Ben's first bath!

We gave Ben his first bath on Friday.  Technically, just a sponge bath.  We are still waiting for his umbilical cord to fall off before he gets his first real bath.  He seemed to enjoy the sponge bath, for the most part...so lets hope its the same come bathtime!!!
Thanks to Aunt Allison for taking all these pictures!!!

Here is Aunt Allison gettin Ben already...

 Big brother and Aunt Jenna watch closely...

 Jim isn't too sure what to think...

 Getting all clean...

Jim sat there and watched the entire time...

 Cuddles with mommy after getting clean!!!!

Nothing like a clean little boy!!! 

Winking at the camera...or photographer ;) (and for some reason this picture will not go centered...it's driving me crazy!!!)

 Love him!!!!!

A close up of the clean little boy :)

You can't forget about big brother - Jim loves giving him kisses!!!

Family Picture Attempt

I think I've said it before - but everyone knows how much Mark loves having his picture taken.  (Can you hear the sarcasm in that?!?!)  Allison had the camera when we were all outside - and I love the pictures of trying to get a decent family shot...

First off, here's one of just Mark - can you see it on his face, he's loving this...

A picture with the 4 of us in it - too bad Jim is climbing up on the bench...and you gotta love my face!!!

Okay, we're getting a little closer here.  If only Jim was looking at the camera...And we could pretend we like each other a little bit better :)

 The 3 of us - where's Jim?!?!

 Now one of the 4 of us - now Jim doesn't want to partake in this picture taking...

 Let's try one of us all sitting down...I think there's room for a 5th person between Mark & Jim...

 Wow - finally a decent picture!!!!

Another decent picture - if it wasn't for me making such a lovely face...

 And one last one!  I'll take what I can get :)

Hospital Pictures

Just a bunch of pictures from the hospital...

Well, first off we have our last family picture as a family of 3.  Mark actually cooperated and let Allison take this picture before heading to the hospital...

Ben's first picture - welcome to the world little one!!!

 The proud and happy Mom & Dad!!!!  How lucky are we?!?!

I love Mark's smile here!!!  He must be one happy dad - he never smiles in pictures!!!  But here's the proud dad standing with grandparents!  It was great having them all hear to meet their grandson!!!

 Aunt Allison got to meet her nephew just a couple hours after he arrived!!!!

Cuddling with Mom...

Jim came to visit me in the hospital Sunday afternoon!  It was so great to see him!  And yes, that would be a flask of beer that Mark brought into the hospital...

Jim checking out his baby brother....

This is what you do when a 2 year old gets bored at the hospital!  Need some type of entertainment for him :)

 Yes, my husband used Jim's sippy cups to bring beer into the hospital.  He's a good man!!!

  I love how scrunched up he is here - my little frog!

 It's a tough life for the new father!!!

 We are ready to go home!!!!!!!!!!

The grandparents Visit!

My parents came down Tuesday night, the 6th.  I think we were all hoping that baby brother would make his appearance sometime that week.  But we all know that he didn't want to come out on his own.  It was great having them here for the week!  Jim only had 2 days of daycare that week - and got to spend the rest of the week with Grandma & Papa!  I think they all had a great time together!!!!

Friday morning Nanny & Papa came over.  Everyone was very excited for the arrival of their grandson!!  Mark took the day off of work, and took care of some jobs around the yard.  I was ready to be done at work so I could come home and hang out with everyone as well.  We all went to Overwood for dinner - which was very yummy!  Our last night as a family of 3!

Saturday morning we all hung out, before Mark & I took off for the hospital at 11:30.  And that's where the story of Ben all starts. 
I'll leave you with a bunch of pictures from the grandparents visit!!  Pictures are much better than me writing boring stuff, right?

Sharing Papa's apple

Coloring with Papa!!!

We had a busy day - showing Grandma & Papa all my workout moves!!!

Playing ball with Mommy.

Coloring with the Papa's!!!!

Painting with Grandma!!!

Jim is all ready to be a big brother - just a couple more hours!!!

Reading with Aunt Allison & Mom!!!

Now Nanny reads me a story!

Ben's first week...

Can you believe it, Ben is already a week old?!?!  Actually, by the time I post this he will be over a week old!!  We have had a wonderful first week!!!  Everything went very well at the hospital.  All the grandparents were there waiting to meet Ben!!  And then Aunt Allison even got to come up to our room to meet him!  We were all very happy to finally get out of the hospital on Tuesday - and come home to start our lives as a family of 4!!!! 

Aunt Allison was with us the entire week - she came down on Saturday - and we were very sad to see her leave bright and early Monday morning.  It was great having her around - helping out with Jim while we were in the hospital...and then helping out when we came home!  She waited on us, which was wonderful, making sure everything was taken care of, helping with dinner, cleaning up, entertaining Jim, you name it, she did it! 

Ben had his first outing on Thursday.  We had to take him to the Doctor's.  (They like to see newborns 2 days after they leave the hospital just to check on them).  The four of us went, Allison, myself, Jim, and Ben, and the 2 boys were great!  When Ben left the hospital, he was 7 lbs. 15 ozs, so he had lost a pound...But at his appointment, he was up to 8 lbs. 2 ozs. - so that was great to hear!  No need to worry about how I was feeding him. 

Uncle Robbie and Aunt Jenna made their way down here Thursday evening.  And stayed until Sunday.  It was great getting to visit with them.  Jim was in love with Robbie - it was adorable.  He wanted to do whatever Robbie was doing.  Heck at one point, Robbie was sitting at the table eating yogurt, and Jim was holding his applesauce the same exact way that Robbie was.  It was very sad to have to say good-bye to them all. 

Like I had mentioned earlier, Jim has been a great big brother!!  He loves giving Ben kisses...he will help me burp him...he'll give Ben his lion when he's crying...or give him his pacifier...or his B...you name it, he does it.  Let's hope it stays that way!

Ben has been a champ in the sleeping department.  We've lucked out with that with both our boys!!!  Last night he went down between 10-11, and didn't wake up again until 5:00.  I'm sure he could've kept sleeping, but I heard him start to stir, and I was getting full so we both got up so I could feed him.  No complaints here!

I'm going to have to keep up with his weekly / monthly pictures like I did with Jim.  And I'm sure there will be a lot of compression between the two boys, to see if they look alike, are the same size, etc. 

Ben at a week old

Jim at a week old

I have a lot of blog entries to get caught up on.  More so a list for me so I remember everything:

- Jim's visit with Grandma & Papa and Nanny & Papa...

- Hospital pictures...

- Ben's photo shoot

- Family Picture attempt

- Picture's from the first week...

- First bath

- Jim having a blast outside

- Aunt Allison, Uncle Robbie, Aunt Jenna Visit!!

So stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!

Brotherly Love

Here are a couple of pictures of Jim & Ben together.  I wasn't sure how Jim was going to react when we brought Ben home - but so far it's been great!  Let's hope their love continues just like that!!!

Big Brother

Jim's a BIG Brother!!!!

We welcomed into the world Benjamin Edward on March 10, 2012 at 2:20pm.  Weighing in at 8lbs. 15ozs., 21 inches long.

Jim came to the hospital to meet his baby brother the following day and has been a big fan of him ever since. 

I think I may have to change the title of this blog - I am sure the updates I'll be doing will be of both Jim & Ben...

We're enjoying life as a family of 4!!!!!!!!!