Go Bears!!

Last night the Bears beat the Packers on Monday Night Football. Robbie Gould sealed it with a late field goal and the Bears are now 3-0 and the only undefeated team in the NFC.

Blah, blah blah.....look how good Ashleigh looks in her Bears gear!

Six Months!

Mrs. Bennet at 6 Months in all her glory

"I'm Still Poshy"

And here is Max attempting the first prenatal high five ever

Daddy Update

I just returned home from a business trip to Orlando this week. Now I know why all the aunts, uncles and grandparents always say "you're growing like a weed" when they see you at family reunions when you're young. I was gone for 5 days and I think Ashleigh's baby belly doubled! She is looking more and more beautiful as the weeks and months pass. I didn't know you could look even better in month 6 than you did in months 1-5 but she is pulling it off some how.  I can't imagine anyone carrying a baby (and the weight and shapes that come along with it) any better than she has. I can hardly walk after I eat a large burrito, and she's running 5K's with another human inside of her! She absolutely amazes me!

I am doing fantastic, just watching the weeks fly by on the calendar. Obviously, I've got the easy part in this situation, just trying not to get in the way and helping out when I can! I can't believe we're already in the last trimester. It wont be long at all before we're welcoming our little guy into this world. Hang on tight, another Bennet!!

Max the Wonderdog in PJ's - Part 2

Max returns to glory with Part 2 of wearing baby pajamas. If this is any indication, I think we're going to be great parents!

Jude's First 5K

It had been quite some time since I actually ran 3 miles...even walked 3 miles. Max the Wonder Dog had accompanied me on a few 2 mile walk/jogs the last few weeks, so I didn't even think that I would participate (except to take photos of my fabulous team from work). But come game day, Jude was up and ready at 6:00am kick starting my day. That's when the diva came out in me and said "why wouldn't you want to say you ran a 5K race while pregnant AND finish?" Done and Done...I think Beyonce had a little something to do with the diva-tude. Plus Baby JB and I are bad to the bone!

At 9:00am the gun went off, Jude and I went on our little way singing tunes like Champion by Kanye and Sabotage by the Beastie Boys, and before I knew it.....we ran the whole thing and clocked in at 36:42! And I personally felt amazing. Plus the cheers of "Go little mamma, Go!" didn't hurt. Now if I could just exercise on a regular basis and Jude didn't want so many sweet treats.

Just the two of us (plus Kanye)...finishing the race!

Thank you Daddy and Max the Wonder Dog for coming out to support Baby JB and Mama B!

We couldn't do it without them.

Carpet!

Baby JB is a lucky little guy already. We had new carpet installed in both freshly painted rooms yesterday. We went from stain-showing light gray to stain repelling and hiding Milky Way brown. It looks great and the little one will have fun rolling and crawling around on the new floors. Now if we could just keep the hardwood clean...

Before



After







I like it too, Mommy

   


Or do I???

 



Would I lie to you?





I like it I like it!





Baby Belly - 23 Weeks

Mamma Bennet is feeling great and getting bigger! 23 Weeks on Friday!

3 Years of Wedded Bennet Bliss

It's almost been 7 years together and 3 of them have been tax related! All joking aside, they have been wonderful. John Bennet is the love of my life and I wouldn't change any of our time together. It's all been so much fun...who wouldn't want to laugh everyday? We have such a fantastic marriage, family values and now we get to take the next step of this amazing journey together. Baby Jude. And I'm so lucky. The luckiest girl in the world actually. Thank you for being my everything John. Jude is so lucky to have a daddy like you. 

PS...A pregnant lady can be emotional every now and then, okay!

Our wonderful Anniversary dinner at 160 Blue. Jude obviously loved dessert!

My handsome husband.

Did I mention the fabulous flowers and watch he gave me? Look how happy I am! 

