The Ryan's

The First Annual Camp Waghabe

2012-02-02T08:30:00.000-05:00

This is just a little snippet from the First Annual Camp Waghabe...
I wasn't there to take pics (no parents allowed!!) so these are just a couple that Uncle Jo snapped for me with his phone...
Oh, you've never heard of Camp Waghabe?
It's only the coolest camp EVER!

Will
Addie
Grace
HAnnah
BEnson

WAGHABE

This past summer, Grandmama had the first four grandchildren (you have to be potty trained to attend Camp Waghabe) for a three day Bible School at her house. It was a non-stop, fun filled, BIBLE filled, time of just absolute JOY had by these grandkids.

I asked if it would eventually become camp WAGHABE..RE...E...T ...dot dot dot...
but Camp Director Grandmama has decided that that might end up getting a little out of hand at some point and so it has been decided that it shall forever be known as "Camp Waghabe," but all potty trained grandchildren are invited! :)

I really can't even describe the impact those three days had on Benson. He talked NON STOP about making a REAL Noah's ark out of a refrigerator box, getting to knock down the columns (kiddie basketball goals) as Samson, Floating his very own baby moses down the creek in a tar covered basket, painting, coloring, doing all sorts of crafts and fun snacks, dancing around and just spending TIME with his cousins at Camp Waghabe! It was such a blessing and so much fun and he can't WAIT to go back next year! :)

The Alamo

2012-02-01T08:11:00.000-05:00

On Our Last day in San Antonio, we visited the downtown area, the River Walk and the Alamo!
Here's a little Alamo history for ya, in case you, like me, had heard of it, but didn't really know what it was...

The Riverwalk area was so pretty!

And then it was time to load the plane and head back home!
San Antonio most definitely wore this little four year old, OUT!

Looking for a neat family destination?
San Antonio was FULL of fun! We would highly recommend it! :)

Sea World, San Antonio

2012-01-31T08:53:00.000-05:00

We're still in July, 2011 here, folks... Sea World, this time.

Sea World was awesome. And Hot. Like, really, REALLY hot.

You know, there's a lot of asphalt at sea world... and as we were walking around in the Texas, July heat, on that asphalt, I felt very much like an egg in a frying pan. As I've said before, I don't do hot very gracefully...

Heat aside, it was awesome.
I loved getting to see the shows and watch Benson's amazement at all of it...

Whoever had the idea of putting a water park in the middle of Sea World, San Antonio was a GENIUS!!!

I love that Dolphins are always smiling. :) They are such happy mammals :)

Benson got to feed the dolphins...

And pet the dolphins...

Sea World Rocks. Again, San Antonio ROCKS!! A great place to visit, for sure!!!

San Antonio Texas

2012-01-30T08:34:00.000-05:00

In July (of 2011, that is... which is ridiculous that I have to specify....not that July of 2012 has happened yet, just sayin' it's been a while back...)

We went to San Antonio, Texas! It was SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!

In July (of 2011), when he was two and a half months old, Thomas took his first plane ride! I took my first plane ride on our honeymoon. At 22 years old. This is no joke. My (now, nine month old) already has a head start on me in a lot of ways! :)

And Benson is so natural at smiling here...

Thomas had just STARTED smiling. I LOVE those first smiles. Nothin' like em.

And Oh those EYEBROWS. I cannot contort my eyebrows in this way. This most definitely is a Ryan trait.

We stayed at the J.W. Mariott in San Antonio and it had an INSANE water park with a gazillion pools and massive water slides all over the place, right on the property. Benson asks about once a week, when we're going back to San Antonio, Texas. :) It was by far the coolest family resort/hotel I've ever experienced.

It's was the coolest resort Thomas had ever experienced as well.

He was a fan of resort life.

The water slides were incredible. Here's Uncle Jo...

And Benjamin with Benson...

Uncle J with B....

Uncle J and Uncle Jo...

And Even GRANDMAMA and GRANDADDY had fun on the water slides!!! :)

You can see so FAR in Texas! I mean, miles and miles!

We were in the "Hill Country" and ate at a restaurant on the top of a "hill" and I couldn't believe how far we could see!!

More enjoying resort life...

I love those squishy, itty bitty arms...

Here's our crew! We were so excited that Uncle J and Aunt Brittany were able to come on their first trip this year, too!! We look forward to MANY more fun times together! It's great to love the people you work with and it's even sweeter when they are family!

San Antonio ROCKS! :)

Lash's Wedding Day

2012-01-27T08:41:00.000-05:00

And here's the pics from July 23, 2011!
When Lash and Chris became "Mr. & Mrs. Vaughn!"

Lash's Pre-Wedding Festivities...

2012-01-26T08:30:00.000-05:00

Ash and Chris were married in July. They just celebrated their six month anniversary. In honor of their sixth month anniversary, I decided I'd blog about their wedding. So here's the pics from the pre-wedding festivities. I still can't believe my little sister is MARRIED!!!

Really Good Reasons NOT to Blog:

2012-01-25T08:48:00.000-05:00

Inevitably, in the life of every blog, there comes a time when the LIFE that you're blogging ABOUT starts to encroach on the TIME that you have to do the blogging.

And then you get behind on the blog.

Waaaayyyyyyy behind.

And it's really a shame to miss out on all the life in the in-between times, so instead of just catching up, it continues to pile up.

But I'm a fighter. And I'm determined that I'm not going to indefinitely succumb to the Really Good Reasons I Have NOT to blog, but I am going to share some of them with you here so that you will understand why you've been staring at "The Last Lake Hoorah" for months! :)

Really Good Reason Not to Blog #1:

We Moved!!

After 18 months in Hartsville, and the Lord repeatedly closing the doors on about four different houses that we pursued buying there, we heard of a church plant that was coming to the Pontiac/ Northeast Columbia area and began to entertain the idea of moving back toward "home" in order to be a part of the church plant, Grace Presbyterian, (ARP) and closer to our families. We found a house we were interested in that was right off of the interstate (which was convenient, since Benjamin would already be making the 50 minute commute to Darlington every day....) made an offer on it, and the Lord swung open the doors each step of the way to make it happen. So in November, we moved!

I really don't know where it is that we live. The interstate sign says "Pontiac", but geographically, I guess it's considered Northeast Columbia, but our address says "Elgin." This isn't necessarily ideal for someone as directionally challenged as me :)

I'm thankful that my phone has GPS. :)

We have LOVED our new home and have little by little started getting settled... Not that we have any pictures hung on the walls or anything, but we're making progress. :)

It's been so nice to be able to see our families without having to pack up and spend the entire weekend away from home. I'm not a light packer. It always took me one entire day to pack and three days to unpack for a weekend trip to visit family in Lexington. That is no exaggeration, and I'm thankful to say that for the three months we have lived in our new house, I've not had to pack a suitcase one time. This is HUGE for me.

We're able to stay in touch with many of our sweet Hartsville friends by hopping in the car with daddy each Monday to return to our homeschool co-op group in Hartsville. It's worked out great to be able to still maintain the wonderful relationships we built during our time in Hartsville!

We're thankful for the move! But moving takes a LOT of time. There isn't a whole lot that is fun about packing and then unpacking. And the thing about it is that life doesn't STOP just because you move. Laundry still needs to be done, food still needs to be prepared, toilets still need cleaning, etc, etc... Blogging isn't as high on the priority list. It's too bad, but it's true.

Really Good Reason Not to Blog #2:

The Holidays!

Ok this one is typical. I always get behind over the holidays. I take way too many pictures because there are way too many "moments" to capture. And I'm all about "capturing the moment," ya know. And this year we had just moved. And we have like, zero furniture in our new house. We kinda look like squatters right now. So in the midst of Christmas shopping, I was trying to think of what color couch goes well with Lime Green living room walls. That's another post in and of itself... But I'm not real decisive. So deciding on Christmas gifts as well as couches really got in the way of blogging. Plus, there were moments to capture. :)

Really Good Reason Not to Blog #3:

People Need to Eat!

Its amazing really, how OFTEN two little people need to be fed. Someone is always hungry and food doesn't just appear out of thin air. Although, that would be nice. I guess more than just food, caring for two little people seems to take up a lot more of the moments that I used to find here and there to do things like... blog, when I only had one little person to care for...

which brings me to...

Really Good Reason Not to Blog #4:

We have another little Ryan person on the way!

Yeah... so that would probably be the main culprit for the lack of blogging. Running around after two little people and growing a third = one tired mama! Whereas nap time used to be blog time, it is now FAMILY nap time.

We found out a couple of weeks before Christmas that we are expecting our third little baby sometime in late August. Considering the fact that Thomas was only a little over 7 months old at the time, this unexpected blessing took us quite off guard.

Isn't it funny how the Lord works? If he had asked me, I would have had my first two children back to back. That was always what I envisioned my life would look like... but after we had Benson, there were times when we wondered if he would ever have a sibling.

Four years later, the Lord gave us precious Thomas. And it was perfectly timed. I look back and am so thankful that I wasn't the one who decided when our second child would come into our family and the world. Only God knows the trajectory of his life and how he will be used at just the right time when he's 10, 15, 20, 50 years old to bring about God's purposes and to bring Him glory in a beautiful and God ordained way and time.

I like to think about the ways our lives intersect with others. It's so big I can't wrap my brain around it, but I'm thankful I can trust God's goodness in His timing of bringing His people into the world.

That being said, even though little Ryan person number three wasn't on our radar screen yet, I'm fully confident that the Lord has a beautiful plan for this baby and the timing of it's arrival in the world.

To God be the Glory! Great things he has done!!

Our last lake hoorah!

2011-10-28T08:30:00.000-04:00

There's something about posting lake pics in October that's slightly disconcerting. It makes me wanna throw some clothes on the babies... like they must be cold or something, since it's cold outside... but let me assure you, it was NOT cold this day... It was a hot day in July!

We went out on the boat with the Ingrams and had a great time!

B with Thomas and Ruthie, sweet little blessings :)

The daddies with the "big kids"

Look at that expression!

And look at THAT expression!

hahaha... these kids are funny :)

And cute :)

The big kids with their babies...

I'm so thankful for these four doodles!

I love when Thomas grabs Bensons face... it's so sweet and tender :)

If you just stare at this picture for a minute, it gets funnier and funnier...

We love us some Ingrams!

Thomas, enjoying lake life... fat and happy! :)

This time is life is so precious! Have I mentioned wanting to freeze time?!

Independence Day in October

2011-10-27T08:30:00.000-04:00

When I took these pictures, I told Becca it would be September before I got around to posting them.
I was wrong... Next week's Halloween. Crazy! Life with two muchkins is kinda busy... but I will say, now that we're all sleeping at night, there's hope for the blog! Among other things :)
Here's a lil flashback to July 4.

Me-Miss came with us out on Nana and Papa's boat to watch the fireworks on Lake Murray!

This is Benson "not smiling"

Which, without fail, makes him smile :)

The boys love their Nana and Papa!

It's kinda neat that even though my sisters only have sisters, that through Benjamin, they have gotten to experience life with an "older brother"...

All the joys of it :)...

I love these girls!!!

I love enthusiasm. I mean, if you're gonna go, go all out!

Nana, with Benson, Thomas and Peaches. There's a lot of love here :) And some storytelling to which Benson is LOCKED IN!

I love this time in life! Sleepless nights and all... it's such a blessing and gift!!

Sweet baby Tom Tom. That's what we call him.... "Tom Tom." :)

Becca is like, Super Aunt. She stayed with us when Thomas was just a few weeks old and they totally bonded... now, she has this special way with him. When he's fussy, she can calm him. And when he has a dirty diaper, she's on it. She's pretty much my right hand girl.

The Thomster... "That's also what was call him, "the Thomster"..."
Also, "lil' chicken", "doodle-bop", "doodle", "Punkin'", "Punkin' Lunkin'", "Suga" as well as various combinations of those...
"Hey lil' doodle bop chicken!" for instance.
He has a few nicknames :)

Hunter and Benson! Cutie Patooties :)

And after the fireworks were over, it was lights out!

Stick 'em up

2011-10-26T08:30:00.000-04:00

Darks

2011-10-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

How do you get "Darks" to stick??

'Cause if you just jam them on there, they don't stick...

The key to getting darks to stick, is spit.

