Benton Update: 4 Months

Benton has been alive for 1/3 of a year...oh my goodness! It's so hard to believe he is 4 months old!!!

Some facts from Benton's fourth month of life:

-Wearing a few 3-6 month clothes, but he is now mainly wearing 6-12 month clothes.

-Mainly wearing cloth diapers on the middle snap. In disposables, he is wearing a size 2 diaper.

-Eating 5-6 times per day for a max of 15 minutes. We vary the number of times we feed him based on what we have going on (for example, he eats 6 times on small group days because he stays up later). He is also taking a 4.5-5 ounce bottle when it is more convenient.

-Still sleeping great! We put him down at around 8:30pm and we wake him up at 7am. He is still taking a nap after every feeding.

-Thriving on the eat/play/sleep routine. He's staying awake just a little bit longer, and we are loving the additional time with him awake! He is starting to enjoy tummy time a little more and he is starting to really play with his activity gym.


Random things we don't want to forget:

-He's rolling over!!! We haven't actually seen him do it, but we put him to sleep on his tummy and he wakes up on his back. :) He will also roll from his back to his side, but not all the way over onto his tummy. I should note that we are pretty sure he is totally cheating when he rolls from his tummy to his back...we think he's pushing off the crib slats with his legs.

-Our poor little baby is teething. So sad. But, he is doing well as long as we give him teething tablets and have something for him to chew on. The things he seems to like for teething are Sophie the Giraffe's legs and rear, a frozen pacifier, a frozen washcloth to suck on, his hands, and our fingers.

-He is starting to try to sit up. We can put him in the Bumbo and he sits wonderfully, or we can sit him up in his Boppy. In the Boppy he isn't requiring very much support to sit!

-We can put Sophie or his circle rattle a few inches in front of him and he will grab them and bring them to his mouth.

-He is a splashing machine during bath time!

-He has watched 3 OU football games thus far, and he can already say "Boomer Sooner." Okay, maybe not.

-An upper respiratory infection hit our house a couple of weeks ago, and sweet Benton got sick. :( It was so sad, but he was a trooper and was the first one to get over the upper respiratory infection. We are pretty sure that he was mesmorized by the frog humidifier. Ha!

-He is such a happy baby. He smiles for us all the time. It will be interesting to see his personality develop, but if I were to guess based on the current time, I think he will be: introverted, deep thinker, laid-back, friendly. We'll see!

-He had his first real play group experience this month! It will be fun to watch the kids grow and interact.

We love our little guy! And, thank you to our friends and family for loving him too! We are so grateful for him and the joy he has added to our lives!!!

Big Baby

Somehow Landon and I came across this article. It is about a 4 month old baby boy from Colorado who weighs 17 pounds and is 25 inches long...and was denied health insurance. For the record, Benton is 10 days shy of being 4 months old and is weighing in at about 18 pounds and is 25 inches long (by our measurements).

So sad that an infant can be denied health insurance for obesity (or anything else for that matter)...

Rubber Band Ball

Michael and Heather White are some of our friends from small group. We love them (and the rest of our small group!). Somehow, we all started talking about rubber band balls, and somehow it came up that Michael made a huge rubber band ball in high school. And he just happened to have made a website.

If you know Michael and Heather, please go to www.mikesrubberball.8m.com, and be ready to laugh. And maybe mention it the next time you see him. :)

Game Day!!!

Boomer Sooner! Benton has spent this week preparing for his first OU game day! We have been dressing him in Crimson and Cream and singing him the words to the fight song before naps and bed (for real). :) I tried to sing him the chant but could only remember some of the lines...

Notice that he already has his first football penalty...a facemask penalty! We think he is teething, and he was trying to get it into his mouth. :)

Back to Work

I have a great job. It is my first and only "real" job. It is the job that I took after 7 straight years of school (gag). My boss is great, my co-PA (if that is even a word) is awesome, and my other coworkers are friendly. My hours are flexible. There really isn't any overtime. I have an office with a wall of windows and a door that locks. My lunches are free (at the free cafeteria...or freeateria, as we call it). Most days, I can wear scrub pants, a t-shirt or hoodie sweatshirt, and tennis shoes...that's pretty much like wearing pajamas to work.

But, now we have a bundle of baby love, and I have been so torn on what to do with regards to work. Before I had Benton, I figured I would go part-time, but was also somewhat open to working full-time. Then Benton came, and I knew immediately that there was no way that I could leave him 5 days a week. No way. I also know that being a full-time stay-at-home mom isn't really for me.

About 2 weeks ago, I came back to work part-time. Leaving Benton for the first time was horrible. I cried. And cried. And cried. And cried more. I actually held it together until I got in my car after leaving him. After I composed myself enough to go into work, I didn't even get to my office before the doc whose office is next to mine asked how I was doing. Tears. And that continued all.day.long.

It's gotten easier now, but my heart is still torn on what exactly to do. I definitely don't want to work full-time or stay at home full-time, so now I just have to find the part-time schedule that works best for us. It does help knowing that Benton is in such great care while I am working, and I am so stinking excited to see him at the end of the day. Literally, he could do anything and I am unfazed. I feel like being away from him makes me so much more grateful for the time that I have with him. But, it is still hard to be away from him.

So, for those of you who ask me how I am doing, hopefully that gives you a better idea. I feel like I should have a long letter to give to everyone who asks so that I can really get my feelings across. It's hard to properly explain how I am doing when there are so many conflicting emotions.

Disclaimer: This is just about ME, so please don't take offense to anything I wrote if you are either a full-time working mom or a stay-at-home mom.