Muscle Mass Man

DISCLAIMER: First of all, I couldn't catch the smiles today with our slow camera, so I always caught the half shut eyes blinking from the flash.

Although this might look like any normal baby pose, (besides the crazy eyes) this was one of the best days yet. Benson is behind on his gross motor skills, like holding his head up at all in tummy time, and we had an Occupational Therapist come to our house on Monday to test him, and see what was up. He said his neck, shoulders and lower back muscles are too weak, and we need to strengthen them. When we put him on his tummy on Monday, he wouldn't lift his head at all. The therapist showed me some simple exercises to do with Benson to prop his head up so he could at least get some practice, and so we've been working on them all week. Now, just 5 days later, he was in this position on our Boppy pillow! It truly is miraculous!

These two pictures show what he usually does when you put him on his tummy, basically acts like a two month old or so. . . But now he can lift up his head! How darn exciting! The Boppy helps a lot because he is already off the ground a bit.

Even though he obviously doesn't love being right on his stomach and doing his little exercises, if we prop his arms underneath him like this picture shows, he will lift up his head, and turn and look all around!

So, in 5 days his muscles must have strengthened at least some to be able to do what he could not even get close to for the past 6 1/2 months! Way to grow, buddy!

Ceilings!

No Ceiling

Yea for ceilings! Who knew that having (or not having) ceilings could change your life so much. The plastic in the background of this picture was the current "door" into our bedroom, blocked off to keep out the dust. Thanks to a lot of hard work from Phil and his mom, we officially have ceilings in our two front bedrooms. This enabled us to move Benson out of our bedroom and back into his, because now, if spiders want to crawl on the rafters of the house, they won't fall into his crib. I hope. Stay tuned next week for 2x4 walls!

Ceiling!

Cute.

The Bouncy Seat Narcotic

I started teaching piano again when Benson was almost 2 months. Holding him in my arms while teaching was a little bit tricky, but he wasn't happy any other way. And then, we discovered The Bouncy Seat. He would hang out there for an hour while I taught two piano lessons and be perfectly happy and playful.

Lately, however, we are thinking it is more like a drug, because Benson will stay happy in it longer than anything else. Is this normal? During the last half hour of a three lesson stretch last week he even fell asleep. With a six year old playing a lovely rendition of Jingle Bells. Only a drug could do that. So, we are trying to lower the Bouncy Seat time, and try to get the "happy times" to last longer doing other things.

Grow Baby, Grow!

Practicing sitting up at 6 months

He's pretty much always smiling. . .
. . .unless he's busy playing.


I think Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is playing into our little boy's life right now. Maslow said that if a person's basic needs are not being met, they won't be able to develop into any higher level of being. Two weeks ago, right before Benson turned six months, I looked at him and said, "Buddy, you are one scrawny dude!" We went to weigh him, and he weighed in at 13 lbs 12 oz. He was 13 lbs 2 oz at his 4 month appointment. Needless to say, he hadn't grown enough. I think I possibly only make skim milk or something, because he seemed to eat constantly, but somehow hadn't grown much. We started supplementing every other feeding with formula, and in a week's time his development has exploded. He is SO much more alert and happy, and is babbling constantly now, as well as rolling over. When we went back to the doctor a week later, he weighed in at a whopping 15 lbs 2 oz, or at the 8% for his age group. He will have to do some catch up in the developmental department, but we are so grateful that he seems to be thriving!

Construction Zone

We are remodeling our house in our "spare time." Now that we have a baby, it is trickier to find more time, but we seem to be finding it, because he needs to learn to crawl in a lead-paint-chip free zone. My idea of remodeling was "paint and decorate," and Phil's was "rip the house down and build a new one," so our compromise has lead to all new plumbing, HVAC, upstairs bathroom, new walls (and less walls) and more insulation. We are almost getting to the "paint and decorate" part of the adventure, and I can't wait. Kind of crazy, but very exciting.

Phil and I ripping out the wall between our kitchen and dining room last Spring

Yes, that is a brick wall separating our kitchen from our dining room. It is now at the dump. Along with a lot more of our house.

New skylight where the swamp cooler used to be

This is the most current job- Phil ripped out the walls in two bedrooms because there was no insulation there at all. We could feel a cold breeze there during the winter. He took out the cinder-block wall, and is reframing and insulating. Yea for lower energy bills!

... And Out Came the Carrots

Starting solid food is interesting. He pretty much likes milk. That's it. But, maybe one day he'll keep those carrots in his mouth. I think he's eating, and I keep feeding him, and then all of a sudden out come the carrots. All of them. More like a chipmunk who decided he didn't want what is in his cheeks. Chipmunks are cool, though, so we'll keep up on the carrots. Oh. And the milk.

There they are. Freshly pureed steamed carrots. Maybe jarred baby food would be better.

He looks pretty happy about the whole thing.

Catch Up

So. I've finally figured out our camera/computer/flashdrive/no-internet situation, and I'm ready to become a better post girl. So, watch for better updates in the future. For now, here are some picture updates from the past few months.

First smiles (and baby acne) at 6 weeks

Blue everything, even eyes, at 2 months

Just chillin' at nearly 3 months

A bit of head control at 3 1/2 months

Figuring out how to grab between 3 and 4 months