We went to the beach for a long weekend as a family of three, we came home as a family of four!  Here are the details of our adventure.  Read it if you want or just look at the pictures!

On Thursday afternoon Rebecca went for her weekly checkup at the doctor.  Our baby was due in 3.5 weeks but they said she was doing great and had nothing to worry about.  We should go enjoy ourselves at the shore.  We were both really looking forward to the long weekend.  We had just found a new house, sold our house (although both closings are in September), and we have a baby on the way.  Plus our son Ben was really hitting his stride as a two year old, mastering the art of “No”.  So some time off was really in order.  We had a nice relaxing day on Friday, the weather was perfect and Ben was having a blast playing in the sand.

Ben at the beach playground with cousins Hannah and Sam.  And Ben playing with Hannah (and Uncle Andy)

Part 1 – Controlled Panic:  Later that evening we were headed for a walk on the boardwalk with family.  Ben and I were a few minutes ahead of Rebecca.  When Rebecca didn’t follow us, we had to head back to see what was up.  We met up with Rebecca and she said “I think my water just broke”.  FYI, that didn’t happen when Ben was born so she wasn’t positive what was happening.  There was a lot of family at the house and lots of opinions and ideas.  “You should call the doctor”, “You should pack up and leave”, “Relax and go for a walk”, etc.  We called the doctor back home.  Keep in mind, we’re on the Jersey shore near Atlantic City, about 1.5 hrs from home.  The doctors advice was to head right to the hospital.  After water breaks anything could happen, and happen fast.  I thought, the last thing we want to have happen is to deliver a baby on the side of the AC Expressway.  Next, we had a nice family discussion/argument about which hospital to go to.  There were three to choose from.  My brother-in-law and sister-in-law took charge of that and called to figure out which is best.  That was a big help.  By this time it was about 8:30pm.  The next problem to deal with was how to get Ben to sleep.  Since it is the beginning of the summer, the house is a bit strange to him and he wanted me to sleep in the room with him.  I laid down for a while and every minute felt like an hour.  He finally fell asleep, we packed up and we were off to Atlanticare Regional Medical Center Mainland Campus. 

On our walk before things got interesting.  Ben’s with cousin Sylvia (Sylvie) but Ben calls her “So-be”.  I think he is love with her.

One nice part of this whole crazy situation is that we had plenty of people to help with Ben.  If we were at home we would have had to find someone to come over and watch him for the night, plus we’d need people to help out all weekend long too.  Instead, we just drove off.  Well, first we spewed out a bunch of instructions about how to keep him happy while everyone nodded their heads saying “Sure, we’ve got it”.  Most of it didn’t matter, we knew he’d be in great hands if they followed our advice or not.

Part 2 – Hurry Up and Wait:  We got to the hospital and finally were in our room by around 11pm or so.  The staff now told Rebecca that since her water broke, she had to stay in bed.  Rebecca was seriously unhappy with that information.  When Ben was born she was told the best way to work through labor and keep things moving was to be up and around.  And she wasn’t that far along, so we’d likely not have a baby until the next day!  We both slept in the hospital but I’m sure that everyone knows you can’t really get much sleep in a hospital. 

Part 3 – Time to Rock and Roll:  Around 5:30 am they gave Rebecca a shot of Pitocin to move things along.  At 6:30 they injected some pain killers into her epidural and at 7:30 am on July 3rd Sarah Maya Schwam was born!  She weighed 5 lbs, 12 oz and was 19.25 inches long.  As a side note, I thought she looked shorter than that.  This week the pediatrician measured her at 18.5 inches.  I’m not sure what is up with that.  Being 3.5 weeks early, the staff was a little concerned and put the NIC unit on alert.  But after a check up, they decided that she was ok to stay with us and they’d keep an extra close eye on her.  That was a BIG relief to us.  10 fingers, 10 toes, and TONS of dark brown hair and cute as a button (whatever that means). 

Part 4 – Now What?:  OK, so we’ve got a healthy baby but we are pretty far from home with no “baby stuff”.  Well it turns out you don’t need too much stuff and in our neck of the woods (even down at the shore) there are always stores around.  My sister-in-law Dawn hit the drug store for some diapers and stuff, and a little boutique at the beach for a few outfits.  But you can’t leave the hospital without a car seat!  We planned to send the family out to Baby’s R Us to buy a new one when a few friends came to the rescue.  Neighbors Megan and Glen were on their way to the shore for July 4th when they saw my email baby announcement.  They offered to stop at our house and pick up the baby seat and other supplies and drop them at the hospital!  How cool is that?  We were all set!

