3 Months Old!

As of last Tuesday, Ben is officially 3 months old!  You may have noticed a lapse in my blogs, which was due to the fact that the last few weeks have been over the top crazy.  We had family visiting, an unexpected 3 days of babysitting our 5 year old nephew, and then John and I both got horribly sick, complete with fever, chills, aching and crud that lasted all week.  And amidst all that Ben and I have had major feeding issues with milk supply, gas, and just general fussiness.  We are finally back on the mend, starting to get back to normal in all departments, and our adorable 3 month old survived the whole ordeal unscathed! :)

Here is the update on our Ben:

New Things: 
Ben found his tongue and hands, and never a better match has been found!  He frequently has his hands in his mouth, sucking, slurping, slobbering, licking - all very wet activities.  I have also heard him accidentally choke himself when the fingers get a little too out of control. :)

As of this morning: we have a roller!!!  For the first time ever, Ben rolled from his tummy to his back!  Perhaps a little late learner in this department, but you can't be incredible at everything. :)  I was cheering him on as he was tipping further and further over and once he rolled completely I clapped and "whoo-hoo-ed" and Ben looked up at me with this giant grin on his face like he was so proud of himself!  Adorable!

Now that Ben has better neck control, he loves to sit up - in our laps, in his Bumbo seat, in the carrier, and the newest gear: the doorway bumper jumper!  He still has a bit of a learning curve on the jumping part, but he was spinning around a bit and bobbing - we'll let that count for now. :)

Giggles!  Ben found his giggles and as if we weren't in love with him before, it is over the top now!  We all try to get him to do it, but Grandpa gets the best giggles - Ben will have a big smile on his face and then have this "flutter" laugh/giggle that is just contagious!  He fills our lives with joy!  

Likes:

• Hands - oh so tasty!
• Bouncy seat - he kicks and bounces his legs with such force that the whole seat bounces and then he will look up at you with a big grin as he realizes that he was the one to make it do that! 
• Singing - anytime I sing to him his face cracks into a giant smile.  We now have special songs that I have made up for different parts of our day.  In the morning I sing "Good Morning to You" (to the tune of Happy Birthday), after nap time, "Wake Up" (to the tune of  Frere Jacques), and when we get in the car, "Here We Go A-Traveling" (to the tune of Here We Come A-Wassailing).  His favorite by far is Jesus Loves Me - a great thing to sing when he is wailing in the carseat in the back on the way home from errands!
• Being with people - our little guy is a social bug.  He loves to be around people or wherever the action is and doesn't necessarily need to be the center of attention, but if you talk to him, he lights up and will smile at anyone!
• Snuggles - I am so glad that he continues to love snuggling!  He is so content to just rest against my shoulder as I walk around the house.
• Being naked - yes, still loves to be naked.  Bathtime, diaper changes (what kid do you know who LOVES diaper changes?!), clothing changes - whatever it takes to get the clothes off, he is a fan of.

Dislikes:

• Being alone - he can only take it for a few minutes, and then I hear wimpering and fussing.  He doesn't even need to be held - he just wants to have someone to talk to!
• Not getting food fast enough - this has been our challenge lately.  He has decided that mom should perform like a bottle and be ever ready and produce on cue as soon as he latches on.  Too much pressure for this momma!  So feeding times lately come with fussing times.  
• Gas - a least once a day there will be a moment when he is sitting calmly, even happy and talking and then he will let out this gutteral cry, with full lip pout, tears, red face and quiver chin and all.  It is enough to wrench any mom's heart out!  We are NOT fans of gas in our house!

Mom and Dad's favorites:

• Ben is quite the "talker" now and will make all kinds of noises and sounds as if in conversation with us.  And he gets this great little face when you smile at him: he will bring his hands together close to his chest and chin, grin, squinch up his nose and cock his head to the side.  SO cute!
• Giggles - is there anything better?  I think Heaven with have a soundtrack of giggling babies!
• There is this moment, when it is time to go to bed, and Ben has just finished eating from his bottle, and he has completely crashed out.  We pick him up and lay him against our chest and he does this little shudder sigh of contentment as he snuggles in.  It is THE best feeling in the world!

Here are some of the latest pictures, and then the piece de resistance: video of laughing Ben!

Some of the little ones from the mommy group I go to on Fridays - no one is looking, but at least they aren't crying!

Kaitlyn and Ben had no idea what was going on!

Trying out the Bumper Jumper (thank you Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma for this awesome gift!  We LOVE it!)

This is the patented "Side-lying-hand-in-mouth" position: ultimate comfort!

Here are the videos of Ben giggling/laughing in response to my dad - I bet you won't be able to keep from chuckling yourself!