Happy 1/2 Birthday Benjamin

Everyday I see a constant reminder of the 39 weeks that I spent carrying around our little man. It is a mark that will tie me to this little boy for all my life and I know that it's redness will fade but our love for him will not.

Weight: 17.8 lbs

72nd Percentile 

Height: 26 1/2 inches

50th Percentile

My poor little man visited the doctor this morning. Good news is he is perfectly healthy and doing everything he is supposed to. Bad news he had to have 4 shots and an oral vaccine.

Benjamin is doing great with his solids, we have now had rice cereal, green beans, squash, carrots (his favorite), sweet potatoes, apples, and banana's. Each morning he has his cereal and a fruit and each evening he has cereal and a vegetable. You have to be quick in shoveling this stuff in his mouth because he is waiting mouth wide open for that next spoonful. He is dying to get his hands on some real food, if we have him in our laps at the table his hands are grabbing for anything close to him. I'm pretty sure he would crawl across the table after yummy food.

To him Olivia walks on water, everything she does he is in awe of. When she is around his full attention is on her. Every move she makes he laughs hysterically at. 90% of the time their relationship is this loving and laughing cycle but the other 10% of the time their is hitting (on Olivia's part) and he gets back at her by pulling her hair. Let me tell you this kid has a grip to, when he grabs her hair their is no letting go, we have to pry his hands free.

August 30, 2012 a tooth appeared, a gleaming little white corner of his first tooth. We knew it was coming because this kid has been a drooling fool for the past month. We watched as this tooth pushed up a little more under his gums every day, so when it finally popped through we were so excited. September 17, 2012 tooth number 1's little friend poked its little head through. Benjamin now has 2 little teeth!



We are a drooly mess!

We chew on everything we can get our hands on!

 Milestones have been abundant this month along with teeth he is now proudly sitting up all by himself. His new favorite place is to sit in the pack and play and go after all his toys. Once he is tired of sitting up he lunges forward onto his belly and begins trying to crawl and rock to get to everything.

Taking his picture this month was not so easy. I got 2 out of the many I took, the rest looked like these.

Monies

Olivia has a small obsession with money or as she calls it 'monies'! She went through a phase where she actually came up to us and asked for money, but if you gave her paper money she would give it back and ask for monies because she didn't see the correlation between change and paper currency. Ha ha that made me laugh, I'll take that $20 if she wants a quarter! She will also sit and empty her piggy banks just to fill them up again.

A little over a month ago she showed interest in wanting to help feed Oakley. She wanted to do it "all by myself!" so we let her put Oakley's food in his bowl. The next day when she saw his bowl was empty she proudly told us that he needed more food. This little habit is a good one and a great way to teach her the concept of money. So Ben offered to pay her $.25 each day to feed Oakley. She jumped all over that and now takes her little job very seriously. Except that she wants to overfill his bowl and feed him 10 times a day.

Head Meet Wall

 After the pain I endured for 28 hours of labor I thought the pain part was over. Except that it isn't, it's as if this little girl is still a very physical part of me. We had dinner at my grandparent's house on Sunday night. Olivia got so excited when Aunt Jamie walked in the door and as she turned around to walk back into the house she walked head first into the corner of the wall. Luckily for me I didn't see it happen, nope I just heard the loudest smack ever and then Olivia screaming hysterically. Of course I picked her up and tried to console her, meanwhile I couldn't see her face.

I took her into the other room to sit her with Ben so we could get some ice on her poor head. As I was sitting her in Ben's lap, that's when I saw it. A huge knot with a bright blue line right down the center of it. I freaked out, My mom had to take me into the other room so that I wouldn't upset her more. As many times as Olivia has hit her head, nose, and face, I think this was the worst. 

I am pretty good when it's not a bad accident, I can tell her to brush it off. When it comes to giant knots on her head, I am not so good at that. It hurts and not just her, I can feel it to. I cried this time, I felt like I could hardly breath in and her crying so hard made it hurt more. Just because we cut the umbilical cord doesn't mean we are separated, no she is made from us part him and part me. 

I made her and I know that I can not just put her in a bubble (even though I think now that Bubble Boys Parent's were genius) for the rest of her life, there are going to be many more bumps and bruises in the future. I will probably cry more because I am never going to be the mom who can separate her kids pain from their own. I have come to the conclusion that I will not be the first responder, but I will be there with hugs, kisses, and band aids!

10 minutes later Olivia was doing much better, Aunt Jamie asked her if she wanted to look in a mirror, so she did. She cried when she saw her head but only for a minute. Then it was off for the ultimate 'feel good' medicine, ICE CREAM, well we were at Mommom's after all. Not just ice cream but Hershey Kisses and M&M's, this kid is going to get hurt all the time if this is how she is treated afterwards.

Birthday & Barney

Sunday may have been Olivia's favroite day since her birthday back in May. We attended Brinkley's 2nd birthday party which was also a pool party and as if that isn't the mack daddy in Olivia's world there was also a special guest...BARNEY!

She was in heaven so I will let the pictures speak for themselves!

3 Years

Time really does fly! Another year has passed as Ben and I celebrate our 3rd anniversary. Happy Anniversary and I still look forward to the many many years we still have to make memories together.
                  

                    THEN                                                                                                    NOW

Chatting with Olivia

Ben and I often find ourselves looking at eachother over things that Olivia says. Many times we are trying very hard not to laugh but she just says the most hilarious things. I want to keep these little moments fresh so we can share them with her when she is older. So every few weeks I will post the funny things that she says, I will call it "Out of the Mouth's of Babes!".

Conversation #1:
Half way through our discussion about school:
Mommy: So Olivia what else did you do at school today?
Olivia: I'm looking out the window. I not listening.

Conversation #2:
Daddy: What does a cow do?
Olivia: Mooo
Daddy: What does Mommy do?
Olivia: Snore
(Really me snore? I think not.)

Conversation #3:
Olivia: While looking in the mirror "You (Mommy) have big boobies, I have little boobies.)

Conversation #4:
Daddy: Good Morning Olivia, you slept so good.
Olivia: I want to sleep more!

Conversation #5:
Mommy: You can talk like a Pirate today. Say "Aye Matey"
Olivia: That's so weird Mommy.

Potty Time

Another milestone has been met in our house, a big one folks. We have been working with Olivia on going potty in the big potty for awhile now. Mostly she just sits there and plays, sometimes you can get her to "try" to make pee pee. But while she was playing in the garage with Daddy she decided that she had to pee pee and wanted to do it on the potty. Now she does this a lot and we just sit there until she decideds she is ready for a diaper again. Nope not this time she sat on the toilet and pee she did!!!


Of course I had to get a picture of this momentus occasion.

Since this big moment she has been running around in her big girl panties and has only had one accident. Each time she has to use the potty she tells us.

For now we are keeping her in her pullups at night, in the car, and if we are out in public, she is usually dry in the morning but since she still sleeps in our bed (another story for another time), I don't want to take any chances. I will keep you updated on our progress.