Snapshots of life around here...

The last few weeks around here have been interesting. Between first trimester sickness for me and snifflies for all of my guys, we have been fighting cabin fever! I have felt a little more like a human being today than I have in the last 6 weeks, so I guess that's why I felt like blogging :)

Christopher is 7 months old today. He is making a lot of developmental changes of late. I wager he is about 2 weeks away from crawling. He gets up on all fours whenever he's on the floor and now lifts one hand to reach for things without falling to the floor. He is realizing he can communicate with us. The last few days he has mastered the art of laughing to get attention. He also exerts his will in eating. If he doesn't like what I'm feeding him, he will say "rah, rah" with a very disdainful look on his face, then refuse to open his mouth. I shouldn't laugh, but I do :) He also continues to grow in his love for Benjamin. Whenever B comes around, Christopher lights up with a smile and has a ready laugh for the simplest effort on Benjamin's part.

Benjamin also continues to grow in kindness towards his little brother. He now tries to make Christopher laugh and if Christopher drops something, B will run over to give it back to him. I am encouraged by even the smallest form of affection that Benjamin shows to Christopher...this is an answer to prayer! Benjamin has been making many developmental changes, as well. He talks up a storm, though only about 50% is intelligible to anyone other than Bram or I :) His first 3-syllable word was "upside-down" which comes out more like "ut-side-doon." He is still working on saying the "k" sound, so words like come and cup are pronounced pum and pup, respectively :) He is able to identify about half the alphabet by saying the sounds of the letters thanks to the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics toy. But if you ask him to find any given letter he almost always can pick it out. He is learning how to jump and one of his favorite activities is to run around the house and announce "I fast!"

I have to pass on one funny story. The other day Bram came home early from work to help me with the boys and make dinner. He arrived before Benjamin woke from his nap. We usually have to wake him up - he is a prolific sleeper! - at 4:30. Bram went up and called to me, saying, "Sarah, you have to come and see this. Bring the camera!" I went up and this is what I found:

Yes, that is Benjamin in his crib stripped down to his diaper with his PJs on the floor. 

At least he kept his diaper on...Thank God!

Baby Lillard #3!

The big brothers!

Yes...we are expecting our 3rd blessing from the Lord sometime in August! We will have a busy house with 3 little one's under the age of three. Benjamin will be 29 months old and Christopher will be 13 months old when the baby is born! I will be a very busy momma. 

Here's a question for everyone. Should we find out the sex of the baby? I have always been the hold out for it to be a surprise and Bram has been very gracious to go along with me, but he really wants to find out this time. What does everyone think?

Montgomery County Fair time!

In August we took the boys to the Montgomery County Fair. Benjamin was in heaven with all the animals and farm equipment. Abe Lillard, Bram's dad, and Jenny James, my sister, came along for the fun. Jenny took all the pictures, so you know they are magic!

Benjamin and Abe entering the fair.

Benjamin taking in all the sights on the midway.

Fire Department exhibit - Benjamin loves fire engines!

Benjamin attempting to kiss a baby goat!

Farm Equipment exhibit - The Boy was loving it!

Tractors! Another of Benjamin's favorites.

It was a lovely afternoon to visit the fair. We had a wonderful time and next year Christopher will be able to enjoy it, too! As it was, he slept the whole time this year :)

Benjamin's 18 month and Christopher's 2 month check-ups

Today we took the boys for their check-ups with the pediatrician. Here are their stats:

Benjamin

Weight: 24 lbs. 8 ozs. (25th percentile)

Height: 33.25 inches (75th percentile)

Head circumference: 19.75 (97th percentile)

Christopher
Weight: 12 lbs. 2 ozs. (75th percentile)

Height: 23.5 inches (90th percentile)

Head circumference: 15.5 inches (50th percentile)

They are both growing and developing right on target. We were a little concerned about how many words Benjamin has mastered, but evidently animal sounds count at this age, so he's solid ;)

I went back and looked at Benjamin's 2 month stats, and he was just a little bigger than Christopher on all the stats. But hopefully Christopher will cope much better with his first round of shots then his big brother. I was a little better prepared this time and gave Christopher some tylenol before we went to the appointment. Maybe that will save us from  dealing with an excessively fussy baby tonight! Your prayers for grace and comfort for both the boys would be very much appreciated!

I will be posting in the days to come about our recent activities - so check back soon!

Discovering Crayons

Benjamin, where did you put the BLUE crayon???

