8 weeks old

Cooper and Griffin are now officially 8 weeks old! They are starting to smile a lot and "talk". They love the ceiling fan and they are also pretty fond of their big brother. They usually stop crying when he talks to them. They are getting so big, that I cannot wait to go to see Dr. Linhardt next Wednesday to see how much they weigh. Here are some pictures from April 30th, Cooper and Griffin's 8 week "birthday". Cooper is on the left and Griffin is on the right. Griffin is talking to Brody in the last picture.

Easter 2009

We had a great Easter this year with all of the boys! We spent Saturday night at Linda and John's with Becky, Ryan, Aileen, Taylor, Garrett and Olivia. Cooper and Griffin loved cuddling with uncle Ryan and Becky! The kids had a blast finding Easter eggs and then their baskets.

Easter morning, Brody woke up and had forgotten about the Easter bunny. We reminded him and he could hardly wait to get down the stairs. He found his basket and helped Cooper and Griffin find their baskets. The Easter bunny brought Brody the leaf blower that he has been wanting since Christmas. Santa ran out of them, so the Easter bunny took care of it! He has been talking about Santa forgetting his blower for over 3 months!! We are all happy that the Easter bunny came through.

We spent the rest of the day visiting family. We started with brunch at Gary and Judy's, then to aunt Jan's and dinner at aunt Janice's. Everyone enjoyed seeing Brody and most people were meeting Cooper and Griffin for the first time. They were happy, because they love being held. It was a busy day, but it was great to spend time with the family. The link is for some pictures from the weekend.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ebenke44/Easter2009?feat=directlink

5 weeks old!

Cooper and Griffin are officially 5 weeks old today and they had their 1 month well-check yesterday. It went really well. They are definitely growing boys...Cooper is weighing in at 9lb 8oz and Griffin weighs 9lb 12oz. They are both 22inches long. This is between the 50th and 75th percentile. This is a picture from their one month birthday. Cooper is on the left and Griffin is on the right.

The boys really enjoy sleeping all day long and partying all night with me! I try to explain that we are supposed to be sleeping, but they don't seem to care. The other thing is that they tend to take turns on who is going to stay up all night, which makes for a rough night since one of them is always awake wanting to eat.

We also have had a busy few weekends. We celebrated Gary's retirement 2 weekends ago and had a going away party for Bryan last weekend at Linda's house. Everyone is enjoying meeting the babies and they love being held! Brody had his first sleepover last weekend at Uncle Ryan and Aunt Aileen's house with Taylor, Garrett, and Olivia. He had a blast! On Sunday, we went to an Easter Egg Hunt with Stephanie, Grant, Addison, Stephanie and Keegan. They found lots of eggs with candy in them!

Brody's first soccer game is Saturday. I hope he plays...keep your fingers crossed! We are also excited about the Easter Bunny coming for a visit this weekend.

Here is a picture of the boys in their matching shirts from Aunt Bev.

Growing fast...

Cooper and Griffin are now 3 1/2 weeks old. Time has been flying by! We think they are having a growth spurt, since the only thing they want to do is eat! They are starting to get chubby cheeks and their legs are filling out. We go to the doctor for their one month checkup next week and I cannot wait to see how big they are getting.

Brody is at Aunt Amy's house today, so I am taking advantage and uploading some new pictures! We have had a few "photo shoots" because I need a good picture for their birth announcement. It is inevitable that one of them doesn't want to cooperate in the pictures. I can see this being an issue in the years to come! Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/ebenke44/March2009Pictures?feat=directlink

Pictures from Cooper and Griffin's 1st week

Here is a link to pictures from Cooper and Griffin's first week.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ebenke44/CooperAndGriffinS1stWeek?feat=directlink

Two weeks old...already!

Well, time is flying by! I can hardly believe it, but Cooper and Griffin are 2 weeks old today! They are doing great! I took them to the doctor today for a weight check. Cooper is weighing in at 6lbs 15oz and Griffin is at 6lbs 14oz. They have both gained exactly one pound! Brody is learning to be a great big brother, but he has definitely been testing our patience! He loves to hold the babies and he really has been pretty gentle with them.

All three boys and I took our first adventure out yesterday. We met aunt Amy, Jack and Brooks at the park for lunch. Brody had a great time running around and we all enjoyed the fresh air.

A HUGE thank you to everyone for all of the gifts and for providing us with so many dinners! We can't thank everyone enough for their thoughtfulness and generosity. It has been such a help to not have to worry about what we are going to cook for dinner. We feel very blessed to have so many family and friends who care about us and want to help out.

The picture is from last week. I know I am slacking in posting pictures. This is one of my goals over the next few days. Stay tuned!

The boys have arrived!

On Thursday, March 5th, the Benke twins made their entrance into the world! Cooper Robert Benke was born at 6:04pm, weighing in at 5lbs 15oz and was 19 inches long. Griffin Curtis Benke was born at 6:11pm, weighing in at 5lbs 13oz and was 19.25 inches long. The induction officially started at about 8:30am and the delivery went perfectly! This was in large part due to Dr. Lubrano and our nurse, Sue. We can't thank them enough!

They are definitely identical...we haven't figured out a way to tell them apart yet. We came home from the hospital this afternoon and they are eating, pooping, and doing wonderful.

Thanks to Linda, John and Bryan for keeping Brody for 3 days. He had a great time and we were so thankful not to have to worry about him.

I will hopefully post some pictures tomorrow, but for now, I am off to bed since the babies are already sleeping and Todd is working on putting Brody down now.