Bennett's Love/Hate Relationship

Bennett has started to dislike his baby food. I really noticed it today for the first time during supper. I made him oats with pear pineapple and then tried to feed him some sweet potatoes and carrots and he didn't eat really any of it. He kept waving his hands in front of his face and pursing his lips as I approached him with each spoonful. I started giving him little pieces of my enchilada (tiny pieces of wrap, hamburger, and rice) and he acted like he was starving.

The same went for lunch today. Ethan and I had turkey sandwiches cut into triangles and cottage cheese. I had already attempted to give Bennett baby food, but when I started tearing a quarter of the sandwich up in tiny pieces, he dug right in! Ate the entire quarter minus the crust and had around 3 tablespoons of cottage cheese.

For snack this afternoon my mom tried to give him puffs- but he didn't really want those, he wanted the good stuff. She finally gave him a club cracker and some raisins cut in half. Again, ate those like they were going out of style.

That stinker is growing up! I always like this stage when they are starting to really get into "big people" food, but it is always a transition too because it seems harder to gage exactly how much they are eating. Do all of those little bits of banana come out to as much as a #2 baby food jar of bananas?:)

I'm also noticing that he is taking after Ethan in that he TAKES FOREVER to eat and will seem to want to eat FOREVER!!! BUT, he just learned the sign for "All Done" so that is fun! He still won't do it independently, but if you ask him if he is all done and show him the sign, he will do it. It just amazes me all the kid can eat even without a single tooth in that sweet grin of his. However, I do know (from painful breastfeeding experience- ouch) that his gums seem about as strong as regular chompers- which brings me to another topic- nursing.

I feel like I am begging Bennett to nurse. He flat out does not want to, and to tell me so he bites me and pulls away, as mentioned earlier. I feel like crying and throwing him across the bed all at the same time!:) Anyway, I'm frustrated, and I think he feels frustrated with it too. I guess I will just continue to nurse him when he feels like it (which still happens to be in the middle of the night), and I think that we are going to introduce whole milk (already had Dr. Nau's permission) soon. I worry about him getting the fats that he needs for his brain development.

And I thought the second kid would be easier to figure out...

Braggin' Up My Sister

My sister, Erin, created Bennett's birthday invitations. Aren't they adorable? I had to show them off and brag a little bit about how talented my sister is. Basically, I told her that Bennett loves building blocks, and this is what she came up with!

It is surreal that we are planning Bennett's first birthday party. What a journey it has been to get here. We are so blessed to have Bennett with us, and to be celebrating his first year of life is amazing! More than we ever could have dreamed of.

No More Ear Infections!

Ethan is getting tubes put in his ears next Friday. He has had 16 ear infections in his 2 and a half years of life...it is time. Please pray that everything goes smoothly.

Lots of New Posts

Don't miss out on all of the new posts below!

Fontana Park Fun

We went to Fontana Park on Saturday afternoon. It was perfect weather for a stroll outside and we had never been there before. The park is just about 10 miles north of Independence. They have an animal exhibit complete with black bears, skunk, and racoons. Adam and I felt bad for the animals in their small quarters, but Ethan absolutely loved it! We definitely need to try the zoo this summer.

We walked on the trail along the river as well. Ethan pulled sticks from the ground and Bennett enjoyed trying to eat them. :)

Squinty Grins

This is Ethan on his first birthday. He had just started to do the squinty camera-flash-in-the-face smile....

This is Benne's new trick...:) Every time we try and take a picture, this is what we get!

Random

Round of sippys, please...

Future rock star.

Fun with Ethan

Last Saturday we went to the early childhood fair in town. I thought Ethan would be scared of "Kirby the Kangaroo" as he had never been around any large costumed characters before. He handled it really well...even before he knew that his dad was the one wearing the costume! After I told him who was inside he kept saying, " Dada's hiding in there!"

We washed Ethan's bumper due to a vomiting incident (yuck, I know) and Ethan made it into a road. Oh the fun you can find!

Our cutie-toots. He is looking more and more handsome every day, I swear.

Me and the Boys

Bennett's Genetics Appointment

On Tuesday we went back to U of Iowa Hospitals to follow up with the genetics department for Bennett. They measured his arm span and length again. The doctor that we met with feels that Bennett is still displaying some shortening in both his arms and legs. They took his blood to see if his growth hormones are at the right levels. They also took his blood to do a more in-depth study of his chromosomes. We won't get the first results back for a couple of weeks and the chromosome test takes 6 weeks. She made it clear today, I think, that we could be facing some sort of syndrome or skeletal dysplasia in Bennett. She also noticed that he only has a single crease in his hands which could be a sign of a disorder as well. We will have an x-ray of his bones done through St. Luke's soon and they will also look at his bone-age at that time. They are considering sending off all of the information to that Dr. they sent to before- they took pictures of him too.


Please pray for Bennett as we try and distinguish what may be affecting his growth. Pray for the doctor's as they work to come to a conclusion. Pray for us as we try and do what is best for our sweety. We are on a new journey again...but God has plans for Bennett. When I think back to almost a year ago, the doctors weren't even sure that Bennett would live after birth. We continue to thank God for our little miracle.

Bennett is 11 Months Old!

Added Pictures:

Bennett turned 11 months old today! Guess what he decided to do tonight?!!!!! He started scooting forward! He looks like a little swimming frog in the way he moves his legs and arms, but it works! I am so proud of him and you can tell he is so proud of himself.

I will post some pictures as soon as I take them...we had a busy day. More about that soon.

Time to Get Healthy...Please?!

What a rough few weeks it has been. It has been a blur of sickness in our house. I believe it all started with Ethan getting yet another ear infection, then pink eye, a second ear infection, and ending now with a cough. Bennett is really struggling with the same cough as well. We have gone to the doctor so many times lately, it is so frustrating as it feels like the doctors never get it right. Ethan now has had a total of 14 ear infections, poor thing. He has had 5 since we saw the ENT last, so I think it is time to consider tubes again. We are ready for the boys to be healthy and stay healthy for awhile!!