It's Christmas, Y'all!

My favorite time of the year!  Well, besides the 4th of July and Thanksgiving, those are good ones too.  I've been busy getting ready for Bennett's first Christmas!  I've been buying all sorts of toys and stuff for our lil Santa Claus.  Here's a few of his Christmas pictures taken by the fabulous Melanie Jankun!  She and her hubs brought us lunch a few weeks back and I asked her to take a few shots of Bennett in his new Christmas sweater and Santa hat.  This is what came out of literally 15 minutes in our backyard, and we used his red rug out of his nursery as the background.  Aren't they just precious?  I'm still in awe of them.  Melanie you freaking rock!  Thank you so much!

Can you all believe he's 4 months old???  Holy smokes!  He's about to start solid food soon - craziness!  He is just the happiest little guy.  We are so in love with him!!!

So, what else is going on in our life?  Not a whole lot to be honest.  December is always insane.  This year my shopping has been a little different. I did about 90% of it online. You can't beat the cyber Monday deals and free shipping! It's awesome! I also have been trying to start exercising again, but it's SUPER hard to find the time when I am up at 6:15 am every day and don't get home until after 5.  I don't want to take any time away from Bennett when I get home so I just play with him until he is down for the night.  How could I get up earlier than 6:15?  I might have to!  Ouch...not looking forward to that.  I'm within a couple of pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight which I guess is pretty good considering I gained almost 40!  I found a picture of myself the other day from the day before I had Bennett - holy cow, well I was A COW!  I might get brave and post it on here one day.  I am going to do a 10k in March in Charleston so that should force me to run and get back into shape.  It's going to hurt so bad but I've got to do it, and I've GOT to figure out when I am going to train for it!  It's going to be tough!  Y'all let me know if you have any ideas.   Or just tell me to shut it and get on the treadmill at 5 am.  Ha!

We are with my side of the family this year for Christmas, and we always have a tradition of sitting around the fire outside listening to my Christmas tunes.  Of course, this is one of my favorites...


Anything Jimmy Buffett I'm a fan of. 

And when December hits every year, I HAVE to watch Christmas Vacation.  I have watched pieces of it this year, and have yet to sit down and watch the entire movie.  It's one of the funniest movies of all time!  From Eddie "save the neck for me Clark" to Margo and Todd - this movie is awesome!!!!  Burn dust, eat my rubber!!!  Haaahaha I love it.  It's not Christmas without Christmas Vacation!


And last but certainly not least, I want to wish our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ a Happy early Birthday...
"an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."


We have been very, very blessed this year with the birth of our son, my continued health along with the health of all of our family members and we are so thankful!  2011 was good to us! 

I hope all of you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Love to all,

Kerri

15 weeks old

Well, I had a little lapse in posting!  Bennett will be 15 weeks old tomorrow...wow!  Time literally just disappears.  Life is INSANELY busy these days.  I often wonder just what I did with my time before I had Bennett in my life.  All those times I said "I don't have time to work out" or "I don't have time to cook" hahahaaaa that was a joke.  Ok now I really don't have the time, except on the weekends.  Let me add the weekends when we don't travel.  It's crazy! 

We are doing good.  I am back at work already...wow that went fast.  I'm pretty sure time has never flown by like it did from August to the end of October.  12 weeks went by in the blink of an eye.  My first week back was hard, but I'll tell you my third week back was even harder.  My Mom came up to keep Bennett for the first two weeks, thank you MOM!  That was so helpful to be able to go home at lunch and see my little guy.  We started with his in-home daycare on Nov. 7th.  I cried the whole way to work, and fought back the tears all day long.  It was SO hard.  The second day it was a little better, and by the end of the week I was ok with it.  You have to be ok with it, you don't have a choice!!  He has done really well with her, and is happy and rested every day when I pick him up - so that makes me happy.  I am working from home on Fridays which is HUGE!  I love that.  My work has been so wonderful and understanding.  We have been very blessed in finding our in-home daycare and with my job being so wonderful - thank you God everything has worked out the way it has. 

Here's a little video of Bennett kicking the heck out of his piano toy in his crib - he loves this thing!  Look how big he is...UGH he is growing up too fast!  :(  He is such a joy to be around though, and he is one of the most smiley babies I've ever seen, it's so cute!!!  He has whole-face smiles...I love it.  He is looking more and more like his Daddy every day...although there are moments where I see me in him too.  Ben says he looks like me, I say he looks like Ben - so I guess he looks like both of us?  Well we think he's the coolest, cutest baby ever...and life is so much better with him in it. 



Check out this picture my Dad took of Bennett last weekend - haaaaaaha, his future's so bright, he's gotta wear shades.

Cool dude

 Life is GOOD!  Hope those of you who still read this blog are doing well.

Love to all,

Kerri

7 weeks! We're old pros now...

We have survived the first 6 weeks!  I had heard before having Bennett that the first 6 weeks are the toughest...and sure enough, I think that's a pretty accurate statement.  We are very blessed that we have a "good" baby.  However, Bennett is not a sleeper.  He is extremely alert all the time, and rarely wants to sleep during the day.  He'll take a cat nap here and there, but never more than a couple of hours, and some days he only sleeps 2 hours total during the day!  He's an active little guy!  So, that's why I don't really have time to blog right now - he takes all my time during the day.  I don't mind it at all because I could literally stare at him all day long, but there were some days where I didn't even brush my hair until Ben got home at 6 pm.  HA!  We are down to one feeding in the middle of the night, usually around 3 am.  So, that's much better than every 2.5 hours when he was so little.  Hooray! 