Our family including Aunt Dawn, Megan (who came to our rescue) and Sarah, and the four of us leaving the hospital via the required wheel chair.

Part 5 – Home At Last:  After 2 nights in the hospital (3 if you count the night before Sarah was born) everyone was released and we went back to the beach house.  It was Monday of a holiday weekend and we didn’t want to get stuck in any traffic coming home so we spent the night at the beach.  Of course, we didn’t have a bassinette there so we had to improvise with a drawer!   By noon on Tuesday we were finally back in our house!  It was great coming home and Benny was really happy.  I think the trip was toughest on him.

Sarah with Rebecca’s dad, with my Mom, in her drawer (it looks safe and comfy, right?). 

What a crazy “vacation” this turned out to be!  It would have been a lot harder without our family that helped out so much with Benny.  He had a great time playing at the beach with his cousins.  I have no idea how we could have got through this without the family helping out.  Now Benny is totally in love with Sarah, like nothing I have ever seen before.  He just wants to kiss her and hug her and tickle her and just be around her ALL of the time.  “I want Sarah” is the new phrase heard around the house… over and over and over again.  We’re glad he likes her but it is making us a little crazy.  I’ve been told that this will wear off pretty soon and he’ll get used to having her around.  Having a sister certainly did not cure the “terrible two’s”.  This little guy really tries to run the show around here.  Lucky for us he’s still a sweet kid most of the time.

It's been a busy few months since my last post.  Ben's building his vocabulary and knows a bunch of words.  He's also working on his "animal sounds".  He knows that a cow says "moo" and a bunch of others.  If you ask him what a pig says, he makes a sort of coughing sound.  I figured out he is saying the end of the word "oinK".  Ben was a little late to the game for walking. But he really got the hang of it and was very proud to be walking around.  But then he had a bit of an accident and broke his leg!  It sounds pretty crazy but the doctor says it is really quite common.  The specific break is actually called a "toddler's fracture"  To be clear, we aren't talking about one of those nasty "dangling limb" breaks.  Just a crack.  It still sucks for a 15 month old kid.  So poor Benny has a cast on his leg and that put an end to walking for a while. 

It's actually quite interesting to see Ben respond to this situation.  When the accident happened he was really unhappy and scared.  I don't think he was in a terrible amount of pain if he kept still.  But he was really scared, he knew something was not right in a serious way.  It took a while in the hospital and he did not like it when they splinted and wrapped his leg (the cast would get put on the next day at the Orthopedist's office).  However, as soon as his leg was immobilized he was out of pain and started turning back to normal, even playing a bit.  I expected him to play with the splint or try and take it off.  But he just ignored it.  I think somehow he actually understood that it was helping him.  Even when the cast got put on, he never pulled at it or anything.  He just accepted the situation - "now I have a cast on my leg, what's next?" He was back to crawling full time but didn't seem to care about the broken leg at all.  He eventually started to stand on it (leaning  on furniture) and now even takes as many as 8-10 steps on it!  He's not really supposed to but it isn't so easy to keep him off it.  The worst part of the whole thing is 6 weeks with no baths (not real ones, anyway), sand, swimming, dirt etc.  Anyway, in 2 weeks the cast is coming off.  My expectation is he'll quickly adjust back, start walking and that will be the end of that story.

We've also joined the Philadelphia Zoo.  This is a great idea for any family and we are really liking it, with 2 trips in so far this summer.  Benny loves it and points and yells at the animals.  We've also seen a lot of family lately including a visit to the park with Grandma and Longstreet Farm with his cousins. 

The last new thing is that we've been taking Ben for bike rides (he hangs out in a trailer), it's fun for the whole family.  Wow, so much to talk about, I really need to post these things more often!  Here's a bunch of photos:

• Craft Time for Ben, Mommy and cousin Fiona!

• With Grandma on Passover.  A classic "how big is Benny?" photo!

• Me and Ben at the Philadelphia Zoo.  Also... Making a mess eating ice cream, helping out in the garden, and Ben with his car (the best selling car in America!) and a picnic with Mommy and Grandma.

• Here's a shot of Ben with his cast.

• Benny's catching a free ride with Uncle Dennis, and posing with cousins Kaycie, Allie, Sami and Jake at Longstreet Farm.  Also Benny is his bike trailer - and looking cool too!

It's hard to keep up with posting these photos of Ben.  Time flies.  Lots more news since my last blog post.  First of all, Ben had his 1st birthday!  His grandma made him an awesome cake (and cupcakes) and they were a big hit. 

