hanging on the porch

Bennett loves to hang out on the porch with us.  The weather has been very nice lately.  We put him down on the porch furniture and he loves to stare up at the trees.  He will lay there and look up for a while.  His favorite spot is the corner.  He snuggles right into it and can actually look around while sitting up.  That doesn't last too long since he wobbles over or slides down the seat.

4 months

Bennett is already 4 months old.  He is starting to reach out for things more and he has pretty good head control.  He is not able to hold his head up completely yet so we are not going to be starting solids this month but he is starting to attempt rolling over.  He is still unable to get all the way over because of his shoulder.

He got a clean bill of health at the doctor.  He now weighs 13.9 lbs and is 25 inches long.  He still hated his shots so no surprise there. He loves sitting up and looking around.  His belly is getting so big that I hope it doesn't get in the way of him sitting up later.

He is grabbing on to his toys now too.  He doesn't actually have a hold of them for too long but he loves to try grabbing them over and over and over. 

One of the cutest things that Bennett does these days is smile and often.  Smiling is his favorite. He is a very happy baby and smiles wide.  We love to see him so happy. 

maeve and bennett

This Friday we had a play date with our neighbors and friends Mike, Maribeth and Maeve.  Maeve was born only two weeks after Bennett but she is a small little peanut compared to B.  She is also very well behaved and likes to hang out in her swing.  Bennett likes to be held more times than not so we were impressed to see how well Maeve did on her own.

Once again the two mostly dismissed each other even when we put them on the couch together.  They barely looked at each other even with our constant encouragement.  Things got frisky after a while when Bennett had put his hand on Maeve's knee.  He is a little ladies man already. 

We couldn't tell if Maeve approved or not but we were all in tears laughing at Bennett's smooth moves.  It was a successful play date and we look forward to many more. 

mother's day

It was my first mother's day this year.  I am finally part of the "in crowd."  It was supposed to be a nice day with a slight chance of rain.  So we headed out to Boston.  Nick and Bennett had two surprises for me and I was excited to see what they were from the second that I woke up.  I was already very impressed by Bennett's beautiful card.  I knew these surprises would be good.

When we stopped for coffee at Dunkin Donuts before our drive to the city I got a pink carnation for Mother's Day.  I thought it was very thoughtful of Dunkin Donuts to do that for moms.  I was very touched.

The first surprised was very yummy.  We went to a small chocolate making shop called L.A. Burdick in Harvard Square.  The make chocolates, coffee drinks and pastries.  We got ourselves a hot chocolate, a mocha, a chocolate filled croissant and a chocolate harvard square.  Everything was so good!  My hot chocolate tasted so rich that I am pretty sure they melted an entire chocolate candy bar to make it.  And, the pastries were fresh and delicious.  It was raining out at this point so it was a perfect compliment to the weather.

They also had a great selection of chocolate for sale.  They are famous for crafting little bees, mice and penguins out of chocolate.  They are all very adorable and delicious.  We took some home with us.  Will definitely be coming back to this place again and again.

Our next stop was the Harvard Natural History Museum.  We love going to museums so I was excited to check out what this one had in store.  We were impressed.  The museum was not too big but it contained a lot of great exhibits.  We saw and learned about lots of different animal, bird and insect species.  They had a great big hall where we could see the skeletons of multiple whales.  They even had some of the dinosaur bones on display.  We had a great time.  Bennett did very well.  He enjoyed looking at all of the exhibits.  We are planning on coming back when he is a little bit older so he can learn about the things he is seeing as well. 

 

The last exhibit we went to at the museum was easily the most impressive.  It was a collection of glass plants.  Two biologists would make all of these for educational purposes because that was the only material they had available to make long lasting models of the plants they were studying.  These were very intricate and detailed models.  They do not appear to be glass whatsoever.  Nick and I couldn't believe our own eyes.  It's definitely something that everyone should see.  We were also amazed to learn that these models were made in the late 1800's and have survived to this day in such great condition.

After the museum we joined our friends from the city for a nice lunch.  It had stopped raining now and the weather was warm and sunny.  So we all enjoyed a nice walk around Harvard as well.  It was a wonderful day spent with family and friends.  I am one lucky mommy to have such a wonderful husband and son.

max and bennett

Our two cats have pretty much ignored Bennett since his arrival.  They walk right by him as if he is not there.  Today was a rare occasion when Max actually noticed Bennett.  He smelled him for a short while and then just set there staring at me for a bit before walking away to go get a snack. Not a very exciting encounter but an exciting moment indeed.

deMelo wedding and Russian Easter weekend

This weekend our friends Nikki and John got married.  We wouldn't miss it for the world so we brought Bennett and my mom came up to watch him while we went to the ceremony and reception.  Bennett did really well in the hotel again.  He stayed on schedule and got cranky only once because he wanted a nap. He still has a hard time napping when there is a lot going on around him because he wants to be involved and be part of the action. Silly man.  The wedding was beautiful and it was nice to dress up and get out on our own.  We really enjoyed ourselves and are thankful for such a helpful grandma.

Since the wedding was on Saturday and it was a long weekend we headed to my parents house.  It was also Russian Easter that weekend so we were happy to be able to make it down.  It's really important to my father to have the family together for such an important religious holiday.  I am of the same opinion.  My mom did a great job making a huge breakfast for everyone and my dad loved having Bennett around.  He didn't want to leave him for a minute, not even when he napped!

The trip home was a lot harder than we thought it would be.  It took us seven hours because we had to stop twice to feed Bennett and once to eat because we wanted to give the little nugget a break from being in the car for so long.  I am glad we left really early so we still had a decent amount of time at home to unpack and settle back in.  Hopefully the future trips are going to be much easier than this time around.