thank you mom and dad...

i could sit here and write this post for the next decade and it wouldnt put into words how much my parents mean to me and how much they have done for our family. for those of you that are lucky enough to know my mom and dad, you know they are the kindest people you will ever meet. you know that they would give ANYTHING for their girls (and now their boys). you know that they are the picture of what a relationship should look like, one that started as young kids. you also know that they are the parents that every mother and father should strive to be.

they have done so much for jared, bennett and i over the last couple of months. i will never be able to repay them for their kindness, love and support. it would take days to write out all of the things that they have done for us during this crazy time. a couple things that come to mind are:

the night we went to the hospital to have Bennett, my mom slept on the floor of the hospital by my side all night long. when we ended up having to stay for a week, she and dad never left our side. they brought dinner every night, they catered to our every need, they did more than we could have EVER asked for. the second thing that comes to mind are the last couple of weeks. not only does my mother keep bennett for me while i work, they have been staying with me every night until jared gets home from tcby. they help me with bennett, watch him while i take a bath, they just take care of us. they do this even though my dad has to get up at 5:45 every morning and my mom gets up early to keep BOTH of her grandsons. they know that this makes this busy time so much easier for me and that's why they do it.

for the last 30 years, their lives have been about me and my sister. that doesnt mean that they havent always put their marriage at the top of the list as well. they know how to have the perfect balance. they were always the parents that would rather be with jess and i on a friday night, than out on the town. they have never cared about being socialites because that meant that they would sacrifice time and energy away from their family. even though my dad always worked so hard (and still does), he never missed a single thing when we were growing up, and neither did my mom. they still havent.

i only hope that bennett finds the love, security, friendship, faith, family, and support in jared and i as his mother and father as i have been given by my mom and dad for the last 28 years.

i love you mom and dad, and i will never be able to repay you for what you have given to us.

thank you!!!

weekend..

our little family sacked out on michelle's couch i tried his easter outfit on today, and it was too big... so i pulled out another cute outfit... that has a bonnet, and this is what he thought of that!

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here is a family pic from earlier tonight. jared and i went on a date for sushi. i hadn't had real sushi since i got pregnant. it was tasty and it was nice to have dinner with jar. i have missed him! we had a lovely weekend around here. i got a ton of stuff checked off my to do list and we had some fun family time at the store. we went to visit michelle and introduce her to baby bennett. she is having her 3 babies this wednesday. we cant wait to meet those sweeties!!!

i am going to enjoy my final three days off work this week and then head back to my new reality ;)

i hope that everyone has a lovely week!

crazy...

TCBY Ribbon Cutting

the ceo of tcby/mrs fields with bennett and i

saying... ooo, i like the back room of tcby...

i think i will spend a lot of time here :)

we had over 3,000 customers on saturday!!!

in our pjs

big smiles :)

all wiped out from a loooong week and weekend

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for almost the last year i have had MANY people tell jared and i that we are insane.. we were building a house, opening a business and having a baby all at the same time. i would laugh and say, 'i know, we are pretty busy.' all the while, i would think that it wasn't that bad.. what was i missing? well.... now that we have opened the store, had our sweet angel, and are two weeks away from moving into our house, i understand why so many people made that comment. jared has worked 18 hour days for the last 11 days. the funny thing is that we didn't even order me a name tag for the store since i 'would never be there'. this is comical looking back :)bennett has been a trooper. sometimes he stays home with his mimi, and other times i take him up there to hang out in the back. we have been so blessed. we never imagined that we would have the business that we have had in the last week. our grand opening was fabulous, we had over 3,000 customers!!! the best part of the whole thing (other than free white chocolate mousse) is seeing all of the sweet families that come in. i have seen the cutest kids and they love tcby. everyday there is a new crowd at the store, i told mom yesterday that there were a lot of sweet older people in the store. everyone from 0-100 seems to be enjoying it. we are glad that we were able to bring something here that so many people enjoy with their families. we have been so fortunate to have such great help. our managers are awesome and the high school kiddos are adorable. they are all such hard workers and a joy to be around!!it has been very, very busy but very fun to get this thing going.

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our house is getting so close to the finish line!!! i cannot wait to move in there in a few weeks. the painters just finished painting the whole house and it looks exactly as i imagined. i picked out two colors for stripes in baby bear's room and it looks perfect. i will post pics soon. the colors are turquoise and a bright green. i think we will love to lay in his bed and stare at his bright walls (this baby LOVES to stare at colors, prints, and just about anything else). i hope he loves his room as much as i do!

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he turned 7 weeks old today. tear. i already feel like he is getting so big. he continues to be a great baby. he is still eating like a champ and our nights are getting better. they are pretty inconsistent, but they aren't bad. once we get our lives back to normal and have a schedule, i think he will do great. until then, we are making do :)he has been pretty good about taking naps lately. he has to be in his miracle blanket to sleep, regardless of what time of day it is. he loves being swaddled. i love getting him up in the morning and taking his blanket off and watching him stretch out. when he wakes up, he is pretty hungry and as i try to get him situated and ready to nurse, he becomes pretty impatient. lately he has started this funny thing where he yells at me. its not a cry, its him letting out these loud screams while making a mean face. silly little boy. he is very impatient like his mom and daddy. everyday he is looking more like his daddy. i don't think he looks a thing like momma :( he has jared's beautiful blue eyes and his entire face is looking just like jared. i think he even has the same belly button as daddy :) * i go back to work on thursday. i am ready to get that milestone behind us and get used to life the way it will be with me working. he will be spending part of his weeks with his mimi and his cousin, oliver. the other days, my MIL will be watching him, which will be a huge help to all. she will be driving up from little rock to watch him on mondays and tuesdays. safe to say, he will be in good hands. i will miss him terribly during the days, but i will be working hard to be able to provide a great life for him and our family. * we hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!

