Thanks, Nana & Mema!

I asked them right after Bennett was born to come stay with him after I went back to work. They both immediately said YES! I was so thankful then. But I cannot tell you how thankful I was, that when I really did have to go back to work, that I didn't have to worry about taking baby Bennett to daycare for another 2 weeks. 

My mom came the first week I went back to work, and Dusty's mom came the next week. To me, that meant: 

#1) I didn't have to take Bennett to daycare on my first day back to work. If you're a working Mama, you know that was huge. 

#2) Bennett had another 2 weeks to avoid runny noses and other yucky sickness that daycare inevitably brings. 

#3) For my first 2 weeks back, we had an extra set of hands to help us at night! 

#4) Avery Claire was beyond thrilled, AND had a bed buddy for 2 weeks. 

Those are just a few of the reasons. Not every mama is this lucky. Not every grandkid is this lucky. I'm so thankful we are. Thanks, Nana & Mema, for all you do for us. We could never tell you how much we appreciate you.

Bennett Goes to Daycare

Today, this sweet boy went to daycare. He had a great day! 

Of course, it was much harder for Mommy than him! I teared up a little on the way to school, but I knew he would do great! 

Avery Claire's teacher lets anyone with a baby in the baby room go "check on" them after lunch. She has been so excited that she would get to go in and see him at school. She gave me a great report, and he was happy to see her!

New Ride

We traded the Jeep yesterday, for an Explorer. Avery Claire had to have her car seat in the very back.

On the way to school, she said "I feel like I'm in the zoo. Like I'm a monkey or something."

On the way home from school, she said "It's like you're driving us in a bus." 

Our Win

We found out a couple of weeks ago that Win had cancer. He's been on steroids and had been feeling better. Mema is here this week, so Stanley is taking care of him. He called and let us know that Win wasn't doing well and might not make it through the night.

He died last night. We are so sad, but so glad he didn't suffer for a long time and that he lived a full, happy, life. He hasn't actually lived with us for almost 4 years, but he was our first baby. He was such a sweet, loyal boy. 

We're so thankful to Mema for taking care of him for us, and letting him live with her. He may have been slightly high-maintenance at times!

And we're so thankful to Stanley and Nancy for loving him, putting up with an extra dog at their house almost full time, and for being there with him when he went to Heaven. 

He will be so very missed! 

So Grown Up

Look at her, y'all. Is she 4? Or 14? 

I love this age, but sometimes I get teary-eyed when I realize nothing about her looks like a baby anymore!! She's growing into such a funny, spunky, smart, sweet little girl...who starts Kindergarten in the fall!!! 

Movie Night

We ended Nana's week here with a trip to see Paddington! Avery Claire LOVED it! She belly laughed during so much of it. It really was a very cute little movie! 

Brother didn't miss it, either! He actually was awake for most of it and watched it very intently! 

Comparisons

Everyone says that Bennett looks like Avery Claire. I see it sometimes, especially in their mouths. But I think he has his own little look. 

Back to Work

After 3 months at home with my sweet boy, I had to go back to work today. I teared up...okay, I cried...when I told him "bye" this morning, but it helped a ton to know that he was staying home with Nana this week. 

And this sweet sign greeted me when I got to the library doors this morning! It made my day!

Happy 3 Months, Bennett!

At three months, you:

- weigh about 13-13.5 lbs, I think. 

- take 4 oz of formula every 3 hours. You will go 4-5 hours at night between feedings. 

- have been eating a little cereal at night before bed. It definitely helps you sleep a little longer before you're ready to eat again. 

- celebrated your third holiday - Christmas

- have made some strides in the sleeping department. We bought an Ergo swaddler. You hated it the first few nights. Mama perservered, and now you're sleeping beside me instead of on top of me. Those are big strides. Just ask me! 

- will still not lay down to sleep. We try every night. The longest you've made it is about 45 minutes to an hour. You have fallen asleep in the new swing we bought on sale at Target. Best $20 we've spent so far - beside the Ergo swaddler! 

- are still taking your Prilosec and gas drops. We skipped the Prilosec and didn't do the gas drops diligently for about 3 days. We quickly got them filled and started again. You are, however, much less colicky!

- have the prettiest blue eyes, still. I've got to try to get a good picture of them.

- You love for us to sit and talk to you. You just "talk" back. It's the sweetest thing ever. You give us the biggest grins, which of course makes us so happy. 

- love the dog that Nana and Papa gave you for Christmas. It sings and talks and you will watch it for as long as we'll keep pressing it. 

- love your big sister. And she thinks you're the sweetest, softest, best thing ever. 

We love you so much, our sweet Bennett. We're so glad God you to us. 

Flea Market

Saturday was such a nice day, and it was flea market weekend!! Since we've never been, we decided to check it out, after lunch, of course. 

If nothing else, there is some good people-watching at the flea market! And a lady who sells American Girl clothese that she makes. We couldn't pass that up!

Bennett missed all of the people-watching, but he got a great nap in while we walked around.

A Sick One and Baby Steps

Last night, Avery Claire was coughing and blowing her nose every 5 minutes. She just didn't act like she felt good. When we checked, she had a fever. So, we headed to the doctor this morning. I hated to take us all into that germ-infested place, but I was afraid not to for fear of flu! 

She tested negative for flu, thank God, and seemed to feel much better than she did the night before. Dr. ruled it a cold and sent us home. 

I have a feeling our playtime of choice this week will be doctor's office. 

I posted on social media that this was Bennett's "Wait a minute. You mean I accidentally slept in MY bed for two and a half uninterrupted hours last night?" face. Now, I stayed in the room and slept in the chair and made sure he settled down anytime he started stirring and fighting the swaddle, but he made it! And he made another hour after he ate. Baby steps, people. We're making them. 

