6 months..sorry a few weeks late.

My sweet little Benny boo....I can't believe six months has almost come and gone, I am a few weeks late with this post. I have just been busy soaking in every second of his adorable little self. It makes me really sad sometimes to think of how fast he growing. There is a song by Taylor Swift called "Never grow up", all you moms, listen to it and I promise you will cry. Now for a few pictures and then I will share more about the month.

For the past month Benson has pretty much been pure joy. He sleeps amazing, and still takes 2-3 naps a day. And only seems to cry when he is hungry or tired. We have started him on solids!! He does NOT like peas! I tried green things first and he was not a big fan however he would still eat it most of the time. I was feeding him solids once a day until his six month appointment where the doctor said now to go to twice a day. He seems to like squash and pear the best and he LOVES water. Not only does he love drinking it but he just loves looking at it. We went up to the temple to take Alyssa's bridals and Adrian walked around the grounds with him. He was crazy excited about the fountain!! just kicking and making some excited noises. He gets so so happy when bath time comes around. And this Saturday I am taking him to the manor pool (its opening day is saturday). This means you will soon see me with a tan! haha. Benny, so far at least, doesn't seem to care who is holding him. He doesn't cry when he leaves mommy's or daddy's arms. I hope it stays this way :) He has gotten to see more his auntie Priscilla and Uncle Felipe which is really cool. My sister in law Priscilla took one of his favorite toys and started saying all the colors to him and he was just in awe. He still stares at her every time and smiles the biggest smile when she is finished. His laugh literally makes me melt!

He has been moving a lot more. Not crawling yet but really trying to! He moves in a 360 and then back again, pushes himself backwards and forwards a few feet. He has also started doing this downward dog motion as he tries to go forward and it is so dang cute. He also still loves the jumper very much. A lot of the time he gets crazy excited out of nowhere and starts jumping so fast smiling at everyone (showing off).

Just yesterday Benson started real teething I think. Up until now I don't think he has been showing hardly any signs and has rarely been fussy. However yesterday was hard. He woke up screaming and all day would not drink a bottle. He would take ice water from a spoon and ice cold formula from a spoon but that was it, and he was a lot more fussy during the day. We tried orajel and some baby tylenol, which helped a little but the poor little guy just was not a happy camper. Today he is back to normal thank goodness! I'm just so glad I can be here to hold him when this stuff happens. I know teething lasts a while, so any advice you have to share is totally welcome!!!

I'm the one who spends all day with him but I truly believe his first word will probably be daddy :). Benson gets the biggest grin on his face every time Adrian gets home from work. When he just hears his voice he turns and then boom an automatic smile. I love just watching them together!

Also Adrian and I just celebrated our 3 year anniversary. I am one truly, truly lucky woman. I have fallen for him over and over again these past three years. When Benny smiles at him he probably doesn't even notice me smiling right there with him, because I am just as happy when he gets home. We took family pictures this month! As soon as I have them I will share. Anyways we are so so excited for summer in the bay area, it for sure is my favorite season!!!! Thanks for reading :)

5 months

OHHHH K! Now that you are probably sick of looking at pictures I will get down to it! Benny, Benny, Benny. The light of my life! I absolutely LOVE that everyday is mommy and Benny day. For those of you who don't know I made the decision not to go back to work. I am so grateful for being able to make this choice thanks to such an amazing husband. My little chunker is such a wonderful baby sleeping through every night still so far. Many moms have told me I am lucky, and I will take all the luck I can get because I love getting a good night sleep. Benson is doing so much baby talk, giggling, squealing and just making some crazy noises. His smiles literally make me melt inside. I think this Saturday I will take him swimming for the first time at a family party, I am way excited for that. I love swimming and I hope he does too. We moved the jumper up to height 2 and he is just bouncing like a mad man working out all that chub. he has started putting his cute little hands in his mouth a lot, as well as every toy/thing he touches. He also rolled over...TWICE! He can move 360 when he is on his tummy, when he is on his back doesn't move much just kicks a lot. Also every chair/carseat he is in he tries so hard to sit up straight, doing a little sit up, so dang cute! This guy eats so much that I have now switched to the costco infant formula and he is doing really well on it. Its way cheaper than the gerber good start that we were using. He has also just recently started the oatmeal cereal. In a few more weeks I will start solids :) :) cant wait. He makes everyday better we love him so much. The pictures above with me and Benson were taken on our little family hike at Lake Chabot today....Adrian wanted to test out his photography skills :) not too shabby....

