Where has the time gone and how is my baby almost ONE YEAR OLD?! I know I say this every post, but I cannot believe how fast time is flying by. Last night, a friend of ours stopped by with their sweet 3 month old, and immediately I felt like Benaiah should be that size. But no, here we are with an almost toddler on our hands and life seems to be moving along at a alarmingly fast pace.

But seriously, this stage is so much fun. I feel like he is soaking in everything and learning at such an amazingly fast pace. Watching him explore (even though it can be messy!) and learn new skills, babble, and laugh is something I won’t ever get tired of.

Sleeping

Benaiah is still sleeping well, which I am really thankful for. Our normal bed time for him, hovers around that 7-7:45 time window and most nights, he goes down without a peep. He will still wake up about once for a late night feeding (around 11-1), but he doesn’t stay awake very long at all. Recently, he has been ‘sleeping in’ until around 6:30-7:00 which is a much welcome break from the 5:30 wake up calls. However after many months of rough sleep, this feels like vacation compared to a few months ago. I am so thankful to have a routine and schedule that feels normal and healthy for all three of us and I am hoping that it just continues to get better and better 🙂

Naps

Benaiah is doing so much better than a few months ago with napping! He now is at a pretty typical 2 times a day nap schedule, average about 3 hours of sleeping per day. Normally, he will be up for around three hours in the morning and then take a 2 hour morning nap. After lunch, he will take another 1 hour nap. His nap time routine is pretty simple – diaper change, nursing session, and singing before heading to bed. He seems to sleep well if he is warm enough and likes to have some white noise on in the background. Nap time is my time to be able to get a lot of blog related/run coaching/home work stuff done and it feels so nice to have a time in the day to get necessary stuff out of the way, so I can be in full on ‘mom’ mode when he wakes up from his naps! Nap time, we like you a lot.

Social and New Skills

This boy is B.U.S.Y. With each passing month, Benaiah grows more and more mobile and more and more curious. His latest skills are waving ‘bye bye and hello’ to family, friends and strangers, ‘swimming,’ standing on his own, laying on his tummy in order to see things below eye level, pushing movable furniture around, clapping his hands, saying ‘ma ma’ (which makes me so happy!), and a few other smashed up words we can’t yet make sense of!

He loves his aunties, uncles, grandmas and grandpas, loves daddy, mommy, stroller runs, shopping, watching mom cook, opening up the cabinets, playing with the magnets on the fridge, opening drawers, and putting things away. I’ve noticed recently he’s started playing with a few stuffed animals he has, which is fun to watch!

Eating

Benaiah has the green light to eat anything except honey, and that is really what he is doing. We are holding off on sugar, for now, until at least age 1, but I have a feeling our fruit loving boy will have quite the sweet tooth. His favorite foods are bananas (as usual), blueberries, sweet potatoes, peanut butter sandwiches, cucumbers, watermelon, grapes, green beans, cheerios, and eggs. He has started liking cheese and is somewhat interested in chicken, which is a plus since I am trying to incorporate more protein + greens into his diet. It is weird that he now eats solids to fill him, instead of just ‘experimenting,’ which makes me a little sad, seeing him grow up and not need me as much anymore. I love watching him try new foods and am thankful that we haven’t found any allergies yet!

How am I Doing?

Eleven months into this mom thing and I feel really good. Like all back to my normal self and yet a better, newer version of me. Motherhood has taught me so much. I’ve seen God’s goodness in so many different areas of motherhood, the hard parts and the beautiful parts. The Lord has been teaching me that I cannot be the best wife, mother, runner, blogger, run coach, daughter, sister, friend in my own strength. In my own strength that is when I crash and burn. That is when I feel weary and easily overwhelmed. But, when I rely on His never ending, all surpassing, power, that is the moment that I find grace, strength and joy in each and every moment – the beautiful moments and the not so beautiful. And somehow, losing myself in Him makes me so much more complete.