Sweet Baby Talk

As Henley gets older she continues to talk, coo and smile at us. It is so adorable and we have been trying to catch it on video. Tonight she was talking alot and we got some of it on video! The cooing is intermittent, but cute. We can not wait for everyone to meet and see her soon!

Ho, Ho, Ho Who Wouldn' t Go?

Last year was a hilarious reminder of how children might like the idea of Santa Claus, but maybe not so fond of him in real life! Christian talks about Santa Claus and walks around saying, HO, HO, HO! However this weekend we took the kids to breakfast with Santa and Henley was probably the only one who enjoyed sitting on his lap! Christian was not having any of Santa this year either! We had hoped maybe watching some of his friends sitting on Santa's lap would encourage him, but nope! Brian and I showed Christian Santa before breakfast and Santa looked over and waved. Well lets just say, you could of heard a scream probably from outside the Tavern! Brian and I were in hysterics because we thought this year was the year to sit on Santa's lap! Oh Well, at least Henley did not mind and we got a great photo with her and Santa!

Breakfast with Santa was at the Village Tavern at the Summit. They had arts and crafts, breakfast of course and pictures with Santa. When we got there it was buzzing with excitement of little children waiting to catch a glimpse of Santa! I love watching them all run around and making crafts. Christian made a stocking and reindeer ornament that went on out tree when we got home. He had a great time except Santa! When we were in the line with Henley for the picture Christian kept pointing in the other direction screaming that way, that way! Last year he was so terrorized and we made him sit on Santa's lap for a picture. We decided this year if he was scared we would not push the situation! So no picture with Santa for Christian! I think he would have run out of the restaurant if we were not holding him!

This weekend we are going on the Polar Express ride and Santa is on the train with everybody! I hope there is not a screaming two year old the whole hour?! We are looking forward to this because Christian loves trains! I will have the video camera, so stay tuned for some hilarious footage of Christian and Santa!

Christmas Fun!

Today Julie, Bennett and Preston came over for a play date. Since Julie is not working anymore it is nice to get together. We should spend more time together since we all live in the same town! I thought it would be fun for the kids to make sugar cookies and decorate them. Since they are still both so young I rolled them out and cut them into different Christmas shapes! It took longer than expected, but we got them cooked and ready to decorate or eat!? We put the icing in bowls and got out the sprinkles and red hots. They decorated trees, stockings and stars at the table. I am not so sure they knew what they were supposed to be doing, but they knew how to eat what they were doing. I think Julie was a little worried about the mess, but it honestly was no big deal. Everything is washable! We both took some pictures of the decorating and it was a fun morning! A great tradition I have always done with my mom at the Holidays and want to continue with my kids! The babies slept through it all and I am sure will enjoy it next year! When Julie and the kids left, Christian and I continued to decorate and he had fun eating his masterpieces!

Sibling Love!

Most days Christian loves to sit and hold or just be near Henley! I think she enjoys it too because she just smiles at him when he talks to her! It is the sweetest thing! Anyhow most of the time it is innocent and he is gentle, but sometimes it gets rough! The other day she had a huge red bump on her head because he hit her with his play mop! I could of killed him! This particular morning he was trying to feed her his pop tart! He does not quite understand she does not have teeth! Here are some pictures!

Frosty the Snowman

A few weeks ago I bought Christian a 4 disc DVD set that has all the Holiday Classics. He absolutely loves Frosty the Snowman and has learned all the words.......at least some are understandable. He sings the song and you know some of what he is saying, but mostly you know the tune of the song! Anyhow, he also has the book Frosty the Snowman and wants to sing it all the time. Last night I was holding Henley and Christian picked up the Frosty book and brought it over to Henley, opened it up and started singing it to her! It was THE cutest thing I have ever seen! I jumped up and grabbed the video camera! When he was done singing to her he kisses her on the head! Christian loves his little sister so much it is the sweetest thing ever! He also wanted to say hi to his Nene and Poppy! Here is the video and I hope it makes you smile ear to ear like it does me! Enjoy!

