Happy Birthday to me....

Sunday was the greatest birthday ever! Benjamin was blessed and it was amazing. We had so many family and friends there and we are so thankful to them for their love and support! Benjamin was wearing a beautiful outfit made by Josh's mother. It even had an embroidered "B" on it for Benjamin. His blanket also had his full name and blessing date emboidered on it...it is so beautiful. Thanks so much mom! Josh did such a wonderful job with blessing Benjamin and I'm so grateful to him for his worthiness and that he is in tune with the Spirit. There were many tears of joy shed that day. The reason why we did it on the 9th was because our stake conference was the first Sunday, and this was a weekend that Josh's parents could make it. We had regular speakers in sacrament meeting, and our stake president was there as well. He was asked to speak last, but he had Josh get up and bear his testimony. President Barrington, our stake president, was inspired for more reasons than one. Josh's family does not get to see him often, let alone hear him speak in church. Josh's parents and his nephew were able to hear his testimony. It was an amazing testimony, and once again I am grateful that he is in tune with the Spirit.

The only down side to this whole weekend was that Sir Benjamin was very spoiled with the numerous amounts of people, and he was held a lot. Now, that's not a bad thing, but he usually gets put in his crib and he falls asleep on his own. But with all the people here this weekend, he would fall asleep in people's arms and would just get held. So today his mother is battling with him because he won't go to sleep unless he's held. I pray that we can break this habit soon. I guess it's been especially hard today because I have been sick...so much for that flu shot! Oh well, you do what you must, right?

Again, thank you to all of our family and friends for your love and support. We are so richly blessed!

Casper, Halloween, and Election Day

Benjamin had a fun month in October. He got to go to Grandma and Grandpa Howard's in Wyoming - he was out of the state for his first real trip! He did a great job in the car...what a trooper. He got the ever popular bath in Grandma Howard's kitchen sink and he loved it!

Benjamin loved this Halloween! He got a DARLING outfit from his Aunt Sari. He was the cutest little skeleton you ever did see. Even though his mom was sick, he got to go hang out with his best buddy, Grant Bigger.

And of course Benjamin went with us to vote, and he cried the entire time. I don't think he was too happy with the election choices this time around...you can tell by his face.



We will have more pictures after this weekend. This Sunday Benjamin gets blessed. It's the greatest present he could give his mother for her birthday. We're so excited and will post pictures soon.

Adoption

We have some awesome friends, the Laycocks, who are trying to adopt. We thought we'd put this on our blog to help try to get the word out more. (John) Scott and Janae are the parents and they have a 7 year old boy named Tyler. They are an amazing family and strong members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If any of you know of anyone that is looking to put their baby up for adoption through LDS services, please recommend the Laycocks! You can look at their blog at http://scottjanaeadoption.blogspot.com

20 days of goodness

Well, Benjamin will be three weeks tomorrow...he's the big two zero today. That's right, he's 20 days old and he's growing strong! On Thursday we went to the Pediatrician and he now weighs 8 pounds 14 ounces which means he's right on schedule with his weight gain! He is such an over achiever...I tell you what! He is just so lovable, hence the reason why I have to kiss him all the time! On Friday our friends, the Laycocks, came over and we had so much fun. We had a good time chatting, eating, and playing games. Janae and I let the guys win at a rousing game of Canasta...we're so nice. :-) Tyler also read Benjamin the Belly Button Book, Benjamin LOVED it...thanks Tyler! Benjamin and I have a lot of good times together and I get to see a lot of his fun faces, and sometimes I get them on camera. Isn't he a darling? And Benjamin just loves his dad. Here they are snoozing on the couch together. They are both very stylish even while they sleep. I just love my boys!

More pictures of our precious Benjamin

I just thought you all might want to see more pictures of Benjamin...I know I can't get enough of him. He's so precious. This one of Josh and Benjamin has got to be my favorite. Josh is such a great job. In fact, he changes most of the diapers around here..I don't mind one bit. Thanks babe, you're the best! This picture of Benjamin in his Sweet Pea outfit is how he came home from the hospital - thanks to Scott and Janae for the outfit, it's so darling. He quickly welcomed his new clothes with his first diaper change - he squirted everywhere! It was so funny. And I can't forget to include the pictures of some of the people that came to visit the hospital. Evan and Ashlee were there the next day - man was it nice to see people that weren't nurses. And Mrs. Jessie Hylton kept me company while my good husband was at his bishopric meeting and she came the next night as well. It was wonderful! And this weekend we had some family over for General Conference, so I can't forget to add pictures of our neice holding Benjamin. She was so excited to see him and when he was asleep she would ask when he would be awake again. It was really fun to see her excitment. So there are some pictures of our cute little Benjamin. He is so loved and he is so fun. Of course, parenthood does not come without challeges, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. He truly is a blessing in our lives and we are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for allowing us to be his parents. What a sweet spirit he brings into our home and to our family.

Labor & Delivery

For those of you who were curious...here's more detail on the labor and delivery. I was induced on Tuesday, September 30 at 7:30 a.m. They gave me potossin (sp?) to start my contractions. I labored and continued to dilate and around noon my water broke. Shortly after that I received an epidural and it was the best decision I made...I know it's not for everyone, but it was great for me. I continued to have contractions and they'd check me every hour to see how far I had dilated. I was supposed to be dilating 1 cm every hour...but it was more like 1 cm every 2 hours. Example: I was at a 4 at noon and by 8 that evening I was only at a 7. Also, the most potossin they can give you without an internal contraction moniter is a dose of 20....yeah, that's all I know. Anyway, they decided to put the internal moniter in me and by 8 p.m. my potossin dosage was at a 25...and still only 7 cm. My doctor came in around 8 to check me. The situation was that Benjamin was still floating at a -1, I had a fever of 101, my pelvic bone was not any bigger, Benjamin's heart rate was starting to go down, and I was still only dilated to a 7. This was when he gave me the option of having a c-section. He said he didn't want to push me in to doing something that I didn't want to do, but he really felt like in the end this is what it was going to be. He said I could wait it out till I was at a 10, but then I'd probably still be pushing for 2 hours and he didn't know if the baby would even be able to make it through my pelvic bone. He said that he thought that this baby was just too big for my body. Josh and I had prayed and thought many nights about this decision and we have always felt that I would be having a c-section, AND most importantly, we felt good about it. When he gave me the option, I felt at peace and knew that was what needed to be done. They prepped me and then sent my shivering body into surgery. They asked Josh if he wanted to watch and he said he might watch a little. But I was shivering so badly that he stayed by my side and comforted me and tried to help me relax. Finally, the anesthesiologist told him that he might want to stand up. So Josh stood up and watched as Benjamin was pulled from my stomach...er, uterus to be technical. The doctor said that he didn't even have to push Benjamin up to get him out, he just had to pull him down and out of my stomach...that's how high he was. And, Benjamin still had not turned his body for his face to be towards my back...posterior??? I don't remember the term. Anyway, after they weighed him they called him Big Ben. So, that's basically how the whole thing happened on September 30. Prayers were answered and we have a beautiful, healthy baby!

Welcome Mr. Benjamin

Mr. Benjamin showed up at 8:33 p.m on September 30, 2008. He was 8 pounds 6 ounces, and 21 inches long. He has cute cheeks as you see. Just so you know Terra and Benjamin are both doing great. Both are healthy and strong. We are excited to have him in our lives and with us finally. Thank you for your prayers and your support.