Bennett’s Growth Series

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series \\ 12

March 3, 2016 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

21 pounds 4 ounces (72nd percentile), 30.3 inches long (86th percentile), 18.6 inches head circumference (96th percentile) mastered the stairs, says “bye-bye”, says “Da-da” for everything else, stands her ground with her big brother, has taken off with walking, loves passing things back and forth with her mouth, 8 teeth, eyes are light hazel/grey, super affectionate, very opinionated

This little girl is ONE YEAR OLD!! One whole trip around the sun! I am feeling all the feelings. So much joy and yet so many achy aches. My baby is now a toddler. I can not do this child justice in writing. She is quite simply light upon light.

Bennett has become a champion eater. This girl puts food DOWN. She had so much fun eating her birthday cake. She took her time and savored every bite, whereas the next time we gave her a slice she shoveled it in like there was no tomorrow.

Ben Bucket has also developed quite the strong will. She no longer puts up with her brother pushing her around and will make her opinion heard. She has even started fake crying just to get him in trouble so I have to keep an eye on her to make sure I’m not blaming poor Asher for something he didn’t do.

Bennett is exceedingly affectionate and she gives me copious amounts of kisses which I absolutely adore. She has become quite steady on her feet. She has mastered the stairs and still loves to climb and is finding new ways to give me heart attacks every day. She constantly wants to be doing what her brother and the big kids are doing and will. not. be. left. behind.

This year has been one of the sweetest of my life, which is not to say that it wasn’t challenging or downright hard because it was, but the gift of having a second born child is that you learn to savor all the moments because you know all too well how fleeting they are.

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series \\ 11

January 29, 2016 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

started walking (!!!), can stand herself up unassisted, first time touching snow, nearly mastered the stairs, fell down the stairs, loves removing all the books from the bookshelves, naps 30 minutes max, started giving kisses, climbs everything, first trip to Texas, strong separation anxiety, very attached to mommy

This little ray of sunshine started walking! This past month she has hit quite a few big milestones and I’m enjoying every second with her. Although she can walk she still mostly chooses to crawl and will only walk when we’re encouraging it or if it’s a very short distance. I think she still needs to gain some confidence. Where she lacks confidence in walking she makes up for in climbing. If you aren’t watching her closely, the next think you know she’s on top of the coffee table, or standing on the backrest of the couch looking out the window. If there is ever an option to go vertical she will take it. She also learned to stand up all on her own and it is the cutest thing to see because she absolutely beams with pride whenever she does it.

Bennett LOVES climbing up and down the stairs and I must say she has gotten pretty good at it, but she fall down half a flight this month. It was a mix up of communication. I assumed Raf had his eye on her and he thought I had it covered and the next thing we knew…boom,boom,boom,boom,boom,WAIL. My heart nearly stopped in my chest. But thankfully she wasn’t hurt at all, just pretty scared. I wish I got off so lucky whenever I fall down the stairs (a frequent occurrence).

We went and visited Raf’s side of the family in Texas this month and not surprisingly, Bennett was a huge hit. It became clear while in Texas that Miss B has some very strong separation anxiety when it comes to me, which I both love and find inconvenient.

Bennett is extremely attached to me. She likes to know where I am at all times and wants to be able to see me. Even when she’s playing, she’ll come up to me periodically to check in and get a quick snuggle before going about her business. I am savoring every tiny moment of this time because I know that my days of being her favorite person on the planet are numbered.

Her rolls are melting away as she becomes increasingly more mobile and I hate it. She did get RSV this month so I’m sure that didn’t help. Both kids had to use a nebulizer every 4 hours and Bennett HATED it and pretty much screamed the entire time. Speaking of screaming, she also got to experience snow for the first time this month and let me tell you, she was not pleased. She must take after her Mama after all. Asher on the other hand must be half abominable snow man. That kid can and does spend hours out in the snow and still has to be dragged inside. He is so lucky to have such an accommodating father.

