Life With Benny: 22 months

How are we 2 months away from having a 2 year old? Seriously...time flies when you are having fun...and boy are we having fun! 

Not much has changed since my last update...but I just can't bring myself to stop documenting this poor child's every move. I love, love, love going back and reading these and reminiscing.

Since not much has changed, I am going to keep it short and sweet....

Eating...boy oh boy, this kid is STILL going through what I assume is a growth spurt. He loves his food and lots of it! He does have times/meals where he won't eat much, but most of the time he is chowing down. 

His two very favorite foods are french toast and mac & cheese. It is alarming how much he asks for both of these foods. He will look at me with the most serious look on his face and say "Mama, mac cheese for dinner?" just about every day. We do appease him on occasion...but "mac cheese" isn't an every day thing like he would like. 

Same with French Toast. It originally started out because AJ bought some french toast sticks from the grocery store. They are covered in cinnamon and sugar...and quite healthy, so we decided we would let him have them once a week as a special treat. Thus, "French Toast Friday" was born. Nowadays Benny will wake up every morning and say "French Toast Friday?!" and 6 days a week we have to break his little heart and tell him no. He even asks for "French Toast Friday" for dinner and lunch and snack...it's become an obsession.

His favorite snacks include bluebabies, strawbabies, bananas, cheez-its, Paw Patrol cookies, cheese, and yogurt.

Sleeping...I think the only thing this kid likes more than food is his sleep. He is consistently sleeping 12+ hours a night and isn't a big fan of waking up in the mornings. On the weekends he will often sleep until after 8:00 and then lay in bed talking and singing to himself until 8:45/9:00. We definitely take advantage of that these days! During the week is pretty tough...he doesn't like to be woken up and when we take him out of his crib he will cry and say "lay down, dada lay down!" I think it is safe to say he is NOT a morning person! 

Play...He is OBSESSED with his Paw Patrol puzzles and asks to do them all day long. It amazes me that he will sit and work on those things for as long as he does. We have done them so many times he can pretty much put them together all by himself. He will look at each piece and can figure out which two pieces have Ryder on them and successfully put them together. 

He love, love, loves his hot dog stand that he got from his Aunt V and Uncle Brian for Christmas. He loves to bring us food...although, sometimes when we order our food he will bring it to us, hold it out to us, and then snatch it away. His Yelp reviews aren't the greatest right now :)

While he was sick at the beginning of the month we watched a little more TV than normal and even watched a couple of movies...and let me tell you this kid LOVES his TV. He is currently obsessed with Paw Patrol, Umi Zoomi, and The Lion King. He got a Disney book set for Christmas and quickly became obsessed with "Musasa" and the "ba-ba-boon" so we have watched Lion King a time or two. He will almost sit through the entire movie...although he does lose interest toward the end. Trolls is still the only movie he will watch from start to finish.

I told AJ the other day that I need to start a journal or notebook and write down all of the funny things he says and does...because let me tell you...this kid is funny, and he knows it!

Since he has been sick he has been all about mama. Mama has to hold him, change his diapers, get his food, read him his books at night...and while I love that he loves me, it can get a little exhausting. One night while we were doing our bedtime reading I handed B a book and said "Hey bud, can daddy read this one?" He looked at me and said "YES!" walked over to AJ and handed him the book, but then preceded to walk back over to me with a different book. He sat down in my lap and said "Mama, read this" AJ and I both nearly died laughing...we are talking tears running down our face laughing. Sure, he was okay with daddy reading that book...but he sure wasn't going to be reading it to him.

Some of his favorite phrases these days include:

"Oh my gosh!" when he see something he thinks is cool
"Oh my eyes!" when we turn on the light in the mornings
"Me too!" he has just started this and it's pretty much the cutest thing. When I tell him "I love waffles' he will look at me and say "ME TOO!"
"Hold you mama" ALL.DAY.LONG!
"Watcha Benny" he would look at photos and watch videos of himself all day long if we would let him...he isn't vain at all ;)
"Where Gracie go?" he is always worried about where his beloved pup is...and she is usually hiding from him.
"Mimi's house?" around the holidays we spent a lot of time out at my parents house and poor Benny doesn't understand why we aren't over there every.single.day. He is constantly asking to go to their house.