Ben is really trying to gain some weight (he's a on the small side).  The Dr. put him on a "butter" diet, telling us to put butter on everything he eats.  Somehow he got the message.  All of a sudden he started eating everything in sight.  He gained 1 lb in 6 weeks.  Then he stopped eating again and got really finicky and cranky.  After a few days Rebecca took him to the Dr. to find out that he had an ear infection!  After a day or 2 of antibiotics, he was back to eating again.  He's a pretty funny eater.  One day he'll be eating Brussels sprout (yes, spelled with an "s" at the end, I looked it up), broccoli, meatloaf, spaghetti and meat sauce, salmon, and more.  It's like he loves all different flavor foods.  And the next day, he's bored of it all and won't eat anything!

Right around the time of the ear infection Benny developed another ailment, much to our dismay.  He's become a bit of a "momma's boy"!  All he wants is for his mommy to hold him.  It's pretty funny too because if it's just me and him hanging out, it's all good. He laughs and plays and is perfectly content.  But when Rebecca comes in the room, he starts to get cranky and he just wants her.  I'm sure this is pretty typical behavior for a kid his age.  For me, it's a little insulting - "what, I'm not good enough for you?".  But for Rebecca it is just plain annoying because she can't get anything done when he is around.  This too shall pass.

We've had a few other big achievements lately.  Ben started taking some steps on his own.  Still just 2 or 3 at a time, but people say once it starts, he'll be walking soon enough.  He also has increased his vast vocabulary to 3 words.  In addition to "momma" and "dadda", he now says "dog".  Well, more like "daw daw" but we are impressed.  It's funny too because we don't have a dog.  But he gets excited when he sees them on TV or out walking around, or at friends' houses.

OK, as usual, here are some recent photos...

No, that first one isn't Ben, but a classic just the same.  Big Steve eating Chicken Holiday!  Below are pictures of ben playing, at the park with Grandma, and showing off his new "Vail" shirt (he wants to go skiing there next year!).  Also, three classic "messy face" pictures.  The first is Ben eating his 1st Birthday Cake (his first sugar fix ever).  I think he liked it because you can see him eating his friend Ricky's cake too (with the red icing).  Think he enjoyed it?  And there's another with him covered in Oreo cookie!  Don't worry, he eats a lot of veggies and fruit too!

If you read my last post about Ben, you'll know that the winter wasn't going so well.  It seemed like Ben was always sick and in a "bad mood".  Well not anymore!  The little guy that we love is back and crazier than ever.  One day he just changed completely back to his old self.  These days he is sleeping great, eating great, playful as can be and all about having fun!

Ben is loving "real" food.  He really wants to feed himself so we let him do that most of the time.  He eats pasta, scrambled eggs, sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, pears, turkey meatloaf, veggie burgers, pizza (crust), peas, broccoli, carrots, mac and cheese and a bunch of other stuff.  He watches what Mommy and Daddy eat and always wants food off of our plates.  Plus, he is taking his bottles more too.  So all that is going well.

Play time is completely different these days.  Benny really seems to "get" the game.  I don't know what goes on in his mind but he is really starting to learn things.  The little gears are really turning in his head.  He loves to play with his Fisher Price "House".  He plays peek-a-boo by lifting the window up and down.  He also loves his "Little People".  And he has car that he can ride on and walk behind.  We are noticing more hand coordination too as he can put balls into a slot or put his blocks together (sometimes).  He's very proud of himself too, especially when he is walking (with our help), standing - yes on his own for a few seconds at a time, and other fun stuff.  Yesterday I said "How big is Benny" and up went his hands.  I had been trying that for a while with him with no result.  But it just clicked and how he does it all the time. 

Ben is really looking forward to turning 1 year old.  He had a lot of fun with his cousin Grace at her Birthday party.  She's older by 10 days!  Check out the picture of them together, it is pretty funny because Grace is big for her age, while Ben is pretty small.

OK, here are some of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks.  Oh, by the way, Benny got his first haircut too.

It's been a while since my last entry of The Ben Chronicles.  As I look through my collection of photos I see why.  I have taken very few photos of Ben since Thanksgiving.  There's a few reasons for that.  One is that my camera is on the fritz.  But hopefully some new rechargeable batteries will solve the problem.  The bigger issue is that Ben was sick a lot.  In December I think he was sick more days than he was healthy.  First a stomach bug (no details but that was fun), then  a cold, than another cold, than another, etc.  Most of these weren't anything major but one time he gave us a scare when his hole throat puffed out.  Turns out it was just really bad swollen glands due to all of the colds he has had.  Anyway, he was sick during Rebecca's entire winter break which was really a bummer.  Each time he goes back to daycare and then a few days later he is home sick again.  But he seems to be pretty healthy these days (or should I say, today).  People warned me that the first year at school or daycare is when kids get sick the most. 

