Change of Venue

Well, it's happened! We hoped and prayed this day would be delayed but alas it has arrived. Lynette has found her way back into the hospital on bedrest. The silver lining is she beat her old time of about 20 weeks. Lynette went in for her weekly appointment last Thursday and never came home. Instead I received a phone call letting me know they were admitting her right then. We had just hit 23 weeks and were feeling pretty good because Lynette was not having any contractions and things seemed to be going great. It appeared the only thing that we had to worry about was how things were going to work when her mom left (she left the day before Lynette went to the hospital - must be the reason she is in the hospital - okay maybe not).


So, what is going on? Let me try and explain the best I can....Lynette, has a cervix that is almost non-existent. It has almost completely effaced (thinning before dialating) and she has become a high risk of pre-term labor. Fortunately, we knew about this prior to the pregnancy and she was able to get a cerclage which is helping strengthen the cervix.

Now Lynette will be staying in the hospital for the remainder of this pregnancy. She started out on strict bedrest which means no bathroom privileges. However, as she began to improve (no contractions) and through her bribing the doctors with candy, they have allowed her to have bathroom privileges. She is very grateful for that as anyone who has ever been on bedrest in the hospital can attest to. She started receiving steroid shots (big accomplishment) today to help the baby's lungs continue to grow and develop.

The baby is healthy as far as we know and we have to take it one day at a time. We are doing well, overwhelmed to say the least. We have some great friends who are helping with watching Benson Monday through Friday. This has been a huge help. The schedule goes something like this: Wake up at 7:30 am (rough I know) and get ready, get Benson's stuff together, Benson then goes to ward members home, I go to work, come home from work, pick Benson up, and go visit Lynette in the hospital and eat a hospital dinner between the three of us, stay for about 1.5 hrs or less then go home and put Benson to bed. This is the same each day but we do the best we can to make it work.

Lynette encouraged me to start updating everyone through this blog. As many of you remember we did the same thing when we had William. It was such an incredible experience to document all that was going on. It was as if you could see the hand of God in all that was taking place. It was exactly what I needed. I think it is needed again as we go through round two. I will try to keep all informed as things change but it may be sporadic at first. Hope this helps provide a glimpse into our lives!

Bedrest It Is

So we've had a couple of great Dr. appointments, one even where I was given permission to sit up periodically. But as I was talking to my Dr (who by-the-way is the most amazing, goes-above-and-beyond-anything-you-can-imagine, kind of Dr) she told me the goal for this pregnancy is for me to not end up in the hospital before the scheduled c-section and to keep this baby in. So I will be down, on our wonderful couch, for the duration of this pregnancy. I can't really wrap my head around 6 months but I can do tomorrow. So I just take one day at a time.
Benson was taken such good care of by Rachel and Adalaide (although she, Adalaide, did teach him some things we'll be trying to fix for years) and now my wonderful mother is here for two months!! Isn't she great! I cried when I read she wasn't flying home until April 11. We feel so blessed with the outpouring of love and offers to help from both family and friends, it's quite overwhelming. Thank you to all!

Band Wagon

I am planning on getting back on the blogging band wagon but think it's a bit daunting to think about catching up. We had so many fun times in November, December and January. Trips to the Bills, my favorite place to visit in Arkansas, for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Plus having fabulous weather in So Texas and going to the park everyday. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up.

In other exciting news...we are expecting!!!!!! We are super happy to be adding an addition in August. I have been put on bedrest (can this ever be easy?!). Hopefully it won't be for the next 6 months, wow can't even comprehend that. We should be finding out today if I get some more mobility privileges. My amazing sister, Rachel (and her daughter Adalaide) is here taking care of Benson and me. Oh she is wonderful! Benson has done pretty well, I think it's harder on me than on him. But of course it's all worth it. Anthony (and his work) has also been so amazing, what would I do without him?

Halloween : There's No Place Like Home

I love family themed costumes for Halloween! Last year was the sports theme and this year the Wizard of Oz. Benson can say "dog" so it was fun to have him be Toto. He didn't mind the dressing up except the hood. Every time I wanted him to wear it for a picture I had to bribe him with candy. It was also really fun making his costume and my apron. And we can use them again next year.

Funny story of getting Anthony's shirt. We went to Good Will to get a shirt for him to wear and ruby slippers for me (I painted some nice $2 shoes red with house paint). I picked out a couple for him to choose from and he picked one out. He choose his because it looked more worn. When he got home he went to hand wash it and found shoulder pads! It was a women's shirt! Hilarious! I am still laughing about it. Then after it was washed and dried he put it on and it was skin tight, like the hulk just before his clothes tear off. Hilarious, again! Anyway, he had to wear it because we didn't have anything else. So that made for some funny moments all night.







