Monday, March 16, 2009

Benjamin's First Portraits

I took Benjamin to take pictures in his baptism outfit. I thought this one would be a piece of cake because he's such a smiley baby...nope. We got a few cute ones anyway. I guess my babies just like to make me sweat! Here are a few of our favorites.






Monday, March 9, 2009

Catch Up Time

Just the title is kind of funny to me. I've been needing to update the blog, but I don't have time to catch up. Since there is no time, I'm just finally going to borrow it from time I should be spending folding some laundry. It'll get done in the end. (Or one could say that it's never done, but I'm taking the glass half full attitude!)

That's the state of things around here. It's been three and a half months since the last blog. So much has happened, but time has flown by. Every day comes and goes so quickly...I think that must be why my house looks like a tornado hit it. Our days are full of I don't even know what. I do know that our children are growing like crazy. The girls are getting to be so big and smart. Benjamin is finally looking more like a normal baby...he's about ten pounds and full of smiles. Responsibilities aside, our lives are very full. Andrew and I are totally content to have such sweet, healthy and really fun kids.

Well, rather than trying to write about all that's happened in the last three months , I'll let the pictures and captions do all the talking.

Hannah got to meet Benjamin in the NICU. She had to be over 3 years old and not running fever. She was very timid. I think the NICU was a weird place to be.






We got to home after three days. Benjamin passed his carseat test and we were off! It's hard to believe that anything can be that tiny. The straps were as tight as possible and they were still too loose! Benjamin's waving goodbye. He was definitely ready to be free of all those wires.





















Ellie meets Benjamin. Her first impression was, "It's so cute!". Then she wanted to "hold her".


Andrew's favorite picture of Ellie with Benjamin.




What a difference two years can make! The one on top in Hannah and Benjamin and the one under that is Hannah with Ellie in the hospital when she was born.


Pat and Cathy stopped in with the girls over Thanksgiving. Here's a shot of all the Portele cousins.


Pat's big hands, Benjamin's little body!


Mom came and stayed with us the second week after Benjamin was born. As always she was a tremendous help. Don't know what we would have done without her!


Christmas was fun and exhausting. Sadly all of my pictures from the day were lost. Here's one from right after the tree was put up.




Just after Christmas, Chris and Jess came to visit for just a couple days. It was great to see them again and to spend time with Joshua, too. It's hard to believe a year has gone by since they left for Peru. Here are a few shots of the kids.


Boy Meets Girl. Benjamin's future wife was born just three weeks after him. She was due to come two weeks before him, but that wouldn't have been proper. So, here they are just a couple days after Emerson Rose was born. We're looking forward to a good relationship with Ben's in-laws (our great friends) Blake and Kristen!


Here Benjamin tries to put the moves on Emmy just a couple days before Valentine's Day. I've got to hand it to him...she's pretty cute!!




I was trying to take a picture of Benjamin when he squirmed to look up at the TV. In the second picture, he's watching the game with Daddy. Who doesn't like a little mindless entertainment?






We were blessed to have Benjamin baptized on February 15! We had lots of friends and family to celebrate with. It was a great day. Uncle Chris is Benjamin's godfather.


Smiles!



Benjamin, February '09 and Ellie, February '07
As soon as I caught this picture of Benjamin it reminded me of Ellie at this age. It's crazy how much they look alike in this picture!




We were so excited for Benjamin to finally meet Granny. We had a really nice visit and he seemed happy to be with her!


Ellie in a nutshell. What a goof ball. She's having an awesome hair day!


The girls on "Western Day" at mother's day out. Don't let their smiles fool you. Their "Go-Texan Day" attitude went out the window promptly after we left the house. It turns out that they do not like to wear bandannas.


This is the most recent picture of Benjamin. After lots of hard work, he is on the verge of 10 pounds. Woo hoo!

Okay, back to it. The laundry is calling my name...no, wait that's Ellie.