Christmas TIme

Christmas is in the air. We went and saw a Christmas light display in the neighboring city. It was super cute. We took a little ride on a horse drawn carriage. There were all sorts of holiday character set-ups and the kids enjoyed our treat of hot chocolate at the end of our ride. We took our annual picture for our Christmas card. Ben was really happy the night we did this (great timing) and he was all smiles. He loves the Christmas tree: the lights, the toys (and grabbing at all the toys). I guess maybe it's good he isn't moving around all over the place yet.

Teeth

Ben cut his first tooth. We were gone to CA for two weeks helping Grandpa and Grandma and family move into their new home. Ben was really cranky the last few days we were there as well as the first couple of days that we were home. We got home on Friday, the 18th of November and lo and behold on Monday, the 21st I felt a little sharp edge on the bottom of his gums. He cut his lower left front tooth. I wasn't even thinking that this might be the cause of all the sadness, especially since Caelan didn't get any teeth until she was 14 months old. I knew this was about the average time, but it hadn't even occurred to me. I felt bad for the little guy. He was much happier the following few days - back to his good ole' self. Then he caught a cold (along with the rest of the family) right after Thanksgiving, so he has been a little grumpier than usual, but I guess that is to be expected. He is the litter eater these days. He wants some of everything that I am eating and he is getting proficient at gnawing on anything that is a little harder. He especially LOVES ice cream and other cold treats. I guess that is inevitable in this family. He is sitting up all the time, but no attempts at crawling. In fact, when I put him on his tummy, he rolls back over onto his back as quickly as he can. I guess he'll start moving when he is good and ready. He loves to be around people ALL the time, so it would be nice for him to be mobile - then he could always get to where the people are. He is quite the cutie boy, and we just want to eat him up all the time.

Fast Hands

Dudey does the funniest thing when he is excited. His arms go straight out in front of this and his wrists turn left and right over and over again. When he is really happy or excited about something he really gets them going. It is so funny to watch. The other day we had broccoli for dinner. I could tell he was very interested in having some. I put some in front of him and his hands started going a hundred miles an hour. Then he got the broccoli - and I am telling you, he loved that up!! He just gnawed and gnawed and gnawed and then wanted more. We have a vegetable lover on our hands.

Eating

We had another little trip to Arizona, just Dude and me. Grandma thoroughly loved having her little grandson there as usual. He was quite happy all of the days w were there, even as we dragged him around shopping all over the place. He had his first over nighter without Mom and Dad. It was our anniversary, so he stayed with Lani and Jenny for the night. They said he did just fine. He is really starting to use those vocal chords these days; lots and lots of jabbering all the time. A lot of the time his voice gets really high, almost like he is trying to sing or something. He can sit up for a short amount of time. Then he finds his feet and wants to grab and play with them, which causes him to roll over or fall back. He immediately tries to sit up, like he is doing a stomach crunch. I gave him some ice cream about a week ago (just a few tastes) and it was like he found the greatest thing in the worlds. He was sitting in his car seat (upright) and when the spoon was in sight he would instantly stick his legs and feet straight out in front of him and start moving them around. Then his hands would get going; sticking straight out and kind of shaking. He would make little noises like he was hyperventilating until he got the bite, and then the process would start all over again. It was a riot!

Social Boy

Our little Dudie (as Caelan calls him) has turned into quite the social boy...which means that he basically hates to be by himself. He is a very happy and content baby when someone is in the same room with him playing and talking to him. As soon as we leave the room, he breaks out into hysterics (and I mean not just little baby cries - he goes nuts). Then when we come back and pick him up, he is totally fine. This also means he is not liking bed time all that much. Usually he only cries for a little while at night before he finally gives in and goes to sleep, but at nap time he will keep it going for a goof half hour (and when it gets to that point I go in and get him). He just wants to be with people. He is really funny with Caelan. Sometimes he will just burst out into laughter over nothing - just watching her makes him laugh sometimes. And it's not like she is trying to get him going or anything - he just finds her quite a,musing. We can really get him giggling these days, and I think he likes to laugh because sometimes it just seems like he waits for me to keep tickling him and making funny faces so that he can laugh some more. He is really liking his baby cereal also., He is at the point where he will open his mouth when he sees the spoon and bowl. And he is much cleaner while he is eating too. I have given him some other things to try, and I think he is to the point where he is starting to like other things with taste. Up to this point he hasn't really cared about other foods or anything (not even ice cream), but I tried giving him some sugary stuff this afternoon and he loves it. He is at

such a fun stage.

