Ben is here!

Excited to meet Baby Ben
Sami loving her little brother
Victory Kiss!
just after birth, looking kind of tired but feeling so happy
Benjamin David Rubinson

I am so excited to introduce you to our precious little boy, Benjamin David Rubinson! He is perfect, perfect, perfect! He was born Sunday, May 9 at 11:24pm weighing 7 lb 7oz, 21 1/2 inches long. I can honestly say I fell in love with him the moment he arrived. Speaking of his arrival, he has quite the birth story. I will give a quick run down.

I began to feel like I was having some early labor signs on Friday evening, so I easily convinced my mom to come on up just in case. Well, we walked all around South Lake Shopping Center on Saturday trying to encourage labor. I felt like we were headed in the right direction. Well, Sunday we made it to church and all the way through our Mother's Day brunch and still no Ben. In fact, things stopped completely. I was so disappointed. Mom said she had to head back to Houston by 3 or 4pm. I all of a sudden became desperate. I asked Adam to head to the store to pick up some root beer, ice cream, castor oil (yep!), reeses peanut butter cups, red raspberry leaf tea, evening primrose oil, and the spiciest indian food you can find. Mom went ahead and had to leave, but she knew she would probably have to come right back. After all the mid-wife remedies I began to have contractions while having dinner. I didn't want to get my hopes up, so we just continued with our evening routine. We ate dinner, gave Sami a bath, read her books, put her to bed, cleaned the kitchen, folded some laundry, installed the infant car seat, did some last minute packing of the hospital bag, all while having contractions. Before we knew it, they were coming 3 1/2 minutes apart and mom was headed to pick up dad and head back up I-45. Adam's parents were in a movie and quickly headed to our house. By the time we were headed to the hospital we were having contractions 3 minutes apart. We got checked in and had Ben in our arms not even 2 1/2 hours later. It truly was an amazing experience. Ben was perfection!

I cannot tell you how blessed I feel to have two healthy children who bring me so much happiness. I have never been filled with this much joy in my life! So, praise God for answered prayers, for blessings beyond blessings. Thanks to all those who prayed for us. I love our friends, our family, my babies and most of all my hubby who is just the greatest!!!

Getting Close to the Big Day

Whenever that is. May 7th is our official due date. It's funny that I am telling you that because all along I have been very general about my due date saying "oh, we are due sometime mid-May". I was 10 days late with sweet little Sami and I didn't want to feel disappointed if Ben waited an extra week or two also. But, as the weeks have gone on and we are getting so close I am starting to get my hopes up that he won't stay in there as long. So I guess I can say for sure that within the next 4 weeks (lets hope more like 2 weeks), we will have a baby boy!

While we wait, we are busy getting everything ready. I have a few more things to do in Ben's room and I need to put the infant car seat back in the car. Those are the only big things to do. Adam has been preparing for his licensing exams that he has to pass to do his new job. If he doesn't pass the first one the first time, he doesn't have a job. No pressure. He will do great. He has been studying so hard and doing well on his practice exams. So, by wednesday afternoon we will know if he has a job or not. Then he has one more to take on May 5th (good timing huh?). There is not quite as much pressure on the second exam. He will have a few tries to pass that one.

Sami has been loads of fun (for the most part) these days. She talks about Baby Ben, she prays for him, she knows he is in mommies belly. But, do I think she really knows that Ben is a real little baby boy who is about to change her entire world, no. The way I see it is none of us know what this is about to look like. We are all in this new experience together. Sami will be a great big sister. She is totally into babies these days. We have to change her baby dolls diaper every time we change hers. We have to put baby to bed whenever she is going to bed. She loves to throw away trash and to help clean. She will be my little helper!

When I finish the baby room, I will post some pics. Here are some pics for, well, someone's enjoyment (mostly mine :).

Bluebonnets 2010
Bluebonnets 2009
38 weeks with Sami
37 weeks with Ben (any difference, besides the tan?)

Sami in the leaves

Little Princess Ballerina


Snowing on Christmas Day at our new home
Sami and Uncle Rew


So, I don't seem to be the most faithful blogger in the world. After five, almost six months, I am finally catching you up. Since our last post, a lot has been going on for our family.  We managed to make it through a move, the holidays, my first trimester, illness and a week of Sami not napping (which I thought was going to be forever!).  Adam finished his golf year and has decided to change direction and start a new career.  He is currently on the job hunt meeting with many professionals in different industries (he has a few job offers and will know officially which he will take this week!).  We are starting to feel like things are slowing back down and getting back to some sort of normalcy.  

We had a great time over the holidays. Sami LOVES being with her family and friends. We got to spend Thanksgiving with our family in San Antonio.  Sami loves her cousins Chase and Lexie.  Uncle Mikey has become her favorite to play with.  She thinks he is FUNNY!!!  Christmas was spent in Fort Worth with all of the Fort Worth and Austin family.  There were around 20 of us plus 4 dogs.  It was the perfect environment for Sami, our little social butterfly!  Lots of family and friends, dogs and food, what could be better!  My parents and brother, Mike and his friend Mark came up Christmas afternoon and had dinner and stayed through my birthday.  It was so nice having everyone around.  Sami was not quite sure what to do with herself when all the holiday excitement came to an end.

Sami has recently developed one new and different trait, clinginess. She has become a little shy and definitely clings to momma. I took her with me to 24 hour fitness and definitely got called to come pick her up because she was inconsolable. She did the same thing at church. Not our usual Sami. But, as I have learned, this too shall pass. I am sure she will be back to normal in no time. Hopefully before Ben arrives (yes we have a name, Benjamin David Rubinson).

Speaking of Ben, we have our next appointment with our specialist on February 9th. If all looks good on this sonogram, we won't have to go back to the specialist and we can feel encouraged that Ben is growing perfectly. He definitely seems to be growing as he should and he is moving around in my tummy quite a bit. So, we are very hopeful for good news on the 9th.

Well, that is pretty much the update on things. I have thrown in a few pics of our girl. Thanks for checking in on us!