Bennett: 44 Weeks!

Bennett wanted to show you his teeth! He worked long and hard for those, and he uses them wisely :)

Here are some photos where he is showing off his teeth and his new favorite pasttime of pointing. The last one shows he newest facial expression that he has been practicing. It's pretty hilarious!

Bennett: 43 Weeks!

Happy Halloween!!

Bennett is going to dress as a sock monkey for his 1st Halloween. Last year, before he was born, I had bought him a fuzzy puppy costume on clearance. When it was time to start thinking about Halloween this year, I immediately thought, "Bennett is not a fuzzy puppy kind of guy!" It just didn't fit his personality. The sock monkey is much more his style!

Also this past week, Bennett stayed with his Gramma Kim, Pappy Benton, and Uncle Corbin. Brian and I were in Denver for a weekend get-away with the Fischer family. We had a great time and even got to see some snow! Thankfully, we got back before the huge storm hit and left them with 22 inches!

Bennett came home exhausted, as I expected. He wants to do everything Corbin does! He also came home with a new trick: walking behind a walker toy. It's more like a sprint though! I expect he'll be walking on his own in a month or so.

He is also big into pointing right now. He points at everything! And he really likes when I point back and we touch fingers. Pretty funny!

I hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween! We are going to try to make it to all of the relatives' homes tomorrow so they can see him in his costume.

Bennett: 42 Weeks!

Bennett had his first trip to a pumpkin patch on Sunday. We went with a big group of friends and their kids, so it was extra fun for him. He got to pet some animals, check out some pumpkins, watch pigs race, and go on his first hay ride.

We spent almost 2 hours there even though it was a little chilly and pretty windy. I can't imagine how much fun he'll have with it next year when he can ride on the train and play some games!

This week, Bennett also made his first trip to the ER. On Monday, I took him for his 9 month check-up and get got a flu shot. By Tuesday, he had a fever. I called the nurse and she said it was most likely due to his shot. But then Wednesday, his fever shot up to 103.9 degrees. Our pediatrician couldn't get us in, so we headed to the ER. After 3 hours there, we still had no answers, but the doctor gave him some antibiotics and Tamiflu.

Brian stayed home with him the next morning and I came home from work around 10 to take over. By 2, his fever had broken and I could tell he felt a lot better. Thank goodness! Now, I'm feeling like I'm getting sick, but I'm praying I'm not because we are leaving for Denver in the morning.

And one final thing Bennett has started this week: pointing! I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is pretty cute. He usually has something to "say" along with the pointing. I'd love to know what he thinks he is talking about!

Here are Bennett's 9 month stats and photos from Sunday!

Weight: 18 lbs 15 oz. (10th percentile)
Height: 29 1/2 inches (75th percentile)

Bennett: 41 Weeks!

Saturday, we had a mini-session with Kris Kanenwisher. She had taken our family photos back in May and she also did some photo tutoring for me. (And helped me tremendously!) We loved the photos she did for us! I knew I wanted something a little more updated to send out with our Christmas cards since Bennett has grown so much since May, so I was hoping she'd be coming back. Luckily, she planned a trip to KC and did some quick sessions while she was here.

It was 39 degrees and bit windy Saturday morning, so I was worried how Bennett would handle it. Of course, he was a trooper! Kris worked her magic quickly so that by the time his little nose was red, we were done.

Here are some of the photos she did for us. I know, I shouldn't be sharing all of them since one or more will go out in our Christmas cards, but I couldn't wait! I love them!

Bennett: 40 Weeks!

Bennett is now 9 months old! And he is busier than ever. He is crawling everywhere non-stop! I look back to when I thought I was tired and realize I had it good!

His favorite thing to do right now is playing catch. I posted the video a couple weeks ago, but he has gotten even better. It amazes me how he just naturally knew what to do! We've found some balls that are more his size and he can really throw those well. He's also pretty good at stopping the tosses that are going past him.

This week, we didn't have our regular Wednesday & Friday babysitter due to illness, so one day he stayed with my dad (his Papa) and today he stayed with Brian's Grammy and PawPaw, Betty and Chuck. He had a great time at both places! We are so thankful that we have so much family around!

While at my parents' house, Bennett kept crawling over to Ava's closet and squealing. My dad joked that he assumed this meant Bennett wanted to play dress up. This was the picture I had emailed to me in the middle of my work day....

Pretty funny! I have shared this with quite a few people who have all said they got a good laugh out of it! I keep saying it's a good thing Bennett isn't a girl. I'm not sure he makes the cutest girl... Ha!

