Benjamin's checkups

It was nice to have initial checks at hospital instead going up like we did with Rachel. We did come in on Nov 26 at 3 days old. First we had to have blood drawn to check his biliruibin levels. That was an excruciating experience as the nurse squeezed his feet for like ten freaking minutes trying to get enough blood as he's screaming. I couldn't be a pediatric nurse inflicting pain on the little ones no matter its for their best good. Luckily the results came back low risk and the doc said as long as he eats well there would be no problems. He measured 21 in (though not for first time do I question their measuring accuracy because I'm not sure he would grow an inch in three days!), 93%, 6.5 lbs, 13%- back to birth weight, and head 13 in, 7%. Picture is Benjamin in Aaron's welcome home outfit on December 12. You can kind of see his long feet, if hands and feet are any indication he will be really tall when he grows up.

Rachel kept holding out her arms just expecting us to put Benjamin in them. This picture was at cousins blessing on Sun Nov 25. We got to back to the doctors on December 11 when he was 2 1/2 weeks old for the 2nd PKU. It was amazing that size 1 diapers still drown him and that newborn clothes were just fitting well. He measured 21.5 in, 81%, weighed 7 lb 8 oz, 11% and head was 13.75 in, 14%. So he was still pretty scrawny though growing well gaining a lb! Unfortunately we had to take everyone in for being sick on Dec 27 though I was mostly just wanting a weight check on him since he still seemed so small at just over a month. He weighed 8.6 lbs, 10 %, 22.25 in, 80%, head was 14.25 in, 21%. Picture taken on that day.

Next we were in on January 28 for his 2 mon check up. I hope never to have another winter baby it has been so hard staying home all winter and all the sicknesses that have come through. This was one of the worst respiratory seasons in 10 yrs according to our doctor. Got an early start, but luckily finished early also. With his coughs and such we had a long talk about what watch for with rsv and he has given me a couple of starts by refusing to eat though obviously hungry- I think he has just had the same digestive troubles all the rest have had. The doctor said he passed the eye ball test ie looks good. He is still wearing size 1 diaper and more into 0-3 mon clothes. Benjamin measured at 23.75 in, 78%, weighs 11.62 lbs, 31%, and head is 15 in, 17%. He is definitely catching up to his siblings quickly. Picture below was on Jan 18 in one of my favorite outfits my friend Heather gave Aaron.

Aaron's Sneak Attack

Last week early in the morning when I was super tired (as always) Benjamin was stirring. Eric was already up getting ready in the bathroom and I was trying to decide if I was actually going to get up to nurse Benjamin or nurse him in bed. Lacking the energy to move I just laid there as Benjamin got more upset, I also heard a strange noise that I couldn't place. It was a rustling or maybe something against the bed. With Benjamin really insistent I finally got up and decided to look over the edge to see if I could determine the source of the noise. As I leaned over Aaron popped up scaring me to death! I shrieked and Eric came running to see what was up. Aaron was so pleased with himself waiting who knows how long on the floor for me so he could "surprise" me. He certainly did that!

Aaron at the bottom of a box, always full of surprises!

Welcome home Benjamin

Welcome home Benjamin!

What an armful! Or is it lapful? One way or another Benjamin's siblings were glad for him to come home. They showed him around the house and basically loved having us at home.

Benjamin trying out all the places to sleep and hang out! In his bed the day he came home, 24th, he looks so little in his great big bed! In Uncle Ryan's lap on the 25th, a very unusual place. Not that it is unusual to sleep in someones lap, but it is for Uncle Ryan. On the 27th he tried out his swing and bouncy seat, looks like a comfy place! We're so glad Eric got the swing working on electricity instead of batteries as 4 D batteries lasted maybe an hour.

Grandma, Miriam, and Aaron went out and picked me theses welcome home balloons and flowers. We were all excited to finally find some blue carnations, one of my favorite flowers. I love the picture where everyone is looking at Benjamin.

Benjamin's first bath at home on November 29

. Miriam, Aaron, and Rachel were very interested in the process. They very much wanted to help.