Time is seriously flying...I can't believe he is already 7 weeks old.  It needs to slow down!!  Here's what we've learned so far about having a baby:

1. It changes everything.  Have you seen that commercial?  People can try to tell you that but you don't get it until you actually have a baby!
2.  Breastfeeding is TOUGH.  I survived 6 weeks.  Then Bennett's appetite grew considerably and he just wasn't satisfied unless I nursed him for over an hour - whoa!  It just got to be too much.  It's a full time job!  And stopping breastfeeding hurts...bad.
3.  You really don't know how someone that is so small can produce so much laundry.  I wash at least one load of his clothes/blankets/burp cloths a day!
4.  You don't really realize how many diapers you can go through so quickly.  One morning Bennett went through 4 in an hour...ha!  And if you have a little boy, you'll get sprayed all the time.  Bennett has peed on his picture on the fireplace, all over our bed, and even in his own face and hair!  Haha!
5.  You can't just pick up and go somewhere - forget that!  It's a BIG deal to travel too.  We just went home to NA last weekend and packing for a newborn is insane!  I was completely worn out after packing up everything he would need.  It's crazy!
6.  You gain new respect for your Mom, and Dad too.  You realize that everything you are doing for your baby, your parents once did for you.  Thanks Mom and Dad!
7.  You don't even understand how you can love someone as much as you love your little one.  I wake up everyday and realize how blessed we really are.  As much work as a newborn is, you don't even care.  The first time they smile at you, your heart will melt.  Bennett has the cutest, sweetest smile I've ever seen.  Of course, I'm partial.  ;)

It's an amazing feeling being a Mom.  No one can describe it to you.  We love every second spent with Bennett - we love him so much!!  Here is a little video of him playing, smiling and talking in his crib.  He is the cutest thing ever.  (Please excuse my redneck baby voice)

I just wanted to give you all a quick update and let you know that we are doing good!  Thanks for reading...more videos to come!

Love to all!

Kerri

We became THREE!

Our little miracle arrived 2.5 weeks ago on August 8th!  Bennett Ryland Stephenson arrived at 12:52 pm and weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces and was 21 1/4 inches long - he is a big boy!  Here is a picture of our son - we are so in love with him!

 I just now have a few minutes to write something on here.  Life with a newborn is amazing, and I'm probably the busiest I've ever been in my life.  Little man lost some weight in the hospital so they have me nursing him every 2.5 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night.  It is a full time job!! 

My delivery went very smoothly and was super fast - thank you God for an answered prayer!  I was only in labor for 5 hours and pushed for 30 minutes!  I had heard horror stories about inductions and thankfully mine was so wonderful.  I felt a few big contractions before I got my epidural and I honestly don't know how some women go through that naturally.  No thank you!!  My epidural was perfect as I could barely feel contractions coming on my right side which game me an advantage because I could start pushing before they hit hard.  I think that's why it went so fast!  I am SO thankful and feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful delivery.

Our stay in the hospital was amazing.  Northside really knows what they are doing.  I guess so since they deliver more babies than any other hospital in the nation!  Besides the lack of sleep, it was awesome!  Ben and I slept maybe 7 hours the entire time we were there.  And that was 3 days!  Ha!  The first night after we had him we got less than an hour of sleep - that was rough!  Every little sound he made we were like "is he ok?"..."is he breathing?"  Ha!  First time parents much?

We had a rough first week at home as sickness seemed to take over our entire family.  My Mom and Dad had to go home before we came home from the hospital as my Mom began to run a fever the day before.  We felt so sorry for her!!  We know they wanted to be there for our homecoming.  :(  Since Ben's family was in town we though we would have his Mom come stay with us our first night home, but our precious nephew Walker got sick the night before with a virus and she had baby sat him all day.  Everyone was surrounded by sickness!  So, Ben and I were thrown to the sharks and managed to survive our first night home with our son alone.  We did pretty good if I do say so myself!  It was nerve-racking, but we made it.  We actually slept a little, surprisingly!  So, after that we thought we were home free.  Well, Ben and I both ended up getting sick a few days later.  We got too run down at the hospital and it never fails that I get sick if I don't get enough sleep.  It was awful.  We both had colds, and he had a fever so he could not be around Bennett at all.  I don't think Ben touched him or got near him for two days.  I had to wear a surgical mask to nurse my little guy - it was rough for a few days.  I was so worried that Bennett would be sick during the first week of his life.  Ugh, it was awful but we made it through that as well.  Ben's Mom made us dinners and grocery shopped for us while she was here which was so helpful!  My Mom came back into town the Monday after we came home from the hospital and has been here ever since, she has been a HUGE help to us!  We are so thankful!!

We are all better now and I am actually used to getting up three times a night to nurse Bennett!  We are doing great!!  I am praying he is back to his birth weight at his doc appointment tomorrow so we can let him sleep longer at night.  That will make us all very happy!!  We would appreciate your prayers that he is gaining weight like crazy!