That's the trick.

Now you know :)

Snapshots

2011-10-24T08:30:00.000-04:00

Thomas is a chunk, but he has the tiniest little feet! They are as fat as they are long! I love em :)

I love when Benson asks to hold his baby bwother. :)

His baby bwother loves it too!

This is a little snap from June at 8:00 pm... How do I know it was 8:00pm?
Because our sprinklers came on 8:00 each evening and Benson loved to run outside and run through them! :) And I didn't want to forget it. So here ya go! :)

My hunks...

2011-10-13T12:25:00.001-04:00

Thomas was seven weeks old here... I can't believe how time has flown and how it's no longer June and how "old" these are and how I am just now getting a chance to post them... feels like I'm in a time warp.

But anyway...

In case you weren't aware... I've got some handsome men in my life...

The newest of which, melts my heart daily, with that handsome Ryan smile...

Later in the day, we went to visit Granny.

It's so wonderful for our boys to get to know their GREAT grandmother... what a precious gift!

Boys of Summer

2011-09-21T08:01:00.000-04:00

I love this memory. This is one of those times in life that I wish I could replay over and over again...
There wasn't anything particularly special about this day other than the fact that it was hot. Benjamin came home from work and put out the slip-n-slide and I'm not sure which of my boys had more fun!

Benson had a little trouble getting the momentum going to make it to the end of the slide. He would run and hop on the end of the slide and get stuck and frustrated. But, daddy to the rescue!

Benjamin would get a running start and CHUNK our son down the slip-n-slide. This is another one of those times where I'm thankful that I'm confident in my husbands athletic ability.

Then, daddy showed him how it was done...

I love how much these two love to be with each other!

Sweet, Sweet Summer!

Pirate Life

2011-09-20T13:33:00.001-04:00

Pirate Life is mostly about ...

Pirate Wars.

And if you don't watch out, you WILL get swash buckled.

Peter Pan can often be seen battling Capt'n Hook...

And most of the time, he wins...

But I have a feeling it's just because Capt'n Hook loves him so much. :)

Sometimes, he even lets him borrow his hook :)

Occasionally, there are surprise attacks by Pirate Aunts....

But Peter Pan shows no mercy...

And every pirate knows... Sometimes you don't win the battle...

And if ya can't beat 'em, ya join 'em!

Then you take your treasure and sail off into the sunset on your john deere tractor...

That's what all the best pirates do...

June 21... A super special day!

2011-09-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

Did you know June 21 is the first day of Summer?

It's also the longest day of the year...
which is pretty appropriate, because it's also
my little sister Ashley's birthday!

And now, there's another super special reason to get excited about June 21!

On June 21, 2011, Patrica Ruth Ingram, "Ruthie" was born.

I know I posted an announcement of her birth right after she arrived, but I just came across some sweet pics that I didn't want to forget, so here goes...

Thomas and I went to Greenville for her arrival!

Lael practiced her big sister skills on eight week old baby Thomas..

Aunt Becca went with us to keep the babies while we were at the hospital.

Thomas had fun hanging out with the Laelie :)

It was such a joy to get to see sweet baby Ruthie enter the world!

Ruthie, just minutes old, and "aunt Jess" :) I love this little girl!!! :)

And a little later in the day, I brought Thomas back up to the hospital to meet Ruthie! :)

She was in her mamas tummy earlier on this same day.. That's kinda amazing, really.
Thomas, with those eyebrows...

These sweet little babies are such a gift and we will always remember June 21, 2011 as a VERY special day! This is the first of MANY pictures of these two, to come over the years :)
Sweet little loves :)

People need People...

2011-09-16T08:30:00.000-04:00

Princesses need a superhero...

And princesses and superheros need their Grandmama...

Its just better that way.

Summer Sprinkler Fun

2011-09-15T15:41:00.001-04:00

This is a picture from back in June.. but I just couldn't let it go :) Benson got to spend a couple of nights at his cousin Will's house this week. It's so great that these boys have the blessing of each other! They LOVE getting to spend time together :) Can't ya tell?!

The great thing about parks...

2011-09-01T15:20:00.002-04:00

....

.... is the AFTER park, CRASH....

Four year olds don't often fall asleep on daddy's lap...
but when they do... my oh my!, they melt this mama's heart!

I love walking through life, holding both of these hands...

There's nothing like a sleeping baby. Even when your baby is FOUR.

It makes me think of the book, "I'll love you Forever"
Which I've always thought was slightly creepy and have thought to myself, while reading it... "Cut The CORD, woman!" (to the old woman who drives across town, climbs in her grown sons window to rock him and sing "I'll like you forever, I'll love you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be...")

But as time passes... I'm starting realize that even though I would probably never DO that... there's part of me that never wants to give up snuggling with my "baby"!

Tender moments...

2011-08-31T04:45:00.000-04:00

This baby loves his big brother...

And this big brother loves his baby...

You can see it on his face...

There's nothing like a brother...

i'll give you one guess...

2011-08-30T05:23:00.000-04:00

as to what can make a face go from this...

to this...

to this...

and then all out this...

.......
Any guesses??
.......

.

.

.

yeah... they are enjoying each other :)

And I'm enjoying THEM! :)

Big Boy on his Big Boy Bike!

2011-08-26T05:10:00.000-04:00

For Benson's Fourth birthday, we took him to Toys-R-Us and let him pick out a bike...

can you guess what his favorite color is???

Thank goodness the 5+ helmet still fits my 4+ child's head...

Sometimes when you're four and riding your bike in the driveway for the first time, you crash...

So you must dust yourself off and try again, try again...

you just have to FOCUS...

Riding a big boy bike is FUN! :)

Tightie Whities...

2011-08-25T04:56:00.000-04:00

...The perfect place to holster your pirate sword...

Just a little bathtime cuteness..

2011-08-24T04:52:00.000-04:00

Thomas, six weeks old

The last of the beach pics...

2011-08-23T14:56:00.000-04:00

Now that it's almost September, I feel like it's a good time to go ahead and wrap up our family beach pics from June :D

I love this picture... his sweet little contented smile...

conked out on the beach...

The beach baby tent...

I loved this little moment of Ryan Elizabeth and Uncle Jo...

Uncle J, flying Benson over the waves!

Grandmama giving Benson lunch on the fly... Now THAT's service!

Uncle T and gymnast Hannah...

Family Beach Pic 2011

The four amigos...

Yall, this was so bad.
We had been planning it for like six months, and in my head, it played out totally differently.
Jonathan had been wanting a Mac to take to college in the fall.
I had GOTTEN a Mac last May.
And Saved the box.
So, for graduation, we wrapped it up and (here's where it went bad-- ) gave it to his parents to give to him as a gift... (In my original plan, WE were giving him the gift, which would have been a red flag and he would have known something was up... but at the last minute, we decided to let it be from his parents..)

He opened it up and was ELATED!

He was thanking them over and over again and saying they were THE BEST PARENTS IN THE WHOLE WORLD and that they had "CERTAINLY OUTDONE THEMSELVES"...

And then he opened the box...

And found his "apple" computer. (My old Dell with a half of a real apple taped to the front)

The joke would've been better if we'd have had a real Mac behind door number two.

We did not.

Poor Uncle Jo.

I do think, in the end, we helped him out though... he ended up going to school with a Mac :)

You're a good Sport, Jo! :)

And that wraps up the beach pics... stay tuned for more summer 2011 :)

Benson's Fourth Birthday

2011-08-22T04:50:00.000-04:00

On June 8, 2011, our baby turned FOUR!
We had gone, the night before, to the Pirates Voyage and then, the day of, we went and played Pirate Put-Put... We just did a small celebration with the cousins while we were at the beach... which, when you have six cousins, kinda turns in to an instant party!

What a delight and gift these four years have been for us. To watch our little baby grow into the hilarious, smart, loving, friendly, outgoing four year old he is today, is one of the greatest blessings we've ever received from the Lord. We are grateful.

Happy Fourth Birthday, Benson!!!!

Pirates Voyage: Cap'n Mama's Review of the Show

2011-08-10T13:37:00.003-04:00

In case you didn't know, we've been on QUITE the pirate kick around here. On the way to the beach, we kept seeing these billboards about a dinner show called "Piarates Voyage." So when we called the information number and the chicky answered with,

"Ahoy! Would you like to make a resAARRRRRvation?"

We were sold.

Here is a link to their website.

It was Benson's birthday while we were at the beach, so we took our little mateys and set sail for a Pirates Voyage!

They've remade the old "Dixie Stampede" in to this pirates paradise! It's a pretty incredible facility. I love this pic. It looks like we just stuck our four four year olds out in the middle of the street to take their picture. Ok, well, that isn't too far off from what we did, but they were supervised.

The resARRRvation lady told us to arrive at 6:30 for the 8:00 show because there was "sand art" and "pirate and mermaid dress up" activities. With all the craziness, we didn't get there til 7, and honestly I'm glad we didn't get there any sooner... the "activites" cost extra (an extra $5 and $20 respectively), and since the tickets were already pretty expensive, (around $20 per child and $40 per adult) there was no need to fork out any more dough. It was cool enough without the added costs :)

Upon our early arrival, we waited in a saloon-type area where they had singing and dancing as well as *beverages* and snacks for purchase. Again, in my opinion, not worth getting there early for... as a matter of fact, if I had it to do over again, we'd skip it all together. There were a couple of songs that had some *questionable* lyrics. I know it's a pirate thing, but we play sweet, kind, nice pirates (who also take treasure and sword fight) :) Not the kind that hop around singing "what do you do with a drunken sailor" or singing how we do it all for the "beer and tobacco."
Um. No thanks.
The actual show itself was very kid friendly and fun sported, this pre-show, however, I think was meant for the *adults* who chose to attend, sans kids.

Thomas enjoyed himself :)
Actually, I will say, about taking babies to this... we got all the way to the door from a far away parking spot before we were informed that we couldn't take a stroller or an infant carrier seat in with us. After seeing the set-up I understand space is limited, but it would have been nice to know that beforehand so we didn't have to send the guys trekking back across the hot parking lot for nothin! :)

The seats are lined all around the theater. It's really neat!

Before the show, the kids went down on the stage area and took a picture with the canon.
A few of the mateys didn't quite know what to think about going near a real pirate ship with a real canon :)

They have a 17 foot deep "lagoon" that they perform some pretty spectacular stunts in... here's a matey driving a dingy. Our "crew" was the crimson pirates. :)

There was a lot of this face.
I love this face.

The food was good and there was a LOT of it. We took home MANY doggy bags.
As far as the $40 per person ticket price, I thought about it like this:
if you go out to eat at the beach, even if it's just a seafood buffet, you'll likely end up paying around $20 to eat anyway... so in my mind, it's basically $20 for your meal and then $20 for the show. And the kids got the same portions as the adults, even at the $20 cost- After breaking it down, I felt like it was pretty reasonable. :) It was like dinner, the circus, an animal show, and a fun competition all rolled into one!

See the pirate doing the toe-touch? Yeah, he's about to dive into the water below.
There were some really awesome stunts!

Even the girls, who really aren't into pirates, could appreciate the animals. They had everything from sea lions, to geese, to birds, to a HORSE that WALKED on the water (whiiich, I didn't get a picture of... but I DID get the sea lion :) )!

At the end, we received a message from Dolly Pardon. Well, not the real one, she was on a screen, but even the real one on the screen didn't look real, if you know what mean...
There were also, in true pirate fashion, mermaids and treasure...

Our little matey had a great time! I'm so glad we ended up going! It really was a fun show and a cool experience. I'd recommend it! The only scary part involved some flashing lights and thunder and some people in black suits with bones painted on them coming up out of the water. (The "story" they tell revolves around the lagoon being haunted, which, isn't ideal, but we kinda tried to downplay that part and focus on the pirate competition taking place between the crimson and sapphire pirates as well as the animals.)

If you're in myrtle beach and have a little pirate on your hands, I'd say go for it! :)
Our little pirates had a gaaarrrrrrrreat time :)

Seven Sweet Sugars

2011-08-04T08:13:00.000-04:00

May this photo go down in history as the FIRST with ALL SEVEN Ryan grands...

these are some PROUD big brothers and sisters!!!

How very blessed we are to experience the joy of these sweet little ones!

