Big Ben...

is now 9 monthts old! He has so much personality and it really makes me wonder what he will be like a year from now..even though part of me wishes time would just freeze.

9 Month Appointment

21 lbs 9 oz (65th %)

29 2/4 inches (90th %)

He started standing on his own a couple of weeks ago. He still hasn't decided to take any real steps yet, though!

This is the face he makes when you tell him to "say cheeeese!"

Halloween 2010...

DASH!

Snuggle Bear

8 months old...

Half of a year...

I can't believe how much one little person can change in just six months. Or how much has changed just since these pictures were taken!

6 Month Appoitment

20 lbs 1 oz (90th %)

28 1/4 inches (95th %)

During this month, Bennett decide to start the army crawl, which quickly turned into a full blown crawl. I was hoping he wouldn't crawl as early as Landon did, because as soon as Landon started to crawl, my days of getting anything done were over. He got in to EVERYTHING. But Bennett is pretty content to just sit and play, as long as I am nearby.

Who doesn't love a giant cookie?

7 Months

Benny will eat anything and everything. We haven't found a single food that he doesn't like yet. I love it! But his favorite is mandarin oranges, which he is eating in the picture above. If you don't stop giving them, he won't stop eating them! He also figured out how to clap and started jabbering like crazy around 7 months.

Bennett and Landon all ready for church

5 Months...

Blogging has seriously fallen way down on the priority list lately. But I know if I don't document some of these things while I still remember them, I will be kicking myself later.

Between 4 and 5 months Bennett had two teeth come in simultaneously, and started rolling all over the place. By 5 months he was sitting up like a champ. He was also drooling ridiculous amounts! Seriously. I don't know if I have ever seen a baby drool this much. I know Landon sure didn't.

I can't believe it's been 4 months since I took these pictures!! It seems like I took them a few weeks ago.

Blessing...

We blessed our little Bennett on the 4th of July of this year. We had a lot of family in town for the holiday weekend, so it was fun to have loved ones there that normally live to far to attend otherwise. Thanks to all who came!

4 months old....

How did that even happen? The time is just flying by and I find myself freaking out at how fast he is growing. With Landon, I felt like we were always trying to push him to reach milestones. He was rolling over both ways by two months, sitting up by 5 months, crawling by 6 months. And I am pretty sure a huge part of that was us constantly helping him to reach that next thing, only not realizing at the time that he wouldn't be a baby very long. With Bennett, I feel myself doing the opposite because I know he will only stay this little, cuddly boy for such a short time. I just want to call a "time out" and keep him how he is for a while! He is rolling all over the place now, and I feel like it's all happening too fast. I just want him to stay a baby forever. Seriously - I am beginning to worry that with each baby I will only become more and more the mother that will be sobbing at every event in their lives. You know, the embarassing one. The one making a scene at high school graduations. The one that wants you to go to college, but only if you attend the closest one and still live at home. The one that MIGHT give you her blessing when you get married, as long as you agree to move in to the basement. Yeah....I'm headed on a straight path to be that Mom. I just don't want my kids to grow up! (except Landon - if you're reading this - feel free to grow up just enough to grow out of this "bossy, sassy, tantrum throwing" stage. Then don't go any further!)

But I am rambling. So back to Bennett's 4 month appointment.

Let's just say - we don't make 'em small, people!

18 pounds 2 ounces and 27 1/4 inches long

That keeps him in 97th percentile for height and 95th for weight. We have one chunky monkey on our hands and I just love his roly poly thighs!

2 month appointment...

By 2 months old, Bennett had not only mastered smiling, but also thumb sucking! It has since progressed into a "suck on everything". Any time he starts to get fussy in the car it is immediately followed up by some very loud sucking noises. Sometimes it's his two middle fingers, sometimes it's his blanket, and other times his whole fist. The ironic part is that he won't take a binky! He did the first few weeks after he was born, but now he gags on it if you try to give him one. What a funny little boy.

At his appointment he weighed in at 14 pounds 6 ounces and 25 inches long, putting him in the 97th percentile for height and weight. That is 5 pounds and over 2 1/2 inches in two months.

I think it goes without saying that he is a great eater!

Here he is at his 2 month appointment, about 10 minutesafter getting his shots. Poor thing.

Started sucking his thumb at 10 weeks.
Fresh out of the bath at 10 weeks. Mmmm...I love me a clean baby!

Happy as usual. 11 weeks.

New life with Mr. Benny Man...

Can I just start off by saying how much I looooooove having a baby in the house again? I love the new baby smell and think it should be made into an air freshener just like "new car smell". I love baby noises, baby smiles, and most of all - baby snuggles. And Bennett is a cuddly little one for sure. And he's destined to grow up lovin' kisses because I have practically kissed that boy's face off over the last four months.