Our little guy is such a good baby.  He never cries unless you're changing his diaper or is really really hungry.  We are so blessed :)

Well there is my little update!  Sorry it took me so long!  Will update with more pictures soon.

Love to all!

Kerri

Coveting...

This...

And this...

AND - t minus 36 days until this...

 Happy Saturday...come to think of it, this might be the first time I've ever looked at my blog on a Saturday.  Wow...so this is what happens when you are waiting around for labor to start? 

Time is standing still!

I just wanted to do a quick check-in on the blog to say TIME IS STANDING STILL! I am done with work, well almost. I have been working from home this week, and I must say - I could get used to this. However, it does get kind of boring and I think I would go crazy if this is what I did every day. I'm sure I will think differently once Bennett is here, I know I won't want to leave him!

I am feeling good. Almost too good. I thought the end of pregnancy was supposed to be torture? I can still sleep well, do things around the house, and am not confined to the couch! I am blessed! Bennett seems pretty content in there, but he still moves quite a bit. He moved literally all day yesterday, it was crazy! It seems like he wants to get outta there and stretch out a bit. Come on little man, we are ready for you!  My 38 week checkup I was making a little progress...but not as much as I'd hoped.  Starting this Monday if I haven't made any more progress it's time to start walking non-stop! 

Here's my 38 week pic - I don't think I am any bigger than last week. Bennett seems to have dropped a little and I might even be a little smaller. That's cool with me! I was feeling really massive there for a minute!  I also decided to cut my hair last week, it feels so much better!  No more 20 minute dry time for me!  Not complaining though...I will never, ever complain about having thick hair again!  It saved me a few years ago!  You can tell from this pic that I've got some swelling in my face finally...I was expecting that.  My feet still swell pretty bad at night...the left one is always more swollen than the right.  I keep them propped up but it doesn't seem to matter much!

38.5 weeks - 11 days to go!

My parents were in town this past weekend and we made Scalini's eggplant parm!   There have been a ton of babies born after eating this recipe.  We made it at home, but copied the recipe exactly.  It was INSANE...seriously, we were in awe of how good it was!  I will warn you though, it is NOT easy to make.  It took me, Ben, my Mom and my Dad several hours to make it.  It was a team effort for real.  But, if you've got the time, make this one night.  You won't be disappointed!  Here's a pic of me before completely devouring it.  Even though it didn't put me into labor, it was worth the effort!!

YUMMMMM!

Hope you are all having a great week!  We are just waiting around for our little boy to make his grand entrance...come on BENNETT!

Love to all!

KJS

It's the Final Countdowwwwwn...

You know that song! Let me go ahead and apologize because once you get it in your head it doesn't stop!

I thought I'd try to catch Bennett kicking me in a video, and I did it! Yeah, I know I am talking to Gracie half the time...story of my life.






If you listen closely at the beginning of my video, you can hear SNL's Jeopardy skit - one of my faves of all time!  Suck it TREBEK!

And here is the belly at almost 37 weeks! It is surreal to look at this picture. I can't believe I am this big right now. My weight gain hasn't been terrible and it's all in my belly. And my butt. And my boobs. You know, everywhere except my arms and legs. ;) I exercised up until week 32. At that point it started to hurt! I've got pregnancy carpal tunnel too, man that's no fun at all! At least my face isn't huge. The weight will come off! Hopefully???!!! You know how I said 3 weeks ago that I wasn't sure how I would get any bigger. Well it happened. HA! Bennett is still very active and gave me a rib kick this morning that almost threw me off the bed. Ouch. I don't mind, at least I know he's ok in there!





Just for fun, here is my 9 week pic - I was just starting to show! BIG change. haha!

I don't think I ever mentioned it on here but we got approved for FREE cord blood banking. Pretty frickin' sweet! Hey, there's one good thing that came out of me having a blood cancer. It can not only be used for me but for other members of our family as well. It's much easier to transplant stem cells than bone marrow because you don't have to have an exact match. It costs thousands of dollars to store cord blood, and all we have to pay is a $150 processing fee and we get it for free for 5 years. It's fresh on my mind because I just packed the kit in my hospital bag this week. It's ready to go! I know this is the future of medicine...it is absolutely amazing what can be accomplished with stem cells these days. It's unreal.

We would appreciate your prayers as we prepare to bring Bennett into this world! He'll be here no time, 3 weeks or less!

Happy Friday, and hope you all have a great weekend!

I'm gonna go waddle around some more...

KJS

ps...do you all like my new design?

Critters in the Backyard

Ben and I love sitting outside and watching all of the "critters" as he calls them.  We have birds, squirrels, chipmunks, lizards and rabbits!  As soon as I see a rabbit I run in the kitchen and grab whatever I can find in our produce drawer to throw at them.  Ben gets a little irritated because I literally start launching apples and carrots across the yard.  HA!  Can't help it, I'm an animal lover. And of course, I can't forget about my beloved hummingbirds.  They have been a little MIA this year, which is odd.  But recently they've started to come around again, and I've got 3 right now that I feed daily.  They are teeny tiny ones, and they are so cute!  Check out what we saw on our bird feeder Saturday morning.  This little guy is a climber!

And I got a shot of a hummingbird the other night!  They are SO HARD to get a picture of!



