We got Benson!

We've been waiting for this weekend for about 7 months. Adoption is an amazing journey!

We headed up to Houston Thursday night. Benson got to swim for the first time and loved it. The next morning we headed to the court house. There were two adoption cases before ours. (One was a little boy that was born a day after Bens, he was tiny! He looked about 3, maybe 4 months old. Bens looked like a one year old next to him.) Then it was our turn. As we stood in front of the judge our attorney asked me a few questions, like if I was satisfied with his growth and development, if we were prepared to take care of him for the next 18 years (she added it probably wouldn't end at 18), and if we wanted his name to be Benson William. Anthony was then asked to confirm. The judge then read through all the legal stuff and pronounced (is that the right word? Maybe "ruled") Benson ours!!! It was very exciting! The whole time this was all going on, Benson was flashing everyone super cheesey smiles. The judge and attorney kept commenting on what a flirt he was and how he was playing it up. It was pretty funny. (The judge also gave Benson a stuffed bear, he loved it.)

After court we were told we needed to get an adoption decree, which usually takes anywhere from 2-4 weeks to be sent. Of course we need it in two weeks, so we can go to the temple. So we went to the office and asked as nicely as possible if we could please get one that day. (The big deal is that the judge has to sign it and she was still in court, so they'd have to interrupt her and have her sign it, a big deal.) The lady in charge told us she'd see what she could do and came back with it about two minutes later!! (We're pretty sure Benson's smiles had a hand in getting it, he was really hamming it up to the office ladies :) So everything went really well! He is now ours officially!

(after swimming benson loved smiling to himself and licking the mirrors)

We then drove over to San Antonio b/c our friends were receiving their endowments and being sealed on Friday and Saturday. Anthony got to attend the endowment session while Bens and I went swimming again. On Saturday Anth went to help with our youth baptism trip and Benson and I slept in the car. He slept, I talked with some friends who came up for the sealing. After baptisms we both got to attend the sealing of our friends and then their sealing to their two little girls. It was such a neat experience! I'm so happy for them! The spirit was very strong and there was such a strong feeling that they were doing the right thing in the right place. It was a wonderful day! (And of course it gets me excited for the 28th!!! Our sealing date!!!)

7 Months

We can't believe Benson is really 7 months old! He's growing so fast!! This month he...

-says "da da da" a lot and "ma ma ma" sometimes
-loves to shake his head
-spits with his tongue
-went swimming for the first time and loves it
-doesn't like baby food, just the bottle and sometimes a cheerio
-sleeps 11 hrs straight
-is a flirt and has a smile for everyone
-loves to bounce
-has two bottom teeth
-almost crawling

Happenings

We've been having a lot of fun recently and I've been meaning to post, so here it is.

-Sandfest - pretty amazing sandcastles! We thought it was free so didn't have any cash on us but we took pictures through the fence. It was a beautiful day on the beach. It was in Port A and we left right after a baptism. Anth thought I was packing his flip flops and I thought he was - so he ended up wearing his church shoes :) But the beach was nice enough that we just went barefoot for most of it.



-Easter was wonderful! We colored eggs and ate yummy food with friends. We reflected on the Atonement of our Savior and how grateful we are that he made forever families possible.

An egg for Benson, Vance, the U of U and a couple others.

He's ready for church on Easter

-For this past semester I've been watching two of the cutest little girls while their mom went to school. It's been so fun! I'm sad the semester is over. Benson just loves them! He can sit and watch them for hours! They were always so sweet to him, calling him "baby Benson," and letting him play with their toys.


-I've been meaning to take Benson to the park and let him swing for awhile but last Friday was his first time. He didn't really love it. I'm hoping he gets used to it and will eventually.


-Another first, this last Monday he got to ride in the front of the cart. I'm so loving not carrying his car seat around! He really loves it and we always get lots of comments from people about how cute he is.


Other happenings to come...

-Friday, the 13th. We'll head up to Houston and go to court to have Benson's adoption finalized.

-Saturday, the 21st. I'm running in my first ever Marathon Rely (Beach2Bay). There are six of us running. My leg of the race is 4.6 miles. I've been training for awhile for this and just this week ran 4.6 miles twice!!! My personal best. Ever. Running really isn't my thing but I love it when I'm done.

