One Whole Month

Benny, you are a whole month old. Being honest this has been the hardest month of my whole life. but in a good way. Im outnumbered and i only have to two hands but three mouths to feed and two sessions of diaper changing and a little house that fails to stay clean. For such a little guy you make more laundry then the four of us combine. Its ok though, I got this. its been a month and im working it. Atleast i think, hope, i am. We have our moment’s every day that each of us fall apart but we pick each other back up and we keep going forward. i dont want to rush through this time (even though, some days are just plain hard!) i have learned that this time with you as a baby will pass way too quickly. i know i will miss and long for this time with you again. you are my last baby baby and i know i will always look at you this way. My love for you and your brothers is over the moon, each of you are perfect in your own ways. i cant wait to see the little boy you become. learn your personality. watch you grow. grow with you. Benny you are currently 11 pounds and 23 inch. (born at 8.5, 20 inch) the beginning of this month you had a hard time keeping your milk down. you spit up alot, more than normal. i took you to the doctor twice fearing you may have acid reflux, but i have tried different things and i think we have it covered now. your doing much better. you love your swing, and the vibrator chair. But you have to be on your side or belly while in them or your not a happy camper. you smile already! which at first i didnt beleive you were smiling at me but you are. you react to people when they talk to you, your brothers the most. To see you three together makes me so happy, they love and cherish you so much. always kissing and hugging you. Sometimes they make me nervous but you never cry, brady can be right in your face and you just let him. Reid sings to you, and brady pats your back. when you cry brady always yells "mom" and points to you till i pick you up. hes so worried. when you were about three weeks he picked you up from your chair, you were crying and so was he, i got to you both quickly and let him help me comfort you. You came in to an insanely loud and crazy house and thank goodness most of the time you can sleep right through it. You sleep very well through the night, you wake about two times to eat which is really good for me cause mommy needs sleep (and coffee). Benny, im so proud and blessed to be your mom. you boys are my best gift. im so lucky. im sad to see this month fly by, but im so excited to see you grow. i love you mom

Benny

My third pregnancy was... a shock, and that’s an understatement. It started off well, way better than my last two, not a whole lot of morning sickness and for the most part i was still myself. Branden and i, on the other hand were scared, emotional and in denial. I don’t think it really sank in that we were moving from a family of four to a family of five in less than 7 months until the day i had him. and really even then i was in a fog. When benny come out i stared at brandens expressions for a while, dazed and hazy from his eyes filling with tears. i asked him if her was ok and he said yes but i knew what that look was for. It all hit him in that moment i think. He has two sons. We have three Sons. And this is our life from now on. Bennys Birth Story: Thursday the 16 of august was just like most days i had been having threw the end of my pregnancy, although the beginning was great the end was a drag. i wasn’t sleeping, i had no energy, and i was mean mommy most of the time. A total emotional roller coaster. i didn’t like myself. i don’t think my family did either. My Dr. Appointment was at 1:30, my mom came to help me with Brady. the dr said (much like the last visit) that my body was ready to have this baby, we are just waiting on him. ugh story of my life! i was done. The word "done" didn’t even feel like it could express the over-it-allness i was in. After leaving that appointment i was having steady cramping, but like most days, i was sure they would fade. we ate dinner at my moms. i got a manicure while branden washed his truck. (by this time i was uncomfortable but not needing to go to the hospital, still i figured they would fade) we went home, i cleaned up things, went to the store at 11 (insomnia) and put gas in the car. Finally in bed by 1:45. i would wake up every couple of hours with a contraction, but again there was no way i thought this could be "It" because i had, at this point, given up on him coming out... At 4am i got up to pee and ... Peed my pants? What the heck? Then it just kept coming... three pads and a change of clothes later, i woke up branden. "I think my water broke... well i know it broke"-me "what do we do"-Branden "i don’t know"- me ... now, i really didnt know, i had heard of women staying home untill their contractions got regular, then i had heard that you need to go right in, so i googled it... but got the same answers i already knew. so i called the hospital (which should have been my first guess but really you can google everything) the nurse said to come right in. i woke branden and told him. called our parents. branden showered, cause really who knows how long we will be waiting for this guy to come out because i really wasn’t having bad contractions and they weren’t regular. Brandens parents showed up to watch Brady. We got to the hospital about 5am. on the car ride over my contractions became more regular about 4 min apart and more intense. Good thing i didn’t take my Google research advice and wait for my contractions. once we were there it all went pretty fast and threw most of it i was in a fog because OH My GooDness i was in so much pain, shoot me and get this over with. hands down the worst labor of all three. my contractions were about 2 min apart lasting 1min-1:30 each, the nurses were having trouble with my IV so without that i was unable to get any meds. what felt like hours (i was later told was only 10min) my IV was in and i got my first dose of pain med. still in pain, too much to handle, i waited to take in all of my fluids so that i could get my epidural. everything was just running together, all i cared about was the lights were too bright, my mom fanning me threw contractions and feeding me ice chips, and what the hell, why is it so hot in this room! Im going to guess and say it was about 7:30ish when i got my epidural, i remember the nurse saying i was at a 7 and she didnt know if i could sit up because she didn’t want the baby "falling out".....say what?! Seriously i was in no way having this baby natural so something needed to be figured out. i got it. and slowly felt like myself again. we waited for the dr to finish up with a caseation. Dr Ready (im guessing on spelling) walked in and we were ready to go. im guessing 4 pushes and he was here. 4 pushes and 41/2-5 hours of labor. i was done. he was out.it was over. i cried. for myself and for him. relief and calmness. the cord was wrapped around his neck just like bradys was. but this time branden still got to cut it or shorten it after she did, which i know was something he wanted to do. i got to hold him, he latched on right away and really hasnt let go since. we stayed 24 hours in the hospital. the first night was just benny and me. probably the only night we will have just him and i. we were laying in our hospital bed when i heard fireworks. right out side our window was a fire works show, i was told it could have been the blaze stadium but who knows. it felt like it was for us, for benny. i prayed for him, for us, for our boys. God is so good. he truly knows our hearts. he knows my heart and he knew this is what i needed. three stong boys to grow with and learn from. to live for.