I will update later in the week with another picture of my massive belly! 

Love to all!

A Fun July Weekend

We had a great 4th of July weekend!  Pics below!

We got Yard of the Month for July!  Ben is so proud!

HAHA!

Walker at the Herron's Pool Party on Monday - isn't he a cutie!!

Walker, Nolyn and Raegan in the swing :)

Chris doing a "foodle" - funneling beer through a noodle - boys will be boys I guess!  HA!

And here's a video of the fireworks we saw at the park near our house.  Nice show!

The house is ready for our little man!  Everything is done.  We just need him to make his grand entrance!  We have our hospital tour tonight.  I'll see if I can get Ben to take my 35 week pic when we get home.  Wow, I am uncomfortable.  And the heat is beastly right now...  I actually had to go buy a couple more dresses last week as I cannot fit in most of my maternity clothes.  Um really?  You're know you're big when you can't even fit in a maternity shirt.  Dangggggggg... My belly falls out of the bottom of almost all of my shirts.  Now that's hot.  Be jealous. 

Have a fab week y'all!

Mrs. Fat Feet

I got a new camera last week and was playing around with it.  I snapped a pic of Gracie to see what the lighting looked like and just happened to get a shot of my feet in it.  Holy crap!  Look how swollen they are!  Just call me Mrs. Fat Feet...k?  HAHA!  Thought you all might get a laugh out of this...I surely did.

I had my 34-week check up today and everything looks good.  Bennett is head down and ready to go.  He is curled around to where his feet and knees are on the right side of my tummy, and boy does he like to stretch out lately!  He has just about rubbed me raw right there.  I guess he's comfortable like that, and that's all that matters.  Starting at 36-weeks they will start to check me for dilation.  Here we go, the party is close to getting started.  It's crazy how fast the time has gone!

We'll be cheering on the GAMECOCKS baseball team tonight as they try for back-to-back National Championships. Now wouldn't that be awesome?  GOOOOOOOOOO COCKS!

Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock

The countdown is ON!  I have less than 7 weeks to go.  If he's early, I have like a month or a little more to go.  I am 33 weeks pregnant and like I said in my previous post, how am I going to get any bigger than this?!!?!?!

Large and in charge.  Anyone spot Gracie?

 Haaaa!  I feel huge.  I am huge.  I've got the pregnancy waddle going full force.  It's freaking HOT outside.  Bennett, come a little early for your Mama, k?  Say, a couple weeks early...maybe?  PLEASE!

The little man has been kicking the heck out of my insides lately, I think he's getting pretty cramped in there!  I had a few kicks this past weekend that made me squint my eyes and grind my teeth - they HURT.  It feels like he is trying to punch through my stomach at times, he is so strong!  He also gets the hiccups multiple times a day.  It's so cute!  He almost always has them as soon as I lay down in the bed at night. 

I know I never posted his 4D images on here, so here's a few of the little chunkster...look at those cheeks already!  This was almost a month ago, imagine what they will be when he is born.

I'm a chunky monkey!

Presh!

I'm tired Mama!

It's so dark in here!

It that a smile I see?

That was a very special day as Ben and I went on our 5 year anniversary to see his little face.  It was awesome!

Nursery pics to come...

Is it really only Wednesday?  Have a fabulous weekend y'all! 

Kerri

Dirty Food

I saw this article this morning and thought it was very interesting.  It is amazing how much crap we consume on a daily basis!  If any of you are readers of my old blog, which I think you are, you know that I try to buy as much organic food as possible.  Yes, it's expensive and I've cut back a little bit, but for the majority of things we eat I'd say half are organic.  I also try to purchase humanely raised meats and have been pretty successful at doing so.  There are a lot more options that there used to be in the regular grocery stores, which is nice to see.  We've recently tried grass-fed beef, and it is amazing.  It doesn't have near the fat that regular beef does, and the kind I purchase at my local grocery store is humanely raised.  So is Springer Mountain Farms chicken.  If you can find this chicken, try it out.  You will be amazed at how tender and flavorful this chicken is compared to the regular ole chicken breasts.  Check out this link below too - you can't ever be too clean when preparing your food.  We go through bleach and vinegar like no other!  And I have become almost obsessed with washing vegetables, especially being pregnant.  Pesticides are bad...REALLY bad while pregnant.  Here's the dirty food...watch out y'all!

The 10 Dirtiest Foods

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

So... I'm 32 weeks pregnant now, and all I can really think about right now is having this little boy and getting back to "normal".  I'm to the point now where I feel like I've been pregnant for an eternity.  We found out the week after Thanksgiving...THANKSGIVINGGGGG!!!  That was forever ago!  So anyways, I thought I'd put together a funny little post about the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of pregnancy.  Believe me, I'm so very thankful to be where I am right now.  I've got a healthy little boy growing inside of me that I cannot WAIT to meet!  But, pregnancy is a roller coaster of emotional and physical tolls that cannot be ignored.  SO, why not document them on here so I can look back and laugh in a few months?!  Here they are:

The GOOD
1.  You wake up everyday knowing there is a miracle growing inside of you.
Blessed beyond belief.  Words cannot describe how thankful we are that God chose us to be Bennett's parents. :) I thank Him everyday for that.
2.  You can literally eat your face off and not feel bad about it.
Never before have I eaten more than my husband in a sitting, but there were a few times in the early months where Ben was absolutely astonished at the amount of food I could put away and FAST.  Ask him, I get REALLY irritated when I'm hungry...move out da way mama needs food!  And, don't even get me started on the ice cream.  I eat it just about every day.  I deserve it dang it!  If I can't have my beloved glass of wine every night, gimme the ice cream and move outta the way - k?
3.  Everyone is nice to you. 
I've never had so many people hold doors for me, ask me how I'm doing, and literally will go out of their way to help me out.  It's amazing!  I wish people were always that nice, the world would be a better place.
4.  Your hair looks fabulous.
Y'all know what I've been through with my hair.  Cancer treatment completely messed it up and while I was so very blessed not to lose it all, the texture of it was like sandpaper for a while.  My hair FINALLY looks like it used to.  Yep, it took 2.5 years and some pregnancy hormones...but it's back and just as thick as ever.  Hooray!  Now my skin, that's another story. See below.
5.  Designing a nursery is fun.
Well, I guess that's if you like to do stuff like that.  I had an absolute blast designing Bennett's nursery, and it is 99% DONE!  All I need is a table lamp, that's it.  It looks so awesome.  Pictures to come. :)

The BAD
1.  Pregnancy ain't no joke.
Yep, there's no doubt about it.  Pregnancy is rough!  I was extremely blessed to not have one bit of morning sickness, I honestly don't know how some women handle that.  But in the later months it will take you by surprise when your entire body starts to hurt!  Literally, you wake up and have pain radiating from your back and hips.  What am I, 80 or something?  Hip pain?  That sounds so ancient.  I was in great shape before I got pregnant too, it doesn't make a difference!  Carrying around a bowling ball in your uterus is tough!  My feet hurt, the joints in my hands hurt...I'm just one big ole HURT.
2.  Drunk people are REALLY annoying.
There haven't been many times where I've had to deal with this, but the few times I have SUCKED.  I found out I was pregnant two nights before the Gamecocks played Auburn in the SEC Championship, so I found out REALLY quick how the next 9 months were going to be.  Ouch...
3.  The scale becomes your worst enemy.
I've never weighed this much in my life.  I almost weigh more than my husband!  That is NOT cool!  Everyone asks where all of the weight is, well here's the answer:  Triple B - Belly, Boobs, and Butt.  I'm just thankful it's not everywhere.  My face still looks somewhat normal, thank goodness!  The weight will come off...hopefully!  ;)
4.  Sleep is hard work.
In the early months I'd pass out on the couch at 8:30 every night because that first trimester fatigue was insane.  I slept great up until about 3 months ago.  That's when I couldn't sleep on my back anymore...and I am a back sleeper.  K now I have 4 pillows in the bed with me and Ben is like 5 feet away.  It sucks!  I have to pee at least once, sometimes twice a night.  And, I literally have to pick up my belly and roll it over in the bed with me.  If I wake Bennett up anytime during the night up it's pretty much over for a good hour while he kicks and rolls around in there.  Believe me I love feeling him move, but after a while it starts to get uncomfortable.
5.  Finding cute clothes can be a challenge.
It was easy at first because you can wear regular shirts for a long time if they are long enough.  I was in pregnancy jeans and pants at 14 weeks because I began to show pretty early.  But now?  Now the issue is making sure my belly doesn't hang out of the bottom of my shirt like some back woods redneck.  I am carrying pretty low, so it's hard to find stuff that's long enough for me.  I've found dresses and skirts to be extremely comfortable, and don't make me feel like a sausage stuffed into a casing like those maternity pants do!

The UGLY
1.  You body begins to resemble a mammoth walrus around month 7.
I'm just now in the 8th month.  I literally feel massive right now.  I look at myself in the mirror and think "how can I possibly get any bigger than this?"  It will happen.  I will get bigger.  This little boy is only half the size he'll be at birth.  AGGGGHHHHH!
2.  Bodily functions become your worst enemy.
Just this past Sunday night I experienced quite possibly the worst heartburn of my life.  Considering this is the only time I've ever had heartburn, I guess it was the worst of my life.  It woke me from a dead sleep and I literally thought I was going to puke all over Ben.  Nope, it was just stomach acid coming up my throat.  Awesome!!  I'm on Zantac now, so it's all good!  But, that was bad...REALLY bad.  I pray it doesn't happen again...EVER!
3.  You start to really despise your skinny friends.
Everyone looks freakishly thin right now.  It makes you feel like a hot frumpy mess.  Blah!
4.  Your skin is not pretty.
So, I had beautiful skin up until month 5.  That's when it all went downhill.  Now I have pregnancy acne and it's this dry, flaky acne that you can't do anything about.  It sucks!  And there's no point in going to a dermatologist because you can't take ANYTHING while you're pregnant.  Even the topical creams they can give you are a no no during pregnancy.  Oh well!  So, you're fat and have acne.  Sweet.
5.  You really start to wonder how you're going to give birth to something the size of a watermelon.
It will happen, it's just scary to think about!  Please let my epidural take...PLEASE.

So, there you have it.  That's my list!