Bennett’s naps have fallen to pieces this month. She takes two naps a day and really only sleeps 20-30 minutes both times. For the morning nap I don’t really mind because we’re usually have a lot of things going on in the morning. The afternoon nap on the other hand is when both kids are down at the same time and that’s my recharge time. She will nap longer if she’s napping next to me in a dark room only because I’m able to get her to fall back asleep after she wakes up 20 minutes in. But I’ve found that I then fall asleep and it really messes with my sleep pattern (we’ve been making huge efforts to get to bed early). I know what I need to do to get her to sleep longer but I’m not super motivated to do them. Her mood isn’t suffering and she’s content for the time being to play quietly in the same room as me. I may hold off and see if things change on their own once she drops her morning nap before making any concerted effort to extend her afternoon nap.

I can’t believe I only have one more of these monthly updates for Bennett! She’ll be 1 year old next month, a whole trip around the sun! Just thinking about it makes every fiber of my being ache. My sweet baby is just growing up before my very eyes.

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 10

December 29, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

loves the slide, stands without holding on to anything, picky eater, super cuddly, enjoys sharing her food, learned how to drink from a straw, started drinking water and smoothies, scoots down stairs on her butt

There haven’t been too many new developments this month. Bennett has become quite fond of the slide and even insists on sliding down the big slides at the play ground all on her own. She loves it so much that when you lift her off to put her back at the top she thinks you might be taking her away from the slide and begins kicking and squawking in protest only to discover 1 second later that you are in fact just allowing her to slide down again. It doesn’t matter how many times this goes on, she will always protest once you lift her off the slide.

Rosebud is eager to walk. She has been cruising around and has been practicing her free standing a lot lately, but I think she’s still quite cautious about taking any steps. In any case, she probably needs to work on her balance a bit more anyway, which suites me just fine. She has taken to going down the steps on her bottom. Despite my numerous efforts on having to descend the steps backwards she insists on facing forwards and it’s a very teetery (not sure that’s a real word, but it works anyway) affair. We are currently living in a state of denial about the need to install baby gates, which certainly keeps us on our toes.

This month Bennett has become quite the picky eater. If you serve her something she isn’t fond of no amount of coaxing will do. She’ll just sit there and stare at you silently, not complaining. If you then give her something she likes she’ll scarf it down, clearly having been hungry. She really loves fingering feeding food into other people’s mouths, especially if said food is not deemed fit for her own consumption.

I taught her to drink from a straw this month and have subsequently begun the process of cutting down the amount of times she nurses during the day. She drinks water and green smoothies and seems quite fond of both.

Ben Bucket is as cuddly as ever and as always is completely enamored with her older brother. They have begun playing and interacting more and it is just about the sweetest thing ever. That is until, Asher takes her toys away or smashes her face into the floor. Got to love the sibling relationship.

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 9

December 1, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com 1 Comment

19 pounds 15.7 ounces (78th percentile), 28 inches long (64th percentile), 18 1/4 inches head circumference (97th percentile), first Thanksgiving, transitioned to a convertible car seat, eats everything, started finger feeding, learned to climb stairs, crawls super fast, cruising

This girl is on the move and getting into everything. There was definitely an incident involving Bennett splashing in Asher’s pee filled potty while my mom and I sat a few feet away…yea mommy fail. She’s crawling at light speed. She has successfully learned to climb up the stairs, but has no clue how to go down, so we’re working on that.

B is forming strong opinions and she does NOT like when A rough houses with her. She is not a rough a tumble girl, or at least not yet. She loves playing with her big brother and he constantly makes her laugh however he is finding it challenging sharing with her, so that’s something we need to work on.

Her hair is coming in, little by little. I’m so tempted to put a teeny tiny bowl in the wisps of hair on the top of her head. She still has light colored eyes, that are a cream of wheat color around the pupil and then a bluish green grey. They are quite striking and I’m guessing they’ll probably settle into a hazel color, but lighter than Asher’s.

