IT'S A.....

BOY! Yep, that is right another sweet boy for Jeremy and I.

Last night Jeremy and I hosted a gender reveal party. To find out we popped a balloon that had been stuffed with either blue or pink glitter, thanks to a good friend of ours, Kelly Shores. When popped BLUE glitter showered us, and our living room floor.

We are so excited, and now I can't wait to pick a name and meet this baby boy. Which by the way, we are almost half way there!

Update

I haven't written in a while because my computer broke and had to be sent to the shop to get fixed. I am glad I got insurance on it because this is prob the 15th time I have sent it back for one reason or another.

Jeremy and I continue to be awed by Bentley and his personality. He makes us laugh everyday! If you ask him if he is ready to eat he crawls to the refrigerator door and starts babbling. He has clearly connected that the 'fridge is where food comes from. Also, I have been sick with a really bad cold this past weekend (poor Jeremy has it now) and apparently blew my nose a lot, because Ben brought a tissue to me and held it up to my nose for me to blow (I pretended to blow) and he was so proud of himself. Bentley is walking now, although he still crawls some.

We are planning his first birthday and got word that some of his Aunts from Pittsburgh are planning to come down and we are sooo excited to see them! We are also planning a gender reveal party on the 16th for the new baby. We were unsure if we were going to do it, but so many other people were wanting us to, so we decided to do it again. Plus, what could be better than finding out with friends and family, instead of a doctor. We have changed it up a bit this year (so many people have done the cake idea, so we are revealing a different way).

MOMMY FRIENDS: I need some encouragement. Some of you will think I am crazy, but Ben still naps in my arms. If I lay him in his crib he wakes up and doesn't get a nap. I also think it is an addiction for me (seriously). I love this cuddle time! However, he is almost a year old, I am getting ready to have another baby, and my house needs some major attention.....i understand that (but that still doesn't convince me to make the transition). Any suggestions, encouragement? Or am I just crazy? :)

I have been feeling good lately (other than the cold). I still get nauseated sick feeling if I stand too long or get hot, which is odd and very rarely happens. The only other symptom I  have been having is I have at times been more emotional than normal (I did not have this with Ben). Mostly when I watch movies, I cry when I typically would not have. The baby moves around a lot, especially after dinner. Ben was sitting on my lap yesterday and the baby kicked him. He did not seem to notice and I am sure it is the first of "get off me's".

I hope to write again soon and tell you all things Ben is liking right now. If anyone needs birthday ideas for Ben please feel free to ask, I know it can be hard because you are not sure if the child already has something (I bought one of Ben's girlfriends something she already had this past weekend). Jeremy or I will be glad to help!

Orange Juice

Okay, I am pretty sure I am not supposed to be giving Bentley orange juice, but here is the deal.....
Bentley loves oranges and orange juice! Every morning I get up, fix myself a large glass of orange juice, sit down on the couch to watch him play and enjoy my morning. Every morning Bentley sits in the floor playing UNTIL he turns around eyes my large glass of orange juice and proceeds to come over and make I want noises and grabbing at my cup until I give in and give him some. This leads to baby slobber in MY orange juice....which leads to me not enjoying MY orange juice. So how do we solve this problem? Yup, break the rules and give him his own sippy cup of orange juice. I don't regret it (maybe I will when the Dr. fusses at me), but for now he is so happy and I am happy as well! Good morning!

P.S.- He is the cutest, sweetest, little boy in the world! No seriously!
P.P.S.- The last several days he has taken several steps on his own in between toys. I think he is finally figuring out that he can walk from one place to another easier than crawl.

15 weeks ad counting

I just got home from my 16 week appointment (although I am still 15 weeks). All was well with baby and me. I am having little burst of energy, which is extremely nice. I have started feeling the baby move, though it is sporadic. I can't believe I am feeling the second baby move, and to be honest it feels like it wasn't that long ago I was feeling Bentley moving around in me.

Speaking of Bentley, I have started planning his birthday party and have been an emotional mess the entire time. I don't want him to turn one. I am ready for time to stop so I can just have him little. I know every age I will enjoy, I am just not ready to move on yet. For those of you coming to his birthday party, I will appologize now. There will be tears.....

Bentley is so amazing. He is doing really well with walking. He has taken several steps here recently and prefers to walk to his cousin Lauren (who he loves). He also prefers to hold one of our hands and walk from place to place. He has learned to point to things he wants, and loves to communicate with me. His favorite thing right now is to headbutt everything because he thinks it is funny and makes people laugh. We are trying to ignore this behavior because he gets carried away with it sometimes. I think it is just typical boy behavior. He also LOVES his daddy. When daddy gets home he gets so excited!

2012

Happy 2012! I know I am a little late (like a week), but we have been busy busy busy. We spent our new years eve at Joe and Yvonne's house and they smoked some fish and did a nice little dinner. We came home put Ben in bed and watched The Help (it was fantastic). The movie ended just in time for us to ring in the new year. I will be honest I cried. 2011 was such an amazing year and God brought us the most amazing little boy! I am excited, of course, for 2012 and adding to our family.

Bentley is really working on walking. He finally will walk around holding on to ONLY one of our hands. Before he was having trouble getting his balance with so little support. This boy is so full of energy and has such a BIG personality. He constantly tries to make his daddy and I laugh by putting clothes and toys on his head. He is very good at pulling out all of his toys to play with. He learned some new words this week: cat, duck. He was already saying: bye, hi, momma, dada, and dog(doggy).

