Happy New Year, everyone! I’m convinced that time really does fly faster as you get older. Our little Ben is already 4 months old!

Being in the 95th percentile, he’s outgrown all the clothes we had lined up for him already! The milestones are coming at such a fast pace, I can barely keep up - Holding his head up high, sitting on his own (with some teetering), grabbing things (to put in his mouth, of course) and making eye contact.  He’s learnt to giggle (infectiously) with intent at tickles and games we play with him. My favourite part of the day is greeting him in his bed in the mornings - there is always a smile big enough to melt your heart as he looks up at you

Ben has also started trying to mimic the things we say by watching our mouths. His first and most consistent ‘word’ is ‘oooowww’, and you won’t believe when he says it - always after Sparky howls at the sirens passing by. So there you have it - our dog taught our first born his first word

As our parents had never done this when we were kids, Chad and I had decided that we wouldn’t force any sleep times on Ben (for now anyway!), but rather allow him to follow his own rhythms around some routine things we do. Wonderfully (though not consistently), Ben has managed to follow our schedules with his sleep time! For e.g. Ben manages to be asleep around the times that Chad and I work out/shower in the mornings, make dinner in the evenings, and after bathtime at night around 9.30pm.

Because of Chad’s love of music and this article I found out of the University of California, we’ve been educating Ben with our music collection. We’ve also managed to find a sleep-favourite - Over Christmas with all the commotion and excitement, Ben will often fall asleep after a feed and some Norah Jones!

I guess, actually, now that I think about it, we’ve probably just learnt to follow his patterns! Nevertheless, it makes for 4 (including Sparky) happy campers around the house.