Pics

Blake Preston Banks

After nine LONG months he's finally here! Blake was born Tuesday, May 26th at 11:38 am. Unlike Linsey and Megan, it was quite uneventful. (But that's the way we like it!) It was a scheduled induction, so we arrived at the hospital at 6am and got all checked in. They hooked me up to the pitocin at about 7, and by 7:15 I was contracting regularly--about 2 min apart. I had my epidural at around 9:30am. By 11 I was feeling a lot of pressure and when the nurse came to check me she said I was dilated to 10cm and the baby's head was right there. Dr. Begley came over and 2 contractions later little Blake was born. It was crazy how easy the whole thing was. Since he came out so fast he was pretty smashed and bruised, poor little guy. We got to snuggle and love him for a little while and then they put him on the scale. 9lbs 1 oz and 21 1/4 inches long!!! We were all a little shocked--Rusty and I were sure that this baby was going to be a little smaller, but he was 1 oz bigger than Josh. He was so alert right after he was born--he kept his eyes open for probably 2 hours straight. I swear I didn't see my other kid's eyes until they were like 3 days old!
Halle and Josh had a sleepover with Braxton and Kambree (Thanks Brian and Sara) and Rusty went to get them later that afternoon. Side story--Sara was laying by Josh and Brian was laying by Kambree trying to get them to go to sleep. Brian was talking to Kambree and Josh leans his head over and says, "Brian, be quiet--it is past your bedtime." That little HAM... Anyway, the kids got here and Halle couldn't get enough of Blake--she just wanted to hold him and look at him and love him. It was really sweet. My favorite Halle quote, "Now I am a DOUBLE big sister!" And she is also quite amazed that he doesn't have any teeth. Josh wasn't particularly interested in Blake--he just wanted his present that the baby got for him.
We are so glad Blake is here and we love him so much!

What's in a name?

As you all know, we just couldn't be 100% sure this baby's name was Blake until after he was born. But we didn't really have many more options that were jumping out at us. Just a week or two ago I was reading in a baby name book and came across the name "Bennett." I thought that was kinda cute, so we toyed around with that a little, but Blake was still the favorite.
While we were at the hospital we were talking back and forth about names and I jokingly said, "Whatever boy name we hear last on the TV before he is born will be his name." A shoe commercial comes on and the guy says, "Hi, my name is Blake..." and we burst out laughing. The next commercial was a news segment about VP Biden and Colorado Senator Bennett. Again, another good laugh. A bit later on the news was a story of a little CO town named......Bennett! Now this is getting a little weird! And the final straw was the French Open. We all know how much Rusty loves tennis, and that his middle name is Bjorn, after Bjorn Borg, a #1 player when Rusty was born. When thinking about naming the baby Blake I thought I could kill two birds with one stone because James Blake is the 10th ranked tennis player in the world (not to mention People Magazine's 2008 Sexiest Bachelor!)And then my kid wouldn't have to be subjected to ridicule by being named Federer or Nadal. So, we turn the channel to ESPN to catch a bit of the French Open, and I bet you'll never guess what happened next. Yep that's right--Announcer voice: "Coming up next, JAMES BLAKE." That pretty much sealed the deal.
Blake's middle name is Preston, which is my dad's middle name as well. Being named after my dad gives little Blake a lot to live up to because my dad is a stand up guy. He is the best dad and the best grandpa. I have so many funny games, songs, and stories from my childhood that originate from my dad, and all ready my kids have some of these same fun memories. Grandpa is the only one who can get Josh to go to sleep when we are in Utah by singing him silly made up songs--and only Grandpa can do it--no one else. We know Blake will love him just as much as we do!

This is a pic of the TV while James Blake was playing his match. Too bad he lost....

Before and After

Before.....


After...

The Best Present Ever

I bet you all thought it would be the baby, didn't you? Well, it's not. The best present ever (given to me, by me) is that I hired someone who came and scrubbed my house from top to bottom yesterday. And it was heavenly. I just went about my day, getting little things done around the house, running errands, etc, all the while my house was being deep cleaned by someone else. Nothing better. It looks great and feels so good to have the whole thing clean at one time. But now I am probably going to turn into a Nazi mom and if even one crumb is spilled on the floor, or one little sticky hand touches my clean windows, there will be SERIOUS consequences. :)

Work Frog

For Christmas I gave Rusty a t-shirt with TheBlogFrog logo on it. He was wearing it today, and here is his conversation with Josh.

Rusty: What's this? (pointing to the frog)
Josh: A Frog!
Rusty: What kind of frog? (hoping he'll say Blog Frog)
Josh: It's a Work Frog!