bath time, one month old and preg pics

bennetts first bath at home this is how we feel about bath time. breaks my heart!!!!

still hating it.....

even madder than before...the cutest sad face in the world!

looking at me thinking 'why did you do that to me momma??' all better!

after i had bennett and they took him to the nursery to check him out, they gave him his shots and poked and prodded him and he was happy as a clam. oh but he lost it when it was bath time.... and he hasn't liked it ever since. i was in recovery from my c section so i missed his first bath. but judging by the pictures, he hasn't liked it from the start.

i am hoping that this changes because it is pretty pitiful. he is such a good baby and hardly ever fusses... so i sort of panic when he screams during bath time. any suggestions on getting them to enjoy it?! poor baby!

ONE MONTH OLD

i cannot believe that he is already a month old. when i look at pictures i can see where he has grown, but i don't notice it from day to day. he is still a little guy. we are just now graduating from our 'up to 7 pound' clothing and wearing some 0-3 month clothes.

he is sleeping good. i feed him for the last time around 9:30 at night and he sleeps until 2:00. then he will usually sleep until 5:30 or 6. i do feel really tired when we get up... i cant seem to get used to the broken sleep. hopefully he will continue to be a good sleeper.

he sleeps in his pack n play right next to me. he has only been in his crib for the above photos :) in the house that we are in now, his room is upstairs. when we move in a few weeks, his room is downstairs, so we may reevaluate things then. i tell jared that i want him in our room for at least 6 months ;)

i am pumping once or twice a day and it is going well. earlier today he ate on the left side then fell asleep so the right side looked like a basketball three hours later!!!! ouch! i decided to pump to get the pain to go away and pumped over 4 ounces from that side alone! normally i only get 3 total. no wonder i was hurting!

he is still eating about 8 times a day... i feed him A LOT during the day so that we have easier nights.

he has started smiling this week. of course his first big, huge, real smile was directed at daddy. i should get used to this. (even though i am the one who caters to his every need) :)

he has also started cooing and making some sweet noises. he has great head control and started turning his head to find our voices.

i love him with all of my heart.

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below are two pics from my pregnancy.... i saw these today and have never posted any pics on FB or on here, but they are pretty funny!

the first pic was taken the day i found out i was pregnant.. i immediately grabbed the camera to document that i once was a normal size.. thinking that i would be huge by the next day. ;)

the second picture was taken the day we went to the hospital. OMG i was massive. i cropped it to spare everyone from seeing me in my bra.

luckily i am now about 3 pounds away from where i started. i was sooooo swollen at the end that i put on a bunch of water weight. it came off really quick (with the help of uncontrollable postpartum night sweats). i am thankful to be back in my clothes... now i would just like the black line down my tummy to go away as well ;)

i hope that everyone has a fabulous saturday night!!

sarah

almost three weeks...

momma and baby, 2 weeks old

sweetest face i have ever seen

for some reason i kept him in his hospital hat

for days after we got home... the baby has a million

hats of his own... i just liked this one :)

first visit with dr. terry after we left the hospital.

he said we look great! he weighed 7 lbs, 8 ounces at this visit.

born at 7 pounds, 14 ounces, dropped to 7 lbs 3 ounces

and when we went on sunday, he was at 8 lbs, 4 ounces. he loves to make this serious look. he has the best eye contact

always looks like he is thinking up something reallllly important.

here are a few pics from the first days at home. we are all settled in, and actually have a pretty good schedule. bennett is doing so good. we are so lucky to have such a sweet baby! he will be 3 weeks old tomorrow and last night he slept for almost 5 hours at a time. impressed!

we absolutely hate bath time. i hate it, he hates it, daddy hates it. it is no fun for anyone because bennett screams and cries :( hopefully he will grow to love a warm bath, like his momma does.

in other news...

our TCBY is really close to opening! we have all of our employees hired and we are ready to get things going! i cant wait to have limitless vanilla with hot fudge ;)

this has been keeping daddy extremely busy.

while on this topic, i will brag on him for a second. the man has at least 4 full time jobs... opening a new business, managing several rental properties that he has to deal with on a regular basis, being a full time rep for Pfizer and he is smack dab in the middle of building us our dream home. he is also a fantastic husband and father, making those jobs number 5 and 6. i know that we have some busy and challenging times ahead, but i also know that there is nothing that we can't handle together.

he works so hard for our family, and never does anything nice for himself. if i buy him a new shirt, he makes me take it back because he would rather me have something nice for myself or the baby.. he tells me all of the time how good of a wife and mom that i am, and that i am his best friend. he means that, i know that i am his best friend. he's mine.

when we were pregnant, i thought a lot about what type of daddy jared would be. i didnt picture him being really hands on with bennett. i pictured him being more of a supporter than a doer, which was going to be fine with me. he has turned out to be both, which has surprised me. he changes diapers, worries about his well being, dresses him, reads to him, etc.

i am so blessed to be married to him, i dont know what i did in life to deserve him as my husband.

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below is a picture of me a few days before we had bennett... i was the size of the house we are building that i am standing in front of ;)

hopefully our home will be done in a few weeks and we can get all settled in.

it will be crazy for a while... new baby, new business, new house all within the same month. i am trying my best to hang on and enjoy the ride. (with the help of friends, family and the occasional michelob ultra) :)

i hope that everyone has a happy st patricks day!!! we are going to get out and enjoy the sunshine this afternoon!

xoxo- sarah