9 months and counting...

It's official.  Our babe-o is BIG and healthy and we love him to pieces!

Height:  28.5" (60th percentile)
Weight:  20lbs. 8oz. (50th percentile)
Head:  somewhere in the 40th.

Teeth:  5 (two on top, three on bottom and yes, he's still being "nice" with them :))

Clothes: still some 6 - 9 month and now getting into 12 month (those are big on him though)
Shoes: 3s and 4s

The doctor we saw was very happy with his progress. 

I decided last week to go out and try to get him some new toys, because he seems to be getting bored with his old ones... I was on my way to a very cool consignment shop my friend Allison took me to before B was born and saw a yard sale on the way with boy stuff!  So I got him four new toys, two pairs of shorts, all very nice for $11.  The toys... gasp... have lights and sounds...  It's true.   I took the plunge.   We also got to have a late lunch picnic with Nate on Friday - it was a great day!

He loves, loves, loves to be outside!

Sometimes, a baby needs to take on the carrot and the BIG APPLE.

He got to see a medic chopper land in Nate's mom and dad's pasture yesterday, but really, he was WAY more into squacking at the puppy Lady.  He's a sucker for dogs.  Here is he is with his cousin :)

Even with all the toys, Benson's favorite things consist of playing "where's mama?" and being outside.  He loves peek-a-boo and also likes to BOOK IT - crawling as fast as he can into our room and into the closet to play with shoes, magazines, bags, whatever he can get his chubby little hands on. 

And, just this afternoon, he did much better at enduring and dare I say enjoying a bike ride.  The helmet was not his foe today as it was last week when we tried, thankfully.  On the way home, he was doing the constant noise thing to hear his voice change with every bump.  Ha.

Please excuse the confused look. He had this for most of the trip...

And we leave you with this parting image... Oh, John... This was actually my fault. It may have fallen on the floor.  And it may have hit the ceiling, too... May have. :)  These two are phenomenal photographers (and some of my oldest and dearest friends, even if we don't see each other often), but if they ever tire of it, they have pizza skills like no other. Seriously.

Thanks for checking in and is anyone else alarmed our son is NINE MONTHS OLD????!!!!  No?  Just us?  Okay. Well, we're really alarmed.

Up for this week:  Celebrating our two year wedding anniversary!!!!!

Love you all!

My first Mother's Day (with Benson out here where I can hang out with him, that is...)

What a fun week (or was it two???) we had!  This is even more intense and long than usual, so if you don't want to read, you can scroll through the pics :)

The first weekend in May, we got to coordinate and read Scripture in our awesome friends' wedding!  Luke and Janine got hitched.  And can I just say that we're SOO SUPER EXCITED for them!!!!  We love these two and they are such dear people!  Really, the kind of people you wish you could be like when you grow up...  Nate and I really enjoy coordinating together. He sees things I don't and we have a lot of fun doing it (but I think we forgot how tiring it is!).  Happy Marriage, you two!  I can't wait to see all that God does!

I got to hang out with my sweet friend Sarah (who watches Benson unreciprocated pretty much any time there is a need) and take her to do a little shopping and give her a haircut.  Yeah. I cut it.  You should have been praying for us.  But I didn't give you a chance ;) 

She has great hair. It covers a multitude of "I've never been to cosmetology school" transgressions :)

We also got to watch Nate's nieces Hadassah and Hosanna from Friday after school to Saturday afternoon/evening while their parent's were out celebrating life at the beach with other friends.  These girls are a riot.  We had a rule that you had to be nice to each other in our house and if you weren't you had to say something nice you like about that person, apologize and make up :)  Sounds sweet, right?  It was a fun experiment and unbeknownst to us, before 6:30 Saturday morning, they had to seek/give forgiveness a couple times and split up for time apart.  Oh, boy.  Sisterly love (they're 9 and 6).  They LOVE it when I do their hair and usually Hadassah (the nine year old) asks for something "FUNKY".  So I usually oblige.  This time the funk involved a curling iron.  The bad part was that we also watched Meerkats the documentary and apparently, while I was upstairs for two minutes, she saw a snake on the show, got really scared, flung herself onto the seat behind her and sat on her hands, on the curling iron.  I heard the scream through my blow drier :(  She has a LARGE burn across the palm of her hand and I have to say, I'm pretty sure I would have cried, minus the fact I had to keep it calm for her sake. I don't have a picture, and you can be thankful of that.  It was not pretty.  But it was impressive.