GEEZZ 4 months has flown by!

Just look at that little smirk! A lot has happened since I just recently blogged (a little bit late) about his 3 month update! It is so amazing/crazy/fun/and a little sad how fast he is growing.

4 MONTH STATS:  15.4 lbs (46th percentile), 25.2 inches (64th percentile) and his head is in the 72nd percentile....:) like father, like son.

So where do I start...I have been reading a lot lately and I think his favorite is green eggs and ham at least he pays the most attention when I read that one. We recently got him that jumper that you see him in the picture above and he LOVVEESSS it! He is so good at bouncing, and loves playing with all the fun learning toys on it! He gets so excited when his dad looks at him in the jumper and goes crazy smiling and jumping as fast as he can.
He has started to talk almost non stop!!!! baby talk and I am obsessed with it. Also laughing!!!! He can hold his own bottle for about 30 seconds then he drops it. He puts everything in his mouth....and there is sooo much drool!
Benson got his first cold :( Made me so sad to hear him cough and sneeze so hard! And they can't just blow it out :( I tried essential oils, a humidifier, saline spray, baby vapor rub and finally he is feeling much better! Still has a bit of a cough but the worst of it is over. From what I have read he is showing all the signs for teething but hasn't really been too fussy.....until last night. He woke up two times just screaming!!! he usually sleeps through the night, so I tried feeding him and he didn't want it. He just cried so much and with his cough it really scared me. I'm so grateful for Adrian being up and helping me soothe him in the middle of the night. He loves his daddy so much!
I cannot wait to give him swim lessons this summer!!!! Also I am thinking about taking him to Utah to visit family and friends so he will get to go on his first plane ride!
Well that's all for now I think. I love this kid and my little family so so so so so much it hurts! This really is what life is all about!

My Chubby little 3 month old

       Well as you can see this little guy has plumped up in his third month of life, and I am in love with those chubby cheeks. I'm not sure what he weighs yet, I will find out at his four month appointment in a couple of weeks. He has grown out of his 3 month clothing and is now either in 3-6 month or 6 month. I cannot believe how fast he is growing! I heard him laugh for the first time when I was playing with pretending to drop him. He loves the blow dryer,  whenever I am drying my hair he seems to be smiling almost the whole time. He definitely knows who mom and dad are now and is full of smiles when we talk to him. Tried him in the bumbo and truthfully its not his favorite thing, he tries to moves his legs and I think feels constricted by it. He is lifting that head of his sooo high and trying flip himself however isn't quite there yet. As for toy,s he loves looking at them, will hold them for about 30 seconds then drop them. Still doing pretty well at night usually sleeps from about 9 pm until 5am but occasionally decides to wake up at 3am. I'm so grateful he is a good sleeper because I am NOT good with lack of sleep. Honestly I look at those parents who have 5 kids and am just in awe. Oh and I think he started teething :(...the past few days he has been a little more fussy than usual, he had a slight fever, and has been taking longer naps. I'm told those are some signs of teething.
     The only other thing I want to say is I love this kid soooo stinking much! Everyday I am just so amazed that I helped to create something so special! Adrian and I are so excited for the milestones that are ahead of us :)

Benson's 2 Month Update

I can't believe my little Benny boo is two months today! I feel like we just came home a few weeks ago! He is happy, healthy and getting so big! Poor little guy had jaundice for almost a month :( they called it "breastmilk jaundice" which they said wouldn't cause him any harm it would just take a little longer to go away. So his yellowish color is finally gone! He really is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I cant believe that he grew inside of me.

At two months now he has definitely continued to gain weight! He has grown about 4 inches in only two months. The doctor says he is going to be tall. He grew out of his newborn clothes at about 5 weeks and is now in all of his 3 month things. He has the cutest smile!! And I know he recognizes his mommy and daddy because when someone else is holding him, and we walk over to look at him, he smiles!!! One of my favorite things that he has started to do is make all of these cooing noises. He is a happy happy baby, most of the time. When he is not so happy, and won't stop crying, we have found that the vacuum instantly does the trick. I turn it on for about 10 minutes do my vacuuming and he either falls asleep or is totally calm :)

His sleeping has continued to be pretty wonderful. Most nights he goes at least for a 7 hour stretch and now goes up to 8. Adrian and I feel very blessed that he has been consistent with that thus far. Adrian definitely has had the touch when it comes to putting him to sleep, and I am so grateful for the fact that he works full time and then comes home and helps me so much! My boys are all I could have ever asked for!