-And then to the end of the month, Saturday and Sunday, the 28 & 29. Benson will be sealed to us in the San Antonio Temple!! Then blessed on Sunday. We are excited for all the family and friends that will be here and know lots more wish they could!

6 Months

Benson is 6 months old today!!! He is such a fun baby! He amazes me daily with all that he's learned and continues to learn. We don't go to the Dr. until Tuesday so I'll have to update his stats then but here's a list of 6 month milestones...

-loves to jump in lap or on exercise ball
-eats green beans, squash, carrots, peas, frozen grapes and pears
-is a tease
-is very ticklish
-laughs easily
-says "baa, baa, blah, blah, daa, daa" (but we're pretty sure daa doesn't refer to Anthony yet)
-when on his stomach, goes up on knees and rocks back and forth
-has one tooth, bottom right
-grabs for everything
-scoots all over on his back
-loves to drink out of a water bottle
-sleeps 8-10 hours a night (usually straight but sometimes with one feeding)
-loves to be sung to
-loves "This little piggy...," "Knock on the door," and "Patty cake"

Playing

He loves bath time!!

Eating

Playing

We can't believe how much our lives have changed in a year! Last year at this time we would never have believed we'd have a baby in a year! We still thank Heavenly Father every day for our Bens!!

Happy Birthday

Today Anthony turns 28! Wow, he's old.

We've been celebrating for the past 5 days! We've decided our new family tradition will be to have a week-long celebration for everyone's bday. I think it's a fabulous idea. He's gotten a present from Benson and me everyday. A few of the gifts have been a puzzle, lego figure, farkle game, string trimmer, garden hose, chocolate milk, etc. It's been fun to see his excitement opening the gifts everyday after work. Then on the final day, the birthday, the person gets to pick what's for dinner and then cake and ice cream. Tonight we're having take-out from PF Chang's and Banana Cream Pie, yummy!

I love birthdays and hope Anth has the best one yet!!!

Visitors

My sister and her family had Spring Break the end of March so decided to come where it's warm, Corpus! (only 12 hrs away) We had so much fun!! My bro-in-law, nieces and nephews got to meet Benson. We fed the ducks, went to the beach, museum, park, flew kites, ate yummy food and just sat up late talking/laughing! A perfect vacation!!! Thanks so much for coming Bills family!!! Now it's our turn to come up!!!

Feeding the ducks, or seagulls

Men at the Museum

Anth reading to the kids

Issac, Benson, Sadie and Phebe

At Joe's celebrating Phebe and Anth's bdays

Benson ready for the beach

Silas at the beach

Flying kites at the park

Anthony's grandmother passed away about a week ago. It was sudden but she lived a wonderful life. We could only afford for him to go to Utah so Benson and I got to stay home. I called my friend Mandy and told her to come down. She said she'd look into it but it was pretty late notice. A day later she called me and said she was coming! She did the whole priceline thing, name your own price and it was accepted! We had a blast!! It was so fun to catch up and for her to see my life down here with Benson. I went up to San Antonio to pick her up so we did the River Walk and the Alamo (got attacked by a vulture, pretty sure it was). We went to the beach, did some shopping, watched conference, and ate yummy food. We're redoing some of our house (more on that later), and so we went to Lowes and she helped with some decorating decisions (thank goodness her mom does framing!) . It was so nice having someone here while Anth was away. Thanks for coming down Mandy!! We can't wait for you to come back!!!

At the Alamo

At the beach

Mandy and Benson

5 Months

Just before church, wearing a hat my sister made

Benson is 5 months today! It seems like just yesterday we headed up to Houston to pick up this little guy! Everyday we talk about what a blessing he is in our lives! We can't imagine life without him! He's getting so big and changing so much, it's so fun!

-is 27 inches tall
-around 18 lbs
-loves to roll over
-grabs toys
-does 360's, maneuvers on his stomach
-is currently sleeping through the night, 8pm-6am
-had 3rd hair cut
-sits up
-eats rice cereal from a spoon
-loves to talk/yell
-is so excited when Dad comes home from work
-loves his walks/runs with Mom or Dad
-smiles and laughs easily

Sitting and playing

Bath Time