12 Weeks

12 Weeks!
Ben treated us to almost 12 straight hours of sleep last night! YAY! He is not the best napper but I would rather him be awake during the day and sleep all night. I can tell that Ben's vision is really improving. He can see farther and is more aware of his surroundings. When Brian and Daniel walked into the house he could see them and was acting very curious. I think he also has finally figured out that Miles is here. Ben will now track Miles when he is walking through the room.

Brian & Daniel in the Burgh

We had a great weekend with great friends! Brian and Daniel flew in from NYC for a quick visit. They came in Saturday morning and stayed until late afternoon on Sunday. We took them to Bistro 19 for lunch-our staple restaurant for out-of-town company. We had a yummy lunch and Ben was didn't make a peep! After lunch we headed home to hang out. We had a nice relaxing afternoon! Vince cooked ribs for dinner-which we AMAZING! He is such a great griller! After we stuffed our faces we relaxed with a few bottles of wine and good conversation. Sunday morning we got up and headed downtown to the Grand Concourse for brunch. After stuffing our faces again we headed up to the top of Mt. Washington for a quick picture. We were still feeling stuffed so we decided to head to one of the areas outlet malls to walk off a bit of brunch. We got some great deals on jammies for Ben and that was about it. Brian and Daniel seemed to have better luck! We had a few more hours to hang out at home before we had to take the boys to the airport which was nice. We were so sad to see them go. We miss being 1 1/2 hours from them. But we are going to do our best to make it to NYC for a visit late spring or early summer. Thanks again Brian & Daniel for coming to meet Baby Ben! We are lucky to have such great people in our lives!

 

 



Ben's 11th Week In Pictures

11 Weeks

13lbs 10oz. This is how much baby Ben weighs this week. Yep. Holy Cow! We had to make our first sick baby appointment on Saturday. Ben was spitting up much more than his normal spitting up so we went in to see what was going on. And the first thing they did was weight him-the nurse guessed 14lbs and I said no way. But yep Ben gained 1lb 2oz in 11 days. But the good news is that he just has a little acid reflux which he will out grow in the next few  months. And the reflux doesn't seem to be harboring him from gaining weight so the doctor isn't really worried. So we had to back down from 5oz feedings to 3oz feedings. But that only last about 36 hours because Ben would scream after every feeding like we were starving him so I caved and we are now doing 4oz per feeding. I still haven't noticed any change in his spitting up but maybe we will as the week goes on. Other than that the week went well. Ben started the week with a playdate with Riley (our neighbor) which led to his first kiss! On Thursday we went to Gymboree where he met some new friends! He is still the youngest in the class but he isn't the only boy anymore! On Friday we had a playdate at Leo's house!

Ben's Week In Pictures

Ben's Onsies

At my baby shower we had a onsie station where people could decorate a onsie for Ben. I realized last week that I had not been great at taking pictures of Ben in these onsies and it was now almost time to pack away the 0-3 month onsies. If memory serves it goes-Aunt Debbie, Patrick, Angela/Carrie, Natalie, Jaclyn, Dad and Donna. (let me know if I'm wrong)

 So here are the the 0-3 month pic's...

Ben's First Kiss

Ben had a first this week...his first kiss! Erin & Riley came over for a little play date on Tuesday and Riley gave Ben his first kiss! He's such a charmer already at just 10 weeks!

Going in for the big smacker!

 Contact!

 Followed up the kiss with a hug!

10 Weeks

Double Digits! Wow. I wish I could stop time. Ben is changing so much so fast its crazy. He has gotten so loud when he talks-we all know where he gets that trait! He is giggling more often. And he seems to be taking more of his surroundings in. There is no doubt that he can recognize Vince & I when we walk into a room or if he hears us from another room. Today marks one week since we moved him into the nursery at night. And it hasn't been fun. He has not slept through the night since we moved him. I'm not sure why he has regressed but I am hoping it ends soon. He did go to bed at 10:30pm and slept until 5:45am so I guess I can't complain that much. But it would be great if he could sleep until 7 or 8.  Ben wasn't a huge fan of his swing until about 2 weeks ago. And now we can't seem to get him out of it. I am so glad we have his big one in the living room and his travel size one upstairs! He likes to take his morning snoozer there.

High Chair

I decided tonight that maybe we should try out the high chair instead of putting Ben in his lambie chair on the table. I wasn't sure if he would like it or not but thought it was worth a shot. So I tilted the seat back a bit, pulled up the footrest and put him in it. And he loved it! I think he felt like a big boy! He smiled and talk all through out dinner.


Baby Ben in his high chair for the first time!

Happy Chatty Baby Ben!
 
I think we are still a few more months away from this!
 

Winter Projects

Since we have a three day weekend we decided to tackle a few projects on our winter project list. First up was the basement. Since Ben was born the basement seemed to be somewhat of a dumping ground for random items that hadn't found a real home yet. Or things that needed to be donated. We also decided that since Ben got spoiled rotten over Christmas that we needed to work on his playroom (nook) so we had a place to put all his new toys! We broke down our old kitchen table which was in the now play nook. And found real homes for all the random items hanging out on the old kitchen table. We opened, assembled and tried out all the new toys! Now all we need is all the storage systems that I ordered.  Hopefully they will arrive on Tuesday so we can finish up the play nook!
Second up was recovering the dining room chairs. My mom and I had done them about 3 or so years ago (which was also 3 dining rooms ago). Ever since we moved in the Pinetree Drive house I have wanted to recover them from the soft gold color to a navy stripe. Since we find ourselves using the dining room every night since Ben arrived Vince wanted to add more padding to the seats too. We found the fabric-finally after a few trips to fabric stores. Poor Vince, but who would have thought it would be so difficult to find a navy stripe fabric??? We got started by me cutting out the fabric and padding for the chairs while Vince took the seats off the chairs. We did one together to make sure we liked it...and we did! After the first one I had to go tend to Ben aka Mr. Cranky Pants and Vince took over. Who would have thought that Vince would be a great upholsterer-but he sure is! We are both really happy with how they came out. And tonight at dinner I think both our bottoms thanked us!



Old Chair Cover

 New Chair Cover

Vince's 32nd Birthday

HaPpY BiRtHdAy ViNcE!!!
Vince's birthday was on Thursday! We celebrated with a dinner party at home. Funny how having a baby changes the importance of your birthday as well as how you celebrate it. But to be honest I think both Vince and myself enjoyed our birthday party of 3! Vince picked his Mom's Cuban Chicken for dinner and angel food cake with strawberries for desert-Yum Yum Yum! After dinner we opened presents. Vince really wanted a music tower for his ipod. Which we got! As well as some new KU gear. Can you ever really have to much Jayhawk stuff? I really don't think you can!

                                                                     Make A Wish!

                                                    Yay! The Tower Sound System!

                                         Baby Ben Dancing On The Dining Room Table