After that story, we can go to a happy place now.  If you get kissed by Benson, YOU WILL GET WET. And he also likes to kick his foot up apparently, and you MUST hang on tight.  It's that intense.  How much cuteness is this business???  Don't worry. It's a platonic cousin kiss.  But don't say you haven't been warned.  If you see him comin' at ya... Brace yourself.

Saturday afternoon, we all headed over to Nate's parent's farm (how are you supposed to do that two owner sort of apostrophe 's' thing??? I can't remember).  Anyway... We were there to celebrate his mom and hang out as a family, minus Sheldon and Mindi who were at the beach. We had all their kids, though!  The goal was to make mom a meal and not let her do any work (kinda) and it sorta worked until clean up time when we had to kick her out of the kitchen.  Ha. 

Then this happened.  It was windy...

This tree has been on the farm since Nate's grandparents lived there. 

We are grateful for many reasons...  We were parked just in front of it, but we moved before dinner.  This happened shortly after dinner.  We had all just walked back from Nate's sister's new place (there's that ownership 's dilemna again...) and were walking through there with seven adults and six kiddos.  It was still light out.  Nate and his bro in law Curtis were there to help Dad out.  Well, Curtis' car was trapped, so he HAD to help. Just kidding.  He would have anyway.  The babies all did well while we waited.  And us ladies had fun taking pictures and watching the guys work together. I like that.  Teamwork is a good deal!

For Mother's Day... Wait!  Before I go any further, I just want to say I LOVE BEING A MOM and WIFE.  I love it.  I want to honor God as I parent Benson and be a reflection of His love for him.  It's a big task, and one I joyously can't do on my own!  I think it's such a privilege to raise this little guy and any others God gives to us for God's glory.  It really astounds me.  And what a privilege to be married to Nate.  We're coming up on two years in just a couple weeks and that's awesome!  Okay, now that that's out...

For Mother's Day, Nate brought me a dozen roses and got a bike seat for Benson, so I can shlep him around for the next few years as if nine months wasn't enough!!!  He also got a helmet for him.  It makes me want to pinch him. (Benson, not Nate)  And the helmet makes him want to scream.  Okay, it makes him scream.

 

The day of, we actually stayed home from church. I was exhausted beyond belief (Benson's decided he doesn't like to sleep anymore :( ).  I think it has something to do with life being SO FUN now.  We often find him sitting up in his crib crying, eyes closed.  Like his body just had to move and couldn't figure out how to lay back down. Ha.  And we have been running a lot lately (whoa, easy.  Not that kind of running, I'm not that brave.)  So I asked Nate if we could just do church as a family so we could relax.  He obliged, but I think it was a stretch for him...  We slowly got ready, read some articles on marriage, etc. while Benson slept for THREE HOURS.  his lack of sleep at night must've caught up to him.  We then headed out to adventure in the county.  We decided to do a covered bridge tour, and got to see a lot of beautiful farmland neither of us have seen before!  http://www.padutchcountry.com/towns-and-heritage/covered-bridges/index.asp We did the Southern Amish one.  It was fun and got a little long, but that's because we got out at all of them, except one. I got to talk to my mom while we were driving and that was so nice.  It was fun to talk to my mom while I'm a new mom on Mother's Day!  Ha. On our way home, we stopped at the Creamery in Strasburg and got ice cream cones on homemade waffle cones.  YUM!  What a special day with my special guys!

