some pictures...

Guy talk


Reading sisters...Gloria's new favorite book is this Baby Bible Sing and Pray. She loves to read it with Allia...or anyone else who has the patience to read it over and over!


Sweet baby sleep


Baby Burrito


And Gloria's baby burrito photo just for comparison :-) Our newborns look so much alike with their eyes closed...except Mariana. The orange hair just gives her away!

Opening gifts and Christmas dinner

Austin made a nice Christmas dinner served on china! What a guy. Had it been left up to me we would have dined on hot dogs and paper plates! ;-)Thanks, hubby!

Merry Christmas 2009!

And our best little gift under the tree...

The girls were told they could pick one gift to open before mass. But as soon as they saw Stephen they totally forgot about that and just came clamoring for turns to hold him! So sweet! Austin poked his head from the kitchen making breakfast to see what we were up to. We told him, "Adoring the child that has been born unto us." Merry Christmas!

We're home!

Welcome home, little guy! We are so happy to have you. The big sisters are constantly in line for a turn to hold him. Whew! Good luck getting some rest! ;-)

Pictures!

His Story

His Birth
Either our little guy is very laid back or a little stubborn, as he was the first baby we had to induce! What a new experience! We arrived at the hospital at 5am, and after much nervous waiting and praying (they are super busy before Christmas), we started Oxytocin/Pitocin around 7am, which I seem to be immune to. They upped the dose several times, and at 9am I still was not having productive contractions, so they broke my water. That sure worked! Hard labor kicked in, and little Stephen practically zoomed out a few hours later with only a few hard pushes. We were so glad to finally meet him! And what a cutie. He has a sweet little round face and looks so chubby to me at 9lbs! So he now holds the family record for the biggest and the latest baby! He just had to be unique!

His Name
Stephen
Saint Stephen was a deacon in the early church and the first martyr, dying courageously for the name of Jesus. Stephen was also the name of my late maternal grandfather who was a pillar of strength and faithfulness to my mother and her family.
Benedict
Saint Benedict was the founder of Western Monasticism, twin to St. Scholastica (we believe baby Stephen may have originally had a twin due to another amniotic sac which gradually shrunk and miscarried). St. Benedict left his inheritance to follow Christ and is known as the patron saint of a happy death because he died with a smile on his face and hands outstretched to Heaven. Benedict is also the name of our current Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI!

Welcome

Stephen Benedict
December 21, 2009, 12:27pm
9 lbs, 21 3/4 inches

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement! We couldn't have done it without you! Pictures and more details to come later...

Here we go...

Either he will come on his own overnight tonight or we will be heading to the hospital for induction. So we should have a baby tomorrow either way. I just hope I can get some sleep tonight! Butterflies!

A wedding

The baby was so kind to let me attend the wedding and reception of some dear friends of ours today. What a blessing! We all had a wonderful time and are so happy for the wonderful newlyweds!

In other news

A project...
Austin and Pawpaw built the girls' new swingset yesterday afternoon. The old one was rusted through at ground level, and the girls helped earn a new one for Christmas.
Before


After




Gloria enjoying her extra Manah time


A comment...
Allia: Mommy, I sure hope that baby brother comes by himself. I really don't want the doctors to force him to come out. That doesn't sound very nice.

Mommy: Me too, Allia!

A minor change...

I got a phone call from my doc yesterday, the actual doc not just the nurse! Apparently everyone wants their babies out before Christmas (we have to because we would be over 42 weeks by then). The only "induction appointment" available next week is 5am Monday. So...if he is not here by then we will head to the hospital early Monday!

Doctor update

We spent a lot of time at the doctor yesterday. They did an NST to make sure baby is not stressed. He is fine of course, but a little too relaxed (maybe he will be like that out of the womb too? :-) ). It took forever to get him moving enough and see his heart rate go up enough that we could go home. They were threatening to send us to the hospital for monitoring. Whew! Glad we avoided that. Anyway, we have some more time. I have another appointment Monday (which I sincerely hope we don't make!) at which point we would schedule induction. So we should have a baby by Christmas at least! For now we just wait some more and pray he comes on his own. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement!

D+3 and counting...

Well, he now holds the record for the latest baby. My other two late ones were both born in the wee morning hours of D+3. I wish he would have gone for the earliest record! ;-) We see the Doc tomorrow if he has not arrived, and then we will find out how much time he has to come on his own. I sure hope we can avoid induction!

A time of waiting...

Advent is the time when we remember the many ages that passed as they waited for the savior to come and we also ponder our own waiting for the second coming of Christ. This year we are doing some extra "waiting" practice. Today is baby boy's due date...when will he come? We don't know, and so we wait...

A new skill

Gloria has been trying for the longest time to actually jump. She finally managed to get herself off the ground a few days ago and has been practicing ever since. It is so cute to watch her practice...see for yourself! (Ignore the laundry pile in the background...at least it is folded!)

Saint Nicholas

Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas. We did stockings this morning before mass.

"Christmas" in the Park

The girls enjoyed the lights and free cookies at "Christmas" in the Park last night...but we decided it is incorrectly named. There is no baby Jesus, just elves, angels, bears, toy soldiers, a big Christmas tree and oddly enough a flying saucer. So it really should be called "Random lights in the park."

SNOW!

It was only for an hour or two and it didn't stick to the ground, but it was still exciting!

Getting ready...

We are busy getting ready for the arrival of our little boy! The house is SO clean right now...too bad that won't last long! The freezer is stocked with pre-cooked meals, our Christmas letters are ready to be sent, Advent/Christmas decorations are going up, the outside of the house has new paint (at least the part that needed it most!), and most of all, baby things are popping up around the house! We have the bassinet, carseat, swing and bouncy seat all washed and ready for this guy. Hopefully we will meet him in the next week or so!!!