Bentley Smiles!

Bentley smiled for the first time a couple days before Thanksgiving but he makes us work hard for his smiles which frustrates the girls (okay I won't lie, and ME!). Until today, we finally found that singing Patty Cake with him (motions and all) makes him smile every time without fail! It was so fun sitting our bed this morning just enjoying our little baby interact with us. (Sigh) Life is good.

Elf Day

Each year we celebrate Elf Day (a German tradition) on December 6th, (0r 7th, or 8th, or 9th, really whenever the Elf's helper gets to the store to buy the rugrats some gifts and candy) and this year the Elf came on the 8th (hey, at least it was in the same week). Luckily the kids are too young to know when the actual day is :) So the night before the kids set out their shoes in anticipation of what the Elf will bring them.


Hallie (our practical child) figured if she set out her boots, she'll get more candy. Sydnee (our pre-Madonna) wanted to set our her "prettiest shoes so the Elf could see them sparkle." Bentley... well Mom just set out a pair of booties and called it good.

The next morning, the girls loved seeing their chapsticks, a game, candy, and new hats and gloves by their shoes. And the Elf stayed behind again to watch and see if they'll be good until Santa comes to bring him back to the North Pole. Now if only the Elf could remember to move to a new spot each night, cause I'm really getting tired of explaining that the Elf must really love that spot since he forgot to move again! I guess we should go easy on the elf this year, I think he's busy with a new baby in the house or something.

Daddy's Buddy

A Visit with Santa

Last Saturday we went to Cam's work Christmas party that they do every year for the kids. The kids each got a gift, played on a couple bounce houses, rode a train, and visited with Santa. Syd asked for a Rapunzel doll, and Hallie asked for a modest Barbie (she insists it be modest...she's our good child :) It was such a fun party.

My Little Over Achiever

Hallie rushed home from school the other day saying, "MOM! Guess what? Mrs. J said I'm like a first grader!" I was surprised and asked what she meant. Hallie then whipped out a worksheet she did at school that day where they had to circle the "Z" words. Hallie showed me the worksheet and said, "I followed the instructions but I wanted to sound out the words and write them too, even though Mrs. J didn't say to do that... I did, and Mrs. J said that's what 1st graders do!"

Bentley's Blessing Day

Since both Grandpa's were in town for the Thanksgiving week, we thought we'd bless Bentley too. Cameron gave Bentley a beautiful blessing. Bentley looked so handsome on his special day.

These were men that were in the blessing circle, both Grandpa's, Bishop Dew and Brother Cutler, the 1st counselor.

Turkey Day

We hosted Turkey Day this year and I would call it a success since Cameron walked away from the Turkey Bowl without any injuries. G&G Drake and Aunt Stacey came to our neck of the woods and Grandpa Voge joined us the day after Thanksgiving to ordain Cameron a high priest and help set him apart as second counselor in the bishopric.

G&G and Stace met Bentley for the first time.


Grandpa's dressed for the occasion wearing his "Number One Grandpa" shirt. I love this picture. Bentley's listening so intently to what Grandpa has to say.


Grandpa Voge meets Bentley for the first time too.



We took them to the Kirtland sites to see their Nativity exhibit...

and to see the Kirtland Temple.

One Month Old

Bentley's one month old (well six weeks old now since I'm a little behind in posting, but who's keeping track?) and he's topping the charts. He weighs 11.5 lbs. and is 24 inches long. So yes if you're keeping track, he's gained about 3 1/2 pounds in one month, that's my boy. His weight is in the 90% and height is in the 85% making him perfectly proportionate.

Things I don't want to forget:

• He's broken records on how much pee can come out of a human being. I can expect to change his diaper, clothes, and sheets about 2-3 times a night because he's peed through them ALL!
• He smiles in his sleep every time he's done eating. I love watching that.
• He's giggled, not just a "Ha" but actual giggling, in his sleep twice. What are you dreaming about?
• He cries really hard when he's hungry and fusses a little when he wants held, other than that, he's a pretty easy to please baby.
• He is a grunter while he sleeps, just like his Momma when I was a baby.
• He's cured Mommy of her chocolate cravings since he gets very fussy and gassy when I eat chocolate, as well as dairy and beans... bummer.
  
• He sleeps at night (THANKYOU!) for 4 hours, then is up for feedings every 3 hours afterwards. That is a heavenly compared to the nightmarish sleepers his sisters were.
• He loves listening to his sister's voices whether they're singing to him or talking to him.
• When Mommy enters the room, he follows my voice, yep, he's a Momma's boy :)
• Daddy is the only one who can put him to sleep initially at night. Daddy secretly looks forward to that quiet one-on-one time with him.
  

All in all he's a happy handsome dude.




Okay Mom, enough pictures.

I'm a "Church Widow" or So They Say

On Saturday I had decided to go back to church with Bentley, our first Sunday back, but told Cam I would just stay for sacrament meeting then come home. It sounded like a good plan to me, until we got a phone call on Saturday night from the Stake President asking us if we'd meet with him before church on Sunday. Nerves set in and we started speculating what calling Cameron was going to get: maybe it's just the finance clerk or a counselor in the stake young men's presidency or something small like that. Never would we have guessed that Cam would be called to be 2nd counselor in the Bishopric...crazy I know.

