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Friday, October 26, 2018

Life with Bennett {week 9}


Last week of single digits!!! TEAR! 

Anyways, where we last left off, we were in Virginia at my parents' house. My grandparents were also in town!


On Friday, we walked around their downtown area.




We also went to Green Front to see the Christmas decorations! 


Let's talk about taking Lucas into a furniture store. It was like a bull in a china shop, haha!



Back at home, Ella continued to educate my grandparents on the world of Peppa Pig!


Saturday:

We headed back to Charlotte, but not before taking 800 pictures on my parents' front steps!



Sunday:

My kids finally got to debut their Panthers gear!




Monday:

We went to the library. This was a much bigger effort than it sounds, thanks to early voting. Holy moly, the parking lot was INSANE. Not to mention all of the annoying campaigners standing out front....sorry y'all, but hounding me about your candidate while I'm with my crazy toddler and newborn probably isn't going to get him/her any extra votes! Just saying! I'm glad everyone is doing their civic duty, but my goodness I don't think we will be going to the library till after Election Day! 



Also. There's this. 


These are my monkeys and this is my circus. 
Bennett still isn't sure what to make of this craziness.


Monday night, Bennett slept in his crib for a few hours! I stared at the monitor the entire time. 


Tuesday:

Time for another trip to the doctor! Lucas's favorite game is to play I Spy with the animals on the mural in the waiting room!


Good news: Bennett's hemoglobin is up to 11.2!


Hopefully he is almost over his anemia!

Check out my kids playing together! It lasted all of 3 minutes, but still!


Wednesday:

Picture Day for Ella, so we practiced smiling in car line!


I took the boys to our church music and story time! 


Bennett slept through the whole thing!


While the big kids were napping, Bennett had his 2 month photo shoot!


At Ella's dance that night, there was a new toy! A Chase ride on toy, and as you can imagine, it was fought over by several kids!


During Ella's church class, I got to spend more time with my middle child!


He also crashed the older kids' class. Look at him thinking he's a 10 year old. 


Thursday:

Bennett helped me tutor in the morning. As soon as I got him up from this, I realized he had pooped EVERYWHERE. What a mess. 


Then, I walked into Lucas's room to realize he had thrown up everywhere. So that was a fun morning of laundry, baths, and more laundry. 
Ella made the boys a "card" at preschool to help them feel better. 


Everyone was feeling much better after naps, so we went to Trunk or Treat at our church! 



Bennett is the Tin Man, you just can't see his costume!


Lucas still hates his lion costume, but I told him he had to wear it if he wanted candy!


Some of our friends! It is basically impossible to get this many kids to take a picture together! Ha!


We have lots of fun Halloween activities planned for this weekend and next week!!! Hope you have a great weekend! 

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Bennett Michael {Two Months}



Dear Bennett,

Well, well, well. Another 30 days have passed so quickly and you are another month older! How does this keep happening?!? You are becoming bigger, chunkier and cuter everyday! Oh and less anemic, too! You might just be my favorite 2 month old ;)



Height:
Weight:
Head circumference:
{we go to to doctor next week for your 2 month well visit, so I'll update these stats then!}

Clothes: You are still rocking the newborn size! You've outgrown the premie stuff, but most 0-3 month clothing is HUGE on you (except Gerber onesies because they run crazy small). It's gotten colder, and I've realized you have almost zero long sleeved shirts and pants in 0-3 months, so I've been trying to scoop up stuff on M2M (local Facebook group...if you're in it and see cute 0-3 month winter stuff, tag me!). You are still wearing newborn size diapers, but I think we might be able to go up to size 1s pretty soon!



Nicknames: Ben, Ben Ben, Benny, Benny Boo Boo, Peanut, Peanut Butter, B, Little/Littlest B, Bean, Little Bean, Buddy. Ella's nickname of choice is "Benny," while Lucas always calls you "Baby Bennett." 

Milestones: The big one this month was SMILING! Ahhhh so cute!! You also started cooing and it is just the sweetest little sound. You love to "talk"! Your head control is also getting better and you are crazy strong! You want to roll over so badly when you are on your tummy!



Sleep: UGHH Bennett. Sleeping is not your strong suit. I was really hoping you'd be sleeping through the night, or at least a few 6 hours stretches by now, but oh well. I started following Moms on Call out of desperation just a few days ago (thanks Beth for sharing the book with me!) and I'm really hoping it will get you on a schedule and sleeping through the night soon! Mommy is tired (Daddy too)! Right now, you go to sleep at 7:30 and then start to rustle around 10, so I do a quick dream feed before I go to sleep. Then you sleep 10:30ish until 3/3:30. Then you want to party! It takes you forever to get back to sleep after this middle of the night feeding, and you'll sleep until 7:00 or so. Naps are on and off throughout the day so my goal for this next month is to establish more of a structure with those! We've started putting you in your crib to sleep for a few hours each night, but then put you in the pack n play in our room once you wake up. I'm not quite ready to have you sleeping all night in your own room just yet! 

