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!