More visitors

James brother, Mark, and his family came to visit. They are going to welcome their third baby in May.

(Mark, Merilee, Mailee, and Brick)

My sister, Lisa and her daughter Caitlin also stopped by.

The beard

While James was home on his paternity leave (yes his awesome company gives him time off for the baby! WHOOHOO for me!), he decided it was a good time to be lazy and grow a beard.

While I think he grows a good beard, I just personally don’t really like facial hair. I was SOOOO happy to kiss him when he shaved it all off!

Blessed

As I sat having lunch with Sariah today, I told her it was
Thanksgiving. That today is a day we talk about all of our blessings
and be thankful for them. (yes this was just mostly me talking but hey
that's okay). It really struck me how blessed my life is. It isn't
that it is worry free or trial free because that is there, but truly I
have so much.

Just a few things I thought of today:

My two beautfiful and healthy children.
My husband who is the love of my life.
My husband's job that provides for me to be at home with our kids-
this is more recent and I'm especially thankful for it.
My father who is beating the odds everyday.
My own health and having a really good delivery.
God's love for me.

These are just a few things on my mind today.

Sent from Sam's iPhone

Late night smile

I know this picture is dark. That is because it is 1:41 in the wee
hours of the morning and I don't turn the lights all the way up for
middle of the night feedings. Tonight I was rewarded with a nice
little smile after eating. Makes it all wonderful!

Bath Time

Here we go time for the first bath. Well if you can really call it a bath. Really it is just a wipe down with a wash clothe.

And no Ben didn’t like it one bit!

Visit from Grandma and Great Grandma

Sadly, Grandma was out of town during the birth. But she was able to stop by a few days later when they got back.

Here is Ben being held by his Great Grandma Dorn (James’ maternal grandma) and his Grandma Ransom (James’ mom).

Hmm where did she learn this from?

A cute shot of big sis:

Proud Daddy Moment

James’ proudest moment with our newborns is the first time he gets to hold them while gaming. Ahh yes there is no hope for Ben. I’m sure he will be able to game by age 1.

Coming home day

We came home Sunday. Here are a few pictures still at the hospital and a few at home. The hospital was great, but I was soooo ready to come home. My furniture is WAY more comfortable. And it is nice not to have your blood pressure taken every few hours!

Check out the cute hat made by my crafty friend Lacey!

The stats card:

The picture below is a little deceiving. I took it to show how little he is in the hospital bassinet thing. But from the picture he actually looks really big to me.

Big sis loves our new baby!

Ready for home

Here he is all packed up and ready for home. We were released from the
hospital today and are all really glad to be at home as a family. I'm
especially thankful to have a comfortable couch and bed to relax on!
So far Ben is doing great. He is still figuring out the whole eating
thing. He would really just assume sleep. Not that I'm complaining too
much but you know those doctors want him to keep up his figure!

So far she loves him

Here is a little clip of Sariah with Ben. So far she really loves him.
She gets this amazed look of excitement whenever he moves or makes a
noise.

Day 2 at the hospital

Today was filled with visitors. First off my awesome friend Jessi rescued me from hospital food by bringing a fab lunch up. Then she stayed and watched the baby so I could shower and James could take Sariah home for her nap.

And yep she indulged the goofy photo tradition.

As a side note, this is Sariah eating….my butter that came with the roll. Yes straight butter in the little tub.

It was hard to catch him awake during this time, but I got this one!

Nothing beats a big sister kiss!

Trying again for the family photo- limited cooperation from Sariah at this point.

Our buds the RitterBs are so awesome and spend part of their date with us that night!

We didn’t even tell them about the goofy photos. They did these poses all on their own! hehehe Okay just kidding we told them, but they did come up with their own poses!

Proud Grandpa Ransom even got a little smile out of Ben in this photo!

Close up

Until I get home and pull the 5000 pictures James took off the camera,
this little close up before bed will have to do!

First pictures of Benjamin

So here are the first pictures of Benjamin. All taken the day he was born:

Our doctor-

Sadly, I didn’t get one with my nurse this time, because they pulled her to a C-section right after I gave birth. But she was the real hero that day! Her name was Amelia and she ROCKED!!

The official weight:

He wasn’t too happy with being poked.

One cool part of the day was that my dad was able to be there for the birth. Normally, my mom is the one there to help, but with all the things that happened around his birth she wasn’t able to take off work. So my dad came up and was there, which was really special for me. And also special because Benjamin gets his middle name (Hays) from my dad.

My mom came up as soon as school let out. She did have to wait a little bit for him to finish his bath, but then she got to hold her newest grandson.

I think at first Sariah thought he was a doll. When he moved, she gasped and then was very intrigued. She LOVES him.

She was also very happy to see mommy!

She didn’t like my IV much, but did enjoy counting my 3 “bracelets”.

Our friends Cat and Randy were able to stop by that night to check out the new baby.

Here is our first attempts at a goofy family photo. Background story. James doesn’t like that everyone always is so “serious” in pictures with new babies. So he requires a goofy photo with the baby. (Yes, my husband is weird but I do indulge this request.)

This first one was actually supposed to be serious- apparently Sariah thought we had already moved on to goofy! As she proudly displays her big sister sticker on her mouth.