Mmm...S'mores!

We brought out the fire pit on one of our sunny evenings to introduce Dawson to s'mores. I had a couple mini heart attacks when he got too close to the fire, but he had a blast chasing the smoke and yelling "hot!" Grady took part in the fun also, he's zipped up in my jacket sleeping :) Mmmmm!!!!

My Cute Little Sleeping Bums

Happy Mother's Day

So it's a little late but we had a great day! I spent the morning playing with my two boys and once Chad woke up (he's still on night shifts) we took a picnic to Fairhaven Park. We lucked out, it was a beautiful day and the park was practically empty. We sat on the grass and had a yummy lunch then spent the rest of the afternoon playing and walking around. I'm so lucky to have my two beautiful healthy boys and a wonderful husband to celebrate Mother's Day with!

Dawson really tried to climb this little rock wall on his own but couldn't quite do it.

He'd stand up at the bottom of the slide so he could jump off.

How cute are they?

Oh, and my Mother's Day present...a gift certificate for 3 massages!! Exactly what I need after being pregnant with the big boy Grady! When we finally got home that evening both boys passed out together on the couch.

Precious!

A Little Update

Life as a family of four is going great! Very, very busy but that is to be expected. Dawson is still loving his baby brother and to this point has been behaving well besides a few meltdowns. Right now Chad, Dawson and Grady are all napping so I'm either going to join them or attempt to tackle the mountain of laundry that has accumulated in a few short days. Here are some pictures of what we have been up to...

So sweet and cuddly when they sleep!

The first outing with both boys-my mom and I went to Costco.

Daddy & Dawson sporting their new aprons from Debbie to cook Mom and baby dinner.

Dawson's not sure what to think of Chad working night shifts during this turnaround. He knows he's behind the closed door but that he's not allowed in. This is what I saw when I looked down the hall a couple days ago, I think Dawson wanted to read books with his daddy.

Grady's napping spot: a blanket on the kitchen table with his boppy. I can't leave him anywhere alone that is within Dawson's reach.

This picture really reminds me of Dawson! I'll have to dig up the almost identical one with Dawson in this same hat.

Grandma gave Grady his first bottle while we were out celebrating Great Grandma Hope's birthday.

Dawson feels like such a "big boy" to me now that Grady is here. It's made me realize that my other baby is getting all grown up. We went to Fairhaven the other day to enjoy the sun and instead of riding in the stroller Dawson wanted to walk with Daddy.

The Toy Garden in Fairhaven, Chad loves the idea of him & Dawson learning to play the guitar together someday.

Love this!! Dawson has discovered pockets recently and is always walking around with one hand or both tucked in.

It's a BOY!!

We are proud to introduce our new baby boy, Grady Michael Bennett. Grady was born by c-section on April 24 at 2:37pm.

He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz and was 20 3/4" long.

For those who haven't heard the story...I had a doctor appt on the 23rd and my doctor said that I had grown a very big baby and it was still very high up and was not showing any signs of wanting to come out on it's own. Since I was already a week overdue and baby was only going to keep growing the doctor gave me the decision to wait it out (max another week to see what baby would do), get induced (because my body was not favorable he did let me know that I had a 50-70% chance of it ending in an emergency c-section) or just choose to do the c-section. I had a lot of concerns about getting a c-section, mainly on how it would effect my ability to lift and play with Dawson once we were back home, but I didn't like my odds with the other choices.

When we got home from the doctor appt we were able to pack our hospital bags and make arrangements for Dawson without the crazy rush we had expected. Of course I hardly slept at all knowing that the following day we were going to have a new baby in our life. We had to call at 6am to make sure there was a room and nurse available at the hospitals childbirth center...there was not. So we were told to call back at 8:30...just to find out again that they were very busy and still had no room. At this point we were already at my parents dropping Dawson off and to have to sit and wait not knowing if we were going to get to go in or not was so difficult, Chad was pacing back and forth. Finally at about 12 we got a call from my doctor telling us to head in.

