"All Cheeks"

A man at the coffee shop this morning commented that Ben was "all cheeks".


I love that.

The Hedgehog vs. The Horse

One of my favorite things about Ben being at Callie's are the pictures that she sends to me.  It delights me to see what he is up to when I'm not there, and confirms again and again what a perfect set up we have.

Today, he apparently stood at the couch, banging together a hedgehog and a horse while "talking" intently. 

:) :) :) 

Also, is this "boy" behavior, or do little girls do this with their toys too?

The Ferber Method

Ben in his new glow in the dark dinosaur jams!

As I have (perhaps, foolishly) claimed several times on this blog, Ben has been a pretty rad sleeper for a pretty long time.  With our early success of Ben sleeping through the nights, (in his own room - which was something we really wanted for him/us) and only waking to eat once at night (and sometimes not at all), we had a little system that worked very well for us!

Over the past few weeks, maybe a month, things have changed a little.  We started experiencing meltdowns at nap time.  Ben started to wake up shortly after going to bed at night, and then would wake several times throughout the night.  At first, I attributed it to his new ability to sit up and stand in his crib.  Then I assumed that this combined with his 2 top teeth working their way through his gums could have been the reason for our new sleeping problems.  And it's very possible that I was right about this....

....but - I was just NOT functioning well with having to get up 2, sometimes 3, times throughout the night to console Ben - whether that was with feeding him, rocking him, or sometimes (if he was really mad), bringing him out of his room so that he didn't think I was trying to put him down to sleep anymore.  Once I suspected that he didn't need middle of the night snacks, I was ready to stop.

At Ben's 6 month doctor's appointment, our doctor confirmed my suspicions - that Ben no longer needed to eat in the middle of the night - that he was perfectly capable of going 11-12 hours at night without nursing.  At the time, I still considered Ben "sleeping through the night", even if he was nursing once for 5 minutes, and since he would go RIGHT back to sleep, it never bothered me.  Unfortunately, it has recently become totally clear to us that we have a bad habit forming that needs to be broken.  I won't say that I think he is manipulating us necessarily, but the way he ramps up his sobs as soon as he sees us in his room seem to be part of his master plan to get himself out of bed.

We decided that Memorial Day Weekend would be the perfect time to implement The Ferber Method:

Devised by the American pediatrician Richard Ferber in 1985 within his book 'Solve your child’s sleep problem,' the Ferber method basically means you leave your child to soothe them self to sleep when they are emotionally and physically ready. Ferber believes this can be done between the first 4-6 months of life, and although has been proven to be incredibly successful, is still a controversial method to adopt.

The Ferber method recommends that following a loving and warm bedtime routine, usually involving bath time, you put your baby to bed awake, then leaving them, even if they cry, for periods of time that increase as the time spent using the method goes on. Ferber argues that it is the putting to bed of a baby awake that teaches them to go to sleep on their own. In order to adopt the Ferber approach, when your baby starts to cry, leave them for roughly five minutes before returning to soothe, but do not pick up or feed them.

I knew that with a little practice, Ben would remember what it was like to put himself back to sleep, and we would be able to go back to some restful nights!

Friday night was hard, I won't lie.  We started with our already established bedtime routine: 

Bath
Lotion
Brushing teeth
Vitamin
Bedtime story
Nursing
Bedtime

Instead of nursing Ben to sleep, which would typically happen each night, I nursed him and then woke him up a little before putting him down in his crib.  He immediately sat up and started to cry.  I rubbed his back for a minute, said "good night", and left the room.  While I have been okay with letting him cry for 5 or so minutes before, it was much harder to let him cry for the 40 minutes that it took before he fell asleep.  Greg and I alternated going in every 5 minutes, and then every 10 minutes, rubbing his back and laying him back down (but never picking him up).  I was tense and frustrated, but Ben eventually gave in and went to sleep.

He woke up again around 4:30 am, and we followed the same pattern for the 25 minutes it took for him to lay down and fall asleep.

Then, when he woke up at 7 am, I went in and cheerfully greeted him and picked him up!

