Bennett's Newborn Pics

At 13 days old, we had some pictures taken of Bennett. He did great. His big brothers were so proud to take pictures with him. I cried when I saw them for the first time. They are just so sweet and captured perfectly the sweetness of a newborn and the way Will and Alex feel about having a baby brother.

Fall Ball

Will decided to try baseball this fall. The fall was a great time to start since the season just runs for 2 months, games are on Sunday (no during the week commitment), and it was super laid back! Will loved it. Turns out we have quite the little ball player. He did admit to getting bored when he was playing on the field...he liked hitting best! He got solid hits every game, but the very last game at his last at-bat, John told him to smash one to the fence….and he did just that! Such an exciting way to end the season.

First practice!

 This was right after his big last hit! He ran over and said "Hey Mama, Daddy told me to hit it to the fence and I hit it to the fence!!"

 Look at that stance! ;)

 Alex wanted to be just like Will, so every game he would wear the opposite jersey so he could look like him. He is ready to get out there and play ball too!

 One of Will's best buddies from preschool, Isaiah, played on another team and it was fun getting to play him!

We are hoping he liked it enough to play again in the spring-we sure did love watching him! 

Big Boy School

 August 12, 2014

 So fun to have my little sidekick here at school!

 And super cute that these two get to start Kindergarten together!

 Never would I have guessed when we were snapping pics of Will and Kate when they were babies, that Shealy and I would have the chance to teach together again and these cuties would go to Kindergarten together. God is good!

 Sitting right outside Mrs. Rary's room ready to start his day!

  Relaxing in my room with Day 1 of Kindergarten under his belt! He survived! :)

 These pictures were taken on Meet the Teacher day, August 11. John brought Will to teach Mrs. Rary and his iPhone takes terrible pics, but I had to include them!

Rary's Rainbows

 Will and Mrs. Rary

We are so excited for Will to start this new adventure!

The Many Faces of Bennett

Lots of evenings after dinner, we all just crowd around Bennett and see who can make him smile :) These were all taken the first day back to work for me. Will and I were talking to him and his expressions were so fun and made us laugh!

Hey...

 So serious...

 My personal fav...

 Will makes him smile the most!

LOVE! Silly boys!

Alex says Adios to his "pass"

On July 7, we decided that it was time for Alex to be done with the paci. With no new babies in the neighborhood to give them to, we took a different approach with him. That morning before school I told him to leave them on the front porch and the paci fairy would come to visit and leave a toy for them in their place. When he returned home from school that day, low and behold the pacis were gone and there was a super cool Power Ranger in their place! He hasn't said ONE WORD about them since. We probably should have given them up a long time ago :) As you can see, we still have the "wugey" :) And I am totally okay with that!!

Bennett's First Few Weeks at Home

There was no transition time to life with three kids :) We came home from the hospital and BOOM. Those first few weeks are such a blur to me now (Praise the Lord!!) It was hard. Really hard. It still isn't easy but we have found our new normal and embraced the fact that life is full and busy. And this is but a short season. So Bennett just jumped right in and had to go with the flow. In his first few weeks of life, he spent lots of time in the car dropping his brothers off at school....he visited the pool, the McWane Center, the park, and Publix....got acquainted with the neighborhood on some after dinner strolls...had his first bath at home....got lots of snuggles and kisses from all of us...and slept a lot in between :)

Meet Bennett

Bennett Timothy Vakakes was born June 3, 2014 at 12:51 P.M. He was 21 inches long and weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces...our biggest baby! But the baby with the least amount of hair :). He completed our family in a most precious way! We enjoyed those few days in the hospital with him. Since coming home from the hospital, we have been WIDE open! It is a good kind of crazy :) The big boys LOVE him. They tell me all day long how cute he is and constantly want to touch him, kiss him, and hold him. We are so thankful to the Lord for this precious blessing. I am loving having a baby in the house again!!

First look!

 John and I with our caboose :)

 Yia Yia and Kiki

 First bath!

 Uncle B...who looks like he delivered the baby :)

 My brother, sister in law, and fam came to visit. Bennett had been in this world a little less than 4 hours.

 Bennett with his oldest cousin, Dylan

 Sissy gets a turn too!

 Papou

 Will seeing his baby brother for the first time!

 My sweet doctor-Dr. Robinett. He delivered all three of my boys and this picture makes me smile.

 He was SO PROUD of his little brother

 Big brother presents from Bennett----swords! I'm sure Bennett regrets this decision right about now (almost 3 months later).... ;)

 Our new normal! Vakakes party of 5!

 My heart!

 They LOVED looking at him through his little bassinet in the hospital. And especially loved diaper changing time :)

 Alex loved (and still does) to "pet-pet" him...

 Fafie and Uncle Jordan

 My sweet boys

 I look at this picture and don't know what I did to deserve these precious blessings!!

 McKinnon girls came to meet Bennett!!! Ann Clayton was NOT happy that she could not hold "her baby"

 And Alex was not happy that she kept calling it "her baby" :)

 Sweet little nugget

 Headed home!!