First Christmas

Ben's first Christmas was great...I'm not sure he realized it but we all had so much to celebrate this year with a happy, healthy baby joining our family. He got lots of gifts from friends and family (although he needed some help to open them all) and he has new toys, books, and clothes to enjoy. Ben is nearly 14 lbs now and starting to make all kinds of sounds. He's also getting really good at standing in someone's lap, as long as he still has some help balancing. He's just beginning to reach out for toys or interesting objects, like he's figuring out what those hands are really supposed to do. We've started giving Ben rice and oat cereal, apple juice, and even his first taste of green beans. He didn't dislike them, but he sure wasn't begging for more, as you can probably tell from the picture! I think he needs a little more time to accept new things being spooned into his mouth.



Ben is such a joy in our lives and we are so thankful to be able to celebrate his first Christmas together as a family. We hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you all the best in 2007.

Growing Right Along

Ben is growing before our very eyes! He's more fun by the day and getting more talkative. Last weekend Matt and I both heard a very distinct "dada" and while we're sure it was an accident, we're still convinced we have a smart little kid on our hands.

Although Ben has a lot of fun toys to play with, his favorite things by far right now are his fingers! I can hear him slurping away on his little digits in the car nearly every day.

Back to Work

I started back at work this week so Ben is spending his days with Grammy and Grandpa Shepherd now. He's made the adjustment very well but he starts crying every day as soon as he hears my voice, I guess to let me know that he doesn't appreciate being deserted all day, even though he's probably getting MORE attention now than he did from just me! It's hard to pull such a cute little guy out of bed in the morning. Luckily, he usually stays asleep in his carseat for a while after I drop him off so he's not missing out on any good sleep.
Ben loves all the lights and ornaments on the Christmas tree, especially when the cat attacks something and the entire tree moves. I'm sure in the next few years the stuff under the tree will be much more interesting!

6 Months

Ben went in for his 6-month checkup last week and got a very good report. He's nearly 12 lbs now and eating some rice cereal in his bottle every evening. The doctor said we can start him on vegetables anytime but Ben hasn't taken to the spoon yet so we'll wait a little while longer on real food.
Celebrating the last warm day in November with a little Hawaiian shirt action!

Once he discovered his fingers there has been no getting them out of Ben's mouth! Sometimes he manages to get all 10 in there but the first few on his right hand seem to taste the best.

Gig 'em Aggies!

Ben got out his new Aggie overalls to watch his favorite team beat Texas after Thanksgiving! He's such a happy little guy and he has laughed once, so now we're waiting to hear that beautiful sound again. He's also started rolling front to back so one of these days we won't be able to set him on the floor and expect to find him in the same place when we come back!

All sacked out on the couch after a big meal! Because Ben has had an insatiable appetite lately we've been giving him a little bit of rice cereal in the evenings and so far he's done great with it. It's his first step towards solid food. It will be something of a guessing game to determine when he's ready to make these steps since he's already 6 months old but should only be about 2 1/2 months. On a lot of developmental milestones he's falling somewhere in the middle of the two ages.

Sleep

We are so proud of Ben - he's been sleeping (for the most part) from 10-5 every night! We put him to bed after his 9PM bottle and he usually sleeps until 4:30 or 5 when he eats again. I especially love it because I've gotten my first full night's sleep since May. He did have a pretty bad week because he picked up some sort of virus and was definitely not feeling well, but he seems to be better now. We feel pretty fortunate that he's nearly 6 months old and it was his first time to really be sick.

Ben has started having "conversations" with us where he'll make a sound, we'll answer, and he'll respond and so on. It's a lot of fun seeing these things develop! He's also started to cry with big tears now when he's really upset, something I'm not as excited to see because it just kills me! He's getting better at holding his head up each day and we just got him a Bumbo chair, which is this ingenious little seat that supports younger babies enough to sit up before they can do it on their own.

Man of the House

Ben is starting to decide that he wants things done HIS way. That wonderful feeding schedule we had? Gone. The little guy is eating a lot more often during the day, and since he is eating a lot more volume we decided to see if he would sleep longer through the night last night. He still woke up twice, only at different times than usual. It seems like we're going backwards as far as consistent feedings go, but hopefully it will only be temporary if this is a growth spurt or something.

Here are some of his latest pictures. He's becoming much more interested in toys and you can see that he's strong enough to lift that big head up every once in a while!