8 month update

Benjamin | Eight Month Update

2:23 PM

How is my baby 8 months old already?!?  I feel like this month Benjamin is starting to change into more of a little boy than being a baby.  I need him to stay little a little bit longer!!



Likes: balloons, playing with his siblings, nursing
Dislikes: staying in his highchair once he's done eating


Height: Approx. 29in
Weight: Approx. 20.8lbs



Eat


This month Benjamin has continued to try new foods.  He is currently eating breakfast and dinner with an occasional snack depending if he's acting hungry.  He has an internal clock that lets him know when he should be eating.  He will follow me around in the morning and then around 5:00pm going "ahhh" until I get him up and into his highchair for a meal.  

This month he tried:
  • eggs
  • strawberry
  • cauliflower
  • teething cracker
  • smoothie
  • zucchini 
Benjamin also continues to breastfeed this month. He is still nursing several times throughout the day and a few times at night: 

Benjamin's nursing schedule

6:30/7:00 Wake and Nurse
9:30-1000 Nurse
10:30/11:30 Nurse and Nap
12:30/1:00 Wake and Nurse
3:00 Nurse
4:00 Nurse and possible Nap
6:00 Nurse
7:45 Nurse and Bed






Sleep


Oh Sleep I miss you.  I truly miss a full nights sleep.  After eight months of sleeping in 2-3 hour stretches I'm getting tired!  I know that this phase of waking at night doesn't last forever but I'm sleepy!

This month Benjamin had a few big changes.  Benjamin started sleeping on his belly this month.  That is a huge change him.  Up until this point Benjamin has barely moved once he was asleep.  Now he rolls over almost immediately after being laid down.  Its so cute and I'm hoping finding a new comfy sleep position will eventually help him sleep better at night.

.Just a few days before he turned eight months old I moved him to his own room for night time sleeping.  He has been napping each day in his room in the pack n play (because Chris is working from home in our room) and I bought him a mini crib mattress for the pack n play to make it more comfy.    



Development/Play

4/28 pulled to stand. 
5/10 has started to pull up to stand more frequently




5/1 got into a sitting position 



Will follow me around when he’s tired and hungry making an “ahh” sound 

5/4 started sleeping on his belly


5/07 started actually crawling more often than army crawling 
5/10 is about 70/30 sometimes 60/40 army crawling/regular crawl 
5/14 is actually crawling all the time


This month Benjamin started to lie his arms to be picked up. 

Benjamin will hold onto your hands and take steps.  

Benjamin has started saying "dada dada" this month.  He doesn't seem to mean it to refer to Chris yet, but I'm sure thats coming!  When he started babbling he was so excited and proud of himself it was sweet to watch.  He was sitting by the trampoline and just started saying "dada dada" and looked up at me beaming a smile!  
 
5/15 used the walker and took steps


5/15 was playing a “game” with me. Crawling Down the hall to Ellie’s room and going in when I’d say “where’s Benjamin?” He’d pop his head out into the hallway and then laugh and crawl back to me. 

5/20 climbed onto the trampoline

5/25 drank from a straw 






Benjamin Joseph

Another month has come and gone and now you're eight months old, how did that happened?  You continue to be the happiest baby around.  You have changed so much this month I feel.  You started out the beginning of the month army crawling around and now you are crawling every where, pulling up and even crawling up onto the trampoline.  You have finally found the joy that is sleeping on your belly, I'm hoping that this will improve your sleeping (that hasn't happened yet, so we'll see!).  You love to eat and your internal clocks knows exactly when you're supposed to eat.  If I don't get your meals to you on time you will follow me around the kitchen making it known that you are hungry.  Your excitement when I put you in your highchair and bring you your food is so precious.  Love you so much Benji-Man!  

I love you forever

Love Mommy

Eight Months of Benjamin


Poor Baby had some sort of a reaction one night, which I think we decided was just from him rubbing avocado in his eyes.  (He has never had any reaction since)




He wanted to sit at the table with the big kids while they played with play dough.  He was so pleased with himself

This is where Benjamin hung out while his brothers and sister worked on school work, haha!


He's too busy to stay still during diaper changes.

Benjamin has the best big brothers.  They both enjoy pushing him in the stroller. 

Since Will and James were born I have known Brogan was a special dog. And he continues to show me with each one of your babies.   




He crawled under our bed and then couldn't get back out without bumping his head.  He wasn't happy about it.  



He's getting so good at pulling up, even when using my leggings!  I felt him pulling on my pants and was surprised to turn around and see him standing there. 












Look at those hands, covered in paint.  He got into paint Will, James and Ellie were using to paint bird houses.  We made the best of his mess by getting his hand print!










Family Life

Weekly Highlights | May 10 - May 16

3:50 PM

Sunday

Happy Mother's Day!  I am truly blessed to have the mommy I have and am extremely blessed that I have four small humans that call me mommy!

We have a few plants on our patio and a few of our strawberries were ripe enough to pick.  Will, James and Ellie were so excited to eat something that they grew!



Things I was grateful for on Sunday:

  • Ellie slept in until 8:15 (I just purchased her a new hatch sound machine/when to wake light and when she got up she ran out saying "My light is green!!!")
  • Benjamin took a 3 hour nap!
  • William, James and Ellie all played together in Ellie's room. (They were in their for at least 30-45 minutes no fighting make believing together)



Benji-Man tried a teething biscuit for the first time.  



