A date with Allison and Lillianne and another baby has been born

Thursday while our husbands played hockey, Allison and I, had a date night! It was so much fun to just hang out with her and Lillianne, I am happy to report that they are both adjusting to their roles well. I can't believe how much Lilli looks like her daddy right now!

My friend Lisa and her husband welcomed Anna Marie into their family on Saturday morning! Anna made quite the entrance, after they were sent home from the hospital "because she wasn't far enough along." They returned home and a couple hours later Lisa "knew Anna was coming, she told her husband to call 911 because she felt the urge to push." The fire truck and ambulance showed up and got Lisa on her way to the hospital. Anna had a different plan!

Lisa delivered Anna in the back of an ambulance going 80 mph on her way back to the hospital. Her advice, listen to yourself and if you think baby is coming, it probably is. Congrats to Lisa and John, once I meet Anna I will put more pictures on!

Belly 35 weeks

We have a big baby growing inside...according to our midwife "he isn't small by any means." She didn't give us a weight, but said we might be looking in total at 8 or 9 lbs. I am still thinking that he will be between 7 and 8 lbs for my sanity :-0 Only kidding, if he is healthy and 9 lbs I will keep him!
Funny to see the belly in photos. It seems big, feels big, but somehow I keep trying to tell myself it isn't "that big." ha...amazing how your body grows and supports this little life. Equally as crazy, is that little boo will come into the world in the next few weeks-both Mike and I are getting increasingly excited to meet him as the days go by.


We have been busy working on his nursery and will have pictures to post soon.

Floors, they are almost done

Our floors are almost done. We still have to have one little section in the dining room put down but they should be done by Wednesday! Then it is time for the baseboard, rugs, and time to tackle all the DUST! Whew, what a project! After this project didn't go as smoothly as planned, we will be holding off on doing any other major changes before little Laschen arrives...the carpet upstairs will just have to wait! We did however learn some things in the process and will put them in our brains for our next projects. After all the hail damage repair and the floors we should be experts soon!

Pond Hockey

This weekend Mike and a few other buddies played in a pond hockey tournament up in Frisco. Mike and the guys went up on Friday, with the girls to follow on Saturday. I made it to a game, before I decided to hang back at the house for the night game with Candy and Colton. So needless to say I missed my photo opportunity (when I get the pics from the rest of the group I will post them). The guys ended up deciding not to play on Sunday, the pond was pretty chewed up and they didn't want to bust an ankle, and they also wanted to make it home to watch the USA vs. Canada Hockey game.

After the guys got back we continued to play the game Things for hours and made dinner at the house. "The game of Things" is a great game-some really funny answers we highly recommend it! Mike and I will be adding this to our collection very soon.

Silverton

Way back when baby Laschen was just a couple weeks old in my tummy, Mike and I decided that we should take one last vacation before he came. Mike and his buddy Doc Rock have been wanting to ski Silverton for a couple years and this was the year. His wife and I decided that it would be a good time for us to hit the spa :-) Pat flew in to join the fun and a couple of Doc Rock's buddies also decided to partake in the adventure. On Thursday we were off to Silverton. They were predicting snow, a couple of inches that is, but by the time we got there the inches turned to FEET! It was a snowy mess, which made for great skiing and no spa adventure for the rest of us, it also meant a long drive home!

We did however have a great weekend, didn't see any scary things in the "scary house," celebrated Mike's 29th birthday, and enjoyed time with friends old and new!

Sunday we made it back in time to meet a group a friends at Big Hoss to watch USA beat Canada. Loved Colton's bib-yikes!

36 Hours for Kids

This blog is about Mike...
Sometimes he puts on a really tough, hockey player, bad boy exterior... but he really is a softy on the inside. He has done this before, but again this year he volunteered to get up at 4:30 a.m. leave the house at 5 a.m. to go answer phones for a local radio station Alice 105.9's 36 hours for kids. This is a yearly fundraiser to raise money for Denver's Children's Hospital. Then he got me again when he called and asked if how much money we wanted to donate monthly, and if we wanted to donate it in honor of Josie.
So many reasons to love the guy...and this is just another one of them! Don't ever let his "tough guy" exterior fool you :-)

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!
Mike and I celebrated Valentine's by having a nice dinner together at home on Saturday night and watching the Olympics.
Sunday was Valentine's spent ripping out our old flooring and me filing paperwork and tackling some of the babies room. We started working at 10 and didn't finish until 9 p.m. Thankfully, Mike had my brother and his buddy Miller to help us with the chore! Here are some pics. The guys that are installing the flooring are starting tomorrow-it will be so nice when it is over. Mike and I were pretty nieve about how much DUST there would be-our whole house is covered in a nice layer!

33 weeks...

