Circus Fun!

Tonight Caitlin, Allison, Uncle Kenny, Aunt Stacie, Nana, Poppy, and Nina Nina Dia went to the Sabbar Shrine Circus.  We were curious to see how Caitlin would last because after going to Benjamin's doctor's appointment today she played nine holes of golf with her Daddy and his golf team.  Without a nap, we were sure she wouldn't make it through the circus, but she proved us wrong.  She did sleep in Nana's car on the way to the circus, but once she saw Allison, Uncle Kenny, and Aunt Stacie she was full of energy and ready to play.  Everyone loved the circus.  The animals were great and the girls had the chance to get close to the animals.  Aunt Stacie and the girls rode an elephant.  This was Caitlin's second elephant ride this year so she knew what to do.  The girls also had fun on a large inflatable slide!  All in all it was a great night of fun!  Mommy and Daddy stayed home with baby Benjamin.  When Caitlin got home she told us all about the circus and all the animals she saw. 

Caitlin and Allison with a silly clown

Taking a group photo isn't always easy!  Uncle Kenny and Aunt Stacie with their favorite girls.

Elephant ride!  Caitlin is riding like a big girl and Aunt Stacie is holding on tight to Allison.

Aunt Stacie, Allison, Caitlin, Uncle Kenny smiling with James who is our friend and is a Sabbar Shriner

Two week check up

It's hard to believe that Benjamin is already two weeks old!  We took him for his two week check up today and were happy with his stats!  He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz today which is 2 ounces more than his birth weight!  It's such a relieving feeling to hear that he is doing well on Mommy's milk and is growing!  The doctor said he looked great and didn't need to see him until his two month check up.  We asked about his belly button because it seemed like the cord was hanging on by a string.  The doctor looked at it closely and suggested we let it fall off on it's own.  As we dressed Benjamin it came off!  Woohoo! This means a real bath is just around the corner!  Yay for a healthy baby boy!

Weighing Benjamin at home before his appointment to compare our scale to the doctor's office.

TCB - Taking Care of Benjamin

Elvis Presley made TCB famous with his Taking Care of Business slogan.  Caitlin makes TCB famous in our house by always taking care of Benjamin.  From the moment Caitlin wakes up in the morning to the time she falls asleep at night she is always near by her baby brother and ready to help take care of him.  She loves to hold him, play music for him, and often tells him that everything will be okay because his big sister is there.  Mommy's heart melts many times throughout the day as she watches Caitlin interact with Benjamin and now Benjamin moves his focus towards his big sister when she talks.  Allison also likes to help take are of Benjamin.  Throughout the day she wants to know what Benjamin is doing.  Both Caitlin and Allison love to hold baby Benjamin.  Mommy is enjoying her time off from work getting to cuddle and snuggle with Benjamin, along with getting to see the girls interact with him.  It's pure bliss!

Caitlin holding her little brother as soon as she wakes up in the morning

The three musketeers - Caitlin, Allison, and Benjamin

12 days old and looking bigger each day 

Nothing bothers Benjamin when he's sound asleep. On this particular day the girls were quite loud and energetic.  Nana and Mommy think the girls tired him out!

Aunt Stacie loves to hold Benjamin after her long day of work.  Allison recaps the day for Aunt Stacie.

First check up appointment

We took Benjamin for his first doctor's appointment today!  It was time for him to meet Dr. Radomsky.  Mommy and Daddy were curious to see how much he weighed since he left the hospital weighing 6 lbs. 10 oz.  Since Saturday, Benjamin has gained 3 ounces!  This made us very happy.  The doctor checked Benjamin and said he was doing great.  Because he gained 3 ounces we didn't have to return for weight checks.  Benjamin's next check up will be when he is two weeks old.  It's such a good feeling to hear the doctor say that your newborn is doing well!

Taking a nap in the waiting room

After our doctor appointment, we went home and had another fun day with the kids!  It is nice to have Daddy home all week! 

Mommy and Daddy can't get enough of photos like this!  Caitlin LOVES her little brother!

Caitlin has been begging to feed Benjamin a bottle.  Mommy is breastfeeding Benjamin so Caitlin hasn't had a chance to feed him.  We decided to let Caitlin give Benjamin his bottle before bed.  She was very excited.

Simply Sleepy Sunday!