Ben Bucket has been cruising around on furniture and likes help walking around. She’s eager to walk and keep with with Asher, so much so that her poor head and face are covered in bruises. She doesn’t quite have the balance or coordination yet, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens with that this month.

She continues to be very laid back and easy – she is an absolute delight!

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 8

October 28, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Sits upright from lying down, crawls, first 3 teeth, pulls to standing, claps hands, tried nuts, first time baby wearing with daddy, first hike

Month 7 was a busy one indeed! Bennett started crawling, first in army style and later on her hands and knees, she sits up on by herself and I’ve even found her standing in her crib. Speaking of which, I now have to literally hold her down occasionally to get her to go to sleep, because she just sits upright and keeps herself awake. So I place my hand on her back and a minute later she’s out, but she struggling to get up nearly the whole time, hopefully this passes quickly.

Unbeknownst to me her first tooth arrived only for me to discover it already poking through her gum. However within a week she was getting her top two front teeth and we we’re so lucky. The poor girl was miserable, she wasn’t sleeping well and was barely eating, but she’s since returned to her usual habits.

Bennett’s days are filled with exploration and trying to gain new achievements. Literally as I’m typing this she was able to pull herself up enough to get a toy off of the coffee table. No where is safe anymore! She is a busy girl and does not like sitting still, which is evident in this month’s photo shoot. She did NOT want to be laying down!

We drove up to NJ this weekend, and we all got to meet sweet baby Parker! Bennett looked giant next to him because of course he was only 6 weeks old, but I have a feeling he’ll catch up quickly since he’s already weighing in at around 14 pounds or so.

We also drove up to Shenandoah one day and took B of her first hike. Raf wore her in the carrier for the first time as we hiked up the mountain while I had the pleasure of giving Asher a piggy back ride most of the way (someone did NOT want to walk), which was only fitting since the last time we were there I was around 7 months pregnant with him.

Bennett’s favorite pass time is still watching everything Asher does. She really loves him and he in turn enthusiastically adores her and she has the bruises to prove it.

I guess I better start baby proofing.

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 7

September 29, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Rolls to get around, itching to crawl, started solids and loves food, sleeps 12 hours through the night, moved into her crib and shares a room with her big brother now, loves watching everything Asher does, super smiley

This month has whizzed by, I know I’m constantly saying that but it’s true! I feel like I blink and she’s another month older. I can’t handle it!

Bennett started solids this month, and has been loving them thus far. Her first food was avocado and it pretty much snow balled from there. Most of the time she eats what we’re eating, just a pureed version of course. If we’re having lentil curry, so is she. When we eat koresht badamjan (persian split pea and eggplant stew) so does Bennett. Spiced cauliflower soup and salad? You bet! If I didn’t love my vitamix before (which I absolutely did) I am over the moon now. The baby bullet is archaic by comparison. The only thing I haven’t given her is nuts, but I may start giving her some soon. Towards the end of this month I started giving her rougher textures rather than smooth purees and I also started letting her practice picking up and eating those little rice puffs.

The other big development this month was that she now sleeps through the night! I night weaned her and that was that. It really only took one night and she was a pro. I’m going to write a separate post on my “no sleep training, sleep training method” because it was the easiest thing ever! Bennett and Asher now share a room (although most nights Asher somehow ends up in our bed) and it’s so nice having our room back! I’ve been really enjoying reading in bed.

Bennett is Asher’s biggest fan! She loves watching him and if he’s around it’s nearly impossible to get her to focus on anything else. Asher in turn is just as fond of her. Watching their relationship blossom and unfold is really one of the sweetest things on this earth. The following pictures illustrate just how enamored Bennett is with Asher.

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 6

September 5, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

17 pounds 12 ounces (78th percentile), 17.5 inches head circumference (95th percentile), 26 1/4 inches long (64th percentile), first international trip (visited Yap, FSM), went on 9 flights this month (making it 13 total), first boat ride, first time in a pool, first time in the pacific ocean, first time meeting her first cousins and uncles jared and evan and aunt sholz, sleep has been all over the place, super curious about eating.

