Bennett Baby Beginnings

Andrew Harold Bennett was born on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 7:26 P.M. He weighed 6 lbs & 5 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. He's healthy and absolutely precious! God has truly blessed us with this sweet little miracle!!



Andrew on the warmer a few minutes after his birth.


I'm in love!!! What a sweet baby boy!


What a proud Daddy!



All the proud grandparents and great grandparents shortly after they met Andrew for the first time.



The picture above shows what Andrew wore home from the hospital. I had planned to bring Andrew home in a precious little newborn sized dress outfit, but it was too big for him. He's sooo tiny!!! I'm hoping he can wear the dress outfit the first time we take him to church.

We were supposed to go home from the hospital on Tuesday evening (7/27/10), but Andrew gave us all a scare when he went for 12 hours without eating after he was circumcised. I guess it was his way of protesting :) He more than made up for it during the night following the circumcision, when he couldn't seem to stop nursing. Although I was tired, I was glad he was back on track!

When we left the hospital on Wednesday, 7/28/10, Andrew weighed 6 lbs & 1 oz. The doctor said most babies lose weight in the first few days after they're born, so not to worry.

We went to the doctor for a check up on Thursday, 7/29/10, and Andrew weighed in at 5 lbs & 11 oz. The doctor said not to worry because Andrew would gain his weight back within the first two weeks.

We went back to the doctor for a check up today (Wednesday, 8/4/10) and Andrew weighed in at 6 lbs & 6 oz. The doctor was really impressed that in the 6 days since his first check up, Andrew not only made it back up to his birth weight, but was also an ounce over his birth weight. Way to go Mom for all those around the clock feedings!



We went home from the hospital at about Noon on Wednesday, 7/28/10.



All geared up for the ride home! Dad was very careful getting us there :)



Andrew was "worn out" from the ride home. Sleeping is definitely one of his favorite pass times! I think he gets that from his Dad (who also likes to sleep!). I spend more time waking him up for feedings than I do actually feeding him :)



This is me at about 5:30 A.M. on Monday, 7/26/10, when we initially went to the hospital for labor to be induced. Several of you have asked for the details on Andrew's delivery, so here's the "Reader's Digest" version.

We had to be at the hospital at 5:00 A.M. We settled into our labor and delivery room then waited until 6:30 A.M., when they finally started trying to start my IV. They had a hard time finding a vein that would work, so I felt like a pin cushion after they poked me in 6 (yes, six!) different places. My arms looked horrible afterwards! Four nurses later, they finally got the IV started. By the time they started me on pitocin, it was 7:45 A.M. and I was still dilated to 3 cm (I had been dilated to 3 cm since the previous Monday, 7/19/10).

Things progressed slowly until the doctor broke my water at 10:15 A.M. I was still just 3 cm dilated then. After my water was broken, the contractions were much stronger and more regular.

By Noon, I was still only dilated to 4 cm but I was ready for the epidural! I don't know how some women are able to go through labor without an epidural! It would have been a really long day if I hadn't had the epidural!! The epidural allowed me to rest and visit with family while we waited for things to progress.

After I got the epidural, the nurse said I should dilate about a centimeter an hour (which was exactly what happened). By 4:50 P.M., I was dilated to 9 cm. At 6:05 P.M., it was time to start pushing. The nurse said first time moms usually push for two hours, so I thought I did pretty good to only have to push for 1 hour and 25 minutes. Our sweet little Andrew was born at 7:26 P.M.

It's hard to believe that Andrew is already 9 days old! He's growing and changing so much every day!! We wish we could keep him little forever! We'll post more pics soon so we can keep you all updated. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers, visits, phone calls, and meals during and after Andrew's delivery. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!

I'm waaaay overdue for a blog update! We've had a lot of "blog worthy" things going on, which is why I haven't had time to do any updates :) So, here it goes. The last few months in a nutshell:


On June 12th, 2010, our Sunday School class threw me a baby shower.

Me and the hostesses (left to right): Caroline Daggs, Angela Burson, me, Joy Beard, Laurie Balch, and Mandi Wood.

Angela did an awesome job making the cake look like cow hide to match the theme of our nursery! All of the decorations were absolutely precious!

Joy found the cutest napkins, which also match the theme of the nursery! Our little cowboy is definitely going to be arriving in style!!!



On June 19th, 2010 my family had a baby shower for me.

Me and the hostesses (left to right): Tiffany Neely, Jeannie Best, me, and my sister, Vickie Closson.

Vickie did an awesome job making the cake! It was delicious too!!! The baby and I loved the icing! What made the cake even more special, was Vickie flying all the way from Ohio with all of her cake baking supplies in tow! Not only did I get to see her for the first time in a long time, but we got to see her in action on the cake too! Way to go, Sis!

John and Jeannie did a great job on the diaper cake too! It's so cute, I hate to dismantle it so I can use the diapers! It's the centerpiece on my kitchen table right now.

The napkins were too cute to use too!


In addition to having the baby shower on June 19th, it was also Father's Day weekend and we also celebrated my dad's 60th birthday. Vickie made the cake for Dad's birthday celebration, and it was delicious too! The chocolate genache was absolutely sinful drizzed over the top! I think I gained more than a few pounds just from eating those cakes :)

Me, Vickie, and Courtney with Dad. We wished Laurie could have been there with us, but she had to be out of town due to her job.

