A little behind...

These are just a few pictures we took leading up to Ben hitting the 5 month mark! After these were taken, we went for a visit to see my parents in DFW. We had a great visit, but a terrible time getting there and back home.... more to come on the next post!!

Back in Action...

Ben has "discovered" Jake over the past week or so.... Jake is VERY accommodating of Ben's curiosity and I promise no animals were harmed in the making of this photograph, despite what it may look like!

Our child is VERY serious about his food. He already stops smiling when the camera comes out, but when food is involved it's even less likely that I'll get more than a threatening stare.

This was the first time he held his bottle for any length of time.

Obviously it's almost time to retire the wonderful "bouncy seat" since Ben has decided his feet are more interesting than the animals!

As you can see, Ben has made a lot of progress over the past few weeks. I feel like he's just literally growing right before our eyes. He's really fine-tuned a lot of his actions. I've noticed his reaching and hand movements are getting MUCH more deliberate. He's picking up toys and gets upset when certain ones get out of his range. In other news, it appears Ben may have a tooth trying to come in. His gums are a bit red and he's constantly "chewing" on his hands.

I'm sorry it's been so long since an update. We've been fairly busy and then on top of that, are computer almost bit the dust. We got our new computer on Thursday, so we are back in business!!

Jason will actually be 30 next Saturday (8/9). I can't believe it... where have the past 5+ years gone?!

I hope everyone is great. Hugs to all!!

Pictures!

At first Ben was more interested in the new bib than the cereal!

I promise some actually made it in his mouth!



This was one of the first post-rollover shots I was able to capture on camera...

Rockin' and Rollin' 4 Months...

I took Ben to the Doctor yesterday for his 4 month check up and he's doing great! He weighs 15lbs. and 12oz. and is 25" long.... yes, I know, he's a tank! He's a cute tank though! He started trying to really roll over when we were in Kentucky last month and finally did it the Monday after we got home (June 23). This past week he has really mastered the art. He's rolling all the time and has figured how to get that shoulder out of his way. Also, he had his first "solid" food this morning. He had rice cereal for the first time and he loved it. We're going to keep working on the whole eating from a spoon idea, but he's quickly getting the hang of it. What can I say, the kid likes to eat... he didn't get to almost 16lbs. any other way!!! I'll get some cereal pictures up soon!!

Thanks for all the love and support everyone!!

Kentucky...

We survived the trip to and from Kentucky. It was quite an event, but amazing to visit. We flew Southwest thinking it would be the most "baby-friendly" and easiest. I don't know if it's all the airline drama lately or just plain bad luck, but we didn't have the best of experiences. The flight leaving Houston was delayed 45 minutes. I timed Ben's feeding to where he would eat right at take off, not taking the delay in to account. Needless to say, my baby was the one screaming in the terminal before boarding. Southwest wouldn't let me "Pre-Board" because they say small infants board with "family boarding". .....Disaster...... The flight was completely jam-packed with no room (especially not a seat) to spare. Ben was REALLY good on the flight... he was an angel baby and fortunately I sat next to two very understanding moms who didn't mind a little crying from popping ears. Once we made it to Nashville, we still had two hours to drive and Ben did really well despite it.

All that aside, the flight home was an even bigger disaster. However, once again Ben was an angel, so it wasn't totally terrible. Our flight ended up being delayed 1 hour and 45 minutes and didn't leave Nashville until almost 10 PM. We were in the airport for 3+ hours waiting and waiting. Most of the time I ended up standing because, believe it or not, people wouldn't think of giving up their seats to a mom and her small infant..... so I coped and found a seat about 10 gates away. I had a total stranger (who I later found out was a former pro baseball player) come and help me. Apparently I looked pathetic enough to warrant a total stranger coming to my rescue. Once we finally got on the plane, there were three people who didn't have seats. The flight attendants actually went seat by seat checking the flight manifest to see who was supposed to be on the plane.... it was a crazy, ridiculous mess. However, we survived and made it back to Houston to see Jason!! Man, was it good to be home!

On a lighter note, when we were in Kentucky, it was great to be there. I'm so glad Ben got to meet my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and many others. He was really good while we were there and we had lots of help from relatives!

Here's some pictures of Ben and his great-grandparents!

Quarter of a Century

I'm officially 25 as of this past Tuesday! I remember when 25 used to sound old, but now it's REALLY young... right? Anyway, the Friday before my birthday we went out to dinner with a small group to celebrate and Ben and I were actually ready in time to have our picture taken together. He's getting so big, before long he's going to be completely covering me up in pictures! hahaThis one is just a cute shot of one of the adorable, overly-serious looks we get from Ben very often!

Ben and I leave for Kentucky this next Tuesday so Ben can FINALLY meet my family. My grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are so ready to meet him and we are so ready to see them!! There will definitely be pictures when we return!

We made it through the first 12 weeks!

This is what Ben is doing while I am "blogging". He's watching patiently from his swing!

Ben is REALLY smiling a lot and making all kinds of cute noises! He has a Baby Einstein play gym that has all kinds of things hanging from it, but he loves two of the orange rings that are on either side. He's always holding the two orange ones, not the blue, purple or green... the orange. Maybe he has a favorite color already?! One of the orange rings is hanging from a purple octopus, and he has started smiling when he makes "eye contact" with it.

Look how much he has grown!!

The picture in the blue was taken March 10, 2008 (when we came home from the hospital) and the second, we took this past weekend (June 1, 2008). It's amazing how much babies grow in just the first few weeks! These pictures are the only ones I have that really give a scale for comparison! The weather was drastically different as well. It was about 50 degrees the day we came home from the hospital and about 95 this past Sunday. What a difference 12 weeks makes in weather too!! haha

This past weekend, Friday night, Ben spent the night in his own room. He has been doing really well. Actually Sunday night, he slept from 9:30 pm until 5:00 am without interruption and then went back down after eating until 9:00 am. Needless to say, I actually got some sleep for once! I'm hoping these great nights will get closer and closer together!!