some baby pics

When I talk to my family they ask for more pictures, so here you go!
I love this one with daddy & his new son...!

While I was trying to get some quick pictures of the new little guy, guess who else wanted in on the shoot?! He kept saying, "cheese!" and trying to get in all the pictures...
until finally he took over the set! what a poser!

(FYI, I also have some baby pictures posted on my photography blog at http://photos-by-erin.blogspot.com/)

now a family of 4!

Bennett Wayne arrived on Thursday, July 9th at 5:55 pm. He was 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 19 3/4 inches. He's pretty much been asleep since then! I saw my doctor that morning and he told me to go to the hospital as I would be having the baby that afternoon and NOT on Saturday as was scheduled! So, I went home (after running a few last minute errands first!) and tried to relax and get once last nap in before the big event! Little Bubba and I enjoyed our last afternoon alone for a while then he went to spend the rest of the day with Grandpa while daddy came home from work early to take mommy to the hospital!
I was having contractions and they were getting quit strong while we were waiting for our turn to go into surgery. The doctor was held up in other surgeries so we had to wait a couple hours longer than expected. But...finally I can say I had a GOOD experience at the hospital and having a baby! It's such a relief to have it go well...I was fighting anxiety the whole time!
Here's me and my 2 boys!

Chase still isn't quit sure what to do about the new addition. He's having a hard time adjusting and doesn't like that mommy can't pick him up all the time. Hopefully he knows we still love him just the same!
I was able to come home early from the hospital as all was going really well with me and the baby. Bruce & I were really surprised by how well everything was going this time (perhaps to compensate for how difficult things are going with Chase?!).

We are now a family of 4! I love all my boys and am so grateful my parents were able to come visit and help this week! Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Wayne for all their help while Bruce & I were in the hospital...we have EXCELLENT family!

HAPPY 6 YEAR ANNIVERSARY BRUCE! Today we get to "celebrate" (aka remember) our wedding anniversary and I'm very blessed to have a loving husband who supports me when I say...I REALLY don't like breastfeeding! :)

20 months...already!

Look who's 20 months old this week! He's growing up a lot right now...his vocabulary has pretty much doubled (which still isn't saying much considering he didn't say a whole lot of words before!). He tries to put on his own shoes because his most favorite place to be is outside (and he's learned how to unlock and open the sliding -glass door). He'll grab his own out of the closet and even get mine if I'm not moving fast enough. One day I was a little pre-occupied and looked down to find him trying to put my sandals on my feet for me, it was pretty funny when he kept grabbing my foot and trying to slide the shoe underneath! He likes the water, as long as someone is with him. Mostly he likes playing with the hose and running through the sprinklers at the park.

He REALLY loves playing on the playground at the park...here he is on his little slide at our house, it was given to us for free, which we really appreciate! This little guy LOVES being outside and climbing on things.

He also likes to climb in the pantry or fridge to reach whatever food he's wanting...because mommy is too slow or doesn't know what he's saying! He's got a mouth full of food and still wants more!

He runs everywhere and his favorite person is still his Grandpa Wayne. He's finally acknowledging a baby brother in my tummy and will give baby bennett "hugs" by laying his head down on my belly. He's being rather difficult at bedtime right now...not sure when this phase will end, but any day is fine with me! His world is going to change when we bring home a new baby in just a few days!

(words he's saying: "daddy", "mommy", "grandpa" or "papa", "bye-bye", "hi", "walk"/"water" -sound the same, "Bolt" his favorite movie, "cookie", "fruit snack", "cracker", "no" -my favorite..., "please", "more", and he's also started saying "airplane" today!) of course nothing is crystal clear, but he's learning!

my 2nd favorite holiday!

While Christmas is my all-time most favorite holiday of the year...4th of July, Independence Day is my 2nd favorite holiday!!!

I love all the flags, fireworks, BBQ's, family & friends, sunny weather, and remembering the blessing of living in this beautiful country! We had some friends over to enjoy pizza (not a BBQ, but that would require we actually buy a BBQ...some day!) and then we girls lost in a game of Scene It -Friends...sad to say we lost to our husbands...weird!

Since it doesn't get dark till about 10pm, we decided to do our own fireworks a little early (the kids were getting tired!)...it wasn't early enough because Little Bubba was NOT liking the fireworks at all! He did fine last year, but this year he was overwhelmed with all the lights and sounds (we had neighbors doing some as well).

After our fireworks, we walked down the street to watch the big fireworks show at the golf course (I love living within walking distance of a good fireworks show!). I gave the little guy a glow stick in hopes it might keep him occupied and not so worried about the fireworks...it actually worked! He LOVED that thing and wouldn't put it down the rest of the night. I had to grab it from him after he fell asleep at home!

It's hard to celebrate a good 4th of July with little ones...all the good fireworks happen after bedtime! But, I still love this holiday and plan to go "all out" next year, which I've been looking forward to doing for years!