And this afternoon, I swaddled him and sat beside him on the floor and HE FELL ASLEEP!! 

So we all settled in for some quiet time while it snowed outside!

Sleep

There are many things I use the blog to look back and reference, especially now that I want to remember what and when Avery Claire did things. I know that all kids are different, and we aren't comparing, but my memory isn't great and I like to look back and see. I've discovered, though, that I failed to blog very much about things we struggled with. Obviously, you want to paint a rosy picture, right? At least appear that you have it all together? So, I want to do a better job of blogging about it all this time around {I guess for the VERY SLIM to nonexistant chance of baby #3}!!

When you have a new baby, one of the questions people ask you is "how's he sleeping?" Well, folks...he's sleeping great. As long as he's being held.

For the first couple of weeks, Bennett slept anywhere you put him, pretty much. I think it's pretty normal for them to become more aware after a couple of weeks, so that was okay. 

And then "the colic" set in. Now, Bennett was never officially diagnosed with colic. He just started crying anywhere from 9-11 pm and nothing consoled him. He would become very fidgety - his arms and legs would move like crazy. And my Mama Kat always said a baby with cold hands had colic - he qualified there, too! Just like the crying fit started, it'd stop. He'd relax and FINALLY fall asleep. 

And by that time, Mama was exhausted. There was no chance of me laying him down so he could wake up and then I'd have to get him to sleep all over again. 

We'd lay him down {in his bed, our bed, the pack-n-play, anywhere} and he was awake in just a little bit. The doctor prescribed prescription gas drops. They helped A TON with his "colic." So we just knew he'd sleep better laying at night after those kicked in. We tried tricking him. We bought this rock-n-play. He looks all cozy, right. That lasted about 15 minutes. We've tried it all. 

But this is his favorite place to sleep. He will sleep for hours here. 

And in the mornings, after his bottle, he'll sleep for hours here. 

We let Avery Claire "cry it out" at about 4 months. I know lots of people disagree with the cry it out method. We didn't leave her in her bed for hours crying - we went in every few minutes to comfort her. And after about 3 nights, she laid down and went to sleep in her bed and slept all night. I don't think Bennett's able to self-soothe yet. And she was sooooo difficult to GET to sleep, we were exhausted, and I had started back to work. Cry-it-out seemed like our last resort - one we have never regretted. She learned to be a GREAT sleeper. 

We laugh and say "he shows good potential!" Because he will fall asleep by himself, so I'm hoping he's developing the ability to self-soothe. 

And once he masters rolling over, I think that'll help. He's done it a couple of times, but won't do it consistently.

I have discovered that he sleeps better swaddled. He hates it at first, but once he settles down, he sleeps better. So, for the past few nights, he's slept beside me, swaddled. If he wiggles a lot, I can put my hand on him and he'll settle down. I know I don't want that to become a habit, too, though! It's been nice to at least sleep on my side for a few nights, but him being between us makes me nervous. My pillow is literally hanging 3/4 off of the bed, because he somehow scoots closer to me as he sleeps, and I worry his face will get close to it. 

And I know that he'll only be this little once. The nighttime crying is so much better. And he "shows great potential!" ;-In a few months, he'll be too busy to snuggle with his Mama. So, for now, I'm just gonna snuggle and soak it in. We'll get him in his bed by the time he starts middle school, surely. 

32

Yesterday, I turned 32. Dusty has kidded me all week about being a 32 year old married woman with 2 kids. We've joked about certain clothes being clothes a "married woman with 2 kids" would wear.

Y'all, I wouldn't have it any other way. I told him that when I was in high school, I thought 32 was the ultimate, best grown-up age. I know that's weird and I can't explain it. 

Life with these three is more than I could have ever prayed for. I have the sweetest, most thoughtful husband who makes me laugh every day. I have the funniest, spunkiest, most kind-hearted four year old girl around. And how our family ever lived without our sweet, happy baby boy, I'll never know. I thank God every day that He blessed me with them. 

My mom and dad came up and spent time with us this weekend. These two love to throw a party and made sure my weekend was extra special. Avery Claire has been making me gifts and hiding them for 2 weeks. She was so excited to bring them all out, and I couldn't have been happier to get her precious smiley-face drawings all wrapped up for me. Nana handled the cake! ;-)

These two. There are no words for them. They love each other like no other, and it makes my heart so  happy. 

People say a lady should never tell her age. I'm proud of every day I get to spend with my sweet family and couldn't be prouder to see 32! 

Preparing to Go Back

I don't even want to say these words out loud. But that's not gonna stop it from happening. 

I go back to work on the 20th. I've already shed many tears over it. 

I've done this once before, when I took Avery Claire to daycare and went to work. This time is no easier. In fact, I think it's harder, because I know how crazy life will be when I go back to work. It's so hard to find time to just sit down and enjoy your kids, which is so sad. And I know I will never get this time back with my sweet little guy. 

I'm just gonna hang on to the fact that there will be 9 weeks until spring break and 

then 9 more after that until summer. 

Not to mention that this one is going to Kindergarten in the fall. As if I'm not emotional enough. I jokingly told Dusty I would sell my car and get a junker and take Avery Claire out of school and keep them both at home. Truthfully, I don't know if I'm made to literally "stay-at-home," which is what I would have to do if I didn't have a paycheck. But I think I might be able to do it if it meant being home with them every day. 

I need to win the lottery, which means I would actually need to be buying lottery tickets, right? Or I need some really rich family member to feel sorry for me....LOL!! 

I'm thankful that Nana and Mema are each taking a week at the end of January to come stay with Bennett so he doesn't have to start daycare {and get sick} until February. 

Truthfully, I know it'll be okay. Once we get in the swing of things, it'll be fine. But, school friends, I may be a wreck that first day back.