These pictures are for my sister's boyfriend Thomas who wants to know why there aren't pictures of me around.  It's because I always have the camera... But thanks for reminding me.  Otherwise, we'd only have pictures of my handsome guys.

And, well, sometimes you try for a family shot, and all you get are awkward ones... So I chose the LEAST awkward.  Eesh. Senor Benson is SQUIRM king now.  He's a mover and shaker and is just so stinkin' fun.  This picture was at this bridge we thought we might see a buggy get hit by a car going SUPER FAST around the bend behind us into the bridge where the buggy was already inside.  Ugh.

Nate's headed out on his first three day backpacking trip this week with our friend Brian. It will be fun for him!  I hope the weather is great and they can be blessed by their time in the mountains with God and each other!

We love you guys!!!!  We hope you have a great week!

I want this lady to be my personal shopper

I love the stuff she's picked out for my friends (Erin/Kim) and well, I love that she's about modesty and being cute!

Cute Covered

Thanks Jena for your heart for adoption, your friendliness, and your style (and giveaways that I hope to win one of someday :))

It's official, he's mobile!...and other random news...

So, for the past couple months, the little guy has been scooting around on his behind, arms, legs, you name it, but hadn't quite mastered the traditional crawl... In the past couple of days, though, he has it and today, he's movin' around like he means it.  It's super cute. 

He also thinks he's a super power lifter and loves to tote around my 2 lb. Pilates weights. 

He also loves, loves, loves the big ball we store in his room.  Here we are playing peek a boo before bedtime.  And yes, we play before bed.  We're fearless like that!

He still really enjoy smiling at people and puppies make him squeal and giggle like crazy. Peek a boo and us being crazy are his most entertaining moments of the day.  He also, unfortunately for him, may have inherited my body's way of dealing with heat.  Or not dealing with it.  Being too warm makes him fussy.  But fussy for him still isn't so bad.  But I do feel for him, I know how he feels. 

He chatters and makes all sorts of fun noises, my favorite being something that sounds like he's saying, "ah disssth".  I don't know what it means, but he says it a lot to the baby in the mirror in the car, usually surrounded by gruntings that sound like he's warning that boy in the mirror that he's super tough and he better watch out!

He's eating lots of healthy food that would make many adults gag, but he doesn't know any better, so that's good!  His favorite seems to be a mix of rice cereal, spinach, green beans, carrots, and prunes.  Aren't you glad I'm not your mom??? ;)

He also apparently thinks bed is for playing, not sleeping, though he does eventually sleep, which is nice for us :)  We find him many times playing and chattering and sitting up or in some very awkward position, where he eventually cries because his kickstand of an arm won't cooperate and he gets STUCK. Really, really stuck.

We think last week he had a cold and was cutting top teeth, they're not out yet, but we can see them.  Pesky teeth, not nice!

He adores destroying block towers, like seriously adores it. 

And these two are each other's biggest fans, I do believe.  I love their bond!

Another sweet milestone today is that I've been with Global Disciples now for FIVE YEARS!  Isn't that pretty crazy? Only to me? Okay.  After months of discernment, a flight across the country, an eight hour interview, and a drive with a sweet friend across the country with my Subaru (rest her soul) packed to the gills, I arrived here.  In this place I've come to know as home, the place I fell in love and got married and had a baby and turned 30 :-/  But really, when I meditate on God's amazing faithfulness throughout this time, I'm astounded!  Thanks all for praying for us and supporting us.  It's been such a blessed journey and I look forward to what God is up to in these days!

In other exciting news... we had a Women's Conference at our church a couple weekends ago. I became a dancing, flag waving, celebrating Jesus kind of gal.  It's true.  For those of you who know my "test everything" personality, this is big.  But even bigger than that, is that it's a signal of the healing and freedom God did in my life.  That's certainly something to smile about.  I went to help serve on the ministry team, and, as we all know, we are often times the one blessed and stretched and changed and challenged in those times.