Ryan Beach "Memories" (aka disasters)

2011-08-03T12:13:00.000-04:00

When Thomas was five weeks old and Ella was four weeks old, they got to experience, for the first time of many in their lives, a Ryan family vacation. All 18 of us stayed in a beach house together in Myrtle beach the first week in June.

Well... to say that we stayed in A beach house would be slightly incorrect.

We arrived early Saturday afternoon and walked in our beach house where the thermostat said 90. But I'm honestly not sure if the temperature gauge on the thing WENT above 90 because it felt like about 115!

I don't do "hot" very gracefully.

We called the rental company and they encouraged us that it would eventually get cool. So we waited and waited all afternoon as more and more people arrived and entered into the smoldering heat INSIDE our beach house.

The porch was nice. That's where we went to get "cool." (On a 100 degree day in myrtle beach.)

By 11:00, the thermostat had dropped to 87.

I'm pretty sure that had something to do with the sun going down and was by no means an indication of a WORKING air conditioner! Plus all the bedrooms were upstairs. And heat rises, ya know?!

So at about 11:30, all 18 of us loaded back up and went a mile down the road to stay the night in an AIR CONDITIONED beach house that the rental company provided. (much smaller and less suited for our crew)
We slept in the cool.
And loaded up the next morning and headed BACK to our original beach house where we were told the air was being fixed.
And waited all day for it to show any signs of cooling.
Which it did not.
So we loaded up AGAIN that night.
All 18 of us.
Seven children, four and under including two infants.
And went to yet ANOTHER "cool" beach house to stay the night.

We then hauled all of our gear BACK to our original beach house the next morning to find the repair man working outside and COOL air blowing out of the vents.

Lula refers to these sorts of disasterous occasions as "memories." She says that you forget the events that don't ever have anything to go wonky or astray, but the "memories" are made when things don't go quite as you'd expect them to... those are the times you remember forever and laugh about for years to come.

We certainly made some memories on this beach trip, for sure!!! :)

These two are sure able to laugh at life! They are always great at rolling with the punches.
An excellent example of "grace under fire (or SC summer HEAT)," especially an example for me, their heat induced, disgruntled daughter-in-law! :)

How adorable is this family of girls?! I almost can't even stand it, they're so cute!
I love having nieces :)

And it was so fun getting to spend time with our little Gibbs girl niece and nephew too! I feel like Ryan Elizabeth went from infant to practically an adult in the 10 weeks I was on bedrest and didn't get to see her! Her first birthday is coming up in August. That just doesn't seem POSSIBLE!
Sweet little family :)

And I mean, I know we're on vacation and all, but my boys are looking a little shaggy in this pic...
Another "memory" haha :)

As we were trying to get some pictures of families on the beach, there were seriously GALE FORCE WINDS that were blowing (note the way that all of our hair is blowing away from our face- it almost looks like we've all had facelifts! :) )
Jeremy and Brittany's was the worst- every time I went to snap a pic, Brittany's hair flew up into a swoop above her head that looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book! In the middle of the "memory" of this picture, I got this shot, and honestly, I love it. I just think they are so cute. :)
It was so fun having our new sister-in-law on her first Ryan family vacation as a Ryan. She was a sport, for sure. And she's cold natured. So that was a good thing :)

This was Benson's last day as a three year old. My precious baby boy is four. It's so hard to believe!

And here we have the whole crew, wind-swept look and all :)
What a tremendous blessing it is to have "memories" like this one to look back on :)

In Memory of My Beloved Blackberry

2011-07-29T15:05:00.001-04:00

I had a Blackberry for almost a year. I loved it. My favorite part about it was bbm. (blackberry messenger) That app allowed me to instantly chat with my people who also had blackberries.
It's a great feature. A feature that will be missed.
Today is day FIVE of no phone for me.
This has been quite the adjustment.
If you've tried to contact me over the last five days and haven't been able to reach me, don't be offended. No one has been able to reach me. I've been unreachable.
Might as well be on another planet.

I was holding out hope for my blackberry to be revived after being kept in rice day after day.
But alas. She's a goner.
Blackberries weren't made to sit in a cup of water that you placed in the cup holder of your car for your dog since it was 211 degrees outside.
They just weren't.

I've kept my mac with me at all times in case someone needs to contact me. (well, email me. or facebook me. those are the only ways people can get in touch with me.)
I don't feel safe leaving the house.
How would I get in touch with anyone if something were to happen!?
We did venture out to the park yesterday (its only a mile down the road) but I realized I had no way to tell time. The batteries in my watch were dead. I always have my phone with me. Why would I need a watch?!
What in the world did we do before cell phones? I'm old enough to remember a time before people started having "bag phones" in their cars. I even had a car phone installed in my car in high school. Very tech savvy.

Of all the things I was MOST sad about, I almost CRIED when I realized I had LOST all of my camera phone pics! Admittedly, I have PLENTY of other pictures (pushing 20,000 on my hard drive since last may- and that's no exaggeration) but sometimes I don't have my Nikon with me and so I snap with my phone (I'm all about "capturing the moment" :) ). And I didn't want those memories to be lost forever. So I dug around and found a USB cord and connected my dead blackberry to my mac and VOILA! It zipped my pictures over to my computer! So now I'm at roughly 20,100. And I thought I'd share my favorite camera phone pics in honor of my beloved blackberry and the fun times it has witnessed! :)

Get ready. This should be fun :)

Thomas' first picture :):

Benson was the line leader at Co-Op:

A pic we took to send to daddy :) :

A bouncy ball I found in the disposal:

Accessories are awesome...

A church sign on the way home:

This happened while I was on bedrest. True story:

At Nana and Papas, waiting on Nana to pull in the driveway:

My view from bedrest:

Uncle J and Benson reading a story:

GG and Benson flying a kite:

B and GG fixing up our garage:

B called Benson into the kitchen and he replied that he couldn't come because he was on bedrest:) :

Such a great snack :) :

Benson loves to color the bricks white... idk... :

My favorite pregnancy snack. Nutella on a bagel. B got REALLY good at making them :) :

13 goldfinches outside our kitchen window:

First breakfast after 10 weeks in the bed... at MIDNIGHT ROOSTER!!! :)

First dinner after 10 weeks on bedrest. MIYAMI's!!!

Playing on the playground at SONIC! The best playground in town!

Hospital bracelets still on little T's footsies:

T's hospital tag:

Our dishwasher broke two days after Thomas was born. Not ideal timing:

B doesn't have facebook, so I keep him up on important news :) :

Thomas had some heiny issues due to milk and soy. We're good now, but it wasn't pretty for a little bit...

From my sweet love:

Cuties washing the car:

Coolguy, eating lunch:

Benson's note to Nana on the glow station she got him for his birthday:

Cutie Benson with the puzzles KK gave him for his birthday:

Swashbuckin' football player:

Cars 2:

Sweet sleepin boys:

From Ash's babybook... Me, the proud big sister with fresh baby Lash:

take one:

take two:

In the rain, with his football helmet, digging with his pirate sword:

Dinner recommendation!:

Aftermath from a playdate at our house:

Thomas at a July fourth pool party:

A frame made by Benson, from Camp Waghabe:

Thomas, enjoying resort life in Texas:

NOT a safe and approved way to ride in a car seat:

Thermometer cuffs links. I want these for my dad :) :

Benson's first ice cream from an ice cream truck!

Benson, after Lash's wedding weekend:

As you can see here, we've had a lot going on! Thomas is now 13 weeks old. The last picture I posted of him on here, he was about THREE weeks old. (He IS growing, I promise!;) ) Now that things are settling down a bit, maybe I'll be able to blog about all the fun we've been having this summer! I can't believe it's coming to an end! Time's flying by wayyy too fast!!!!

I should receive my new phone in the next day or so. :) Call me ;)

a fam of four

2011-07-13T08:46:00.000-04:00

these moments i adore :)

The Annual Ryan Girls Birthday Party

2011-07-12T08:06:00.000-04:00

With their three daughters birthdays all in May,
Thomas and Susie get to celebrate birthdays in one fell swoop!
This year, with Hannah turning four and Addie Grace turning three, and a brand new baby (three weeks old) on their hip, there was a lot to celebrate :)

This right here, is why I'm thankful that even though I don't have daughters, I have nieces :)

I'm sure they are glad to have boy cousins though,
'cause sometimes you need a guys help opening your presents :)

We're going to be celebrating this little Gibbs girl's first birthday before we know it!
My how time is flying! :)

I loved the expressions on their faces when they got their big girl bikes :)

And they had picked out these *special* helmets themselves :)

What a sweet, PINK filled family of precious little girls :)

A sleep study...

2011-07-09T08:53:00.000-04:00

Thomas, as a newborn, sleeping:

Benson, as a newborn, sleeping:

There's some strong similarities, but they definitely each have their own look, for sure.
I can't believe how absolutely BALD Benson was!! I remember he didn't have any hair, but he doesn't even have EYELASHES! At this point, Benson was eight weeks old and I still don't think he'd lost that "preemie" look that he started out with... Thomas is three weeks old in the above picture and he already looks a lot more mature, in my opinion. I guess three and a half more weeks in the womb gives ya a little head start :)

Here's one more of Benson, at six weeks old... I've always loved this "TOUCHDOWN" picture :)
I still can't get over how shriveled up he was :) Now that I have a "normal" baby to compare him to, it's amazing how tiny he actually was! :) He hadn't even reached 8 pounds here, at six weeks, and Thomas is already passed 9 at three weeks!! We might have a quarterback on our hands :)

Thomas' First bath

2011-07-08T09:17:00.002-04:00

It took forever for the whole little stub of Thomas' raisin to fall off, so it wasn't until he was three weeks old that he got his first real bath at home...

He's a fan of bathtime :)

It seems like just yesterday we were giving someone ELSE their first bath....

My how time flies...

SUCH a big helper! :)

Benson is one PROUD big brother!

I love a freshly bathed baby! Nothin' like it! :)

Some things I don't want to forget...

2011-07-07T08:52:00.000-04:00

I don't want to forget the way his little three week old hair swoops to the side and how tiny his little hips are...

I don't want to forget these little wrinkles and the way it smells when I cuddle him right there...

I don't want to forget these tiny footsies and how little those toes are...

I don't want to forget the downy sweetness that covers his little backside...

I don't want to forget those sweet eyes, taking in all the world for the first time...

And the way that the back of his hands dimple with new baby freshness...

And the way he can wrinkle that forehead and contort those eyebrows!

Or that sweet little pug nose profile....

Or those little lips that I get to kiss and kiss and kiss....

I don't want to forget these precious, sweet little moments I've been given with my precious, sweet baby Thomas...

Peaceful

2011-07-06T13:16:00.000-04:00

Thomas Hunter Ryan

18 days old

People with the boy

2011-07-06T08:41:00.003-04:00

Thomas got to meet/see some friends and family during his third week of life and i was there snappin' away :) I feel its important to document things:)

Mrs. Marty meets Thomas...

Miss Jodi with the boy...

Mrs. Jessica with the sugar...

Great Aunt Sherri met the little love...

And so did Valerie, who is expecting her OWN little one.. the third Hunter great grand!!

And Grandmama Hunter had some snuggletime...

And Lash :)

Can'tcha just feel tha love?! :)

Thomas' Baby Shower

2011-07-04T08:30:00.000-04:00

The sweet ladies in our church wanted to throw a baby shower for baby Thomas while he was still in my belly-- but the whole 10 weeks of bedrest thing kinda got in the way of that-- and since I kinda have a track record of going into labor the day after a baby shower on bedrest, we decided to wait to have the baby shower AFTER he was born... WHICH, by the way, I think is a great way to do it, because then everybody gets to SEE the lil cutie :)

I thought the table was so pretty!

Monogrammed cookies for little Thomas Hunter Ryan :)

Mrs. Rider got to feed the boy...

Sweet friends Caroline and Elizabeth got to snuggle him...

And sweet Karen, who was gracious enough to host the shower in her home, couldn't get enough of that new baby sweetness :)

Thomas got his first little monogrammed outfit...

And here's all of the sweet girls who came to celebrate baby Thomas!

What a sweet time it was!

Thank you, girls for throwing us a shower, I am grateful to the Lord for you!

In all the world my nest is best!

