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This past Monday, Ben became a two month old baby!
On Wednesday, we went to San Antonio for Thanksgiving. We had a meal on Thursday, but the real Thanksgiving dinner on Friday.
Sadie always knows when we're getting ready for a big meal in the dining room. She gets excited and prepares for mealtime!
Ben never sleeps for a long period of time during the day, but did give me a chance to finish eating on Thursday before waking up.
Soon after, Ben joined us at the table.
Ben started teething on Thanksgiving. Once we gave him Orajel, he started feeling better. Soon after, the Texas A&M - UT football game started. The game could have been better... It was the first time Ben and I watched a game together.
The next day, Ben liked hanging out with everyone!
Ben's Aunt Bethany gave him a faux-hawk!
Later on, Josh, Ben and I posed for a family photo - Ben was temporarily dressed up. The outfit was almost too small!
Soon after, Ben was in the crib for a quick snooze...
Perry waited at the table for food...
Ben rested with Oma Glenda. Perry and Bailey insisted on resting as well.
Lately Ben really likes looking around outside.
Along with teething, Ben is starting to suck on his hand for comfort.
Ben had fun at Alamo Cafe.
Then he played Peek-a-boo!
Unfortunately soon after, we tried feeding Ben about a half ounce of formula. I'm going on a business trip soon and will not have enough milk frozen for him. Unfortunately, he reacted badly. He is now back to normal - we just hope we can find a suitable alternative for when I'm on business travel!
There are so many cookie recipes that I want to try. Since I had the last week off for vacation, I figured that I would have time - ha! I really enjoyed my time at home with Ben (Josh went to work Mon - Wed since I was at home). I found another really easy cookie recipe to make with store cookie dough. From the Pillsbury website, I made Cinnamon-Toffee Pecan Cookies.
Since I love toffee, I did like the cookies. They would probably be more chewy if I had taken them off of the cookie sheets, but Ben distracted me until the cookies had cooled on the cookie sheets themselves. There's always next time!
Ben is growing very quickly! He is now 8 weeks old, and wearing completely different clothing than the previous week.
Josh is taking care of him during the day while I'm either at work or telecommuting from home. He also spends time with Josh during the night. Josh and Ben hung out in Josh's "man cave" during the Texas A&M basketball game broadcast online on Monday.
He is outgrowing not only his clothes, but also his bath bag. I'm just glad he likes tub baths more than sponge baths!
I telecommuted on Wednesday. Since I set up my laptop on the kitchen table, I moved some floor pillows nearby for the dogs. Being a guard dog is a tiring job!
Not only is Sadie a guard dog, but she is also a self-appointed cleaner of Ben's feet!
On Friday, Ben had his 8 week check-up. He weighed 13 pounds, 9 ounces and was 22 inches long. That put him in the 89th percentile for weight and 21st for height. They explained that breastfed babies often put on more weight and that he looks healthy. He was in a great mood until he received his shots! He then slept for a few hours. Once Ben woke up, he was crying non-stop until the Tylenol finally kicked in. Now he appears to be back to normal.
Earlier today, my parents came up to take us to lunch and spend some time with Benjamin. He was finicky about eating - one minute he was starving, the next he didn't want anything to do with a bottle!
After coming back from lunch, Ben went on a walk with Oma Angie!
He also spent time with his Opa Peter, but was clearly sick of his mommy taking so many pictures!
My mom and dad each got a smile from Ben, who was much more interactive than the last time they spent time with him.
Later in the afternoon, Ben was moving his arms and getting excited - but I could not figure out the cause!
A couple outfits, a bath and a few diaper changes later, the end of day was drawing near. Ben was relaxing, and Sadie, always the guard dog, was keeping watch.
Tempted by the Christmas cookie recipes, I had Josh pick up the December 2008 issue of Food & Wine magazine. Included in that magazine was a listing of great restaurants. One located in Pearland is called Killen's Steakhouse. The article praised the dessert in particular, a Creme Brulee bread pudding.
Looking at the menu, this seems much more pricey that our normal eating out venue of Chick-fil-a! It will have to go on the list of places to try for special occasions...
With an 8 week old baby, Josh and I aren't getting much alone time. However, when the day comes when we can make it out for a long, quiet evening, one of the restaurants to consider going to is REEF. REEF was rated the #1 seafood restaurant in the United States by Bon Appetit magazine, and it is in Houston!
