Benjamin Allen Ketcher

Baby Benjamin arrived by c-section on Friday, November 11th. He shares his birthday with his Grandpa Allen and his Papa Ketcher--so cool. He's healthy and strong. The doc had ordered an ultrasound on his kidneys because they looked large before he was born, but everything was just fine! Hooray! He weighed in at 8 lb. 7 oz. and was 20 and 1/2" long. Big little guy for being just over a week early! He is super cute, and I see a lot of Evan in him. He eats like a champ but is always hungry. Last night he also slept like a champ! (I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high about that just yet.)



Our doctor had been worried about placenta accreta since about 18 weeks. That meant I would absolutely have to have a c-section (which we expected because it seems no docs in OK will do VBACs anymore) with the chance that this could be our last child if the surgery didn't go well. Through lots of fasting and prayer, everything went great with delivery--no surgery required past the typical c-section!

However, in recovery I started feeling a lot of pain. When they tried to get me up to walk around, I almost passed out. Several hours later I started having difficulty breathing. Because of our family's history with blood clots they ordered a CT scan, and there found that I was bleeding internally. So, lucky me, I got to have a blood transfusion. Once that took place I was better able to recover, and they ended up letting us out of the hospital the following Tuesday.

Evan has been such a fantastic big brother to Ben. He's always walking up to him and saying, "Awww, hi Baby Ben!" and rubbing his head or giving him a snuggle. He loves to hold Ben as well. He's eating up all the attention from his Grandpa and Grandma Allen, who are here helping out (thank heavens!) and who have been absolutely fantastic. We look forward to Papa and Nana's arrival this week as well.


So all in all we're doing great. We are so happy that Benjamin is in our family!

Halloween Fun/Photo Overload

I know, this post has way too many pictures. We've been trying to fit a lot in before baby comes (this coming Friday--YIKES!) and celebrating Halloween all month is just so easy! So here's what we've been doing. And sorry, the photos are in reverse order.

Evan told us for a month that he wanted to be a fire fighter for Halloween. When we went to pick out the costume, he saw this T-Rex and said, "I want to ride on a DINOSAUR!" So the costume changed to caveman on dinosaur. John likes to call him our Tyranocentaurus Rex.

Trunk or Treat

We went to a pumpkin patch where Evan enjoyed a pony ride, petting zoo, tractor hay ride, corn maze and picking out his own pumpkin.



For FHE one night we made these little pipe cleaner spiders. Which were a lot harder to make look like spiders than I thought they would be! Just shows my crafting abilities--or lack of.

Our library had a pumpkin decorating activity that we went to with some friends. This was the final product.

Another FHE activity--build your own Haunted House.

We also did a little pumpkin and ghost decorating. I gave E choices on shapes for the eyes, noses and mouths, and he just decided to use them all. Waste not!



That about wraps up our Halloween festivities. We're on candy overload here. Hope your Halloween was happy!

Evan Turns 3

My baby boy turned THREE! Evan requested a Clifford the Big Red Dog birthday party with "a vanilla Clifford cake." Clifford isn't the most commonly requested character, so we had a little difficulty finding things, but I think it pulled together well. We invited three of his friends and their families for the party on Saturday.

We started with Pin the Tail on Clifford. Evan has a book about a birthday party for Clifford, and they have a pinata. We were lucky to find a dog bone-shaped one that ended up being nearly impossible to break. Let's just say everyone got LOTS of turns.




We used a stuffed Clifford Evan has to play Find Clifford. Evan also requested a treasure hunt, so Clifford sent the kids on one that ended with a treasure box full of bubbles for the kids to play with outside. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

I think Evan's favorite part of the whole party was when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. The look on his face says it all.




He got a play kitchen, two Clifford books, a subscription to The Friend magazine and some art supplies. He was delighted with everything. He's such a sweet, sweet boy, and we just adore him!