We love you!

Jenny for Nate and Benson, too

Eight months old!

It's pretty crazy to think that eight months ago, we had this little peanut at 6lbs. 14oz.

And now we have this adorable, not so little peanut who smiles and moves around and is just pure JOY

Playing the Africa drum at my office with Jim :)

He is mobile (kinda) and scoots around backwards :)

We love him, his cute little face and his awesome, positive personality!  He makes people smile and that's really contagious!

Um, sorry about my intense dilinquency... Here's a picture post :)

We are so blessed with incredible family and friends.  The weather has been gorgeous here in PA and we've been enjoying getting out into the sun and seeing nature :)  So sorry for the long lapse in pictures of Benson.

He's scooting and almost crawling, we think.  He now knows when he sees a camera to SMILE as big as he can.  It's pretty funny.

With "uncle Harry" from Ind-nesia

He has a fierce left hook - with Janton from Ind-nesia... Thankfully, all was forgiven...

Uncle Harry again

With "Uncle Harry" and Amani from Kenya

Hangin' out with the Hess kiddos - Elliana is SO not interested, her heart is with another ;) and Josiah, seriously, buddy... So cute.

Little Hudson really wanted to drum with Nate

First Wagon Ride

Hiking Tucquan Glen with daddy :)

Another hiking day - he loves shoulders

With Grandpa Hoover - this may be one of my all-time favorite pictures

Easter with the three youngest Hoovers

Hello 30!

I am not one of those gals who dreaded turning thirty, for some reason. It doesn't bother me at all.  You see, my life gets better and better the older I get, so I'm actually looking forward to getting older :)  I think of how many people I know who are better at 30 than at 20, at 40 than at 30, at 80 than at 50 and so on.  It actually excites me. I have so much to learn and have so many ways to grow and for that I say, WELCOME THIRTY!!!  How weird am I?

I woke up the morning of my birthday to two of the best gifts God has ever given to me - my hubby and my little Hooverlet.  I still can't believe how fortunate I am to have this privilege!

I must admit, I was a bit on the suspicious of every little thing side for the week leading up to my birthday, but I had no idea just HOW SNEAKY my hubby and friends are!  I was trying very hard though not to ruin the surprise, because it's so sad when you work so hard to surprise someone and they figure it out.  Which I almost always do.  Until Allison Hess entered my life.  She's a schemer to the max. ;)

Friday afternoon, our sister in law Mindi invited us over for dinner and I thought, "aha, this is it!". But it wasn't a party, just a really nice night hanging out with the family.  Thanks Mindi and Sheldon and kiddos for a great night!

After asking a few people to have breakfast with me for my birthday and no one being able to (Nate was at our Church's Men's Group) I decided to go with just my little buddy.  I got up Saturday morning, looked outside, noticed there were big, beautiful snow flakes falling from the sky. When I checked the weather, it didn't show we were supposed to get any, so I just assumed it was God's way of saying "Good morning and Happy Birthday" to me :)  Benson and I headed down with our new Ergo from Auntie Gretchen to Prince Street Cafe, where they make a mean cappuccino and then we wandered around Central Market looking at the pretty produce and meats, cheeses, etc.  Benson decided all people were there for his enjoyment and smiled a ridiculous amount.

Nate came home and I was incredibly suspicious of our dinner plans for that night :)  You see, I am married to a very romantic guy.  And while some could assume that their hubby's wouldn't plan a surprise 30th birthday, I just knew he would. He's like that. And he teaches me so much about romance and love.  He's so good for me.

