Rolling Over....Soon!

At 14 weeks old, Benjamin has been on the verge of rolling over for the past few days. He has been trying to "get over the hump" with such persistence that we have a feeling he will be rolling over very soon. Currently, he gets about 3/4 of the way there and then gives up in frustration (poor guy!).

Laying on his froggie blanket. His toy parrot is out of reach but he will soon spot it:

He sees the parrot and starts to try to roll towards it:

If only it weren't for that pesky other arm in the way of a complete roll!

Stuck on his side as he self-soothes by sucking on his hands (favorite pastime activity!):

Defeated again!:

Here, Barney has brought his own toy over to Ben's blanket so that they can play together...and then Barney is leaning out of the way of Benjamin's flailing legs as he tries to roll himself over...finally, not having succeeded, Ben cries out in frustration as Barney watches!

Fun Time Playing

Benjamin has been having so much fun playing with some of his toys now that he realizes that they exist and life isn't just eating and sleeping! This week we tried out his Baby Einstein activity center and he has been enjoying it so much. He's still bordering on a little short heightwise to use this big toy, as his feet barely scrape the ground, but he is certainly determined to play in it and for the first time showed some disappointment when I took him away from a toy today! There is so much activity on it that he goes from giggling to pure frustration instantly and it's hilarious to watch. Here are some photos of him exploring:

Very serious; checking this thing out, furrowed brow and all. Benjamin definitely has a very serious side to him when he is introduced to something new. It looks like he is pondering his new world quite deeply at times and we've come to learn that both Andrew and I were the same way when we were babies!

Loving the "smiling sunshine" toy. He would go from intently staring at it one minute to smiling, cooing and babbling to it the next. He just couldn't get enough of it!

Benjamin was really catching on to many of the toys and was imitating me as I showed him how to use them. Here he is rolling the colored rattle wheels around. After a few minutes he seemed to understand how to make them spin on his own and was furiously wheeling them around!

There's a thick plastic "book" on the activity center that has actual pictures of animals on it, including a Labrador Retriever. We've been teaching him "Barney" whenever he looks at it to familiarize him with his pet. Imagine if he says this before Mama or Dada in a few months! Ben likes this book but was getting exceedingly frustrated as he tried to turn the pages, almost to the point of losing his patience - ha ha! Here he is furrowing his brow and biting his lower lip as he attempts to reach for the book and figure this thing out...

...and here he is turning a page finally!

Finally, a cute close-up photo:

First Father's Day

This year was Andrew's first Father's Day and to make the day extra special, three friends and I decided to surprise our husbands with a Father's Day brunch followed by a trip to Citizen's Bank Park for a Phillies game. Apart from our family, our group consisted of Steve, Amy and Tyler Kriebel; Chad, Aimee and Elaina Saunders; and Jason, Julia, Jordan and Jorianna Spencer. What a great day we had!

We met at 10:30AM at the Kriebels' house and all of the girls made some food for a big brunch. After we all had filled our plates and sat down, we told the dads our plans for the day. Although all of them suspected we had been planning something like this, they were all excited to spend the day at the ballpark. Of the five kids, this was the first time four of them had been to a baseball game and Tyler had only been once last summer when he was five months old. So, it was fun for the guys to introduce all of the kids to one of their favorite pastimes.

We had wondered just how hot it would be during the game when we saw weather forecasts for the mid-nineties and had loaded up on sunscreen, hats, and water to face the heat, but luckily our seats at the stadium ended up being under an overhang with a great breeze. So, it was perfect and made it bearable to stay for the entire game, whereas otherwise we probably would have had to leave early if we had been in the direct sun. All of the kids were also very good, considering that none of them had good naps while we were there! Benjamin was content sitting on our laps and dozing off and on for the entire three hours that we were at the stadium. He hardly fussed at all and attracted some attention from the people sitting near us because he was wearing his pint-sized Bobby Abreu jersey and cap!

Here's a photo of all of the dads and kids (l-r): Andrew with Ben, Jason with Jordan and Jorianna, Steve with Tyler and Chad with Elaina. Tyler and Elaina have a bit of a love affair going on and couldn't stop chattering and "flirting" with each other all day!:

Here we are outside the stadium before the game:

Pictures of Andrew and his little guy:

Go Bobby!! Bobby Abreu was shown onscreen as he stepped up to bat so we held Benjamin up to show our support:

Here are some photos of everyone having a great day:

Saunders...

Kriebels...

Jason and the Spencer kids...

As a rookie to Citizen's Bank Park, Benjamin got an official certificate at Guest Services showing that he has attended his first Phillies game:

By the time we got back to our car after the game, Ben was exhausted and totally konked out in the car for our entire trip home. Here's one overtired photo of him once we got home, decked out in his PJ's and Dad's free Phillies cap that he got at the game:

Sweet Baby

I never am able to resist the children's clothing at Janie and Jack, so I thought I'd take a few photos of Benjamin in one of their adorable outfits that we received as a gift since he looks so sweet in it. Of course the combination of green gingham checks and my favorite children's store definitely warranted a few random photos!


Just a quick update on Benjamin: he was twelve weeks old on Monday and we can't believe that he is already close to three months old. He is now about 26 inches long and weighs 14 lbs. 8 oz...I guess I'm eating something right since I continue to exclusively breastfeed and our little guy is growing like a weed! He has been very vocal lately and seems to coo and giggle at just about everything. He also has recently developed quite a strong grip and grasps things firmly by reaching out for them. Among his favorites are my hair and jewelry, some of his stuffed animals and rattles, and Barney's ears and nose!

