Graduated from the 4th trimester!

Benjamin Maddox: 4 months, 1 day

February was a big month!  Benny got to visit the mountains (read: Avery County) on Valentine's Day weekend to get his Mimi and Poo to all himself.  He got a special visit from Mimi the following weekend, got to rest the next, and then got a visit from Auntie Lauren this past weekend.  He loved every minute of it, of course, and loved up on his visitors lots.

Benny has become very conversational in the last month.  He sits with Mom and chats about his days with Gram.  He starts talking kinda softly but by the end, he is screaming, yelling and laughing hysterically.  He is definitely a people person.  He has clocked a lot of hours in his exersaucer, or air traffic control station as we like to call it.  Benny has a pretty intense need to stand and would like to be on his feet more often than not.  Our arms got kinda tired of this, so we've really gotten our money's worth out of this thing.  He stands proudly and will concentrate on each little station and press buttons that sing songs.  He is beginning to entertain himself, which is convenient for Mom and Dad, and lots of fun to watch.

Grabbing items and pulling them toward his mouth is another new activity that he has refined in the last week or so.  It's amazing to watch these little skills come together and to watch his face light up when he does something new successfully!  

Last weekend, it snowed lots.  It snowed the week Benny was born, and a few times since then, but nothing that stuck around for long.  On Sunday night, we got at least 6 inches, and I'd swear it was even more, but we didn't stick a ruler in it . We did, however, stick Benny in it.

He didn't necessarily love it or hate it.  The wind was blowing hard when we ventured outside so he was mostly bothered by that and wanted to go inside.  Hopefully next year we will get a good snow so we can try him in it again.  I'm thinking it'll be more fun as he gets older!

Where does the time go?

Being Fly: 12 weeks

Being adorable: 10 weeks

My munchkin is 3 months old officially!  And yes, he still lives with his parents.

The last month has been ridiculously busy, so I've not had a free moment to sit and blog about Life with Benny.  Living with an infant, Benny specifically, has been so incredible.  He makes me laugh every day and is such a fun, bite-sized companion.  Who knew that a discussion on what sound different animals make would be so entertaining?  Grammy introduced this game to Benny where he is asked "What sound does the *insert animal here* make?"  followed by a goofy impression of that animal's sound.  He is partial to the kitty-cat's "meeeeeeooooooow" but enjoys them all pretty well.  He laughs hysterically - the kind of laugh where he gasps for air because it was just that funny.

Mama went back to work on January 12th, and is taking it much harder than Ben is.  He has gone with the flow and smiles his silly smile when we put him in the carseat in the morning.  I think he knows that it means Gram isn't far away and he is about to have a pretty fun day.  When I put him in the carseat in the evenings, he does not flash the same grin, but rather, fusses a little bit like "Do I have to go, Ma?!"  I am finding it difficult to focus on work during the day and have a new and amazing ability to work the topic of Ben into any conversation.  I miss him lots, but we have the evenings and weekends to play and we definitely make the most of that time.

Benny at 11 weeks: getting ready to go to Gram's

This month, he's magically changed from a 10 pound ball of newborn human to a little guy with a very distinctive personality.  Benny is entertained by everything.  He laughs at everything, and likes to chat about it.  He talks constantly, and will raise his voice if you raise yours.  What he has to say is much more important than anything you could think of.  He is now sleeping through the night, with a midnight snack on the schedule every now and then (just to keep us on our toes), and is hilarious at bedtime.  Once he is swaddled and put into bed, he feels compelled to continue chatting to whoever will listen.  Most often, this is his teddy bear.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B: 

He is also an escape artist.  In the last shot, he is wearing a special swaddler, called Snug-Tug.  It's supposed to be Houdini-proof.  Guess what?

It's not.  Notice the mildly amused look on his face.  We let him sleep with one hand out every night, just like that, because if we tucked it back in, he'd just work hard on poking it back out again.  We're learning to choose our battles.

He loves traveling and has taken to checking things out while he's out and about.  He really loves the Baby Bjorn carrier and watches people and things around him.  He's no longer satisfied with being carted around in his infant carrier - he wants to look around and flirt with strangers.  

We've gotten a few different items to keep him busy over the last month.  He's gotten an activity mat, which entertained him lots during a play date with Levi, and is very funny in his opinion.  He'll lay there and look up at the toys and bat at them every now and then.  He can't quite grab them yet, but it's coming.

Playdate: 12 weeks

At Target, Benny tried out some exersaucers and somehow conned us into buying the most elaborate (read: expensive) one they had.  We let him try it out at the store and he LOVED it!

How could we deny this face anyway?

At home, playing Air Traffic Controller:

We brought it home and observed as he hit the light-up buttons with a purpose.  It was the first time we noticed Benny engage in cause-and-effect behavior in an intentional manner.  Watching this made me so proud of my smart boy!

So January has been very eventful and lots of fun.  My little newborn is now a little boy and is getting more and more entertaining and fun to be around every day!  

Next stop - driving lessons:

A Very Benny Christmas

Benjamin at 7 weeks on Christmas Eve - standing with Mommy in front of his first Christmas tree!

Benjamin enjoying his presents on Christmas Day:

So Benny had an awesome first Christmas.  On Christmas Eve, we got dressed up and went to Grammy and Grandpa's house for dinner and presents.  Benny got lots of new loot - his green frog being his favorite - and had an all around good time.