Lately

We decided to go to the OKC temple for our Family Home Evening a couple of weeks ago so Evan could see and touch the temple. He was very excited about it. We listened to "I Love to See the Temple" like 15 times on our way. Unfortunately, we forgot about the temple being closed on Mondays--meaning the gate was locked. Evan was so sad. We had brought a picnic dinner and sat in the shade to enjoy it nonetheless, and we talked about the temple. We were almost done when we noticed two random men walking through the church parking lot. They walked past us and up to the temple gates, where one pulled out his keys and unlocked them! They proceeded inside the temple. We don't know who they are, but we were sure glad they came! Evan got to go up and touch the temple, and walk around the (very small) grounds. He LOVED it. What a fun memory!

Touching the temple.


Evan and Daddy relaxing after dinner.


John wanted to take Evan to "The Lawnmower Store" (Lowe's) to build a craft, but the activity was all full when he tried to sign up. So they went to Lowe's and bought the kit and built it together. It was pretty entertaining to watch. I finally told Evan to go get his toy hammer so he could bang to his heart's content. They were so proud of the finished product. John still hasn't let him play with it!! ;) I have a feeling when Pinewood Derby time rolls around it'll be a similar situation!


And here's a 30-ish week picture. I really should try to do something with myself in these pictures. Like, you know, makeup? Oh well.

Cooler weather? Aaaahhhhh.

My Hero

We've been smothered by 100+ degree weather for the vast majority of this summer, so we've been making do with a lot of inside activities lately. Sort of boring for posts, so I've neglected the blog. But here are a few photos of recent daily activities.

I've been wanting to make E a superhero cape for ages, and have simply been lazy. But the other day at Walmart we saw this one for super cheap. Evan was so excited to have it in his hands that he started yelling to the first person he saw, "Look! Look! It's a superhero cape! Now I will fly in the sky!" Unfortunately, the cape's magical qualities didn't perform to his expectations. We're still working on pretending to help get over the disappointment.

We do a lot of "parking cars" with E. Notice (if you care to!) all the animals/figures are on the "sidewalks" and all the cars are on the "roads."

Evan loves to vacuum. I try to indulge him as often as possible.

And what can I say? He's a cute kiddo. Sure do love him. I'm going to brag now. I think he's a super smarty pants. I counted the songs he knows how to sing and got to 25 before I had to stop. Today he started singing the first two lines to "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus." I didn't know he knew that one. He can count to 30 now, and knows his letters. He's starting to recognize the sounds the letters make too. It's been really fun.

And here are a couple of his cute mispronunciations: Lately he wants to do everything "All my byself," (as he points his thumb at his chest.)
If I ask him why, he says, "Capause."
And my all time favorite that I was really sad when he finally got right: badesadas instead of bananas. Oh, how I miss that one!

The other night while reading scriptures, Evan quoted, "because of the anger of my bretheren," as "because of the Angry Birds." John and I couldn't help laughing out loud at that one. Evan looked very pleased with himself.

Swimming lessons

We signed Evan up for Mommy & Me swim lessons at the Mustang Rec Center. He had a complete blast, and still talks about "swim lessons." He was very brave--he'd put his face in the water and blow bubbles, float on his back and belly, and kick while holding onto an inflatable without my help, but jumping off the wall into the pool was his delight. He showed absolutely no fear (much to my dismay--a little healthy fear is a good thing with water!) and never wanted to hold my hands--just to do "really, really big jumps" off the side. We ended every lesson with the frog slide, which was a big hit with Evan as well. It was a lot of fun, and a nice way to combat the ridiculous heat we've been "enjoying."






And after putting it off for way too long due to a total lack of desire to get it done (by the mama), I started potty training Evan last week. He's doing great. No accidents for the past couple of days. I wasn't brave enough to let him try during church since John and I are both pretty busy, but when I got him home, his diaper was dry and clean! Hooray! He's only been wet one night (most nights he wakes up and yells for me when he needs to go) and has stayed dry during naps as well. Our big issue is getting him to poop in the potty. He has done it before, but refuses to do it lately, and holds it till night when he gets a diaper back on. So that's been an issue. Any suggestions from you seasoned parents out there? I'm excited about his progress. He's really doing great. Love the kiddo! And I can't wait to meet his little brother!