The Visit- Part I.

This entry will be peppered with pictures from various parts of our visit with Great Grammy and Grampy- the pictures aren’t necessarily sequential, but there are so many good ones that I feel compelled to add them in. Jered’s Grampy and Grammy got here last week on Wednesday evening around 7 pm. Hazel is usually getting ready for bed by that time, so we tried to keep her up for a bit longer than usual so that she could greet them as they came in. She managed to stay awake just long enough to meet them before going to bed for the night. To say that the introduction was special would be an understatement- Great Grampy was so happy to finally meet Hazel that I could have sworn you could taste the excitement in the air.


The next morning we woke up around 7 and Hazel decided to show off her bubbly personality. She is definitely a “morning” baby- her best time of the day is first thing in the morning, in fact, most days she wakes up laughing and squealing. Great Grammy even got to spend some quality time with Hazel on the floor.


Every morning during their visit we played with Hazel either on the floor, in her command center (see the previous entry) or on somebody’s lap. There was plenty of love to go around the room!








There are at least 70 other photos on our flickr site- so if you’d like to see more shots from our fantastic visit- head over there. Jered will be posting about Hazel’s first solid food experience, which was also part of our visit with Great Grammy and Grampy- we have video and pictures of this too, so stay tuned!

A few videos

Great Grammy and Grampy got back on the road today to go and visit Preston and Rob in Maryland. We had a great visit with them and wish we lived closer so that we could spend more time with our extended family. We are planning a couple of very big updates in the next week or so with highlights of their visit. Today is Jered’s birthday so the big updates will have to wait another day. In the mean time here are a couple of videos taken in the last week or so. The first is of Hazel enjoying her “Command Center” as Jered calls it.

Hazel in the Command Center from esther benoit on Vimeo.

This second one is of me and Hazel enjoying a few laughs last weekend. Look for a more substantial update with lots of pictures and videos later this week!

Silly Time from esther benoit on Vimeo.

A quick update

We’re having way too much fun to post a substantial entry, but thought we’d put a few of the pictures we’ve taken so far with Great Grammy and Grampy. Hazel is loving her Great Grandfather’s deep, loud voice- she spends a lot of time watching him tell stories. We’ll post more on Sunday, until then here are a few pictures.
This one was taken shortly before Great Grammy and Grampy arrived.

The week ahead

We have a fun week ahead of us. Hazel will finally get to meet her Great Grampy Benoit this week. Jered’s grandparents are coming to visit at the end of this week and we couldn’t be more excited. Hazel has already had a chance to meet her Great Grammy, but it was over 3 months ago and she has changed so much since then! Hazel tells me she is so excited to see them both that she has decided to start waking up in the middle of the night just to check to see if they’ve arrived yet. The past few nights Hazel’s sleep has been a little erratic- it seems we’re having a bit of a sleep regression, she’s waking up somewhere between 1-3 am and again around 5-6. It’s not bad because I’m coming at it rested, but it is tough to have to get up in the middle of the night again after getting used to sleeping until 5 am most mornings! Let’s hope this will pass once the great grandparents get here and Hazel calms down- I’m sure she’s just overexcited about the visit!

I did a major photo update yesterday but forgot to upload these pictures taken from my iPhone at the pediatrician’s office just after Hazel got her shots. As you can see, Hazel’s daddy takes very very good care of her- making sure she always has a comfy place to rest on the toughest of days.

Those shots wiped her out!

We hope everyone has a great week- we’ll post pictures and more updates later this week once Great Grampy and Grammy arrive.

Another picture update

Good morning! Things here at the Benoit household are off to a nice slow Saturday morning start. We woke up this morning to the sound of Hazel squealing happily at the top of her lungs. Jered took her downstairs and let me sleep in until 8:30, which is the latest I’ve slept since Hazel was born in June.
Today we are headed to the Poquoson seafood festival with my mom and Paul- I fed Jered a big breakfast since there probably won’t be too much other than fried dough that he can eat today!
Now let’s get down to the business of this picture post. I’ll start with a little disclaimer- if you find yourself thinking that Hazel is just too cute to handle I would recommend coming to visit, her pictures don’t quite do her justice!

