Benjamin's Doctor's Appointment

Baby Ben had his two month well baby check up today. He weighs 12 lbs., 11 oz. No more worries about him not gaining weight! The doc said he was doing fine, but his thrush has not gone away totally, so we are working on that. He also has two blocked tear ducts, which
he has had since birth. The doc said that could last up to a year. I certainly hope not. His eyes are so goopy, I can't imagine it lasting for an entire year. He still has his cold and is very congested.
However, he slept until 5:30 this morning! He slept 6 1/2 hours last night- YAY! I was so excited when I got up to see the time and to realize how long he slept. I was so excited that I couldn't go back to sleep after I fed him and put him back to bed. Oh well. I am hoping he does it again tonight! I felt like a different person today, and it was nice.

The Softball Game

Anna and Ellie have really enjoyed playing softball this season. This is Anna's third year playing and she has made dramatic improvements in her ability to hit and field. Ellie is playing for the first time and is a good player also. We are thankful to have found a homeschool league where the emphasis is on learning and on having fun. It makes it fun for all the girls and fun for us to watch!

Sam's Snow Cone

While we were at Anna and Ellie's softball game this past week, Paul caught Sam on camera enjoying his snow cone.

Benjamin at 9 weeks

Benjamin was 9 weeks old yesterday. He slept all night in his crib two nights ago and did fine and Sam did fine with him in there. He slept 5 1/2 hours last night! Yay! It should only be a matter of days or maybe weeks before he's sleeping until morning. I always question if they will ever sleep through the night and then it seems all of the sudden, it happens. Ben also had his first cold this week. He was so congested, but he seems to be doing better now.

Look how he has filled out! Check out the rolls on his legs.

He's still kind of bald!

The Answers

Did you read the previous post? Did you figure out which child is which? I only got one comment -from my mother in law -and she got 3 out of 6 right. Anybody else??

Ok, here they are:
Zack
Sam
Ellie
Paul
Anna
Ben

The picture of Zack reminds us most of Benjamin. Of course, Zack has tons more hair, but the mouth is the same. Ben has that same smile and looks so much like Zack did.

2 Months

I have compiled some pictures of my children, all around the age of 6 weeks to 2 months. Some of these are not the best pictures, because they are old and because I didn't scan them- I just took a picture of them.

It is interesting to me to see the similarities and the differences between them all.

Can you tell who is who?

Okay, Benjamin was easy :)

The Dog Wash

Benjamin at 8 Weeks

Benjamin was 2 months old yesterday. It's hard to believe, but it seems as if he was always a part of our family. His case of thrush is going away (I think- his mouth is still somewhat white). He's still getting up a couple times at night, but usually goes right back to sleep. We are hoping and praying that he soon will drop the 3am feeding and sleep all the way to 6 am. Samuel was a little over 2 months when he did that- it was actually when he found his thumb that he slept through the night. Benjamin does suck on his fist with his thumb sticking out. It wouldn't surprise me if he becomes a thumbsucker also.

His little bald head :)

A rare picture of me :). I didn't like the fact that last picture I had of him and I together was when we were in the hospital.

Bullet

Meet the newest member of our family- Bullet. He is a little stray dog that Paul said the kids could keep. Well, he technically said they could hold on to him until he got home and he looked at him. So early this morning they got him and brought him home and by noon, he had a name, a collar and a dog tag.

When Paul called, the first thing he asked was if they had given him a name. When I said yes, he knew he was sunk! But he didn't like the name and called back 5 minutes later with the dog's name- Bullet. It goes with Trigger.

Perspective

I was "blog surfing" last night. You know how it goes- you read one blog, and it leads to another and another. The first one I clicked on was for a baby who had trisomy 18- a fatal disease. This little sweet baby lived only 5 days and to read of this family's journey was heartbreaking.

That blog led me to another blog about a baby boy named Joshua. I'm not certain what his medical condition was, only that he had a hole in his head and his brain tissue was growing out of it. I looked at the pictures several times, not believing what I was seeing. I felt so bad for him and for his mom. He eventually died also.

There's another blog I've been reading for a while. This mom found out she was expecting identical twin boys and was so excited about it. She lost them both at 19 weeks. She was, and is, understandably devastated.

I've been having sort of a pity party lately. I'm tired, and I'm tired of being tired. I've been feeling sorry for myself because I haven't had a decent night's sleep in over two months. You know what? Those mothers would give up every minute of sleep to have their babies back. It's amazing that what looks so important to us changes when we change our perspective. Yes, I'd like to sleep the night through, but really, compared to the struggles others go through, what's a little tiredness?

I'll have to remind myself of my new perspective at 3 am :).

(And yes, I have actually posted something without pictures)

Sam and Ben

I snapped these pics of the boys after church on Sunday.

If you look closely in that last pic, you'll see that Ben's tongue is white, a classic sign of thrush. We were at the doc on Monday and he said that it was thrush and gave him a prescription. Poor little guy was not himself on Monday, but after two doses of the meds, he felt alot better.

Paul is gone until late Thursday night- I miss him. It's hard being a single mom!

Saturday

It was a quiet Saturday around here. Paul and the boys have been gone since Thursday, so we have been taking it easy. Anna took care of the baby and let me sleep in this morning, which was so nice. We caught up on all the laundry and picked up the house, so we can start our Sunday out with a clean house. (But, alas, it never matters how clean the house is on Saturday night, by Sunday afternoon it looks like a tornado went through)

Paul will be home late tonight, and then he leaves again for a week on Monday for another conference. The big kids are a great help, but things are never right at home when Paul's not here.

Have a great Lord's Day tomorrow.

Benjamin at 7 Weeks

I think we have finally found a formula that Benjamin does okay with. He still has times of fussiness and gassiness (is that a word??), but they are fewer and less intense. He smiles all the time and is beginning to coo. He eats every 2 1/2 to 3 hours, including at night. He will go 4 hours sometimes at night, and we are longing for the night that he goes longer! Benjamin is also now bald on top! Just this week he lost the little hair he had on top, except for one long patch. He also has full, full cheeks and a double chin.