Happy Halloween!

It felt a little silly to dress Benjamin up for Halloween this year as he is so small, however we were given this hand knitted adorable little pumpkin hat and I could not resist getting the poor guy out there for a mini photo shoot in it with Mark’s carved pumpkin. Benjamin looks very unamused, and I am sure this is a photo that will resurface in years to come ie. 21st birthday praps! It turns out there is a very similar photograph of Mark taken with a pumpkin when he was a little older than Benjamin, so I am going to have to dig that out to do a little father-son comparison. Watch this space!

Now the next series of photos are not to be misunderstood! I want to point out that contrary to how it may look, we are NOT getting a lot of sleep at all. In fact, all that these photos show is that he is a darn cute and has a sweet fat tummy that I can’t resist. Enjoy!

A month has gone by now since Benjamin came along, and our lives before him are already a distant memory. We are blessed with a very big and healthy baby, who is at the top of his growth chart and continues to get chunkier and more gorgeous with every day! He is putting on a pound a week at the moment and clocking in at 11 pounds 10 ounces, which I am sure won’t last forever but it sure is cute while it lasts! As a Mum it is very gratifying to see all his fat rolls on his little legs and to kiss his pudgy cheeks. Every day we are seeing more and more of his sweet little character and getting more gurgles and smiles.

Of course we have to start with Holly…

Daddy time:

Play time:

We have been totally spoilt by family and friends with the most generous gifts. Check out the beautiful handmade quilt from the Nanster!!! She made two miniature ones just in case we lose one and a crisis evolves! Good thinking!

Baby shoes, baby shoes, baby shoes – you can’t beat them:

Happy family – happy Mom…

happy Dad…

happy baby …

and it all falls apart when we get to the golden retriever! Poor thing, life is a little challenging for her at the moment. She can’t quite understand what all the fuss is about.

I can’t believe how fast the first two weeks of life with Benjamin have flown by, and today Mark went back to work again. The house is so quiet without him, and Benjamin and I are figuring out our new little lives together with Holly.  Here are some pictures looking back over the last two weeks.

We were lucky enough to have Mark’s Mom Rosemary to stay for a few days. She was on official baby duty dashing between our house and Mark’s sister Stephanie’s house, as Stephanie had a gorgeous little girl called Sarah just two days before Benjamin arrived. Thank you for all your amazing help Rosemary, you made it all seem far less daunting!

The first bath!!! It took an awful lot of convincing to get me to give Benjamin his first bath, which we did when he was 1 week 1 day old. I didn’t want to wash off his newborn smell, but I knew I eventually would have to cave and do it! Luckily Rosemary  was here to show us the ropes. Benjamin was not as opposed to the water as I thought he would be, and he loved the olive oil massage afterwards. Much to all of our surprise, he came out blonde! His hair color reminds me of my Mum’s hair and I see a lot of my brother Myles in him.

Here are some random pics from around and about getting used to life with Benjamin.

Hanging with dad…

Almost caught that smile…..

After much waiting on our part, our little Benjamin Mark Healey finally arrived at 7:30am on 9.19.09 – he needed a little convincing at 13 days overdue!

Weighing in at 8 pounds 12 ounces (3.9kg), 23.5 inches long (59.69 cm), he is a healthy and hefty little boy. He is a lot bigger than I expected (although it explained my enormous stomach) and our doula said she had never seen such a long baby delivered before! He is just beautiful and has us totally enchanted.  We feel so blessed that he is not only finally with us, but is also so healthy and strong.

What a blessing indeed!