Due to him not sleeping much during the day on Saturday, he went down VERY easily Saturday night.  I nursed him, woke him up enough to go down in his crib awake, and he immediately rolled over and fell asleep.  And this time, when Ben woke up at 4:30 am, instead of crying, he cooed and played with his binky for awhile, and fell back asleep until 7 am.  YES!  I'm not sure if this was just due to him being tired, but I will take it.

The nights continued to go well.  There continued to be a few tears at bedtime, but he started to fall asleep within 10 minutes instead of the 40 minutes it took the first night.  Sunday night he woke up a few times, but I never even needed to go into his room.  He put himself back to sleep quickly and without crying.  Both Monday night and Tuesday night, he slept all the way through the night without a peep! 

While I'm sure that every night will not be a total success, it seems that he is starting to understand what nighttime means again. 

Food Ideas - Help Please!

A request to all of my mom-friends:

Help me with some ideas of what fun finger-foods I should have Ben try!

Ben seems to much prefer to feed himself - I have spent the past 2 months trying to jam purees into his mouth on a spoon (which he doesn't love) - but give him a cracker or fruit puff he can work on himself, and he seems to kind of enjoy food!

I'm with the DJ

Ben crawled over, stood up, and jammed on his own at this music station for about 5 minutes. I hovered over him just waiting for him to fall, but he never did.

Dude.

Crawling

Hopefully Ben will take after his mama and enjoy using the vacuum one day.  He already seems pretty obsessed with it :)

8 Months Old

Photo shoot = Over.  I'm playing now.

I think it is safe to say that we have witnessed the most change in Ben in the last month.  He seems so much more aware of his surroundings and so determined to DO more!

Ben is now crawling.  I am confident when I say this, even though his crawling is not necessary always a straight line from A to B :)  He is almost constantly up on all fours and will see something/someone and go after it - even if that means a few face plants into the carpet, or a few breaks to sit down and reassess his strategy.

He also will routinely pull himself up to stand in his crib.  The other night, while I was taking a bath, Ben "walked" all around the edge of his crib (on the inside) to try to get closer to the bathroom door where he could see me.  Yesterday, he pulled himself up to stand at the ottoman.  Since it is a soft, plush ottoman, he used his mouth to steady himself as he got his hands into position.  Smart!

Naps and bedtime have been a bit of a nightmare over the past couple weeks.  I say "nightmare" fully aware that it could be a LOT worse, however, we both sort of think that Ben is making up for being such a rad sleeper as a newborn.  Maybe it is teething, or maybe it is his newly discovered abilities, but we are averaging 2-3 "wake-ups" throughout the night lately.  Once Ben (finally) falls asleep, it is only a matter of time that he wakes himself up, pushes himself onto hands and knees, sits down, and just cries.  I can tell he is frustrated and tired, but dude won't just give in and lay down.  We Greg attempts the "cry it out" method, but we also will go in and rock him to sleep if it goes on too long.  And then often times, the second we put him down, he wakes up and repeats the cycle.  So, that's fun. 

Ben has 3 teeth, and we can see the other top tooth about to surface.  He looks so different with teeth - and it's crazy to think that only more will come in from here!

Ben is currently wearing 9-12 month clothing.  It amazes me how quickly he is moving through each size.  It makes me want to never buy him anything that I like TOO much, as he will be too big for it before too long.

I bought Ben his first pair of shoes this week, with the intention of him being able to grow into them for awhile.  For now, they are just for show, but the sales guy told me that as he starts to walk (oh man) they have the appropriate soft bottom he will need.  (He is a size 3.5, btw).

In terms of food, Ben is coming along.  He likes oatmeal and most pureed fruits.  He was into peas, too.  He continues to love his mum-mums and other little dried fruit puffs he can feed himself.  It kind of stresses me out when I consider expanding what he is eating.  I don't want to give him the wrong foods, so I basically give him the same things each day.  It is going to really stress me out when he is no longer nursing, because at least I know that right now, what he consumes is 100% nutritious.  Callie volunteered (or perhaps I volunteered her?) to start trying different foods that she is feeding the girls on the days that Ben is with her (8-month old appropriate foods, that is).  I am eager to hear how that goes.  (Man I sound like a lazy mom)!