Grandpa and Grandma's House

We just got back from another trip to Grandpa and Grandma Dick's house. Mom had a wedding reception to go to, so we decided to take the whole week so that the kids could spend time with Grandma and Grandpa (which they loved). Both the kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while I went to all of the wedding festivities. Dude did pretty well. They said that he didn't eat for about 6 hours straight - they tried to feed him, but he was totally uninterested. He was happy and played most of the time. We went shopping on one of the days. Grandma wanted to get some clothes for the kids. Dude had about 3 pair of pants and a couple long sleeve shirts, and we are starting to hit Fall in Utah, so I was really grateful to go out and get some things. All of the outfits we got for him were 12 month clothes. Can you believe that ? He is 5 months old and fitting into 12 month clothes. I think a lot of the 9 month things could have fit him, but then he would have grown out of them before the winter hit., He is just a long, long boy. He has been waking up so early lately (in the 6:00 hour) - I'm not sure what that is all about. Maybe he is having a growth spurt because when I get him up he just eats like tummy is rubbing a hold on his spine.

Getting Strong

Dude is starting to be able to hold himself up much better. When he is in his car seat, he will lift his head up so that it is not resting on the back of the seat. Then he just holds it there. he can sit up by himself for a few seconds without being held, and he is really good about supporting himself for a long time with a little hand support here and there. He is grabbing at everything these days... and of course putting it straight into his mouth. We have one toy that he especially likes (it is a curly cloth toy that can stretch out and has little characters hanging from it). We can attach it to either side of his car seat so that it stretches out right in front of him, and he will just grab and play with that thing for so long. It's fun to watch him notice all of the things around him. We have moved Dude into the full size crib. He was just getting too big for the pack n' play. He has done fine with the transition. Sometimes he gets moving around a lot and gets his hand and feet out of the bars (I need to get a new bumper pad to put around it), but for the most part the space is goof for him.

Airplane Ride

I took Ben to the doctor yesterday for his 4 month well check. He is healthy as can be and developing just as he should be. He is still growing like crazy. He is way off the charts for his height (that average length of an 8 month old baby) and in the 90th percentile for his weight. At least we know he is healthy and strong. He has found his vocal chords and uses them all the time. He coos and ahhs and yells and screams (not sad screams - just noisy ones). He is quite the happy boy and giggles quite a bit. He has started to grab at things a lot more and gets really fascinated with things in front of him - the time for toys has begun. He basically loves any attention people will give him and seems to talk right back when someone is talking to him. I just tried baby cereal on him yesterday for the first time. he took it really well. I gave a little bit to him in the morning and then again at night. The doctor said that sometimes these big boys will sleep fine through the night, and then suddenly they will start to wake up early because they are getting hungry. If this is the case, it might be a good time to start on solids. I've noticed that he had been waking up a couple hours earlier in the morning and really going at his food when I feed him. After the cereal last night he was right back to his long night sleep. YAY! He is at a fun age, and I just love to play with him and get his little voice going. Caelan is always wanting to hold him and play with him too, which is fun to see. He took his first airplane ride about a week ago., We were in CA for Grandpa Sorensen's wedding the second week in August, and then we flew over to AZ to spend a few days with Grandpa and Grandma Dick (Dad had to fly to NC for two weeks for work, so we thought we would travel around while he was gone). Ben did really well. He had a couple screaming outbursts, but they were short lived, and mostly he was pretty content. He stayed awake the entire time - as did his sister, so I was pretty busy keeping them both content in their seats for the hour trip. We made it though.

Bear Lake Cabin

We had a fun weekend getaway to the Harding's cabin in Bear Lake (Dad's friend from Casa Grande). We met Jenny and Lani and Lindsay there. When we drove up, Betty Harding (an older lady - she and her husband, Stan own the place)came and took little Ben while we unpacked the car. She sat down on the front porch with Ben on her lap, and he started to just giggle away. just laughed and laughed for about 4 to 5 minutes straight. Nobody was even doing anything to cause the giggling...maybe he was just to happy to get out of the car, or maybe he felt at home in the mountains among all the trees. Anyway, it was pretty adorable. Since then I have gotten him to do some good giggling every now and then., He has been a little better about taking naps the past week or so. Before then he would usually just lay in bed and fall asleep and then wake up every half hour or so., Then by the evening he would be quite the grumpy boy. But, for the past week, he has been able to take some good two hour naps or so, which makes him much more happy and peasant for the rest of the day. His schedule is really getting good. He is getting sooooooo big. He is already outgrowing several of his 3-6 month clothes and he is not even four months old yet.

