Fun weekends in April

No posts then two in a row - Crazy!

We had some fun weekends here in April so I thought I would recap in pictures:

On April 11th we went over to our friends Krissy and Nicole's house. Krissy has a son named Matthew who is a year and a half so Jason had a lot of fun playing with his toys

nananananananana.....BATMAN!

here's a super-cute rocking horse Jason did pretty well with playing on

He loved this water toy and got us both soaked
Here's Matthew and Jason on his first wagon ride

Then on April 16th we embarked on our first big trip. We flew up to Chicago and drove down to Valparaiso, IN for Abby's wedding. Jason did really well on the plane. I nursed him on take off and landing so hopefully his ears wouldn't bother him. He slept most of the way up to Chicago. We rented a car with a carseat from Hertz. The carseat was pretty cheap and Jason didn't like it very much. Plus I had a hard time getting the angle right and when he would fall asleep his head would fall forward. We made due though. The wedding was at a beautiful bed and breakfast and our family and the groom's family pretty much took the place over. It made for a real family feeling. The wedding was lovely and although a bit on the cool side, the weather was nice. Jason was very good during it, although with it being outside it was a little more forgiving. They had a great photographer and I'm still going through all the pictures. She got some really cute shots of Jason (oh yeah, and the bride and groom...) We got to visit with everyone and Jason got to meet his Great-Grandpas. My parents even drove up to visit us on Sunday and it was nice to see them. Jason did well on the trip back too. He got a bit bored on the plane ride back so we had to entertain him with cups and whatnot so he wouldn't be too fussy. Life sure is more complicated with a baby, but it's totally worth it!

5 months!

Top of the mornin' to ya!

I am such a bad blogger! Sorry about not posting. I've had plenty of cute things to share but finding time to share them is another thing. I recommend friending me on Facebook if you haven't already so you can see the updated pictures with more regularity. It only takes a couple minutes to upload pictures there as opposed to this stupid thing (for some reason it inserts the pictures at the beginning of the post and I have to move it to where I want it to go so it takes forever).

Jason is 5 months old now. He's about 15lbs or so and he's getting so tall (not sure how tall because it's hard to measure him...I guess you'll have to wait until his 6 month well-baby appointment). He did great with the cereal so we started him on veggies. He's had about every flavor they make: sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, and green beans. I think I'm going to get a baby food grinder soon so he can try different stuff - and what we're having for dinner. He's still eating in his Bumbo chair with the tray so I'm glad we have that. He's not sitting steady enough yet to eat in the highchair but we've bought some straps and hopefully can figure out how to put them on so he can use the highchair. He sure is a messy eater! We didn't notice it as much with the cereal but now that he's eating veggies we pretty much have to strip him down to his diaper. Good thing the weather has warmed up just in time!

He's starting to tolerate tummy time a bit better now and we can get him to do at least 10 minute stretches, sometimes more. I think he gets frustrated that he can't move around...I know he really wants to chase Bonnie around. He loves to watch her play and we even have him laughing at her on video. Just the cutest sound ever! He's also very close to being able to sit by himself. He can do it for a few seconds then he either folds forward or falls to one side.

It helps to hold onto a ball or something and of course that makes Bonnie excited. He's still a super-great baby. He's been sleeping pretty well. He usually nurses to sleep around midnight (mommy works second shift, what can you do?) and doesn't wake up until 8:30 at which point I change his diaper, take off his sleep sack and bring him into bed with me for morning nursing and cuddle time (and falling back to sleep). We usually get up at 10 or so after he nurses for breakfast. The Exersaucer is his favorite toy. He has all those toys to play with plus he can really jump around a lot in there which is always fun.

4 months old!

It's hard to believe it's been 4 months! Jason has changed so much. He's playing with toys pretty regularly now, growing like a weed and really starting to grab onto stuff (yeah, watch your hair!).

When I cleaned the house a couple weeks ago I decided to occupy Jason by putting him in front of the fishtank. Appearently, I really enjoyed this when I was a baby. Jason seemed to too, so that was nice.

We had his 4 month doctors appointment last week and here are his stats:

Weight: 14lbs 2 oz (32%)

Height: 25.75 inches (78%)

Head circumference: 16.75 (56%)

looks like he's a tall one....a tall Bender! Who'd a thunk it?