I cannot believe that half of her first year is already behind us! I mean, seriously, what. just. happened?! I have been enjoying every second of this sweet time with her and she is an absolute delight. This has been an insanely busy and hectic month. We were literally traveling from August 1-28 and are still trying to return to normalcy. We spent 2 weeks in Eliot, Maine at my parent’s house. I took my first solo trip with two kids and actually survived it! My whole family, (parents, brothers and their families and us) flew half way around the world to the tiny island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia, where I grew up. The journey there was quite an adventure and features, a tropical depression, torrential rain, a mechanical issue, spending three days in the tropics with no luggage and more. So stay tuned for that epic tale. After that we spent five days in Hawaii with my older brother’s family before heading home.

Bennett has always been and continues to be a complete joy. For the past month the 4 of us have been sharing a room, which was really good in many ways because I think it helped prepare B and A for when they’ll share a room but the room sharing combined with the jetlag has resulted in Bennett’s sleep being all out of whack. However I will say that bed sharing probably made the jetlag so much more bearable because when she would wake up in the middle of the night she’d just nurse until she fell asleep again and I’d barely have to wake up at all.

This sweet girl is probably at her peak chub right now and I’m loving it. She’s in the sweet spot. You know the one. The time when they are able to sit up and are very engaging but can’t move around yet. It’s glorious. She’s all smiles and flirty eyes 95% of the time. She has been incredibly curious about food and looks at us longingly whenever we’re eating. I did let her taste a little bit of fresh coconut but I don’t think she actually swallowed any. I think she may have had a tiny bit of hair growth. Nothing to really write home about, but it’s a start!

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 5

July 28, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Rolls over (back to tummy), first plane trip (across the country – coast to coast), loves to grab her feet, delights in watching Asher, sits up in tripod formation for short periods, hates being on her tummy for too long, really likes being upright

Bennett rolled over the day she turned 4 months old and basically became a pro over night. She loved to flip herself onto her tummy, but then is far too lazy to flip back so she just squawks her disconnect until someone rolls her over. No sooner than you roll her over however, will she then almost instantaneously flips back onto her tummy and the cycle continues.

She is utterly enamored by her feet and spends nearly all the time she isn’t rolling onto her tummy gripping her toes instead. Inching them ever closer to her mouth.

Ben Bucket had her first plane trip this month! We flew across country to first Oregon and then to California, 4 flights in total and she was a total rock star, with the exception of one extremely over tired fit in the car. Her sleep was thrown off somewhat by the trip but nothing too bad.

Asher and Bennett are interacting more and more. Asher intentionally makes Bennett laugh and laughs at things she does in return. It is the cutest thing. I LOVE having two children. Is is hard and challenging and some days I don’t know up from down, but it is quite simply the sweetest thing…most of the time. Asher has hit Bennett a couple times thing month. It’s unclear what motivates him to do so. I’m trying to nip it in the bud but it really breaks my heart and is very unlike him as he has really never hit anyone. For the most part however, he is still in complete love with her. Always wanting to hug and kiss her. He delights in her presence.

Month 5 is going to be a busy one, but I’m so looking forward to watching it unfold!

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 4

June 27, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

14 pounds 13.5 ounces (70th percentile), 24 3/4 inches long (71st percentile), 16 5/8 inch head circumference (93rd percentile!), got her first cold, has started grabbing things with her hands, eyes are still blueish grey, no hair growth whatsoever, quick to smile, super easy going, wakes once at night, refuses the bottle, still likes her pacifier but only when sleeping, wants everything in her mouth, babbles constantly

This past month has been slow in terms of milestones. Bennett is actively grabbing now and putting anything she can manage straight into her mouth. While she was quick to role from her tummy to her back she seems to be in no rush to roll from her back to her tummy, which is likely because she HATES tummy time. She loves to babble and to carry on “conversations.”

