Tuesday, July 21, 2009

2 months



Many have asked where the red hair comes from. In order to have a red head, the red hair gene must be present in both the mother and father.
On my side: My mom's grandma had the skin coloring of a red head(pail and freckles) but my mom only knew her with white hair so we don't know this for sure. We assume that is where we can link it to on my side.
On Chad's side: Chad's Grandpa(Pat's father, Glen Perdue) was a red head(the red lineage goes further back but we'll start here). The trend in this family has been only 1 red head in each generation.
Ben is the only red head of the family in his generation on Chad's side of the family. Ben is the second red head of his generation on my side(Anna is the first).

Did you know...
  • Approximately 1% to 2% of the human population has red hair
  • Redheads make up approximately 4% of the European population
  • Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads, as 13% of the population has red hair and approximately 40% carries the recessive redhead gene
  • Ireland has the second highest percentage at 10%. It is thought that up to 46% of the Irish population carries the recessive redhead gene.
  • In the United States, anywhere from two to six percent of the population is estimated to have red hair. This would give the U.S. the largest population of redheads in the world, at 6 to 18 million, compared to approximately 650,000 in Scotland and 420,000 in Ireland.
At 2 months old, Benjamin:
  • Weighs 13 lbs

  • Is 22.5 inches long

  • Smiles all the time

  • Not only coos but is finding his voice in different volumes with his excitment level

  • Has been sleeping through the nights for weeks: average 8pm - 7am

  • Is holding his head up on his own. Still gets a little wobbly when tired though

  • Uses his hands and arms to life his head and chest off the ground during tummy time

  • Loves his bouncy chair

  • Is rolling over from his tummy to his back

  • Started rice cereal



5 weeks old.....



and is sleeping through the night!!


For the past 4 nights in a row my boy has has slept from 8pm until 5 or 6 am!! YAY!!!


Lets hope this continues!!




1 month old




No doubt about it, that first month is a challenge to say the least. I remember saying I am never going to do this or I am never going to do that. HA!! You break out all the stops at 3 in the morning when the baby has been crying for what seems like an eternity and its been fed, changed, burped, rocked, swayed, anything and everything that the damn book said!! Give me that pacifer that I said that I was never going to give my child!! Ahhhh...relief.....

But seriously, yes the past month has had its difficulties but all in all has been great. The best parts of my days are when I am just holding Ben and he is staring at me, it truely is a love like no other. Then there are the times when Chad is holding him and I watch as he interacts with his son and I catch myself day dreaming of what life will be like in 5 years watching them play t-ball and catch in the back yard.


Life is so much better with Ben in our family.



At 1 month old, Benjamin:


  • weighs 10 lbs

  • is 21.5 inches long

  • holds his head up when he's on his tummy

  • likes to try to stand and bounce on Momma's lap

  • smiles

  • coos

  • eats 4 oz at a time

  • sleeps 4-5 hours at a time - no complaints here!!

  • doesn't take particular interest in any of his toys but loves Momma and Daddy's faces

  • likes the swing (at times) but not for too long

  • is sleeping in his big boy crib!