Thanksgiving through the years

Our Thanksgiving tour begins in 2010

 (I've wanted to do these forever so I thought what the heck I'll get them all done in one whack because somehow we don't take a lot of Thanksgiving pictures). This year we did Thanksgiving with the Jones. We got together for dinner over and Rusty & Kim's house. I elected to bring pie and my jello fruit salad. This was a major undertaking because I made these pies for the first time ever all by myself. I'm wary of doing pies because my mother is the queen of pies and there is always a major pie making production at her house (always at least 2 dozen!). I struggle making the crust in particular having always left that up to her, but I tried an apple, pumpkin and lemon meringue.

Miriam really loved the pumpkin pie that year. Here she is in a Thanksgiving outfit enjoying pie with daddy, she is 2 yrs 8 mon wearing some of the same clothes as Rachel now! We even caught some of the Macy's Day parade as I made the pies.

Here Miriam is ready to go with her baby and diaper bag (Aaron was 15 mon old). We were late as usual, but enjoyed visiting with the family for the rest of the day. This was the year Deb made all the girls matching Thanksgiving apron including some dolls!

Then we kicked off Christmas holidays by getting a tree and going to Marshall & Melissa's to make gingerbread houses together on Saturday.

On to Thanksgiving 2011.

Miriam and Aaron's Dora shirts were the best we could find for Thanksgiving. They don't make near as many Thanksgiving clothes as other holidays, I've picked up about one outfit a year, this last year I was thinking of making us matching shirts. That obviously didn't happen with Benjamin, perhaps we'll do it this year. Miriam is 3 yrs 8 mon, Aaron is 2 yrs 3 mon, and Rachel is 5 mon in these pictures. Her first Thanksgiving onesie with the baby food wasn't quite accurate.

We decided to take a couple extra days off and spend a full week in Idaho as we wouldn't be going up for Christmas. We got there Friday night and my dad immediately started showing Rachel around, she had only been there once before briefly when she was 2 mon old. That is my dad's favorite thing is to watch kids explore and see what they do with new sensations. We've always got to have a piano picture with the littlest playing but this was the first time it was my dad playing with them!

 For our trip we had asked everyone before hand what they wanted to do while we were there otherwise we don't go out or do much of anything. It was decided to up to Green Canyon hot spring pool with the kids and that fit in best on Saturday. This was Rachel's first time swimming and the nice thing about this pool is its warm like a bathtub. this might have been Eric's first time at that pool also since he doesn't usually stay long periods with us in Idaho.

My mom's favorite thing is taking the kids to church and showing them off, so in her honor we all wore purple. As usual we got our Sunday picture taken after church. In case you can't see Eric is wearing a purple tie and I have a purple skirt on. Otherwise it was the usual Sunday.

On Monday we decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner because one of my cousins in Blanding was getting married on Friday so mom was leaving then. That was the best decision because we were not rushed and enjoyed the leftovers the rest of the week. We invited my grandparents over and had a great evening. Bottom corner is Eric and kids breaking up bread for the stuffing. Rachel was interested in everything (upper pic with Eric) and lower is her Thanksgiving dinner through me!. Miriam and Aaron got to eat at there own little table.

A close up of seating arrangements for the grand feast. I love the comfort of the familiar foods and place settings. A lovely meal!

On Tuesday we did our Joy School Thanksgiving lesson. It was fun for mom to revisit the songs and stories from 20 odd years ago. It was also nice for Daddy to help them with their art project of making paper plate turkeys. Aunt Jennifer helped them make cornbread like the Indians. Tuesday we also had Aunt Heather come watch the kids so we could go to the temple though Eric ended ups staying home not feeling great. We did some sealings for family names and that was one of the must do things on my list. I always try and get a trip to the temple in when I'm home. I love going to the Idaho Falls temple, it embodies home like no other building.

The rest of the time we hung out and did our usual things, go to park, watch movies and play games we even did a little scrap booking  We came home on Saturday. Thanks family for a great week!

I conclude with Thanksgiving 2012.

As already mentioned our plans did not work out how we expected for Thanksgiving. We got part of our Joy School Thanksgiving lesson in where we made these cute pilgrim hats. We were headed for Delta when we ended up in the hospital instead having a baby which pushed all plans back.