The best word I can think of while I was getting prepped for the c-section is "terrifying". It was really difficult to willingly walk into a small, sterile, scary room knowing what was about to happen to me. The only thing that got me through was knowing I was minutes away from meeting the baby I had been growing for the last 41 weeks. Chad sat by my side until the doctor held baby up over the sheet and said "Look what it is!" A gorgeous baby boy. It felt right. Dawson was going to have a little brother that one day I hope he will be best friends with.

My parents brought Dawson to the hospital and he got to come in on his own first to meet his little brother. When he walked in he pointed at Grady, smiled and instantly wanted Chad to lift him up to give Grady a kiss.

A happy mama with her two boys!

That's all I have time for now. I'll try to post soon to update how life is going as a family of four. The next post below has all our pictures from the hospital and our first couple days at home.

Grady Michael

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The BIG Day

Tomorrow is the big day! I had an appointment with my doctor today and we have decided to schedule something for tomorrow. The reason I say "something" is because I have tonight to decide wether I want to be induced or get a c-section. The baby is a week late and I am still showing absolutely no progress. On top of that the doctor is estimating a very big baby (9+ pounds!!) and is worried about it getting too much bigger if we continue to wait. If I choose to get induced he would have to take a more aggressive approach since my body is not favorable but there is a 50-70% chance it would end in a c-section, and that is why I also have the decision to just get a c-section. Chances are I won't get much sleep tonight with this big decision but we are so excited (and nervous) to finally meet our baby boy or girl tomorrow and become a family of 4.

Here is our last picture as a family of 3.

We'll be sure to keep everyone updated on how things go and we'll post pictures to show off our newest addition as soon as possible.

April 21st

I'm still pregnant. Enough said.

Today is April 17th...

...my due date. Unfortunately there is no sign of this baby coming today. Call it wishful thinking, but I truely thought this baby was going to make it's arrival a little early. But here I am, 10:00pm on the day I've been looking forward to for so long now without even the tiniest bit of contractions. In the first half of this pregnancy I would usually forget I was even pregnant since I was so busy with Dawson. The second half was a little harder as I got more and more tired, my patience got less and less and I got bigger and bigger. Now that I am HUGE it's hard to think about making it one more day. But of course I know it's bound to happen soon and then I'll quickly forget how tired and uncomfortable I am. So for now, be amazed at the size of the belly you are about to see below. Is it obvious that my smile is forced at this point? :)

Come on baby! Please get this show on the road so we can all find out if you are a little boy or girl in there, we're anxious to meet you!!

Tulip Town

We spent yesterday's beautiful sunny day in Mount Vernon visiting Tulip Town and the Tulip Festival Street Fair. The street fair was great! Tons of vendors with fun goodies, huge yummy waffle cones and lots of music and entertainment to keep Dawson's attention. The tulips, one of my favorite flowers, were beautiful of course. Such a boy. All Dawson wanted to do was grab the tulip and pull the flower right off the stem. Love this picture of Daddy & Dawson among the bright yellow tulips!

Dawson's favorite part seemed to be walking up and down on the humps that seperated the tulip lines.

Black pants in the dirt was probably not the best idea!

Loved these orange & red tulips.

One of the few pictures (in a long time) of just Chad and I.

The last picture on the way out. You can tell by the expression-Dawson was done.

Hard Workin' Boys

As a lot of you know, we got our three huge poplar trees on the edge of our property cut down a few months ago. This weekend we finally got around to renting a wood splitter to get it all cut up. Luckily Chad's friends Colby and Bob helped out so it got done in a day. So...does anyone need some wood? We've got a huge pile that we're anxious to get out of the yard.

I should say that it was even luckier that Chad had two strong friends helping.

I couldn't resist laughing as I watched Bob and Colby lift these huge rounds while Chad stood there and pulled the lever on the splitter :).

Dawson decided to take the day off from being "Daddy's helper" and instead observed while eating his grapes.

When that got boring, he moved on to playing in the dirt and mowing the lawn.

We've Got It!!!

That's right, we finally came up with a boy name! We didn't have to find it in a book or anything, we kind of made it up ourselves. Now we're just debating on if we're going to tell anyone or wait since baby should be here soon (hopefully!). I kept thinking that baby was just waiting until I felt comfortable going to the hospital with a boy and girl name that I loved and now that I have them...come on baby-let's get this show on the road!!