Looking at the menu, the grilled scallops entree with truffled polenta and mushroom ragout caught my eye. I love spending time with Ben, and cannot wait for the busy holiday season - so I will hope we have a chance to eat there sometime next year!
If it was December (and I wasn't tone deaf), I would love Christmas caroling. I bug Josh listening to Christmas music starting the day after Thanksgiving.
If you're like me, but actually plan on Christmas caroling, you may like this Martha's Christmas Songbook pdf download from Martha Stewart's website. I read about it tonight since I received my December 2008 issue in the mail.
You can even feel crafty putting it together if you use some nice string and paper!
Lately I've been using the Giada de Laurentiis cookbook Everyday Pasta more than any other one in my collection. Tonight we had a dinner much less healthy and more decadent than usual - Chicken in Lemon Cream with Penne. Unlike the pasta dishes we've been making lately, there are no vegetables - and lots of cream! I couldn't resist adding some roasted garlic to the recipe - for some reason I barely cook anything without garlic.
I was worried that Josh would not like it, but he did enjoy it. Next time he'd like a few artichoke hearts added, and we agreed that roasted grape or cherry tomatoes would be an excellent addition (especially with the tomato juices mixing with the lemon cream - yum!).
Yesterday Josh and I were out buying more clothing for Ben and I saw pumpkin puree on sale. Since Josh liked the pumpkin-nut bread I made a couple of weeks ago from a Cook's Illustrated recipe, he wanted me to make pumpkin bread again.
This morning I remembered that my new cookbook, Baked, has a pumpkin bread recipe too, but with chocolate chips instead of nuts. Since my huge bag of chocolate chips has a "best used by" date of November 2008, this was a good way to start using them. The Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf recipe made two loaves.
It came out exactly as suspected - the pumpkin bread was good, but Josh preferred the Pumpkin-Nut Bread I made before (likely because he is not a chocoholic - unlike me!). If you like chocolate, you'd probably like this version more.
Working full time again and raising a seven week old child don't leave much "me" time (I haven't exercised once since given the "go ahead" last week!).
I've decided to try at least one new baking recipe and one other recipe each week (most likely on the weekends). Here is the first recipe I tried today - Brownie-Oatmeal Cookies from Pillsbury. This is ridiculously easy (on purpose, because Josh wanted me to make pumpkin bread).
You buy the refrigerated brownie mix and just mix in oatmeal. You then drop dough on the cookie sheets to make about 20 delicious cookies.
Since I love the chewy edges of brownies, this recipe will likely be a repeat (especially one day far in the future, when I have to bake something at the last minute for our son!).
On Saturday night, my in-laws came by to see their adorable grandson! Ben grew so much since they had last seen him. Spending time with them was a nice way to end a weekend that started out in a hectic manner!
On Monday, I returned to work. It was difficult to go back, but I did miss the intellectual stimulation (just hated to leave Ben, especially crying like he was on Monday morning). Monday afternoon was hard for Josh, as he is Ben's primary caretaker for now (likely through December, when I'm not on vacation). It was a learning period for me too - as I have a ton of work to do by the end of the year! Learning to take care of chores, maximize time with Josh / Ben and catch up on work after hours has been exhausting, but not without some joy. (Josh and I, on separate occasions, thought we heard Ben giggle - but are not sure... hopefully it happen soon!)
I am very glad that I requested a flexible work arrangement to work up to three days per week from home (provided I am not the primary caretaker for Ben during that time) for up to 6 months following my return to work. The arrangement was approved before I left for disability. This past week, I worked from home two days. Working from home saves time and actually makes me more productive (less distractions, even with a baby and two dogs at home!). It also helps to ease the transition back to work. Josh appreciates it as well.
On Monday, Josh took Ben to the pediatrician to check him following his trip to the hospital on Friday / Saturday. He weighed 12 pounds, 5 ounces!
Ben is now smiling every day - not a ton, but I am thrilled every time that I get to see it!
Last night, Ben was crying after his bath. I could not figure out what was wrong, but knew it was not hunger, gas or a dirty diaper. A couples of minutes went by and I noticed that his legs could no longer extend all the way in the footed onesie he was wearing - time to upgrade to 3-6 month clothing (we knew it was coming soon)!