When he is feeling good, Ben is a bundle of fun.  He's really curious and he is really stubborn.  He loves to crawl around and play with stuff.  He loves being tickled and laughs a lot!  He's not so interested in baby food any more and wants to eat "real" food.  He really likes to feed himself.  I think all of those sick days made him a little more needy because he wants to be held more than ever.  Or maybe it is just a phase he is going through.  He isn't gaining a lot of weight these days, and all those sick days didn't help, but he still seems to be looking a lot bigger.  As he gets close to 1 year old, he really is changing into less of a baby and more of a little boy.  But we still have a long way to go.

We just got back from our family trip to see family in Phoenix, AZ.  Our annual Thanksgiving trip west includes us three plus my in-laws, Rebecca's sister, her husband and their 3 kids heading out to visit family in Arizona.  We had a great time, it is too bad we only see Rebecca's Grandmom, Aunt, Uncle and Cousin once in a while.  Ben loved the trip...he got a lot of attention which always makes him happy.  I wouldn't exactly say he loved the plane ride but he behaved pretty well, all things considered. 

Thank you TSA: OK, I can't believe I am going to do this, but I feel the need to compliment the TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) for a job well done over the holiday weekend.  What?  Yes, it is true.  When we departed from Philly, we were shocked to find out that they had implemented a family line!  The regular line wasn't too bad but probably a 10-15 minute wait. But much to our surprise, we got to use the family line (thanks Ben!) and we moved right to the front.  Once into the screening area we found the staff to be friendly, courteous and very helpful.  Some of the TSA employees even helped us with all of our stuff!  I don't recall it being like that last time, or ever.  Was it always staffed by TSA, or was it a private company before?  I don't know what has changed but I say "Keep up the good work".  Us bloggers are quick to complain on the web about things we don't like, so we should also point out when things work well!  We found a similar situation in Phoenix on the return trip.

BOOOO US Air:  Speaking of complaining, it is time to do so.  US Air (and Airlines in general) have really gotten ridiculous.  OK, I get charging me for my luggage and even for a drink.  I don't like it, but I get it.  But where is my movie?  We went on a five hour cross country flight and they couldn't show a movie?  How about a few TV re-runs?  What about some kind of travel programming?  Even an infomercial would have entertained me!  How much does it cost to run that in flight entertainment?  There are commercials on it, so it can't cost too much.  Don't they know that if I had a movie it would have taken my mind off the fact that the flight stinks - the seats are too close together, the temperature is either too hot or too cold, they charge me for my meal, they charge me for a drink, they charge me for my luggage.  What's next, a charge to use the bathroom?  OK, moving on...

Travel Tips:  Ben is 9.5 months old and isn't the kind of kid who can sleep on someone's lap.  So we got him a seat on the plane.  It is expensive but worth it.  So we brought his car seat on with us for him to sleep in.  It worked out pretty well.  The doctors say Benadryl is a no-no for kids his age.  Too bad, because it would have helped him relax.  Instead they recommend a dose of infant Tylenol prior to boarding the plane.  Ben is teething too, so that seemed like a good idea.  Remember that baby's can't clear the pressure from their ears like we do when the pressure of taking off or landing builds.  They recommend a bottle or nursing to help.  Timing is the key though.  It isn't the actual landing or take off, it is the time when the planes altitude changes the most that counts.  That's a big deal for a kid like Ben, who nurses pretty quickly.  If we time it wrong, he'll finish and won't be too happy with the pressure change.  Luckily that went ok.  During the flight he mostly slept.  We put the "hood" up on the car seat and covered more of the opening with a shirt, so it would be nice and dark for him.  By the way, the evening flight was much easier than the day time flight because the little ones expect to sleep more.  By the way, the last time we flew Ben was only about 3.5 months old.  That time, he slept great because we used the Baby Bjorn to keep him snuggled up with us for the whole flight.  We didn't bother to get him his own seat because he was really little.  He was so happy on that flight lying on us!

