All better?

It turns out that Benjamin's fever was due to something called Roseola. It is when an infant runs a fever for four or five days and then breaks out in a rash for a few hours or a couple days.

The incubation period is five to ten days so I cant even trace back to where we might have picked it up. Not that it matters... More important is just that we didn't spread it to anyone else. We had been around Benjamin's cousins quite a bit right at the end of his contagious period (what I learned a little too late) and we have our fingers crossed that they didn't pick it up.

Roseola is a strain of the herpes virus, just like chicken pox, shingles, and quite a few other things I didn't realize were connected until I was doing research on this one. So I didn't ask the doctor, but maybe like the pox he can only get this once??? I'm not sure, but that would be nice!

He is over the Roseola now but now he has some major congestion and we are still catching up on lost sleep so he has had a little case of the cranks in the afternoons. Hopefully we can sort that out over this long holiday weekend and get back on track for Monday!

Another first

Yesterday I would have told you that I know what Benjamin's next 'first' would be. I would have said it will be his first step. He has cruising down and he stands for quite a while on his own. He walks all over in his walker and does a pretty good job of moving those legs when he is lightly supported by my arms. Yesterday I would have been wrong.

Today Ben has his first fever. Booooo!! This is a first I was hoping not to see for a long time. He is such a happy, healthy little guy that I forgot he is capable of getting sick. This 'first' sucks. I don't like it at all and I wish he didn't have to feel like yuck.

Our baby is handling it like such a big boy. He has been tired all day but not really fussy or upset. At 4:30 I took his temperature and it was 102.5. After two warm baths, a small dinner, and a dose of acetaminophen I put him down for the night at 7:00 with a temp of 100. I'm sure we will be up a couple (or several) times tonight but I'm just going to cuddle him back to health.

Up until this point I really thought breastmilk would keep him safe from everything illness-related. Joining in a kids' music class and having more play dates (though so much fun!!) has apparently proven me wrong, as somewhere along the way Ben caught a nasty bug.

Keep Benjamin in your prayers. He needs to get well soon!!

Baby to Big Boy

I was just e-mailing my cousin and telling her how Ben had somehow, overnight, transformed from a baby to a little boy. It is insane how much older he looks and acts, and it just snuck up on me over the last couple weeks. Benjamin has been fondly called "Baby Ben" by several friends and relatives since his birth. I'm afraid this nickname isn't going to hold much longer. It's going to have to be "Big Boy Ben" pretty soon. Our little guy has recently started letting go of furniture when standing up. He doesn't even realize he is doing it, but it is happening more and more. That first step is just around the corner... Even though he is soon to be a toddler, I know he will always be my baby.

Here are a couple pics of him with his look alike at the TU game!

Halloween Recap

I realize I'm a week late. But, seriously, I don't know how you mamas do it... I mean, I have no clue how Halloween night all these posts were up showing off costumes and telling your stories of Halloween fun. You gals are awesome. Or I'm just a lazy blogger. Or both statements are true....

Anyhow, I really didn't do a very good job of taking pictures this Holiday. So I just have a couple pics of Benjamin as a Jayhawk and as a kangaroo:


With Grandpa Bush




With Grammy Block, very "late" on Halloween (9:00 pm, 1.5hr after normal bedtime!) so the 'Roo wouldn't hold still!

The days leading up to Halloween, we went around to visit people who would want to see Ben dressed up. Benjamin brought goodie bags of homemade cookies and candy to lots of people and left it with a note that said "No tricks... Just treats! Happy Halloween! Love, Benjamin" The note had a photo of Ben at the pumpkin patch stuck to the bottom. I thought they were really cute (Ben is sooooo crafty) and I hope the recipients liked them as well!

On Saturday we took my family to the Cedar Ridge Trunk or Treat and Boogie Man Buffet. We had a lot of fun, decorated our trunk as "The Spooky Zoo" and pigged out at the buffet.

On Sunday we went to our friends' home and trick or treating with a whole bunch of kiddos. This night was SO much fun. Even though Ben didn't go door to door, he enjoyed being with all the other children and watching hundreds of people run around the neighborhood.

Happy Belated Halloween!! I'm going to try and figure out how to post more timely before Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around! :)

Catching Light

Babies do hundreds of thousands of really cool things as they grow. This is one of my favorites!!

Benjamin has been trying to catch light for about 6 weeks now. I have been wanting to post about it, but wanted to have a photo to go with the post. Well, my mother-in-law caught it on camera, so here we go!

When light shines through our family room windows in the morning, there are spots of light on the carpet... Ben tries to grab it. I think this is so cute, because he tries, and tries, and tries again. Eventually he just gives up, but a few days later I'll see him doing the same thing. In the afternoons, the light shines though our front door windows and leaves rainbows on the hard wood floors and the office walls. He tries to catch the rainbows and pick them up, and it is so, so cute. I look forward to the day that he notices the rainbow moving to his hand as he puts it between the door and the wall. I think he is going to be amazed that the rainbow just "jumped" to his hand!