Benjamin Lewis Shaffer - One Month Old














Seems hard to believe it has already been a month. Then again, I guess it depends who you ask. It seems to just be the other day we were in the hospital, and then again, it seems like we've had several days and nights together. (Sometimes the nights seem longer than the days!) Ben went to Dr. DeBrot today for his one month checkup. Would you believe the boy gained 1 1/2 pounds in 2 weeks!! I wouldn't have believed it, except for the fact I was there at the baby scales when he got weighed. Guess we better start using up those newborn diapers which are "good" for up to 10 pounds!! He was 9 lbs. 10 oz. today. Sam didn't reach 9 lbs until he was 2 months old. Ben is fighting a little cradle cap (dry skin on his head) which has made most of the hair on the front half of his head fall out. We were hoping this wasn't the permanent "Keefer" hairline (you know, the receding kind). The doctor says with a little lotion, it will all come back in time. The next doctor visit will be in a month, and he will get his first round of immunizations. He is beginning to hold his head up a bit, and looks like he will have just one dimple on the right side, just like his big brother. Sam has been a super big brother, and wants Ben to lay in bed with him at night. We looked at a picture of a bunk bed in the Sunday ads, and Sam still wants to get them for Ben and himself.

The Two Sides of Ben

Here are a couple of pictures taken on Sunday. One of the cranky Ben, and one of the "Isn't he precious" Ben.

Snowstorm #2

Here are a few pictures of the latest snowfall, and the latest snow-woman (notice the lovely earrings!)

Who does Ben look like?

When Sam was born, we got asked often, "Who does he look like?" We still have a hard time deciding who Sam looks like, but there is no question who Ben looks like. He looks like his big brother Sam!!!

Here are pictures from when we brought Sam home ( the summer baby), and a picture of Ben (the winter baby.)

January 16 2007

Ben's shirt says: "Hi, I'm new here." It's one of my favorite shirts.

It's been very cold here, so we have been trying to find things to do inside. We've probably reached our limit on watching videos, but it has been fun. Sam's current favorites: Charlotte's Web, anything Thomas the Tank Engine, and several free videos rented from Blockbuster Video.

Sam visited the dentist today. Sorry no pictures, the battery on the camera was dead. Sam let the "nurse" (really the dental hygienist) count his teeth. This was after she showed him how the chair went up and down several times. He has 10 teeth on top and 10 teeth on bottom. Then he let her brush his teeth, after she demonstrated how it tickled by brushing on his fingernail. He did a great job, even though he said the bubble gum toothpaste was yucky. The best part was when she squirted the water in his mouth for him to swish and swallow.

Ben also went to the dentist, but he sleep through the whole thing. He was awake for his doctor's appointment this morning - the 2 week checkup. Everything looks good. He now weighs 8 lbs. 2 oz, a gain of over a pound in 2 weeks since he left the hospital at 6 lbs. 11 oz. Sam took 2 months to weigh 9 lbs, so I think Ben might end up being the "big" brother.

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Here are a few new pictures. Some of us reading books, which we have done lots of since it's too cold to get out, and a picture of Sam sleeping with Fergus in his hand. Sam has to take either a car or a train (or many times several cars and trains) to bed with him at night. When I went in to check on him he was sleeping with Fergus. He really loves his trains.

Here are a couple of photos that others took of the boys. All is going well here. Ben is sleeping close to 6 hours between feedings at night, which is nice as long as he goes back to sleep once he is finished eating. Sam today said that he loves his brother, and when Ben was crying this afternoon, Sam quickly brought Ben his pacifier. What a caring brother!

Sam, Ben and Dad enjoyed some time on the bed last night watching videos while mom finished getting all of the boys clothes in the right rooms. Sam still had clothes in Ben's dresser, and Ben still had clothes left in Sam's dresser. But now everyone has all of their own clothes in their own rooms.

Mom got to read the bedtime story from the new Thomas the Tank engine book Dad got for the boys at Exploration Place.

Doug ran across this "Mater" while out running near the hospital last Saturday morning. In lieu of Sam's fasination with all things "Cars", we just had to take a picture of it. Sam is on the floor with his Cars Tractor Tipping game all set up and asking, "Mom, can you get off the computer and play this game with me?" How can you say no?

Happy New Year 2007 from the Shaffer Family

We had to wait to leave the hospital until after the Chiefs won their game - so by the time we got home it was around 4:00 I guess. We had a great experience at Wesley Hospital. My very first nurse that came to get us from the waiting room and was with me all the way from surgery to giving Ben his first bath was a former flute student of mine, who studied with me in the late 90's when she was a student at East High School. And we had many other really nice, caring nurses once we made it upstairs. The first night (Friday) Doug and I were pretty tired (after all the day began at 5:00 am), and were given the opportunity to have Ben go to the nursery for the night. I had no problems at all with that option, but Doug was only convinced when he found out that the nurse in the nursery that night was a friend of ours from church. She took wonderful care of Ben from 11:00pm - 7:00 am giving us a good night sleep of almost 8 hours (if you don't count the interruptions of blood draws, iv bag changes - after the alarm beeps for several minutes to let us know the bag is empty, time and temperature ( oops I mean blood pressure and temperature) taking, and the offering and taking of pain medications through the IV.



Ben slept the whole way home and didn't seem to mind his car seat too much - it does look rather comfy I guess. As Sam had predicted, we did have a dusting of snow yesterday, so Sam was right that it would be snowing when Ben came (home).

Sam has been a wonderful big brother, this morning he wanted to share his breakfast of bacon with Ben, then wanted to put him in the carrier to take him to Exploration Place for the afternoon. We have had a good time reading together, and even though Sam wanted Ben to sleep in his crib, he shared his bed for a quick bedtime story.