Ben loves when we repetitively surprise him.  He laughs every time and will continue to look at us (and squeal) for more! 

So many of his behaviors just seem "boy-like".  He still loves to bang toys together, move toys back and forth across the floor (to me, it seems like he is "driving" them like cars), and knock over the towers I make with his stacking cups.

Finally, and this is probably my favorite thing ever, the look on Ben's face when Greg walks in the door after work is indescribable.  His mouth opens WIDE and he just stares at him with the happiest face.  No matter what kind of day he has had, this moment will cheer Greg up in an instant.

Love you Benny-boo!

Nap interruption

This is what happens during nap time these days.  It's super annoying.

Email with my dad

I emailed this picture to my dad the other day:

And his response this morning was this:

How do you contain all the emotions he generates?  Each time you send one of these wonderful images, I'm almost knocked over with joy and pride.

Which is exactly how I feel on a daily (hourly) basis as a mom.  Knocked over with happiness and pride that Ben is my son.

Barf.

B and b

We refer to these two as B and b - Big B and little b.  I love them together.  Brandon put this little Bronson and Ben picture recap together and it brings me so much joy :)

Mad development happening right now

In the last week or so, I have noticed so many changes in Ben.  Here is a recap of his latest tricks:

Crawling(ish) - He isn't quite doing your standard "crawl" (knees and hands), but he is doing something funny where he gets up on his toes and scoots forward, and then falls, rolls, and continues on his way.  Can I call it "Frogging"?  Regardless of how graceful it isn't, Ben is starting to get himself where he wants to go.  He almost fell off our bed a few nights ago, (but didn't thanks to my cat-like reflexes), so we are now keeping a closer watch on his every move.

Verbal changes - For the longest time, the only sounds I would notice coming out of Ben's mouth were screams (happy ones), grunts, or whines/cries.  Lately, he seems to be trying to focus on what he is doing and we have heard some consonant sounds.  I will admit, both Greg and I heard what maybe could have been interpreted as "da-ddy", but because I am selfish, we are I am not confirming it as a first word until he does it again.  ;)


Getting into a seated position - Yesterday, while I was working on my computer, I looked down and saw Ben move from his tummy, to his hands and knees, and then get into a seated position.  !!!  I didn't see that coming so soon!


Pulling up to stand in his crib...all on his own - Previously, when Ben pulled up to stand in his crib, it was after I had put him in a seated position facing the rail.  So last night, at about 1 in the morning, (hours after figuring out how to get to a seated position on his own), I woke up to Ben crying a terrified cry.  Without looking at the monitor, I went into his room...and there he was - standing up, holding onto the side of his crib, (the opposite side from where I had put him down), dazed and confused as to how he wound up there.  He was SO TIRED too - and as soon as I "rescued" him, he went right back to sleep.  SO GLAD we lowered the mattress last week, (thanks for the push to do it earlier, mom)!


Comprehension of the words kitty, kiss and clap - Since Ben seems to understand things on a different level these days, I have tried to be extra vocal with him.  Whenever Maxwell walks into the room and Ben notices him, I will ask him "is that the kitty?" (repeatedly).  I will also say "kiss" when I smother him with kisses, and now when I say the word he seems to brace himself for a full-on face attack.  The last word he seems to be paying attention to is "clap", as I am trying to teach him to clap his hands (because, after all, he is happy...and we know it).

Eating - Ben is gradually starting to accept that he cannot survive on breast milk alone.  (Although, from what I am told, he essentially can until he hits a year old if that is what he wants to do).  At the encouragement of others, I have made it my mission to at least OFFER him a variety of foods - some baby purees, some random things from what we are eating - to see what he will eat, and that seems to be working.  It is hard not to "compare" your babies habits with those of babies similar in age, (some of whom dine on quinoa and tilapia, ahem - Bronson) but I KNOW that when Ben is ready, he will be all about food.  He is an Ingle, after all.  So, the latest development here is that he seems very into baby oatmeal, fruit purees, and slices of watermelon he can hold on to and nom on.  Oh, and baby mum-mums.  He loves those. 