I'll be honest, the first few weeks were hard. Especially with Landon suddenly having to share the spotlight. And I never felt like I could give either one of them as much attention as I wanted to, which left me feeling guilty a better part of each day. Add to that lack of sleep and exhaustion, which equals one emotional Hilary. I need my sleep, people! Or it just aint pretty all around. Anyway, by the time Bennett was a month old (and sleeping through the night!!) I felt like we had all adjusted to our "new normal", and I even figured out how to stay caught up on cleaning and laundry again!

Here is our little guy one week old.

At Bennett's 2 week appointment he weighed 9 pounds 7 ounces and was 22 1/4 inches long. I can't believe he gained over a pound and an inch and a half in two weeks!

Here he is at two weeks old.

3 weeks old

4 weeks old

And he has only gotten bigger, chubbier and more fun since. We sure like him a lot!

Three years old....

Waaaaay back in March Landon turned the big 3! We tried to make it a special day all about him since a new baby had just joined the mix and stole all of his thunder. I'll be honest, having had a baby just two weeks before, I had neglected to do much planning ahead of time. I felt like a bum for not throwing together a big bash, but it was really nice just spending the day as a family. His requests were simple this year, which made it easy on me. He wanted the same Thomas cake he had last year (and has been talking about since his last birthday) He wanted the "James' red nose train" (which he had been asking for since about a week after Christmas) And he wanted to go to the Dinosaur Museum. Done. Done. And done. We have about 400 pictures from his birthday, but in an effort to catch up on all the many things I have neglected to post about the past 4 months, I will just add a few!

Landon also had his 3 year check up and is currently 35 pounds and 39 inches, putting him in the 75 percentil for both height and weight. That was a change considering he has been in the 90th percentile for most of his life!

At breakfast opening his first present, "James' red nose" (as he calls it)

At the dinosaur museum.

Pushing his new baby brother.

Party with grandparents and cousins.

Even though Landon isn't in my favorite stage of "toddlerhood" and wears me out completely on most days, I still can't believe what a happy and smart little boy he is. He is so full of energy and life and notices every bug on the ground, every police car or fire engine on the street, and every plane or helicopter in the sky. He asks a million questions a day, and picks up on everything we say and do. The other day we were in the car and I almost missed our turn so I had to slam on the breaks. And from the back seat Landon yells, "Stop riding the brakes, Mom!" Where he learned it, I have no idea. I can't remember the last time I said "riding the brakes" in referrence to stopping quickly. I can't believe how fast these three years have gone by and I am excited to watch him build a relationship with his little brother.

We love you, Landon!

Can't get enough of this boy...

He's here...

Bennett Clyde Roller

February 23, 2010

8lbs. 13oz.

21 inches

Not much to report...

Yeah...if you haven't noticed, every year around the holidays the blogging stops happening. It gets so busy that I don't keep up on posting, and then I get so far behind that I can't catch up. So....with that being said, we DID have a great Christmas! There's nothing I love more than great food and family. I am not too hard to please. New Years, Landon got really sick and within a day or two I was right there with him. So we spent New Years in bed. But it was just fine with me because we all caught up on all kinds of much needed sleep. Within a few days of the New Year, Chris was right back in school and everything quickly went back to the regular grind.



As for now, I feel like I have been pregnant for about 2 years now and it seems like each day is starting to drag. We have a little over two weeks until Baby #2 is estimated to arrive, but I am having so many Braxton Hicks contractions and all kinds of aches and pains that I am hoping means he won't wait that long to make an appearance. (That may just be wishful thinking!) At my appointment on Friday I was dilated to a 2 - 50% effaced - and my doctor could feel his little head, so at least SOMETHING is happening. With Landon I was a week overdue and locked up like Fort Knox. I was beginning to wonder if I would be pregnant forever. Thank goodness for pitocin these days or I may have been the lady that never went into labor.



I have been meaning to post this picture for months now. Many of you may have already seen this on Facebook, but this ultrasound picture is from a couple of months ago. While they were checking things out, this little guy put his legs above his head and left them there the whole time. This baby may just come out sucking on his knees!

We are definitely getting super anxious and excited to meet our new little one! We will keep everyone updated over the next week or two. Everyone cross your fingers for me that I don't have to wait any longer than that!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

INSIDE...

and OUTSIDE...

I sure love this time of year.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Happy Halloween...

We really had a blast trick or treating with Landon this year. That boy knows how it's done! He didn't waste any time running from door to door and by the time we were on our way back he was so tired he wanted to be carried. He stopped and handed me his pumpkin full of candy and said, "Here Mama, you can hold. You can say 'trick or treat'." Poor kid wore himself out! He got to go out with a bunch of his cousins and it was really fun watching them have such a good time together. My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures.

Although, as you can see, Landon doesn't cooperate well when it comes to having his picture taken. SO... I had to take what I could get!

Landon and his cousin Aaron were buddies the whole night!

We hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!