We had a nice visit with Dan's parents at the end of February. We decided to get his 3 month pictures taken. We were a bit late since he was going to turn 4 months in a couple days but what can you do?

Here's the link to the pictures:

https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0120109627JCP

just put my name in as cathy bender with a "c"...morons spelled my name wrong. They're morons because I spelled it out for them and they appearently think a "K" is spelled with a "c" or something. Anyway, there are some pretty good shots there. I was a bit disappointed that he didn't smile, but I think he was pretty overwelmed. Good thing we have plenty of good smiley pictures of our own.

The big thing around here is we started Jason on rice cereal last night! He took to it pretty well. He's still figuring the whole thing out but since we mixed it with breastmilk at least the taste wasn't too foreign. He was in a good mood most of the night and slept well so overall it seems to be a good thing.

it looks like he's smiling through the goo here:

He kept grabbing the bowl like "hurry up mommy, you don't have to wait for the food to actually stay in my mouth, bring on the food!"

here's the video of the whole thing (bear with it, like the baptism one, it's a bit messed up for the first few seconds but it gets right)

Playing with toys

Hi all! Jason is playing with toys pretty regularly now. It's so cute and nice because he's able to entertain himself a bit better. We've also been able to get a lot more cute smiley pictures:

he loves his moose

We bought him an exersaucer...he doesn't know quite what to think about it, but he's still a bit small for it. I think he'll have fun with this
the little face I can't get enough of:

Would have been one year old...

Today is the one year anniversary of the EDD of my first pregnancy. If things had gone differently I would have a one year old now. It seems odd that I would think about that because it was about a year ago that we concieved Jason - the light of my life and the sweetest baby ever. I am so thankful to God for the blessing that is my wonderful son, yet I'm still sad today. I'm wearing my remembrance necklace I bought soon after I miscarried. I wore it from the miscarriage until the EDD then again on the anniversary of the miscarriage (July 24th). I've just been thinking a lot last night and this morning. Last night we were singing our Palm Sunday/Good Friday songs. I've never really been saddened by Christ's death. I knew it was God's plan and that he would be raised from the dead 3 days later so knowing the happy ending it was hard for me to be too upset. One of the songs we're singing is from Mary's perspective. We sang it a few years ago and so many people cried, but I didn't. Now that I have a son, I was SOBBING. It had to be so hard to see your son die like that...I don't know if I can fit enough tissues in my folder to get me through Palm Sunday this year. Of course I was already sad because Jason was SCREAMING before choir rehearsal last night. I hadn't heard him like that since he got his shots and it really scared me. My friend Krissy suggested it was gas and after some Mylicon and bouncing and patting he felt better. I couldn't imagine dealing with that all the time. I am so grateful that Jason is usually such a calm, happy baby. Sorry for the bummer post. I guess cute pictures and milestones aren't all that's on my mind.

Baby Bjorn walk and Johnny Jump-up

Good head control affords a baby new experiences. On Friday we took Jason for a walk in his Baby Bjorn. When we've tried to put him in it in the past he's cried the whole time, but thankfully this time was different. I was kind of cold outside so we put him in his bear bunting (just like the NB one he got from G&G Bender, only we got a 3-6 months version). He fell asleep pretty much as soon as we put him in the carrier. He looked like a doll with his cute baby arm and legs sticking out. Overall, it worked much better than the stroller on our uneven sidewalks. I had to walk kind of like I was pregnant again...I might have to adjust some straps and just get used to using it in general.

sleepy bear

Last night we tried out the Johnny Jump-up. He's still too small for it but he seemed to enjpy it anyway. I'm sure it will work better when he can get centered in the basket so one leg isn't lower, leading to spinning. Bonnie was pretty sure we just got her a "dangling baby" toy and Jason kept trying to eat the straps. A good time was had by all!

I was also able to load the video of Jason's baptism on the previous post

Jason's baptism

Jason was baptized last Sunday. He did really well. Here's the video if you're interested

I hate how fat I look but that's how I look...maybe it can be motivation or something. But of course it's not about me, it's about him.

Here are some more pics of my little angel:

He's starting to hate tummy time less and less as he's getting better control of his head and upper body. He can also roll over from his tummy to his back!

This picture cracks me up...he's starting to bring toys to his mouth and Dan caught a great face.