Month Five - November

Ben's appetite really picked up this month!  He loves his rice cereal and enjoys the process of eating.  I'm so thankful!  I know a lot of parents struggle with getting their kids to eat, but Ben gets so excited when the spoon comes towards him.  For now he's just eating rice cereal, prunes and peas, but he doesn't shy away from trying new foods.

So messy!

Ben's first Thanksgiving was spent in Florida - which was really fun!  Unfortunately, Matt had blown through a lot of vacation days this year between Ireland and Ben so we couldn't travel for Thanksgiving.  We're lucky to have some amazing neighbors so we were able to have Thanksgiving dinner with them.  They even took Ben for us for a few hours so we could put up our Christmas decorations outside!  It was really nice to be home for a holiday and have a nice, relaxed day as a family of three.

 Cute Turkey

 Ben and Seth love each other!

Family Thanksgiving Picture!

The weather was really nice for November so Ben and Mama got in the habit of going for walks in the afternoon - and Ben loved them!  He really does like being outside and from his stroller he could look up and around.  He's so inquisitive!

Matching Boys

Ben still doesn't like sleeping at night very much, but we're hopeful he'll get better at it soon!

Month Four - October

Whew!  October was long. Matt's travel kicked into high gear and he was gone about half the month - at one point for 10 days at a time.  In general, Ben is a happy, sweet baby, but sleep has not been a good skill of his yet so I was one tired mama when Matt got home.  Despite this, we survived and celebrated our first Halloween with Ben. Excuse me, Lifeguard Ben.

Ben discovered his fists in October and thought they were his best asset.  Literally could spend forever studying them.  Ben loves to study things and he's very aware of his environment.  At his four month appointment Ben was 24 inches long and 14 pounds.  Still in the 8th percentile for height and weight, but for head circumference, Ben knocked it out of the park with being in the 95th percentile.  It's that big brain in that noggin'.

Since it started cooling down, we would spend a lot of the day playing outside on a blanket and watching the dogs in the backyard.  He just loved it and became his happy place!  Anytime he'd get fussy, we'd go outside and he's immediately love looking around.  And, he still loves his balloons!

Ben also started giggling and rolling onto his side during October.  He's setting the foundation for big things to come!  Ben also started attending nursery at church and he absolutely loves it.  The ladies always give him tons of snuggles and he made lots of baby friends.  We're so glad he takes so well to going to nursery so that we can actually pay attention and participate in church and Sunday School!

Month Three - September

Ben became a big boy in September!  He started sleeping (I use that very loosely) in his crib at night and attempted to take his naps in there, as well!  We had been waiting until we had a baby monitor so once we did we began the transition.  At the beginning, Ben was very hit and miss with his crib.  Especially for naps.  Four hours is about the longest he'd go in his crib at night - and that was a rarity.  But we enjoyed having our room back so it was worth the sleepless nights.

Ben also took his first major road trip to Illinois Labor Day weekend.  He got to meet the rest of his Love family and was surprisingly good for most of the drive.  He would become fussy towards the end, but then again, who doesn't after an eight hour drive.

I also started wearing my baby carrier during this month which was a game changer for running errands.  Up until now, Ben was always a ticking time bomb when out because you never knew when Ben was going to be over his car seat.  The carrier allowed me to hold him, while still having my arms free, and since he generally fell asleep while in it, shopping became a lot easier.

Ben's favorite things became balloons, his Good Morning song and recognizing his Mama and Daddy.  That was definitely our favorite things, too!