Ben - 4 Weeks

My complaint [last week] about our first diaper blow-out? On my duvet cover?

You’re looking at the documentation of that event.

Unfortunate that I only discovered it after the dirty deed was complete…

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Lord of the Rings, Seattle Edition

I'm convinced that my child is a hobbit.

Not only has he got hair on his ears and feet, but he's on the hobbit meal plan:

• breakfast, 
• second breakfast, 
• elevensies, 
• lunch, 
• tea, 
• dinner, 
• supper, 
• and then several midnight snacks.

Baby Adventures - nursing edition

I just looked down at Benjamin and said "kiddo, what happened to those three hour increments between nightly feedings? Where did they go, lovely?"

And with comedic timing, he raised his eyebrows and did one of his spastic, palm-up arm movements. It was a perfect "I don't know, mom" face. Never mind that he was just trying to burp, it made me laugh.

That, and the stream of pee his just shot two feet up the side of the wall. I was too slow with the new diaper.

Good lord I love this child. Pee debacles and all.

Random Musings

To you ever read the world news and think: "my god, I live such a charmed life. Compared to what some people endure daily, my small complaints are petty and insignificant. Shut up and be thankful".

Yes? No?

Today I'm just going to be thankful.

And I'm going to hope (desperately, naively-?-) that world peace and prosperity for all are not mythical concepts.

Chub [Part II]

Benjamin just temporarily prevented me from removing his diaper by the simple trick of squishing the fat rolls on his legs against his pot belly.

Chub chub chub

No more T-Rex arms

The going home from the hospital outfit is officially too small.

And to think, he was swimming in it initially:

From Benjamin

Rant and Raves

First off, thank you for the birthday wishes. We'd had a rough night, baby-wise, the night previously, so we had a very low key birthday evening. Chris came home with a pizza, baked a cake, and most importantly, gave me a few non-Benjamin hours. I love the kiddo dearly but was so grateful for the brief respite. Best of all, he slept in three hour increments last night! Whoohoo!! A good birthday, indeed.

Raves
-To snow! That sticks (sort of).

Ready for cold weather walking

-To my mom for teaching me a bit of sewing wisdom this week. And for being so patient. "hey look mom, I'm done with my first seam! My only problem is that it morphed from 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch halfway through."
-To all you sweet peeps for the birthday wishes, thank you!

Rants:
-to our first diaper blowout. On our duvet cover. I guess it was time to wash the sheets anyway.
-To dog hair that seems to magically multiply and then appear... Everywhere.
-to seams that morph from 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch...entirely on their own. Well, maybe with a little help from me.

Ben - 3 Weeks

Here is an alternate Week 3 photo. Tummy time continues to be a trial but occasional he’ll get into it and wow us with the results. 

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Ben - Weekly Photos

Family of Three

Did I mention that Benjamin’s Auntie Alex was in town visiting us? Sooo good having her here. 

And she took a few pictures of us with the kiddo. It was chilly out so the bambino stayed bundled but we did get a few shots. 

Here are some of my favorites:

 This poor kid, we’ve already ‘decided’ that he’s going to have to be a rower when he grows up. Football? Baseball? Sorry buddy, you’ve got frigid early morning practices and blistered hands ahead of you. Head thee down to the boathouse pronto. 

You are loved, Baby. 

Weekly Benjamin Photos (Weeks 2 and 3)

So, this may very well be nuts, but I’m going to attempt to take a photo of our little guy each week for the first year. So far I’m batting 1000 but I do have a tendency to start out strong and peter out mid-way through. 

This is not a unique idea; in fact, I stole it directly from several friends who have documented their children’s age milestones in this way. Sadly, I’m not photographically or technically advanced to do what the awesome people over at Young House Love have done (despite their tutorial) so I cast around for a slightly different version of the week-by-week documentation efforts and the photos here are what I came up with.

 I worried initially that I wouldn’t be dedicated enough in my picture-taking (and, like I said earlier, we’ll see how good my follow-through is) but judging by the number of pictures of Benjamin that we’ve taken so far AND the number of pictures of Bailey that I used to take on a weekly basis… I’m not sure that’s going to be a problem. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

photo: Alex J

We’ll keep you posted on how this little experiment turns out. 

xxoo

Sonja

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Ben - Weekly Photos

Punk Baby

From Benjamin

My dears, one can only gaze at a nursing baby for so long before one gets a little, well, bored. Hence Benjamin's stylin' hair do.

