Life with Bennett {week 35}

A quick recap for you this week, since I've already blogged about our Easter weekend here!

Monday:

Ella was dying to wear her new flippy sequin shirt that she got in her Easter basket to school!

While she was at school, the boys and I went on a run!

And yes, Bennett smiled at me like this the entire time!! 

We then made a quick trip to Target, where Bennett sat up top in the shopping cart for the first time!! Game changer!!!

That afternoon, we spent some time outside! 

Tuesday:

I was packing away Bennett's 3 month clothes when I saw this bubble and thought to myself "Hmmm that looks big. I bet he could still fit in this." And I was right!

Boys' clothing companies....when will you be consistent?!?!

Ella was watching her daily dose of Peppa Pig when she spotted this guy in our house. 

Yes, IN our house. If you follow me on Instagram, you already heard me freaking out and swearing up a storm about this thing. I was terrified!!!!

After that traumatic experience, I wanted to get out of our house in case any of the lizard's friends were still inside (thankfully, there were no more!!!) so we walked up to our neighborhood playground!

Wednesday:

It was forecasted to be 85* so I decided it was time to break out some of our summer wardrobe!!!

Matching of course!!!

Thanks to my in-laws for these precious outfits!!!

While Ella was at school, Lucas went to his friend, Harry's birthday party!

He loved hitting the piñata even though he has no clue how to properly hold the bat! 

This party was actually at the same park where we had Lucas's Little Blue Truck party last year! When this peanut was still in my belly!

Of course Lucas's other favorite part was the cupcake, that he managed to get everywhere! At least it matched his outfit, ha!

Worth documenting: Bennett had pancakes for the first time on this day and he gobbled them up! He is obsessed with pancakes!!!

Thursday:

Ella had Beginner's Day for her kindergarten! 

Beginner's Day is a special day when the rising kindergarteners sit in a real kindergarten classroom and do an activity with the teacher while the parents go to a meeting with the principal to learn about the school. (And ps, this was probably one of my least favorite teaching days ever when I taught kindergarten, haha! It was chaos!)

Thankfully, Ella's new school had a more controlled Beginner's Day than I was used to!

And Ella knows about 10 kids going into kindergarten along with her, which is amazing!

Lucas and Bennett got to come to the meeting with me. Lucas was just there for the food.

We got a little bored, so we took some selfies!

Ella had a great time in the classroom! Of course even though she knew a bunch of kids there, none of them got put in the same group as her! But she was very brave and said she made some new friends! And the teacher said she wasn't bossy or annoying at all (I asked!), so yay!

I'll leave you with a quick glance of what happens when you don't put the Easter baskets away soon enough.

Thank you, Lucas. 

Those baskets are now in our attic till next year!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Bennett Michael {8 months}

Dear Bennett,

Welp, here we are again. Another month in the books! How?! Why?! You are now 2/3 of a year old, and as of Saturday, you will have been out in the world as long as you were in my belly! GAHH. Stop, time! Immediately.

Height: 25.5 inches (0.4 %ile)

Weight: 15 pounds exactly
(which I don't think is very accurate because you just weight 14 lbs 3oz at the doctor's last week and I don't think you gained 13 ounces in a week...but whatever. You're still in the first percentile. Peanut!)

Head circumference: 44 cm (33.6 %ile) Glad this is your one "normal" measurement, ha!

Clothes: You are wearing mostly 6 month and 9 month clothes! You have a few hand-me-downs from Lucas that are 12 months and they are huge on you, but we make it work! ;) You wore a smocked 3 month bubble yesterday and it fit great. So, boys' clothing sizes are really consistent...ha! Oh and you finally "graduated" to 6 month onesies for these pictures...although the 3 month ones still fit! You have the smallest little feet and can still fit in your newborn size Freshly Picked moccs! Lucas had some baby shoes that are size 3, but they are wayyyy too big still for your tiny feet! You are still wearing size 2 diapers.

Nicknames: Ben, Ben Ben, Little Bean, Benny, Benny Ben, Benny Boo Boo, Sweetest Boy, Big Guy, Little Peach, Prince of the Peanuts, Lucas still calls you "Baby Bin-it!" while Ella prefers "Benny"

Milestones: You are SO good and steady at sitting up now! You were wobbly for quite a few months, but I finally feel comfortable leaving your side for a second or two while you are sitting! You also are a rolling machine! It was so hard to get these monthly pictures of you on your back because you just want to roll over all. of. the. time! You want to crawl big time! You can scootch yourself somewhere by pivoting around, but there isn't any forward movement going on just yet. So close though! We are working on waving, but you haven't quite figured it out yet. You'll lift your hand but then nothing happens, ha! I can't believe you haven't gotten any teeth yet, but you are so drooly that they have to be coming soon!

Sleep: You are a pretty good sleeper!!! You go to sleep every night around 7:30 and most nights you sleep until I wake you up at 5/5:30 to feed you before I tutor! And then you go back to sleep until 8 AM! On the weekends, when I let you "sleep in," you sleep until 7 or 7:30, which is amazing! You are pretty good about taking a morning nap for an hour or so, but you LIVE for your afternoon nap! You are a champ afternoon napper! You sleep for 3+ hours if I let you (I usually wake you up after 2 hours though)! I'm so proud of you! You love to sleep on your tummy, and are really good at self-soothing and finding your own comfy spot! 