Alright, that was random (and not quite as short and sweet as I planned) but that's 22 months with our little comedian.

9 Weeks: Here We Go Again

This week we saw our sweet little baby for the first time and let me tell you...it was OH.SO.SWEET! There is nothing quite like the sweet relief and pure joy of seeing your baby and their heartbeat at that first sonogram. 

How far along?

9 weeks

How big is baby?

A cherry
 ~0.91" and ~0.07 oz

What's baby up to this week?
This week baby is no longer an embryo-he or she is now a fetus. Baby is developing more distinct facial features.

Symptoms?

I have had on and off again nausea for the last few weeks. I would definitely say I am having more good days than bad days though...definitely, nowhere near as bad as the nausea was with Benny...but there have been a few days where I feel pretty rotten. I have dry heaved a handful of times and thrown up once...which was fun...especially because Benny followed me into the bathroom and when I looked up he had this big grin on his face and said "Hi Mama!" and another time when I was dry heaving he he started mocking me by gagging and saying "I sick" It's definitely the comic relief I need during those crummy moments.

Besides nausea I have been tired and have had lots and lots of cramping and pulling. At our appointment this week Dr. Blevins said this was very normal and that with it being my second pregnancy I will feel all of those things sooner. 

Maternity Clothes?

Nope, still comfortably wearing all of my normal clothes. 

Sleep?

Pregnancy insomnia was one of my first clues that I was pregnant. I tend to wake up really early in the morning and cannot for the life of me fall back asleep. That mixed with a little sprinkle of anxiety has been really tough. However, after our appointment on Wednesday I have been sleeping much better...minus the frequent middle of the night bathroom trips.

Missing Anything?
My energy...I have been draaaagggiiinnnggg these last few weeks.

Craving?

I really haven't been craving much. The nausea hasn't been too bad this time around, but I haven't had much of an appetite. I did have one morning where all I could think about was McDonald's Sweet Tea. I avoided caffeine the whole time I was pregnant with Benny and have up until now with this baby...but, I ended up caving and getting a small sweet tea which hit the spot perfectly! 

Aversions?

Last week we bought all the stuff to make chili for the Chiefs' game and just the thought of eating chili made me feel nauseous. I'm hoping this aversion goes away quickly, because really there is nothing I enjoy quite as much as a bowl of chili.

Emotions?

I forgot how nerve-wracking the first few weeks of pregnancy can be...so needless to say I was feeling a little anxious leading up to our appointment. The minute I saw our sweet baby and its heart beating up on the screen that anxiety melted away and now all I feel is joy and excitement! 

Movement? 

None yet

Best Moment of the week
Our doctor's appointment and seeing our sweet little baby's heartbeat!

Pregnancy Brain Moments

Gosh, I forgot how real this was. I have misspoke so many times it's not even funny. I can't remember anything and I feel so scattered. 

Looking forward to?
Telling our family! 

Projects/Baby Gear purchased?

Nope, we are still deciding on what we want to do crib wise. We have discussed leaving the nursery as it and just moving Benny into a big boy bed in the other bedroom. It makes this mama's heart hurt a little thinking about not only moving rooms, but taking him out of the crib...so I am not really sure what we will do yet.

Running?
I had forgotten how exhausting the first trimester is. Mix that with a little bit of anxiety, I haven't been working out or running as much. I signed up to run the Rock the Parkway half marathon in April when I will be about 19/20 weeks pregnant...so we will see how that goes. I'm giving myself grace and taking as many days to do absolutely nothing as I need. I keep reminding myself how much better 2nd trimester is and counting down the days until we get there!

