Pictures from Bennett's Newborn Photo Session...4 Months Late

One of our favorite people from Brian's masters program at Duke Divinity School is his former classmate, Jess Wong.  Jess is the first person we met when we moved to North Carolina four years ago and one with whom we have continued to keep in touch.

While she continues to study for her PhD in Religion at Duke, her parents live in Dallas (coincentially near Breck's sister, Brook-Lyn). When we moved to Waco this year, we were excited, among other things, to be closer to Jess' family, whom we have come to love.

Jess' father is a professional photographer who said months before Bennett was born that he would be willing to photograph Bennett's newborn pictures for us.  So, understandably, we were disappointed when Bennett wasn't able to come home immediately after his birth and missed the opportunity to have newborn pictures made.  But John reassured us that he would be ready when we were.

So, this weekend, we *finally* had a chance to meet with John to take Bennett's photographs.  We were so very excited because this man does amazing work!

In addition, Brook-Lyn, Breck's sister was so kind to come with us on the shoot to help entertain Oliver and be an overall helper to us.  We also cherished the opportunity to get to see her.  While we were busy, Brook happily took a few shots of our photo session for us by which to remember the day.  These shots may be a bit blurry but we didn't want our camera's flash to ruin the beautiful pictures John was taking.

We look forward to seeing the final product soon!

 

Breck and Bennett talk to Cindy, John's wife, who came to help with the photo shoot.  Cindy is such a lovely person and really cares for us like a second mother.  John gets everything ready in the background. 

  

All the clothes hung up and ready.

  

Breck makes silly faces and talks to Bennett in a high pitched voice - an effort to get Bennett to smile.  Poor John had to listen to it...right in his ear.  :)

  

Oliver gets a few shots by himself.  You can see that in this picture he is actually using "sign language" for please (hand in a circle on his chest) as he says "cheese."  He is smiling while also asking for candy...our bribe for a very very patient boy!

  

Breck holds up candy and toys to get smiles of Oliver and Bennett (who are taking a few pictures with Daddy).  Cindy watches on.

  

This isn't a good picture but it's a hint of what we look forward to seeing in the proofs!

  

After our photo shoot, the Wongs took us all to a delicious restaurant in Dallas.  There generosity was overwhelming.  (We missed not getting to see Jess but she's studying hard back in North Carolina these days.)

 

Thank you, John and Cindy!  You are such a blessing to us. 

Uh-Oh. It's a tie.

Well, all week they've been competing, T-shirt Design 2 and 3...

We kept thinking that one design might just pull ahead but Design 1 seemed to split the vote.

We ended with Design 1 with 26% of the vote.  Design 2 and 3 with 36% of the vote.

So, we have no other recourse but to do a tie breaker to see what shirt design Bennett's Brigade will be wearing this year for the Great Strides Cystic Fibrosis Walk in Waco on April 17.

The polls will be open for another few days.  If you already voted in the last election, do it again!  Which is your favorite? 

Design 2....or Design 3?

Remember, click the images to make them bigger.   (Do note that the year 2009 will be changed to 2010.  And, while Design 1 is shown, it is no longer an option.)

  

Baby Parts

 

Getting chubbier.

  

Sweet feet.

 

 

Missing a neck. :)

 

Baby face.

 

4 Months (17 Weeks Old)

Bennett turned 4 months old on January 30.  While unable to do it for very long due to weak neck muscles, Bennett enjoys sitting up in his Bumbo and watching the world around him.

 

 

 

 

  

 

Bennett's 2010 T-Shirt Design

Well, now that we've accepted we have a child with Cystic Fibrosis...
and we've decided to embrace that we will be participating in the annual Cystic Fibrosis walk here in Waco...

we've decided to make the best of it and have a great time raising money to find a cure for our son!

One of the things we have learned that many CF families do for the Great Strides Walk is to make team t-shirts.  So, we asked our dear friend Liz Bayless (a graphic artist who has experience designing t-shirts) to design this year's t-shirt for us. 

We love all three designs and couldn't decide which one so we've put up a poll on our blog so we can find out what Bennett's Brigade thinks.   If you will, decide which is your favorite design and vote in the poll on the right top side of the blog.

Click the images to make them bigger.   (Do note that the year 2009 will be changed to 2010.)  

Day in the Life - 3 Months Old

 Bennett cracks us up when we does this number... 

 ...Put something close to his mouth and his little froggy tongue comes right out to test it.  Babies learn about the world around them through their taste buds (our equivalent of finger tips), so it's not surprising that Bennett likes to taste things with his tongue.  But it's still pretty funny.  He'll sit there for a long time putting that tongue in and out, just tasting how soft or rough the fabric is.

When Bennett was in the NICU, he would often put his hands over his eyes.  We weren't sure if he was doing it on purpose or it was just coincidental.  However, we have observed that if he wants to sleep, sometimes he'll cover his eyes to block out any bright lights.

Oliver has started showing more and more interest in his little brother, who he insists on calling  "Baby" (rather than Bennett).  Recently, while Bennett was playing on the floor, Oliver decided to stop his running around and came down to play with Bennett.  It was a sweet moment we wanted to catch on camera.

And even sweeter was seeing Oliver give an unsolicited kiss to Bennett...right on the nose.

Revisiting Bennett's Birthday

During an OBGYN appointment today, Breck had a chance to see Bennett's delivery doctor, Dr. Bachofen, for the first time since Bennett was born.

We hadn't seen Dr. Bachofen since the moment when she sat next to Breck on her hospital bed and told her she'd discharge Breck from the hospital (only 12 hours after giving birth) because Bennett was being transferred to Temple for emergency pediatric surgery.

It was so exciting to see Dr. Bachofen.  Breck enjoyed being able to show Bennett off as well as to say thank you again in person to the doctor who listened to her fears and decided to go ahead and induce the baby early.  Dr. Bachofen was amazing at not ever really letting us know that she was concerned for Bennett's welfare.

This is why Breck was most interested in asking Dr. Bachofen her burning questions: "You were there at his birth, Dr. Bachofen. Were you worried that he would make it?"

Dr. Bachofen answered, "Yes.  I didn't think he was going to make it.  I was sick when I heard he had Meconium Peritonitis - the fact that his colon had ruptured. Yes, I was completely worried.  I didn't think he was going to make it."

Breck said: "He was supposed to be born on Friday but I came in on Wednesday morning with concerns he wasn't moving. I don't think he would have made it until Friday. Do you?

"No," she replied while shaking her head and looking down. "I do not think he would have made it."

Wow.

We had felt this was the case.  We had felt that he was critically sick.  But to hear it from the doctor who was there was a reminder of the gift we were given.

This visit with Dr. Bachofen came on the heels of learning another one of Breck's friends lost her baby at 38 weeks pregnant.

We feel like we skirted death.  And we have no idea why we are left so fortunate to have our baby alive and well.

Our hearts skip a beat as we are reminded how nothing is promised.  Children are gifts given to us on borrowed time.

This is all the more why we have chosen to stop looking at Cystic Fibrosis' short life expectancy as heartbreaking but instead look at it as a gift we almost didn't receive.