2 months old already!

Today Henley had her two month check up. We dropped Christian off at school and headed over to the doctor. She was in a great mood and had no idea what was awaiting her in the next hour. I was shocked because when we got to the office and we hardly had to wait! We lucked out because sometimes you can be there for eternity! When we got to the room I stripped her down and it was time for the big weigh in.......drumrolll please.......Henley weighed in at 10lbs and 13oz. This put her in the 50% percentile for weight. Her length was 231/4 inches and that put her in the 80% percentile for height! WOW! I think she could be bigger than her brother? I looked up Christian's stats and the only big difference was height. He was 22 inches at two months and weighed 10lbs. 10oz. I think she will surpass me in height ( which is not hard), but not anyone else in the family! Kidding aside I am so happy that she is healthy and growing wonderfully! Henley is cooing and smiling up a storm and doing all the things at her age that she should be! Besides this stupid cold that she can not seem to get rid of, she is PERFECT! I am doing an alternate vaccine schedule like I did with Christian, so she only received two shots and an oral. She was very upset after her shots and slept almost the rest of the afternoon. When she finally decided to wake up, she was all smiles! I feel so blessed to have two healthy thriving children! I just can not believe how quick they grow up! Enjoy the pictures!

Go Rebels!!!!

The weekend before last Brian and I bravely packed up are two children and headed to Oxford for the weekend. Our friend Farron is getting married this summer and she was having a engagement shower. Farron was very smart in the planning because having it on the weekend of a football game assured the presence of many men. We stayed with Brian's best friend Stefano and his fiance Toni. Everybody who had children brought them to the shower and it was very kid friendly. There were plenty of people lined up to hold Henley, so I hardly saw her unless she was hungry! Christian had our babysitter to play with and many other little boys. They were a little older, so he played with toys more than anything.

The weather was absolutely freezing and I believe the high was around 49. The game was at 1:30 and Brian was planning on taking Christian. When we got to the tailgate the weather actually was not that bad, but then it started to rain. The rain was quick and passed so the men were happy to stay dry during the game which was about to start. Brian took Christian to the game and Henley and I stayed behind. Christian naps around 1:00 so he was just staying the first quarter and then I was taking the kids home. Well, the hail started about 15 minutes into the game and I called Brian to come get Christian. He has had a cold and I did not want him getting worse. Christian was not happy because he was LOVING the football game! He loves football and this is the first game he has actually gone into the stadium. There will always be next year! It was a low key weekend and we just all hung out at Stefano's house. One of their other friends Amy, had a two year old little girl, who they brought over to play. We all made smores in the fire place and Christian and her had a ball playing and running around Stef's house. They were up until about 10:30 and Christian had no intention of going to sleep, but we did anyway. It was a fun weekend.

Smiles worth a thousand words!!!!

It is hard to believe that Henley is almost 8 weeks old. Here recently she has started smiling and responding when you talk to her. It just melts my heart. I captured it on camera the other day with the help from my sister. These little milestones are so sweet and I do not want to overlook them! She does alot of things that Christian did as a baby, i.e. sticking out her tongue all the time! I sometimes have to stop what I am doing and really enjoy her. It can be hard, but I am making a conscious effort. I want to truly embrace this stage in her life just like with Christian. God has blessed us with two healthy, happy children and I do not want to miss one second! Enjoy the pictures! She is so much more chunky than Christian was. I can not wait until her two month check up to find out her weight?