Some of his favorite things are showering with his dad, being the center of attention, his bouncer chair that also vibrates and watching the Warriors whoop on everyone!
We LOVE our BENNY BOY!

Labor, Delivery and Our Precious Benson

There have been many of you who have asked to hear my birth story. So really quick as my cute little boy takes a nap I will share with how it all went down. Many of you knew I had a plan of how I wanted things to go. Lets just say things did NOT go as planned. However, I can still say that it was an amazing experience and I couldn't be happier with the ending:)

PREGNANCY

"I'm pregnant!" I will never forget the night I said those life changing words to Adrian. There was an immediate smile on his face, along with a look of shock and disbelief! We had not been "trying" to get pregnant, however, I had quit taking my birth control about six months before because I really did not like the way it made me feel. Even though we weren't "trying" after about three months, I started to wonder if maybe I just wasn't going to get pregnant. I'm sure many woman have gone through the same thing. I definitely wondered, but I decided not to let myself worry too much about it. Besides if anyone had asked me at the time if I was ready to be parent, I'm pretty sure my answer would have been "NO". Three months later everything changed. I remember so vividly the night I found out. Looking at the test and seeing a "(+)" holy cow, I had no idea that seeing that symbol could make me so happy! I ran to Adrian as fast as I could, I wanted to tell him in a special way....but I could NOT hold it in. I immediately showed him that little stick and shared some of the sweetest happiest moments of my life with him that night. Now for a little about my pregnancy. I am writing this at almost 34 weeks already, so I will go back and share with you some of the details about my experience with pregnancy. Within the first 12 weeks the only symptom I felt was a sore chest. At 12 weeks I began to nauseous. I felt nauseous pretty much the entire day for two weeks. I did not throw up at all, in fact I haven't thrown up the entire pregnancy but the nausea was enough for me. By this time I had quit my job as a waitress about a month before and was currently applying to work for the school district, so it was kind of nice to get to stay at home and relax while I was feel nauseous. 16 WEEKS: Feeling great at this point, no nausea. Pretty much feeling normal not really pregnant yet.

19 WEEKS: Again no change, feeling great and realizing I'm about halfway!

Then.....we found out we're having....A BOY!!!!!!! I cried in the room when they told me it was boy. It became so real to me at this point. Now I wished the rest of my pregnancy would just fly by so I could meet our baby boy!

And of course....I immediately went shopping.

20 WEEKS: Hiking in Yosemite. I have hiked this very same hike before not pregnant, and at 20 weeks I definitely noticed the difference in my body. I was still able to do it, but had to pace myself quite a bit. At this point still feeling great though!

24 WEEKS..I think: Again starting to just feel bigger. At this point I was pretty steadily gaining a pound a week. Not sure how much I had gained total at this point. Hiked Mission Peak with my little brother. SO HARD but I felt great afterwards!

25-27 WEEKS: Now is comes the point where I started to feel pregnant. Not in a bad way though. I started feeling him kick A LOT!!! His kicks didn't hurt and still don't but they are powerful and I LOVE them! Its crazy just watching my belly move all over the place when he is really active, its definitely the best part.

31 WEEKS: Feeling more tired by week 31. Other than that still feeling good, still no pain and no trouble sleeping. My maternity pants are my BEST friend! I think I will probably still wear them even when I'm not pregnant, for those nights I'm just feeling extra bloated :)

Now for some maternity PICTURES just recently done. My photographer, Chung Li was so wonderful and I love every single one of the pictures he took. He made me feel like such a beautiful pregnant woman. I will post a few but if you would like to see more check out his blog

I will post a few more in my last few weeks of pregnancy. I have only 7 WEEKS left! I have gained a total of 20 LBS!!! Still overall feeling wonderful and tired :) Also I have started the home study course of HYPNOBABIES. It is a self hypnosis program to help me have an easier and natural labor, which is my goal. So far I haven't been able to stay awake for a whole session but I will continue to try.