Big Brother Moments
Besides his compassion for mama when she is throwing up or dry heaving, little guy was SUPER excited to see the first pictures of his baby brother or sister. When we got back from the sonogram appointment we showed him and he grabbed it right out of my hands. He immediately started chanting what sounded like "baby sister" but then we quickly realized he was saying "baby sticker" as he was trying to stick it to his shirt...lol! We have asked him if he thinks he is having a baby brother or sister and he always says sister...so we shall see!

**I have been going back and reading all of my old posts from when I was pregnant with Benny. Here is my 9 weeks post from then. I am definitely grateful to not be dealing with the all day nausea this go around...especially since I have a VERY active toddler on my hands that is attached to his mama's hip at the moment :)

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Life With Benny: 21ish months

Motherhood is weird...On one hand I cannot remember life before this sweet little guy came into it. I often wonder what I did for fun before I had him around to entertain me ;) 

But on the other hand I am sitting here wondering how almost 2 years has come and gone in the blink of an eye. It's mind-boggling how fast it goes...I swear he was just a squishy little baby...and now he is practically a teenager :)

Unlike the newborn/baby stage things he isn't changing nearly as much day to day or month to month...which is kind of nice. When he was a baby we would get into a good routine and then BAM something would throw it off or something would change.

These days things are pretty consistent and that has been really nice.

Sleep got kind of messed up around the holidays with the go-go-go, later/shorter naps, and later bedtimes. He was such a trooper through it all, but the last few weeks he has been a bear at nap time and bedtime. The minute he senses that it's time for bed he starts to fight. He will insist on playing with something or going somewhere and when we pick him up to go upstairs he will throw a fit. It's not been fun, but with some consistency things are getting better. He is still avoiding nap and trying to distract us as much as he can...but he isn't screaming and crying anymore...thank goodness!

Over winter break he nearly ate us out of house and home. He also was sleeping in until 8-8:30 most days and would often take a 2.5-3 hour nap each day. There is no doubt this guy is growing!

His favorite foods this month are pretty much the same. He loves his blue-babies, straw-babies, grapes, yogurt, Goldfish, Mac and Cheese, pizza, and french fries. While he has always been a pretty decent eater, lately he has gotten more picky and refuses to try certain things. It seems like he eats the same things all of the time. We offer him what we are having for dinner along with sides that we know he will eat..and sometimes he will eat what we are having and sometimes he won't. I try not to stress too much about it because I know he will eat when he is hungry.

Some of his favorite things these days include his mama, building forts, Paw Patrol, his books, The Lion King (Musasa), stickers, playing in the snow, and his Paw Patrol Puzzles.

The Paw Patrol thing is so funny to me because we don't have Nickelodeon, therefore we had never watched the show at our house. I asked Diane if they watched it at her house and she was like "I guess, sometimes?" So I am pretty sure it was love at first sight for this kid. We have rented a DVD from the library and bought him a few Paw Patrol books and he is a happy camper. His favorite though, as I mentioned above is his Paw Patrol puzzles. Seriously, this is all he ever wants to play with. The set came with 5 puzzles and we have probably put each of them together at least 50 times. He surprised me because he is weirdly good at putting together puzzles. When we first started I would just tell him where the pieces went and he would put them together...and now he can pretty much put them completely together all on his own. He looks at the shapes and the pictures on them and matches them up. Seriously...this kid blows my mind!

In the past I have had a hard time coming up with a list of things this kid didn't like because he was always so easy-going and happy go lucky. And while he is still pretty happy go lucky...he has asserted his opinion and used the word "no" quite a bit more these last few weeks.

Milestones are really hard these days because he isn't changing as much. He is still talking like crazy. He can say full on sentences and 99% of the time he can clearly communicate what he wants.

We went to the doctor last week for another round of croup and as we were checking out he looked at the nurse and said "Paw Patrol sticker please" 1) It was crazy to me that he remembered that he gets stickers at the doctor when he is sick...and 2) I nearly burst with pride when he used his manners.

Like I said, thing have been pretty much the same around here...and I am not mad about that at all. I still think he is the cutest and smartest little guy in the world...and that's okay because I am his mama!