One Month cont.

Benjamin had his 1 month appt this morning so just a quick update on my last post.  He officially weighs 9lbs 2oz and measures 21 1/4 inches!  Needless to say the doctor was very impressed with his growth! Yay!  He does seem to have a dairy sensitivity so she advised me to continue to avoid dairy until he’s 6 months old. Yuck! Besides that she thought he looked great and she commented on how strong he is.  She didn’t have much advice on getting him to sleep longer than an hour and a half or so between feedings at night – just that it might be because he is growing so much and could taper off when that slows down.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that is the case!  Andrew also started trying to give him a bottle of breastmilk this week; so far he is not a big fan of the bottle but hopefully over the next week or so he’ll come around!  Here’s a picture of the first attempt – the still photo makes it look like a much calmer affair than it actually was (unless you look closely at poor Benjamin’s little furrowed brow)!

One Month

Benjamin’s first month was a busy one!  He met lots of relatives, friends, and neighbors, attended three birthday parties, celebrated his first Valentine’s Day, had his first cold, visited the farmer’s market for the first time and continued to adjust to daily life around here.  He has been a great eater and we think he’s put on close to three pounds since birth – we’ll get this verified on Friday when we go for his one month checkup.  He is still sleeping a lot but has begun to be more alert during the day.  He is also starting to find his voice –while not quite as loud as Julia was at his age, he has his own repertoire of grunts and groans and moans that keep us awake at night! 

In other developmental news, he is starting to see farther and tracks things that interest him with his eyes.  He definitely recognizes our voices and Julia’s.  He is able to hold his head up very well but does not like tummy time at all.  He usually manages to move his head from one side to the other at least once or twice but then he is done.  He does not like the swing yet but we’ll keep trying it.  He does like being held in our front carriers and has gotten a few good naps like that!

Julia – An Update

As reported earlier this week Julia is now 3!  We went for her annual check-up on Friday and received a clean bill of health from the doctor.  She now weighs 27.5 lbs and is 38.5 in tall.  The doctor was shocked that she grew 4 inches in the past year!

So some tidbits about our oldest child…

From our perspective:

Julia is a very active, strong-willed, sweet, happy child.  She has definite opinions about things and is pretty open about voicing them – at least to people she is comfortable with.  She loves music and dancing, playing with her trains and pom-poms, bouncing on her trampoline, doing craft projects, and of course, her bunny.  She is a bit of a picky eater but is getting better about trying different things.  She still loves vegetables and fruit (especially carrots and apples) but has acquired quite the sweet tooth in the last year and is always angling to get a few m&ms or a chocolate kiss!  She knows that Grandma Laurie keeps Smarties in her purse and that’s the first thing she checks for when she sees her.  She loves going to school a couple of mornings a week and is starting to learn her letters and has a good handle on numbers 1-20 and counting.  She still loves to read and is currently enthralled with the Berenstein Bear books.  Outside, she zooms around on her balance bike (I see a two wheel bike in her near future) and plays soccer with our neighbor Kaitlin.  Her vocabulary is incredible and Andrew and I are often shocked by the phrases that she comes out with.  The other day in the midst of a tantrum she was screaming (to Grandma Les): “I want to talk to my mom about it”… not exactly cute at the time but I was still impressed with her language skills. 

She continues to change in other ways as well, she recently gave up napping about the same time Benjamin came home.  Thankfully this has coincided with starting to sleep a little later, some days all the way to 7am.  It also makes bedtime a shorter affair which we do appreciate. She has taken to the role of big sister very well.  She’s a great help around the house and is always concerned when she hears Benjamin fussing or crying. 

She has really started to become her own person over the last few months and we’re looking forward to watching her grow and develop over the year to come!

From her perspective:

• What is your favorite color? blue
• What is your favorite toy? Thomas (trains)
• What is your favorite fruit? blueberries
• What is your favorite tv show? Wow wow wubzy
• What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Chicken nuggets
• What is your favorite game? Hide and seek
• What is your favorite snack? goldfish
• What is your favorite book? Berenstein Bears and No More Junk Food
• What is your favorite thing to do outside? Playing soccer and riding her balance bike
• What is your favorite drink? milk
• What do you like to take to bed with you at night? No-no and pom-poms
• What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Granola bar (or as she says a “noga” bar)
• What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? pasta
• What makes you happy? no-no
• What is your favorite animal? Bunnies
• What is your favorite thing to eat? m&ms
• What is your least favorite thing to eat? nothing
• What is your favorite thing to do? play soccer
• What is your favorite tv show? thomas
• What are you really good at? playing soccer
• What is your favorite movie? thomas
• What is your favorite song? Twinkle Twinkle
• Who is your best friend? No-No
• What do you and your Mom do together? play with the marble run
• What do you and your Dad do together? rock on her rocker
• What is your favorite sport? soccer
• What is your favorite place to go? out to dinner for steak
• What do you want to be when you grow up? I don’t know

Copy Cat

I guess Benjamin is already learning some things from his sister!

Three!!!

Julia turned 3 last Thursday and it was quite the event.  She has had very low key birthdays for the last two years but that was definitely not the case this year!  It began with the arrival of Grandma Su-Su on Wednesday, continued with a birthday party at school on Thursday morning, presents to open from Mom and Dad and Grandma at lunch on Thursday, a birthday dinner with chocolate cupcakes attended by Grandpa Rick and Grandma Les on Thursday night, and then flowed into the weekend with a big celebration together with Alex on Saturday!  Here are some glimpses of the fun!

The three year old

Playing with her new train table

Balloons galore for the big party

Present time!

Cake time!

  

Bouncing girl

Go Patriots!!

Benjamin is 2 weeks old today and ready for tonight’s big game!