Ash's Painting Project

After 7 years of not painting anything, I finally decided to pick my brushes up again and see if I still had it. And what better way to do it, than to paint Jude a picture for his nursery. As you all know, we are avid Beatles fans (Hey Jude, Octopus's Garden, etc.) and John wanted to incorporate them into a painting. So he found this fantastic art print online and asked if I thought I could paint it. "Well....of course I can" was my answer (even if I didn't know how it would roll after being dormant for so long). But I NEVER back down from a challenge! After a couple of days and a couple of bad words, I've finished my painting project. I think there still might be a few surprising things about me that John has yet to find out.

INTRODUCING...............THE BABY BEATLES!!!

First there was Ringo...

Proof that I did paint it:)

Then there was John...

Gorgeous George.....AND

Paul!!!

Jude's Baby Beatles

Painting the Nursery

John starting the painting project. White!

The stripes begin. Blue tape for the navy blue stripes...yay!

Jude and Ash trying to help Daddy finish the first coat of blue.

Finishing touches. It wasn't that bad was it?

Stripes are done! The beginning of the Octopus's Garden:)

Looks wonderful JB! Next...Orange decals and Sea Creatures.

21 Weeks

I swear the belly has doubled in size within a week. Feeling good though!

Baby Belly - 20 Weeks

20 Weeks (and a half)

JB's Top 5 Movies about Having a Baby

I love movies of all types, but even before little JB was on the way I loved movies about other people having babies. Here are my top 5 fave movies about having babies. 
1. She's Having a Baby
I'm a child of the 80's so you know I love me some John Hughes. Kevin Bacon's narration in this flick is hilarious, and I think it's a great depiction of the craziness and stress that the male mind goes through as we go from marriage to career to mortgage to babies. Love this movie.


2. Parenthood
Steve Martin is my hero, and this movie is great for a ton of reasons. Dysfunctional families, self conscious fathers, quasi-retarded toddlers and of course, Cowboy Gil!


3. Knocked Up
Before Seth Rogen started getting annoying, he was hilarious in this movie. The idea that Katherine Heigl would even consider having a one-nighter or raising a child with a guy like that in real life may be laughable, but this movie was great. The scenes when Rogen is with his guy friends are definitely the funniest.


4. Raising Arizona
What an odd, funny and smart movie. Nic Cage before he got annoying too, and with possibly the best hair of any would-be-dad in movie history. An guy gets out of jail, marries the cop who arrested him and they steal a baby together. John Goodman makes an amazing appearance and the creepy bounty hunter used to give me nightmares, but this movie is a classic.


5. Father of the Bride II
It's one of those movies that is on cable just about every weekend (usually following Father of the Bride part 1) and I watch it just about every time. Again, Steve Martin is HI-LARIOUS as a nervous dad and Granddad and Martin Short as Franz is one of the best characters in any comedy in the 90's. Can't really explain it, but I just love this movie, no matter how womanly it makes me!


Honorable Mention:
Look Who's Talking, Juno and Funny About Love.

Baby Belly Pics

                                               

17 Weeks

18 Weeks

Max in Jude's PJ's

Jude won't be here for a few more months, but in the meantime our little dog Max is keeping his PJ's warm.

First Sonogram

Before the big appointment, we grabbed a quick lunch downstairs. The sandwiches were good, but nothing could top the anticipation we both felt! It was pretty obvious that this whole situation was going to affect Mom and Dad in different ways.

Ashleigh; cool, calm and beautiful as always

John: Not so cool and calm

Into the doctor's office we went. Progressive Care for Women at Northwestern Hospital in Downtown Chicago.

Mommy was excited to see her little guy for the first time!

We were excited and nervous about our first appointment, but everything went great! The heart was beating the fingers were growing and at the end we got our first picture of our little peanut.

Jude Bennet - 10 weeks

It's a Boy!!

The camera was rolling when we found out that Baby B was going to be a boy (the big reveal comes at about the 52 second mark of the video above). Our little Baby Jude Bennet. He was an ornery little guy and must have been comfy, because he wouldn't give us a good look! Ashleigh had to change positions about 20 times but he still wouldn't budge. By the end of the appointment we had a few good pics of him....at least enough to prove that it was a boy!