Oh yeah, Arizona:  As I said, Ben loved the trip.  He got to sleep in a hotel, eat in a lot of restaurants, see Great Grandma, play in her house, sit by the pool, stay up late, and play with the whole family.  One night he got to go play with his Bubbie and Zeyda (Grandma and Grandpa) while we went out to dinner.  That was great!  The weather in AZ was not too great (cool and rainy) and over a few days there, we spent about 2 hours total at the pool.

I know, you just want to see Pictures of Ben.  Here you go: (Don't forget, you can click the photos to see a bigger version)

Looking at my blog I see that I haven't posted any pictures of Ben since the end of August!  Wow, time flies.  A lot has changed since then with Benny.  When we last left our hero he was learning to sit up.  Well these days he's all about being mobile.  He's  crawling all over and loves to follow us around.  The changes have been so exciting to watch.  When he first sat up on his own he was so happy because he could play by himself with toys.  Now, he can crawl around, find something to play with, move on to the next toy, crawl over here and crawl over there.  He has become quite independent and he is very proud of himself.  He has times when he really wants to be held but on the other hand he has times when he can play all by himself for a pretty long time.

Of course, we had to baby-proof the house now.  Ben loves to get into trouble too.  It seems that this kid has an instinct for grabbing anything he isn't supposed to!  In general, Ben is a fun kid but he's pretty independent and stubborn too.  I'm really surprised at how much of a personality a little 8 month old kid can have.  I wonder how much he'll change that as he gets older.  Anyway, here are some pictures of our Benny. 

It's hard to believe that summer is almost over but Benny has really enjoyed it.  He's had some great accomplishments recently.  A few weeks ago Ben started to gain his balance and was sitting up quite well, as long as someone was on hand to spot him.  But now he's pretty good at it.  And this week he figured out how to go from laying down into a sitting position all by himself.  He also really likes to be up on his hands and knees.  He rocks back and forth and looks like he is trying to figure out how to crawl!  I think he'll be doing it in no time at all.  Ben got his first tooth last week too.  It's not fully here, but you can see it so that counts, right?  Also, Ben started at Daycare last week since it is time for his mommy to go back to work.  He seems to like it but he's also decided to show his stubborn side (where do you think he gets that????).  So he's gone a little "Hunger Strike" as I like to call it.  All of a sudden he decided he wouldn't take a bottle from anyone at all!  I think it is his way of saying he loves his mommy!  He only wants the "real thing".  Luckily, while he's at daycare during the day he is happy to eat baby food.  So I guess it isn't a true hunger strike, really it is a bottle strike.  But he surprised us again by taking a few ounces from the bottle today at daycare so maybe he is getting more comfortable.  We'll see.  OK, here are some pictures from the past few weeks:

I'll start with the one that may be our favorite picture of Ben ever!  The look on his face is too funny. I guess he doesn't like tomatoes!  I hope he forgives me for putting the second one up on the Internet. 

These days Ben is just a ton of fun.  Ben loves to visit with family because there is always someone who is happy to hold him and give him attention.  And he can really turn on the charm for them too.  Here's Ben with Cousins Kaycie, Allie and Samantha, his Uncle Dennis, and his Grandma, and his GG (Great Grandma) and Nat.  Oh, I guess I am in that last one too, but who cares about me these days?

Ben has already been to the beach a few times to visit Zayda and Bubbie (Grandpa and Grandma).  Here's Ben hanging with Zayda, relaxing on the beach, and taking a nap with Mommy after a hard day of having fun.

Ben also got to see his cousin Allie in a dance competition.  We were surprised at how much he seemed to enjoy it.  He watched the dancers on stage the whole time and love the music too!  Here is is with Aunt Jane, me and Allie.

Ok, these next few are just too cute to leave out...

Ben is very excited that summer is here!  In fact, summer hasn't officially started but no one told that to Ben.  Like all cool kids, Ben needed a wardrobe upgrade to get ready for the season.  Now he's got a few bathing suits, shirts and hats so he can enjoy the weather.  Plus, if you hadn't noticed, Benny is pretty fair skinned so we need to be extra careful in the sun.

Ben's friend Lauren and her family invited us to swim at their club.  Ben had a really good time in the kiddie pool.  Most importantly, he didn't embarrass us with any "accidents" in the pool! 

The following weekend was a big one.  Not only was it Ben's first trip to the Beach but it was my first Father's Day.  Lucky for Ben (and us), his Zaida and Bubbie have a beach house. FYI, that is Yiddish for Grandpa and Grandma, although I am not positive on the spelling.  Ben hopes to spend a lot of time with them at the beach this summer.  We spent Father's day with Rebecca's dad and his wife, as well as her brother and sister their families.  It was a really nice day and Ben got to hang out with cousins Billy, Dylan and Fiona.  We missed Bret who had a sleep over that night with a friend.