Let’s start with a few pictures of Hazel trying out her Bumbo, yet again. She is liking it a bit better now that we promise to sing to her and entertain her while she’s in it (if you ever want to get her to smile, just sing that darn Boom-dee-ya-da song)

In the next photo Hazel made me promise I wouldn’t go anywhere- she decided to hold onto my leg.

She’s fascinated by her hands again- we think it’s because she’s learning how to single out individual fingers and pick things up with her fingers and hands.

Hazel has also started to show interest in holding toys. Until recently she has mainly enjoyed looking at things hanging above her head (mobiles, fans, mom and dad’s faces) but now she is taking interest in reaching for things and grabbing them and quickly putting them in her mouth.

She really likes her yellow bunny rattle

Such a cute little girl deserves some cute shoes- so this week I got busy and knitted Hazel a pair of Mary Janes, complete with star buttons- here are a few shots of the shoes hot off the sticks.

Some of you have noticed what a drooly girl our Hazel is- well that hasn’t slowed down any at all. She drools constantly. We have raised our white flag and ended the war on drool and now just let it happen. We’ve tried bibs, changing shirts, wiping her mouth every 2 minutes- and have come to the conclusion that Hazel actually prefers being a drooly mess. She told us it makes her feel more sophisticated.

Notice the drool and the super cute diaper she’s wearing (she’s going to love us for posting these pictures)

She loves hanging out with Daddy and pulling on his beard and chin and glasses and nose and… well, just about anything she can get her hands on!

Hazel’s new, more studious look (she decided to take daddy’s glasses)

We are having so much fun with our little Hazelnut… tummy raspberries and all

And all that fun can really wear her out!

4 month check-up

Today was Hazel’s 4 month well-baby check up and 2nd round of shots. She did very well, but both Jered and I agree that the shots were more painful (at least for us) than they were two months ago. Hazel went into the doctor’s office all smiles and giggles and quickly changed her tune. She screamed and held her breath and got very very upset about the shots, but a couple minutes after the four shots were over (they were out of the 5th shot, so she will get that one in December at her 6 month check-up) she was back to her smiling self- if not a bit more hesitant about the nurses around her.
The most fun part of these appointments is seeing how well Hazel is growing. She now weighs 14 pounds and 12 ounces which is the 75th percentile for weight. She is 24.5 inches long which is the 50th percentile for length, and her head circumference is now 16.5 inches, which is the 70th percentile. She is growing well and we have been given the all clear to start cereal and veggies if we want. We’ve decided to wait on the cereal a bit longer- we will probably start closer to her 6 month check up. She is growing well and we are in no hurry to start solids. The pediatrician seemed to think this was a good idea and supports us completely. Hazel is sleeping through the night well without supplemental formula or cereal and although she shows interest when we eat meals, we’re not quite sure she’s ready to sit down with a spoon and a bowl just yet. We are also excited to start solids closer to the holidays so that we can share those first experiences with our extended family.
This weekend’s plans have changed a bit- we were expecting company but things didn’t quite work out so we will be going to a few local festivals with my mom and brother. Clayton will be marching in the Yorktown Day parade on Sunday so we will be sure to catch that.
I plan on doing a major photo update later tonight when Hazel goes to bed for the night. We have caught a few great pictures over the last week and can’t wait to share them with you all!

Some new videos

I’ve been a bit under the weather the past few days- turns out I caught strep, probably during one of the sessions I had earlier this week. Fortunately Hazel seems to have escaped the bug and is doing quite well. While she’s napping I thought I’d post a few videos taken over the last week or so. The first is of Hazel’s first trip to the beach. It wasn’t the *real* beach, but she was sitting in the sand by the water, even if it was just the James River.

At the beach from esther benoit on Vimeo.

