THREE MONTHS!

THREE MONTHS! Everyone has told me how quickly they grow and how fast time flies, but I still didn't believe it! I was thinking today about the day that Ben was born. I can't believe that it happened, and yet here I am three months later with the cutest little boy ever!

Ben probably weighs around 14 pounds. He loves to be naked. We still haven't tried the tub again, so he is regularly showering with one of us. Ben eats A LOT. I actually called the nurse at the pediatrician's office and she said we could probably cut him back on feedings. He is now eating about 5 ounces every 3-4 hours. If I feed him before 10:00 PM, he will wake up around 4:00 AM to eat again. If I feed him at or after 10:00 PM, he will wake up around 7:00 AM! He is a champ.

Ben is great at making eye contact. He loves the sound of Matt's voice. He also likes to watch TV. It kills me! He has a tendency to turn his head to the left and has a little bald spot and a little flat head. He is VERY vocal. He is always making some kind of noise.

Ben is very smiley. It doesn't take much to get him to smile at you. We have gotten him to giggle a couple times. He will sometimes giggle when I have him in my lap and am pressing his feet into his belly or even up to his cheeks and making funny noises. Ben gets a lot of attention when we are out because he will pretty much smile at anyone who talks to him.

Ben is wearing size one diapers, but is in the weight range for size two. I'll start the size two when I run out of size ones. He still is only pooping once a day, or once every other day. He doesn't have many blowouts (thank heavens!) anymore. Changing him is getting harder because he is so wiggly!

Ben loves to kick his feet and move his arms. He is starting to make movements towards things (like hanging toys) but isn't grabbing anything deliberately yet. He gets his hands on my hair and holds on! He also likes to hold hands and fingers, or rest his hands on your arms.

He loves to stand up and be completely stretched out. It is hard to burp him because he just stands on your lap. He will stop eating when he is ready to burp. If you try to stop feeding him before he is ready he will scream!

Ben is such a blessing in our lives. It is crazy to think that just three months ago we were a family of two. We love Ben so much!

One day old...

A Weekend in Salt Lake

October is already a crazy month. We try to fit in as many Halloween activities in as possible, so when you add in four nights of parent-teacher conferences and a two-day conference in Salt Lake, we are FULL! This year, Ben and I went down to Salt Lake for the conference by ourselves. It was fun to stay in a hotel, but soooo hard to pack! I felt like I brought everything we owned! Ben did awesome in the hotel- he slept through the night both nights! He was a happy baby in the morning before heading off with my mom for the day!

After the conference on Friday, Alex, mom, Ben and I went over to my grandma and papa Decker's house for a visit. Papa hadn't seen Ben yet, so we were excited! This boy sure has a lot of people who love him!

Alex had Ben's full attention

When I was a baby, we lived with my grandma and papa for a while. Papa tells me about all the times that he rocked me to sleep with his magic arm. Ben was all snuggled in with papa too. He must sense my presence there.

Grandma had Ben smiling like crazy!

We even got a couple giggles out of Ben!

After visiting grandma and papa, we made some yummy cauliflower pizza and then headed to Gardner Village for Witches' Night Out! It was so much fun! There are so many crazy/fun people all dressed up and we loved just watching!

Ben crashed girl's night out and hung out in the stroller. Remind me never to bring a stroller to Witches' Night Out! Way too many people and not enough space for a stroller!

On Saturday I talked my mom into watching Ben again so I could meet the Fischer girls for Thriller! 10 YEARS! I can't believe that my first time seeing Thriller was 10 years ago and I haven't missed a year since! Just as fun this year as always!

While I was at Thriller, my mom had Denise over to help watch Ben! Denise brought some toys over for Ben and Kaden and Brad gave him his first baseball! I had to send them a few pictures of Ben in his baseball outfit with his new baseball!

Ben and I had a great weekend visiting Salt Lake and we checked a couple fun things off our October things-to-do list!

What's New in the Fischer House?

Ok the answer to that question is nothing. We are super boring. Matt and I are both very busy with work. Ben goes to Heather during the day, and we play and relax at home in the evenings. However, this doesn't stop me from taking a million pictures of Ben!

Ben has been napping less and less. He is usually awake from the time I pick him up from Heather until he is ready for bed. This means that he is pretty cranky in the evening! I try everything and anything to get him to calm down and stay happy in the evening. I have tried giving him toys or showing him toys but he isn't interested yet. He can't hold onto anything for very long.

I try sitting him up. He likes sitting up, but he likes being held more. (And when you hold him, he likes to be facing outward so he can see what's going on)

We pulled out his bouncer because he loves to stand and be upright, and he really likes it! He doesn't stay in it for too long because he still isn't very sturdy, but he does like it!

The winner most of the time is the binkie/blankie combo. He LOVES these muslin blankets. I always put one in his carseat so he wouldn't get cold in the car (air conditioning in the summer), and now it calms him down! He will grab onto it and pull it close to his face. I sometimes will just put it right on his cheek too. Within minutes, he is calm or asleep! I am so curious to see if this blankie thing lasts!

Ben still loves sucking on his hands. He is all covered in drool, and I sometimes worry that he is going to get his whole fist in his mouth and gag himself!

Ben still sleeps GREAT in his carseat. Most of the time he falls asleep within minutes of getting strapped in.