This is more for me to look back on and just laugh about.  I know once I see Bennett's sweet little chunky face it will all be worth it.  Yes, he has a chunky face already - we saw it on the 4D images.  I will put those on here soon.  It's the end of pregnancy that's the toughest, and of course mine is when the temps outside hit 100 like it's no big deal.  Guess I'll stuff myself into a swimsuit a few more times this summer...Look out people!  Mammoth walrus is coming in the water!  HAHA :)

Hope you all get a laugh out of this.  Felt good to write it!

Love to all!

Kerri

Cake Wrecks

HAPPY FRIDAY!  Here's a laugh for y'all.  I recently came across Pregnant Chicken - an absolutely hilarious blog about pregnancy.  I just about died laughing at these...the one coming out of the TV is flippin' awesome.  HAHAHA!

Cake Wrecks Baby Shower Edition

It's Shower Time!

I wanted to write and update you all on what has been going on with me!  I have been so busy with work, doctors appointments, getting Bennett's room ready, and attending baby showers my head sometimes feels like it's spinning.

I had the most wonderful baby shower this past weekend in North Augusta!  I had to put a slide show on here because we had so much fun.  It was hosted by my sister-in-law Kristen, and very close friends Abbie, Kristie, and Lauren.  It was an evening couples shower.  Unfortunately Ben wasn't able to make it.  His Grandmother passed away last week and him and Matt were in Kentucky attending her funeral.  She was a wonderful woman that lived a long and fulfilling life, and we know she is in Heaven and that is comforting.  If you all could say a prayer for his Grandfather, we would appreciate it.  He lost his partner of 68 years and is having a hard time with her passing.  We missed the entire Stephenson side of the family at this shower!  I was sad Ben wasn't there because we won't ever have another couples shower again :( So we made the best of it and it ended up being absolutely amazing.  There were a lot of people who traveled near and far for me, and it was so nice to see a lot of people that I had not seen in a long time.  Now who thinks of a baby shower as a party?  Obviously North Augusta does.  I had several people say "this is the best baby shower I've ever been to" during the night.  Thanks so much to these girls who did this for me!



I got SO MUCH stuff that I really really needed, and I am so thankful for that!  My parents are coming up this weekend to help me finish Bennett's room and get all of his stuff washed.  It's going to be crazy busy, and I'm just so thankful for their help!  Ben is traveling to Baltimore this weekend for a wedding.  I am so sad I can't go because we LOVE going to Baltimore to visit all of their friends, but at almost 8 months pregnant I don't think that's a good idea.

I hope all of you are doing well!  I've got two more showers this month and I'm really excited about those as well!  One is here and one is in North Augusta.  I'm a busy girl in June!  I'll be 32 weeks on Monday.  He'll be here before we know it...

Love to all!

Kerri

ps...please check my cancer blog, there's a new post!  If you all would like to leave some words of support on there it would be greatly appreciated!

Fabulous Homemade Pizza

Happy almost FRIDAY!  And what's better about this weekend is that it's THREE DAYS!  Yessssss....

I thought I'd share a quick post about one of my favorite foods.  You know, food and pregnancy go hand in hand...and there's no doubt that I haven't deprived myself one bit.  Pizza has been one of my favorite things to eat over the past 7 months.  We have it at least once, sometimes twice a week.  I love it!

The best thing about this pizza is the dough.  We get our dough from the Publix bakery in the baked goods section usually.  If you can't find it, ask for it.  It's best if you let it sit out still in the packaging for an hour before you start messing with it.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin and get it as thin as you like.  We roll ours out to fit on an extra large air bake cookie sheet.  Recently Ben has been rolling up the edges to make a crust, and it is SO good, try that! 

After you've rolled it out cover the dough with olive oil and italian seasonings.  I like to sprinkle the "crust" part with a little kosher salt too.  It's just yummy.  Put your favorite pizza sauce down next and whatever toppings you like.  My current faves are sauteed portabella mushrooms, fresh baby spinach, and banana peppers.  Ben eats crazy stuff on his half like green olives and anchovies - gross!  I accidentally bit into an anchovy one time and almost lost my mind it was so nasty.  So, I make him keep that stuff far away from our "center line" where my stuff is on one half, his on the other.  That's the beauty of homemade pizza, you can do whatever you want with it and there aren't any extra charges!

Top with cheese, and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes.

We usually pair it with a salad of some sort...my favorite salad right now is a spinach, craisin, and walnut salad with balsamic dressing.  Throw in some blue cheese crumbles and you're basically eating a restaurant quality salad.  It's so good!!

This pizza is ridiculously good y'all.  Try it out!

Cheers to a 3 day weekend!  Ben and I will be celebrating five blissful years of marriage tomorrow, YAY!  We are going to have a 4D ultrasound done tomorrow afternoon.  We thought it would cool to see our little boy's face for the first time on our anniversary.  I'll post pics next week!

Love to all,

Kerri

May Madness

By the title of this post, you can see I'm right in the middle of the insane month I was referring to in my previous posts.  Instead of March, it's May Madness in the Stephenson household!