2011-07-02T09:35:00.017-04:00

We love this book

The only thing I don't love is the part where the girl bird says she "hates" it... we replace it with "i really don't like it!" ;) It's the little things... :)

One of the lines in the book says,

I love my house, I love my nest, in all the world my nest is best!

Benson loves to make a "nest" out of all the million pillows on our bed.
And he's excited to have a new little hatchling to share his nest with...

I love my "lil chickens!" :)

"Uncle" Will with the boys...

2011-07-01T08:32:00.002-04:00

Thanks for stopping by the ville to meet the newest lil guy, Will! It was great to see you!! :)

Thomas' Birth Announcement

2011-06-30T13:03:00.001-04:00

created by SugarLump Stationery :)

Second trip in his 13 day old life...

2011-06-30T08:14:00.004-04:00

Savannah Georgia, May 11, 2011

For Thomas' 13 day old birthday, we took a trip to Savannah, GA.
Ok, not really.
It actually didn't have anything to do with him...
it was a Farm Bureau weekend function that kids aren't even supposed to go to...
but they made an exception for a 13 day old kid.
13 day old kids need their mamas.
So do almost four year old kids.
But what almost four year old kids REALLY need is their 13 day old brothers...

As I was packing up our things for Savannah, and Bensons things for a mountain weekend with Nana and Papa, Benson, still very enamored with his baby brother asked if he could take Thomas WITH him to the mountains. I nonchalantly told him that "No, Thomas needed to be with mama and daddy since he was still so little" and left it at that.

I called to check on Benson Saturday night and he asked again if he could "please please PLEASE bring Thomas up to the mountains with him"
to which I replied:
"Thomas has to stay with me because I have to be able to feed him."
There was silence on the other end of the phone...
He had dropped it and run to nana and asked...
"Nana! Do YOU have boobies!?"

He's a troubleshooter, for sure.

I wouldn't want to leave this little cutie either! OR the one on the right! ;)

When Benjamin was a baby, there was a lady who would babysit him and nicknamed him "The Judge" because he would oftentimes have this very serious, stern look on his face.
I think we may have another "The Judge" on our hands! :)
Look at those eyebrows!!

The only thing sweeter...

2011-06-30T08:14:00.003-04:00

The only this sweeter than being fast asleep in these arms...

Is being kissed by these lips...

Trust me.

I know.

;)

A Clemson Tiger from the start!

2011-06-29T08:49:00.000-04:00

You know you've been waiting on it...
The first post with a paw.

Ten Day old Thomas Hunter Ryan.

Future Clemson Graduate.

Class of 2033.

His namesakes, Thomas Henry Ryan (Benjamin's Grandaddy)

and HIS grandaddy, Tom Ryan, Jr.

as well as his daddy are all graduates of Clemson University.

Our boys will be fourth generation!

The third Thomas Ryan in our family to attend CU!

It's in his blood. :)

My little bundle of joy...

2011-06-28T09:47:00.000-04:00

Oh you sweet, sweet baby boy. Your Mama loves you to pieces.

my precious doodles...

2011-06-28T08:28:00.002-04:00

Sweet Baby Thomas, Eight Days Old

2011-06-27T08:21:00.000-04:00

This is another one of those outfits that was hanging on a hanger at the foot of my bed for the months I was on bedrest. I had gotten this little Kissy Kissy outfit for Thomas the day after we found out we were expecting a boy. It came from Minnie's Giftique in Hartsville. It's my favorite store here. I look for excuses to go there :) If you've received a gift from me in the last year, it likely came from Minnie's :) and you likely loved it :) It's that kinda place :)

I must say, he's even more presh in it than I dreamed :)

One of my favorite things about being this little guys mama,

is that I get to kiss those sweet little lips any time I want to! :*

Mama with her boys

2011-06-24T08:34:00.000-04:00

Here's a few snaps Lash took of me and my boys...
I love being mama to two boys :)

And this little punkin' has stolen my heart!

I couldn't BE more blessed than to be the mama of these two precious boys!!!

Our first trip...

2011-06-23T14:32:00.000-04:00

We took our first trip to Lexington when Thomas was five days old... nothing like packing up a newborn and all their gear for a week long trip... we really should invest in a u-haul. I've never been a light packer... and now, it's reached the level of absurdity.

Packing aside, it was a great trip and Thomas got to spend time with lots of family. He's already got a lot of people who love him :) He's a blessed little boy!

Uncle Chris got to meet Thomas for the first time! It's crazy to think that Thomas will never know Chris as anything other than "Uncle!" When Benson was born, Chris was still in High School- still a lil ways away from "Uncle Status." ;)

Here he is eating Mexican for the first time with Nana...
Ok, WE were eating Mexican.
So I guess that means he ate Mexican later on... :)

He got to meet his Great Grandmama Johnson!

Granny is 91! It's so neat to see her with such a new little person.
What a gift of years she's been given!

Thomas got to go to Hite Street and meet his Great Aunt Bonnie and His Great Grandaddy, Papa Hite!

And Benson always loves getting to go to Hite Street. He had SO.MUCH.FUN. riding on the Gator with Aunt Bonnie. His face in this picture is priceless... it makes me laugh! :)

Baby Ruth is HERE!!!

2011-06-22T18:25:00.000-04:00

Patricia Ruth Ingram, "Ruthie"
was born on June 21, 2011 at 1:00 p.m.
She weighed 8lbs.1oz. and is just PERFECT!!!
Mama and baby are both doing great!

I could take a BITE of this sweet "Baby Ruth!" :)

Happy Fathers Day, Papa!!!

2011-06-19T09:33:00.002-04:00

Happy Father's Day to Papa! Your girls and boys want to wish you a very happy day!

We're so blessed to have you for a father and grandfather! Benson loves getting "body-slammed" and getting put in the "head lock. " There's just something about having grandSONS that's extra fun for a dad of two girls :) Not that'd we'd have it any other way... It's always been fun being "the girls," but I have to admit, seeing you with "my boys" is something extra special.
You are such a wonderful man and we're all proud to have your genes :)

Happy Fathers Day!!!

We Love You!!!

Sweet Little Trains

2011-06-13T08:42:00.000-04:00

Grandmama Lula got this sweet little train outfit for Thomas when he was still in my tummy. For the longest time, I had it hanging on a hanger on our dresser so I could see it from my many days in the bed. It was definitely an encouragement to "keep my eye on the goal."
To see our sweet baby boy all dolled up in it is just such a precious sight :)

lil cougar

2011-06-10T08:49:00.000-04:00

Papa's school, Pleasant Hill Middle School, has a "cougar" for a mascot.
Some of the teachers gave him this cute little onsie when Thomas was born.

I think maybe they should consider THOMAS as the official school baby mascot. :)

Babies...

2011-06-09T08:53:00.001-04:00

Does this picture remind you of anything???

We like to do things as a family :)

Four Years ago today...

2011-06-08T15:46:00.000-04:00

I got to hold my sweet little Benson for the first time...

We fell in love with him and became a family of three...

I had never laid eyes on anything so adorable!

And I never could have imagined how much the Lord would BLESS us over the next four years!

Happy Fourth Birthday Benson!!!

little do these two know...

2011-06-07T08:54:00.000-04:00

What a gift they will be to each other...

They will look to each other for fun, advice and friendship in the years to come...

And we've got a picture of them with their "raisins" still on, to remember the GIFT of having sweet cousins so close in age.
And we thought Benson and Hannah being one MONTH apart was close! :)
Thomas and Ella are six DAYS apart!
It's so incredible!
SUCH A GIFT!!!

brotha from anotha motha

2011-06-06T08:51:00.001-04:00

Thomas is Ella's "brotha from anotha motha."
Kinda.
They have different dad's too.
But their dad's ARE brotha's.
And her dad has his name.
Chew on THAT awhile will ya?!

Thomas Henry Ryan,III holding Ella Ann Ryan, born May 4, 2011, just six days after Thomas Hunter Ryan was born.
Yes, Thomas and Susie had a girl, and yes, we named our son Thomas Ryan.
Still with me?

Ok, now here's the test:
Who's who, and how are they related?....

And here's Jeremy and Brittany with their twins.
Ok, not really. But they'd make cute ones.
I'm ready for some more nieces and nephews, guys! ;)

Uncle Jo and Thomas....
Keepin it real...

On the day we met Ella, it was just a day away from Hannah's birthday, so even though we had a party later in the month, we ate cake. We're always looking for a reason to eat Publix cake :)

And if these aren't some cuties...
Three adorable Ryan girls under the age of four.
All born in May.
May 4 (ella), 9 (hannah) and 22 (addie grace).
That's one happy, blessed, and busy household! :)

We were so excited to get to meet Ella for the first time!!!
... more pics to come! (of course ;) )

First Doctors Visit

2011-06-03T08:20:00.000-04:00

We took Thomas in for his one week checkup....

At one week old, he weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce. Everything looked great!
Time's flying by!

Sweet baby Thomas, Four Days Old

2011-06-02T08:13:00.001-04:00

lil cuties

2011-06-01T08:14:00.002-04:00

I had gotten this little preemie sleeper for Thomas when I was laying in the bed baking him at about 28 weeks in utero.

Praise the Lord, he made it to 38 weeks and only got to wear it about a week :)

I did love him in it that week :)

Time to box this one up! I can't believe he's already outgrowing things! :*(

Stephfabulous meets Thomas

2011-05-31T08:47:00.000-04:00

Stephanie and Adam stopped by our house on the way home from a wedding in North Carolina. I don't think our house is necessarily "on the way" from North Carolina to their house, but they made a special effort to swing by and meet our newest little guy.

He was thrilled to meet them! :)

But not more thrilled than I was to see them!

Thanks for coming to see us, guys!! :) Can't wait to see you again!!

At the risk of sounding cheesy...

2011-05-30T14:24:00.000-04:00

I'd like to quote some Aerosmith :)

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you're far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Every moment spent with you
Is a moment I treasure

Laying close to you
Feeling your heart beating
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming
Wondering if it's me you're seeing
Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together
I just wanna stay with you
In this moment forever, forever and ever

I don't wanna miss one smile
I don't wanna miss one kiss
I just wanna be with you
Right here with you, just like this
I just wanna hold you close
Feel your heart so close to mine
And just stay here in this moment
For all the rest of time

Don't wanna close my eyes
Don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, baby
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream would never do
'Cause I'd still miss you, baby
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Time, please freeze!!

2011-05-20T08:55:00.001-04:00

I snapped this moment with the camera on my phone and I just love the sweet little contented look on Thomas' face and the way Benson's holding his little fingers and how big brother is just beaming and how he didn't want me to move Thomas from him.... ever.

There's a lot of "ands" in that sentence.

There's a LOT I love about this time in our lives.

I wish I could FREEZE TIME!!!

Precious, sweet boys. What a GIFT from the Lord!!!

Benson's Pirate Yacht

2011-05-19T08:40:00.006-04:00

A few weeks before Thomas was born, Mrs. Lula called me and asked what I thought about her getting Benson a special surcie to play with for those first few days when we were home from the hospital.

{ Being the mother of five, she's pretty smart about things like how to make the addition of another child to the family go smoothly. :) }

She said she'd found this blow up pirate pool that she thought he would have fun in, but wanted to run it by me first.
I appreciate that last part. :)

Even though pirate's aren't my favorite, (I never would have thought I'd feed a love for pirates) they really are fun for pretending! Benson LOVES making a "pirate ship" out of ANYTHING and running from the "bad" pirates and hunting for treasure, etc.

So the first morning Thomas was at home, Daddy and Grandmama spent ALL MORNING blowing up Benson's new pirate pool (I REALLY wish I had some pictures of that- they did have a foot pump, but they got QUITE the workout blowing up this thing!)

To say that it's been a "hit!" is an understatement!!

It spouts water, shoots "cannon's", has a "roll-up jolly roger" (which is , for some reason, a highlight for Benson?) A treasure chest, blow-up swords and shields to fight the bad pirates....

The thing is like a Pirate YACHT!

Our pirate family with our newest matey...

A BIG THANKS to "Pirate Grandmama" for playing pirates NON STOP for the days she was here.

Having his own little "special somethin' " was really helpful in those first few transition days :)

He's been excited to teach Thomas all about pirates...