Monday

Benjamin crawled under the bed and then got mad when he couldn't figure out how to get out.  


It was a warm day on Monday.  We spent the morning completing school and after Benjamin woke up from his nap and the older kids had lunch we headed out for a walk/bike ride.  Ellie was so excited because saw two cats on our walk!  She said "I found a black kitty and an orange kitty. I found two kitties". (Recently she's been holding up both hands with all her fingers together saying "one, two").

The way he crosses his ankles.  


When we got back we home Will and James helped me put together my new steam mop and mopped the kitchen floor for me.  They did a great job!

Tuesday

On Tuesday we took off from school and I finally finished cleaning/organizing the toy closet!  I started this on Saturday so I'm happy that it is finally completed and I'm so happy with how it turned out!!

Will and James played in their room most of the day and Ellie and Benjamin hung out with me 

Things I'm Grateful for today
  • Ellie, Will and James slept in until 7:45
  • Ellie and I got to spend some one on one time playing memory her favorite game.  She is very enthusiastic when I get a match "You did it Mommy, those match!"  
I can't with Ellie's face.  It cracks me up, haha

Wednesday 

Since being home all the time William has been working on learning how to cook his own eggs.  He's doing a great job.  He can crack the egg, put it in a bowl, stir it up, put it in the pan and scramble it.  He's working on how to get it out of the pan.  


The boys have been saving money from doing chores around the house and starting talking about how much money they had on Tuesday night.  During school on Wednesday the boys brought out their piggy banks and we emptied them out and I had the boys sort the coins into different piles and then we discussed how many quarters, dimes and nickels are needed to make a dollar.  After school the boys decided they wanted to spend some of their money.  They chose to purchase a new Lego kit. They chose the same space kits.  



I was a little disappointed that they didn't get the experience of going to the store, choosing what they want and handing over their money to the cashier.  But instead we ordered the Lego kits from Target to be picked up using drive up and they gave their money to me. 

After I ordered the Legos the boys asked me literally every five minutes if they were ready to be picked up.  I eventually took them out on a walk/bike ride to distract them. When we got home it was time to go to Target.  The boys were so excited and when we got home they immediately put together their new space shuttles.

Benjamin pulled himself up on my legs.  I thought he was on his knees but looked back and he was just standing there!


Thursday

Thursday was a quiet day at home.  We had breakfast in the morning and then I read the kids some stories.  Ellie has been on a kick of wanting to do puzzles and she tries so hard to do them but they stump her.  I give it to her though she does not give up.  She will try and try through her frustration (crying with tears and snot running down her face, poor Ellie Bellie). I am impressed with her spirit.  With a little help she can complete a 12 piece puzzle, I don't think it'll be that long before she can do them without so much frustration.  Another thing Ellie has been into recently is playing her memory game.  James Ellie and I played a round of memory while William watched before going out on a walk/bike ride.  (The sun was shining and my shoulders got sunburned, my skin clearly doesn't see the sun very often I'm so pasty).

James turn cooking his eggs.  He too is working on learning how to scramble an egg.  He can crack the egg, put it in a bowl, stir it up and put it in the pan.  He is a little nervous scrambling it in the pan by himself, but he's working on it!

Benjamin climbed up into the dishwasher!



Friday

Benjamin woke up in a great mood on Friday and started using a /d/ sound saying "dada dada". He was so proud of himself!  

While Benjamin was napping I tried to make our school activity fun for the kids and I filled Easter eggs with alphabet puzzle pieces and then the kids had to find an egg tell me the name of the letter and the letter sound.  When Benjamin got up we drove to pick up some stuff from Target that I had ordered.  Will and James have been enjoying doing hidden picture puzzles in their highlights workbooks so I ordered some new hidden picture books.  The boys each completed a few puzzles before we went out for a walk/bike ride.  When we got home the wind was blowing so we flew our kite for a little bit before heading back inside for more hidden picture puzzles.  


He's just so handsome!  I love this boy and his big heart and feelings!


Benjamin took a sink bath.  He had fun splashing around in the sink.



Saturday

Benjamin just thinks 6:00am is a great time to start his day and so he was up at 6:00 and played in the pack n play until 6:30 thankfully and after that he hung out in bed next to me until about 7:00 and thats when our day started.  The positive of starting my day that early is I was fully awake when my sister called so I got to have a nice long chat with her while the other kids were still in their rooms!

I love Ellie's curls!  I hope her hair always has some of her curl!





After breakfast and the boys completing their chore of emptying the dishwasher we went outside to play while Benjamin took his nap.  While we were out their we saw a hawk in one of our trees and watched some crows and squirrels.  The kids love watching all the wild life (Ellie said "oh look it eating the grass!  That my favorite!" talking about a squirrel). We had a picnic lunch outside and then just as we were going to go back inside a drive by parade came around.  There were police cars, vehicles that were decorated and a fire truck!  They threw the kids tiny stuffed animals with bandanas and hair ties with instructions on how to make masks with them (What strange times we're living in watching my kids playing with their new masks).




I took a trip to Costco to get a few things and picked up a few new books to read to the kids.  

While cleaning up a the end of the day I spotted a lizard that had found its way into our house.  After catching the lizard the boys took turn touching it and watching it stick out its tongue and talking to it.  

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