Growing

Ben had his two month doctor appointment this last week (I know - we are about a month behind schedule). He had to have 5 shots. Poor boy! Two nurses came in and each one took a leg. Then on the count of three they both stuck him at the same time (twice in a row). screamed his head off. it didn't take too long before Mom's hugging calmed him down. He had a rough afternoon after that, but who can blame him. The next day he was back up and happy like his normal self. He also got measured and such at the doctor's. At three months old he weights 16 lbs and 8 oz (the 90-95th percentile for his age) and he is 26.7 inches long (off the growth chart). I was looking at the chart later and realized that at this length he would be in the 50th percentile for his age. The doctor kept asking if we have lots of height in our family. The nurse actually measured him twice because after she checked the chart, she thought her first measurement was wrong. Funny. He is a little hand sucker. Man, he gets those fists up to his mouth and just munches away.

Laughing

Today Ben laughed for the first time. i was rocking him in his bouncy chair, and I was kind of swinging it around a bit and making funny noises, and he got all smiley...and then a little giggle came out. So, I did it over and over again, and more little baby laughs came out. What a little cutie! I was a bit surprised because Caelan didn't laugh until she was around 4 months old, but this little Dude is only two and a half months. He has been a pretty content baby since birth (minus a couple rought nights and the times when he is hungry, of course), so I guess it makes sense. The great thing was that Dad was right there in the room with us. He is a little noise maker too. He has been "talking" to us all day long. Oh, the fun new things that happen - so fun!

Bouncy Chair

Ben is doing very well at night. He usually goes to bed around 10 (although I think I am going to start moving that up a little earlier) and he sleeps until 6:30 or 7:00 AM, at which time he wakes up to eat, and then goes back to sleep until 8:30 or 9:00 AM. it is quite wonderful! We are still trying to get some sort of routine with his naps. He usually takes one LONG nap (2 or more hours) in the day, and then a couple other one hour naps here and there, but there isn't any regular consistency for those. I am sure they will srart to happen more regularly soon. He is very happy. He loves his little bouncy chair, especially when Dad or I get it really rockin.' When he smiles his whole body moves and his mouth opens all the way. Adorable! I need to schedule him for his two month check up - we are a little behind (we have been waiting for Dad's new insurance to kick in). I am super curious to see how much he weighs. He is getting all sorts of baby chunk!

Lip Quiver

Ben is a lip quiverer. He quivers his lip all of the time, especially when someone picks him up after a serious crying spell. It is pretty funny considering that it has nothing to do with being cold - his lips just like to quiver.

Clogged Tear Duct

Two months old today...and what an entrance into his third month of life. Last night I put him to bed at 10 PM. He woke up this morning at 8:30 AM. Can you believe it? Ten whole hours straight. WOW! I was in heaven. He has been getting pretty good this past week at sleeping 6 or so hours straight at night, which I was loving, and then 7 hours a couple nights ago, and then last night's amazement. Now we are just hoping this is the beginning of a night pattern, not just because of a sleepy day yesterday. He has been making all sorts of noises lately. Sometimes he seems like he is so close to laughing, but it never gets all the way there. He has a clogged tear duct which makes his eye all goopy. He had it when he was first born and then it went away after about a week. He was fairly clear when I took him to his two week appointment, but then it came right back. The doctor said that it is normal for babies to have that and sometimes it takes a good several months to clear up. So I'm glad to hear that it is nothing serious, but I do feel bad for little Ben. Every morning he wakes up with his eyes glued shut until I clean them with water. Hopefully it won't take too long for it to clear up. He is the sweetest little boy who seems to be getting cuter by the day. Oh, and he is growing like crazy these days. I went through his clothes and had to put away a bunch of the 0-3 month size because he is outgrowing them. I guess that is a boy for ya.

