4 Months...Growing SO Fast!

Hey Little Guy,

You are a DOLL!

What have you been up to this month? Well, let's see....

*You went on your first vacation with Mommy and Daddy to the beach.

Everyone just thought you were adorable!!

You rested well by the swimming pool underneath your umbrella. You also took a nap on the beach

on your Boppy. You were not a big fan of riding in the car for so long. We had to make lots of stops along the way, but it was totally worth it.

On the Beach in your Babiators

Taking a Nap on the Beach

Dave & Buster's

Mom, Dad, & Ben at Pier Park

*You still love your Elmo and anything red. Red captures your attention.

You love talking!

Ben loves Elmo

 *You had your 4 month check-up and your shots. 

You weighed in at 14lbs. 12oz. 

You measured 24.75 inches long.

And apparently, you have a "big" head because you measured in the 90th percentile

for your head. The doctor

said that means you are smart.

*We also dedicated you at church. It was a precious and sweet weekend for our family.

Mimi, Papa, G, Pop, Uncle Joe, Aunt Jacqueline, Abby, and her son were all there for you.

You are LOVED little one!

I picked this special outfit out for you to wear. At lunch that afternoon though, you 

quickly got it dirty. It took G, Mimi, and Mommy to clean up your mess. It was pretty funny, you

little stinker!

Ben with MiMi before Baby Dedication Brunch

Baby Dedication Brunch 

Pop & Ben

Baby Dedication Outfit

*You also tried food for the first time. We gave you rice cereal mixed with your formula.

This is the face that you made most of the time. We have fed you for about 5

days now. You are beginning to really like it! It is just taking 

you a little while to learn. You have started grabbing my hand when I feed you and pulling my hand towards you. 

Trying Rice Cereal for the First Time

*We are so proud of you Ben. You are a blessing to our family. I praise God everyday for allowing me to be your Mommy. 

Mommy & Daddy got to have date night on our anniversary. We ate dinner together and then went to Starbucks to do our homework for Baby Dedication. It was a sweet time to reflect on our plans for you, or better yet God's plan for you. God has BIG plans for you, little one.

We pray that you will be humble and love the Lord with all your heart and soul.

We chose a verse to pray over you. This is our verse for you.

"And what does the Lord require of you? 

To ACT JUSTLY, To LOVE MERCY, AND To WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD."

Micah 6:8

That verse is so simple, but means so much. We hope this is reflected in your character as you grow and learn.

Love you buddy!

3 Months of Pure LOVE

Hey Little Guy!

You are now 3 months old. You are precious. You have started laughing more and more. 

You also like to ride in your super cool yellow GT.

Ridin in my GT

You are still a SUPER sleeper. We put you down to bed around 7:30 or 8:00 and you sleep until about 7:00 in the morning. You have been doing this for a while now. The only time you really cry is if you are hungry or want to be walked around. You, my love, are interested in the world around you. You are going to be much like Daddy. 

For the first time this month, someone finally said you look like Mommy! YAY! 

I see a lot of Daddy and a lot of me in you. I think you are a good mix. 

You are wearing size 2 diapers and size 3-6 months clothes. 

Happy 29th Birthday Dad!

The other day when G came over to keep you for the day, she was holding you, but you kept leaning towards me and smiling. You wanted your mommy! It was so precious. 

You are also gripping onto things like your burp cloth, blanket, or someone's finger. 

Sometimes when I go into your room in the morning, you are wide awake....just smiling and playing and staring at your super hero mobile.

McKinley and Wilson just adore you. McKinley always wants to hold you like you are her baby doll. 

First time for MiMi and Papa to keep me

MiMi and Papa kept you for the first time last weekend too. They loved playing with you and loving on you!

Love my Superman Lovie from Miss Laura

You have been going to church in the nursery for three weeks now. The ladies just compliment you every time I pick you up. I hope you always have good manners and are polite with your teachers. Hopefully, we don't receive payback from when Daddy was a kid. (We'll tell you about that when you are older...haha)

When we lay you down to go to sleep at night, we pray with you. That is my most favorite time with you. You just look around and grin. Even though you are so small, I hope that you will learn the importance of prayer at an early age: praying for others and praising God for all things.
We pray that your heart will be a heart that is after God.