We also had a fabulous meal. I want to do more fun halloween-eeish meals next year, but this was a good start. Plus I can never let a holiday pass without making some sort of treat. This year it was these adorable candy corn cookies (I actually hate the real candy corns but not these). In the last picture the cookies are frosted. That was the only plate I spent so much time on frosting like the candy, all the others had orange, white or yellow frosting.

Fall Fun

Besides Benson's fun birthday we've been having a lot of fun this past month! Fall is my favorite season so it's too bad we live in the land of summer. But we have enjoyed the couple cold fronts that have come through and the fall-like and non-fall-like activities.

This fabulous church up the street does this huge fall festival every year. They have food, games, a puppet show, hay rides, and a pumpkin patch. The best thing about it is that it's all free! (except you have to buy any pumpkins you want from the pumpkin patch.) We met up with a few friends and enjoyed the festivities! Benson was too small do go in the big bouncy things but he loved going around picking up litter on the pavement (we have such a Eco friendly child).


A friend of mine has a season pass to the aquarium and took Bens and me one day. Benson loved looking at all the fish. At one point a huge sting ray was swimming right towards him and he started crying. But other than that it was a success. Thanks Heidi!


Here are a few other random pictures from this past month. Benson loves "helping" us vacuum. He actually loves to unplug the vacuum and carry the cord for us.


One sunday he had just woken up from his nap, it was hot and he loved not having any pants on (sorta tom cruise style). He loves his xylophone and the hand mixer.


There is also a chance we have the next Van Gogh on our hands. He loved coloring for the first time and loved eating the crayons even more.

Birthday Morning and Party

Benson's birthday was a wonderful day! After he woke up we brought him downstairs to his presents. (I think he liked the banner more than the gifts.) We sang happy birthday and let/helped him open his gifts. Then we played until it was time to get ready for his party.







My fabulous sister helped me make his cute party invite (they cost an arm and a leg otherwise)! I love it! Thanks Michelle!


His party was at a park nearby and it was a perfect day. A few friends came to help celebrate. He loved playing on the toys (slide and swings) and eating all the rocks, plants and dirt. When it was time to eat the cake he wasn't sure what to do but Anth helped him. I'm sure he won't remember this party but he was a happy boy so I like to think he knew it was a special day.
(Also notice the cute sign and cupcake toppers, my amazing sister sent me these! Thanks Rachel!)

1 Year Old or 12 Months

Today is Benson's 1st Birthday!

We can't believe that a year ago yesterday we were anxiously awaiting word from our birth-mom that Benson was on his way. With the original due date being the 18th we thought we wouldn't hear anything until the weekend was over. We had just purchased a house but the A/C was getting replaced so were spending a couple days at a friends house. The house was a mess but we had painted the nursery and set up the crib.

On Friday, the 14th, at around 9pm I got a text from our birth-mom telling us that she was having contractions but would wait to go into the hospital until the next morning. We didn't sleep that night and at 8am I texted her to see how she was doing and was told she was being admitted to the hospital; that he was definitely on his way! At 4pm we received a text, with some pictures, telling us that he was here, beautiful and healthy! We drove 4 hours the next morning to see him. It was definitely love at first site. It was amazing! It was a very emotional and spiritual experience for Anthony and me. Just 7 months previous we had lost our little William and here we were being blessed with this perfect little Benson. We all knew he was supposed to be apart of our family! We've felt that confirmation everyday since.

We can't express our appreciation enough, to our incredibly wonderful birth-mom!! She made an amazing, difficult and selfless decision. She will always be apart of our lives and we love her dearly.

It's been wonderful to watch Benson grow and change over these last 12 months, we've loved them!!

-He is now walking and has the bruises to prove it
-Trying to talk (words we can understand - duck, dog, bottle, no, yes, mom, dad, hi and bye-bye. And lots of other words we don't.)
-Going up and down stairs
-Favorite foods - beets, black beans, cheese and fruit
-Climbing up on anything he can
-Loves hide'n seek/where's Benson
-Loves being outside, preferably eating the leaves and dirt from our yard
-Loves to go get the mail
-Loves to play with other children, which is expressed by poking their eyes or pulling their hair (we are working on this)
-Has started throwing tantrums (didn't know 1 year olds did this)
-Learning to throw a ball
-Loves to read and has started bringing us books to read to him over and over

Here are some of our favorite pictures of Benson throughout this past year...
(Blogger was being difficult so they are all over the place, enjoy!)

Happy Birthday Benson!!!