Ben this week has also had some rough days. We noticed he was waking up and wanting to come to bed with us very early in the night. This has become very hard on me since I am having trouble getting comfortable. On Wednesday night we woke up and Bentley was burning up with a fever. The next morning he was fussy and I could tell he was in some pain, so I immediately called the doctor and made an appointment. < By the way I have the most amazing husband ever: he takes time to come to almost all of Bentley's doctors appointments, I have never met a more involved father>. Bentley has an ear infection. That night his fever got up to 103.6. Needless to say he was very sick. Last night we had a rough night because he cried in pain for 1hr 1/2. We took him back to the doctor today and she said his infection was just really bad but he is getting better. He is also dehydrated, so he gets some delicious yummy drink to try and help him stay hydrated. I am hoping he is on the mend considering he has been asleep (for a nap) since 3 and it is 6.

I have started to have more energy. I am showing a lot and already in maternity jeans. I sometimes think I feel the baby move, however, it is still pretty early for that. I have been having some cravings for sour candy. On Tuesday I will be 14 weeks! :)

Christmas Time

Christmas was amazing, no....beyond amazing. Jeremy and I are truly blessed! The activities started off with a trip to the doctor for me. In case you missed the announcement, Jeremy and I are expecting another baby on July 10th. We were able to see the baby and the heartbeat and I am 12 weeks tomorrow. It seems as though everything is going well. Ben is really too young to understand what is going on, but we have been talking to him about the baby in my belly and I am pretty sure the baby knows he is there as he likes to climb all over me. I have been feeling pretty well, I have had some indigestion, food aversions, and I have been very tired. However, nothing to awful. I am definitely already showing, which is a change from my pregnancy with Bentley. However, it is to be expected with having two so close together. For those of you trying to do the math, Bentley and the new baby will be approximately 16 months apart. We had planned to have our children close together. Jeremy was raised with his brothers close in age and it was such a good experience for him, although it will definitely be harder on me. Jeremy and I are very excited! Next, we enjoyed a very nice dinner at Jason and Cari's house. It was so nice to have all the Mark's together (and Cari's parents). The food was phenomenal, right down to the home made (and hand picked) blackberry pie I had. We spent time as a family chatting and enjoying ourselves before heading home. The next day (Christmas Eve) was filled with family and more family. We spent some time at my parents house eating a delicious lunch and opening presents from my grandmother. Then we visited Jeremy's parents for a little quite chatting with Aunt Liz and Uncle Tom. Then, back to my parents house to open presents from my Aunt and Uncle, which my Aunt painted Bentley a step stool (one of the many amazing presents Ben got for Christmas). I will have to post pictures of him using it soon. I was exhausted (remember the pregnancy thing). Jeremy and I exchanged presents and headed to bed. Christmas day started early. We opened Bentley's Santa presents before heading to my parents house to open family presents. My mother and father make a great breakfast for everyone. I wish I had a picture of the presents under the Christmas tree that day, we have a big family and the presents take up half of the floor. We really enjoyed watching the kids open their presents. Next, we headed to the Mark's for lots of family time by the fire. We ate a large dinner. Bentley passed out half way through the present opening. What a wonderful day. Monday, we headed to the lake to visit our friends Nick, Meg, and their baby daughter Jordan. She was beautiful and I wish I would have taken some pictures of her. We also got to spend some time with my cousins who are in from Colorado. Needless to say, we are exhausted and are trying to rest up before daddy has another long weekend. Like I said, we are so very blessed and are so thankful for everything people have done for Bentley this season. He is such an amazing child and fills mine and Jeremy's life with so much joy. P.S.- Santa brought Ben his 4th top tooth!

Likes and Dislikes

I have noticed that Ben has become very opinionated lately. Likes - Dogs- he LOVES dogs - Momma and Dada- He seeks us out if we are not with him. It takes Daddy a little longer to get ready in the mornings because Bentley is all over him. - the couch- he loves to play on the couch and throws a fit when we put him down. - girls- he went to a wedding recently when some girls that were about 9-12 age came by....he jumped out of my arms and gave them big kisses...the girls were flattered. I think we have a ladies man on our hands. - sleeping in his own bed, all night long - climbing- he loves to climb on everything,I think it makes him feel like a big boy - crawling- this is his preferred mode of transportation - food- of all kinds, he eats anything - water- he gets excited when he gets a cup of water to drink Dislikes - getting dressed/diaper changed- he screams the entire time, you would think I was killing him. - his carseat- arches back and cries every time - getting off the couch- he prefers to play on the couch - walking- he has taken a few steps and doesn't mind even walking if i am holding BOTH hands, but if I try to just hold one, he loses it. He would rather crawl. - naps- he thinks they are useless, who needs a nap when you can play all day? (Mamma, that is who) - pictures- it is not that he doesn't like pictures it is just impossible to get him to sit still long enough. Yet we are going today to have some professional pictures made of him and taking him to see Santa, this should be interesting On another note he has started saying some words (we aren't really sure that he knows what they mean). He says mama/dada/doggie/ca(coby)/my (miley)/goo (good)/yeah. Like I said most of them are in babbling. We will say, "say good ben" and he will say goo.