Monthly Pictures

My sister did this really cute thing with her youngest, where she took pictures of her every month to document the change. She was nice enough to make some vinyl numbers for me so here are the pictures so far. Month 1-4...

Can't believe he is getting so big.....

Bennett Craig Larsen

***THE VERY LONG OVER DUE STORY/PICTURES OF THE ARRIVAL OF BENNETT**


The story of getting him here started on September 12th when I went to my weekly doctors appointment. My doctor was a little worried that I was measuring a little smaller than she would like. She said that she would like to do an ultrasound to see if baby was ok. When we got to take a look she said that things were ok, but he was border line growth restrictive. My doctor was concerned that if we let him stay in there to much longer we could have some serious problems and even get into the territory of a still born. We set a date for me to be induced a week later and she sent us home. I was given instructions to count his kicks about three times a day. We wanted to make sure that he was still getting what he needed from the placenta. So the counting began and I was feeling really good. I was excited that my doctor was going to deliver him and I knew exactly when we was coming. It took alot of the stress away for me. However he had a mind of his own. Friday afternoon I was at lunch with Craig and my back starting to ache. It would come and go and I thought it would just go away. When Craig came home that night the pains had not stopped, in fact they were getting closer together. But, being stubborn as I am I was not about to admit I was in the early stages of labor, I kept saying that they would go away. We were planning to have a BBQ with some friends on Saturday so I was moving forward with those plans.

I made Craig get in the car and drive us to the store to get some food. So I was walking (more like shuffling) through the store with a death grip on the shopping cart. But, I was still determined that I was having this baby on Wednesday and my doctor was going to be the one to deliver him. As the night went on and the contractions got closer together I still was not going to admit what was happening. Around 8:30 Craig started packing the car just incase. Around 9:00 I gave in and we went to the hospital...ok skipping ahead things went pretty fast, my epidural was heaven and things went pretty smooth.

Since then things have been really hard but they have been good. Craig is a great dad and Bennett is just getting cuter. It is hard being away from family but we hope it is not forever. Ok, that is the kinda short/long story of Bennetts birth.

The drugs finally kicked in so I was a lot happier

Our sweet little boy is here!! He came a week early on September 15th at 4:18 in the morning. He weighed 5 lbs 9 ounces and was 19 inches long.

Daddy holding Bennett for the first time

Grandma and Grandpa Bingham came to visit! My dad was here for a week and my mom stayed for three! It was so nice 

Going home

His first bath

Just an idea of how small he was. That is a new born onesie 

My sister Audrey came to visit during conference weekend. It was so great, I loved having her visit!!

2 Weeks to go!!

We have only two weeks left until the due date of our new little boy. We are super excited and just finishing getting everything ready. I will post a picture of the nursery as soon as it is finished. It has been more fun for me to get it decorated than it has for Craig but he at least acts like he cares about all the colors matching :)

Here is my attempt at using the self timer on my new camera. I also thought I should have one more photo of my being pregnant before the little guy comes.

Craig turns 33!

While we were in Utah this summer there were lots of fun things that we had to celebrate. One of them was Craig's birthday. Since his birthday fell on a Sunday this year we celebrated at my parents house with a yummy dinner, cake and presents. In the Bingham family it is tradition to have fun themed cakes for each birthday. Some times they are a surprise and some times the person having the birthday gets to pick what their cake is.

This was Craig's first birthday since we got married so the cake was a surprise this year. I knew that anything Utah State would be a big hit and I was right! He loved his cake and his gift.

We always had to sit on the fire place to open gifts and Craig was no different.

I got him a pretty sweet gift. He had been wanting a Blue Ray Player with WiFi for a long time, so that is what he got. He can now watch our Netflix downstairs while he exercises.

We had limited luggage space so the actual gift was mailed directly to SD, but he opened a picture of what was waiting for him.

His first themed cake, right before he blew out all his candles.
Happy Birthday Baby!

It's a BOY!!!

Yep that's right...we are going to have a baby!! We are very excited to welcome our little boy to the family. I am due September 22nd. It has been fun experiencing this for the first time with Craig. He has been great with all my changing moods and meltdowns. So far my favorite part is feeling the baby move. It is such a neat thing to actually feel the little life inside of me. 


Craig is happy to be getting a boy and said that he could be done now. Not really, he wants as many as I will give him. We are going to just take it one at a time for now....We wish that we could be around family when all these fun things are happening, but it is really special just being the two of us. 


I am a little nervous about having a boy and all the trouble that he is going to cause, but I'm sure it will be a great adventure. I love all my nephews and hearing about all fun things they come up with. It will be so great to watch him grow up. I am also excited to see Craig interact with him. My two boys will be so cute together!!!

Aberdeen, South Dakota

After our fantastic trip to beaches and sun shine, Craig moved us to South Dakota. Yes you read that right South Dakota. He has worked with a company out here for about 7 years and around October he reached out to them. He had been pretty unhappy with his job in Salt Lake and needed a change. They flew him out in October and offered him something that he could not refuse. So after many tearful nights we decided that we could do anything for three years and here we are. So we are living here for the next three years while Craig is starting up a new Civil Engineering company.

The town has about 25,000 people and is in the middle of no where. There is one ward which is nice but the nearest temple is three hours away. We have not had to experience winter out here yet, something that I am not looking forward to.

It was really hard to leave our families and friends! We cant wait to come back and visit. My parents were great and drove out here with us and stay for a week helping to unpack. Now it is just Craig and I. We are making it work because we have each other and that is what really matters.

So in 2 years and 9 months will finally be back for good in the GREAT state of UTAH...but who is counting!!

Roatan

In February all the adults of my family took off for the week and went to Roatan. We had not been on a tropical trip for a long time and we were all so excited!! My fabulous dad rented a house on the beach for all of us and it was one of the best weeks!!

We took the red eye from Salt Lake so when we got to Atlanta we tried to catch on sleep before the next flight.

Craig can sleep anywhere.

We finally got there will all our luggage and were so happy to start having fun

 Since we were right on the beach they had to take all our bags to the house like this. 
They had to take a couple trips. With ten adults we had lots of crap!

This was the view from the back of the house. The railing to the private pool is off the to left. Staying a week here was not going to be hard.

We hit the beach first thing!

Everyone wanted to go ziplining in their mountains, so we ganged up on my dad(who is afraid of heights) and made him come with us! He did awesome and actually enjoyed himself and we all had a great time!

My cute parents getting ready to go.

The scenery was so beautiful and everything was so green! It was a little rainy that day which was nice because it kept us cool.

We found an LDS church on the Island and went on Sunday. We about tripled their attendance numbers.

The church had metal fencing and barbed wire around it for protection. 

We played lots of games

Took naps

and were even able to watch the Super Bowl

All the sisters and my mom

We went to this farm with tons of Iguanas. Craig was crazy and picked up all the big ones. I of course stayed far away.

Just before we had to leave :( 

Obviously no one was excited to go home.

THANKS MOM AND DAD AND EVERYONE ELSE FOR COMING AND MAKING IT SUCH A GREAT TRIP!