Jordan + Ben = Too much cheek to be believed!

So Benjamin had visitors yesterday. My friend Melanie came by with her sister Heather and Heather's son Jordan. Jordan is exactly one month younger than Ben and is too cute to be real. He and Ben seem to be on a very similar developmental path - both heavyweights, both with crazy chubby cheeks, both catnappers, both chitter-chatterers. Except that Jordan's cheeks are even chubbier than Ben's, if you can believe it.

Now Ben has very little interest in other babies so he wasn't terribly impressed about the playdate but overall did very well in tolerating Jordan's present and even managed a few smiles for the girls. Which was nice as he's been a cranky pants lately. But the real fun was watching Jordan try out some of Ben's toys. The exersaucer wasn't so much of a hit - largely a lot of slumping and staring - but the Jolly Jumper, well, watch out! He was definitely digging it, which was awesome. And while Mel and Heather laughed at Ben in the jumper they really laughed at Jordan in the jumper. Because there is just nothing funnier than your own kid in a Jolly Jumper. It warms my heart to know it was invented by a Canadian.

4 months old

So tomorrow Ben will be 4 months old. I thought I'd post this little vid of when he was one week old. It's a testament to how far we've come that I can watch it and feel warm fuzzies instead of having a panic attack or the urge to vomit.

Healthy heart

Well, as you may remember, when Ben was in the hospital in November they found a heart murmur. While murmurs are pretty common in babies, they told us to follow-up around 4 months just to make sure it resolved. So yesterday was our appointment and Ben and I went off to the cardiologist and it's gone! Yeah! We're still waiting for the test results from one of the three tests they did to be 100% sure but everything looked good on the ultrasound and the doctor couldn't hear the murmur and assured me that Ben was A-OK.

At Ben's ultrasound in November, I had been very sleep deprived, very emotional, and very worried about Ben so I cried the whole way through. At this one, I was pretty sure he was okay - he's so healthy looking and thriving - so I wasn't nearly so upset. I watched a bit of the ultrasound and it brought me back to that first ultrasound when I was 7 weeks pregnant and all we could see was a tiny grey blob with a flickering centre - his tiny little beating heart. Amazing to think that was just over a year ago. In fact it was in February that we found out we were pregnant. My how things can change in a year!

BTW, I love this picture - his little hands are flying so fast they're a blur!

Ben and his mobile

So I'm finally figuring out how to actually work with digital video. Check out this video of Ben at 10 weeks watching his mobile. I was hoping to catch him laughing but by the time I got the camera going he was getting kind of cranky. More vids to come!

Jolly Jumpin'

So our new house was made for the Jolly Jumper. Nice thick frames around the doors to hang it from and nice wide archways to jump in. And Ben has been jumping. We put him in the Jolly Jumper and he goes to town - stomping, pivoting, jumping, stepping, bouncing, and all forms of craziness. As you can see from the photos below, however, it's very serious work. For us, on the other hand, many many laughs. Behold the Jolly Jumping Master at work!