We celebrated Father's Day with Milt on Sunday, June 20th. He was more impressed with the race car on the front of the Lowe's gift card than the card itself! :)

The baby and I got Anthony some wrenches, pliers, a bug zapper light, and this fun sign for his first Father's Day.


All of the baby showers led us right into our next project: transforming the spare room into a nursery. Here's what it looked like when we started.

This is the nursery after both of the baby showers. We are truly blessed to have so many family and friends shower us with so many wonderful things to make life with a new baby more convenient and fun!

Anthony has definitely earned his brownie points lately for all the "honey do's" I've had him doing! Since the crib and changing table/dresser are dark mahogany, I decided we needed to replace the white ceiling fan with a darker bronze and wooden colored ceiling fan. Anthony decided that was a fair trade for not having to paint the nursery since we lucked out and the walls already matched the bedding. Anthony also hung the curtains and assembled the Pack 'n Play and the baby swing. We still have several more baby items that need to be assembled, but since the baby won't be using them right away, I decided Anthony could have a little break for now and do more assembling during his two weeks off work with me and the baby :)

The nursery project led Anthony to another project. I decided I wanted a quilt rack to hang the comforter for the crib set on. I was going to have a local furniture store make one, but Anthony decided he wanted to make it himself instead. So, after he ordered a router table (his true motive for offering to make the quilt rack :), he got to work making it.

I must admit that it was easier to get what I had envisioned by having Anthony make adjustments as he went along rather than just trying to tell a furniture store what I wanted and hoping they got it right!

The (almost) finished product! What a beautiful quilt rack!! And, it will have special meaning since Daddy made it!! He's going to be such a good dad! Anthony is going to stain it and put an inscription on the back then it will be ready to grace the walls of the nursery!

Finally, the nusery is starting to look like a nursery! Check out the awesome rocking horse! Uncle Norman and Aunt Barbi are going to have the baby spoiled before he even gets here!!!

A close up of the crib bedding with the cowboys, cow prints, and sheriff stars. The mobile was a special gift from Uncle Scott, Aunt Vickie, and cousins Tiffaney and Trenton!

We haven't put any of the decorations on the walls yet because I wanted to get the quilt rack situated first then add all of the other small stuff. Anthony is also going to build a book shelf, which needs to be in place in the nursery before we try to figure out the wall hangings. It will all come together soon enough! We'll post more pics of the final version sometime soon.

The changing table/dresser and the glider rocker will definitely be put to good use! Uncle Ryan and Aunt Laurie got the cowboy style lamp shade for the changing table. I'm still looking for just the right lamp to go with it.

There's definitely no shortage of clothes for our little man! He's gonna have some of the best duds around, thanks to all of the wonderful shower gifts we were blessed with!!!


Laurie and Ryan's wedding was July 3rd, 2010 in San Antonio on the riverwalk. Since I was 35 1/2 weeks into my pregnancy at that point (and since you're not supposed to travel after 34 weeks), I had to get special permission from my doctor to go to the wedding. It was a long ride for a pregnant gal, but well worth the trip! They had a dream wedding and everything was absolutely beautiful!!! We're so happy for them!

Dinner was served by The Fig Tree Restaurant after the wedding. The food was nothing short of gourmet!

What a gorgeous wedding cake!

Me, Anthony, and the baby posing for a snapshot before the wedding.


We went to the doctor on Monday, July 19th, 2010. Since I'm 38 weeks and already dilated to almost 3 cm, the doctor said I could go into labor any time. If I don't have the baby on my own by Monday, July 26th, the doctor is going to go ahead and induce labor to be sure the baby isn't getting too big. So, this will be the last blog update before baby! Thanks to everyone for loving and supporting us during the pregnancy! We look forward to keeping everyone posted on the baby's arrival and all of his milestones!

My very first Mother's Day gift was a trip to Stork Vision to have a 4-D sonogram. I was 27 1/2 weeks pregnant at the time of the sonogram.




My parents, Anthony's parents, my sister (Laurie, who is also expecting) and my grandma came to watch the sonogram "live". It was extra special having everyone there to share the first glimpse of our little man!



Sleeping peacefully!


He's sporting the "pouty" lips in this one :)


Still sleeping...we never could get him to open his eyes or even blink during the sonogram. He definitely takes after his dad (who also likes to sleep)!


Yes, that's his foot next to his face!


Check out his hair! How cute!!!


Another hair shot...and it looks like he's about to suck on his toes! :)


The entire family, beaming with happiness, after the sonogram.


THE BIG PROPOSAL
We had everyone over to eat for Mother's Day. Ryan and Anthony plotted together to get everyone outside in the back yard then Ryan popped "the question". And of course, Laurie said yes!!! What wonderful news! Congratulations Ryan and Laurie!!!




Anthony's dad bought flowers for me and Anthony's mom to share. I think I got the better end of that deal since Anthony's parents had too far to travel to take any of the flowers home with them. Anthony also got me a very sweet Mother's Day card. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who's going to be a great father! What a wonderful first Mother's Day!