Bentley: 1 month

I cannot believe Bentley is one month old already!! I feel like I have missed this whole past month and yet, I also feel that I have just really enjoyed this baby more than ever! I keep thinking that with each new baby the magic of having a newborn will wear off, or that I'll be too caught up in the other kids and life to enjoy them, but it just isn't true. I hold this girl any chance I get. She is delicious!
I also can't believe that she is only one month. Due to some events that have transpired in our family, I feel like we had to jump right out of that new newborn phase. People will comment on how little or new she is and I stop a second and think, "You're right, she is really new still." I forget.Bentley is a pretty sweet tempered little baby. She is a very awake and alert newborn. Even her pediatrician commented a couple of times about how alert she is. She doesn't sleep as much as my other babies have during the day and is just not as sleepy in general. My other babies I could put in a swing or bouncy seat and eventually they would just drift off to sleep without my even knowing it, but not Bentley. She will either remain awake or cry before she'll fall asleep. I remember in the hospital the first day she was born she was awake almost the whole day and I remember being very afraid!She's pretty typical in the crying department for a newborn in the amount she cries. It is funny though, she goes from being perfectly content to screaming her lungs out in less than a second. There is no warning or build up to it. She has had a few moments where she is inconsolable and I feel like I am going to lose my mind, but for the most part she calms down pretty easily. She is great at putting herself to sleep. If I can't hold her I'll just put her down and she'll cry for a couple of minutes and then go to sleep and sleep like a champ. She eats every 3 hours during the day and every 3-4 during the night. She has been a good sleeper at night and there's only been a couple of times where she has woken up and not gone back to sleep.
She gave her first smiles a few days ago and they are yummy! We haven't caught them on camera yet, but we are working on it. She will track me around the room if I'm not too far away and will always turn towards my voice. She loves her mom, what can I say?

We are really loving having this baby Bentley around!

Taternot

I feel like sometimes this girl doesn't get as much attention as she should. She is really independent and does her own thing a lot of time. She isn't super whiny. She can't talk yet. She's not demanding. She has two older siblings who have activities that demand our time and attention plus a newborn sister who demands a lot of mom time.
Well, today while Carter and Andi were at preschool/joyschool, I decided to head to the library with Taytum (and Bentley, who was asleep the whole time in her carseat). Lucky for us they were having a special "Winnie the Pooh" story time. They read Winnie the Pooh books, sang songs, had a craft, handed out balloons, and gave each child a Winnie the Pooh cupcake holder full of gummy bears. It was fun to have some one on one time with Taytum and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. And I thoroughly enjoyed being out with just my Tay-tah. I just love this girl. I look at her and just have to smile.

Spoiler

I couldn't wait to post some of the pics we took of Bentley for her birth announcement, so if you are receiving a birth announcement, sorry that you saw the pics beforehand. She's just too cute, and we all needed a Bentley fix, right? :)










PS... she was being such a pill when we took these!
PPS... we are still trying to figure out our camera and editing and all that.

Bentley Bug

(*Thanks for the nickname Aunt Alli!)

Bentley Bug, Bents, Bentleykins, Boh (bow)

We are loving this little girl! She has been a pretty good little sleeper at night waking up every 3-4 hours to eat and then going right back to sleep (for the most part). She is super awake and alert during the day and not very newborn in that aspect. She loves being swaddled and not sure she loves her binky... yet. She will. :) The girl has a set of lungs on her. She doesn't cry a whole ton, but when she does, she goes from 0-60 in no time flat. She is nursing great and packing on the pounds... or rather ounces at least. She weighed in at 7lbs 1 oz today. (she was only 6lbs 8oz on Friday)
Bentley pre her first bath. Nice and content.
Not so content. Not loving her first bath.
Finally, she gave in to the warm water and enjoyed it for a minute.
Jefferson washing the poop out of the tub. :) Good man.

Sibs

One of the first questions everybody asks me is how the other kids are adjusting to having a baby in the home. The answer is, great! They really are so good with her and tender.
Carter loves her, but is really too busy bouncing and jumping and running to spend too much time worrying about a baby. He'll occasionally hold her, but it's short lived. He and Andi both love being my helper and fetching things for mom... diapers, wipes, burp cloth, boppy, binky...
Andi is my real tender heart. She is in love with Bentley. Whenever Bentley is awake, she'll just sit next to her and look at her and try to get Bentley to look back. She always needs to know where Bentley is and hates it if I leave Bentley asleep in my room instead of bringing her out to the living room. She gives her tons of kisses and pats on the head, she always wants to hold her and just loves her to death. Taytum is pretty oblivious to the whole fact that there is a new human being residing in our home. She'll run up to Bentley and pat her on the head or tummy occasionally, but more often than not she is just running around being a goof, cheesing it up.
And some of our other recent visitors:
Meeting Grandpa Jon
And his girlfriend Karla, whom we love.
Uncle Josh
And Aunt Jenn

These two wonderful people, Gramzee and Grandpa Paul, came and took care of us this past week. My kids were thrilled to have them here and were spoiled to death.
This wonderful woman cooked, cleaned, played, grocery shopped, got the kids up, dressed, and ready every morning, froze meals for us, and basically was life saving.
They read lots of stories. Carter was introduced to one of my favorites, "How the Elephant got its Trunk."
The played lots of games... Carter taught both my parents the joys of Toy Story Yahtzee, a family favorite.
Taytum spent a lot of time on Gramzee's lap. I think she would have gone home with my mom if I would have let her.

Our evenings after the kids were in bed consisted of way too many delicious treats, Modern Family, and Hoarders. I did nothing but relax this whole past week and truly enjoy my newborn baby Bentley. It has been so wonderful and I am so blessed to have such amazing parents who make such great efforts and sacrifices to be a part of our little family's life. We love you Gramzee and Grandpa Paul!

Little Miss Bentley was jaundiced. We should just expect it, we're 3 for 4. She had to spend three days on a biliblanket and has spent a few hours sun bathing already. She enjoys it if you can't tell. Her levels are hovering in a normal range, so we're hoping they start to go down so we can avoid the hospital lab again.