Exhibit A: a few days later

On Christmas Day, Benny and Team Turner AND Team LaPlaca traveled to the "mountains" in Avery County to spend the day with Mimi, Poo and the Turner gang.  He had a blast, and collected more loot, of course.  Favorite item collected: his Fisher Price Monkey Ball (pictures to come).  Benny watched as his ENTIRE family played guitar hero like teenagers all weekend and was held by all his family members.  Fist fights were on the verge of breaking out when it was time to share the baby, as everyone wanted some Benny love - it was memorable to say the least!  He met the rest of his Biser cousins and Aunt Anne and Uncle Joe and gave their family a little preview of what to expect next Christmas, as Cousin Blake is expecting a little bundle in late June.  We are all totally excited and Benny doesn't know it yet, but he'll have a cousin buddy to pal around with soon.  They'll be really close in age and will be in the same grade so that will be lots of fun.

It was very nice having Benny in the mountains with us, and he did really well with traveling.  This is Mom and Dad's favorite place to be, so it was very special to share it with our baby-boo for the first time.  This was also the place we got married, so it is exceptionally special for Team Turner.  It was a cool and sunny weekend, but had been raining for weeks before so the whole property was quite muddy and not easily traveled, but next time we'll be able to take walks with Benny all over the terrain that he'll be four-wheeling on... in his Carhartt overalls in true redneck fashion.  While we were up there, we went to Mom's favorite Carhartt outfitter, Sherman's, and got him these:

Obviously, they don't fit yet, but in about a month, he'll be the most handsome future redneck that Western North Carolina has seen! 

Over the Christmas weekend, Benny became a lot more interactive and observant of the world around him.  He smiled and flirted with everyone - laughed, giggled and responded to his family's voices.  He is now holding his head up for longer periods of time with no support, and can sit in his Bumbo seat (as seen above) for several minutes.  He still prefers to be in someone's lap (preferably Mommy's) but can sit alone in a swing or bouncer for a little bit longer without having a fit.  Sleeping is still touch-and-go.  He will sometimes sleep for 5-6 hours at a time, and sometimes will sleep for 2-3 hours before wanting some Moo Juice.  He is still exclusively breast fed so we're predicting that his sleep schedule will be erratic for some time, as this digests a lot quicker than formula.  The good news is, once he gets a midnight snack, he usually drifts right back to sleep.

Benny laughing hysterically at his Bears mobile - 2 months old:

Attending to The Bears:

Flashing a smile:

Our little chunker continues to grow out of his cutest outfits and is now only wearing a few of his 0-3 month outfits and none of the newborn stuff.  Daddy dressed him in a newborn sleeper by accident yesterday and the sleeves ended at his elbows, despite it being a long-sleeved outfit.  Daddy didn't notice, but I don't think Daddies pick up on these kinds of things.  It was time for a bath anyway, so we did that and then dressed him in something more appropriate.

Yesterday, Benny had his first Olan Mills photo shoot.  He had had a photo shoot with a friend of ours when he was 5 weeks old, and she was gracious enough to come to our home and spend lots of time molding him and working through his fussiness so we could get a lot of good shots.  Olan Mills, however, did not award us the same opportunity.  We arrived on time for our shoot, only to be rushed around 10 minutes later because a family that was 40 minutes late had just arrived and insisted on waiting for us to finish so they could get their pictures done as well.  On top of this complication, Benny decided he would act as though he hasn't eaten in days, and fussed for the whole 20 minutes they gave us.  This resulted in a lot of pictures with his lips puckered or pursed from us pulling his bottle at the exact moment the picture was shot so that he wouldn't scream through the whole thing.  We did manage to get a few good shots, and despite the less-than-stellar service we received, we bought a package to continue coming back monthly to track Benny's growth with professional pictures.  We do plan to get more shots done with our friend as well, but figured why not?  I guess you can't have too many pictures of your first born!  Pictures, of course, to come soon :)

6 weeks!

Benny at 5 weeks - Let's go Tarheels! Benny at 6 weeks - leaving his grandparent's house in his Christmas outfit

Last week was kinda sleepy for Benny and I. We've been doing a lot of hanging around our house and hanging with Grammy. We've also done a little bit of Christmas shopping. Ben is such a good shopping companion. He almost never complains and loves riding around in his stroller. He went with me to pick out his own Christmas presents, but slept through the trip.

Ben and Levi got back together for another play date and had a blast, wiggling around and cooing at each other. They are super adorable laying side by side, and seem to interact a little bit. Benny got a couple onesies from Levi for Christmas and of course, one of them says "Peanut" on it. He'll sport it this summer when he's big enough to wear it.

Speaking of size, we had another doctor appointment on Monday and Ben weighed in at a hefty 10 pounds, 8 ounces. His newborn outfits are getting tighter and tighter, and his 0-3 outfits don't look so ridiculous anymore. We've been sporting as much of the newborn stuff as possible because in a couple of weeks, Big Ben won't be able to button those onesies!

Nighttime sleeping is getting better every night, which is a huge relief to Mom and Dad. Ben will sleep for 4 hour shifts throughout the night and will only wake long enough to eat, burp, and be changed before returning to the Land of Nod. It's true what they say about routines beginning to form at around 6 weeks, and we are very thankful for that. During the day, we nurse, play, and sleep in that order and it seems boring, but is working for Benny at the moment. During playtime, he is becoming more and more interactive and will smile, laugh and reach for his toy friends and people friends. This week I decided to attach Pooh travel friends to his carseat so he isn't alone when we go for a ride. He watches them bop around, and will occassionally try to grab one, but can't quite hold them yet. He loves making eye contact and studying faces and continues to be more of an observer than anything else. He is fascinated with his environment and everything around him - it's been awesome to watch him watch the world and see new things for the first time!