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 :)