Jun 26, 2009

Abby's a good girl!

Abby has been so good with Ben! He has learned that when Abby lays down, it is time to roll over to her and "pet" her. She generally lets this happen for about 3.5seconds and then walks away. She's such a good girl!

We're all fixed up at the Bishop house. We've had a week of doctor's and vet appointments and everyone is healthy and happy aside from a slight double ear infection in our Abby. Ben has been a rock star! He got all his vaccines and didn't even cry when they poked him! He looked perplexed but then just smiled at the nurse who swears she's never experienced that before. We're thinking he has no sense of pain. Whatever it is, I'll take it.

The food trials continue to go well. The one big thing is I already miss the old diaper schedule. The three day cycle (see blog from April 11) is no more. With the new diet we are now on a one to two day cycle of diapers that actually smell! We just haven't had to deal with that yet. For those parents-to-be, one perk of nursing is the non smelly poo.

Ben's personality continues to develop and it's so fun to watch. He is very busy. He's very smart and always needs something new in front of him to explore. He has started pulling himself around on the floor to get to what he wants along with rolling to it. One thing that has developed is that he is not too happy when Momma walks away. He likes having me right there with him. I'm trying to have him play on his own, but if I'm in eyesight, he just wants me. Kinda cute! Kinda annoying. I just love that boy, what can I say?!

Jun 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!

First off, Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! We're having a good one here. Brian has spent the day doing Dad things. He's played with Ben, eaten some good home cooked meals from his wife, watched baseball, golf, shopped for polo's, took a nap on the couch with his son, stuff like that. A good day.
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Father's interjection - Hi there, Brian here. I just wanted to second everything Patti wrote above. My first Father's Day was great! Eggs Benedict for brunch, a day of watching Atlanta Brave baseball (even though they lost) and the US Open, a trip to the mall for some shopping and ice cream with the family. No lawn work, no work work. All in all - great time, thanks to my wife and son. I hope every other dad has as good of a day as I did.

Interjection over. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog post...
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Ben's doing great. We are trying some new foods. Don't worry, we don't plan on chronicling every new food we give him, but his faces have been classic and we just can't help it. We were on Rice Cereal for about a week and decided it was time to start introducing some veggies. We started with peas. Something I would not recommend. The peas did not go over very well AT ALL, as you can see. So, we gave him some rice cereal and called it good for the day. Today, we thought we'd try something a little sweeter to help with the transition and that choice was sweet potatoes. As you can see, that was a ton better. He ate quite a bit of those and seemed to really like them. We'll keep the intros going and let you know how they go.





We have also decided to become a bilingual family! No, Brian and I do not speak a lick of Spanish, but we have a new toy courtesy of my sister's hand-me-downs that teaches various lessons in English and Spanish. So far, we can say really productive things like red circle, blue square, yellow triangle, up, down, and various other conversational type Spanish.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Father's Day!

Adios! (see, I'm already incorporating my Spanish into blogging!)

~~ The Bishops ~~

Jun 18, 2009

6 Month Check Up




I thought this picture was priceless. This was nap time this morning. Abby has really taken to Ben after all! It was too cute to pass up. Then we have a picture of Ben with his cousin, Morgan. The videos are of my nieces Lianna and Meghan, and nephew Devin and their daredevil ways jumping off the dunes in front of the cottage this past weekend. We also have some updated, and more coordinated video of Ben eating. He has gotten really good at it and has a little Rice Cereal every morning and night. He is still nursing for all other meals. So far he's going back and forth quite well which makes me happy.

Whatever we're feeding him, it's still working! We had our 6 month check up this morning and he's growing like a weed! He is 29inches long, which puts him off the charts again, and 19.5lbs which puts him in the 95% for weight. He got 100% on his development assessment as he is rolling all over, sitting up unassisted for a good length of time, reaching for toys and constantly bring them to his mouth with both hands.

There is one thing! We have a flat head situation! I've always been super paranoid about it, as you may have gathered from previous posts, and really feel I have done all I could to prevent the flat head, but here it is! The doctor assured me that sometimes, this just happens. I lay him on his side or tummy to sleep, and now he just rolls onto his back. I'll roll him onto his belly, dead asleep he'll roll back to his back. When I'm with him we're constantly on tummy time or in his exersaucer, but still, here we are, flat head. The doctor gave me a referral to a neurosurgeon! Here, she says, they will measure his head, take a possible CT scan, and see if they think it will round out on it's own or if he should be fitted for a helmet. Oh yes, a helmet! Any advice from anyone?!!! I feel like a terrible mother! HELP! She did say, it's strictly cosmetic, there is nothing wrong with him. hmmm...

