Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Blonquist!

I love my BYU hat!

Boy am I cute!

Okay ignore the root growth situation in my hair, but I'm starting to feel more like myself so I thought it'd be good to post some pictures of me with my cute cute boy!

Benson loves laying on the changing table after getting his diaper changed, so I take advantage of him being alert and read to him. he seems to like it!

His eye is still goopy, but it's much better.

He is becoming more alert everyday! Look at those cheeks!

He is growing like a weed too!!! This outfit was huge on him last week!

Mommy loves taking close up shots of her little bug!

He is really good at messing through his diapers so he has many outfit changes throughout the day. He doesn't seem to mind it at all!

He had another sponge bath on Wednesday, and he loved it. This picture looks like he's smiling at mommy.

He was so calm and sleepy after his bath! too cute :)

He does not like his swing...

Thanks mom and dad for coming to visit!!! We miss you soooooooo much!!!! Benson needs his cuddle buddy back, grandma!!

growing up

PS- I lost my umbilical cord on Tuesday night! it makes it so much easier for mommy & daddy to change my diaper now!

i love my daddy!!!

oh my goodness do these two have a special bond!!!! right from the start, in the hospital, i was holding Benson and his eyes were closed and josh came over and said, "hello Benson!" and Benson opened his eyes right away and looked over at josh totally content... it's one of my favorite moments ever! these two are just two peas in a pod!!! it's amazing.

tear ducts

So, it turns out Benson has an under-developed tear duct in his left eye. It's pretty common in infants and so basically for 6 months up to a year it could look like his eye is watering. It clears up on its own and is usually not a big deal. However, right now it is infected!! Poor kid! We went to the doctor's today, and she prescribed us an ointment that will clear up the infection within 48 hours, but for the next week I have to put this stuff in his eye 4 times a day....NO FUN FOR MOMMY!!!! She also said that the eye could get infected up to three more times before the problem clears up.... :(

The great thing is there has been IMMEDIATE results!!! His eye is already much less swollen and the green mucousy build up is almost entirely gone!!!! Thank you modern medicine!!! He's been a little more fussy today, but can you blame him????

Seriously he is such a good little man and hardly ever cries! We are so lucky to have such an amazing child! I feel so bad about his eye, but he honestly doesn't even notice it except when the mucous dries and his eye gets stuck together--This all started yesterday and he doesn't complain at all!

ONE WEEK OLD!!

Oh MY!!! BENSON IS ONE WEEK OLD!!!! Time is passing so quickly! We love you little guy!!

Progress!

Benson slept from 12:30am-4:30am without waking up!!! YEA BENSON!!! then he slept again from 4:50am to 6:05am!! GOOD BOY! Then he slept from 7am-10am!!! WOW!!!!

What a great kid! He's also getting used to sleeping in his crib. He's sleeping much better in it without waking up 5 minutes later!

Also, another achievement for our little bug, he fed for 30 minutes straight...took a little break and then fed again for 8-10minutes! That's the first time he's fed that long! Hopefully this is going to last. The longer he eats the longer the break in between the feedings. Right now, during his "Awake" hours, he's eating almost every hour because he only eats for 5-10 minutes at a time--no matter how hard I try to keep him awake, he falls asleep every time so he never gets a full feeding, but I think we're turning a corner here because he fed pretty well yesterday too!

WAY TO GO BENSON!!! We love yo sooooo much!

our beautiful boy

This is our beautiful boy at 5 days old...wow!

We LOVE to watch him sleep beacuse he smiles the whole time...what is he dreaming about?

I have three chins and mommy loves every one of them!

I have the cutest cheeks ever!


My shirt reads: "Mommy & Daddy's ALARM CLOCK"

I love to smile at and play with grandma :)

When I was only three days old mommy tried to burp me the way the nurses showed her...Mommy didn't like it because she thought she'd hurt me, but I didn't mind...I just laid there and looked cute :)

hilarious!

I love this! This is just too funny....PLEASE WATCH!!! Thanks to Josh for finding this on http://www.bycommonconsent.com/

Benson's Answering Machine

"Hi, this is Benson. I can't get to the phone right now because you're probably calling during my napping hours of 9 am to midnight. I can be reached, quite happily, between the hours of 1 am and 8 am. I look forward to hearing from you then." [beep]

Thank you, Tom Hanks

I'm pretty sure it was my blog post that made him change his mind :)...For those of you that don't know, Tom Hanks, rescinded his comments that called the LDS Church "un-American" for supporting Prop 8....Thank you, Tom Hanks, I can now stop the boycott I had on your movies...

visitors, a bath, and my first spit-up

the surprise visitor--grandpa said he couldn't visit but then surprised us all by coming!

grandma was sick, but still wanted to see her newest grandson

three generations of McLane boys

grandma and grandpa came and visited their first grandson

four generation picture: benson, kiera, grandma, and oma

my first sponge bath

oh, and I almost forgot to tell you--I had my first spit-up today when daddy burped me

bensonisms

i sleep with my fist right by my cheek (just like my dad used to do), and when mom tries to move it, i let out a yelp

my arms are stronger than you can imagine--i just dare you to try to move them without a fight

sure i'll sleep, as long as someone is holding me and you haven't put me in that bassinet

the best way to fall asleep is nursing (yet mom and dad think that's the best time to tickle me to keep me awake)

if you ask me, it's mom and dad that have day and night mixed up (i'd rather sleep during the day and play at night)

i don't like to burp, but i love to "foof" (mommy's term for passing gas)

more to come as i continue to grow...

Labor

So, first of all THANK YOU SO MUCH to Tori for all of her help during the labor! She was there from the very beginning helping Josh and I with anything we wanted or needed. Then she was there the whole next day to do the same! It was amazing having her there to help and to just be around...Plus, an added bonus--you all got to have pictures of Benson on the blog ASAP. Tori was the person posting the pictures for us so the world could meet our beautiful little boy!

So, we're home now and Benson is doing great...Here's a run down of how things went...

So, I woke up from a nap on Tuesday afternoon around 6pm and immeadiately started having TIMEABLE contractions. They were 8 mintues aprt for about an hour 6 minutes apart for another 30 minutes and then they went to 4 minutes apart around 8:30pm. I didn't know if they were really contractions though because they were just in my back and they didn't hurt super bad. I was still able to walk and talk and take a shower and do stuff.

At 10:30pm my water broke (but I didn't know for sure if it really had) and so we called my friend Robin and asked her what it was like when her water broke...Then we called the hospital and they told us to come in. So around 11:15pm (got the epidural at 1am) we were admitted and labor was under way. I only dilated a centimeter an hour until 3 or 4am so we were just sleeping and hanging out. Then things went fast and I got to a ten within another hour and the pushing started a little after 5:30am. I pushed for three hours but it didn't feel like it lasted long at all. It didn't hurt and it wasn't annoying so it was just fine for me!

The doctor came in around 8am and she told us his head was turned to the side and that's why he hadn't come sooner. She turned his head and he was out in another couple of pushes! It was smooth and he did great.

He had miconium so the NICU people came and cleaned him up--which only took a second because he hadn't swallowed any. He was totally fine and had no bad effects from it...He is perfect and we love him so much--it's literally indescribable!!

So, that was my labor story. It went super smooth and felt like it went super fast. It was a wonderful experience and now we have the most beautiful baby in the world to enjoy forever!!

Love this Boy!!!