This next video is of Hazel watching Jered eat breakfast, and then of Hazel showing everyone how quickly she can roll over. She is so much fun now, and prefers to spend the majority of her waking hours on her belly or sitting on our laps. She is sitting pretty well now and only needs a little support from us when she’s on our laps.

New PJs from esther benoit on Vimeo.

And finally, this morning Hazel was squealing her little heart out. This is a newfound favorite thing that she does- and it’s pretty funny (for now). She’s definitely finding her voice! We love that Hazel is such a feisty little girl.

Squealing from esther benoit on Vimeo.

Come back tomorrow for an update on Hazel’s 4 month pediatrician’s appointment. She’ll be getting another round of shots and we should have some new stats on length, weight etc.

Picture Updates

It’s been a while since our last post and we’ve taken a bunch of pictures since then so I thought I would get everyone up to date with what Hazel’s been up to by doing a picture post. Hazel continues to grow and change so quickly- we’re amazed how much she changes from week to week!
The weather has recently gotten cooler- so we’ve been able to go on more walks in the evenings before bedtime (7:30). Because of the chill in the air, we now have to bundle Hazel up- and she gets to wear her favorite hat.

She’s recently acquired a new, more seasonal hat from her Grammy and Grampy. This one makes her a literal pumpkin head.

When we’re not out on walks with our Hazelnut, we are entertaining her at home- she still loves tummy time the best, but recently she has tried out something new- the exersaucer. This contraption is a brightly colored little walker/jumper that Hazel gets to bounce around in. She seems to like it a lot- it’s a good thing we waited until she was 4 months to use it, though- even though she is old enough according to the official recommendation she still is a little unsteady in it!

Hazel’s favorite cousin, Peter, recently sent her a picture of him sitting in his Bumbo chair. Despite seeing Peter sitting up so well in his chair, Hazel still hasn’t really been motivated to enjoy her Bumbo anymore than she usually does (not much at all!). Here is one of the few pictures we’ve gotten of her sitting in it without trying to get out of it! (Note the almost threatening hand gesture she is making)

All that playing really wears a girl out- despite having difficulty napping, Hazel does still *occasionally* take a nice long nap. She’s more of a nighttime sleeper- which really, I’m not complaining about, but we do consider ourselves lucky when she goes down for a nap longer than 30 minutes!

The napping never lasts long, and pretty soon we’re back on the floor for some more tummy time. If we lay her down on her back, in no time she’s rolled over onto her stomach. She’s even decided that sleeping on her back at night is completely overrated- who cares what the American Academy of Pediatrics says- she’s given up on the Back to Sleep campaign and I’ve given up on going into her room 20 times a night to roll her back over! Here she is mid-roll.

Much happier once she’s rolled over!

And finally, a picture of Hazel (on her tummy, of course!) as I look on. On any given day you will find us on the floor with her for at least half the time she is awake. She is getting so strong, and before we know it she’ll be mobile- for now we’re just enjoying the fact that it takes her a while to scoot around her blanket!

What a difference a year makes

One year ago today we learned that we were expecting. I had been feeling off for about two weeks and I had a hunch that I might be pregnant, but I was still skeptical that it could happen so quickly. I got up early that morning to get ready for school and decided to take a test- when the faint pink line showed up I was stunned. When I told Jered we just looked at each other in disbelief. It’s hard to believe that we have known of Hazel’s existence for a year now- oh how our lives have changed in a year!

This time last year we were getting ready to go to Texas for Shauna and Ray’s wedding (where they graciously allowed us to make our big announcement). We started this blog last October as the reality of our pregnancy set in. One year ago today Hazel was just over a millimeter long- now she is close to 25 inches and over 12 pounds. Last year we had no idea if we would have a son or daughter, and all along I think I was convinced that we would have a little boy. Today we have a little girl who has completely changed our lives- who would have ever thought I’d be into all the frilly cute pink outfits and girly accessories? Although we didn’t think we were missing anything, Hazel has been just what we needed. A year sure can make a difference!