One Year

It's amazing when you have a child and you look back on the photos from the prior year.  It is so crazy what you come across.  I saw this picture yesterday and looked at the date on it...one year ago today this is what Bennett looked like. We didn't know if he was a girl or a boy and we were just about to announce to the world that we were having a baby.  Crazy what happens in a year!!

And here he is today!

God is so good.  He is 5.5 months old, weighs 18.2 pounds (I got on the scale with him on Sunday, ha!) and is literally growing like a weed.  He has already cut 2 teeth, and has started on solid food.  He has recently started to really enjoy his oatmeal mixed with apples, and loves carrots and sweet potatoes.  He HATES squash.  It did smell kind of funky so I don't blame him.  He has been giggling for about a month now, and the first time he laughed I literally about lost it, it's the cutest sound on the planet!  Check out this video, he laughs at the very beginning.  That is, until he sees the camera and then he stops.  I have to hide the camera to get any good videos of him!



Cutest thing ever!

He is SO chill - we are so very thankful for that!  The child sleeps 11+ hours a night and I hear him cry maybe once every few weeks and that's only when he's really tired.  He's just happy - all the time.  We love him so!  Sometimes I catch myself saying "am I really a parent now?" - it's mind boggling.  You think it's going to be so hard, and I will admit the first couple of months were, but you get into a groove, learn your baby - and your life becomes that much better just because they are in it.  :)

Ben and I are doing good!  We work hard, and count down the minutes until we can get home and see Bennett.  I must admit that working from home on Friday's ROCKS!  It's hard to get any work done though...oh well!  We have been very blessed to have found a lady through our church that has a wonderful in-home day care.  Bennett has done really well with her, and she only has two other little girls.  They both love him, and one of them had to have a "baby Bennett" doll for Christmas.  How cute is that?

I have starting my training for the 10k in March...running is HARD!  But it does get easier.  I'm up to 2 miles without stopping.  Not too shabby.  I'm just glad I have two more months to train....6 miles is a beast!

A little update about me:  I saw my oncologist last week and I am now at once a year scans.  YESSSSSS!!!!!!  This is awesome news.  Praise God!!!

Hope you are all doing well and that your 2012 is off to a good start.

Love to all,

Kerri

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