Little Boys

A picture is worth a thousand words, but I won't leave you wondering what happened! Our little wild man was running from his sitter last night. He evidently thought she was putting him to bed and not mommy. If you know Christian, nobody puts him to bed, but me or Brian unless we are not there. Anyhow, he ran right into the corner of the coffee table! Ouch! He came up screaming and I had seen him fall, but was not sure if he had hit the table? I asked Stephanie and she said, his cheek hit the table. I had been nursing Henley and immediately put her down! I grabbed him and checked out the damage! He was screaming and I was worried he might need stitches! I could not get it to stop bleeding to get a good look. Finally, after getting out the boo boo bunny (which is kept in the freezer) we got a cold compress on the cut. Christian missed his eye by 1/2 inch! It swelled up like a baseball and this morning started turning purple! No stitches were needed, but he got to sleep with mommy last night because I was worried about any head trauma. I thought it would be easier to check on him throughout the night if he were next to me. This morning he had all but forgotten until he looked at himself in the mirror. Boo Boo is all he kept saying and wanted the boo boo bunny to hold on it! He is fine and running around again and I just keep waiting for the next accident. I know stitches or broken bones are in my future with this little monkey!

Halloween Night

Alright so it is November 10th and I am just posting Halloween night. Why you ask? Well every time I sit down to write a post I am summoned by a newborn to eat or a toddler to read a book or something else. I started getting a little routine down, but Henley is now discovered she is alive and if she cries someone will hold her........so setbacks happen! Oh well, better late than never!
Halloween was so much fun this year with Christian. He was able to say, Trick or Treat and Happy Halloween. Reed, his girlfriend Melanie and her daughter Taylor all came over that night and brought Chili for dinner! Unfortunately we did not eat the chili until 9:00pm after trick or treating. The kids had already eaten and we were meeting the Copelands to trick or treat with Christian's little friends. If you have never been to Liberty Park during Halloween it is a definite must see. When I say, thousands of children that is not an exaggeration! I have never seen so many kids in my life. I think they come out of the wood works or something? It is a sight because all the adults are out on their golf carts with coolers and following their children around from house to house. A girlfriend of mine who also has a newborn walked and followed are toddlers because they are much slower than the other kids. Brian and Reed followed on the golf cart and Brian and I tool turns taking Christian up to the doors. Melanie's daughter is 10 years old and kind of went her own way! I do not blame her because who wants to hang out with 2 year olds?
Christian was a little hesitant of going to strangers doors, but once he realized the outcome was candy...well than he was an expert! In fact, I think he ate half his candy as we walked along. His Uncle Reed was the culprit in that who kept opening his candy bars for him!

Needless to say, he was up past 10pm that night! We did not have too many problems with Christian going to doors and in fact it was a problem keeping him from entering peoples homes! When he saw something that interested him, he simply would just walk right on in! I guess he never meets a stranger? There were a few houses that he was scared to go up to that had big mummies or moving witches. Brian and I would have to help get him motivated at those houses. We had a blast and loved watching the little ones running around. We headed home around 9pm because it was getting very cold outside and I was worried about Henley! She was snug as a bug in my sling, but I did not want her cold getting worse! I did not dress her up because she was not even a month old. I did put her in a Halloween onsie and orange pants with a pumpkin hat. She looked adorable! Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Halloween Festivities!

In order to keep Christian's life as normal as possible we continue to do whatever we want to do and just drag our little pumpkin along with us! This past week a Baptist Church in our neighborhood has a huge fall festival with pony rides and jumpers, carnival rides, face painting and everything you could imagine for FREE! The festival started at 5:30 and lasted until 8:00pm. Lately it has been very cold at night in the 40's and I was not sure if I should take Henley out, but I knew Christian would love it! We just hired a young girl from Samford University, Stephanie to help me at night from 4:30 until I put Christian down for bed. I have her 4 nights a week since Brian is usually out of town or out with brokers. I can not tell you how great it is to have some help right now until I get a good routine going. Well we packed up the two kids (sounds funny to use the plural kids) and went to the festival. I had Stephanie with me and she had Christian and I had the baby. I have a sling to put her in and that makes it easy to carry her around and still keep my hands on little man. Well, tonight she was not having any of being in the sling. Henley was hungry and I was trying to figure out how to nurse her in this sling inconspicuously? Difficult is not the word I should use to describe this form of feeding! Thank goodness I had a big blanket because I was able to walk around and nurse her and keep covered! Not one person knew what I was doing......wow I am getting good at this moving around and nursing her! Innovation is the key when you have an active 2 year old! The festival was a hit and we had a blast! I have no pictures because that is to much to ask of me when I have two children to keep up with! Actually, I forgot my camera! I wish I had it with me because Christian was adorable in so many ways! They had one of those swings that hangs from chains and swings through the air. The swings you see at carnivals, fairs and even six flags. Well they had a double seat, so Christian and I go on the ride! I have never in his two years of life seen a smile that big! Literally ear to ear! I think that face was worth it all together! He had the best time ever! We left soon after because it was late for him and it was nearing bedtime!