And what happens after pirates find all the gold and escape all the bad guys?

They snuggle up and watch some "Jake and the Neverland Pirates!"
Well, some of them don't make it all the way through the show...

It's hard work being a pirate! :)

Sweet Cuddly Brothers

2011-05-18T09:36:00.000-04:00

The very first morning that Benson woke up to his new baby brother in his house,

he wanted to cuddle him any chance he could get.

He's such a great big brother!!!

I love this sweet, sweet moment...

Welcome Home Baby Thomas

2011-05-17T09:37:00.003-04:00

Here's a few snaps of two day old Thomas, the day we brought him home from the hospital.

Oh these toes... i love these toes...

Look at that HAIR!!!

I still can't get over it!

Coming Home...

2011-05-16T08:53:00.000-04:00

After two days in the hospital, we got to take our new little boy home for the first time! We had fun dressing him in the special little outfit Kelli gave him.

B, stretching his little hat to fit his head.... Oh that head...

All dressed and ready to go home!

We had some very excited people waiting on us!

Benson is SO PROUD of his baby brother!!

Sweet lil itty bitty doodlebug...

Benjamin, proud papa, on "Pride Rock"...

It's the Ciiiiiircle of Liiiiife...

We're so happy to have you home, Thomas!

Hospital Visitors

2011-05-11T14:02:00.000-04:00

We had some very special people visit us in the hospital. I documented with pictures. Shocker.

Great Grandmama Hunter came and got to hold the boy for an hour and a half uninterrupted.

She was proud :)

Pastor Mac and Rachel came to see the lil guy...

The Driggers crew came...

Thomas, meet Grace, one of your future babysitters :)

Mrs. Karen and Hope, loving on the bebe....

Hi, GG!! :)

Aunt Becca and Lash were there for THE debut. Like as in, the first breath!

So special to share that moment with my sisters. :)

Nana and Papa hugs...

Grandmama and Grandaddy, doting...

And of course KK! Who was not only THERE for the debut, but also captured those first sweet moments with her camera...

I can't thank you enough!!!

And Ruthie, (32 weeks in the oven) I can't wait to meet YOU in just a few short weeks!

Neither can Thomas! :)

Like his big brother when Lael was in KK's tummy,...

Thomas is looking forward to another sweet little Ingram girl!!!

He's counting down the days!! :)

April 28, 2011... A Very Special Day!

2011-05-06T14:35:00.005-04:00

After 10 weeks of bedrest and two weeks of waddling around in the world, we finally have our sweet baby here safe and sound :)

I went to the doctor last Wednesday (April 27) for my 38 week appointment and was 3 cm dilated, 80% effaced and the baby was at a -1 station. We set an appointment for Monday, but the doctor said that he'd be surprised if I made it through the weekend...

Well he must be a pretty smart doctor, because the next morning (April 28) I woke up with increased signs of labor.
I put in a call to him and he said to go on in to labor and delivery!
So we got all packed up and headed to the hospital around 2:00p.m.

Of course we snapped a pic on our way out the door...
This was our last picture as a family of three!

When I got to the hospital, I was 4cm dilated and having contractions every 5 minutes.
So we called in the troops. (Our very eagerly anticipating families :) )

Kelli, aka photographer extraordinaire, who as been on standby for 12 weeks waiting on the call that "it's time!' made it all the way from Greenville while the lil' bun was still in the oven.
But the timer was going off!!
Thank you so much, Kell, for capturing the moments of this precious day!!

They broke my water at around 4:00, which reminds me of a conversation Benjamin and I were having about "water breaking," last week, that Benson overheard, causing him to ponder...

Benson: "Mama, has your water ever broken before?"
Me: "No, my water has never broken on its own".
Benson: "Even when I was a baby in your belly, your water didn't break?"
Me: "Nope, not even then... the doctor had to break it."
Benson: "Sooo... why did the doctor break your pipes?"

:)

After the doctor "broke my pipes" and started pitocin, I labored for about another hour, which was not fun, before they administered my epidural. I was not nice for that hour...
Until the very kind anesthesiologist came in and made me happy again. :) Wish I could tip him.

Can I just say, Praise the Lord for modern medicine! Whew!!

Sweet little

Thomas Hunter Ryan

was born on April 28, 2011
at 6:41 p.m.
weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces

and measuring 19 and 3/8 inches long.

Oh- and his head was 14 and 1/4 inches in circumference.

That's not a stat you normally hear people say when they tell of a new baby's "info," but I thought it worthy. Especially since the nurse who measured him did a double take at the measuring tape and looked up at Benjamin and said, "Your poor wife."

Yep, the boy's got his mama's head.

We are all so absolutely in love with this sweet little boy.

Benson is the world's BEST big brother! He wants to hold him and kiss him and love on him all the time. It's so fun to see my sweet Benson whom I love so much, love on my sweet Thomas whom I love so much. The love's just multiplied!!

The moment he's been waiting for is finally here!

My three boys!!!

Benson is so intrigued by everything Thomas does... the fact that his baby brother gets the hiccups, sneezes, smiles and even (one time) tee-tee'd on him! has been a never ending source of discovery and amazement.

Thomas gave Benson a couple of pirate presents whenever he arrived.
Benson was TOTALLY in AWE of the fact that Thomas knew he liked pirates.
He decided that Thomas must have heard him talking about them while he was still in mama's belly :)

Thomas Henry Ryan holding Thomas Hunter Ryan...

Benson was flipping his finger on his lips trying to entertain Thomas...

Even though he was bigger than Benson when he was born (Benson was 6lbs 6oz),
Thomas still seems so tiny!

We are in awe of God's creation.

Thomas Hunter Ryan was perfectly knit together in his mama's womb.

The Lord formed his inward parts and we Praise Him,
for Thomas is fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are the works of the Lord,
we know it very well.

Thomas's frame was not hidden from the Lord,
when he was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

In God's book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for Thomas,
when as yet there was none of them.

(Psalm 139:13-16 paraphrased)

Welcome to the world, baby Thomas! We're so happy you're here!!!

Thomas Hunter Ryan is HERE!!!

2011-04-28T20:57:00.000-04:00

We are so thrilled to welcome Thomas Hunter Ryan to our family!!
He was born on 4.28.11 at 6:41pm... 7lbs, 6oz... 19 and 3/4 in.
Thank you, Lord for such a precious gift!!!

Spring Break visitors!

2011-04-27T09:36:00.002-04:00

We had some fun spring break visitors this past week :)

Nana and papa came and we went to....

The midnight rooster!

WHOA that's a big ole belly!

There's a PERSON in there, ya know?!

Cutie patooties...

And Lash came later on...

We love Lash! :)

Thanks for visiting guys :) It's always great getting to spend time with yall!

Easter Eve 2011

2011-04-26T08:35:00.002-04:00

We had a little different Easter this year than we have in the past 28 years. The only time that we've NOT spent Easter morning in Pageland was April 3, 1983 when I was born. But there is a time and a season for everything and this year we changed things up a bit. Instead of going to Pageland on Easter morning like we have in the past, we celebrated "Easter Eve" together at my Grandaddy's nursing home.

It's really not WHERE you are, but who you're with that really matters anyway... and we all had a great time being together in Cheraw.

Here's our family Easter picture... In all honesty, I think we had a few people who were kinda hoping for ANOTHER "Easter Baby" but it didn't happen. Maybe he'll come on Papa's birthday (April 29th!)
The fact that this baby is so happily staying put, really is quite humorous.

I love the happy spring colors in this picture :)

The originals...

The lovebirds...

MORE lovebirds...
(counting down the days until July 23!)

Silly Lash, already lovin' on her nephew...

And Benjamin, helping support my ever-expanding gut...

The two most precious faces I know...

After we left the nursing home, we went back to grandmama Hunter's house
to help her with her "honey do" list.
The boys worked outside cutting grass, painting, cleaning gutters, weed eating etc.
The girls worked inside. Except me. I was cooking. A baby that is... :)

Benson took off his shirt like the rest of the guys and was really "helping" BIG time...
Then he celebrated his hard work with bubbles...

And I'll leave you with this little morsel of hotness...
B was in charge of weed-eating, but didn't have any long pants, and all he could find was my grandaddy's rescue squad outfit.
I think he really rocked it... :)

It's pics like this and about a million other reasons why I love this man so much :)

And what keeps his BROTHERS reading the blog for ammo with which to rag him! :)

Easter Morning 2011

2011-04-25T14:16:00.000-04:00

We spent Easter morning in Hartsville this year. After church, we headed over to Kalmia gardens and snapped a few pictures. I'm savoring the ever fleeting days of knee socks. :( My baby boy is growing up too fast! I'm excited to have another BABY boy ANY DAY now! He's still just-a-bakin' away in there... we are anxiously awaiting his arrival! In the meantime, we're enjoying the ever fleeting days of having just ONE little doodle to dote on...

Praise the Lord for an Easter Sunday where we are free to celebrate His resurrection!

More pics tomorrow of "Easter Eve" with the Hunters :)

Will is FOUR!

2011-04-18T22:13:00.004-04:00

We were able go to Will's Fourth Birthday Party this past weekend!

Now that I've been released from bedrest and meds (as of last Wednesday/36 weeks), I'm just gallavantin' all over! :)

Will's birthday party marks the beginning of "birthday season" around here...
He just turned four, which means HANNAH is about to turn four and then...

sniff sniff...

my itty bitty baby boy is going to turn four.

It seriously hurts my heart to think that these BABIES are turning FOUR!!!

Will {two months old} Benson {two days old} and Hannah {one month old}

They were such happy infants. :)

It's such an incredible and special GIFT that they have each other!!!

And Addie Grace is right in there with 'em...

And I'm sure it won't be long before Ryan Elizabeth starts showing the newbies around... It's truly unreal to think that THESE babies (that are still in the oven) are going to grow up with the blessing of cousins the same age, too! It looks like these babies are only going to be a couple of WEEKS or DAYS apart! I guess they COULD even be born on the same day!! Now THAT would be something!

Susie's due May 1 and I'm due May 12... it should be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of weeks!!

My "sisters" :)

We are so excited to welcome Brittany RYAN to the gang! :)

These two enjoy each other so much...
Hannah COULD NOT wipe the smile off her face, driving this little tractor around...
and BENSON had the white-knuckle-grip and his "worried" face on the whole time.

And then grandmama found something....

Think you could guess what it was??

Well. I'll tell you this.. It was EXCITING!

Oh the joys of boys.

Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails... it's so true.

Roll your mouse over the picture below to see what happens when you give three, four year olds small amphibians.

Happy birthday dear Willlllll, Happy birthday to YOU!

The Gibbs.

I almost didn't recognize Ryan Elizabeth! Why do babies have to grow so FAST?!!

Benson was being a little overly cautious of the play weed-eater...

Mrs. Lula snapped a pic of me and my hunny :)

We're about to have a baby :) n 'case ya didn't know.

And we CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!! :)

We have a doctor's appointment Tuesday (tomorrow) morning at 9am.

(36 weeks and 5 days --off bedrest and meds for 5 days -- and Monday (today) was the first time in 20 weeks that I've not received a progesterone shot!

So SURELY SOMETHING has to be changing right?!

I'm so going to go to 42 weeks and have to remove the child by crane, after all this.)

Every day for the past ten weeks I've thought, "this could be the day!" But there's a pretty good chance that SOMEtime over the next three weeks, it really is going to be THE day!
Wonder if it will be tomorrow?!! :)
I'm looking so forward to meeting this little fella who's been kickin' me in the ribs!!

**Update: Our Doctor's appointment went great! Everything is still the same.. NO CHANGE! We're two days away from FULL TERM! Praise the Lord! Maybe he'll be an Easter Sunday baby like his mama?! :)

Haulin' Stuff and Pirate Ships

2011-04-12T08:51:00.003-04:00

On GG's last trip to the ville, she let Benson borrow her little electric John Deere Tractor to play with...
He has driven a gazillion circles around the empty lot beside our house. I think he thinks he's helping maintain the grass.
Using the kubota that cuts the empty lots in our neighborhood and has cool attachments that go on the back as inspiration, Benson decided to rig up his own tractor for Haulin' stuff...

It wasn't too long before that got old. (imagine that!) And he wanted to play pirate ships with daddy.
Playing pirate ships involves dressing up like pirates.

