Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Benjamin - 11 months

Its been a pretty good month for our little B. But 11 months!? No way! No freaking way has it been almost a year since this little guy rocked our world! 

Teeth have been popping out left and right (literally) but you've been sleeping OK. You make it KNOWN when you are uncomfortable or tired or hungry or just plain grumpy. But you also give these AMAZING full-on cuddles that I absolutely love!
Mealtimes have entered another dimension of crazyness lately. You do not wait for food and gripe and yell almost the entire meal if you're not currently stuffing yourself. And you eat...A LOT! More than Xander does for most meals. But you're pretty picky. No eggs. No yogurt. No cheese (are you sure you're my kid!?). And anything new goes through a rigorous taste test that usually involves a few gags before it ever makes it down the hatch. And anything that doesn't pass the test goes straight on the floor while making defiant eye-contact with us!
We're in the early stages of the wanting-to-do-everything-brother-does phase. You follow him around, take all his toys (which to be honest is a 2-way problem), and gleefully grab his hair or clothes if he isn't paying you enough attention.

I imagine this is what he must look like to you most of the time....a 2 year old sized blur!
Now that I can finally walk, we spend every single weekend morning out of the house. With 2 boys with loads of energy it's a matter of survival. A few weekends ago we met some friends at a lovely forest right by the sea. And while we all successfully enjoyed oranges, and sausage, and roasted marshmallows, the ever elusive family picture still evaded us!
Soooooo.....the major news this month is not something I was expecting for a while. YOU ARE WALKING! Out of nowhere one day you were holding onto a kitchen cabinet, turned around to me, and took a few wobbly Frankenstein steps. Every day you walk a little more and you seem totally thrilled by your new skill. I just couldn't believe that I had a 10 month old taking his first steps!
My little B...I'm holding onto this last month of babyhood. Even though I see toddlerhood almost upon us! You are such a strong-willed, brave, active little guy. I love how vocal you are and I can't wait for the day when you can verbalize what you want (if only to cut down on the noise!) I love your focus on learning and mastering new skills. I love that you absolutely DEMAND attention and affection and you have no time to wait. I love this tenacious little personality that I see emerging and I love every minute with you!

Friday, January 13, 2017

Benjamin - 10 months

Happy New Year to our friends and family! I'm going to try my best to get caught up on posts (still haven't done Halloween yet!) But first I need to start with this little guy...he's 10 months old now! Actually, technically he is 10 months and 1 week but ehhh...I'm trying here!

Although we did not travel home for Christmas break it was still a busy month for you. You've gotten pretty good about keeping yourself busy while I am trying to get things done around the house. Here you're just doing a little low weight, hi-rep exercise while I put away clean clothes.
 And here, keeping a close eye on the laundry cycle. Spinning clothes are so fascinating.
But more and more, keeping yourself busy really means getting into EVERYTHING! Especially if its potentially dangerous or makes a huge mess. So more and more I find myself pulling things out of your mouth (what is the obsession with eating toilet paper about!?) and racing you across the room to make it to whatever item you've set your sights on. And man! You can move pretty dang fast!

You're also very eager to help with the morning cooking but I think daddy/chef has all the help he can handle for now!
Sleep. What a rare a precious thing. You struggle my little B. But it's coming along. Slowly but surely you are sleeping through the night more often than not. Although the crazy Norwegian winter storms we've had the past few weeks haven't helped matters. 
Case in point...10pm...Christmas night...not sleeping! UGH!
You took your 3rd international trip this month to Prague. And, just like every international trip we've EVER taken with kids, you decided to pop out a tooth while we were there. So that means, no sleeping, lots of being cranky, and lots of wine for mommy...I mean whining...or do I?
 I'll be doing a whole Prague post later but unfortunately this is one of the few pictures I took of you while there. In a pub no less lol! But it was very cold and so most of the time you were bundled up in your stroller.
Once we got home from Prague we realized we needed to take a last minute mad dash to get a few more Christmas presents for you and Xander. The best part of taking a baby to a toy store is that there are no EPIC meltdowns when we don't end up going home with something totally random. You were a gem and it was fun getting to spend time just the three of us.
Christmas eve we decided to have a little adventure, brave the wind and rain, and go to Stavanger Cathedral for a Christmas Carol service. We stopped by Starbucks on the way in to grab hot chocolate, and let you both eat dinner during the service. You were pretty good and really seemed to enjoy the music...and listening to your voice echo when everyone else was being silent! 
You had your first Christmas and although it was quiet, just the 4 of us, wait....who am I kidding!? Quiet!? No way! More relaxed maybe but you two are never quiet. Anyway, it was really special for us to spend it together and your dad and I enjoyed watching you two play with each other and with your gifts. 
We also celebrated New Years Eve as a family...with a special dinner made by your dad and a toast. Which sadly you did not get to partake in. And by some insane miracle you slept through the local neighborhood firework show...which was pretty loud and intense for a good 45 minutes. I have NO IDEA how a squeaky floor board can wake you but NYE fireworks go off for nearly an hour and you never stirred!
My silly little B...you are such a spitfire. You hold your own and ALWAYS make your voice heard (which is a lot to say when you're competing with a toddler.) You keep us laughing and on our toes and definitely keep me from sleeping but I love you to the moon and back anyway!