Best Moment: When you smile! I just love your gummy little grin so so much! Other highlights include: your first trip to the pumpkin patch, meeting your great-grandparents and visiting the doctors who saved your life in utero! 


Worst Moment: Every night around 3:30 AM (see: sleep. Ha!)

Likes: Eating, pacis (especially the wubbanubs), being held/being in the Ergo, the Boppy lounger, ceiling fans, the white noise machine,  the vacuum, being in the car, snuggling, spitting up, pooping, getting rinsed off in the bathtub (when we stick your head under the faucet), kicking your legs like a frog!




Dislikes: Being cold, being hungry, getting into the car seat (once you're in, you're fine!), putting on clothes over your head, the hours of 3:00-5:00 AM. 

Health: You had your second post-birth blood transfusion at the end of September! Since then, your hemoglobin is doing well, and at last check (yesterday), it had actually gone UP! It's now 11.2, which is awesome and quite frankly, probably higher than my hemoglobin right now, ha! Your pediatrician is still consulting with the hematologist, but hopefully you don't have too many more heel pricks in your future!

Eating: You continue to be a great eater! You are nursing every 3 hours and eat for about 20 minutes each time. You have taken a bottle for Daddy the other week when I was at Bunco. I want to start pumping soon and giving you a bottle at least a few times a week, so you don't have a bottle strike like your big brother did!



Thank you for blessing our family with another fun month! You are still the chillest baby on the planet, and you rarely cry (like, you will go a day or two without even crying!). You are pure joy and we can't wait for more exciting times to come! Please be my snuggle buddy for life. We love you, sweetest boy!!

Monday, October 22, 2018

Life with Bennett {week 8}

Happy Monday friends!


We were out of town Thursday through Saturday, so that's why I wasn't able to get this post up on Friday, like I normally do! 

Anyway, here's a look at what we've been up to!

Friday:
My friend Chelsea and I attempted our first outing with just the 2 of us and ALL 6 KIDS. Chelsea's husband has an awesome paternity leave, so he has been tagging along with us these past few months. So that's why we are just now having our first "solo" attempt! 


We took everybody to the Nature Museum and we all survived! No one got lost, stolen or injured so I would call that a success!!



Friday just happened to be Ella and Mackenzie's FOURTH "anniversary" of when they first met!

Gahh! Those sweet girls! I hope they are always besties. 

Saturday:

It was finally a little chilly, so we broke out this adorable dinosaur sweater! Ahhh. 


Lucas had soccer again! 


When he wasn't busy knocking down the pop-up goals, he actually scored a goal! 


We dropped the boys off at home, and then Ella, Bennett and I went wayyyy out to the Monroe mall to meet Peppa Pig! The line was crazy long, but thankfully moved quickly!




These two kids after their naps....they crack me up!


Sunday:

We went to the pumpkin patch! Bennett's outfit was just a smidge too big!


The smallest it came in was 6 months, and Shrimp & Grits Kids is notoriously big...but we made it work!



Lucas wanted to buy every pumpkin there!





Also: taking pictures with a feisty 2 year old is *super* fun! Not. 



Bennett got to go on his very first hayride!



I also went to Wal-Mart (this is literally my one trip per year to Wal-Mart!) to get some mums and smaller pumpkins for our front steps! 
  

Monday:

Hemoglobin check for Mr. Bennett!


It is holding steady at 10.5! We go again tomorrow, so hopefully it hasn't dropped too much. 


Lucas likes tagging along on these doctor visits, because he always gets stickers!


I don't think he has enough pacis!

Tuesday:

We went back to the high risk doctor, so that the main doctor, who did all 3 of Bennett's IUTs, could meet him! I felt bad he wasn't there when we went the week prior; I mean, he DID save Bennett's life (3 times!) so the least we could do was head back up there to see him! 


And it was trash day, so lots of entertainment on the walk back to the car for Lucas!


Wednesday:

We met up with our buddies again for a little all boys (plus moms) playdate at the park!




And of course, the Wednesday afternoon madness of Ella's dance class...



{they always make me take their picture by this wall when we are leaving the Y! I keep walking to the car and they always stop, climb up and say "Take our picture, Mom!"}


...and Avondale Adventures! 
Lucas had a nutritious dinner of cake, just cake, this night. Don't judge. 


It was also my night to "help," but thankfully Lucas was really well-behaved (minus taking his shoes off)!


Thursday:

Another day, another way too big Shrimp & Grits Kids outfit!


The kids HAD to wear their farm outfits, because we were going to visit my parents (and grandparents) in Farmville!


Bennett's first road trip!!!


He was really good in the car!!! 
Within 5 minutes of being at my parents' house, my grandma scooped him up and snuggled with him in a huge blanket! 


My grandma's birthday is in a few weeks, so we celebrated early with cake! 


I'll be back Friday to recap the rest of our time in Farmville! Have a fabulous week!!