See?:

Don't they look like pirates to YOU?!

When you play pirate ships, you ride around the driveway and crash into each other.
That about sums up the rules.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Benson's daddy is SUCH a GOOD SPORT!!!

And I just love watching them play :)

I can' wait to see another little pirate in the mix :)

Climbing Trees with Grandmama

2011-04-11T08:55:00.004-04:00

Benjamin had a conference in Columbia last week, so we were able to go and spend a few days at Grandmama and Grandaddy's house. I had to lay low the whole time we were there, but Grandmama had plenty of outside adventures with Benson so he got to enjoy the beautiful spring weather.

At one point, I looked out the window to see this:

And I just couldn't help but get outside and capture the moment...
Benson and Grandmama were climbing trees and having so.much.fun!

Benjamin's Grandmama Ryan (Mary Lib), who passed away before I met Benjamin, but whose legacy I've loved getting to hear about over the years, gave this pink dogwood to Mr. Tom and Mrs. Lula almost thirty years ago. Seeing it bloom around Easter is such a sweet reminder of the cross, the death and resurrection of our Savior and of the life that is to come...

Don't you know Mary Lib would have loved to see her Great Grandson playing in her dogwood?!
She loved babies! :) I wish she could have met this little one...

And then daddy came home from work and joined the fun...

Spring is here!!

And we're looking forward to our little egg hatching and joining the fun!

It won't be much longer now! :)

Masters Champion 2031

2011-04-09T09:54:00.001-04:00

KK, Unca Trey and Lay-el-lah

2011-04-08T08:15:00.003-04:00

In case you missed the last post, the Ingrams came to the ville to visit us for my birthday weekend.
Benson really thought they came just to play with him.

He absolutely loves these friends. He'd constantly ask Trey... "Unca Trey? So... ya wanna come play in my room? Orrrr what?" Poor Trey- I don't think Benson let him rest for a second all weekend! And Benson somehow makes "Lael" into a three syllable name. And said it about 52,000 times over the course of two days. He'd ask "KK, you think Lay-el-lah can play wiff me?"
I'm not sure which of us enjoyed their visit more!!

Saturday morning, they snuggled up and read from the Jesus Storybook Bible...

Then they had some quality coloring time...
Here, you can clearly see the difference in boys and girls...
Lael is 16 and a half months old. And not only does she love to color...

Do please note how she holds the crayon. Naturally. Without instruction.
Kinda puts the whole "Monumental Milestone" post into perspective.

Lael had fun in the rice box :)

She's got game....

And she's a fan of the tractor...
She's pretty much the perfect girl.

The "KIDS" had a lot of fun playing together while the two mamas were kicked back in lounge chairs enjoying the sunshine. (Please excuse the absence of pictures of the latter part- we agreed it would be best to keep those under wraps...)

And before they left, we snapped a few more pics:

And we weren't happy when they had to leave!

It's such a blessing to have these sweet friends in our life. And we're looking forward to seeing how the dynamics change when we add a couple of other cuties in the mix in just a few short weeks!!!

My 28th Birthday Weekend!

2011-04-07T17:42:00.000-04:00

It was my birthday on Sunday.
April the Turd.
Sorry, that's what I used to call it when I was little.
Benjamin can't stand the word "turd" so he's not a fan of me saying it that way,
but it's part of my past.
I come with lots of luggage. Or is it baggage? Well, perhaps both.

I always get excited when I start seeing milk that expires on April 3, because I know it's getting closer. Seeing how I haven't exactly been comparing milk expiration dates lately, I'd say the build up to the big B-day has been a little slow. I really wasn't expecting a whole lot.. I mean, we couldn't even go to a nice restaurant or anything to celebrate. And let's face it, there's just not a whole lot of fun to be had on a birthday spent on bedrest.

Or so I thought.

Then, Kell called and asked if she and Trey and Lael could come down for the weekend! Well, let me just say that them being here made my birthday weekend an absolute BALL!! It ended up being a really fun and memorable version of "chillaxing" which we're pretty spectacular at anyway, but had a great excuse for (doctors orders!) this time! We got to hang out, watch movies, lay out in the sun like a coupla beached whales, watch our babies play and our other babies kick around in our tummies. I wasn't sure that we'd get to see each other again before our little guy made his debut, so it was such a treat to get to share this sweet time together.

Benjamin spent the whole weekend cooking yummy food for us and we had an outback-esque steak dinner prepared by my grill maestro hunk of a husband. Kelli made cupcakes frosted with none other than RAINBOW CHIP frosting! And we had so much fun being together. I am so blessed to have such a sweet and thoughtful best friend who knew JUST how to make my birthday so special.
Thanks so much kell, I love you!!

Of course Benson helped me blow out the candles.
It's kinda one of his specialties.

Kell was one day shy of 28 weeks on my 28th birthday!!
And in this pic, on my 28th birthday, I'm exactly 34 weeks and 4 days along,
which is exactly how far along I was when Benson was born!
So I'm officialy more pregnant than I've ever been!
Woo to tha Hoo!!!

Kelli's little girl is due June 28 and Our little guy is due May 12...

These two have no idea what they are in for...
It won't be long before we're trying to get a good picture of all SIX of us.
Yeeahhhh... that'll never happen. But that doesn't mean we won't try!! :)

a

34 and 4 on 4/3 !!

And my itty bitty sugarlump is two months away from being four.
How is that even POSSIBLE??

I'm so thankful to have another one bakin' away in there... getting nice and plump :)

I wouldn't mind if he ended up being just like his older brother.

What a blessing it was to celebrate my 28th birthday with such special family and friends.

I'm so very very thankful!

Oh Snappy Day {{ Favorite Snap }}

2011-04-04T20:05:00.000-04:00

Kell's hosting another "Oh Snappy Day" blog to feature people's favorite photos as of late.

I'm going with this one:

It pretty much sums up the last eight weeks of our life. Them being cute, me taking pics from the bed trying to capture the cuteness. It's the circle of life. {Name that movie!}

If you look closely, you will see the hot pink post-it note my sweet hubby is carrying with an enormously long grocery list written on it. He's been so great at taking care of me and our household, and he's done so with such a servant's heart and a sweet spirit. He makes the everyday chores fun and does them with such an incredible attitude.

It's so cute to watch Benson try to be just like him. They are such pals. :) I love them in their little matching outfits. I love the boots. I love the smiles and the memory of how much fun they were having getting all dressed up to go to walmart of all places. Turns out not where but who you're with that really matters... {Name that band!} I can be anywhere with these two and just watching them together brings me such joy. There's nothing better than being a wife to this man and a mama to this boy! I am blessed! And this picture reminds me so much of it! So there's my Oh Snappy Day! :)

Another Ryan!!

2011-03-30T08:11:00.010-04:00

Benjamin's little brother, Jeremy, got married this past weekend! When I was put on bedrest, that was at the forefront of my mind... "I'm going to miss the wedding!!!" Well, after stopping by the doctors office on Friday and finding there was no change on the baby front, I went to Lexington and continued my bedrest there for the weekend.

Two hours before the wedding, I just couldn't stand it. I mean, my thinking was, I go to the DOCTOR each week and sit for 30 minutes to an hour in his waiting room... what's the difference in sitting in a church pew for that long?! So I went. Not exactly with "permission," but I just couldn't stay away.

When I stepped out of the car at the church, I definitely felt like I was doing something ILLEGAL and that the authorities were going to come and get me. It's so crazy. I can't imagine being a normal pregnant person just daily walking around at 33 and a half weeks. I do dream of it though. Maybe next time. HA! I probably need to wait long enough for Benjamin to forget what bedrest is like, before I start pushing that one!

Even though I was a BASKET CASE the entire time, { I always cry at weddings + pregnancy hormones = disaster } I got to see the Main Event and it was beautiful! And I'm so thankful I didn't miss it. And I went to the doctor on Monday and there was still no change, so all in all I feel like it was a good decision. I captured a few pics, but the whole thing happened really quickly and I had about a hundred people saying- "Ok, it's over- go get back in the bed!" So I, sadly, didn't even get a snap of the bride and groom :( But trust me. They were beautiful! :)

Since B was in the wedding, Papa got the little guy dressed in his suit.

I just love this picture..
I feel like they look so cute in their white shirts and slacks with Papa getting him all situated.

I mean... just precious.

Here's the current lineup.

Susie and I will be adding a couple of bookends to this crew here in the next month or so! :)

Have I mentioned how much I love these two?

I can't believe my LITTLE boy is about to be a BIG brother!

My dad snapped these at the reception for me...

Cuties on the dance floor.

I heard from multiple sources that Benson STAYED on the dance floor all night.

I 'm glad I have his July wedding experience to be able to envision what that was like.

And this is seriously the only picture of the newlyweds! And no that is not my husband, it's Brittanys. Although there was some confusion about that when the photographer handed BENJAMIN the fake garder to throw.

Welcome to the family, Brittany Ryan! We love you!!

A Monumental Milestone...

2011-03-25T08:40:00.087-04:00

This is a monumental milestone:

No, not the skinned knee... The way he's holding his crayon!

I really wasn't sure he was going to ever go from the death-grip-choke-hold, to proper crayon/pencil holding technique.
And any time I've tried to correct him on it, he's put up quite the fight.

Until now...

And we have this to thank for it:

The boy could do these mazes all day long!
I'm so thankful for the discovery of this little collection.
I honestly probably would have never bought them myself, thinking they were too easy for him, but he's SO PROUD of being able to do them all by himself, and once he completes this book, I'm planning to get the next one:

It steps up the difficulty a little bit, and after gaining some confidence with the first set,
I think he'll love the second one. I'm thinking it'll go in his Easter basket :)

I've had to limit the number of pages he can do each day so that he doesn't finish it too quickly.

It's been interesting to me, because he's never been a real fan of "coloring."

{ Which stinks, because I could sit and color all day! }

I think he needs more direction and goal than just a blank page provides.

Each of these pages has some specific task he's asked to complete and he totally thrives on that.

He loves it. See...

"Benson, show me a smile!":

No, a real smile...

Ok, nevermind...

We'll just take one thing at a time.

Way to go on learning how to hold a crayon!!! :)

Oh, and remember how I spend all day in my PJ's?

He does too. Hence the many "boxer only" shots lately.

Hey, at least we produce minimal laundry!! :)

And here's just a little snap of daddy arriving at home that day...

Benson literally JUMPS into his daddy's arms each afternoon.

And it never ceases to MELT my heart! :)

First Golf Round of the Season

2011-03-24T08:01:00.005-04:00

Benson got to break out his new clubs last week. Daddy took him out to the Hartsville Country Club to "play" a round.
Benson told Benjamin, while they were there...

"Daddy, when I grow up, I'm gonna be a golfer and win a BIG trophy!!"

I think I'd enjoy being a golfer mom :) Seems to me it would lend itself to fewer bloody collisions than some of the other sports. I rank my preference of sports for my kids in order of decreasing incidence of accidents.
I'm his mama... I don't like to see him bleed.

Prolly still a lil' small for these clubs, but that didn't slow him down one bit!

It's amazing how fast this:

Turns to this:

Silly goof!

I love you too, sweet golfer boy!

Daddy Gives Rockin' Surcies

2011-03-23T08:20:00.000-04:00

I've got some impossibly big shoes to fill when this whole bedrest stint ends...
Shopping with mama isn't nearly as cool as shopping with daddy!

When I give a prize or surcie, it's usually something like play-doh or a puzzle.
Those are good prizes, right?
Riiiight.....

Benson tagged along on the latest grocery run to pick out a surprise since he'd been "such a sweet boy."

Benjamin calls me from the toy aisle and says, "Your son is just as indecisive as you- he keeps walking up and down the toy aisles and going back and forth between picks."

My advice?
"I always pick three toys I like and let him choose between those."
They usually include some sort of craft or book or ball... {Real fun, mom.}

Benjamin took the advice and I have no idea what the other two options were,
but they ended up coming home with this:

Unlike the Kumon books, which I find simply delightful and entertaining, and AGE APPROPRIATE,
this REAL cap gun was intended for 8 year olds and up.
So, exactly WHO was this surcie for again??