Sleeping

Ben is 6 weeks old as of yesterday. They say babies get fussier and fussier up until they hit 6 weeks old and then it starts to mellow out. Ben has his good days and his bad days, but for the most part I would say he has been a pretty mellow baby. He gets crazy mad when he is hungry. He starts screaming hysterically out of nowhere - to the point where his voice stops. This boy likes his food. Last night I let him cry in his bed when he woke up at 4 AM. I want to try and get him into the habit of sleeping longer periods of time at night without having to eat. When he got up at 4 I tried to feed him, but he wasn't interested. He was just awake and not wanting to be in bed...so I let him cry it out. Neither of us slept much for the next hour and a half. Hopefully he will start to understand about sleeping at night. It only took a couple of times of me letting Caelan cry before she started sleeping better at night, so maybe that is the trick. It sure is hard sometimes. Ben is also doing more cooing and smiling all of the time. I love it!

Smiles

The past couple of days little Ben has given us several more smiles. You have to get him in the right kind of mood (really calm and content) and then he will start to focus on us and give us a couple of good smiles. I love it! He is also starting to make some cooing noises - not very often, but it is pretty fun when it happens. I love when they realize they can make noises of their own because then they get quite vocal. He is still getting up every three hours or so each night, but I started to put him in his own bed regularly when he first goes down at night. I want to end this pattern of sleeping in our bed all of the time. It's cozy, but it's hard to get any good sleep when he is right there next to me. He's done pretty well the past two nights, so we will see what happens next.

Sleeping

Last night was a pretty good night for Ben, which was a nice relief from the tough day he had. If I wasn't sleeping right next to him I bet I could have gotten a full night's rest. He isn't too fond of sleeping in his own bed. I put him in there at the beginning of the night, but usually within an hour or an hour and a half he is awake again. By then I am too tired to do anything by lay him beside me in our bed. Then he usually sleeps for the remainder of the night (getting up here and there to feed). One night he fell asleep in my arms, so I put him in his crib (this was at about 11 PM). Within a minute or two he had woken up, so I went to pick him up, and I laid him beside me on the bed. Instantly he was back asleep and slept for a good few hours before wanting food. He is a crazy little guy. I guess he just loves knowing that there is someone right next to him. That is going to have to change soon, but I'll give him another couple weeks of sleeping with us (good thing we have a King size bed).

Baby Blessing

So much has happened since this little guy has come into our lives. Dad graduated from BYU at the end of April. Little Ben attended both ceremonies with me (Mom) and his grandparents. He behaved wonderfully. He was blessed on April 24 while everyone was in town for Dad's graduation. He had his dad, Grandpa Dick, Grandpa Sorensen, Great Uncle Steve Anderson, Great Uncle Dan Boles, Uncle Garrett Sorensen and Joe Finegan in the circle (Great Uncle Dave Anderson came in just as the blessing was starting). He was blessed that he would stay worthy to go on a mission and get married in the temple. He was blessed that he would be an important person in his family and a good example. It was simple and powerful. Dave and Diane Anderson lent us a little white outfit that Matt (Dad's little cousin) wore for his blessing. It was very cute and he looked like a little angel. We had a get together afterwards at our place (the basement of the McFarland's). That basement easily handled the 35 people that came that day. We had lots of family and friends. Grandma Dick and Great Aunt Diane organized most of the food with a couple other people bringing things as well. The next day all of the family left. We had 16 people sleeping at our house for that weekend. It was back to just the four of us. We started getting ready to move. We moved to Clearfield, UT that next Saturday, and Dad started a new job with Stock Building Supply. Ben had a pretty fussy day on Friday (the day we were packing the truck and finishing boxing everything up) - I guess that is the way things work. He is almost five weeks old now. He is a little growing machine. At his two week appointment he had grown a full 2 inches from what he was at birth as well as a half a pound, which is quite good at 2 weeks - they usually are hoping that babies are back to their birth weight at that point. He has been a good little guy. He gets fussy at night but for most of the day he is fairly content. He still is regular about eating. He seems to really like to lay on his belly or to be sitting upright. He is starting to focus better on us. I can actually tell he is looking at me sometimes. Yesterday he did his first actual smile as a reaction to something I was doing (and then Daddy too). It was super cute. I am so excited for him to be more social and interact with us - and this is the start. YAY! He has a cute smile, which seems to light up his whole face. Today we went to our new ward and he got all sorts of compliments. We do all we can to be humb

le when they tell us how cute he is....but we know they're right.