B Girl has two modes: 1 – totally laid back and chill and 2 – banshee screaming. There is little to no build up or warning. She simply goes from being utterly content and happy to inconsolable. Luckily this only really happens if she gets over tired or over hungry and then it’s almost always my fault because I missed her subtle clues that she wanted to sleep or eat. But boy can she scream. This girl has some serious pipes and a persistence that astounds me. She won’t even nurse when she’s like that, even if the reason she’s like that is because she’s hungry. So I find myself doing all sorts of acrobatics to try to calm her down enough so she’ll eat.

Asher had a cold this month and although I tried it was near impossible to get him to refrain from kissing her on the face and/or hands so of course Bennett got it, but thankfully as far as colds go it was exceedingly mild. Bennett also ran a low fever after receiving her 4 month vaccines and was only content to be held skin to skin and I soaked all the cuddles in. Skin to skin really does work miracles.

Now that Bennett is able to grab things, Asher finds it super entertaining to give her all the toys at once. SHE MUST HAVE OPTIONS! This normally results in her being buried under a pile of toys and pacifiers but it’s so fun to watch their interactions develop.

Raf tried giving Bennett a bottle once while I was out this month and try as he may she flat out refused. He tried several different kinds but nothing worked. I too refused the bottle as a baby. This girl is so much like me that it’s kinda freaky, in the most endearing way possible of course.

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 3

May 27, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com 1 Comment

rolled over (tummy to back), has started to chuckle but still no full belly laugh, eyes are a bluish grey, sleeps un-swaddled, has cheeks for days, hair is still peach fuzz, has started drooling a bit, has found her fingers and loves sucking on her index and middle fingers at the same time, normally wakes up 1-2 times at night, still looks exactly like mommy

The past three months have whizzed by! If having one child was great, having two is that much sweeter. I LOVE having another baby. It’s so wonderful watching Asher and Bennett interact, nothing is more endearing. Asher is still absolutely enamored by Bennett. He showers her in the gentlest, hugs and kisses. He caresses her head and asks her sweet little questions, like if she had a good nap. It’s to die for. There is not a single hint of jealousy from Asher. Bennett is a delightful and incredibly easy going baby, but she still occupies a lot of my time and Asher takes it in stride. I’m just in awe of how seamlessly he has transitioned from being an only child to being a big brother.

Bennett lights up the room with her smiles. She has the teeniest mouth, and yet she has this way of smiling that rivals the sun. She opens her mouth super wide and turns her head to the side like she’s being a little bit shy, but the main event is her eyes. You can just feel the warmth and adoration pouring out of them. It really does make you feel like the most important person on the planet for a moment. I have yet to capture one of these show stoppers in a photograph, but hopefully soon.

She started rolling over from her tummy to her back this month, and while she hasn’t rolled the other way yet, I decided now was as good a time as ever to stop swaddling, especially with the temperature getting warmer and warmer. It took a bit of adjusting on her part. I think she woke up nearly every hour or two the first night and naps were really difficult, but she’s since gotten the hang of it. One night this month she went down at 7:30pm and didn’t wake up until 6am. It was glorious, except I didn’t go to bed until after midnight, so I completely missed out on my opportunity to get a full night’s rest and I woke up super engorged. The poor girl was practically drowning in milk. That night was an anomaly, she normally wakes up once and sometimes twice. I’ve been implementing what I like to call the “no sleep training, sleep training method’ and it’s awesome, but more on that later.

Bennett has discovered the joys of sucking on her fingers and is obsessed. She favors sucking on her index and middle finger right now, which elicits adorably loud slurping sounds. She has an on again, off again relationship with the pacifier. One week, she’s totally uninterested the next she loves it and back and forth she goes. Thankfully we’re in a ‘loving it’ week. She isn’t nearly as floppy as she once was and can actually feel quite stiff and compact as times. Her rolls continue to expand and I love munching on them.

I’m savoring her babyhood, but it’s just flying by!