I guess daddy has been "such a sweet boy" himself, he deserves a little time to be a rowdy cowboy.
And his little boy follows his lead well...

This is Benson's rowdy cowboy face:
{ it's very similar to his "don't judge me" face }

I guess it's the smoke that makes it an 8+ toy...
Or I suppose it could be the small explosion of gunpowder...
Although, the ability to squeeze the trigger could be where the age gap lies for my little man...

Thanks goodness daddy is so strong!

I so enjoy watching him enjoy his daddy's rockin' surcies :)

Love. My. Cowboys.

Always Wear Clean Underwear.

2011-03-22T07:05:00.001-04:00

It's funny how you live and learn.

Last time I had a person in my tummy, right as that person was starting to get big and poke out, I went into labor and subsequent bedrest with him. The only time I ever got to get OUT of the bed and go somewhere was my weekly doctors visit. I have virtually NO pictures of him in my belly (except the ones of me lying in my recliner at my baby shower the day before he was born and the one that we snapped right before we went to the doctor the day he was born which was, in retrospect, HIDEOUS, but hey, we captured the memory. And they weren't letting me shower, remember?)

This time around, I have this theory.
Has your mama ever told you to always wear clean underwear ?
I'm pretty sure the idea behind it is that you never have any idea what's going to happen, so if some accident of some sort were to happen, your underwear would be clean.
Because who wants to be wearing dirty underwear if some accident were to happen?
Do people really wear dirty underwear??

I don't know.
It's a mom saying. Google it.

I spend six days a week in my PJ's and in the bed. (Poor Benjamin) If you've noticed a lack of "mama appearances" on the blog except for the weekly doctors visit, that explains it.
I prefer to stay BEHIND the camera on those days.

I still only get out once a week, to go to the doctor, but it's amazing how great it feels to shower, get dressed and ready and to just feel like a NORMAL pregnant person instead of feeling like Humpty Dumpty, afraid to move the wrong way, for fear of going into labor!

So this go 'round, I've been trying to take pics before my doctors appointments, because you never know when you're going to go in, get checked and then have the baby. It can happen that fast! (It did last time!)
And because belly pics aren't NEARLY as cute after the baby's OUT.
And there's only a small amount of time in your life where you CAN take belly pics.
I believe in capturing moments with my camera in case you couldn't tell.

I feel like you've gotta live each preggo day like it's your last one being pregnant! And I love being pregnant. It's such a gift that the Lord lets us be a part of this time. He could have just made us hatch out of a cabbage patch or something, but instead he chose to bless us with being a part of growing His people. I think we take it for granted. It's such an incredible blessing that he designed it this way. I'm really thankful for that. Nothing compares to having a tiny person hiccup inside of you. It's a gift from the Lord. Thank you Lord!!!

Here we are about to hop in the car at 32 weeks and 5 days...

I love being a mama. I love squeezy face hugs like these.

And I love spending my days with my family.

All THREE of my boys!!!

The doctors report showed some slight changes. We're 50% effaced and 1cm dilated. I've been having some crazy contractions over the past three days, (which I fully attribute to the super moon) so I was relieved that he didn't send us straight to the delivery room!
He upped the meds we've been taking and told us to continue to be horizontal.

And so we shall...

I'm on season five of LOST. Wonder if I'll be able to get through the rest of this season and season six, the final season, before this little doodle takes away my TV time?

Benjamin said this past week that he thought we should send Netflix a large check with a note saying we felt like we were abusing the $7.99 unlimited instant watch feature over the past two months.

I think they should make a commercial out of a bedrest mama watching unlimited Netflix to help her pass the time.
That'd be good advertising right there!
:)

There's a pirate in my bed!!

2011-03-21T08:38:00.000-04:00

Remember how I said we've watched a lot of "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" lately?
I think it might be starting a "kick."
When grandmama was here last week, they played pretend pirates the whole time. She later got this pirate hat for the boy and he insists on wearing it while watching "Jake." So he wears it a lot.

He's one of the GOOD kind of pirates. :)

I've never been a big fan of pirates, but I love this little pirate with all my heart!!

Sunshine

2011-03-19T08:31:00.002-04:00

Last week, Grandmama and Grandaddy came for a visit!
It was such a beautiful day, I got to sit, propped up in my lounge chair and enjoy all the fun being had around me...

Benson got this little "PlasmaCar" for Christmas and it has been enjoyed by children of all ages :)

Have I mentioned my love for these two?
It is great.

They're pals :)

I love all of the colors in this picture:
and the sweet people in it :)

Grandmama brought Benson his first "My Book of Coloring (Kumon Workbooks)"
Maybe, at some point, I'll do an extensive review of these books, but lets just say that since getting this one, I've ordered three more. They are so age appropriate and PERFECT for my little bedrest buddy.
I can't even tell you how much we've enjoyed working through the pages together.

Well, maybe I just love the time we get to spend together, no matter WHAT we're doing :)

Visitors

2011-03-18T15:29:00.000-04:00

We've had a number of visitors recently... I haven't captured pictures of all of them, but here's a few...

This was the best picture I could get (while laying in the bed) of Grandmama Hunter and Benson

doing the 100 piece puzzle she brought him.

He was still for two hours. That's unprecedented in the history of his life.

A couple of days later, Nana and Papa came to see us... which also resulted in puzzle fun!

The boy loves puzzles.

They brought the ipad. Benson thinks it's the coolest "toy" ever. He's slightly obsessed.

Benson wasn't the only one who was excited to see Nana...

Peaches goes belly up any time nana's around.

Thanks for the visit, guys :)

Yeah....

2011-03-11T08:33:00.004-05:00

They're cute. It's true.

And I'm not biased. Not one little bit! :)

Here they are dressed and ready to walk out the door to church...

And here are some sweet, shadow puppets from my boys...

I love my boys!!!!!

\|m|

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood....

2011-03-10T08:34:00.001-05:00

On one of the many beautiful days last week, Benjamin set up a beach chair for us outside and Benson, the bump and I got to spend a pretty afternoon soaking up some much needed vitamin D.

Sidewalk chalk is much better outside than in the bed...

And eyes don't sparkle like this indoors...

Although, the stink-eye doesn't discriminate between inside and outside...

Here's the cheeeese face... haven't seen THAT one in a while...

And here's my husband when he was three and a half:

Ok, not really, but ya could've fooled me!

And here's my punkin' being a pirate.
This pose could have possibly come from watching one too many of the new
"Jake and the Neverland Pirates" cartoons on Disney Junior.
Lately, we're watching a few more cartoons than normal...
Or maybe he's just being a boy?

He pulled a sprinkler out of the garage and was trying really hard to talk me in to thinking that

70 degree March was an ideal time to play in the water outside.

When he does his little hand out like that, he's pretty convincing....

Here's the doodle scooping golf balls with his tractor.

What? What better thing is there to scoop with a scooping tractor, than golf balls?

This is my baby. If I wasn't laying here baking another one already,

this picture would make me want another one. Badly.

*as a sidenote: the rag-a-muffin received a haircut very shortly after these pics were taken.
scraggly headed little booger.

Hard to believe...

2011-03-09T17:52:00.000-05:00

It's really hard to believe that inside of there...

Is this little cutie...

30 weeks and 4 days

And happy and snuggly in his rightful spot :)

Praise the Lord!!

(as I write this, we're 31 weeks today!!

at this point, with Benson, I was laying in the hospital, 4cm dilated,

so there is LOTS to be thankful for!!!)

Some interesting facts about the Mayfly...

2011-03-02T12:43:00.007-05:00

For those of you who aren't keeping up with the gestational age of our baby on a daily basis, I'd like to let you know...
we've made it to the 30's!!!
I'm 30 weeks today!! Praise the Lord!!!
This marks four weeks in the bed, and hopefully we'll get to at least six more! Ahhh!!

I'd say the first interesting thing about the Mayfly is that, in all likelihood,
he will NOT be a Mayfly.

I'm not saying that it's out of the realm of possibility, because there's a bajillion people praying (thank you!!!) and I've had a really good past few days, with no regular/patterned contractions, and, according to yesterday's ultrasound, everything is in tact and in it's rightful place/length/spot etc.
I could go into more detail, but I um, won't.
I'm just thinking May 12 seems a little unlikely. It could happen. But I'm thinking not.

And it's really too bad that it looks like he won't be a Mayfly, because I can't seem to think of any cute "april bugs" or "march flies" to go with his Junebug brother, so maybe the bug theme's gotta go.
That's a shame really, because I like a theme.

And I'm a mama of two boys. (Well, almost two boys)

And boys like bugs.

Or didn't you know?

Another interesting fact about the not-so-MAY-fly, is that, apparently, at 29 weeks old and in utero,
he has HAIR.

What? You can't see it?

Well, honestly, I kinda had a hard time making it out myself, but the ultrasound tech INSISTED he has hair and she could see it! She even snapped this picture with his ear and little (what appears to be mullet) hair sticking out. Not the greatest pics ever, but still. The child has hair.

This might be normal for other families, but neither I nor Benjamin had hair until we were two.

And in this picture, taken June of 2009, Benson IS two.

And bald.

This:

is a picture of the Mayfly's foot. (in case you couldn't tell by the little note on the screen)

What you CAN'T tell, is that this FOOT is OVER his head.

He had one arm over is head and the opposite foot OVER HIS HEAD.

He didn't get that flexibility from us either.

Who is this child?!

When Benson was born, he was kinda squished.

I think all babies are. But he espeically was. I remember looking at him and thinking he looked like a little pig with this nose squished the way it was. A cute little pig. But a pig, nonetheless.

Here's the best shot we got of the Mayfly's face. He was looking backward the whole time, so it took talent to get even this good of a shot.

(should have drank some caffiene before going in for the ultrasound!)

But when I saw him, I said,

"aw! he looks just like benson did when he was born- like a little piglet!"

Benjamin doesn't think it's nice to call our boys piglets, but I'm just sayin'...

That looks like a lil snout! :) And I can say that, because I'm their mama. But I better not ever hear anybody ELSE say my babies look like pigs, because then I think the mama BEAR in me might come out. I'm pregnant and hormonal, cut me a break :)

Other intersting tid-bits:

The lil one's head is down, which was music to his mother's ears.

They didn't measure how much he weighed, but I'm thinking it's about three pounds according to the last ultrasound and how he should be growing.

He's cute.

Benjamin said, "what did you possibily see on the ultrasound to give you any indication that he was "cute?" COULD you have seen anything that you DIDN'T think was cute?"

And all I know is... He's cute.
And I'm pregnant and hormonal, cut me a break :)

King Tut and Georgie Porgie update

2011-02-24T18:42:00.000-05:00

We aren't planning to name the child George.

But we still don't have an official name. We're getting closer and narrowing the pool, we talk about it all the time and "try on" different names often. But we're still not 100% sold on any particular one. Naming a person is kind of a big deal!

We had a doctor's appointment today, so Benjamin and I got up and got ready and headed out the door, leaving GG here to stay with Benson.

She's been here for three days and I'm not sure she's sat down one time in those three days.
The woman is a machine!!
She's been nesting for me, since I can't exactly do it. She's been cleaning and organizing and getting every thing in order for us.

A large chunk of her time was spent outside in our garage, which had become overrun with unpacked boxes (from our move here, almost one year ago, yikes!) as well as "piles" (I'm really good at "piles".) Piles of things to donate, sort through, deal with "one day", junk and trash. My mom went through each square inch of our garage (which was no small feat!) and got it looking INCREDIBLE.

Benson's been shooting basketball on his little goal and riding his big wheel IN THE GARAGE, which if you'd have had the opportunity to see the disaster area before she got her hands on it, you would be utterly amazed. We are, for sure!!

***

In her whirling around here each morning, she's been whipping up some amazing breakfasts for us.
Breakfast has always been one of her specialties!

When we walked in from the doctors office this morning, we found this:

KING TUT, sitting in MY spot, where I've eaten every meal for the past three weeks.

He was thinking he was something special, enjoying a deluxe breakfast put together just for him and served in bed, by his GG.

And who are you to judge?

You'd do it too, if you had a GG like his. :)

Thanks so much, for all you did for us, Mama! We are so grateful!!

As a funny aside:

I was having contractions every ten minutes for about three hours straight yesterday, and my mom came and put her face close to my belly and said "George! It is NOT time for you to come out yet! I know you're ready to play with me, but you must wait just a little longer!"

