Our Christmas "Card"

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Bens 1st Month

Where did the time go?! Benji is almost 6 weeks old and I'm always amazed at how much they change in the first few weeks of life. Here are some of my favorite pics from his first few weeks.

Maybe I should have said, "several of my favs" : D

Mini Meet

Emma had her first mini meet in gymnastics. She had been practicing her routines for a few weeks and was very excited to attend the meet. All of her Aunts, her Grandma, her best friend Macy, her best friends Mom, Amy and of course all of us were all in attendance to see her perform. She did a great job and received a ribbon at the end. She was so stinkin' cute!!

Benjamin's Blessing

"He took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. " Mark 10:16

In our church when a baby is born the Father gives him a name which he will be known by on the records of our church and a blessing inspired by our Heavenly Father . We had the privilege of blessing Benjamin on Sunday while Ces' parents were visiting. It was a beautiful blessing. Ces blessed Ben with the desire and ability to listen and feel the spirit, the ability to teach others to be happy, the desire to serve others and many more wonderful things.

Benjamin has already brought so much joy to our home and I am so excited to see what his life holds for him.

Precious Moments

One of my favorite things about having my kiddos is seeing them interact with one another. Giggling upstairs while they are playing, cuddling on the couch while watching cartoons, reading stories together and lots of other little things they do that just make me smile. On this day Emma and the boys made Indian headbands and were playing "Indians" all around the house. Then Emma walked by Ben on lying on the couch and decided he looked lonely.

Our Bundle of Cuteness

On Friday November 5th @ 12:19 pm, Benjamin Thomas joined our family.

Weighing in at 6 lbs 13 oz and measuring 21 inches.

Ben decided he would try out acrobatics the last 6 weeks of pregnancy. He was consistently turning from breach to head down. He did this all the way through the last week. When I went in a week and a half before he was due and he was breach yet again, my Dr. decided it would be best and scheduled for a c-section Thursday. I was not happy about it either. I had Ces and our friend Jimmy give me a blessing that I would be okay with it, if this was the way he needed to enter the world, but I was so concerned about the recovery time and how much strain it would put on my family and everyone helping out, plus having to have c-sections with any other babies. Luckily when I went in for my last appointment he had once again turned head down.
YAY!!!!!!!
So the Dr. scheduled me for an induction that Friday.
We went in at 5:30 am and by 6:00 I was hooked up to all the medicine. A little over 6 hours later we had a beautiful baby boy. Ces and I struggled with naming this little guy. We just couldn't decide. Miguel had named him "Rocket" almost the moment we found out he was a boy. Although it was very cute it just wasn't gonna do. We left the hospital with out filling out the birth certificate and still no idea what we were gonna name this sweet little man. Monday morning I got a phone call from the "Birth Certificate Nazi" as I like to call her. She was not so kindly telling me it was unacceptable to leave the hospital without a name for our baby and filling out the certificate of birth. I informed we just couldn't decide on one. She said we had to have one by 10:00 the next morning. So I needed to call my husband, get a name and call her back! I had tried calling him a few different names we had been considering but nothing seem to fit him. The next morning we had a Dr. appointment for the baby @ 8:40 and then the dreaded "Birth Certificate Nazi" @ 10. When I got the Dr. the receptionist informed me they couldn't submit this to insurance without a name. (inside I'm screaming "SO MUCH PRESSURE!!" ) Ces showed up at the Dr. office a little later and I told him we really needed a name. He took the baby from me and said very calmly and like he knew all the time that his name was, "Benjamin"...I said, "Where did that come from?"...His answer, "through a lot of prayer.." He gave the baby back to me and told me to "look at him sweetie, he's Benjamin" I couldn't deny it. He is very much a Benjamin. It fits him perfectly!
We are so excited to have him in our family. The kids are loving their little brother. Gabe, who I was most concerned about couldn't love him more. He calls him "My, baby". He is always giving him kisses and making sure he has plenty of toys. Emma and Miguel are great little helpers too. Emma loves to hold him and get him dressed.

Proud Daddy





Gabe helping Daddy carry Ben to the van.
Kisses for Baby
Benjamin, 5 days old

Gymnastics

Emma decided to try out gymnastics this year. Which her Daddy and I were most excited to sign her up for since we've been trying forever to get her into some sort of physical activity. She goes twice a week for 45 mins. They had a couple days last week where you could go and observe. It was fun seeing her do all the things she talks about. She really seems to be enjoying it. There are days that she doesn't want to go but she sticks with it and we are so proud of her. She practices all the time and it's wonderful to see her be so proud of herself when she accomplishes something she's been working so hard on.

Gabriel is 2 !!

My baby turned 2 this week and just in time for his little brother to come next week. : )

Gabe is such a fun little guy. He's talking more and more and you can actually understand him now...well, everyone except his Daddy :) Ces still thinks he speaks his own language. I admit some of the things he says are a little hard to understand. He does have special words for things but some of his newest phrases and my favorite are, "a too, Mama" (love you too, Mama) and "____, is my fiend" (___, is my friend) . This is often how I get him to be nice or share. If you tell him someone is his friend, he repeats "Mama, my fiend?" I say yes and then he'll stop hitting or he'll share a toy. It's pretty cute. Then he repeats it over and over again. He is in the stage where he'll say the same phrase over and over until you repeat it back to him and reassure him he is correct.
Gabriel LOVES shoes (AKA "my toes" in Gabe language) . He has shoes on from the time he gets up in the morning until bedtime. And he cries when you take them off. I have NO IDEA where he got that from because I hate shoes and so do his sister and brother.

He loves superheroes (he calls them "SaySa"). He picked out Spiderman stuff at the store for his birthday party at Mom-moms (grandma's). I was surprised at how excited he was about his birthday. He had so much fun. Here are some pics from the big day.

This is the pose he takes when he is being a superhero or just saying "SaySa!"
DELICIOUS!

He made the best faces while opening his presents. These pictures just don't do it justice.

Gabey also loves sports. Any sports at all. But lately he has been into baseball so his Daddy, brother, sister and I got him a t-ball set. He was very happy.

I love this little man and can't wait to see what his next year of life brings.

Happy Birthday to one Handsome Man!!

Ces turned 31 on Tuesday. It's tradition at my Mom's that you get a birthday dinner made for you the Sunday before your birthday. So my Dad grilled hamburgers (one of Ces' favs!) and my Mom made him a Tres leches cake. He was so excited and we had a great day.

This was Gabriels first taste of Tres leches...

He was a HUGE fan!!

Tuesday morning Emma & Miguel woke up at 5:40 because they were so excited to give Daddy their presents they had picked out for him. Emma got him two t-shirts she thought he'd like. She said she wanted to get him something useful and that would make him think of her...one shirt said "Proud to be AWESOME!" and the other was a Dr. Suess One Fish Two Fish but in Spanish. He loved them. Miguel got him a three nerf guns so they could play together. I thought it was cool how they knew their Daddy so well : ) Those are things he would pick out for himself!
They also made him cards. They were super sweet.
The Hrra! Hrra! is something her Daddy always says. : )

Miguel did all his own art work and writing. The inside has a scissor tail fly catcher & a
heart pumping....He was very proud of this.

Gabe had to have a stick figure on his too then he did his own art work.


I hope he enjoyed his day. We love him so much and are so grateful to have him in our lives. I couldn't ask for a better husband or father for our kiddos. He is the love of my life.