The next day was Halloween festivities at school! They wore their costumes and had a parade for the parents! They actually walked out on a stage and stood there looking around wondering what in the world is happening and who are all these people staring at us? Hilarious! After that they sang a blessing and we had snacks with kids. I think the teachers were the only ones singing because the kids just stood there staring out at the adults! We were all snapping pictures and taking video, looking like fools cheering on our little ones! Christian's best friend Elijah is in his class and they are always together! He is Nemo the fish! Christian is a train engineer because he LOVES Thomas! When his hat goes on he screams, "All Aboard!" I love it! We can not believe he actually left his hat on the whole time! My mom was there too and we all hung out awhile. Christian loved showing everyone his baby and after kissing us all good bye they left to go trick or treating to the different classrooms. Just the first of many fun events and I look forward to always making a fool of myself every time!

Special Day with Daddy!

Christian has probably felt a little neglected lately even though we are doing everything to make his life seem normal. He does not quite understand this new little life that has come into his and totally disrupted it all together! He has had his share of breakdowns and makes it very difficult on us because we can not explain to him what is going on! Anyhow, this weekend Brian took him to Bakers Farm in Harpersville, Al. This is a pumpkin patch about an hour from Birmingham and has hay rides, petting farms and games for the kids. They packed up Saturday morning and met some friends Brad Stephenson and his son Chance and Sam Paolino and his daughter Malerie. Christian loves both these children and I think has a crush on Malerie! He loves her and from what I was told held her hand the whole time they were together!

The farm was very muddy considering the day before it rained all day. Perfect for a little boy who loves to get dirty! The rode on the hay ride, posed on some big tractors ( which Christian loves) and fed the horses hay! Christian now has a new obsession with horses and goes crazy if he happens to see one on TV. Brian was flipping through channels the other day and he went nuts because he saw a horse race!? Christian came home a tired little guy and very muddy. He had a great day with daddy and hopefully felt like he got a special treat that did not involve that screaming baby!

Making Gains.........

Alright, I am finally getting back to a little bit of normalcy in my household! A few meltdowns and sleepless nights later we are finally adjusting to a family of four! I am sure some of you did not know, but Henley was very jaundice after she was born. Her jaundice got so bad that we had to put her under the photo therapy lights at our home. After three days we were able to take her out from the lights, but unfortunately her jaundice numbers are still over the norm. Just this past Wednesday we had to go back in for a biliruben check and her number was 13. The doctors prefer it to be in the range of 10-12. The doctor tells us that sometimes it justs takes awhile for some babies to get it out of their system. The pediatrician says, it is breast feeding induced jaundice, which is apparently common? I do not have to stop nursing or supplement and it is just supposed to run its course! I am just glad I can hold my baby anytime I want and not have to have her under lights! We have been putting her in the front window or taking her outside as much as possible to help with the jaundice, but it is just taking it's good old time leaving! On the up swing she has made great gains in her weight! Due to the jaundice she was even more difficult to keep awake to nurse everyday! All you moms know what I am talking about! When you nurse them they seem to go right to sleep! Well, jaundice makes it even worse if you can imagine. Henley's weight had not returned to her birth weight by two weeks and so they were getting concerned. However, when we went to the doctor on Wednesday she had gained 8 ounces! I was so happy because I did not want to have to supplement with her at all!