Here he is in a Classic Pooh unionsuit (this week we tried his swing again, on a higher speed, based on a tip from one of the managers at work - what a help!):
A cold front came in this morning. Once the hot Texas summer temperatures passed, Perry was spending lots of time outside each day. When it starts to get cold, Sadie tends to spend more time out there with him.
Now that I'm working, time is more precious - especially the weekends! Even though we were up late with Ben last night (Josh was particularly helpful, walking around with Ben to get him to fall asleep), I stayed awake following Ben's morning feeding. I was able to pump, check some work e-mail, pay bills, fold laundry (well, 2 of 4 clean loads) and take a shower - all before Josh and Ben woke up!
We all ran some errands before Ben's Aunt Raechel and her friend Allie arrived. We went to Culver's for lunch. I got the small Vanilla Concrete Mixer with KitKat and Heath bar chunks in it for the dessert - yum! We then spent the afternoon at home.
Raechel and Allie were gracious enough to watch Benjamin while Josh and I went on our first post-Ben's-birth date. Wanting a quick but nice dinner not too far from home, we went to Cucina Italian Restaurant. There we had some great bread with garlic butter, and enjoyed splitting an entree called Penne Frutti di Mare - which was fantastic! The entire meal took only an hour. (On the way home, we filled my car's gas tank - for the first time in a LONG time - less than $20!) We arrived home and Ben was being delightful!
Later in the evening, I was taking care of things around the house and found the males watching football!
The only new recipe I made during this week was Three-Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine from Cooking Light. We added panko with cheddar cheese to make a nice, crusty topping. We also used ricotta in place of cottage cheese to eliminate the need for making our food processor dirty!
This makes great leftovers. Josh thinks it is very similar to Chicken Tetrazzini, only with more veggies. Given the choice, I'll make this from now on instead!
I have a hard time resisting Halloween candy on clearance. Rather than snack on the candy, I am trying to use it up in recipes. I had some brownie mix so that I could make the couldn't-get-any-easier-to-make-than-this Butterfinger Brownies.
Yum!
On Thursday afternoon, we found out about Josh passing the Texas Bar exam. That night we went out to eat at a restaurant. Since I'm trying to save pumped milk for when I go back to work (originally on Friday 11/7), we decided to bring some formula.
We had a good dinner. Soon after, Ben started projectile vomiting. Throughout the night, he was losing fluids. At 5 am, his temperature reached 100 degrees. I called the on-call line for the third time that night. Luckily, Ben's pediatrician was the one on-call. She recommended we take him to the Emergency Room due to possible dehydration, his young age and temperature. This clearly meant that I was heading to the hospital on Friday morning, rather than to work.
Ben was examined, and after some tests, it was narrowed down to two possible causes:
1 - A reaction to formula due to an allergy
2 - A stomach virus
He was lethargic, except for when he was screaming during the IV placement (to replenish his fluids, he was dehydrated). The nurses tried in several places, for over an hour. Finally they were able to get a blood sample and get the IV drip going for him. Ben also started eating again... you know something is wrong when Ben does not want to eat!
Late in the afternoon we were moved to an examination room, where we stayed the night. Ben was starting to show signs of improvement, but was so young that they wanted to continue monitoring him for a little while.
Josh got me dinner and stuff for spending the night. My mom was a huge help, taking care of Ben (except for the obvious - feedings!) during the middle of the night so that I could get some rest. Ben was alert for a large portion of the night, which was great!
Here's Ben during his recovery time at the hospital. We brought him home this morning and hopefully will never have to do that again!
We still aren't sure what the cause was, but no more formula for now!
Once Ben was home, he seemed much more like his normal self. Lately that means he is much more alert, makes much more noises, loves to focus on wall hangings and mirrors and likes to grab items (including my hair - ouch!).
Here's Ben at lunch, joking around with Josh:
Ben loves his daddy!
In spite of the trials of the hospital visit, Ben weighs almost 12 pounds at 6 weeks of age and is very strong! Tonight he reached another milestone: his first smiles based on a reaction! He first smiled at my mother-in-law, and a couple minutes later I was able to capture one on film (right before he was over stimulated). He's growing up!
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