Happy 1st Birthday, Ben!

What a year it's Ben. I never imagined myself with 3 boys but now I can't imagine another way.

Ben being my fourth baby was going to be a scheduled c-section on his daddy's birthday! Kent had a very busy week trying to finish things up before the baby came so I decided that we would celebrate his birthday early. I thought his parents might want to take him out the night before so I decided that July the 2nd was the best night. I made a rather large meal of all his favorite foods. I didn't feel "right" all day and while eating dinner (which I didn't even touch) I knew things were starting. I had been to the dr/Labor and Delivery several times do to pre-term contractions. I was given meds to make them stop and then sent home. Monday night they didn't stop so we loaded up the kids and took them to Nana and Papaw's. The plan was to put them in bed and then go to the hospital. Madisyn was so upset she didn't want us to leave. I was hurting the whole time and had just about had all I could handle so we finally left.

We got to the hospital and Dr. Sarinoglu was still there. After putting me on the monitors and watching my contractions he decided to go ahead and take Ben. I had the worst experience of my life getting the spinal. I decided then and there that a trip to the chiropractor would be in order immediately before my next delivery. Ben was born at 12:20 am Tuesday, July the 3rd.

We nicknamed him Tree Frog because he loved to be in this position. He only weighed 6lbs 15 oz so he seemed long and lanky.

I can't believe how much he has changed. He is such a smiley boy!

On the 3rd we had a little party and he had his first brownie. He has since discovered sweets and gets very excited to eat them.

For his 1st birthday I decided to make a cake with cupcakes. After spending some time looking online I chose to make balloons.

He isn't walking yet but the pulling up is happening more and more. Griffin was 15 months old before he walked so I'm not concerned. 15-16 months sounds like a good time to have a fully mobile Ben. His army crawl gets him into enough trouble. Thankfully he has a wonderful big sister who puts things back that he drags out.

The cousins - getting 5 children ages 7 and under to sit still is not as easy as it appears. But here they are - all the Richardson grands.