8 weeks and 32 months

Wow!  As of yesterday (Thursday), Bentley is 8 weeks old.  Crazy.  The days are long, but the weeks are short.  Hate that.  He is growing like a weed and changing so much every single day.  I think we have him figured out for the most part and can keep his crying to a minimum if we follow his cues.

We hit a milestone last night - Bentley slept almost 8 hours straight (7 hours and 42 minutes to be exact)!  Before that he has slept 7 hours on two occasions, I believe.  Generally his long stretch is between 5-6 hours.  Soo different from Ryder who was sleeping 9-10 hours straight every night by this age.  I am not sure what encouraged the longer sleep last night - he didn't take great naps yesterday, so I was worried his night sleep wouldn't be great either.  We have noticed that when he wakes up, we wake up sweating - our room is freezing all day long and then gets so hot at night.  He is typically wearing a sleep gown and is wrapped in a muslin swaddle blanket.  I put him in the gown because he doesn't like his arms to be swaddled and it's usually cold in the morning, plus it covers his hands so he can't scratch his face.  I wondered if he was waking up because he was hot.  Last night we put him in a onesie.  I HOPE that was the issue and this longer sleep will stick .... but I'm not holding my breath.  It's  been sooo long since I have gotten a long night of uninterrupted sleep.  Last night I got 4 hours which kind of felt like a million bucks.

Anyway, Bentley is a very sensitive and particular baby.  He is quite the mama's boy - it's exhausting, but I love it. He will let you know it when he doesn't like something.  Many hours out of the day he just wants me to hold him and walk around (my arms and back are constantly sore).  If I sit, he throws a fit.  Most of the time he is ready for a nap after being awake for just under an hour (and that includes his feeding) so it's still pretty much impossible to get out of the house with him.  Every time we try, there ends up being a lot of crying because he gets tired and can't put himself to sleep.  I really hope he outgrows this very soon - Ryder and I are going stir crazy in this house!  Most days, he does have a longer awake period but usually ends up pretty grumpy once he passes 2 hours.  We have at least gotten Bentley to accept the bottle, so I have been able to start getting to the gym again, when Rudy's work schedule allows it.  The hardest part is finding the time to pump some milk.  It's really nice to get out and have a little "me" time though.

My favorite thing is when he smiles and "talks."  He makes the cutest little sounds.  He is ridiculously strong too!  He can already rolled over - he did it for the first time at just 6 weeks!  That's pretty much unheard of.  It happened while I was taking pictures of him, so I even got pictures of it.  He looked so surprised and proud of himself.  And I thought maybe it was a fluke, but then the next day he did it again.  Rudy was here to witness it the second time.

He'll be getting his 2 month shots next week and I feel so bad!  I'm not sure how he's going to handle it, but I know I'm not going to take it very well!

Ryder is getting so big I can't stand it.  He talks non-stop and says the funniest things.  I have finally started writing down things he says.  I have been meaning to do that .... since he started talking and wish I had, but better late than never, right?  I don't even know where he comes up with half the stuff he says, but it just goes to show kids pick up on everything.  He is so incredibly smart and I have been planning to put him in preschool so that he can get used to a classroom setting and interact with other kids more.  But the more I think about it, the more I am against it.  I only get to keep him home for a short time, so why would I send him to school before I really have to?  Once he starts school, that's it.  He'll spend more time there than he will at home.  I think I'll just cherish the time we have left before he has to go to Kindergarten.  Of course, if I end up going back to work or something, it would be different.  In the meantime, I think more interaction with kids is what he needs, but we need to find a playgroup or something.  And I am hoping to get him back into classes at Parks & Rec.

Ryder's still loves cars.  And he has an obsession with garages.  He has a wonderful imagination and can turn just about anything into a garage.  I find cars shoved into things all over the house.  His other major obsession ..... garbage and anything that has to do with it.  Again, with his imagination, he will turn just about anything into a trash can.  He fills it with whatever he can find, and then finds something else to dump it in.  He loves to watch the garbage truck pick up the trash on garbage day and is always trying to imitate the trash being dumped into the truck.  He also loves to help Rudy take the cans out to the street and will imitate that with his makeshift garbage cans .... dragging them all over the house.  He really loves our clothes hamper because it is on wheels and he can pull it around just like the big garbage cans.  He is always getting into our recycling stuff and it drives me nuts!!  He distributes it all over the house so I literally have to go around cleaning up trash - and I find it stuffed in things all throughout that house that he has deemed a garbage can.  I never know what I am going to find when I open our clothes hamper to sort laundry.  It's usually a mixture of toys, recyclables, shoes, sippy cups and paper/plastic bags.

He absolutely loves to play outside and I can't wait for it to "cool off" so he can be out there everyday.  We really love our backyard now and will be spending TONS of time out there this fall/winter!  Guess what is favorite thing to do out there is?  Play garbage man.  Same old game, different scenery.  He likes when we get out his little pool so he can "swim" too.  I had really planned on doing swim lessons this summer since last summer got away from us and we never did them, but with Bentley's arrival at the beginning of the summer it just wasn't feasible.  Rudy would have to be the one to do them with him and his work schedule is just too unpredictable so we couldn't work it out.  We may try some in the fall, but definitely next spring/summer for sure.

Here are some of my favorite things Ryder has said recently:

"My bed is stinky and gross.  I need to go get the wipes to clean it." (When I told him it was nap time)

Ry: "I wanna play outside."
Me: "You already played outside this morning and then had a bath."
Ry: "I don't know what you're talking about."

Me: "I have to go potty."
Ry: "Great job, mommy!  You're the best in the west.  Mommy is the BEST in the west."

The other night, his bedtime prayer went something like this:

"Thank you for garbage.  Thank you for books.  And libraries.  Thank you for Mickey Mouse.  And Minnie Mouse.  And Goofy.  And Donald Duck.  And Daisy Duck.  And Sandwiches.  And almond milk.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

One other piece of Ryder news - he has transitioned from using his little potty to using the big toilet!  YAY!! So glad I don't have to dump that little potty in the toilet anymore - I always thought that was almost worse than diapers.

Ok, this post is getting out of control long, so I'll stop and get to the pictures.  These are from the last month.....

That looks comfortable

Baking oatmeal cookies with Ryder

One Month

Both were screaming .... sometimes all I can do is laugh.  Or cry.

Fourth of July!!!

 Ryder hates posing for pictures

 Someday we'll get a good picture

Talking to daddy

Twins

Tummy time together

The Big Roll Over:

Did you see that, mommy?

We had a couple of "cooler" mornings so we hit up the zoo at 8.  Yea, it was still hot.

Just eating a hamburger (or the bun at least)

You know, naked.  I thought it was funny that Rudy put a bib on him.  I said, "Is that really necessary?"

That's all for now.  HOPEFULLY it won't be another month before my next post.  This blog needs a serious facelift.  I need like 5 more hours in the day ... 5 hours of just "me" time to get stuff done, while the rest of the world is frozen.