Things I’m Loving: Wedding Tree Poster

I thought this was a neat idea for a wedding or special event. Instead of an oversized plate, photo album or document, here’s another idea: have your guests sign a leaf on a personalized tree poster.

I wonder if one could make this into a family tree with ancestors...

From Etsy seller: Fancyprints

Wide Awake [when we should be napping]

Aside from the fact that it looks like I’ve been punched in the face [lack of sleep=black eyes, in SonjaLand], here is Baby + Mama.

Rant and Raves

Ok, I’ll be the first to admit this week that my rants stink. Which, upon further reflection, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Rants:

• To sleep. Or my lack thereof. Not a surprise, given that we have an almost-three-week old baby. Still, I would like to have some. 
• To other people around the country having awesome weather. What can I say, I’m jealous. 

Raves:

• To amazing friends that brought us a hot dinner last night. I gorged myself silly. 
• To my mom, who (whom? help…) suggested that she and my dad watch Benjamin so Chris and I can go out for date nights. And a meal that isn’t eaten on the fly. 
• To my husband, whom (dangit, not again!) I overheard singing Christmas carols (among others) to the baby while changing his diaper. Don't ever change, Sweetie. 

Little Dogs

We keep meaning to take a photo of Benjamin’s feet next to Chris’ feet. Size 14 next to Size Tiny.

Return to Sender

Ok, I’m ready for you to send it back now.

A few kind folks have asked how Bailey is doing with the new addition to the family.  He wants you to know that he is grateful for your concern. And that he is currently screening new owner applicants. He didn’t sign up for this.

I caught him posting the following on Craigslist this morning:

FREE - Brand New Baby Boy (North Seattle)

---

Date: 2011-02-17, 4:07AM PST
Reply to: sale-wrnbg-2157474566@craigslist.org 

---

Available - one male human, free to a good home. Only three weeks old! Practically NIB! This cute little guy is a perfect companion for all you insomniacs out there. This breed is an expert at screaming, burping, and pooping. Has brown hair and blue eyes. Needs minor training as he does not respond to any commands and is not yet house trained. 

Human is not neutered and will require additional vaccinations in two months. He comes with a full wardrobe, crib, and a month’s supply of diapers. 

Serious inquiries only, please. 




He got all huffy when I made him delete the ad. In fact, he’s still pouting about it. 

Life is currently not hunky-dory for the poor Beast.

Weekly Photo

Our little furry baby. If I knew that Bailey wouldn’t be exceedingly offended, I’d call him our furbaby but as that title is typically used to refer to beloved pets, I’ll refrain. Bailey is holding on to as many shreds of his former life as he can.

Don’t worry Bails, we only have one beloved furbaby. The kiddo will never usurp that position.

A Century of Family

My Grandpa George. Born 1911.  Great-grandson Benjamin. Born 2011. 

The Beast is already setting a bad example

Clearly, we have a bunch of slackers around here when it comes to tummy time and flash cards. 

Baby Poll Winners!

Benjamin (wearing one of Chris’ first outfits) with Grandma and Grandpa J 

Peeps!

Thank you for your patience in regards to our baby poll.

If you’ll recall, we were going to have two winners, one for correctly guessing Benjamin’s birthday and one for his birth weight.

Here are the results:

Our birthdate winner is Briana, for pegging January 29th as ‘The Day’. Shout outs to Liana, Colleen, Felicia, Kristina, Megan and Dan who were all within striking distance.

Things got a wee bit more complicated for Ben’s birthweight because there were no 7 lb 1 oz guesses. The closest we had was Chris with 7 lb 2 oz but I’m disqualifying him because he had insider information (namely: as dad, he was attending all our appointments and hearing the weight guesses from our midwives. Sorry, honey). The second closest guess was Briana at 7 lb 6 oz (and an estimated time of arrival of 8 am- SO CLOSE!) but as she’s already won the birthdate prize, I’m naming Liana as our winner with a guess of 7 lb 9 oz.

Dad (Chris) 7 lb 2 oz
Briana 7 lb 6 oz
Liana Hearn 7 lb 9 oz


Congratulations and thanks to everyone for participating!

If Briana and Liana could please email me (SweetSeattleLife@gmail.com) your address, I will pop a little something in the mail for you. 

Ben - Birth Photo

Chris and our sweet nurse gave Benjamin his first bath when he was just an hour old. I watched from the bed.

It wasn’t until they turned down the lights and immersed him in water that Benjamin opened his eyes for the first time. Surrounded by warm water and in a dim setting, this new world wasn’t so scary after all.

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