He is continuing to sleep through the night for us and it is close to three weeks that he has been sleeping 8-9 hours at night in addition to his four 1-2 hour naps throughout the day. So we definitely can't complain about him since he has been a very good baby for us.

If anyone is wondering about the large pimple on his cheek that you can see in some of the photos, it is just that - a pimple. I took him to the doctor on Monday because he has had it for about 10 days now and they looked it over and said it is just a very deep blemish and it will go away on its own. That's a relief for this first-time, slightly neurotic mother!! So hopefully it will go away soon so I can take him to have his photos taken again in a few weeks.

Thumbsucking Afternoon with Dad

I had someplace to go this afternoon so Andrew watched Benjamin for a few hours while I went out. When I got home, I found the two guys chilling out in our comfy chair-and-a-half watching the Yankees game. Benjamin just happened to get his original outfit dirty so he had to change into his Yankees jersey for the occasion. Here they are spending some quality time together in front of the tube:

Benjamin has been a handsucker since he was a few weeks old, but just recently he discovered his thumb and now consciously sucks on it often. Here are some cute photos of him noisily sucking! He decided to go on a strike against his pacifier when he was a few weeks old and we wondered if he would become a thumbsucker instead since he has always found comfort in sucking his hands and toys. Guess we were right!

Last Day of Class

Today was our last day of Gymboree for the spring session and we had a great time. Ben was rightly given the title of "Shown Most Development Throughout the Session" by his teacher since we joined the class when he was just over four weeks old and he was truly a newborn at that point. Now he is so alert, able to track things with just his eyes, holding his head at a 90 degree angle, able to really interact with me during the class, smiling, cooing and so many other things. He even LAUGHED OUT LOUD during one of our silly songs....he was looking right at me, grinning in response to the silly face I was making at him, when all of a sudden he let out an unmistakable chuckle! One of my friends sitting next to me definitely heard it too, so I have a witness since Benjamin (of course!) wouldn't repeat this for us last night while I was telling Daddy about his acomplishments.

Here's Ben just hanging out during class:

Here he is with the infamous Gymbo puppets. Over the past two months he has really started to actively focus on the props we use and track them with just his eyes instead of being oblivious to them and/or tracking them with his whole head. As you can see, he is looking right at the puppet as it sings and dances for him, and is even smiling slightly for it (in that Mona Lisa sort of way).

We use a large parachute each week, lifting it over the babies' heads for tactile stimulation from the wind and when the parachute drapes over them. Ben has a funny reaction to wind in general - sucks his breath in deeply (and loudly, as if he is startled), flails will arms out to the sides and then holds his breath for a moment. So funny! Here he is during the parachute exercise in class. As funny as his reaction is, though, he seems to not be afraid of the strong gust of air, as he is one of only a few babies who almost never end up crying during this part of class!


Finally, the consensus is that Ben might be an early crawler since he has such good head control and squirms his arms and legs with force while on his tummy, sometimes almost elevating his body in a "push up" position. He has also recently been able to support some weight on his legs when we hold him up. With our luck, he'll skip crawling and go right to walking! Here he is during Tummy Time. As you can see, he is pushing his arms and legs forcefully and lifting his body slightly off of the ground. He really enjoys to look at himself in the mirror lately, too, and was smiling at and drooling on his reflection while "pushed up". We do this at home, too, since he loves the mirror and likes to see us in it whenever we go past. So funny and it's obvious that he is starting to actually recognize the images as opposed to just blankly looking at them.

Next week Ben and I start the summer session at Gymboree with the Mommy and Me Fitness class. Basically, it's yoga that incorporates mom and baby into the activity so it should be good interaction for the two of us and maybe some exercise for me as well! More photos to come...

Blue, White and Nude

Andrew has decided to start Ben off on the right track at an early age by dressing him in none other than a pint-sized Yankees jersey. He went out last night with another purpose and came home with not one but TWO Yankees outfits for our baby boy, one for now and a larger one for the fall and winter. Pop Caulfield certainly was proud of the newest Bronx Bomber in the family! Soon we'll have to take Ben to his first Yankees game to put his gear to work. ***We do welcome comments to be posted to our blog by non-Yankee fans; however, please be warned that any Mets or Red Sox gear that arrives in the mail for Benjamin will be Returned to Sender :).***

Below is Benjamin posing in his blue and white jersey, cap and all. A mini Derek Jeter in the making, wouldn't you think?


Sporting his gear during naptime. Those calves and biceps are a sure sign of a future short stop if you ask me:

Tonight while getting Ben ready for bed I realized that we hardly have any pictures of his little naked 11 week old body so I decided to take a few photos of our little guy. For the sake of his own dignity, I kept his diaper on :). What a big tummy!

We love close-ups of our little man and he seems to be getting used to having them taken. Below is just a cute photo from his changing table,we couldn't resist posting it. As a brief update on our guy apart from his photos, Ben has been officially sleeping through the night for one week now and last night he slept for about eight hours. I actually woke up before him this morning and started my day before going in to rouse him close to 7AM. He has actually been a fairly good sleeper from the start, since we got him accustomed to a regular feed-wake-sleep schedule early on, and had been only getting up once at night since the second or third week. But last Sunday night he started to sleep through without that 4AM awakening and it seems to be sticking. We just hope that it keeps up, especially once he starts to teethe. For now we are all happy to have some uninterrupted sleep!