That Saturday we took Ben for his first walk on the Boardwalk.  I think it was pretty special for Rebecca since she spent all of her summers there since she was little.  Sunday's weather was pretty bad.  In the afternoon it seemed to be clearing out so we decided to take Ben to put his feet in the ocean for the first time.  Our friends Dean and Alexis joined us. After some preparation we were finally making our way to the beach.  As we were about to step off the board walk the neighbors  told us that the beach was CLOSED!  What?  Yes, the lifeguards told everyone to leave because of a lightning storm that was approaching. Sure enough, looking in the other direction we saw some nasty clouds.  I guess Ben will have to wait until next weekend to hit the beach.  Incidentally, within a few minutes the sky opened up and it poured for quite some time!

Here's some shots from the weekend:  Don't forget you can click on the to see a larger version

Yes, at the ripe old age of 3 months old, Ben went to visit his Great Grandmom in Arizona!  We  were pretty nervous about flying with the little guy but he was great during our flights.  Although on the way home, as I carried him onto the plane in the Baby Bjorn he spit up all over my chest.  Thanks!  Then when we got settled on the plane I was holding him and he spit up all over my lap!  He got me twice in 10 minutes!!  Anyway, the trip was great and Ben and his Great Grandmom had a fantastic time.  He also got to meet his Great Aunt Naomi and Great Uncle Mark.  I think they all had fun.  Ben's "firsts" for the trip include flying, sleeping in a hotel, swimming in a pool, and more.  He even went to his first Zoo.  Of course, he could care less about the animals at his age. 

In addition Ben has been working at improving some of his skills.  These days he love to play with his feet and he's starting to use his fingers more.  He's sitting up well (with a little help) and he's trying to roll over.  He's hasn't mastered it yet, but he's getting there.  The first time he did it no one saw.  He was playing on his "play gym" and Rebecca turned to him and noticed that he had flipped from his back to his front!  He's done it a few other times but each with a bit of a nudge!  He loves to sleep on his side now.  When you lay him down on his back, he just flips himself right onto his side to sleep, it is really cute.  The down side is that due to all of his new abilities, Ben is no longer allowed to be swaddled in the blanket for sleeping.  He still sleeps pretty well but he tends to wake up more at night.

Here's some more great pictures:

Last week I had a chance to spend a whole day with Ben.  Unfortunately, my wife's grandfather passed away (more on that in a future post).  The funeral was in Arizona and since several of the family members out there had some kind of virus, we were advised not to bring Ben.  So the only option was for Rebecca to fly out and back without us.  Rebecca left at around 5 am on Tuesday and took the red-eye back that night, getting home at 9 am Wednesday morning!  I had never spent that much time alone with Ben.  As a matter of fact, neither had Rebecca.  She's alone with him a lot while I am at work but I'm there at night to help out.  Well Ben and I made it through the day but we were sure glad to see mom when she got back!

I spent the entire day in the 3 hour feeding cycle.  This kid eats all the time!  But we had an eventful day as I was determined to not be stuck at the house all day.  We ran a few errands, went for a long walk and generally had fun.  Ben's really cool these days because he loves to smile and "play around".  Now if I stick my tongue out at him, he'll stick his back at me.  That has got to be the greatest thing I have ever seen.  Of course, he does have his moments when he is irritable.  Usually a burp or a diaper change does the trick.  But sometimes he is just cranky which, I admit, can make me cranky too.  Sometimes he'll just cry or grunt or kick his legs around and slam them down onto the bed, crib, floor, or whatever he is lying on.  That got me thinking about what goes through his head.  I was wondering, what happens when a baby has an itch?  You know how it is when you have an itch, you just have to scratch it.  But he's only 10 weeks old, he can't scratch an itch (or do anything else for that matter).  So maybe that is why he is crying? Maybe that is why he kicks his legs around?  I mean, at his age, an itch might feel like something on his leg and he's trying to shake it off. Anyway, that is just one example of the kind of stuff I think about. 

I have a heightened respect for my wife who stays home with Ben.  I say "heightened" as opposed to "new" because I always knew it was a tough, sometimes stressful or irritating job to be with a baby all day long.  Of course it is fun too.  But she seems to get a lot of stuff done in addition to taking great care of little Benny.  I had a hard time getting out the door and back in time to feed him.  I guess you get better at it when you do it all the time.  I was pretty tired that night, but I still had a few feedings to go and I had never done the 3 am feeding at all.  Plus, I don't have breasts ready to go when Ben is hungry.  I've got to have bottles ready just when he wants them. 

