A Pro

Josh is officially potty trained!

About 3 weeks ago I woke up and decided that that day was the day. So we put big-boy panties on, and 3 days later he was potty trained! He had 2 accidents over the 3 days, but by the 3rd day he was telling me when he needed to go, and we never had another accident after that. For the first couple of weeks I was putting him in pull-ups for naps and bed time, but he woke up dry every day, so I'm not even doing that anymore. He acts like he's been doing it for years. It was SO easy! And yes, I know that every child is not going to be like him, and that I've officially been spoiled.

Hurray for Joshua!

Snacks

Today for snack time I asked Josh what he wanted, his response was, "string cheese, orange cheese, and cottage cheese."

So that's what we had (plus an orange)!

The kid likes his cheese!

Cardio Check Up

Today Benson had his 3 month check up with Dr. Judd, his cardiologist. He did SO well! During the appointment he had an ekg and an echo done, and didn't make a peep during either. Well, I guess he made some noise, but none of it was crying. He found his voice yesterday, and hasn't stopped using it since :) During the ekg, he stared up at the nurse and cooed and cooed the entire time, and if she ever made eye contact with him, he would give her the biggest smile! Such a little flirt already.
The results from both the ekg and the echo came back good. He's doing perfect! He obviously still has the bicuspid valve, and will until it's replaced later in his life, but it is functioning just fine for now. They will watch it to make sure it doesn't begin to leak or develop any other problems for the rest of his life. There was no visible scare tissue where the aortic arch was repaired (it'll probably be years before it's visible) and everything else on the repair looked like it has healed great as well.
I asked Dr. Judd if he could still have some pain under is left arm where the incision was, because if I ever pick him up by grabbing him under his arms he cries like he's in pain. She said the he will still have pain from scare tissue build up in that spot for about 6 months (good to know now). That was something no one had told us, and I really didn't expect it to still be painful, but after she explained it, it makes sense. We'll just be careful for a few more months.
The main thing they look for at this point is that he's growing has he should, and Benson is definitely growing! He's such a little chunk, and happy as can be.
I just realized that I haven't posted an update on him for a while now, and a lot has changed.
We now have his acid reflux totally under control. The new medication he was put on the first of May has been awesome! As long as we give it to him, we can treat him like a normal, healthy baby.
He's been sleeping laying down now for a couple of weeks.
He's on a pretty good schedule. It's not exactly the same every day, but it's really predictable at this point.He goes to bed at 8:30 pm and sleeps until 8 am, waking to eat at 5 and then going right back to sleep. He'll stay awake until 9:30 or 10 and then goes down for his morning nap for about an hr, then he's up from 11 to 1 and takes a good 3 hr afternoon nap. The evenings are when his naps are still a little inconsistent because we're always doing different things and a lot of the time we leave the house, but he'll usually take another hour, hour and a half nap in the evening around 5:30, and then back to bed at 8:30.
He's a seriously easy going baby! He's so good to go with the flow and entertain himself when I'm busy with Josh. I found out this last weekend that he doesn't really love to be away from home for too long however. I'm sure he'll grow out of that though.
He just started to giggle about a week ago. It is SO cute!
I think his hair is going to be brown. Probably the same color as mine. When I was a baby/toddler my hair was brown but looked red in the sun. I've noticed that with his hair.
He loves Josh and thinks he's so funny!
He's a mama's boy and I love it. He'd lay his head on my chest all day long if I'd let him. And I do as much as I can :)

Getting his ekg

Out cold during the echo! What a trooper...

Quote

From a Distance

One of Josh's favorite things to do is mow the lawn with Beau. He gets his little mower out and follows Beau around with the most serious expression on his face, like he is doing something very important, and he's loving every second of it. But when it's time for the weed eater to come out, this is what we get...

He prefers to watch from a distance.

Another New Trick

Tricky Tricky!

Taggie

I made this taggie for Josh when he was a baby and I don't think he ever even looked at, but Benson, he loves it! It keeps him entertained for at least an hour at a time. It is his goal in life to get one of the tags in his mouth! He loves to hug it and rub it on his face. It's so funny to watch him go crazy over it.

I took all of these pictures in about a minute. That's how much he twists it around.

I LOVE this picture! He finally got a tag in his mouth and was so happy.

Chubby Baby

I sat Bens in the corner of the couch today and just loved how chubby he looked! I love it!

Feeding Bucking Bronco

A couple of mornings ago, I was in getting ready for the day when Josh came in to inform me that Bucking Bronco was "so, SO hungry!" I asked him what Bucking Bronco wanted to eat and he said carrots. So we fed him some carrots...and they were both happy campers :)

Then Josh sat on him and ate a bowl of peanut butter.

After I snapped this picture I sat on the bike to eat a banana and we were just chatting when Josh looked at me and said, "This is so fun mom!"

Such a sweet boy.