma is picking him up at noon and he is off to party with her for the evening. This is our first overnight away from the little guy and I must admit I am going to miss him. I always thought that parents were secretly excited to ship their little ones off to someone else to have a little break, but I think that maybe happens when they are a little older. That being said, Pat and I are definitely going to capitalize on this opportunity to have a night out on the town...there may even be a road trip to the casino in the plans....??? We will miss you Benny.....see you tomorrow!

PS: Pat is a little nervous about Ben being in WI on superbowl weekend....could this just be the Grapes tactic to convert him into a mini Packer fan??? Ten bucks says he comes back decked out in green and gold.....Go Pack Go!

Baby Wing is Here

Amy and Terry Wing welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world just under twelve hours ago. Yay for a healthy baby. He is a peanut weighing in at just under 6 lbs and his name is Graham Steven. This means the Fry Street count is 3 girls (Brooklyn, Emory and Veda) and 4 boys (Silas, Connor, Bennett and Graham)...with one more Carrington baby on the way! The boys are in the lead!

Boat Show 1.23.11

Pat and Ben's boys day out at the boat show.