I started the month out VERY busy at work, and the first weekend Ben and I did some work around the house.  I proceeded to plant $150 worth of flowers that Sunday in the blazing heat - not quite sure that was a good decision on my part being almost 27 weeks pregnant, but hey - it looks good!  My back felt like someone drop kicked me for a few days, ouch!  I won't do that again.  Then, the next week I was on Jury Duty - let me just say I am SO happy I wasn't selected for a jury!  It was torture just sitting in there for half a day.  That same week Ben and I took our first baby class after work.  We had to do this because we literally have no free weekends left until July.  So, last Tuesday from 6:30 to 9:30 we were in this class.  It was good and taught us some things we didn't know prior.  So, it was a beneficial class - just long and tough to sit through after a full day of work.

I also have tons of doctors appointments this month.   My glucose test was yesterday (Gross!) and my 6 month checkup at my oncologist's office is tomorrow.  Geez!  They are like vampires with the amount of blood that has been drawn this month.  At least I'm used to blood draws now, it honestly doesn't even bother me anymore.  How could it?  I bet I've had it drawn at least a hundred times over the past 3 years. I used to almost faint at the sight of a needle!

So anyways, finally this past weekend rolled around and both of our families were in town.  I had my first baby shower this past Saturday morning at Laura's house, and let me tell you - her and Melanie did an outstanding job on this shower!  I've never seen anything like it!  It was the most beautiful baby shower I've ever been to.  These girls went above and beyond and I really want to say THANK YOU to these two for doing all you did for me!  I can't say thank you enough...really, I can't.  Here are some pics!

Unbelievable candy and dessert table!

Onesie decorating station - awesome idea!

The absolute gorgeous food table!  Yum :)

They even had water bottles to match!

Custom Onesies everyone made for Bennett!

Me at almost 28 weeks - now in the 3rd trimester!

The lovely hostesses Laura and Melanie

It was an amazing shower and thanks to everyone who came!  I am so excited about all of the gifts for Bennett!

Sunday arrived and we geared up to go watch our adorable nephew Walker be baptized at our church.  He did so good!  He even stuck his hand in the bowl of holy water - priceless moment!  He is just precious in his new haircut too.  We love this little guy!!!

So, the madness continues!  I'm off to host my bf from college Kristie's bachelorette party this weekend.  I am really looking forward to it, it's going to be SO much fun!!

The last weekend in May Ben and I will be celebrating 5 years of marriage - can you believe it!  We've been through a lot in 5 years!  It's been amazing - cheers to us!  :)

Hope everyone is having a great week/month - love to all!

Kerri

What's in a name?

I wanted to write and let you all know that we've decided on a name for our little boy!  His official name will be:

Bennett Ryland Stephenson

We chose Bennett because we wanted a name that was similar to Benjamin, my husband's name, but not exactly the same.  I have completely fallen in love with the name Bennett.  It is different, but not completely out there that people look at you funny when you say it.  The first time I saw this name was actually on a wine bottle at my parent's house back in December.  Random much?!  But, something stopped me in my tracks when I saw the name on that bottle.  I remember glancing at it once, then doing a double take and literally standing there and looking at it for about 10 seconds.  Now at this point we did not know if were were having a boy or a girl - but something made me stop and think about that name for a boy.  I was only about 7 weeks pregnant at that point.  The next day Ben and I drove to Charleston and we talked about names on the way there.  I mentioned a few, and Ben didn't like any of them.  The last thing I said during this conversation was "what about Bennett for a boy?" and Ben said "I really like that."

So, from there we had the name Bennett as a front runner for a boy.   I also thought about girl names because my side of the family all thought we were having a girl.  Welp, they were wrong!  We unexpectedly found out we were going to have a boy at my 16 week ultrasound.  The technician said she was absolutely sure it was a boy...I was shocked and Ben had a perma-grin on his face for days.  I didn't have a clue and had been waiting on that pregnancy dream everyone has about their baby that shows whether you will have a girl or a boy - I never had one!  I had scary dreams...but those have stopped thank goodness!  So, anyways, then came the flood of thoughts on "what are we going to name this little boy?"  It is STRESSFUL to name a baby.  You know this name will be with them for the rest of their life, and that is nothing to be careless about.  I was glad we had already started really thinking hard about it before we found out.

So, we tossed a few other names in the mix and never really liked any of them as much as Bennett.  Bennett just feels "right".  I swear some people really mess up when they name their kids.  I'm on a pregnancy board and some of them I've seen are SO ridiculous!  Raider was one I was like "what?? like Raiders of the Lost Ark or the Oakland Raiders?" and another one was Xalen...REALLY people!  And the one that takes the cake was Malice...yes you saw correctly - MALICE!  Malice = hostile and mean...Haha!  Some of them just make me laugh!!  People are crazy.  Of course someone may think Bennett is absolutely crazy too so whatev!  To each his own.

Also, if you were wondering what the meaning of Bennett is, it means "Little Blessed One" - how perfect is that?  Makes me smile :)

Now about his middle name...Ryland is not a family name and came out of us just liking how it sounded with Bennett.  I saw it on a name list for boys....it was #482 in popularity.  I have always liked the name Riley for a girl, and this is similar but sounds a lot more masculine.  You also have to think about initials when naming a baby...you can't name a baby something and then have his initials spell out something absolutely ridiculous like BUS.  Even the first two initials can be made fun of.  Kids are harsh these days and will make fun of anything they can!  So, the J names were out too.  No one will call my kid BJ.  Forget that!  Haaaaaha.  He is already a BS with his first and last name for crying out loud...seriously, it's mind-boggling trying to come up with the perfect name AND perfect initials. 

