Benton Update: 10 Months

Sweet boy! You are growing so fast and we are so proud of you! We are glad that we only have a couple more months of your monkey pictures, as you are becoming VERY HARD to photograph...all you want to do is eat the paper. :) We love you!!!

Some facts from Benton's tenth month of life:

-Wearing 12 month and 12-18 month clothes.

-Mainly wearing cloth diapers with no snaps. In disposables, he is wearing a size 4 diaper.

-Eating 3 meals and 1 snack per day. He has a 5 ounce bottle of formula with his breakfast and lunch, and he has a 5 ounce sippy cup with whole milk in the evenings. His meals are primarily table food and an occasional pureed fruit or veggie. His snacks are usually cheerios and a fruit.

-Still sleeping great! He was unfazed by daylight savings time...thank goodness! He is sleeping from 7-7:15pm to 7:00am. He is taking 2 naps per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon (about 2 hours each).

-Eat/play/sleep. :)

Random things we don't want to forget:

-We went to the zoo and he loved it! His favorite things were people watching and calling all animals with four legs "dog." Ha!

-Ben know officially has 3 teeth completely through his gums (2 on the bottom and 1 on the top right). He has 3 more out of the gums, but not completely visible yet (all 3 on top, 1 on the top left and the lateral incisor on each side).

-He has become quite the talker! Many people comment on how verbal he has become. He usually says a whole bunch of nothing, but he does say "dada," "mama," "dog," and a version of "bubbles" now. Of course, he only says these things when he wants and it's not exactly clear.

-He has an obsession with mandarin oranges. Seriously, he loves them!

-Although he is not crawling yet, he is getting up on all fours and rocking. He is pretty much able to get anything he wants by rolling and scooting. He is also showing a lot of interest in standing, so it will be interesting to see if he actually crawls very much.

-We have been working on sign language for months now (all done, please, and more), and he finally did his own version of all done a few days ago. It was so cute!!!

-He found out that he is going to be a big brother to two little sisters! While he is very sweet, we can already see a silly side of him. We imagine he will lovingly torture his little sisters. :)

-His favorite time of day is bathtime. He loves everything about it...the water coming out of the faucet, his toys, splashing, the soap bubbles, and even drying off. He is all smiles the whole time!

We can't believe how fast you have grown, and we love you so much!!!!

Diaper and Wipes Deal

I have another diaper and wipes deal to post about. One item was purchased at Target and the rest were purchased from Amazon. Although these deals aren't as great as the deal I posted a couple weeks ago, it was still quite a money saver.

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Purchase #1 made from Amazon.com

Luvs Ultra Leakguard Stretch Diapers, Size 5, 150 count- Amazon Price: $35.05- My Total: $7.52

Here's how I did it...

1) 15% Off with Amazon Mom program

2) 15% Off with Subscribe and Save (I will cancel this as soon as the diapers arrive)

3) Use 20% Off Diapers coupon from magazine

4) Use $10 Off Coupon from magazine

5) Shipping is FREE (2-Day) with Amazon Mom

There you have it...my total of $7.52!

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Purchase #2 and #3 made from Amazon.com

*I did the exact same transaction twice*

Huggies Natural Care Fragrance Free Baby Wipes Popup Refill, 216-Count Pack (Pack of 3)- Amazon Price: $20.31- My Total:$4.22

Here's how I did it...

1) 15% Off with Amazon Mom program

2) 15% Off with Subscribe and Save (I will cancel this as soon as the wipes arrive)

3) Use $10 Off Coupon from Magazine

4) Shipping is FREE (2-Day) with Amazon Mom

There you have it...my total of $4.22.

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Purchase #4 made from Target

Huggies Natural Care Fragrance Free Baby Wipes Popup Refill, 216-Count Pack- Target Price: $5.39- My Total: $3.64 (without tax)

Here's how I did it...

1) Wait for the Wipes to go on sale

2) $1 Off Target Coupon

3) $0.75 Off Manufacturer Coupon

There you have it...my total of $3.64 (without tax).

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The picture above is of all the packs of baby wipes that I got...7 packs for $12.08 (plus the tax from the Target wipes). If I were to have bought all of the baby wipes at Target while they were on sale it would have cost $37.73 (plus tax).

Obviously, Amazon is where I get the best deals. However, I have found that by stacking a Target Coupon and a Manufacturer Coupon, I can get great deals at Target!!! When I checked out at Target, they printed another wipes coupon ($1.50 Off) for me, so I should be able to purchase discounted wipes the next time I am at Target.

Baby Blog: March 23, 2011

We had an OB appointment and a perinatologist appointment this week, and everything looks great with both of the babies and myself!

At our last perinatologist appointment, he guessed that the twins were girls, but told us not to paint the room or make any plans yet. He was right! They looked great on ultrasound, measuring exactly where they should with no signs of twin to twin transfusion. Twin B was spunky as usual...we even have an ultrasound picture of her kicking Twin A in the head. :) We have names picked out for both girls, but we won't be telling until they are born. We are so excited to welcome the sweet girls into our family!!!

Just for the record: Twin A was measuring 8 ounces and Twin B was measuring 7 ounces.

The perinatologist also checked my cervix (both via ultrasound and manually), and everything looked great there too! They saw no signs of preterm labor, so I am allowed to continue my normal activities for now. Also, since I had pre-eclampsia with Benton, they are keeping a close watch on my blood pressure and other symptoms. So far so good there too!

My next appointments are in 3 weeks, and they will be doing the same big things...blood pressure, cervix check, and ultrasound of the girls! Please continue praying for the babies to remain healthy and for the pregnancy to march on uneventfully!

PS-They said they want me to gain 50 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy moly! How does anyone gain 50 pounds?! :)

Baby Blog: March 20, 2011

I finally broke down and took my first belly picture of this pregnancy. Sorry, you don't get to see my face, as I had just rolled out of bed. This picture was taken at 17w 6d...

I was comparing the above picture to belly pictures from my pregnancy with Benton, and I think I look comparable to about week 22 (though I feel like week 38...ha!). Here it is for comparison...

They say I should be measuring 4-6 weeks ahead of a singleton pregnancy, so this picture looks about right!

March Madness 2011

Woohoo! March Madness is finally here. This is the only time I watch basketball all year long, and only because I love watching how things pan out in the brackets. We are in 3 competitions this year: The 3rd Annual Golden Egg of Basketball (with my family + Russ), Landon's usual bracket with his old co-workers in western Oklahoma, and one with our friends! And for those who are wondering, Benton filled out his own bracket this year for The Golden Egg of Basketball! Here's how...

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This took forever (days...notice the outfit change), but was so fun! As you can see from the pictures, we built identical block towers and then added the first letter of the teams from each match-up to the top...the tower he knocked over first was the team that advanced. It added a little twist to our normal days of building block towers and knocking them over time after time. :) Note that Ben will probably not be a repeat winner...ha!

Benton Update: 9 Months Continued

Benton had his 9 month well child check-up today. He is doing great!!!

Stats from 9 month Pediatrician appointment:
-Weight: 21 pounds, 11 ounces (75th percentile)
-Height: 29 inches (75th percentile)
-Head Circumference: 18 inches