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 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!
This month has been a busy one, so I'll try to sum it up in pictures:
Our first Aggie game was on September 3! Ben, at two months, already fits into his 3-6 month tops, so his Aggie onesies fit! I may be biased, but I think he is the cutest Aggie fan out there!
Ben was a little overwhelmed by the noise of the stadium. He slept at the beginning of the game while he was in the baby carrier sleeping. Once he woke up, he was not happy! He had a hard time eating while we were sitting in our seats down in the stadium, so I took him up top and he did a lot better! I tried to take him back down to our seats, but it was way too loud and overstimulating. I walked around up top for most of the third quarter until he fell asleep, and then he stayed asleep until the game was over.
The headband was used to hold cotton balls in Ben's ears during the game. It definitely worked in blocking out most of the sound, but Ben wasn't so happy to have the headband on!
I know I already posted this picture, but these are the headphones that we tried before we came up with the headband/cotton balls idea. He obviously was not interested in the headphones!
The next morning, so September 4, Matt and I drove up to Jackson for the weekend! We weren't sure if we would make it this year with Ben, but by a lucky chance one of the teachers at my school had a condo in Jackson that she wasn't using and generously gave it to us! We were so lucky to have the condo to stay in because it was a super cold weekend and we would have struggled in the tent!
As always, we spent a day in Jackson! We had lunch and did a bunch of shopping, including buying my annual Jackson book, and Matt spending a ridiculous amount of money on pound candy at the candy store! The funniest part of shopping was all the people who stopped to tell us how cute Ben was, or got caught staring at him! Two old ladies actually made us wait while they got their husbands so they could see Ben. So funny.
Before we went to Bar J, we stopped at the park to play for a little while. The kids started playing on the playground, but soon came back to sit with Ben. He had just started smiling and cooing and the kids, and Randy and Jenny, all were enraptured by Ben's cute faces and noises.
Harrison was concerned that Ben was cold, so he had to get him all covered up. Jenny and H had watched Ben for us like the week before and Harrison had been telling me what a great babysitter he was! He definitely knows how to take care of Ben!
After the park, we went out to Bar J Wranglers for dinner and a show! Ben was sooooo good! He (of course) needed to eat right when it was time for us to get our food, so Matt had to carry two trays while I fed Ben. He also had a huge blowout right before the show started. I went into the bathroom to change him and Jenny had Harrison stand by me while she used the bathroom. Harrison wanted to sing a song to Ben while I changed him, so he sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". After he was done, the line of women waiting to go to the bathroom started clapping! It was so cute. Ben ended up sleeping through the entire show, so we didn't pull him out of the carseat for the picture, but I had to have proof that my 7-week-old went to Bar J!
Flashback to 2010- Claire was almost 3 and I caught this amazing picture at Bar J.
On Saturday morning we headed out to Colter Bay to meet everyone at camp. It was still super cold so Ben was all bundled up! Thank heavens for friends and neighbors for their warm winter hand-me-downs, otherwise Ben would have froze! It was pretty dreary on Saturday and rained most of the day. Matt and I spent the afternoon back at the condo watching the BYU game and warming up before we headed back to camp for dinner and a fire.
Reagan and Harrison were so cute. When Ben was crying they would both come over and start singing to him.
While we were hiding from the rain, Brad and Claire starting playing and dancing on the log. This video will be proof forever of what a nerd Brad really is!
The weather on Sunday was much nicer! It was still cold, it always is cold in Jackson over Labor Day weekend, but the sun was out! Ben did great in his little fleece suit and all his layers!
Blakelee found our drinks and needed some with her breakfast!
Uncle Timmy needs a little boy!
For some reason, we always congregate on the road in the morning. I think it might be the warmest place in camp because it is too shady in the trees.
The kids are always riding their bikes up and down the road, and Blakelee joined in this year! She was so funny cruising around!
Around lunchtime, we all went to Jackson Lake to let the kids play on the shore and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Now when I say "lake" you might think we went swimming, but it was like 50 degrees outside and the water was cold enough to keep the drinks cold! No way were we swimming (but there were some crazy people who were!). Such a beautiful place.