In the end it was a tiring but fun day and I was glad that I got to have the experience of taking care of my boy for that long a period.  I think a lot of dads don't get that experience because breast feeding mom can't usually be away that long.  By the way, we were lucky we followed the advice of experts and kept a supply of milk around for emergencies!

OK, here are some recent pics of Benny...

OK life has officially changed.  Today Rebecca and I went shopping at BJ's, a "Big Box" store near us.  Ben was great through the whole thing.  Maybe that wasn't such a good thing.  Had he cried, we might have left in a hurry and I'd have been able to keep my shirt.  Instead, we took our time and I spent $350!  Ouch.  I have a feeling we saved a lot of money though, some of the deals seemed pretty good.  What's next, a mini-van?

For the first few weeks of Ben's life, we swaddled him at bed time.  He seemed to enjoy it (most of the time).  If you aren't familiar with the term, swaddling is pretty much wrapping the baby in a special blanket so they feel safe and secure.  Anyway when Ben was younger (now he is old, 7 weeks!) he started fussing and usually found a way to wiggle his arms out of the swaddle.  Then we swaddled him with his arms out.  But eventually we gave up because the whole thing seemed to stress him out.

The other day a friend suggested we try it again since her baby seemed to love it.  My sister is a big fan of it too.  So we gave it a try.  At bed time we bundled the little guy up and put him into his basinet.  Well much to our surprise, this kid slept for 5 hours! For the past few weeks the best we got was 3 - 3.5 hours at a time.  That is a pretty big difference!  At one point, when Ben had been asleep for about 4 hours Rebecca woke me up.  "Do you think Ben is OK?  He hasn't woken up yet."  Keep in mind, Ben sleeps 2 feet from Rebecca's side of the bed, so it was clear that he was OK.  So she basically woke me up to tell me that Ben was still asleep.  In the morning, my wife was still worried that he didn't like it, she felt bad wrapping him up.  I said, "he slept for 5 hours and didn't make a peep - no crying or anything!"  I'm no baby expert, but to me it sounds like he enjoyed being swaddled.  Plus, Ben is not the shy and silent type.  If he were unhappy, he would have let us know.  Last night was the second night in a row that we tried it.  He actually sleep for almost 6 hours!  Do you think we'll try it again tonight?

While I am here, I might was well include a few recent pictures...

Ok this post isn't so much about Ben as it is about Rebecca and I, and our life with Ben.  Sure, I am a naive, first time dad.  I didn't exactly know what to expect after we brought our son home from the hospital.  Well, he's almost 6 weeks old and I am starting to figure it out.  The biggest challenge so far seems to be time management.  I can't believe how much time this guy takes up.  Anyway, on to the point of this post...

I've always heard that when people have a baby, their friends send over dinners for them.  I thought that seemed nice enough, but hardly all that big a deal.  I figured that when we came home with Ben we'd be sitting around a lot (since he can't to much) and we'd have time to cook.  Also I thought, that the gift of food thing must be great for families where "dad" can't cook.  In my case, I can cook, and love to.  So I wouldn't mind making dinner each night for Rebecca since she'd be busy feeding Ben.  WRONG!!!!  Wow was I wrong.  And luckily, my friends and family knew better.  They sent over food.  Lots of food.  Not only was I too busy to cook for the first few weeks, but I was just too exhausted to do it.  One little child can be completely draining.  So these meals are a very kind gift and I am thankful to everyone who helped us out.  If you are in a position to bring dinner to a new family, please please please do it.  They will love you for it.  In addition, my advice to any expecting parent - cook in advance and freeze food.  We froze chicken cutlets, meatloaf, soup, and more.  Combine that with all of the great meals our friends sent over and we didn't cook a meal for the first 3 weeks.  And we had a few in week 4 too!  I'm not kidding.  Rebecca and I realized that, except for picking up some essentials like milk, we didn't go shopping for a month!

THANKS to all of our friends for the help and support.  Also, here's a picture of us with Ben - he's one month old here.

On Saturday, Feb 16th, at around 4:30 am Rebecca woke me up.  While she told me that "something was going on", she also told me that we shouldn't get too excited.  This could pass and it could easily be another week before child birth.  A half hour later she told me she was hungry.  I got her some snacks and after a few minutes she decided that this wasn't hunger pains, she was having some minor contractions/cramps.  Still, we knew this could this could pass. 