Well, right as she said it, he let out a huge KICK and it bopped her right in the nose.
We both looked at each other and died laughing!! I wish I had it on video! It was priceless!

***

We've made it to 29 weeks!
That's three weeks farther than when we started this whole hoopla!! We're so thankful that "George" is staying put! We got a good report from the doctor today. Still no dilation! Praise the Lord! I'm still having a ton of contractions (we actually spent Monday in the hospital again due to an increase in activity - makes me sound like a volcano or something) but as long as we aren't dilating, we're excited!

I'm still spending my days in the bed which sounds pretty great until you CAN'T GET OUT.
Ever.
To do anything.
I had a realization this week that I've never (for either of my babies) washed my newborn's clothes and tucked them away into his little dresser in preparation for his arrival. Someone else has had to do that for me. And while I'm so thankful for the many willing hands and hearts that have pitched in for us, it still makes me kinda sad that I can't be the one to get everything all in order for the arrival of our new baby. It's hard to have that "nesting" instinct kick in and not be able to act on it!

The goal is a healthy baby. Not who washes his first clothes. I know that. But there's just a little twinge of sadness there. But the Lord is Good. His ways are higher than our ways and His plans are perfect. Even when they don't match up with the ones I have in my head :)

We're looking so forward to meeting this little guy and having a snuggly newborn again.
And when THAT happens, I can resume laundry duty.

I never thought I'd see the day that that sounded GOOD! :)

We're praising the Lord for how he continues to carefully knit this little one together in my womb and how he's blessed us abundantly and in so many ways over the past few weeks!! And it's so exciting to know that the Lord has already established this little babes Birth day! Everything is in His hands!

Psalm 139:13-16

"For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them."

bracing for the SLAM

2011-02-16T08:36:00.000-05:00

As I've already mentioned, we love reading our "Jesus Storybook Bible" before bedtime each night.
Benson loves it so much, he'll often look at the clock, no matter what the time, and say,
"Whew! Daddy, it's LATE! I think it's time to read Bible Stories!"

Benjamin makes a game out of everything. I've never seen anything like it. He can take something that's so ordinary and everyday and make it into what Benson thinks is the COOLEST GAME EVER.
They have so much fun together. B puts my creativity to shame when it comes to making up a game.
Again, my boys have the coolest daddy ever. :)

When we read the story of Noah, we talked about how, after Noah built the ark and two of every animal climbed aboard, GOD closed the door.
Every night, after our Bible story, Benjamin will flip back to the story of Noah, talk about the high points and then say, "And God SLAMMED THAT DOOR SHUT!" And slams the book.
And, you guessed it, Benson thinks it's the COOLEST THING EVER!

"There's a story back here I want to show you..."

"I know which one it is, Daddy..."

Bracing for the SLAM...

He tries to back so far up away from the impending SLAM, it cracks me up! :)

"And God SLAMMED THAT DOOR SHUT!"

And Benson has the funnest daddy ever :)

These two provide such endless entertainment. :)

Roger, Roger. What's our Vector, Victor?

2011-02-15T08:43:00.000-05:00

Our friends, the McMurray's have two boys. Any time they ever give us a gift, you can always guarantee it's going to quickly become a favorite. They know about boys.

For Christmas this year, they gave Benson Dr. Seuss's "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" as well as some headset walkie talkies.

MY "boys" have had so much fun with each of these things. One night, Benson asked not only to read his new book, but WITH his new headset ON.
His sweet daddy obliged, and I'm not sure who had more fun.

I've said it before, and as he grows, I see it even more, Benson has miniature versions of Benjamin's hands and feet and I just think its the cutest thing ever :)

I love how they're holding the mouthpieces in order to be more clearly heard.. since so much gets lost in translation in a one foot space.

I love these boys to pieces and I love watching them enjoy each other so much!!!
I don't know what kind of mama I'm going to be to two boys, but I DO know that they have they BEST DADDY IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!

the view

2011-02-14T07:16:00.002-05:00

Benjamin's been carrying the load all by himself these past couple of weeks. And he's been such a champ. Some girls might get breakfast in bed on valentines day, I've gotten BREAKFAST, LUNCH and DINNER in bed for a week and a half!! Ha! And always service with a smile :) Chick-fil-a would definitely hire him, because he always has a "my pleasure" kind of attitude. And sometimes he even says it to make me laugh :)

One of the things he's had to do that isn't in his normal "job description" is grocery shop. These pictures were taken as he and Benson suited up to go to Walmart. They decided to wear their matching cowboy boots. Daddy can find a way to make everything fun :)

My heart. In a picture:

I might not have a ton of scenery changes these days, but I don't mind... I'm lovin' the view :)

Bible Stories

2011-02-11T09:41:00.000-05:00

*sidenote: i love these monkey toes :)

For Benson's third birthday, our pastor's family from Hartsville gave him "The Jesus Storybook Bible."

Over time, we have been given a number of children's Bible's and I had even researched and bought a couple, looking for a good resource to use for Bible stories from a children's perspective, but this one takes the cake.

Every night, after bathtime, we snuggle up in the bed and read "Bible Stories."
I have to say, it's by far, my favorite time of the day. :)

We started at the beginning and are now making our second stroll through this sweet little collection of stories. Benson loves it, and I'm amazed how much has stuck with him after just going through it one time.

The thing I like about it, is that it takes each story from the Bible, from Adam and Eve, to the battle of Jericho, to Jonah, and instead of just telling the story, it always points to Jesus.

Instead of ending with Adam and Eve exiting the Garden, it says,

"Before they left the garden, God whispered a promise to Adam and Eve: "It will not always be so! I will come to rescue you! And when I do, I'm going to do battle against the snake. I'll get rid of the sin and the dark and the sadness you let in here. I'm coming back for you!!"And he would. One day, God himself would come. "

It gives us a chance to talk about how even before Jesus was born, God was working through history to bring His people to Himself.... To redeem us, to show us that we can't do it on our own- that we must depend on Him and His righteousness and not our own.

While I want our Children to be familiar with the Bible and Bible stories and Bible people, it's all pointless if they miss the POINT, which is Jesus. And our need for Him. And His complete sufficiency for us.

That's why I like this Jesus storybook Bible. Because it's all about Jesus. It trains us to read scripture, and even in a passage that doesn't explicitly SAY His name, it teaches us to look for Him. Because as the tagline of the book says, "Every story whispers His name."

It's been such a blessing to our family.
If you're looking for a good Bible Story reader for your family, I'd highly recommend it!! :)

You can get it from Amazon, here.

Fun with photobooth

2011-02-10T09:49:00.002-05:00

I feel like the Mac is my umbilical cord to the world. Seriously.
I mean, I can't get out of bed (well, here I had migrated to the couch) but I still have full communication with the outside world.
Not to mention the Mac is just FUN :)
Here's me with my little bedrest buddy having some fun with photo booth :)

Having this little guys company on a daily basis has always been fun, but it's been taken to a
WHOLE NEW LEVEL! And he doesn't mind not having to share mama's attention :)

George is already taking after his big brother, Leroy...

2011-02-08T19:24:00.003-05:00

Did you know we have a son named Leroy?
We do. His daddy named him and I had nothing to do with it.
Although it has grown on me and now I think it's pretty cute and fitting.

This is Leroy:
And this is my semi permanent view of him.

As I've mentioned before, Leroy took it upon himself to name his new baby brother, George.
(affectionately named after his favorite curious little monkey)
Although his parents have not agreed to this name, their indecisiveness on finding a real name has resulted in the default mode of referring to the baby as "George."

This is George:

on the way to the doctor at 27 weeks in the oven:

George is already trying to be like his big brother, Leroy.

In case you weren't aware, Benson was ready to come into the world a little sooner than he should have. I wrote about it here in a post entitled, "Never Put off til tomorrow what you can do today, because you might go into labor."
You'd think, with a post titled like that, a girl would learn a thing or two.

Since we had preterm labor last time at 31 weeks, they started me on progesterone shots at 16 weeks this time in order to try to avoid preterm labor.

I, rolling my eyes, took the shots, just knowing that what happened with Benson's pregnancy was a complete fluke and that this time around I'd go to 41 weeks and have to drink castor oil or something to get the kid to come out.

Well, I was wrong.

I went in Friday for my shot (26 weeks and 1 day) and mentioned to the doctor that I'd been feeling a number of contractions. (Anywhere from two to five an hour) He sent me over to the hospital to be put on a monitor to make sure that "what I was feeling was indeed contractions." He said I'd probably just be there for a couple of hours.

They stuck the monitor on my belly for a few minutes and the nurse walked out of the room. She was back before too long and showed me the contraction printout strip. Even though I was only feeling contractions every 15-20 minutes, I was actually having them every TWO to THREE minutes, regularly.

So of course, when the doctor saw that, he admitted me and started me on meds to stop the contractions.

It was like a really bad, you've got to be kidding me, form of deja vu.

They went ahead and gave the steroid shots to develop the baby's lungs in case there was no stopping it. Having been through it before, I was definitely calmer this time around, but probably a little more disgruntled. Like, are you SERIOUS?!! What on EARTH and I doing WRONG??!!

Praise the LORD I haven't dilated any! That has been our constant prayer, that even though I'm contracting, it won't cause me to dilate. After monitoring me overnight, they sent us home. (Again, PRAISE THE LORD we didn't have to stay in the hospital like we did last time) The prescription is full bedrest until the little munchkin makes his appearance (or until 36 weeks, whichever comes first.)

I'll be 27 weeks tomorrow.

HOW CAN YOU BE ON BEDREST WITH A THREE AND A HALF YEAR OLD?!
Uno. Hi Ho Cherry-O. Cartoons. Books. Puzzles. Starfall letter games
And, the BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD.

Benson's hoping this never ends.

And I'm thankful for a buddy and a sweet little reminder that I can hold onto and look back and remember all that we went through to get HIM here and how every single step was so worth it, and in light of what he is to us now, all of the difficulties we went through, were NOTHING. Just LOOKING at him and kissing his curly little head of hair is more of an encouragement to me than anything I could imagine.

I'm so thankful for my TWO baby boys and even though I'd have written their birth stories differently if I were the author, I can honestly look back and say that I know it was God's PROTECTION for us to go through all we did last time and I have faith that He is in control of all of this and knows best.

So it's bed rest for us. Indefinitely.

Another PRAISE is that, this time, I can get up and go to the bathroom and take one 10 minute SHOWER every day (since I'm not dilated and I guess they aren't afraid the baby's going to fall out,) which, had that never been a restriction on me, I wouldn't appreciate the FREEDOM there is in SHOWERING!!! Praise the Lord for Showers!!!

I'm still just contracting away... same as last time. The medicine seems to calm those small two to three minute contractions (which if left alone would turn into monster ones) but I'm still contracting regularly throughout the day. Apparently this is just the way I make babies.

It's pretty frustrating not having a REASON as to why this happens to me. There's no EXPLANATION other than, "you're just prone to preterm labor," which isn't very comforting.

But again, I trust Lord. I trust that even when things don't make sense and there's nothing I can do to make it any different, He is in CONTROL and He is GOOD.

I'm so thankful for our family who has rallied around us.

I'm exceedingly thankful for our church family at Hartsville Pres who have been such an incredible blessing on so many different levels. Meals, playdates for Benson, PRAYERS and encouragement. God is so good to have given us such a sweet family of believers here in Hartsville. It's incredible to see the body of Christ at work during a time like this. And I'm so thankful he's provided that for us in this place that is just now becoming "home" to us.

I'm abundantly thankful for my Husband who already wears so many hats, and yet is now being stretched in even more directions, yet has such a patient, cheerful, servants heart through each minute.

We are blessed.

And for the next ten or so weeks, we'll be blogging from the bed.
It should be exciting. Riviting. And HOPEFULLY, extremely uneventful.

I know you can hardly wait :)

Thanks for praying along with us.

We're having a few issues...

2011-02-01T14:40:00.000-05:00

with static electricity around our house...

Between crazy hair and the *spark* I get when Benjamin walks in from work and kisses me,
it's evident that we could use some dryer sheets rubbed on every surface of our house!!

It's electric! Boogey woogey woogey! :)