Harrison had so much fun throwing rocks in the lake. Come to think of it, so did the adults! Tamara had a couple cans of soda in the water cooling off and the boys were all trying to hit them with rocks from our seats on shore.
Reagan
Blakelee
After the lake, we went back to camp to hangout. The boys all fell asleep immediately. Matt apparently didn't want to take a nap in a camp chair, so he fell asleep on the table.
Ben's swing is one of the best gifts we have ever gotten! We hauled it with us and Ben hung out in the swing while the girls played games and hung out. He was in the swing during dinner and even while we sat around the fire.
While we were playing cards, Harrison and Reagan found their own game:
Reagan and Harrison eating s'mores. I think I've had more s'mores in the last couple weeks than I've had in the last couple years! So good!
On our way back to the condo Sunday night. He was so comfy, I couldn't bear to undress him to put him in his carseat. He slept the whole way back to Jackson. We went back home the next day (Monday), and on Tuesday Matt took the day off to help me get our house back together before I started work. It was awful, but I went back to work on Wednesday, September 9.
On Friday, September 11, Matt and I drove down to Salt Lake for the USU vs Utah game! This game is one of my favorites, even though Utah State has always lost! It always is a fun game against a big rival. My dad has amazing seats and it is fun to go to a stadium that is so huge. The Aggies lost again, but we had a fun time! Alex was awesome and watched Ben so we could go to the game.
On September 17, we celebrated Ben's two month birthday. I can't believe how much he has grown! At his two month appointment, he weighed 12 pounds 7 ounces (he was 8 pounds 4 ounces at birth), and was 24 1/4 inches long. He is in the 90th percentile on height and 60th percentile on weight and head circumference. At two months, he was starting to smile and make happy noises more regularly and had started going to Heather while I was at work. He is such a good baby!
On Ben's two month birthday, Ben had the stomach flu. I got up to feed him early on Thursday morning and he was covered in throw up. He has spit up at night ever since we brought him home, so I was surprised at how much there was but I wasn't freaking out yet. I sat down to feed him and he threw up again. He was not crying at all, so I figured he was getting the gunk out of his stomach. I fed him a little, and 30 minutes later he threw up again. At this point, I was way concerned so I called the on-call pediatrician (poor guy- it was like 3 AM), and he told me that I should try some pedialyte, but if he didn't stop throwing up that I needed to go to the ER since he was so little. Thank heavens for WalMart being open 24 hours. I woke Matt up and made him listen for Ben and grabbed some pedialyte. He threw up once while I was gone, and I fed him some pedialyte when I got back. He immediately threw it up. So we packed Ben up and headed for the hospital. We got all checked in around 5:00 AM. Right when the nurse came in, he started throwing up again. It was bright orange. The pedialyte I had given him was unflavored and clear, so we knew it was totally stomach acid. He had not cried once the whole time he was sick. He would throw up and then fall asleep. They put the monitors on him and wanted to watch him for a little while. It was so hard to see him so tiny all hooked up to the monitors. After about an hour, they had me feed him some formula, which he kept down so I gave him some more pedialyte. He was able to keep that down as well, so they felt comfortable sending us home. I had an appointment with the pediatrician the next day, and they had me reschedule it to later that day to follow up. From that point on, he was keeping food down, but he was exhausted and slept a ton. It was so sad to see him sick and lethargic. I obviously took the day off work and we stayed home and snuggled for most of the day.
Unfortunately, Ben ended up giving his stomach flu to both Matt and I. I got the lighter version, but Matt got it pretty bad while he was camping with the young men on Friday night. We stayed home all day on Saturday in our pajamas and slept and watched football.
I hope I never have a sick newborn again. It was so scary not to know how much he could handle. This was also my first moment that I felt like a parent. Up until this point, my "parenting" consisted of feeding him when he was hungry and putting him to sleep. When he was sick and I had to make a decision about how to care for him, I immediately was put into a new position. I am grateful that I had Matt by my side to help me know what to do and support the decisions that I had made. Ben is so loved!