Other than that, everything here is going very well. We had a blast at the cottage with all his cousins. I had a blast with my sisters. All four of us together which just doesn't happen too often. We didn't sleep much and it's not the kids fault!

Hope everyone is well!

Jun 14, 2009

What Daddy does when Mommy and Ben are away

Well, I guess the answer is blog. I haven't written in a while, but Patti has done a spectacular job keeping up the posting. I've been more of a behind the scenes blog guy - but I decided to step out of the shadows for tonight.

As a lot of you know, Daddy got to stay home and work this weekend, which was good for me. I went into work on Saturday, did some lawn upkeep, tried to make our ceiling fan work while the lights are off. Pretty boring stuff, but needed to be done.

Except for Saturday afternoon, that is.



I decided to take a roadtrip with my friend Dagan up to Milwaukee - pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land." Okay - enough with the dated Wayne's World quotes.

Last minute, we headed up to Wisconsin. I-94 all the way. A few things about the trek:

1 - Milwaukee has the most clock towers per capita in the world. It's true. Look it up.

2 - Miller Park was named after the Miller Brewing Company. Apparently they make beer. I'm not really sure, but that's what every cornhole player in the parking lot slurred at us.

3 - Also, Milwaukee is populated by people from Chicago. It might be because all cities lead to I-94.

Lots and lots of people from Chicago made the trek with us. The White Sox traveled to play the Brewers in an interleague play game - and beat the snot out of them, 7-1. It was fun, it was sun, it was a good time all around.

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Now, back to the topic of MLB - Major League himself.




It was Ben's 6 month birthday today! 6 months that have changed Patti and my lives forever - and we wouldn't have changed a thing about it. I do miss him today, since he and Mom are at the lakeshore until tomorrow. I know they are having a great time though, so I feel better about not seeing him. I'm sure Patti will be back and report everything that went on during the weekend.

So - Happy Birthday to my pal, to my pal, to my pal. Happy Birthday to my pal, my pal BEN! I'll see you tomorrow!


- Brian / Daddy

Jun 10, 2009

Me tired....



Short and sweet. I'm tired. Working a lot this week and getting ready for trip #2 to the cottage this weekend. It's just me, Ben and Abby this time. Meeting my sisters and their kids. I'm taking the new Honda, and therefore very proud of Brian for finally mastering the stick shift!

Also in the news: Ben is super cute. He fell asleep while holding his toy in the car yesterday and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

He's continuing to roll everywhere!

He's babbling a lot!

He's starting to sit up more and more without support!

He's got the cutest laugh I've ever heard!

I'll hopefully have cute pics and video after this weekend with Ben and all his cousins!

Love ya'll

Jun 5, 2009

We tried to give him cereal. Forgot the number 1 rule!

What's the number one rule? Don a bib! I don't know what I was thinking! Maybe I was thinking that a bib would only be one more thing to wash. The pajamas were already going into the wash, so what the heck?! As you can see, I don't think he's quite sold on eating cereal yet. I thought we'd start trying because he is currently going through another growth spurt that has left him longer and skinnier, I think. He's eating 8oz at a time at daycare and they report he still seems hungry. He's also inching up on 6 months old. I didn't think I'd be this resistant to this! I'm trying. He's trying. But I'm not totally sold, either. I guess I'm worried it will bring an end to the nursing days. And I'm just not ready for that. I'm trying to convince myself that it won't. I mean, he went back and forth between nursing and the bottle when he was 2 weeks old like a champ! So, why am I worried he'll have trouble with it now? I'm open to any advice!

We're also dealing with a little bit of a cold right now. He's just stuffy and there's lots of drainage! He's acting alright. We had a rough night. I think he's having trouble breathing so that kept waking him up. Boy, are me and Brian out of practice with this waking up every hour thing! We were both disoriented and grumpy the whole night! I tried getting up more because I didn't have to work today, but it was hard. How did I do that for so long in the beginning?! Brian got up around the midnight hour, and I tried taking the rest. He had to jostle me a few times but I did it. I finally sat up and held him for about an hour around 3am and he seemed to sleep well for a while. Then at 6:30am he was whining again. He seemed to just want to have his pacifier but couldn't hold it in his mouth and breath at the same time because his nose was so stuffy. So, I just brought Ben to bed with me and held him tight. We both fell asleep for about another hour and a half. It was nice cuddle time. Let's just hope he starts feeling better quick!

Hailey Slideshow

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