Benton Update: One Year Old Continued

Benton had his One year old well child check-up today. Doc thinks he looks great! We are so grateful for Benton's health.

Stats from One year old pediatrician appointment:
-Weight: 23 pounds, 6 ounces (60th percentile)
-Height: 30 inches (60th percentile)
-Head Circumference: (90th percentile)

He has his mommy's head. :)

Benton's First Birthday Cupcake!

First of all, a big thank you to Benton's Aunt Julie for taking all of these pictures! She is super talented!!!

Ben LOVES sugar just like his mommy and daddy! He devoured his cupcake (seriously, he ate it all) and cried when we took him out of his high chair, as he was still picking miniscule crumbs out of his lap. Ha!!!

Enjoy the picture progression:


Benton obviously loved his first cupcake. :)

Stay tuned for another birthday party post...coming soon!

Baby Blog: May 28, 2011

It's time for a long twin update. The last one was written in March. Eeek...that was a long time ago! One reason I haven't been writing is because sweet Benton takes up all my time (love that little guy) and the other is because there are just some realities to this pregnancy that have taken some time for me to process (more below).

First off, a picture of the growing girls (all three of us!) taken at 24w 6d:

Here is another picture taken at 26w 1d:

I'm not even really sure where to start, so I'll start with our high risk appointment from April 15th and then work towards my most recent appointment. I see my perinatologist every other week and my regular OB every other week (on a rotating schedule...so I see one of them every week), and I'm really only going to mention things from the perinatologist appointments.

Here are some of the details from my perinatologist appointment on April 15th (at 21 weeks gestation). At that time, the girls were doing great, with Baby A measuring at 7 ounces and Baby B measuring at 9 ounces. My cervix was measuring 3.0cm. I was given the okay to pretty much do anything I wanted unless it caused consistent contractions or made me uncomfortable. They did ask me to stop exercising.

(I had LOTS of contractions in this time.)

Here are some of the details from my perinatologist appointment on May 6th (at 24 weeks gestation). At that time, the girls were doing great, with Baby A measuring at 1 pound 9 ounces and Baby B measuring at 1 pound 7 ounces. My cervix was measuring 2.5cm. With the change in cervical length, they asked me to decrease my activities significantly and rest often.

(I continued to have LOTS of contractions in this time. I rested as much as possible.)

We most recently saw our perinatologist on May 20th. The girls look amazing still, and we are so grateful for that!!!! Baby A was measuring at 2 pounds 3 ounces, and Baby B was measuring at 2 pounds 5 ounces. Still no signs of twin to twin transfusion, and they are actually measuring a little bit ahead, which is pretty uncommon for twins that share a placenta. Grow, baby girls, grow!!! My cervix was measuring at 2.0cm on ultrasound...not good. They put me on modified bedrest (house arrest) and asked that I lay down for most of the day and only do absolutely necessary activities (care for Benton, shower, etc). On a positive note, my fetal fibronectin test was negative, which means that there was a very low likelihood of delivering the girls in the two weeks following the test.

(I am still having LOTS of contractions, and I've had more on daily basis than I did the previous times.)

I will have another appointment this coming week, and if my cervix has shortened anymore, they will put me on a more strict bedrest and start steroid shots for the girls lungs. The reality of this is very scary for so many reasons, but here are the two most obvious... (1) Preemie babies...enough said, and (2) We have the cutest, sweetest one year old around, and all I want to do is chase him and tickle him and give him lots of kisses.

Please be praying for our little family... that my body can hold the girls in until they are full-term, that the girls continue to do well, that Benton continues to adjust well to being stuck in the house with his non-active and boring mommy, and that Landon has the energy to take care of all of us (he has a very full plate right now). Thanks friends!

Benton Update: One Year Old

Oh my goodness. We can't even believe this day is here...the day that our baby boy turns One! The past 12 months have flown by, and we are so thankful for each and every day. Benton has been the perfect addition to our family, and we truly look back at every day with such joy and gratefulness.


Some facts from Benton's twelfth month of life:
-Wearing 12 month and 12-18 month clothes. In footed sleepers he is now wearing 18-24 months because of the length.
-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 eats table food cut into small pieces and drinks 15-20 ounces of milk daily from a straw sippy cup.
-Sleeping well! He is sleeping from about 7:30pm to 6-7am. He takes 2 naps per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon (about 1 1/2 hours each).
-Eat/play/sleep.


Random things we don't want to forget:
-Goodbye pacifier. We decided go ahead and take the pacifier away now, as we felt like it was more of a disturbance for Ben than a soothing item (he only used it in his crib for naps and nighttime). It was a rough first day with a few not quite normal days following, but we are so glad that we made the decision when we did. We replaced his pacifier with his monkey and a small lovey blanket, both of which he doesn't care about at all. :)
-He is now building block towers by himself. Woohoo. Okay, so they may only be three blocks high, but it is so fun to watch him. He usually knocks his tower over while trying to put a 4th block on top.
-His playtime is becoming much more intentional. He will purposefully move things, stack things, or push things.
-Benton is crawling and cruising everywhere, and he is fast!!!!!!!!! He is also standing unassisted for about a minute at a time.
-We had his first birthday party the weekend before his actual birthday. We were so grateful to our family and friends for celebrating with us! He loved his cupcake and all the attention that he got.
-He is saying a couple new words, "books" and "blocks."
-Beaver Benton decided that he likes to chew on his crib rail. By the time we figured it out, he had already made quite a few marks. The rail is now protected from his sharp teeth. :)
-Landon gives him his nightly bath, and when they are done, Ben puts all of his toys into the toy bag one by one.
-He pushes his Radio Flyer Wagon Walker around the house on his knees, and occasionally will stand all the way up and push it around. He's always so proud of himself.
-He LOVES our small windows that flank our front door. He crawls to them and stands up and watches all the cars go by. :)

What a wonderful first year this has been! We love you!!!!!