Teeth - I think I forgot to mention on here, but Ben's second tooth popped out about 2 weeks after his first one (which came in right after his 6-month birthday).  A third tooth cut through while we were in San Diego last week, and it is starting to grow in more. I have to admit, I really loved his "2 bottom teeth look", but I suppose he will look cute with a third :)

Me and Ben

Me - 8.5 months old    Ben - 7.5 months old

So happy I survived that drop-side crib ;)

Stomach Sleeping

It's strange to see how Ben's sleeping has evolved.  In the last 3 weeks or so, Ben has become a total wiggle worm.  He is rolling over a ton and constantly "crawling" backwards.  He really is moving all over the place, just not in a forward motion like he wants to! 

This has resulted in him flipping over onto his stomach in his crib, and eventually sleeping this way almost 100% of the time.  Even in the rare occasion that we swaddle him up (which we have gradually stopped doing over the past couple weeks), he will get his arms out immediately and flip over.

I know babies used to sleep this way ALL the time, but it is strange and a little uncomfortable to see him face down.  I'm getting used to it though, and he sleeps SO WELL like this - don't we all? :)

 

San Diego Photo Shoot

On our last evening in San Diego, John took us up to Balboa Park for a quick photo shoot.  He took over 400 photos, and I (obviously) loved every single one of them.  I narrowed it down to a few 20 of my absolute favorite.  :)

Ben's First Trip to Disneyland

Disneyland.  What can I say about our first trip to Disney with Benny?  I will start by saying that as the day grew closer and closer, I had started to get more and more excited about what the day would be like!  I had high hopes for a beautiful day of strolling through the park, taking my clueless and totally unaware of it all child on my favorite rides, doing a baby swap with Hilary and John so that each of us could go on a bunch of our favorite "big kid" rides, and enjoying a couple relaxing meals at some of the fun restaurants there. 

I will say that we definitely caught small glimpses of each of these, but that overall - Disney with a 7.5 month old is not on the top of my list to do again ;)  Unfortunately for me (and probably for everyone else around me) I came down with a nasty cold the day we flew down to San Diego.  I think I went through a full tissue box each day of our trip, and our day at Disney was no exception.  My patience was probably a little lower than usual, so perhaps my perception of the day is a little skewed?

Or perhaps it is not.  Ben just didn't seem to be enjoying himself as much as I would have hoped.  He seemed irritated with the fact that he needed to be held or strapped into his stroller for the entire day - dude is on a mission to crawl after all, it's probably all he was thinking about!  He also just does not possess the ability to sleep wherever he may be in the way that he used to.  I had assumed that when he was tired enough he would just fall asleep for a lonnnnng nap in the stroller, but I think he only slept for 30 minutes or so the entire day.

We also scared the ever-loving shit out of him by taking him on the Jungle Cruise for his first ride.  My memory of the ride was a mellow-ish boat ride full of animals, waterfalls and lame humor - but in reality (for a baby) it was a ride that contained gun shots, spraying water and a loud BOOMING voice coming through the speaker we were sitting right below.  He cried on and off and had a look of terror the entire time.

Violet on the other hand, was a ROCKSTAR all day!  She pretty much kept up her normal schedule by taking several naps in the bjorn or stroller and for the most part was happy as could be the entire day! 

Because I am an optimist - I will touch on some of the AWESOME moments of our day at the park:

• Disney has an AMAZING baby care center located at the end of Main Street USA.  Hilary had heard about this, and I think it is what sold her on feeling comfortable enough to take Violet to Disney for the day.  We made several trips throughout the day so that we could nurse the babies (in a comfortable, cool, dimly-lit private lounge) and change them in a nicer environment than the regular park bathrooms.  I think the care center was Ben's favorite "ride" of all.  (FYI for anyone else planning a trip - they have bottle warmers, diapers, wipes, and literally everything else you may need for your little ones available for purchase).