We all survived our first night with Benjamin home.  Baby Benjamin woke up to be nursed about every hour or hour and a half.  Needless to say, Mommy was quite sleepy today.  Sunday is a perfect day to relax and sleep while we watched football and cheered on our fantasy football teams.  Mommy's team is undefeated so far.  Today we decided to all lay low, stay in our jammies, and just bond as a family!  It was a perfect day!

Happy to take a nap in Mommy's arms!

Our only visitor of the day was G.G.  She comes over every day to visit her great grandkids!  Today she played with Caitlin and surprised all of us when she got down on the floor and played in the tent with Caitlin.  Remember she is almost 91 years old! 

Caitlin and G.G. playing in the tent (Caitlin's facial expression is priceless!)

We decided to let Benjamin have some tummy time in the evening and Caitlin was excited to have play time with her little brother.  We laid him on his comforter and played until he was hungry again.  At one point, Caitlin asked Daddy to hold Benjamin's hand while she held his other hand so she could teach him to walk.  We then had to explain to Caitlin that Benjamin won't be w alking for quite awhile and the reasons why.  Seeing Caitlin play and talk with her brother is priceless! 

Big sister adoring her little brother

Caitlin wanted to compare the size of her foot with her brother's foot

Daddy and his kids!

Just relaxing

As bedtime drew near, Mommy read a story to both kids!  Caitlin loves storytime at night and is teaching Benjamin at an early age!

Welcome Home Benjamin!

Mommy and Daddy couldn't wait to bring Benjamin home from the hospital today.  We dressed Benjamin in UofA gear today and it was a hit among the hospital staff.  Our goal was to get home as early in the day as possible.  We were finally discharged around noon today.  On our way home, we drove past the tailgating area at the UofA to see Poppy who was saving a tailgate space.

Ready for his first car ride! 

Nana and Caitlin were waiting for us at home!  Caitlin wanted to show her little brother around the house. 

First family photo at home!

It didn't take us very long to get settled in at home.  Daddy and Caitlin went to the UofA tailgate while Mommy and Nana stayed home with Benjamin.   

Benjamin took a great nap in his bassinet soon after getting home.  This is where he'll sleep for the first few months.

Later in the evening, Uncle Paul, Grandpa, Aunt Stacie, Uncle Kenny, and Grammy Linda came over to watch the UofA football game and play with Benjamin.  The football game was disappointing, but we still had fun! 

Caitlin and Allison had fun catching bugs in their new bug vacuum that Uncle Paul bought!

Benjamin's special visitors

Mommy, Daddy, and Benjamin all survived the first night!  Benjamin slept in three hour increments for part of the night which was nice!  We were moved to our new room last night at 9pm.  This morning we were moved to a different room so we had a view other than a wall!  Our new room had a view of the mountains and the helipad so we saw the helicopters land and take off from the hospital all day and night.  We had so many visitors today it is hard to keep count!  The morning was filled with visitors from the hospital.  Because UMC is a teaching hospital, we had more visitors than usual.  Three pediatricians came in to tell us that Benjamin was doing great!  Mommy's doctor came in, lactation consultants came in, the photographer came in, the nurses came in, the birth certificate lady came in, and Mommy might be forgetting some of the others that came in. 

Aunt Stacie and Allison were are first visitors of the day!  Mommy was happy to shower while Aunt Stacie and Allison babysat!  Nana and Caitlin then came to visit and enjoy lunch with us!  Caitlin thought it was great to have lunch delivered to our room on big trays!  Caitlin enjoyed eating lunch with Mommy on her bed!  Seeing Caitlin interact with Baby Benjamin brings pure joy!  She loves her baby brother and wants to be by him at all times.  She loves to gently touch his head, kiss him, and today she wanted to sing to him!  Mommy caught the singing on video! Enjoy Caitlin singing It's a Small World to Benjamin below!

Mommy and Daddy can't wait to enjoy many more special moments with Caitlin and Benjamin.

Happy Hurley Family

Our visitors continued throughout the day!  Auntie Reesa, Mommy's friend, came to visit.  She enjoyed holding and cuddling with Benjamin. 