Everything is going well and we are all doing great! I have had my mom with me all this week and next week will be the true test! Christian is the one causing problems thus so far and I know it will eventually stop. Christian is not wanting to go to bed and has been crying himself to sleep at his door each night! I know.........it breaks my heart! He just wants to be with his family downstairs and it is difficult to not give in to him! He has had a few meltdowns and seems to want me to hold him exactly at the time his sister wakes up and needs to be nursed! How convenient for him! I am trying to be patient with him and give him special attention when she is sleeping and Brian of course helps alot when he is home! I hear it takes a few months to get better so I have a little while until that happens! Keep us in your prayers and if you have any great advice moms send it our way!

First Photos

Hey everyone! This past Monday we had our first pictures of Henley and our new family! If you want to take a look go to

heatherswannerphotography.com/banta

Enjoy! I will post something new this week! Sorry for the short and few posts. It has been a little hectic around our home lately!

Welcome to the World Henley Lynn Banta!

Alright, finally I can write a blog! I do not know what happened to my computer, but it has not been allowing me to sign into the blog since the birth of our baby girl, Henley. everybody has probably been wondering if I fell of the deep end or what with two little ones!?

So here is the story of what went down that Wednesday afternoon before she was born! I went in for a routine 38 week check up at my OB office. They had been watching my blood pressure since it was high with Christian. The whole pregnancy I had not had any problems until this Wednesday afternoon. The nurse took a routine pressure check and low and behold it was high! It was 150/96 and to those who do not know they are really concerned with the bottom number. My doctor came in to talk to me and was like what is going on with your pressure? I did not know considering I had a very relaxing afternoon before going into see her. She left the room and I heard her talking about a C-section in the morning? I was not prepared for her to come in and tell me to go straight to Labor and Delivery! HUH? You want me to do what? They were going to monitor me and then do my C-section the next morning! I could not believe it! I was ready to not be pregnant, but not ready to have her a week early! I did not even have my cell phone with me to call anyone..........especially Brian. Well, needless to say that chaos is the best way to describe went down in the next few hours! Since I could not go home Brian was going to have to bring me all my stuff which by the way I had not packed! I had to find someone to take Christian and by the way did I say my father was having surgery the next day too! Murphy's Law was definitely setting in at this moment! I got in touch with my mom and we got a plan under way. Finally, I was able to get in touch with my husband to ask him if he was ready to have a baby tomorrow? What? We got everything taken care of and Brian would soon arrive at the hospital. Poor Debbie had literally just left the day before from helping Julie with the birth of Preston and now they had to turn around and come right back! I called my sister in Indianapolis and asked her if she felt like driving? Everybody would be there the next day at some point! My father was the only one there for her birth and was able to watch her get bathed and everything! I think it was special for him and I am glad he got to be there before his surgery that afternoon!
Henley Lynn Banta blessed us on October 2nd, 2008 at 7:15am. She weighed in at a whopping 7lbs 90z and was 21 inches long! Healthy and with a set of lungs already we could not wait to see her for the first time! She is definitely bigger than Christian was when he was born! However, they could be twins at birth! There will never be any denying they are related. Brian and I almost fell over when we saw her because it was as if we were looking at Christian the day he was born! I think you always expect siblings to look a little different especially when you grow up with a sister with blond hair and blue eyes! I love looking at them as babies and here is a picture of both.........can you tell the difference? I am sure you can since Christian has more masculine features. Henley is so little and petite and defiantly looks like a little girl! Both adorable in our opinion! The whole family made it there that day. My mom made it there with Christian to meet his new little sister, then the Mizerany's, than my sister and last, but not least Nene and Poppy Banta! It was a wonderful day and God has blessed us again with a healthy, beautiful new little life! The Banta's were staying with us for the week to help out and I thank them dearly for everything they did! They did anything from playing with Christian, to cooking fabulous dinners and taking care of household chores! We are so appreciative for being blessed with so many loved ones who are here to help us! Thanks Debbie and Lynn and my sister Heather for coming so quickly........We all love and miss you all already! My mom is about to help me now with Brian starting to work and travel! I do not know what I would do if she did not live down the rode. Thanks in advance Mom! I have a couple of posts to add, so keep checking each day!