 We came home from the hospital Saturday around 1:30 to find everyone getting ready for our dinner. Miriam was a big helper to Grandma in peeling apples and helping roll out pie crusts and the rolls. The kids as usual helped tear up the bread for the stuffing. It was amazing we actually found our bar (ie got it all cleaned off)! When we left for the hospital the kids were just getting up and Granddaddy found the parade for them to watch. They wore their Thanksgiving clothes several times but didn't ever really get pictures of them. The poor turkey wondered back from porch to bathtub while we were tyring to figure out when to have our dinner. Without mom and dad we wouldn't have had a Thanksgiving dinner, Thanks!! So I guess I have now "hosted" Thanksgiving at my house. ;) Not that I did much just coming home from the hospital but it was at my house.



Spring

Spring is coming, How do I know...

I'm so excited to see the flowers come up! I love watching the world green up in the spring with something new each day! Spring is definitely my favorite time of the year.

Invite for Benjamin Blessing

My little boy is three months old! We are braving the germs and having him blessed this coming Sunday the 24th. Our ward meets at 9 and after sacrament meeting we will have brunch at our home. We would love to see everyone and have you meet our precious bundle of joy!
He is getting much more smiley and talking. Talk about melting my heart when he starts cooing and gooing. It reminds me why we put up with all the fussing. He is getting pretty stable holding up his head.

Benjamin's hospital stay

My second problem at the hospital was that this scale was apparently not calibrated properly. This one right after being born said 6'4", but later in the middle of the night when he got checked on another scale said 6'12". Now he did nurse a little after born but that was it, in fact we struggled to get him eating regularly while in hospital so I don't think he suddenly gained 8 oz. After the next check up he was 6'8" so we figured the second record was more accurate.

Here we are before Eric and Benjamin took off to the nursery to get checked more thoroughly and bathed. Somehow we didn't take many of the normal pictures. The labor room was a lot nicer than the one I was in with Aaron. We only took a picture with Daddy and Grandma (my mom) didn't get one till after we moved downstairs to a recovery room.

 It was amazing how much the essential oils helped with every step of the process. It was also nice having him at 5:30 at night instead of 5:30 am like with Aaron. We both got a regularish night sleep. Also we were able to introduce him to his siblings. We found a tolerable Thanksgiving meal, of course not as good as being home but well enough for the hospital. Then we had a visit from home, the kids were so excited to see their new baby brother. They came after they had got ready for bed so hopefully on the way home they would fall asleep.

After we captured our new family picture I let each of the kids hold him and took their picture (we really struggled w/lighting). We asked Miriam why my tummy was still big if baby had come out and she thought there was another baby in there. We said no there better not be she got a thinking look and said," I know its full of milk!" Another b case of straightening out sensitive body functions.

Aaron was also very excited to see his new brother. When they were leaving to go home he got really upset because he wanted to take the baby home! He enjoys holding Benjamin a lot though maybe not as much as his sisters love holding him!

Rachel made a beeline directly for Benjamin, she was so exciting to see the baby and she stuck pretty close to us. She constantly was pointing at him as if to say our baby is finally here! She is always holding her arms out just expecting us to hand Benjamin over no matter what. ;)

This is pretty much the sum total of our visitors. I loved having my whole family here. Dad has always come down to meet the new addition within in a week, but it was cool for him to meet Benjamin right off, same for my brother. My siblings are finally getting more comfortable with infants being around all of mine. Eric's Aunt Julie popped in after her shift at the hospital and we got some phone calls to congratulate us. Thanks family for holding down the home fort while we were gone!

After his first feeding it was a little bit of a struggle to get him to eat partly from being sleepy and I think partly because his tummy was upset. About 2 am he started crying and I noticed red liquid beside him and he was spitting up red tinged mucus stuff. Apparently the poor guy had swallowed some stuff on his way being born and they had to suction some of it out a couple of times. The nurses were fabulous letting me dictate a lot of my care with exception to their regular vital takings. I don't know if that how they usually are or realized I had done this before. We worked together to help him nurse better from "priming the pump" with formula to letting me pump some milk to get him started. Friday they brought the kids and their bedtime stuff done so we could help them get ready then hopefully go to sleep on the way home. They brought balloons for us which the kids enjoyed as much or more than I did.

Here we are preparing to discharge on Saturday. Upper left dressing Benjamin and having our vitals checked one last time. The right pictures are Benjamin his car seat for the first time to go home!