4 months old....

How did that even happen? The time is just flying by and I find myself freaking out at how fast he is growing. With Landon, I felt like we were always trying to push him to reach milestones. He was rolling over both ways by two months, sitting up by 5 months, crawling by 6 months. And I am pretty sure a huge part of that was us constantly helping him to reach that next thing, only not realizing at the time that he wouldn't be a baby very long. With Bennett, I feel myself doing the opposite because I know he will only stay this little, cuddly boy for such a short time. I just want to call a "time out" and keep him how he is for a while! He is rolling all over the place now, and I feel like it's all happening too fast. I just want him to stay a baby forever. Seriously - I am beginning to worry that with each baby I will only become more and more the mother that will be sobbing at every event in their lives. You know, the embarassing one. The one making a scene at high school graduations. The one that wants you to go to college, but only if you attend the closest one and still live at home. The one that MIGHT give you her blessing when you get married, as long as you agree to move in to the basement. Yeah....I'm headed on a straight path to be that Mom. I just don't want my kids to grow up! (except Landon - if you're reading this - feel free to grow up just enough to grow out of this "bossy, sassy, tantrum throwing" stage. Then don't go any further!)

But I am rambling. So back to Bennett's 4 month appointment.

Let's just say - we don't make 'em small, people!

18 pounds 2 ounces and 27 1/4 inches long

That keeps him in 97th percentile for height and 95th for weight. We have one chunky monkey on our hands and I just love his roly poly thighs!

2 month appointment...

By 2 months old, Bennett had not only mastered smiling, but also thumb sucking! It has since progressed into a "suck on everything". Any time he starts to get fussy in the car it is immediately followed up by some very loud sucking noises. Sometimes it's his two middle fingers, sometimes it's his blanket, and other times his whole fist. The ironic part is that he won't take a binky! He did the first few weeks after he was born, but now he gags on it if you try to give him one. What a funny little boy.

At his appointment he weighed in at 14 pounds 6 ounces and 25 inches long, putting him in the 97th percentile for height and weight. That is 5 pounds and over 2 1/2 inches in two months.

I think it goes without saying that he is a great eater!

Here he is at his 2 month appointment, about 10 minutesafter getting his shots. Poor thing.

Started sucking his thumb at 10 weeks.
Fresh out of the bath at 10 weeks. Mmmm...I love me a clean baby!

Happy as usual. 11 weeks.

New life with Mr. Benny Man...

Can I just start off by saying how much I looooooove having a baby in the house again? I love the new baby smell and think it should be made into an air freshener just like "new car smell". I love baby noises, baby smiles, and most of all - baby snuggles. And Bennett is a cuddly little one for sure. And he's destined to grow up lovin' kisses because I have practically kissed that boy's face off over the last four months.

I'll be honest, the first few weeks were hard. Especially with Landon suddenly having to share the spotlight. And I never felt like I could give either one of them as much attention as I wanted to, which left me feeling guilty a better part of each day. Add to that lack of sleep and exhaustion, which equals one emotional Hilary. I need my sleep, people! Or it just aint pretty all around. Anyway, by the time Bennett was a month old (and sleeping through the night!!) I felt like we had all adjusted to our "new normal", and I even figured out how to stay caught up on cleaning and laundry again!

Here is our little guy one week old.

At Bennett's 2 week appointment he weighed 9 pounds 7 ounces and was 22 1/4 inches long. I can't believe he gained over a pound and an inch and a half in two weeks!

Here he is at two weeks old.

3 weeks old

4 weeks old

And he has only gotten bigger, chubbier and more fun since. We sure like him a lot!

Three years old....

Waaaaay back in March Landon turned the big 3! We tried to make it a special day all about him since a new baby had just joined the mix and stole all of his thunder. I'll be honest, having had a baby just two weeks before, I had neglected to do much planning ahead of time. I felt like a bum for not throwing together a big bash, but it was really nice just spending the day as a family. His requests were simple this year, which made it easy on me. He wanted the same Thomas cake he had last year (and has been talking about since his last birthday) He wanted the "James' red nose train" (which he had been asking for since about a week after Christmas) And he wanted to go to the Dinosaur Museum. Done. Done. And done. We have about 400 pictures from his birthday, but in an effort to catch up on all the many things I have neglected to post about the past 4 months, I will just add a few!

Landon also had his 3 year check up and is currently 35 pounds and 39 inches, putting him in the 75 percentil for both height and weight. That was a change considering he has been in the 90th percentile for most of his life!

At breakfast opening his first present, "James' red nose" (as he calls it)

At the dinosaur museum.

Pushing his new baby brother.

Party with grandparents and cousins.

Even though Landon isn't in my favorite stage of "toddlerhood" and wears me out completely on most days, I still can't believe what a happy and smart little boy he is. He is so full of energy and life and notices every bug on the ground, every police car or fire engine on the street, and every plane or helicopter in the sky. He asks a million questions a day, and picks up on everything we say and do. The other day we were in the car and I almost missed our turn so I had to slam on the breaks. And from the back seat Landon yells, "Stop riding the brakes, Mom!" Where he learned it, I have no idea. I can't remember the last time I said "riding the brakes" in referrence to stopping quickly. I can't believe how fast these three years have gone by and I am excited to watch him build a relationship with his little brother.

We love you, Landon!