Best Moment: Celebrating your 1st Easter (and all of the associated activities) and when you finally didn't have a fever!!! 

Worst Moment: The two weeks you were sick this month. Sick babies are the WORST. 

Likes: Ceiling fans, your feet (new discovery this month!), your hands (especially your index and middle fingers), your big brother and sister, this teether, this musical toy, watching sports on TV with Daddy (golf is your fav!), Baby Mum Mums, being held, tickling you under your arms, baths, people smiling at you, "Wheels on the Bus" (especially the verses where the wipers go swish and the people go up and down!), your crinkly fish, light-up wand, rolling, babbling, Infant Motrin! 

Also: You LOVE Easter eggs! Ha! It was challenging to get these pictures taken!!

Dislikes: The Nose Frida

Health: This month was a doozy! It started out two weeks ago, when you were fussy, sniffly and ran a super low-grade fever (like 99*/100*) for almost 5 straight days. I figured it was just a virus, so we did lots of steaming, hydrating and Nose Frida-ing. Your fever finally went away, only to spike back up to 102* 5 days later. The pediatrician had me bring you in immediately, where we discovered you had a double ear infection. Bless. Thankfully, we are now on day 7 of amoxicillin and you are basically back to normal! Your runny nose has subsided as well! 

Eating: You are eating more and more "real" foods and have a meal in your high chair for lunch and dinner. You tend to prefer fruits, but eat pretty much whatever! While you were sick, you didn't have much of an appetite, but now that you're better you have been eating lots! You also love Puffs, Baby Mum Mums and these little muncher chip things! We've also recently tried to cut up actual food (as opposed to purees) and give that to you, but not very much actually makes its way into your mouth!
You are still nursing about every 3 hours but you are losing interest quickly! Sometimes you are done in 10 minutes!

Gahhhh Bennett, you are just so precious! You are a total JOY, even when you are not feeling well! People are constantly stopping us to tell us how cute you are whenever we are out and about, and you smile right back at them as if to say 'Thank you!" You are so friendly and happy and smiley and sweet! I could eat you up with a spoon! We love you so so much and can't wait to see what the next month brings (hopefully less illnesses)! 

{Ella at 8 months | Lucas at 8 months}

Bennett's First Easter

Bennett had a wonderful first Easter!! I was worried he was going to still be sick, but thankfully those meds started working Friday and he was back to 100% by Sunday!

We kicked off our Easter weekend on Friday with a trip to see the Easter Bunny at the mall!

I couldn't believe Lucas actually semi-cooperated for a picture!

Semi-cooperated, guys. As in, not smiling. But looking at the camera! I will take what I can get with him!

For whatever reason, he was NOT into the mall bunny this year!! This was as close as we could get him to sit! 

When we got home, we changed out of our Easter outfits and dyed eggs!

Bennett was a great helper!

Saturday morning, I had to work at the Y, but as soon as I got home, we changed the kids yet again into their Easter outfits...this time, to see the bunny at Black Lion!

Lucas liked this bunny much more!!

We also had some free time that afternoon, so I took advantage of it by doing the infamous egg basket pictures for Bennett! If you are new here, I enjoy torturing placing my babies in a big basket with Easter eggs and taking a few dozen pictures! Ella's definitely turned out the best, and Lucas was the most uncooperative (shocking on both accounts), and Bennett's were somewhere in between! 

After a few minutes, he realized he was OVER this basket!

But then, I sat him up and he really liked that! Seriously! He could have sat in that basket all day!!! 

Sunday was of course Easter and first thing in the morning, we did Easter baskets!

I never did a separate Easter basket post, but here's a run down of what all 3 kids got in their baskets:

*Beach towels: Ella | Lucas | Bennett

*Swimsuits: Ella | Lucas | Bennett (I had these and the towels also monogrammed by a local girl!)

*Summer shoes: Ella | Lucas | Bennett

*Zoo print shorts: From a local girl! They turned out SO cute!

*T-shirts: Ellas | Lucas | Bennett

*Activity books: Ella | Lucas | Bennett

Plus a Peppa Pig egg (with a Peppa character inside) and some candy in each basket! 

Oh and Bennett got Puffs!!!

Then, we went to church!

They were handing out flowers to put on the cross, and Ella picked out some that perfectly matched her dress!

After the service, there was a butterfly release. Fun fact: Lucas is TERRIFIED of butterflies! It might be the only thing in the whole world he is actually afraid of!

He was like nope, get that thing away from me, Dad!

Ella meanwhile, loved the butterflies and tried to get them all to land on her hand.

After a quick picture by the cross that we all helped to decorate, we headed home...

...where I subjected my kids to more picture taking with the egg basket! Ha!

I also tried to get them to take a picture with their Easter baskets, but Lucas thought playing with the crinkle paper inside of it was more fun!

Bennett had his first taste of puffs and he was a big fan!!!

Ella also finished up all of her Easter-related activities, like making this egg from her teacher at church...

...and put the finishing touches on our Easter eggs!

So many stickers and glitter. Yay. 

We spent the rest of the day watching golf, playing with our new and old toys and eating a yummy meal made by Travis!

It was a wonderful first Easter for Bennett, especially since he wasn't sick anymore! Hallelujah!