Here are a few picture from this month....

You ROCK dude!

Sittin in my Boppy seat

Mom and Dad before Supper Club

3 Months

Baby Ben...2 Months

Hey Baby Ben!

It has been two months since you were born. There have been a lot of changes since then. Some of those include...less sleep, bottles everywhere, extra laundry, less money, formula and a bottle warmer on the counter, and baby gear everywhere.

 No, No, No...I am not complaining. I am thankful. You, little guy, have taught daddy and me what real life and real, unconditional love looks like. 

The "before baby" me would have gone nuts with all the "stuff" that you have brought along with you. Now...I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

You, Benjamin Jack, are the coolest baby in the world. 

Here are a few random thoughts from the past month:

Over the past month, you have filled our hearts with joy. Your precious smile is contagious! Mommy had to go back to work (I love my new job, by the way and one day you will get to come with me.) We are very lucky to have "G" come and keep you every day while we work. You already love "G" so much! She is going to teach you tons.

More Cousin Time

Daddy loves coming home to you after work and seeing your sweet face. Everyone says you look like daddy. Not one person has said you look like Mommy. It's a good thing I carried you in my belly for 9 months! ;) You light up the world each day. We both are looking forward to the day we hear you giggle.

At the Zoo

We went to church for the first time two weeks ago and the zoo too! You were great at both places. You pretty much slept the entire time.

One thing that you really don't like is the paci. "G" tries to give it to you, but you don't take it very long. Most of the time you just spit it out.

At the Zoo

On Thursday, you will have your 2 month check-up. I am a little nervous about this, but I am sure you will be fine. You are a rockstar! 

 Here are some of my favorite pics from the past month.....

Cousin Time with Wilson and McKinley

Time with Pop and Wilson

Yes, you were totally worth the wait! Thanks Sean and Camon for the onesie.

At Harvest Church for the first time

There's that contagious smile!

One of my favorite pictures of you!

Mommy and Ben

Cousin Abby at her 4th birthday! I wish I would have
taken a picture of Ben and Abby.

G and Ben

2 Month Picture

Passed out at G and Pop's house

Coolest Dude

Love you Baby Ben!

Ben's Birth Story

We have survived the first month of parenthood! We did it!

Since it has been a month, I finally have decided to share our birth story. 

I went to my last doctor's appointment and we decided to schedule an induction date (something I thought I would never do). I decided this would be the best choice considering I only had 7 weeks of summer left and I wanted as much time with baby as I could before school started back. 

We went to the hospital on Sunday, June 8 at 8:00 pm to start cervadil. The next morning at around 6:00 the nurses started me on pitocin and at 8:30 that morning the doctor came in to break my water. This was by far the worst part for me, I hated that! Soon after, I got the epidural. I am a baby when it comes to pain. The rest of the day was pretty smooth. I was progressing nicely until about 3:00 that afternoon. I made it to 5cm and then stopped. I was feeling pretty good and was

pretty much clueless it seemed. At 10:45 that night the doctor came in and said that I had not progressed in 8 hours. I was still at 5cm! The pitocin was not helping either. My contractions were slowing down.

Wilson came to visit!

I remember this moment very well. Chris had left the room for a moment and the doctor suggested a c-section as she did not think baby was going to come on his own. I just melted. I was scared and a c-section had never crossed my mind. I was not prepared for that news at all. Chris came back in the room and he could tell something was wrong. For a few minutes I didn't even share with him what the doctor had said. I finally told him. My parents came into the room. I was so torn on what to do. A c-section just sounded absolutely terrible! Keep in mind, we had been there since the night before, so far it had been 27 hours, we were exhausted! We prayed together and finally decided to have the c-section. Within minutes, I was whisked away in the OR. 

I remember feeling pretty good and loopy. The anesthesiologist was pretty amazing by the way. She was with us through the whole process. I remember asking her if she had done the test to make sure I would not feel the c-section. She said she had already done it. I must have felt pretty numb. Chris sat by my head and was encouraging the whole time. He was a trooper through this all! He said the worst part was all of the sounds in the OR (yuck!). All I could feel is tugging and pulling, no pain at all! 

And the best part....

at 11:36pm our sweet baby Benjamin Jack was born.

He weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 21 inches long.

He came out screaming...a beautiful sound!

