Day One...

The day after I was born, I got to meet my big sister, my Grandpa and my Aunt Laurie. My Grandma and Mimi and Poppy also came to visit again, too! It was a very busy day, but of course I did manage to sleep the whole way through it.

My favorite part? Kisses from my big sister!

Here, Haleigh is showing the lamb that I got her the view from the hospital room! Look at all that snow!!

Me and Grandpa - who my middle name is after:

Happy Birthday to Me!!

My name is Benjamin James and I was born on January 30, 2009 at 7:52 pm. I weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 inches long. Everyone was quite surprised at how big I was. The day I was born, my Mommy was actually measuring 4 weeks behind so the fact that I was so big was quite a shock! When I came out, I had my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck and there was even a knot in it! Despite my size and cord issues, my blood sugar levels were completely fine and I even scored 9/9 on my apgars. I got to snuggle with my Mommy for quite some time before they even weighed me. That was the best part of my journey!

My big sister, Haleigh, was born over 3 weeks early... not ME! I gave my Mommy a run for her money and hung out until just 4 days before my due date. All I was waiting on was my Mimi and Poppy to fly in. They arrived in Cleveland to be here for my induction on my due date of February 2nd just a few hours before my Mommy was admitted into the hospital! It was my nice little surprise for everyone since my Mimi was going to be there in the delivery room as I was being born, alongside my Daddy. My Grandma and Poppy waited out the labor with everyone and came to visit me just a little bit after I was born. It was so nice to already feel such love from my family so early on.

I really took it easy on my Mommy with the labor. The contractions she had weren't very painful and once the Dr. arrived to break her water, I was here within about 20-30 minutes! Of course, I was pretty big, but she handled it well and did it all naturally! Way to go Mommy!

I Have a Name!

After almost 39 weeks, my Mommy and Daddy have finally named me! They started off with a list of about 27 names and narrowed it down to the one they thought was "it". Then, to confuse the situation even further, they changed their minds and came up with a few others!

Well, weeks passed and they still couldn't figure out what to name me. In hopes that all I was waiting to enter this world for was a name, they decided to finally hunker down and choose a name! So, Thursday January 22nd, they printed out the names 10 times each and put them in a bowl. They let my big sister, Haleigh, draw the names and they did three rounds of a "Best of 3". It came down to the final round and "Benjamin" won! My middle name is after my Daddy's Dad, my Grandpa.

So, I'm officially, Benjamin James. Well, I guess not officially because I have to be born first!

Here is my big sister drawing the names:

My Very Own Room!

I'm not even born yet, but my Mommy and Daddy have already set up my very own room. I'm glad I won't have to share a room with my sister because it's pretty girlie! I just know I'm going to love it when I arrive... My room is also sort of a memorabilia room for my Daddy. It is filled with collectibles that he has gathered over the years. He is a big sports fan and has hundreds of autographs from various players over time. It will be fun to share in his hobby when I'm older!