Welcome Ben

Well, little Kenneth Benjamin Dick is 3 weeks old today. The time has already just flown by. He was very slow ab out getting here, but we are delighted that he finally came. On April 4 (I was 9 days late by then) I went to the hospital to get a non-stress test - to see if everything was going fine with the baby. The nurse found out how late I was and said that she would look for the lightest thing in order to have a reason to induce me. Unfortunately (and fortunately depending on how you look at it), she finished the test and said everything just looked too good. She called my doctors anyway just to check with them about when they may schedule me to be induced. She talked to Dr. Thorpe who said, "why haven't we already delivered that baby?" I was schedule for an inducement the next day at 6 AM. I woke up on Tuesday, April 5 at 4 AM and realized that my water had broken (after several minutes of not being quite sure). I also started to feel some contractions. I woke Sean up and we headed to the hospital at 5 AM. After being there for an hour and a half I had only progressed 1 cm (from a 4 to a 5). So, I asked for my epidural. The same thing happened with this epidural as with Caelan. They had to give it to me in the lowest part of my back (because of my back surgery) which caused my legs to go completely paralyzed, but I could still feel hard contractions up until about 20 minutes so before it was time to push. The anesthesiologist kept coming in and increasing my medicine dosage and giving me different combinations to try. He was quite surprised I was still in pain, but he said that I have scar tissue back there which doesn't allow the medicine to distribute as it should. Anyway, it finally kicked in shortly before I was ready to push at 9:15 AM. The nurse came in to check me and said that I was fully dialated (which totally surprised me considering my first check). She said she could feel a water bag (or what felt like one) in there. She had the doctor, Dr. Reese (who was in our ward, by the way) come and check me, and he barely touched me when my water bag burst out all over him (it literally sounded like a gush of water and it was all over his scrubs). I guess my water bag ruptured twice. Anyway, the doctor had to go assist with a C-section so we just hung around for about 40 minutes. Then he came in and we started the pushing process. I am a pretty strong pusher. Dr. Reese had me go a little slower than I did with Caelan just to help get me stretched out, but after 25 short minutes little Kenneth Benjamin made his appearance. The doctor had me push out his head so that it was partly showing, and then he had me lean over and feel it. I could feel all the skull bones overlapping on top of each other - it was crazy. He was perfect when he arrived (I guess that has something to do with how quick the labor was - no mishapen head or anything....just a perfect little boy). He was 8 lbs 8 oz and 20.5 inches long. They cleaned him off a bit and then gave him to me. I decided to nurse him right then (or at least give it a try). He latched on perfectly and ate away. He has been a little eating machine ever since. He gets up like clockwork every 2 to 3 hours to eat. He must be a growing boy. We stayed at the hospital over night and then went home by noon the next day. The nurse said that he took a pacifier in the nursery that very first night, which is quite unusual for brand new babies. We were discharged the next day, by our own request. Caelan came with Grandma Dick to see him in the hospital. She kept saying "baby, baby, baby. The pediatrician, Dr. Adams, saw him before we left and said that he was good and healthy. His Bilirubin score was slightly questionable (probably as a result of having a different blood type from me), so he told us to come and have him get checked again the next morning (which we did and he was completely fine). We took him home and started to get used to having a newborn baby in the home again. Grandma Dick was in town for close to three weeks (which was a wonderful help....especially with Caelan - I think it helped her get accustomed to having another little body in the home that required some attention). He has been a pretty good baby. The first few days he slept A LOT, but never missed a meal (was up every 2 to 3 hours to eat) and when he decides that it's time to eat.....he loudly lets us know. At about 2 weeks old he started to have a little tummy trouble (problems with gas), which is pretty normal for babies, but it is still the pits when it sets in. He would get pretty fussy at around 9 PM, and usually it would let up around 12 AM. I don't mean that he was screaming or even crying that entire time - he just required a lot more attention and holding (with extra crying). At night he has been fairly good once he falls asleep. He still gets up every few hours to eat, but he usually just eats and then goes back to sleep. We are just in love with him. He is quite the handsome little man. I have started calling him "Little Dude" or "Mister Dude." Dad has referred to him as "Dudicus" a couple times, which is pretty cute, The time is flying by already.