Bennett: 39 Weeks!

Today is Bennett's 9-month birthday and to celebrate, we took him for a much-needed haircut. He has always grown hair right down the middle of his head, but not really on the sides. I know mohawks are "in" right now, but his hair was simply out of control! Here are some photos from the big event. I added the "before" photos so you can see what I am talking about. Wild!

We went to Shear Madness at Zona Rosa and really enjoyed it. They have a package for baby's first haircut which includes a certificate with a before and after photo, along with a lock of his hair. They were very friendly, and Bennett seemed to be okay with everything going on. He did cry right at the beginning, but I blame us for that. We got there after 7pm and he had fallen asleep in the car. We had to wake the poor guy up to take him in.

As you can see, he wasn't upset too long!

Doesn't he look handsome with his new 'do?!

Bennett: 38 Weeks!

It's been a rough week at the Freeman house! Last Sunday night, I came down with a bad case of the stomach flu. I haven't been that sick in a long, long time! I was down for a couple days. We tried our best to keep Bennett away from me, but in the end, we figured out he was the one who gave it to me (and probably everyone else...) There is a long list of people who ended up with the same flu, including Brian who got sickwhile he was away on business.

I think we are all over that, but now Bennett has a double ear infection. The poor guy can't catch a break! The one in his left ear was described by the doctor as "raging." He thought the eardrum may burst, but we think we are in the clear now. Friday night, Bennett had a 102 fever. With all of these other illnesses he has had, he has never shown us that he doesn't feel well. This time, it was very clear he was sick. He spent the day with Grammy (Brian's grandma, Betty) and she was concerned with the way he was rubbing his ear. He was also sleeping a lot and she thought he felt warm. She was right!

He seems to be feeling a lot better tonight. I'm hoping he's in the clear for a while! He has spent the whole month of September sick.

Here is a short video of Bennett's new game he likes to play with Brian. Of course Brian has been waiting for this since the minute we found out we were having a boy! There will be many games of "catch" in their future!

Bennett: 37 Weeks!

Bennett and Brian went to the Royals' Open House on Friday, along with my dad, Chad, Joslin, Brad and Laiken. It sounds like it was a great time, with free food and other items. Brian came home with a Royals baseball glove and a stadium replica. He said that Bennett enjoyed watching the people there and that there were many comments on the guys with their babies. Dads' Night Out!

Also this week, Bennett started with his new babysitter, Ally. He will be going to her on Wednesdays and Fridays. Ally is Corbin's former babysitter, so we know he's in good hands! He also has a girl close to his age to play with. I think he will be coming home exhausted on the days he is with Ally. Sounds like he's busy, busy, busy over there!

In other family news, the Jesse James Festival was this weekend and Brian and I played in the mud volleyball tournament. Brian's team did well and my team got 2nd place! We are both worn out and sunburned. It was an all day event!

Bennett: 36 Weeks!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you....Bennett is standing! It hasn't happened a lot, but at the time of these photos, Bennett stood for about 10 seconds. And as you can see, he had distractions but was still able to concentrate enough to hold his pose for a bit. Finn was extremely interested!

Bennett has quickly gone from army crawling, to pulling himself onto everything pretty quickly. Brian found him standing in his crib the other morning, so we quickly moved the mattress down as low as it could go.

We also found out that Bennett has pneumonia! I'm kind of having a hard time believing it because he has not acted sick at all. We only took him in because he'd had a cough for a week and Toska (Bennett's sitter) said that he was having trouble catching his breath when he was coughing. That scared me enough to take him in right away. Good thing I did!

He has antibiotics and a breathing machine to help with the symptoms. The breathing machine is awful. It takes both of us to hold him down and keep the mask on him. Not fun! But, it'll be worth it in the end.

Bennett is acting a little tired and cranky today, but honestly, he has been his usual smiley and happy self all week. I just never imagined they'd say it was pneumonia. I thought it was allergies.


Here are some pictures of him standing and the rest are from a pit stop we made during our walk yesterday. The weather was perfect! I love Fall!

Bennett: 35 Weeks!

Happy Birthday to my mom/Bennett's meema! We spent the day celebrating yesterday. Here are some pictures of the day.

The only other update I have is that Bennett is now 17 lbs 6 oz. Still pretty skinny. (He's just now getting into 6-9/6-12 month clothes, but can still wear 3-6 pants because his waist is so skinny.) We had taken him to the doctor on Friday to make sure his ear infection had cleared up. It has and he is perfectly fine! Good!