One month!

Benjamin is one month old today! He is growing and changing so quickly! I need a cute one-month photo, but he is sleeping, so this will have to do for now. We just returned from the doctor's office, where he had to get his Hep. B vaccine. He cried and then went to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, I never thought I would get any ever again when he started cluster feeding like there was no tomorrow. He was eating every one to three hours, and sometimes the eating sessions would last an hour between the fussing from gas pains. So, that was all we did for days. I was dreading the nights and spending a lot of time in tears from exhaustion. But, last night the tide turned. Benjamin ate every hour for several hours and finished eating close to midnight. Then, we put him in his bouncy seat (awake) and went to bed. I know that doesn't sound like very good parenting, but he really does like his seat, and he was within arms reach. I heard him make a noise around 5:45 a.m. and ended up waking him up to eat. He went right back to sleep until I woke him up and got him to snack a little around 8:30 a.m. before his doctor's appointment. He is currently, you guessed it, sleeping. So, I feel great! The doctor said he is doing well and I can continue to encourage him to sleep through the night!

I am cutting dairy out of my diet to try to see if that helps his gas pains and also his sleeping, since the pain often wakes him up. It really is so hard to watch him cry and squirm so much. So far, it seems like it might be helping. I don't know how I will cope with no dairy for a few weeks, but if it makes him feel better I can part with my favorite food group.

So, what has all this cluster feeding accomplished? Benjamin weighed in at 9 pounds, 11 ounces and 21 3/4 inches long. His head and length are in the 75th percentile and his weight in the 50th. Don't ask me what that means, because I have never understood it! :) All I know is that our baby won't be really short, and that makes his daddy very happy.

Amber, my best buddy, is coming to spend the night and help me take care of the little guy. She works as a nurse all night long, so she said staying up for a night feeding is no problem. We may or may not need her help! In any case, I will be glad to have a girlfriend to hang out with while Jeremy works all day. He gets home at 10:30 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays, which is difficult. I like having him here to help me with Benjamin.

So, just to recap the month, here is a summary of what Benjamin is up to:

Benjamin Weston Hilty was born Dec. 14, 2009 at 6 pounds 15 ounces and 21 inches long. He was alert and happy from the moment he was born, and unless he is gassy or hungry, he really isn't bothered by much.
His daddy thinks his diapers are about the worst smelling things ever, but he diligently changes them for me. Benjamin is quick to soak both himself and us if we aren't careful. He hates baths, but often needs them when the diapers leak.

He discovered his toys at just a few weeks old, and he LOVES to look at a mirror that my Spanish teacher from high school got him. I think that is why he loves to lie on his changing table so much.

He looks at lights and especially at windows. His other favorite toy is his baby Einstein gym. He lays on the mat and happily watches the flashing lights or stares into the mirror. I am not sure if he has figured out he is looking at himself.

Benjamin responds to voices and often stops fussing if I sing to him (or if he is being doted on my his Nana and Papa, who helped me take care of him for a week.) Jeremy doesn't sing, but he turns on music and "dances" with Benjamin, which they both seem to like. When Ben is hungry, he likes to suck on Jeremy's neck while Jeremy squirms to get out of Benjamin's clutches. It is pretty funny.

Benjamin makes the funniest faces, and he is especially funny when he is waking up. It takes him about 10 minutes of yawning, stretching, moaning and smacking his lips before he actually will wake up. Then, if he is hungry, he starts to howl just in case we planned to take our time getting his meal ready. I often have to remind him that his meal is ready and he doesn't need to kill it first. That doesn't stop him from beating his head against me and latching on ferociously. He then gulps and gasps his way through the meal, only grudgingly stopping to be burped. He often sighs and talks while he is enjoying his meal. If he isn't starving, he will look at me a while, get a glint in his eye, take a few deep breaths, smack his lips and then with one gulp, he will latch on. This makes Jeremy and I laugh hysterically.

Benjamin loves to talk, and he often makes a wide variety of noises while soothing himself to sleep, playing with his toys or just making his point clear. It is sometimes hard to separate his talking from crying, so we have to watch his face to see if he is still happy. He smiles a lot, sometimes from gas, but we like to think other times it is due to his contentment. He has started gripping our fingers more, and this morning he was sucking on his entire fist (something he typically can't do because we keep his long fingers covered due to the cold and his sharp claws.)

So, that's it for my super long post. Benjamin is waking up, and we know what that means!