We got ready to go, my sweet friend Vanessa came over to watch Benson for us (he loves her!).  On the way to dinner, Nate even used his GPS on his phone to find the place we were going, because he was really working to throw me off and my friend Allison called to wish me a happy birthday and to say she had a journal for me (we're all working on journals to hand out to women who come to a conference at our church, so this wasn't so weird) and at this point, I was pretty sure something was up.  When I walked in, our church's cafe was full of people I love and decorated oh, so adorably!  Nate and I watched Julie and Julia on our trip and he planned a French themed party for me, along with my dear friends Allison, Brynne, and Kim.  I am so spoiled. 

They asked each person to bring a French dish to share, and the food was DELICIOUS!  Seriously, no restaurant could have topped what people brought to share. It was incredible!  Allison and Kim even found vintage hats for us to wear from the time period of Julie Childs in France.

Our dear friends Luke and Janine had to leave, but left us with a bag FILLED with delicious bread, cheeses, and a bottle of sparkling grape juice - so delicously extravagant.  My sweet friend Jen's mom (who I've never even met!) even sent a gift to me!  And it was a perfect gift!  I had asked her to make coupon holders I saw on her blog for grocery carts for my couponing friends and one for me - I wanted to give them to them as a gift and she sent all three along and told me they were my gift!  Such generosity!  I couldn't believe it. You see, I like getting gifts as much as the next girl, but I LOVE to give them.  So this gift was really special as I received something and got to give something away.  It was awesome!!!

My hubby drove three hours roundtrip to the Le Creuset outlet to buy me a pan.  This isn't any old pan, though.  It's wonderful in every way and I've wanted one for a very long time, because they are amazing. And amazingly expensive, so I never thought I'd get one.  But Nate saved a HEAP of money on the one he got and I love it already. I've made multiple recipes in it already and just love it's versatility!  It can go from stove to oven in a flash ;) and it's easy to clean, etc.  Oh, so fun!  He also got me the "Art of French Cooking" two volume cookbooks by Julia Child.  He knows me so well! 

The crew had a time of prayer for me and I just feel so blessed and loved by those God has surrounded me with.  I am one blessed gal!  I wouldn't be who I am today without the wealth of relationships I have around me.  As I listened to people praying and prophesying over me, I couldn't believe some of what they were saying.  So much of it was so kind it was overwhelming, and some of the prophesies were confirmations of what I believe God has been laying on my heart.  God is just so good to us!

Oh, and for my scheming friend Allison, she even got church members and friends to scheme with her. I'm pretty convinced her love of throwing parties is almost like giving a present to her.  The journal making day for the conference was even a scheme - that means she included 6 or so other people not involved in the party in the plan!  Thanks for working so hard to bless me!

I made a yummy meal Sunday night :) with enough butter and 1/2 and 1/2 in it to kill us deader than dead... It called for heavy cream, but I didn't have it and really, the 1/2 and 1/2 made me feel better about myself. Like I was taking good care of my body.  Julia Childs lived to be OLDER THAN you'd imagine with her love of wine and butter in mass.  Crazy.

My first almost full week of being thirty has been so awesome and I can't wait to see what God has planned for this year!

And... no post would be complete without this little guy making his rounds :)  He is now the proud owner of two teeth on the bottom and they are so stinkin' cute I want to pinch them.... well, maybe not... but what do you do with cute teeth?  They're not quite like chubby legs or cheeks, now are they?  Hmmm...

He had a visit with his friend Ilyana (sorry if I botched that name, Monica!) and decided to HOLD HANDS with her - check this series of pictures out.  Disturbing.  She's only a week older, but about one inch taller and five pounds lighter!  Ha ha.  It's been fun to be pregnant with Monica, then to discuss our babes together.  And by discuss, I don't mean that annoying, unhealthy "my kid's better than yours" thing but just saying how they are progressing and being HAPPY when either one is doing well.  It's the healthy kind of "comparing". Or just checking in on our kiddos.

Benson continues to be super happy, strong, and very much a joy to us - we are so incredibly blessed by his little life!  

Nate has been working on this awesome saying for our wall.  He cut the letters out with his scroll saw, sanded, and painted them.  Now they hang in our living room.  Very cool!