Ben Update

So we are about two weeks post tongue tie snipping and Ben is doing great! He sits with us at dinner and eats bits and pieces of this and that. Here is with smooshed carrots all over his face.

We tried giving him a little monkey plate we had for him but he was so excited that the plate had a face that he just kept dumping the food off of it and laughing at the monkey.

Below are just some random pictures of Ben over the last week or so. He was just too cute all bundled up to play outside while daddy painted the porch.

And here is one of the sweaters featured here. I can't believe they are starting to fit! Gosh he is cute isn't he?!

Ben Has Become a Rogue Nation Developing Weapons of Mass Destruction!

This is what Benjamin just learned to do. Our lives as we knew them are now over.

And check out these quick mommy reflexes!!!

Tongue Tied?

Many of you know about the eating problems Ben has had literally since the day he was born. He was unable to suck (a basic baby reflex) and never once able to latch on at all to breastfeed (not even a bad latch). We were basically sent home from the hospital not knowing how we would feed our baby. He even struggled with bottle nipples and today he is 8 months old and still can only use a slow flow nipple. Once he started on baby food a few months ago he seemed to be having trouble swallowing and would end up gagging and vomiting.

My friend Katherine's little boy had had somewhat similar problems and helped me to do a little research into tongue ties. After much research and consideration we decided to take Ben to a doctor on Long Island who is a specialist in tongue tie's and correcting them to see if this is what was causing Ben's problems.

And indeed it was! His tongue was between a level 3 and 4 tie and his upper lip was also tied. She corrected both and we are praying that will be the answer and Ben will be able to start eating a more varied diet without the problems he had before. And maybe for mommy's sake we can switch to a faster nipple and it won't take him 45 minutes to finish a bottle!

He is recovering well for his snips. The doctor said to keep his hands out of his mouth for three days. When Claudio and I looked at her as if she was out of her mind she recommended putting socks on his hands. Well as you all know we never pass up an opportunity to put Ben's clothing on the wrong part of his body so we were all for it! ;) In actuality he has not been putting his hands in his mouth for whatever reason so we haven't had to worry about it, but we still tried this out for fun last night LOL....yeah we are evil parents ;)

Interestingly it didn't hinder his superior piano playing skills one bit!

Funky Bed Head

We are not sure where Ben got his hair from (and we are asked on a regular basis!). He has two parents with wavy unruly hair in various shades of brown. But Ben has bright red hair that is as straight and limp as could be. It always lies perfectly on his head. So you can imagine my surprise when he woke from his nap looking like this:





good shot of his teeth grandpa Bob and grandma Judi!

Ben is getting increasingly more difficult to photograph because once he sees the camera all he wants is to grab it from me (I swear I should have been born a jungle gym!) So here is a little video of a typical photo taking session.

The Mouse, The Bird and the Sausage by Rackham

Andrew Jackson on the Bank Bailout

"Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution BEFORE MORNING.”
—Andrew Jackson

Mini Me!

A week or two ago I thought I spotted Bunny on our shed roof!! Occassionally he finds a way to get off the screened in porch...and I HAVE found him up there before! I was about to scream to Cla to come help me get the cat in when I realized it wasn't Bunny at all!!! It was a mini look alike!!


Since then this cat has just been around! I went out into our yard to get some tomatos and it walked right up to me meowing! He is tiny and so cute. Cla has fed him twice and so now I think we have adopted an outdoor cat! Here he is coming right up to our porch door.

Which doesn't make Bunny all too happy. He is still learning to deal with Ben, so this just adds insult to injury LOL

See little Mini-Me peaking above the steps and Bunny makes it known he is the only Lord of this manor!

He/She is sweet and cute though isn't she??

Talk About Striped Pants!

This outfit was brought to you by the kind donation of Ben's aunt. I have admired this outfit for 3-4 years now since my oldest nephew wore it and my sister in law was kind enough to pass it down.


I must say that orange is Ben's best color!

I think he sticks his tongue out like that when he is teething because he did it for a week or two several weeks ago and then stopped and now he is doing it again :P

Getting Around

Late Term Abortions Do Exist..And So Do Miracles

Benjamin Update

Here is Ben at 7 months old. He now has his first tooth (still too small to photograph....otherwise you know I would have!). He still does the army crawl...and I think he is quite content with that as he scoots around pretty fast. He can pull himself up to his feet....which is making me think we might have an early walker here. We had to lower the mattress in his crib! He has graduated from his infant car seat as we realized his head come over the top of it! I can't believe how big he is getting!!! He is as cute and as sweet as ever! And becoming a little rascal of a chap!

I am not sure there is anything cuter than a little boy in overalls!

The Best Season Ever Is Here!!

At this first hint of a chill in the air....as soon as I feel an impulse to put socks on I get all excited about Fall!! Fall is full of great holidays, great weather, great colors, and the hope for future blizzards.

So here is my mantel that I decided to decorate for the season. I am quite pleased with it considering most of it was purchased from the dollar store and the rest I had.

Hello Out There!!!

Ben likes to crawl out the backdoor onto the porch...here he is peering out into the great beyond :)





Now he sees the cat and is quickly distracted LOL

e=mc2

Genius baby I'm telling you!!! ;)

Our Budding Musician...

Who also happens to wear a washcloth on his head (but of course!)...

Yesterday my neighbor showered us with several toys that her son has outgrown. One of which is this piano. We don't have batteries for it (and maybe it is better this way LOL), but Ben is still enjoying it.

Notice how he already knows how to carefully turn the pages of his music..

I guess this is his Stevie Wonder face :)