Missy & Kyle's Engagement Party

Our dear family friend Jessica Snyder hosted an engagement party to celebrate Missy and Kyle.  It was such a beautiful event - she even had a signature drink station for them, and her oldest daughter, Caroline acted as a server/greeter.  So many family and friends came from near and far to celebrate the lovely couple, and it was a great night!  Here are some pictures from the party (taken on my new fabulous camera Brad and Bennett got me for my birthday!):

4 Month Doctor Update

Today Bennett had his 4 month doctor check-up.  He was such a good boy and smiled and "talked" to the doctor and nurse the whole time.  He did cry for his two shots (he sucked the oral medication down like a champ!), but calmed down pretty easily once I held him and sang the ABCs.

Bennett still has his blocked tear duct in his left eye, but she said it can take up to a year to heal.  It's totally normal and looked fine.  It doesn't bother him at all - just looks yucky and uncomfortable.

Dr. Calkins also said that I might want to work on not letting Bennett nurse himself to sleep.  She said at this age bad habits are still easy to break, but at 9 months or so it will be much harder.  She also said I could try seeing if he can put himself back to sleep at night without nursing.  She said it might take 15-30 minutes of moving around and fussing.  I also have to stop swaddling him (even with arms free) since he can roll onto his tummy - and she said it's good for babies to be able to move all over their crib at night.  I guess rolling onto his tummy is a 6 month skill, so she was impressed, and she thinks more tummy time will help him build strength to roll the other way (which is the way they normally roll at this age).  Otherwise she said he is very strong and she said he's doing great!

Bennett weights 14lbs 7oz which is the 23% (last time he was 12 lbs - 33%).  He is 25 and 1/4 inches long, which is the 45% (last time he was 23.5 - 61%).  But the doctor was happy with his growth curve and thinks he's right on track.  He goes back again at 6 months, when we'll probably be starting some food! :)

Bathroom Remodel Update

So...it's not totally done yet, I'd say a little over halfway, but it's to the point where you can kind of imagine how great it's going to be!  Sooooooo much better than the blue tile with pink fixtures!  So far the new shower is tiled and fixtures are installed (including a brand-new WHITE tub), floor tile is down, plumbing and electrical are ready to go, new doors are up (but still need to be painted), and painting is almost done (we have one more ceiling coat to do yet!).  We currently have a brand-new WHITE toilet and sinks sitting in the garage.  The vanity just came and got installed last week and the countertop....well, that has yet to be ordered.  Oops.  If anyone has a good idea of what color countertop would fit with this tile/paint, please let us know - we are lost on that one!

Here are a few pictures of where we're at!

Back/Middle walls of the shower - you can see the nice new built-in shelf for shampoos!

Front wall view - nice new fixtures! :)

New floor!

New door...yeah, we don't have a door handle yet either.

We are SO excited about the new vanity!  Our house only has one main bathroom, so space in there is needed.  We're happy we were able to make room for a vanity with double sinks!  Plus there are 6 drawers and 2 cabinets - so I think we'll be good!

It's getting there!  Can't wait for the final product!

Bennett: 4 Months!

Yesterday Bennett was 4 months old!  Time has flown with this little guy, and my time home with him is sadly and quickly coming to an end.  It was soooo nice to have 4 months with him and being able to not worry about a schedule and feed him on demand.  He is still nursing 100% of the time.  It's such a blessing that it's gone well for us, and I've been able to pump and store up a lot of milk for when he starts going to his babysitter.  My goal is to have him on only breastmilk for the first 6 months, but he's starting to eat a lot more lately (growth spurt?) so we'll see if it works out.  I still plan on nursing him before and after work for as long as I can, and I'm going to *try* pumping at lunch.

Bennett is developing a fun little personality.  Instead of crying, most of the time he squeals or screams. It's kind of cute, although he's getting louder and louder.  He's a VERY happy baby and really never fusses for no reason (*knock on wood*).  He only fusses when he's tired or hungry.  Bennett has started wearing size 2 diapers, but mostly because we ran out of size 1 and didn't want to buy a whole other box of them since he seems to be growing and we didn't want to waste any.  So 2s are big on him, but they work.  He is wearing size 3 onesies and a variety of 0-3, 3, and a few 3-6 month clothing items.  Bennett has also started pooping only every 3-4 days, but on that day will have anywhere from 1-3 poopy diapers.  

Bennett has learned some new skills!  He nows LOVES to grab and hold onto his toes.  We go for walks and he just holds his toes the whole time.  He also fully rolls over from his back to his tummy, and sleeps mostly on his tummy.  He actually will try to sleep face down on his mattress, giving me a heart attack, so once he's asleep I go in and turn his head to the side.  I'm sure he can breathe fine (he's big/strong enough to move), but I feel better about doing this.  He still cannot flip from front to back though, so when he wakes up on his tummy he is MAD.

Bennett is getting a little more tolerant of tummy time.  He's actually tucking his knees under in the crawling position a little bit, but his arms are nowhere near strong enough to really push himself up much.  And I don't think he quite gets it, because he mostly flails his arms and legs in the air and balances on his belly.  His favorite activities are being in his exersaucer, me holding him facing out while I do stuff around the house, going for walks, and singing/talking to anyone.  