So, there you have it...BRS it is.  We love it, and hope you all do too.

I will have another post soon about just how many instances of Bennett I've seen lately - it's pretty crazy.  But, that's for another day!

Love to all!

KJS

Easter Weekend

Hope everyone had a nice Easter!  We had a great weekend.  My parents came up on Friday to spend the weekend with us, and also to help us get a few more things done in the nursery.  The 4 of us headed over to pick up the dresser Saturday morning, and I also did some shopping for a crib mattress and glider. I found both! I decided on an organic crib mattress - thank goodness I had a coupon!  They are not cheap!  I got one that will last through the toddler years. The glider is ordered and will be here in June. I actually had a coupon for that too so I saved $160 bucks on both of those items.  Score!  So, that's it for the big ticket items for the nursery.  Hooray!   Now, I have to get all of the accessories in there. That will no doubt be the toughest part!  I bought a shelf to go above the dresser - and it's too light, so I've got to take it back.  Boo!  I've got super dark espresso furniture in there, and it's tough to match.  The thing about this nursery is that I have chosen bright colors, and baby accessories don't come in bright colors...they come in baby colors, like baby blue and yellow and soft greens and that just won't do!  I'm going to have to get creative...good thing I'm a creative person. ;)   Here are some pictures!

Saturday night we grilled out and I took a pic of Grillmaster Ben - he had both of his grills fired up that night...he cracks me up!  We had kielbasa, andouille, squash and onions on the gas grill, and a whole split chicken on the charcoal...YUM-O!

I had Ben take a pic of me Saturday night at 24 almost 25 weeks - Whoa...  ;)

I am feeling pretty good on most days!  We had an ultrasound last Monday and our little man is measuring a week ahead!  He is an active little guy - and it seems that 4 am is his favorite time of day. He rolls around, punches and kicks very early in the morning, every morning!  My guess is that he's hungry!  My obgyn has finally decided to put me on thyroid medication - looks like radiation blasted my thyroid pretty good and my TSH levels are slightly elevated.  He said it's nothing to worry about and they put me on a very low dose.  So, we'll see how that goes!

Easter was wonderful.  My Mom and I made her homemade dressing - there is nothing like it in the world.  Church was great yesterday as well!  Ben and I are so thankful for everything God has given to us - we are blessed in so many ways.  We thank Him for everything...

Hope you all have a great week!  Love to all,

KJS

Cutest Video Ever!

It honestly doesn't get much cuter than this!

Spring is here!

Happy Monday!  Wait, is that an oxymoron? 

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.  ~ Terri Guillemets

Spring has arrived in Atlanta.  I absolutely love this time of year.  I love those first few warm nights when you can sit out on the patio and grill out.  I love when the flowers start to burst through the ground and leaves begin to grow on the trees.  Our cherry blossom tree is in full bloom right now.  Little birds are making nests in our backyard.  Everything is so pretty!  Here are a few pics of our backyard.  I am 22.5 weeks in this pic, and I think I am looking bigger by the minute!

We've been super busy over the past week and a half.  The first weekend in April we headed to NA to a Jennifer Norris and Jordan Lybrand's wedding - it was super fun!  It was such a gorgeous weekend to get married outdoors, although it was a little windy.  You can see that I found a dress to fit my belly!

My Mom and I headed back to ATL that Sunday and the boys all headed to the Masters.  By the sound of it they had an absolute blast.  I don't think the weather could have been any nicer for them.  They saw my niece and nephew there too!

My Dad came back with Ben because he had the week off of work.  He made it his project to get the nursery painted and he did a FINE job!  My Mom and I taped the room off (torture), and he painted the walls on Tuesday.  It's a small room so it didn't take him long.  It is so pretty!  I am really happy with the colors.  As you can see, we didn't go with the slate blue.  I changed my mind last minute to a khaki/cream color scheme.  It looks awesome.  The picture does not do it justice.  Ben and Dad also put the crib together last week...and of course we are missing a few screws but you can get the general idea of what it looks like.  I LOVE IT!  What do you all think?

Thanks again Mom and Dad for all of your help last week, we are SO thankful for y'all! 

As you can see we have started to fill the closet with tiny baby boy clothes - isn't it CUTE!!!

While my parents were here, my Mom said that my Uncle had hummingbirds already and he lives in Georgia.  So, I decided to put my feeder out last week.  Sure enough, when I opened the blinds Thursday night after work, I noticed some of the nectar was gone.  As soon as I walked into the kitchen a few minutes later - there he was - a gorgeous ruby throated hummer!  YAY!  Y'all know how obsessed I am with these little creatures.  They make me happy.  :)  So put your feeders out and you may get an early hummingbird too! 

We had a good weekend this past weekend.  It was low key and I needed a weekend like that.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous all weekend, and it got HOT yesterday afternoon!  I love it...I've been waiting on this weather.  Ben, Kristen, Matt, Walker and I actually went to a cook out with our Sunday school class Saturday night and we had so much fun!  The people we have met are so awesome!

I will enjoy the low key weekends while they last, May is going to be insane!  Hope everyone has a great week!

Love to all,

KJS