carrie's first pregnancy

Ben now gets at least two meals a day of solids (well, I don't know if he eats enough for it to be considered a "meal", but we're trying)... and he loves to play with the spoons. I caught him yesterday (after the meal, hence the orange stains on his onesie) banging around:



I've also tried to get him to eat a few finger foods, but he still hasn't quite mastered the pick up food, put into mouth motion yet. He can pinch it to pick it up... but then crushes it in his hands and plays with it :) I've tried bananas, avocado, and these Gerber things that dissolve. He likes those the best, since they are crunchy, and he uses his new front teeth :)

Joe leaves for NY this weekend, and then Ben and I are meeting him up there for Labor Day. Should be fun, and I hope I survive a week with just the two of us! :)

8 months 1 week 5 days old

Posted by carrie at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

And for your Friday entertainment, we present: Ben, with a squeaky toy! :)



I weighed him yesterday, and according to our home scale, he's a whopping 22.5 lbs :) I'll try and get height this weekend, but that's a little more tricky.

Happy weekend! Grandma is in town, and we hope to have some fun!

8 months 6 days old

Posted by carrie at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

We reached 8 months! With four teeth and serious sitting up skills, we're so proud of baby Benny :) I haven't weighed him yet, but he's definitely gained another pound at least! I have some cute photos of his newest eating tricks... grabbing the spoon, and blowing his food at me. He thinks that's GREAT fun! Here's a great shot of him after a session of "squash" :)







What a crazy kid... good thing he gets regular baths ;) We met up with our friends for a playdate again, and it's so fun watching everyone start to get mobile! Soon we'll have to find a space for them to run around... but for now, just having them sit and "scoot" is still cute :)























I did take some actual photos of Benny at the beach from a week ago... he did love the sand, and I think the sound of the waves wasn't so intimidating :)























I'll update again when I have his true weight/height. Grandma Dee-Dee is visiting this weekend, and then it's countdown to our Labor Day vacation!

Ahhh... full and sleepy :)



8 months 3 days old

Posted by carrie at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments

We're back from Lobsterfest, and I'll have to post the photos later tonight... but we took Ben to the beach (Robert Moses, Long Island, NY) on Friday, and he got his first dip in the ocean! I think the coldness and big noise scared him the most, but he still loved playing in the sand :)



We had a great time, and thanks to the Ribaudos for hosting us all weekend! Wish we could still be there!!

7 months 3 weeks 5 days old

Posted by carrie at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

So yay, no more pirate tooth baby... Benny's two other top and bottom teeth came in, so he now has a total of four teeth! He's been in great spirits the past few days, and yesterday our daycare person called in sick, so I got to take a "sick day" and spend the day with him at home :) We had a lot of fun playing, and he's getting really good at sitting up on his own. I watch him pull his knees under his chest, so I know it won't be long until he starts trying to crawl! We can't keep him in one spot anymore... he just rolls and rolls!

This weekend we leave for New York, for the annual Lobsterfest with friends on Long Island. I hope to take lots of photos, and I hope he goes back to sleeping through the night before we leave! He had a stretch of nights while he was teething that he was waking up at 2-2:30am... and then once the teeth were all in, he went back to sleeping all the way through. Now all of a sudden he's waking again, but I'm hoping it's just a temporary fluke... otherwise this weekend will be interesting! We leave Thursday night and come back Sunday... I can't wait for Ben to meet all his new friends! :)

Other than that, he's great... lots of laughs, and he's more interactive now. I'm working on getting him to clap and wave, but no signs that he's getting it yet. We've been doing lots of solids... he's had bananas, apples and blueberries, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, summer vegetables, peaches, and pears... and soon he'll try some plums. His favorite still seems to be bananas, but the apple/blueberry mix went over really well, too :) We're still at one feeding a day, but at 8 months (which is in 10 days!) we'll start giving him morning and night feedings. If he's ready for some finger foods, we'll also try a few of those to see how he does. The great grandparents are ready for him to try some pasta over Labor Day weekend, so I hope he's ready!! I'm still trying to get the hang of feeding him without smearing it all over his face, bib, tray, etc... I think it's unavoidable. Although Joe is much better at it than I am!

He's also still babbling a lot, and we want to start showing him signs for things like "ba-ba" (bottle), and "up"... I need to look up signs for other things and start practicing! I know he could get it if we tried!

I've been trying to get some photos of the teeth, but no luck yet... I'll keep trying!

7 months 2 weeks 6 days old

Posted by carrie at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

Organizing the videos, I took this one yesterday. Warning, it's 10 minutes long, but it's a good one. It shows Benny just hanging out on his blanket, sitting up, rolling, and laughing with the dog:



Fun times!

7 months 2 weeks 3 days old

Posted by carrie at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments