The Family Update

It has now been 5 weeks since Ben was born! Can you believe it? I can't it seems to have flown by!! Let's see if i can catch you up on a few things...

Benjamin:
I know the first question on every one's mind is how much does he weigh? Well I don't know the answer, sorry. That would take energy I don't have right now. But I can tell you what he weighed 3 weeks ago when we had his 2 week check up!

Ben at 4 weeks.

Weighed: 9.12 (71st percentile) Gained almost 2 lbs since we left the hospital and almost 1 lb from his birth weight!
Height: 22" (85th percentile) Grown 1.5" since birth!


He is healthy and sweet baby! He is 100% breastfed & we are super happy about that! This past couple of weeks has been really challenging though. I have done my research & Ben has just hit his first major milestone/ growth spurt. The 3-4 week mark is notorious with babies for their first big growth spurt...they want to eat & sleep constantly & in-between they can sometimes be fussy. So for the past couple of weeks at night he has cried for 3-4 hours non stop. Again, a bit challenging...especially when it is in the middle of the night and not only keeping me up, but waking up Jonathan and Michael. Just adds another layer of stress. Thankfully both Michael and Jonathan are very sweet and understanding. Although, the other night Jonathan yelled from his bed, "Mom!!! Ben needs a DRANK!" - thank you son, I needed that! It made me giggle. But I thought to myself - No Mom needs a DRANK and Ben needs to go to sleep!!

Other than that, he is literally changes daily. He doesn't look a thing like he did at birth, or even like he did yesterday. We are seeing more Ramage/O'Brien in him these days, but time will tell. I looked at some of my baby pictures and there are a few where he looks almost just like me, but then the next day he changes again, so we will have to see. His hair is reddish/blondish/brownish, but I am sure that it will fall out and grow back another color. His eyes are super dark navy blue. He makes the funniest faces. And he definitely responds when he hears Jonathan come into the room. If he is awake, he will crank his head in the direction of Jonathan. It is really cool. Ben grunts and groans all the time. He also makes noises similar to a chipmunk or something. We are constantly laughing at all his noises. We don't remember Jonathan being this noisy!


Jonathan:


Jonathan LOVES being a big brother! In just these 5 weeks, I have a million heart warming stories to tell about how he has demonstrated his love for his brother, but I will share just a few...

One of the last projects at school was a Mother's Day gift. As you can see, when I opened it, I cried and cried. Jonathan's teachers told Michael that I should really like this gift because he really did say what they wrote. He is a sweet boy.



My Mother's Day gift.





Just yesterday the boys and I ran to get Jonathan some new shoes. At the register, the lady gave Jonathan a "Car's" sticker, he was so excited and jumped around the store with glee. Then all the sudden he stopped, went back to the lady and said - "Can I have another sticker for my brother?" - I have to say, I was shocked! I haven't had the opportunity to teach him to share with Ben, so it is awesome that he is doing it on his own! - So Jonathan went to Ben and put the sticker on his onsie and said - "Look Ben, we're twins! We're are twin brothers! I 'lobe' you so much!!" - Wow I almost started crying!


When Ben was first born and we were still in the hospital, Jonathan was very upset or scared by Ben's crying. After it had happened a few times I finally came up with telling Jonathan that he needed to sing to Ben every time he cried. What was crazy is that to begin with, every time Jonathan began singing Ben would stop crying! Jonathan was so proud of himself! It doesn't always work these days, but it gives him something to do when Ben is crying. He is made up a couple of songs, one of the is more of a chant..."That's ok, that's ok, that's ok..." and the other one is more fun and set to the beat of "Deep and Wide" an old song we would sing in Sunday School... "Benjamin...Benjamin...Benny, Ben, Ben, Benny...Benjamin..." - Here is a video of Jonathan singing to him...

When Jonathan wakes up every morning he asks the same questions..."Is Ben awake? Can I see him? I need to see his face! Is he still growing? Am I still growing?" Then he gives him dozens of kisses on his head and tells him that he missed him. It melts my heart!


Besides getting used to having a brother, Jonathan had his last day of school two weeks ago. We were said to have that school year end, but looking forward to summer! He got his hair buzz cut this past week! It's super cute!!!


Jonathan also had a check up, his 3 year check up!!! He is healthy and doing great, no causes for concern!


Weight: 33.8 lbs (67th percentile)
Height: 39.5" (89th percentile)

Michael:
He returned to work a few of weeks ago after having two weeks off. It was hard for both of us when he returned. I became so used to him being around and he liked sleeping in! He was so helpful then and now! I am a lucky girl! He has been great with picking up my slack on the house hold chores. But what has been super great is the extra time he has been spending with Jonathan. Since I can't always spend the time I want to or used to with Jonathan, Michael picks up where I can't right now. I am very thankful for that!

Julie:
I am doing well, healing fast & trying hard to get back to 'normal'. Although I put high expectations on myself to not let having a baby slow me down...I realized after a week or so that I was going to have to slow down.
Lack of sleep is no fun and this past week has been difficult, but I recall when Jonathan was 3-4 weeks was when my mom's cancer returned, my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, Michael had to go on a business trip, and when he did I went and stayed with mom and dad. During that stay I became extremely sick with Mastise (a breast milk infection). I had 104.5 temp and basically felt the worst I have ever felt. This all directly lead to me throwing in the towel on breastfeeding! With that being said this past week has been a cake walk and I have no room to complain!

In all seriousness, things are going great and I couldn't be happier. I have 2 beautiful sons and a wonderful husband! Two weeks ago we had a really scary storm hit our area. The tornado sirens started going off, so Michael and I grabbed our 2 boys and went to our hallway. As the storm hit our house we could hear hail and extreme winds. On the radio they were reporting tornado's all over the place. I looked at my sweet family and was petrified, I never had more to lose and I started to panic. We were surprised and lucky we had no damage!! But our power did go out and stay out for 24 hours, which totally stunk! By the way, Ben slept soundly through the whole thing!! But through all of that I realized that I am one lucky girl to have such a wonderful family and I don't want anything bad to happen to them.

I haven't had much time to spend on the computer, so I am not sure when I will get a chance to post again. I will try to post more pictures soon.