Bennett Patrick Archuleta Born August 17,2012 at 9:34 am 8.5 20 3/4 inch

Reids First Game

Tuesday June 5, 2012

Brady turned one...

Brady turned one on Wednesday March 14 (at 7:32 am)...
I still to this day don't feel like my baby is one. When Reid turned one i was ready, all about my BIG boy... But Brady's different, he is still so much like a baby to me.
Reid and i sang happy birthday to him while we all cuddled in bed like we do most mornings.
i made dinner and invited the grandparents over, Brady opened one gift and destroyed a sprinkled cupcake.
Saturday March 17 was his party day.
I had so many ideas for this fun, festive outdoor cowboy and Indian party.
The weather called for rain
90% chance...
my heart was broke.
we moved things inside my mothers garage, which turned out lovely but the party planner in me felt defeated... Really i am pathetic at how much thought and energy i put in to simple things.
the day went on, it was really a great party.
Brady enjoyed everyone, his gifts, and of course his cake.
now, I'm happy things fell the way they did... his birthday was perfect for him and that's all that matters.












Brady Lee,
You have been such a joy to wake up to every day. your crazy and funny and full of life. your smart and sneaky and the love that pours out of you for us is amazing. Your brother adores you and you him. your a quick learner and at times that gets you in trouble (like when you pluck all the outlet covers off, or try climbing the furniture to reach something you want)... Your you and i have never been so tired but i couldn't picture you being any other way. i love you -Mom

Good Things Come in Three's...

This time last year i was a new mom to my second baby boy. my heart was full. i was completely content. i felt like this was my life, i would be a mom to two amazing boys and we would be happy all the days of our lives, the end.
December changed that.
Two Pink lines changed that.
Months have passed and with it the fear.
Parts of us silently hoped for a little girl to add to our crazy boys... secretly i thought this must be, nervously i talked myself in to wanting a daughter...
We decided early on we would find out this time, only in a different way then we had in the past.
When the day came Branden was unable to come with me so i decided i would have the answer sealed in an envelope for us to open together.

Friday night Branden picked the place.
We dressed up.
after our salads we decided we couldn't wait any longer...

Branden opened our sealed letter.
I recorded him and waited for what seamed like hours to open a letter...
once he figured it out, he smiled... shook his head... and laughed...
Three boys.
We are going to have three boys.
i laughed.
couldn't stop smiling

we both spent the rest of dinner letting it sink in... still uncontrollable smiling.
our waitress brought us cheese cake with a candle.
Branden made a wish for our baby boy.

and that was that... We are going to be parents to three amazing boys.
I don't think it really hit till Saturday morning, a part of me morned the daughter i will never have, but the rest of me feels so blessed. God has given me these boys to take care of and love and raise in his glory and at times i feel like i fail but he has chosen me for them for a reason and i just cant help but feel so humbled and blessed by that. I'm so lucky. too lucky.

Something New.

Im no Lorie Chambless :0) but i wanted to take some pictures of my boys because this year is a big year for them, for us. Brady turns one on March 14. Reid turns 5 on June 13 and will be starting kindergarden this coming school year.







... and we will have a new baby to squeeze and love come August.
We are excited and honestly scared but ready. I feel more ready everyday, even if its just for a moment.