• John and Hilary took us out to a delicious early dinner at the Blue Bayou - a restaurant I had always wanted to try.  (It is the cozy, romantic restaurant that looks out on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride).  It would have been even more rad sans babies, BUT the food was delicious and it was cool to finally have the opportunity to eat there!

• The weather was amazing and the crowds were minimal.

• Hilary and John watched Ben so that Greg and I could go on one ride together - the Tower of Terror, which is one of my favorites!  I was anxious the entire time in line as it started to become clear that the 35 minute wait Disney had predicted was becoming closer to an hour, but once we were on the ride we had a blast!

• Between feedings, diaper changes, eating meals, grabbing water, trips to our locker, bathroom stops, and putting babies in and out of the strollers/carriers, we were able to go on the following rides: The Jungle Cruise, The Haunted Mansion, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Storybook Land Canal Boats, and The Tower of Terror.

So, yeah - Disney.  It was fun - and we will see you again when Ben is approximately 40-46" tall and potty trained!


San Diego Vacation

On Wednesday, we got up bright and early to head to the airport for our first family vacation!  Our flight was at 8 am, which I planned because Ben is usually in a great mood first thing in the morning.  As I mentioned before, we were able to travel pretty light since the only additional items we would need to bring with us for Ben were his stroller, car seat and diaper bag - so checking in and going through security was pretty easy for us!

We arrived early enough to grab some coffee and watch a few planes take off.

The flight itself was pretty good.  Ben didn't seem to struggle with any ear issues.  I nursed him on take off and landing (and once more to shut him up mid-flight).  He didn't sleep at all I don't think, and generally seemed annoyed to have to be on our laps - but he didn't have any meltdowns and kept fairly quiet for the most part!

We were SO excited to arrive in San Diego.  It was a beautiful morning, and when I saw Hilary and Violet pull up I could hardly contain myself.  I plopped myself right into the backseat so I could sit with her on the ride back to their house.  She is SO SO cute and tiny (compared to Ben).  I actually could not even remember what it was like when Ben was that small.  Time flies!

That day we spent hanging out at home, running a few errands, and then in the evening we walked through Little Italy (their neighborhood) and had a delicious Italian dinner at a restaurant called Filippi's.

Thursday was our trip to Disney.

Since Thursday was a busy day out and about, we aimed to keep Friday a little more low key.  After a long and awesome morning nap for Ben, we started out with brunch at one of our favorite San Diego restaurants - Hash House a Go Go.  The babies were quiet and cooperative throughout the entire meal on the patio.  It was lovely!  Ben even enjoyed some watermelon!

That afternoon the (big) boys went shopping, while Hilary and I took the babies on a long walk to get coffee and then down by the water.  This was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip - one on one time with Hilary and quiet, cooperative babies :)  It is times like this that I miss her living close by the most!  Hil - let's start planning phone chats while we take our babies for walks!

Hilary turned us on to the magic of the Bugaboo stroller

- the kiddos rolled in matching gear all week :)

On Saturday, the babies went to lunch and the Farmer's Market with their dads while Hilary and I went to get our nails done.  It was our official Mother's Day celebration day, and it was nice to have some alone time together while getting pampered!  It was also one of the first (literally the second) time Hilary was able to get away for a couple hours, so she deserved a relaxing pedicure for sure!

We stopped by the restaurant the boys/babies were at to scoop them up and take them home (and feed them) and the guys made a few more stops before returning home.

Late that afternoon, we drove up to Balboa Park for a photo shoot.  John has all of the fancy equipment and took some AMAZING photos, which I hope to post here soon.  The lighting was absolutely perfect, and Ben was WORKING the camera.

That evening some friends of theirs came over, and we all had a delicious surf and turf meal prepared by Greg and John.  Greg also gave me a beautiful necklace that has Ben's birth stone in it, which I absolutely love.  :)  It was a great end to a really fun trip.

Also, Ben got some fun new nicknames given to him by Hil and John on this trip:

Benzo

Benjamima

Benzodiozipine - they are in the medical field after all :)