Retro Post - Baby Ben

Ben was born on January 12, 2001 at 2:54 a.m. I had called the date months before. I was teaching school at the time and I really wanted to finish the semester with my classes before I had him. He was due on the 16th, but I told everyone I was going to have him on the 12th. They laughed. They thought I was silly to think I had control over such things. I showed them (and without the aid of Pitocin). I left school at 3:00 on the 11th, felt my first contraction at 7:30 that night, and all 8 pounds, 14 ounces of Ben arrived 7 ½ hours later. He had a quality cone head and I thought he looked a lot like a monkey, but after a few hours I thought he was the most beautiful baby in the world. I had a really hard time calling him Benjamin. We had called him Herkamer while he was in the womb, and I was so used to it that Herk almost sounded cuter to me than Ben.

Nate and I were typical first time parents. We doted over that boy like crazy and took pictures and videos of every new expression, sound, or move. I remember being pretty overwhelmed with the task of parenting. I had been around babies lots, so I knew all the basics of childcare, but I had never had one of my very own. I felt the responsibility in a big way. Nate was very much a rookie at caring for a newborn. Watching him change a diaper during those first few weeks just about drove me nutty. He has certainly improved with practice.

Ben was a chubby baby. He weighed 20 pounds by the time he was 5 months old. It was a workout to lug that boy around! In the summer he actually got tan lines between his chubs. He tanned up nicely even as a baby, but we could pull apart the fat rolls on his arms and legs and the skin in the creases was pure white. It was very funny.

Mostly, he was just a cute, fun baby. He wanted food when he was hungry and wanted to sleep when he was tired. As long as those two basic needs were met, he was happy. He was a water baby right from the start and loved to play in the water . . . it didn’t matter if it was the bathtub, a lake, or a swimming pool. He was mom’s little buddy 24/7 and got lots of attention. I’ve often felt bad about how much less time my girls have had with me. They didn’t get nearly as many books read to them or songs sung to them or just one on one time to play with mom. People assure me that what they miss out on with their parents is more than made up for by their siblings. I hope that is true.

We love our Ben!