We have been working really hard the past week or so to get Bennett into a routine (not a schedule persay, but something more consistent to make life easier for the babysitter).  He was very resistant at first (for the first 4 months of his life I let him eat/sleep/play whenever he wanted!)....but it's going really well thank goodness.  We follow the Eat-Play-Sleep routine.  I'm trying to get him to go 3 hours between feedings (he was eating every 1.5-2 hours...oops!).  It's going really well, and in the afternoons he can stay up about 1.5-2 hours and then sleeps for 1.5-2 hours, then eats.  In the mornings he still eats a bit more frequently and sleeps a little less, but we're getting there.  Bennett is doing AMAZING with sleeping and napping in his crib (no boppy needed).  He doesn't need rocking or a nuk to fall asleep anymore!  He will cry for a few minutes before he settles himself down, and sometimes I need to go in once or twice to shush/pat him, but I'm impressed after only a week of working on it!  He does still get swaddled (arms free) for naps and sleeping.

Bennett has regressed a little recently with his night sleeping.  He was only getting up once to eat at 3am, but this past week he's been getting up around 1:30am and 5am.  I think it might be a growth spurt, as his PJs are a little short on him now too.  I've started doing a "dream feed" at 10pm (feed him in his sleep) when I used to pump and that seems to knock out the 1:30 feeding.  He's also started taking about 5 ounces out of the bottle when Brad feeds him instead of his usual 3.5!!!  

I'll update with doctor stats on Monday when we go in for his 4 month check up.  In the meantime, here's a video of him talking and grabbing his toes (his newest trick!).  Please excuse the high-pitched Mommy voice... :)

State Fair!

Casey and Amanda were in town last weekend for Bennett's baptism.  Friday night they got up around 7:30pm, and we watched the Packer game.  Amanda made this adorable Packer tie onesie for Bennett!  He loves it, as you can see. :)

On Saturday, we went to State Fair.  Just looking at the animals and perusing the amazing food options was pretty much our whole day.  We had bacon wrapped tator tots, chocolate covered bacon, cheese curds, flavored milk (only $0.25!!!) and of course, cream puffs!  We didn't even make it to the games/rides!  

Bennett was a HIT with his baby sunglasses.  I think Brad felt like a stud 'cuz all the old ladies kept fawning over Bennett as we walked around.... :)

Bennett's Baptism

On Sunday, Bennett was baptized at our church, Brookfield Christian Reformed Church.  It was such a special event, and neat that the same pastor who married Brad and I baptized our baby!

Thanks, Pastor Peter!

Bennett did great at the service...I only had to take him out for a few minutes to rock him to sleep once. He also did wonderfully through the actual baptism - didn't cry or anything!  And his bowtie was a hit. 

Us with my siblings.  For some reason, we don't have one of us with Brad's family.

After church, we had my family and Brad's family over at our house for lunch!  We had pulled pork and pulled turkey/gravy sandwiches - yum!  For dessert we had a delicious poppyseed cake with lemon mousse filling and buttercream frosting from Simma's.  I would HIGHLY recommend Simma's for any special occasion cakes - they have tons of flavors too!

It was a special day for our baby boy!  Thank you to our family for celebrating with us! 

Michigan Visit!

Last week we were able to visit Alec and Laurel at their new house in Michigan!  It was only a week after they spent 5 days here, but that's how it worked out for Brad's work (he worked in Toledo and Saganaw on Wednesday and Thursday).  

We spent 5 days with them and had a great time!  Although I will say, having two babies around is a handful!  One is usually fussy, one is getting into this or that, both want to be held... We had to pay close attention since Brie is now crawling and liked to go for Bennett's eyes.  :). Laurel and I didn't get too many breaks, but we took advantage of it when we did.  

Bennett LOVED all of Brie's baby toys.  She didn't mind sharing - she's such a sweet and easy-going baby.  

Two sweet babies with big blue eyes.  We got stopped several times when we were out and about with them.  People asked if they were related. :)

We had a nice, big Michigan-sized bonfire.  Not quite Grant-sized (as I'm told), but still way bigger than what we can do here!  It was funny because Alec said he was going to go get some sticks for the fire, and he drove around back with a huge log behind the lawn mower.  

Alec & his "Fire-tending gloves"

Friday was a fun day because both boys had off work, so in the morning Laurel and I got pedicures and went to the farmers market while the boys watched the babies.  Then we met at Calvin, toured campus a bit, then the girls took the babies home and the boys visited some local breweries.  At night we got babysitters and went out to dinner.  Brad and I even got our first Meijer experience!!!

At the farmer's market!  It is seriously the BEST farmer's market ever!

This little pond on Calvin's campus - such a nice campus!

Saturday was fun too, because Laurel's family was camping in Muskegon, on Lake Michigan.  And oh boy, we have heard so much about the Michigan side of the lake...we had to experience it for ourselves.  And I have to admit, it was pretty nice!

We played a lot of Ticket to Ride on this trip, plus we taught Alec and Laurel's sister Allyson to play Cribbage!

Bennett loved his babysitter, Allyson. :)

Thanks for a fun time, Alec & Laurel!  We miss you guys already!