Before long, the small contractions seemed to be at a regular pace, maybe 12 minutes apart and we figured that, just in case, we should get a suitcase together.  We knew that the longer we stayed home, the happier Rebecca and I would be.  Sometime around 6:30 (I think), we called the Dr's office.  As expected, they told us to relax at home.

I took this picture of Rebecca around 7:30 am.  She was acting pretty funny and decided that she needed to clean and vacuum the house before we left!  At this point her contractions were around 5 minutes apart!  Another call to the doctor.  Since we live only 5 minutes from the hospital, she told us that we could come in if we want, or stay home for a while longer.  Eventually we left and around 8:30 we got to Bryn Mawr Hospital.

Upon arrival, we met our delivery nurse, Karyn.  She also introduced us to Carissa, a student nurse who would help out for the day.  Karyn checked out Rebecca and warned us that we could be there a while, she was only 1.5 centimeters dilated.  We immediately questioned if we came in too early.  Around an hour later, Rebecca was really starting to complain about the pain.  The nurses and I calmed her and kept her on track.  But even the nurse was getting concerned about Rebecca's pain level.  During the next examination, Karyn's face lit up and she said (I am paraphrasing) "No wonder you are in so much pain, you are 7.5 centimeters dilated!"  That was an unexpected change in about 1 hour!  At that point, things got pretty busy and exciting.  Rebecca's contractions got pretty intense but she was really strong and I was very impressed.  Pretty soon Karyn informed us that it was "now or never" for the epidural.  One or two contractions later and the decision was obvious to us!  "Bring on the epidural" (I won't repeat what Rebecca really said!).  I have to say that I think the epidural was a good idea.  Things really calmed down after that and in about an hour, Dr Craparo brought  Benjamin Harry Schwam into the world. 

It was a pretty fast delivery (we were at the hospital at 8:30 and he was born at 12:22) and we had a great experience.  I can't say enough good   things about our team.  They were very helpful and caring.  Karyn took care of Rebecca all morning.  She is an awesome nurse and we are very thankful to her.  Carissa told us that Benjamin was the first baby she ever saw delivered naturally.  No matter how many deliveries she takes part in after this, we know that Ben will always be her first.  The doctor is kind of like a closer in baseball.  The nurses play the whole game and in the last inning the doctor comes in to win the game.  Don't get me wrong, Dr. Craparo was terrific and did a great job. she is very warm, skilled and confident and that is very reassuring to expecting parents.  We owe them all our gratitude...THANKS!

It's hard to believe that little Ben is 3 weeks old today!  I don't know if this is cool, but I'm going to quote myself (someone has too!).  Years ago I wrote a song for my friends called The Good Times.  The last verse is as follows:

Sometimes it seems like years since the first day we met.
Years full of memories we never will forget.
Sometimes it’s like I just met you yesterday.
But time goes by so fast we better not let it slip away.

I think of that verse a lot, including now.  Ben is so tiny, he's just a little guy at the beginning of his life.   But sometimes it seems like he's been with us forever.  Already he just feels like a regular member of the family. 

Ben's a pretty cool kid, if I do say so myself.  I think he cries a lot, but from what I have heard from other people, we are pretty lucky.  He actually sleeps a lot too.  Unfortunately, he is still a little confused and wants to party all night and sleep all day. We are working on that.  Since he arrived, he's had lots of visitors and many friends and family have sent gifts and warm wishes.  I find the expressions of love from so many people very touching.  It's a great feeling to know that so many people care. 

I am really surprised (yes, I was warned) about how little time I have to get things accomplished these days.  I really expected to have more "down time" when I could do day to day things and keep up with my blogging.  But I find that mostly during the down time, I just want to take a nap.  This little 7 lb guy can really drain you!

In the next few blog posts, I'll be sharing photos and stories about Ben.

I am proud to announce that our little boy has arrived.  Benjamin Harry Schwam was born on Saturday Feb 16th at 12:22 pm.  He's 19 & 3/4 inches and he was 6lbs, 5 oz.  He's totally cute and he has red hair, which is awesome but was quite unexpected.  Not only that, he's got a lot of hair and I'm a little jealous.  He's doing great and so is his Mom.  Rebecca did a great job! 

So now I'll have lot's of "Daddy" stuff to blog about.  Until I find some energy to do so, check out these pictures...

Here's a picture of Rebecca and me, with Ben.  It's just after he was born.

Here's a close-up of Ben.  He's been with us for a few hours in this photo. 

This one shows off his hair pretty well.