Funny Things Kids Say!

Every time Gunnar see's a pedestrian crossing sign he says: "Look Mommy, it's a human's walking sign!" Where does he learn something like that?? I suppose he is only pointing out the obvious... they are humans, and they are walking! I laugh every time he says it!

Bath Time...

The Boys playing in the tub while Bennett watches

Brothers! Conrad's face is sure changing... he's looking more like a little boy!

Conrad watching the water drip off his truck...

Bennett is 9 months old!

Bennett turned 9 months old on Saturday! I cannot believe she will be 1 soon... her first year has gone by so fast! Bennett weighs 16lbs 11oz and is in the 20%... She is 28 1/2 in tall and is in the 75%. So she follows Gunnar in the tall area and Conrad in the small/skinny way! At her doctors appointment today, I found out that she will have to see an eye doctor because she is crossed eyed. Looking at her now, I see it, but before this morning I never noticed it! She has a condition called Esotropia, which is the smart word for being crossed eyed.... I did a little reading and found out that there are 6 different kinds of esotropia. If this is in fact the correct diagnosis, she would most likely have congenital or infant esotropia. 1-2% of babies have this condition and it does not get better with age... surgical correction is required sometime between 6 and 14 months of age. We have an appointment on March 9th at the North Iowa Eye Clinic with an ophthalmologist. Please pray for Bennett's eyes... that whatever condition she has would be easily resolved without surgical correction. I am nearsighted and have worn glasses since the 2nd grade and one of my biggest fears was that I would pass my bad eye gene's on to my kids... let's face it, the chances were pretty high! I just didn't expect to have to deal with it all so early on. Pray that I would have a good attitude about all of it, especially if she needs to wear glasses. I just really hated wearing glasses my entire childhood and I don't want Bennett to feel the same way. On a happier note, here are some things Bennett is doing at 9 months old!

• Crawling on hands and knees
• Pulling herself up to standing and then getting back down to sitting/crawling
• Walking with toy walkers and when we hold her hands
• Taking 2-3 naps a day... I'm still working on cutting 1 nap out!
• Eating baby food and finger foods like cheerios and mac/cheese
• She can do "So Big"
• Waves Hi
• Claps her hands when you say "Yeah"
• She loves the bathroom and toilet paper
• She enjoys chewing on the darts from the boys' nerf guns.

Getting the boys to sleep through the night as babies was easy! Gunnar did at 4 months and Conrad at 2 months, but I can't seem to figure it out with Bennett! Letting the boys cry it out worked awesome... 2 nights of crying and then they were fine and still are for the most part. I have tried this way with Bennett multiple times and it seems to work for a few weeks or a month and then she is back to being up in the middle of the night... she has had 2 ear infections this winter, so I blame some of the sleep stuff on that... also, all the kids share one room so I am apprehensive about just letting her cry a lot because I don't want her to wake the boys... namely Conrad! So when I've tried to train her to sleep through the night I put her in the pack n play in the living room. So with all that said, I am looking for advice on how to get my 9 month old to sleep through the night consistently.... Also, just this week I have started feeding her solid food right before bed (Grandma Lori's suggestion!) and this seems to be helping somewhat!