When the Stake President told us Cameron's new calling I immediately felt so proud of Cam for honoring his priesthood and being worthy of such a humbling calling then it set in deeper and deeper and I knew what this meant: I'm now a "church widow" since a lot of Cameron's time will be occupied with meetings and other church duties but the thing I fear the most is handling all three kids by myself in the pew each Sunday since Cameron has to sit on the stand. I thought, "I can do this, how hard can it be?" Well, Sydnee gave me a little glimpse yesterday of my very near future as she whined the entire sacrament meeting because Daddy had to sit up by the podium and not with her. I sat in sacrament meeting thinking, "All I wanted was to come to sacrament meeting and leave to finish recuperating from having a baby!" haha.

Since it was our first Sunday back at church with our now family of five, we took a quick family picture before church. Little did we know this picture would remind us of the day our families' lives changed for at least the next 3-5 years :) Yay for "church widows!"

And look how handsome Bentley looks on his first Sunday at church. Cam thinks his outfit makes him look like an old man :( I just love his chunkiness.

Loves From Grandma

It was so nice having Grandma here to help with the girls and Bentley. She made the adjustment and recovery much easier for me! The girls loved playing games, reading books, running errands, and just being silly with her. Grandma sent them on a couple of treasure hunts to find surprises she brought for them which the girls loved. They wore Grandma out, making her take a couple extra naps while she was here, but we love that she came to visit. We miss you already Grandma!

Happy Halloween

This Halloween was a special one because Grandma Voge was still in town to trick-or-treat with the girls. Hallie wanted Grandma to be a witch and the girls were princesses.


Little Bentley was Baby BoJangles and looked like the cutest skeleton I've ever seen.

Pumpkin Carving: Oops we Forgot!

We've been so busy enjoying little Bentley that we completely forgot to carve pumpkins until Halloween morning! AHH! Shame on me. So Grandma Voge and I got to work carving pumpkins with the girls before school.


Here's Grandma and Hallie's pumpkin:

Here's Mommy and Syd's pumpkin:

One Week Old

One week old and Bentley has already gained his first nickname: the pee monster. The poor guy can't control his bladder, he pees through his diapers, clothes, blankets and bedding at least twice a day! I can't keep up on laundry fast enough, so we went on our first outing--to Target--to buy more sheets and blankets for him. He's peed on his face twice, on Cam and I numerous times and almost every time we open his diaper for a changing. I really can't complain though, I'd rather take peeing on everything any day than a bad sleeper.

I think he looks so much like a Drake in this picture. Maybe he's a good mixture of us both?

We've even learned a little bit about his personality:

• he loves the bath as long as it's warm
• he's so content all the time even when he's awake if he isn't being held he's completely fine with it
• the only time he cries is when he's hungry, and when he's hungry, he wants it NOW
• he loves listening to Hallie's voice when she talks to him
• he purses his lips a lot and wrinkles his eyebrows when he sleeps like so...

• We think he's quite the thinker
• he's the BEST sleeper ever which is such a nice change from the horrible sleepers our girls were the first year. He goes to sleep at 9:30pm and wakes up about every three hours to eat, burps himself after he eats, then falls right to sleep with a few minutes of rocking. So easy peezy! What a blessing he is :)

Bentley's Birth Announcement

Photo Card

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Bath Time for Bentley

Bentley got his first bath at home last night. I just love naked babies and all their lose wrinkly skin but the best part about bathing them is the way they smell after. Isn't he a doll? He's such an easy-to-please baby and is the best nurser, the complete opposite from how the girls were. He truly is a bundle of joy, we just love him to pieces.

All clean and wide-eyed...

Meet Bentley

Cam says he could set his clock by when I go into labor. With every baby I've started labor at 7am on the dot, and Bentley continued the trend. When I woke up last Thursday morning, I thought I might be in labor so I hopped in the shower, washed my hair, and did my makeup, knowing it'd be a couple days til I could get around to doing those simple tasks again. This labor proved to be a "fast labor" again too. We arrived at the hospital around 9:30am and I progressed pretty quickly, only having to push twice and he was born just two and a half hours later at 12:05pm.

We welcomed Bentley Cameron Voge into our family on Thursday, October 20, 2011! In just five hours of labor, he was born healthy and with a strong set of lungs. We are just enjoying his sweet spirit and are finding he seems to be a laid back and easy to please baby. We feel so blessed to have him in our family and the girls are just loving him to pieces. Sydnee loves telling us not to bug him when he's sleeping and she is his little protector while Hallie loves holding him and protects him from Sydnee's over-protectiveness. Here are some pictures of our sweet little man.

The girls were so excited to meet Bentley. They gave him lots of hugs and kisses and Bentley gave them a gift when they got to the hospital which were Halloween sticker books and a beanie baby stuffed animal. Then Daddy let the girls help change Bentley's first poopy diaper... yummy. Of course it brought questions about what that "thing" was between Bentley's legs so Daddy had the forced opportunity to teach Syd about a boy's private parts. To which Sydnee replied, "That's gross." Thankfully though, she loves the rest of him :)

My THREE kiddos and I! I can't believe we have three kids, boy are we outnumbered!

Grandma Voge meets Bentley for the first time! She flew in to help out with the baby and we figured arriving five days before Bentley's due date would be plenty of time to watch the girls when I go into labor, but Bentley had his own schedule and arrived hours before Grandma's arrival. Luckily everything worked out anyway, and we're just happy to have him here!

Bentley and I are ready to go home! He's sporting a cute little baseball outfit that I got from my shower. What a handsome little guy, we just love him to pieces. We're so blessed to have him in our family.