One Year Ago Today....

I was sitting laying down watching a Law & Order: SVU marathon on USA. I was in the hospital. And I was in labor. Daddio was with me, but I was more focused on Elliot (Christopher Meloni), than anything else around me. (And truth be told, Daddio was really helpless anyway. He just sat in his chair, watching TV all day).

We had arrived at the hospital that morning around 8 AM. I was scheduled to be induced, on my due date, although I probably would have gone into labor naturally later that night or the next morning. Why were they inducing me? Really the only reason was because my doctor only delivered in a hospital (near my hometown) two hours away, and since my labor with Owen went so quickly, (we arrived at the hospital at 1 AM, I was ready to go around 4 AM), they weren't taking any risks with this one.

I'll spare you all the details of my labor, (it was really rather uneventful anyway, completely different than my experience with Owen). But I was thoroughly impressed with myself at how calm and relaxed I stayed through the entire thing. I kept saying to myself over and over again in my mind, "This won't last forever. It will be over soon. This won't last forever. It will....". Since I had already experienced this once, this time around, I KNEW that it would in fact NOT last forever. It also helped to have something to focus on, other than Elliot, I mean. Directly in front of my line of sight was an orange circle on a cabinet. I can only assume that they put it there for the sole purpose of giving the women something to focus on (because the men are so useless anyway and will only laugh at you if you try to use their eyes to focus on).

In the beginning stages of labor.

But seriously, I was super proud of myself, especially since my first experience involved tears and screaming and yelling. (I have no love for the hospital in Texas where I gave birth to Owen. They did not offer epidurals, only spinal blocks, and not only did mine slow down my labor, but it also wore off before he was born, and they refused to give me more). And holy crow, I was in LOVE with the epidural that they gave me. The only problem was that after having my lean on my side, they didn't sit me up straight quick enough, resulting in my entire right side being pain-free, but parts of my left-side still having feeling.

Anyway, I said I would spare the details. Long story short, ("Too late!") little Benjamin Ryan was born at 3:12 PM! He weighed 7lbs. 15 oz and was 20 inches long.

Which means that he is now a whole year old! (For those of you who hadn't already figured that one out by now). Here are some of my favorite pics from this past year (click to enlarge):

1. Me and my boys.           2. Heading home.

3. & 4.Yes, his hair was that dark. Who would've thought with two blondies for parents.

5. & 6. Owen has his moments. He now openly expresses his love for Ben. When he was first born, he claimed not to even like Ben.

7. Ben's first Halloween.              8. Mommy and the Goobers

9. Reading already. Start 'em young, I say!   10.You lookin' at me?

11. Happy face! (Owen is feeding him).       12. Look at those cheeks!

13. I can do tippy-toe push-ups. Can you? 14.Don't you carry your kids around like this?

15. Silly face.          16.Ben's first boo-boo at the hand's of his brother.

17.Such a little Cabbage Patch.             18. He loves swimming!

19. Little Adventurer.       20.Ben's first Fourth of July

And now I have to go clean up my kitchen and put away Ben's birthday cake, because this post seriously took me two hours to do!