We went to the recovery room afterwards for an hour. By the time we got up to the postpartum floor, it was 2:30am. My parents and sister were still at the hospital! They came in for a few minutes to see Ben and hold him. Of course, they were exhausted too! All I wanted to do was sleep. 

We ended up staying 4 nights in the hospital and went home on Thursday, June 12. The nurses and doctors were wonderful and so attentive. They took care of Ben and me so well. The hardest part of the c-section was walking afterwards. But once I got up to walk, I eventually felt better and better each time. I finally felt myself (if that's possible after having a child) after about 10 days. 

Baby Ben with his pediatrician

Bringing Ben home

There are a lot of things that no one could have prepared me for. A lot of things that did not go as planned. A lot of things Chris and I have learned over the past month. It has not been easy, but it has been a sweet, sweet time for our family. I wouldn't change a single thing about it. It was all His perfect plan for us. 

By the way...Chris has totally rocked being a daddy and taking care of his hormonal wife.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Ben.

Happy One Month Baby Ben! You are so fun and precious. You light up our world every day.

You love smiling and we love seeing you smile! You also love to sleep and eat and eat and eat. 

You are starting to make sweet cooing noises and lately you have discovered your fingers. You will occasionally put them in your mouth when you are hungry. We started tummy time and you love it too. You try to pick up your head to look at whoever is with you. We can also tell that you recognize mommy and daddy by our voices and by sight. You have just melted our hearts. 

You currently weigh about 9 pounds, 2 ounces but still wear newborn size clothes and diapers. You are also a pretty calm, easy going fella so far.

 We love you stinky!

It's Almost Time to Meet Ben!

Dear Ben,

It is almost time to meet you! The time has just flown by. Daddy and I have been really busy...Daddy's been working a lot lately. I just finished up teaching for the summer break but now it is "baby time." You have been moving a lot, but I can tell you are running out of room...it's okay little guy, you will have plenty of room to stretch out in your beautiful nursery when you decide to make your debut!

At my last appointment, everything was measuring perfectly. Dr. W. decided to schedule you to be induced on Monday, June 9th (that is if you don't come on your own in the next week.) 

I can't wait to see you...Will you have brown hair? Blonde hair? or even Red Hair? Blue eyes? Brown eyes? Curly hair? Straight hair? Will you be fair skin like mommy or tan like daddy?

Either way you are...You are fearfully and wonderfully made! God has created you for a purpose.

Here is your precious nursery. The room we created just for you! My favorite thing about your nursery is all of the handmade items. You are our little American Superhero and we will see you in 9 days or less. We love you to the moon and back!

Love,

Daddy & Mommy

 Flag Made by Mommy

(I used paint we had at home and wooden stars from Hobby Lobby. The other wood

is from Home Depot. This is a "knock off" from Pottery Barn.)

 The bible verse was made by Liz at Burlap & Lovely.

The clock is from Francesca's.

I modpodged old comic book clippings to make this light plate cover.

 Your little superman outfit! The shelf

is from Home Goods. Daddy and I made the Spiderman

bank for you at Paint a Piece. And the cute little card was made by

my friend Kim. 

 I made your mobile for you using yarn, felt, hot glue, and thread.

I hope you like it!

We are using my old dresser from when I was a baby for your dresser

and changing table.

We added a special touch by painting three knobs...

SpiderMan

 Superman

 Captain America

 This was simply just printed off of the computer and framed.

Frame is from Target,

Your crib was Mommy's, Aunt Jacqueline's, and Uncle Joe's

when we were babies.

Bedding is from Restoration Hardware.

The letters are from Sheffield's Antique Mall.

The lamp shade is from The Lamp Shade Store in memphis

And the sweet banner was made by my friend Lauren.

Pictures of Daddy

Superhero Wall! I will add pictures of you to the clipboard

and shadow box. The camera monitor will be hung up in the corner soon too.

The pillow was from an Etsy store. The blanket was from Restoration

Hardware too.

The little green tractor was a gift from Cousin Wilson...He can't

wait to meet you!!

The chair is from Wilson's Furniture in Collierville

and the rug is from Target.

"G" painted and stained the wooden crates and Daddy turned them

into a shelf.

Okay Ben, we are ready for you!!! Any day now....