Ok I promised a picture update of the baby belly. I now am again behind as this Wednesday will mark 34 weeks, but I will try to get more "prompt."
Baby is growing and is impressing Mike lately with his kicks! I have been telling Mike how funny it is when he moves now, because he is so strong feeling and Mike now has successfully gotten a good kick here or there. Baby has also decided to flip around, I suspected, doctor confirmed on Friday, and has positioned his rump right under my right rib. So now when he is awake I can feel his hands on my lower left side and his legs on my right side. He is still head down and just working on getting big and strong in these last weeks in my tummy!

His room is almost complete. I had a lot of organizing to do after our showers, and slowly it is getting there. We are just waiting on our glider, should be here in the next few weeks, before we finalize the room and start to hang our pictures.

We also did decide to change hospital practices. I had an appointment on Friday at the new place, and what a difference in the "care." The new place took time to ask about our life outside of baby! It was not a quick in and out appointment, so it will be a good change. My blood pressure had gone up a bit from my other appointments, but there were a lot of things that it could have been from, new place, Mike got stuck in a meeting and couldn't come, and the biggest-she said BLOOD DRAW! All the other tests came back with normal results, so for now we continue to think that the BP rise was not a continuous thing! We will keep you posted

50 days

So the countdown has begun, 50 days until baby Laschen's due date. I am trying to work out a deal with the little guy that he arrive right around that 38 or 39 week mark. Yes I know, I don't get to plan this, but I am hoping that he feels like cooperating a little! Just kidding he will come when he is good and ready and as long as he is healthy he can come whenever. I have been telling him all about his visitors that are going to be coming from Minnesota, and hoping that helps him feel the need to arrive!
33 weeks is tomorrow. When Mike gets home I will have him take a picture to post, the belly is big and baby feels like he doesn't have much room in there...so I must keep growing for awhile longer!
In the next 50 or so days we have a lot to get done around the house. One major thing we are undertaking is getting new flooring throughout the house. We have hardwood or hard bamboo floors, the main level of the house, going in next week and then carpeting, the upstairs, to follow after that. Nesting I tell you :-)

Baby Bennet has Arrived

After many many days of waiting, and being convinced that Allison would have her baby when I was in Minnesota, Lillianne Rita Bennet was born on Thursday at 6:44am. She weighted in at 7 lbs, 13 oz, a d was 19 inches.
Here is the LAST picture that Al and I have as preggers together, tear! On Tuesday morning I gave her a call and said I thought that we needed to go get pedicures to "get that baby out." She didn't even need to sit in the chair, and her water broke. Thank goodness her mom was there, because Allison and I looked at one another and said "what do we do." That started a long journey for Allison and her husband Tim, they went to the hospital that night at 6 and had to wait 37 hours to meet little Lillianne. Mike and I are excited to watch her grow and can't wait for her and baby Laschen to meet. Congrats to the "new" Bennet family, Lillianne is beautiful!

Boy "shower" and Girl "shower"

This past weekend the boys and girls each had their own celebrations to welcome the new member of the group. The boys went and did an informal night on the town of Vail for Mike's "shower" the girls held a traditional baby shower. A huge thanks to all of our friends boys and girls who are making Baby Laschen feel so loved.

Minnesota Weekend/Mike's Avalance Game

Weekend of showers...The last weekend in January I flew to Minnesota for 2 baby showers. It was so much fun to be with so many strong women who have been in my life some for many many years and some more recently, but all with their own special place in my heart. It was also bittersweet because when I was gone, Mike got to do something very special too. Their hockey team was invited to play before the Colorado Avalanche game that Sunday and I missed it and have no pictures to show you either. He had a blast and even had a "Stacey moment" as he called it and bought the little one a Avs jersey. Enjoy the pictures
Tiffany (daughter Hallie), me, Nikki (daughter Amelia) and Krystal (Due end of May) The new grandma's Animal Cupcakes and Table settingMy Grandma, cousin Karen, Aunt and Godmother Susan, and mom and then my mom and I. Baby's Quilt and Mel and I

High school Friends, both are pregnant too! Ry (in the red) isn't pregnant-she already has 2 of her own.

Stelly and the Belly

I know that I brag about Stella quite a bit, but she really is a wonderfully big, smart, sensitive dog. Here is a picture of her with her friend Trigger while we were hoping to be cheering on the Vikings to a spot in the Superbowl! They played while we yelled, and then crashed on her bed together.

I swore I would never put on "naked" belly pictures, but here is me biting the big one and posting not one but 2! This is how Stella and the baby are bonding. He kicks her and she groans and then he kicks again. She has done this since the very beginning. My friend, Lindsay's dog, also has been doing this, and people say that they don't know...I know that Stella knows, don't know if she is ready to get demoted, but she sure knows something is going on in mommy's belly.