Speaking of sleeping, Ben is a CHAMP! For about 2 weeks, he is getting up once around 4 AM, or sleeping through the night! We are so lucky! He is so good!

Videos

*Disclaimer- These are totally boring videos. I enjoy watching them because it shows my baby getting more vocal. Skip this post when you get bored!*

Ben is getting so much more vocal. I debated with Matt before he was born if we needed a video camera, and here is why we do! I love seeing the cute faces he makes and hearing his cute attempts at talking. Luckily my phone and camera both can video, so we get to capture some of these moments! Ben is starting to notice things around him. He has this toy that he lays under and looks at the toys. He can't hit any of the toys on purpose yet, but when he gets one by accident he gets excited!

Visit from Mom and Another Football Game

This week my mom texted and asked if she could come up and watch Ben while I was at work on Friday. Of course I said YES! She was excited to see Ben again and we were both excited to see her!

She took this picture of Ben while I was at work! She and Cassie came over to school with Ben (and brought me a Coke) and my kids were way excited to see him! They've been asking about him since I got back to work.

My mom and Cassie had a little shopping adventure and bought Ben some super cute clothes, including some overalls! Jenni Shields gave us a pair of camo overalls that I LOVE, so I was way excited to put him in his new overalls for the Aggie game on Satuday!

We of course had to go to the bookstore and look at some new Aggie gear (since Matt and I don't have enough already) and I found these awesome Star Wars/Utah State shirts! I had a hard time picking the one I wanted to buy, but ended up with the Yoda shirt! :)

After hitting the bookstore, we took a little walk around campus and had to see the famous "A". For those of you who don't know, the tradition says that if you stand on the A and kiss someone who is already a True Aggie at midnight on a full moon, then you will become a True Aggie too. You can also become a True Aggie if you kiss on the A on Homecoming! Since it is Homecoming weekend, we had to take Cassie over there to get ready for her kiss! Ben is technically a child of two True Aggies, so he already has it in his blood. No kissing for him unless it's his momma!

We weren't sure if we were going to go to the game this week because the weather was looking pretty bad, but we packed our bag with a million layers and headed out. Ben was way better this week than at our last game! He slept for the whole first half and then we fed him at halftime during the rain/lightning delay. After we fed him, he was super happy! The ladies behind us couldn't get enough of his smiles and his cute Big Blue hat! The hat helped keep his cotton balls in his ears so he wasn't too scared of all the noise. Hopefully in the next few games he won't need them anymore.

We ended up leaving during the delay. I didn't want to sit there in the rain and get cold and wet with Ben. He was doing so good though, and it ended up stopping raining, so I felt bad that we didn't tough it out for a little while longer. Before we left, we had to snap another "rainy game" picture. I think I have one of these from every season!

Ben Update

Ben is such a good baby! He is so happy! We laugh because he is so happy until he wants to eat, then he starts screaming! When he is tired he will fuss a little to let us know that it is time for a nap! It was hard when he was sick because he was acting totally different. Babies totally have a personality right from the beginning! About a week after his stomach flu, he had to get his 2 month shots, and he did not react well! He just wanted to be held all the time. His little legs hurt where they did the shots. It was so sad.

I love watching Ben's many different faces and trying to make him smile. He has started to look at the camera and won't smile! When I put the camera away, he will smile again! Little stinker!

Ben is sooooo happy in the morning. I love going in there to get him out of bed because I know there's a big smile waiting!

I still love it when he wants to be snuggled to sleep. He isn't napping in the evening anymore, and is a little more cranky in the evening, so I love it when I can get him to fall asleep for even 20 minutes in my arms.

This kid's hair is growing! I totally expected it to start falling out, or come in blonde by now, but it has stayed dark. I think it looks cute combed over! He has hair like Matt though, so it's totally out of control most of the time!

Ben is a Fischer. He likes being naked. And he is getting so big! I love his cute belly!

Last weekend was Matt's deer hunt. Ben and I hadn't seen Matt much- he worked 32 hours on Monday and Tuesday, and headed up Logan Canyon late Tuesday night. After work on Friday, I packed Ben up and we went up to camp. Ben had just had his shots so he wasn't in the best mood, but we did it anyway. Besides wanting to be held all the time, Ben did so great! He slept until after 3:00 AM both nights, and even ate a lukewarm bottle in the middle of the night. Absolutely no screaming! I was so happy because it proved to me that if we plan well, we can take Ben anywhere and do anything! Camping also gave me an excuse to put on his cute camo overalls!

Matt and I are lucky to have such a good baby. Ben is doing so great with Heather too! It is fun to go pick him up and hear what funny thing happened that day. Heather takes him to the Richmond library for story hour on Thursdays and all my neighbors tell me about seeing Ben! Heather got to hear Ben's first giggle this week! I have heard a couple more since, but she got the first one. Heather's boys love Ben already. When I go pick him up, at least one of them is sitting on the floor next to him, or pushing him in the swing, or holding him and feeding him a bottle. Heather told me that she even used Ben to get one of her boys to do his homework! He didn't do his homework so she wouldn't let him hold Ben, and the next day he took care of his homework quickly so he could hold and feed Ben! Heather also says that Ben will keep himself awake until the boys come home from school so he can see them. I am so glad that Ben has 5 "big brothers" who help take care of him every day, and amazing Heather! We are so lucky that things are going so well so far!