Happy Birthday Ben!

eating his cake (one day early)

I can't believe my baby turns two today. I feel like I've tried to hold onto his babyhood longer than the others and certainly, this is the longest I've ever gone without being pregnant since we started having children. Sigh.

our favorite birth day picture

Ben is the only one of our four to arrive on his due date. The fact that he was later than the other three was wearing me to a frazzle and I was having such a hard time giving my worry over to God. Not my best moments.

So, in the interest of growing me in the area of trust and patience, God waited until 12:30 a.m. on Ben's due date to kick things in gear. I love His timing.

I thought my water had broken, but it turns out it hadn't - the doctor went ahead and broke it and very quickly things got IN.tense. I seriously contemplated the decision of going without an epidural because I was experiencing crazy painful contractions and when the nurse checked me I was only at 5 cm. I kept thinking there was no way I could go another hour or so to get to 10 cm at this intensity (which is the amount of time I figured it would take to get there). Turns out it only took me another 10 minutes or so - the next time the nurse checked I was at 8 and then on the next contraction (or maybe it was the one after that) I felt something...drop (I liked to stand up as I labored. Gravity is a good thing).

I jumped up on the bed fully expecting Ben to be halfway out already, but was relieved to find he wasn't as close to dropping on the floor as I first thought. Several pushes later and he was here. Interesting to note...all our children were born very near the half hour...and come to think of it, we were married on the half hour, too...

Anyway, here are some pictures to capture our littlest man in highlights of the past two years:

the best pic we could get as a new family of 6 :)

Ben tiring of waiting for me to finish up in the kitched

Ben loves his big sister

his favorite sleeping position once he could roll himself over - face down, arms tucked under him

Ben loves his daddy!

one year old  B.C. (before crawling)

 

he's not a baby anymore :(

 

playing with dinosaurs just like his big brothers

We celebrated yesterday with family and gave him a tricycle with a parent-friendly handle (finally, for the fourth child we realized the wisdom in this accessory :) ). It was Ben's favorite part too - which made Luke happy since he also thought it was a great gift. Please pray for the birthday boy (and Luke) - they both have wicked colds which have developed into fevers, and for Luke, mega-swollen glands.

Birthday edition of the giveaway green tips will be posted later today :)