Benjamin Matthew is Here!

Our little guy made his debut on Friday, Oct. 16. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 ounces and is doing great. It's been a little crazy around here, so I took a while getting these posted, but better late then never.

He wasn't scheduled to arrive until Wednesday, the 21st, so we were more than a little surprised when my water broke on Thursday night. I was just making myself comfortable with a big bowl of ice cream and some good television, when I sat down and our adventure began.

We spent the next hour trying to decide if my water did, in fact, brake. I was in denial....big time. This is not what I had planned. There was laundry to do, a van to clean along with many other small things I wanted to get done before Wednesday morning. We called my neighbor and had her come sleep at our house while we went to the hospital.

They didn't have me deliver until the next morning, much to my dismay. So, because I was in a shared room until after the baby was born, there wasn't anywhere for Jason to sleep. So, he made a bed for himself in the van and I tried to get some rest until morning.

The delivery went really well. I was, of course, very nervous until I heard him cry and then I could relax. He was born at 10:16 am on 10/16. Kinda cool. Here we are after getting settled in our own room......finally.

I think this was day 3 at the hospital. With my other kids, I was in no hurry to get home. But this time, I wanted out of there. My Mom couldn't come until Wednesday, so I had friends watching my other kiddos and I was worried about them. It was time to go!

This is the first day home. All tuckered out.

This was the morning before we left, I think. Isn't he cute!

Here's all the Ray kids together. I didn't want the kids to touch him until they were bathed. I'm trying really hard not to be compulsive and crazy about germs.

I think this close-up of Ben is hilarious. He seems disgusted with the world and just wants to be left alone.

What a Nut!

This kid has an extra dose of hilarious lately. He is always pulling the funniest faces when no one is watching. I love listening to him play by himself with his toys. The best is when I hear him laughing at his own little jokes that he makes while he's playing. The last few months, he has taken to talking to random things. If your foot happens to be near his face, he'll say, "Hi, Foot! What you doing?" He gets pretty upset if "Foot" doesn't answer. Tonight I pulled out the vacuum and he wanted to have a little conversation with it. When "Vacuum" explained that he was going to bed, Graham was not happy. He perked up when I pulled out the 409 to wipe down the counters and he could strike up a convo with "Squirter". What a goof!

Just 9 more days and we'll be adding another crazy boy to the mix! YIKES!

New Toy

We got the kiddos a new trampoline a couple weeks after Jason got home from deployment. They've had so much fun on it! The fun quadruples when Jason gets home from work and spends some time jumping with them.
They're learning lots of new tricks and games. My personal favorite to watch and listen to is Marco Polo and Crack the Egg.

I love hearing them laugh and giggle as I make dinner. I'm excited to be able to join them every once in a while after I recover from the c-section. I tried to jump a little with Graham the first day we got it and about peed my pants.