Photo Shoot

We had the amazing Lindsay Horn come over shortly after Abigail and Olivia were born to do a newborn photo session. We also got several shots of the whole family and some with just Emily and the girls. As always, the pictures were stunning - beyond what we could have imagined! Lindsay is so talented, and we are very happy that we'll have these tangible memories of the girls.

P.S. She took the picture at the top of our blog (sans text) and the ones of A & O at the right as well!

Just HOW big did you get?

Since I was on bedrest for the last 5 weeks of my pregnancy, there were quite a few people who did not see how big my tummy got before Abigail and Olivia were born. They came at 36 weeks and 3 days. Kyle took these photos at 36 weeks...
I've gotten a few comments that I didn't look any bigger than someone carrying just one baby. My response? - Ha. Ha.

They've Arrived!!

At 1:37 and 1:53 p.m., Olivia Catherine and Abigail Corinne made their grand entrances into our world. After an entire night and morning spent in labor (approximately 20 hours), I was more than ready for their arrival! They were born at a healthy 5 lb 10 oz and 4 lb 11 oz, respectively. The medical staff had prepared for the possibility of needing to take them to the NICU, but neither needed it!
While the girls are healthy, they are still pretty small. And they had some difficulty gaining weight at first. The pediatrician who saw O&A during our hospital stay was amazing. She kept a very close eye on their weight, deciding to keep the girls 2 extra days in the hosptial for monitoring. I was crying at first, because I was being discharged and they weren't. But Baylor - the BEST hospital system in Texas! - allowed us to stay (for free!) in our room, even though I was no longer a patient.
We are so thankful to God for answering our prayers for the delivery of two healthy girls. He has been by our side the entire time. We're also thankful to our family and friends for the love and care that has been given us while awaiting their arrival. We love you all!


Ready to deliver!


Were they both really just inside of me??


Two sleeping beauties. Olivia is Baby "A".


Big Sister is fascinated!


It's true love.

Big Belly!

This picture was taken September 22nd, so almost 2 weeks ago (@ 29 weeks gestation). It's pretty crazy how fast I've started to grow. It's estimated that the babies put on ~1 oz/day at this point. Based on the measurements of our most recent sonogram, Olivia weighs approximately 4 lbs. by now & Abigail weighs about 3 1/2 lbs!

Our Family is Growing!

God has blessed our family tremendously! We continue to learn so much from Emily, and we love watching her develop every day. She is a source of complete joy in our lives.
And now we have an incredible double blessing on the way...twins!! Kyle and I will be inviting Abigail Corinne Bennett and Olivia Catherine Bennett into our arms within the next 2 1/2 - 3 months. We're expecting their "arrival" to be mid-late November.
Hopefully, with all of the chaos that has been guaranteed to ensue with two infants, I'll be able to find some occasional time to post photos. I'll try to get some updated ones of Emily and maybe a belly pic on here before the babies arrive!

Singing

Emily has become quite the singer.
This first video is from Feb, of her singing Old McDonald. She got a little melodramatic at the end, but she's a toddler...what else can I say?



I love this next one. The video is a liittle boring, but her singing is so cute!
We have a monitor built into our phone. She had just woken up from her nap and started singing Twinkle Twinkle. It was too sweet, and I knew that if I went in there to get her on camera, she wouldn't perform. So this was the next best thing.

18 Months!!

Emily turned 18 months old on Sunday, January 24th. She is learning so many new things these days, sometimes it's like she's a different child at the end of the week.

After she started walking on her own, she really took off. Now she is very steady on her feet and is even beginning to run a little bit...it's more like a trot right now, actually. :) She loves to climb the baby jungle gym that is only a block from our house. It has a little slide that is just her size! That is one of our daily activities when it's not too cold.

Currently, her vocabulary is upwards of 100 words...this includes words she uses volitionally and we are sure she has a good understanding of their meaning. However, she can articulate many more. Some fun words she can repeat right now include Dallas & Texas. We have even practiced some of the books of the Bible! It is hilarious to hear that little voice try say some of those big words. She thinks it's pretty funny too. She is also putting two words together a lot, like "Help Mommy" and "Brush teeth."

Emily is all about her stuffed animals and babies. She carries them around the house non-stop, pushing them in her toy stroller, patting them, rocking them, taking all of their clothes off, trying to change their diapers. It's really cute.

Some other things she loves right now are putting Mommy's jewelry on, and talking on the phone. She'll walk around the entire house, talking up a storm with the telephone, with her free hand flying around in grand gestures. We also recently bought a piano, which Emily and I enjoy playing together.

Life is pretty busy these days. But Kyle and I are enjoying growing with our little girl!