Auntie Reesa and Benjamin

We had a break in between visitors and all of us took a nap!  The nurse even put a "Do not disturb" sign on our door!  Our nap was pure bliss!  After nap time we were ready for more visitors.  Grammy Linda and Grandpa Gary came down from Phoenix to meet Benjamin.  Grammy Linda couldn't wait to hold Benjamin.  Aunt Stacie and Allison came back to see us too! 

Grandpa Gary, Grammy Linda, and Benjamin

Allison loves holding and talking to Benjamin.  She sat with Aunt Patti to hold the baby.  A helicopter landed on the helipad while Allison was holding Benjamin and she told him to look outside to see the helicopter!  It is adorable to hear the girls expalin things to the baby.

Our visitors continued through the evening.  The Derksen family came to visit.  Nana, Poppy, Grandpa, and Caitlin came to visit too!  We had a full day and are blessed with all the family and friends who came to visit!  We are happy to have such a healthy baby boy!  We hope to have another good night and look forward to going home tomorrow! 

Mommy and Benjamin ready for bed!

Benjamin Jr.'s Birthday!

Benjamin's birth story continued............

After Mommy's water was broken at 11:55pm last night, she her contractions got much stronger.  At around 12:05am Mommy started to push.  Mommy prayed for a quick and healthy delivery since yesterday brought a few scares.  At 12:13am, our healthy baby boy, Benjamin Wade Jr. was born!  Baby Benjamin was alert from the moment he was born!  He opened his eyes and looked all around and then he cried!  There is nothing better than hearing the baby's cry for the first time.  The nurse quickly cleaned Benjamin up and then it was time to cuddle with him for the first time!  While everyone held Benjamin, Mommy was told she could order something to eat!  This sounded great to Mommy who hadn't eaten since 7am yesterday.  Mommy could only order breakfast items so she ordered french toast, eggs, and fresh strawberries!  Mommy ate her breakfast around 2:30am and then Daddy, Mommy, and Benjamin went to sleep.  Benjamin spoiled us and let us sleep for four hours straight!  There weren't any available rooms in the mom and baby unit so we stayed in the labor and delivery room for the whole day!  We had visitors throughout the day!  Benjamin was great on his first day!  He would eat, sleep, and when he was awake he was a content little man!  We were finally moved to another room at 9:30pm.  Once we were settled in, Daddy and Mommy were ready for bed!  Since Baby Benjamin was born in the wee hours of the morning it felt like it was our second night with him, but it was really going to be our first!  We hoped for a great night and we hope for many more to come!  We LOVE our newest addition to the family!  Enjoy the photos of his BIRTHday!   

Benjamin Wade Jr.

September 15, 2011

7 lbs. 4 oz.  20 1/2 inches

Daddy keeping an eye on his little boy while they clean him up

This face says, "What just happened to me?"

Sticking his tongue out at the nurses

Just stretching and chilling

Time to take his footprints

Daddy holding his new bundle of joy for the first time!

Proud Mommy and Benjamin with her awesome nurse, Katie, and her awesome doctor and friend, Dr. Valenzuela

Mommy waited nine months for this

Nina Nina Dia meeting her new great nephew

Aunt Stacie and her little man

Poppy holding his grandson

We couldn't have done it without Dr. Valenzuela!

Nina Nina meeting her great nephew (she guessed the exact time Benjamin would be born)

Grandma Edie

Grandpa holding the 1st Hurley great grandson

Uncle Paul holding his little nephew

Benjamin's first bath!

Mommy and Daddy aren't sure why the nurse used the little sink when there was a much bigger one in the room

Caitlin came to meet her baby brother after breakfast!  She and Allison had a slumber party at our house with Uncle Kenny last night!  The girls were excited to meet the baby and we couldn't wait to see their expressions when meeting Banjamin for the first time!

The girls wanted to touch the baby and told him he was cute.

Four generations - G.G., Poppy, Mommy, and Benjamin

Our peaceful bundle of joy

Our first family photo!

Mommy and her kids!

Aunt Stacie, Uncle Kenny, Uncle Joe, and Benjamin

Happy girls

Proud Nana and her grandson

Nina Karen held Benjamin while Caitlin read to him

Uncle Joe and little Benjamin

Caitlin kissing her little brother

Daddy's basketball team came to visit and brought Benjamin his own basketball so he could start practicing

Caitlin never left Benjamin's side at the hospital!  She is going to be a great big sister!