Christopher's birthday

The Story:

Sunday morning came like every other morning of the last three weeks. I hadn't slept very well and the tiredness was still lingering as I made my way downstairs to eat breakfast. This morning Bram was scheduled to serve at church - he needed to leave no later than 7 am. After I eat and helped get him ready to leave, he made me promise I would go back to sleep, for I was having contractions again. As he left I told him that I wasn't sure if I would be able to get Benjamin ready to come and church later on if the contractions persisted. He assured me that whatever I felt was necessary would be okay - I didn't need to push myself. I went back to bed and awoke to Benjamin singing in his crib at 8:15 - we wouldn't make it to first service after all. Benjamin was in good sorts for breakfast and played happily as my contractions got more intense. I began to suspect that these contractions were actually working...maybe this was early labor. I called Bram at church in between services to let him know that contractions were getting strong. He said to me, "Maybe we will have a baby later today." I couldn't bring myself to hope that this was the real thing. But by the time Bram got home from church I was more comfortable saying I was in labor. Bram said, "Of course you are!" There was no going back from there.

After eating lunch I laid down for an hour and slept between contractions to gather my strength for the work ahead. When I finally got up, there was no doubt in my mind I was in labor, but I was not so confident that I would have the baby before the night was through. I continued to labor at home and when contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart I called the midwife. We were to meet her at the hospital at around 6:30 pm. I ate a little dinner and made sure everything we needed was in the bag. Jenny and Ryan arrived to care for Benjamin at 6:00 pm, and with hugs and kisses for our first born we were out the door to return the parents of two! We made it to Shady Grove Hospital in a matter of minutes and got lost on the way to the new maternity wing! With the help of some kind strangers we finally found the right elevator and made it to where I would be admitted. We got into the room and the midwife checked to see how far I had progressed. I was already 7 centimeters dilated and 90% effaced! I was so surprised to be so far along. The next couple of hours held very hard work for both Bram and I. I never felt the need to have pain killers and was able to stay on my feet for a good amount of time before pushing. By around 9:30 pm I was completely dilated and now only needed to wait for the urge to push. At 10:00 pm I started pushing and an hour and a half later my new baby was laid across my stomach! The midwife let Bram "catch" the baby and announce to the room who's birthday it was. Bram, with wonder in his voice I can still hear, said, "We have a little boy!" Our little Christopher Abraham was born at 11:26 pm on Sunday, July 6th, 2008!

His birth has blessed us in so many ways. One way we are blessed is to be entrusted with such a precious little life to raise - this alone is more than we deserve. Another way we are blessed is the fact that he was born naturally, without the need for any intervention. This met a deep desire in our hearts, for after Benjamin was born by c-section we were glad to have a healthy baby, but disappointed that I had to have surgery after 16 hours of labor and almost 3 hours of pushing! We are so in love with our two little boys - born just over 16 months apart! We are so looking forward to life as a family of four (for now!)


The Pictures:

I know all of you are anxiously waiting for some pictures. So here they are!

Here's our little boy about 20 minutes old (he had only just stopped crying from all the poking and prodding from the nurses.)

A happy and relieved mom.

Everyone is all tuckered out - it's been a very long day (well mostly night).

He absolutely loves mom's striped shirt; he couldn't stop staring!

And here is a short little video -- not much action, but Christopher sure is one of the cutest little guys ever!




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Benjamin has not been too sure of this new little person. Here's Jenny holding him, with Benjamin looking on. Notice he's holding a little baby doll -- up until today, "baby" has always referred to the little doll that Benjamin sometimes carries around. Now "baby" means this other little thing??!


"Dad, this baby doll is moving on its own! I'm not so sure about this...."


This is a handsome bunch. Sarah is outnumbered!

All back together again!

Home - Finally!

It has been a long and strange month, but the Lillards are finally all back home together. Bram returned on schedule Thursday, May 22 and his two favorites could not have been happier to welcome him home! We are taking the long holiday weekend (plus a few extra days) to reconnect, relax, and have fun!

As Promised
I promised to post some pictures of our visit in Cincinnati, so here they are!(Eating on the back porch - it was so much fun to have everyone around the table together!)

(Benjamin taking a ride in his shopping cart - his Poppi got this for him!)

(Benjamin helping cook dinner!)

Other Fun Happenings

We are anticipating the arrival of our new patio furniture. It has been a few years coming! The past two years (since we remodeled our backyard) we have attempted to purchase a patio set only to have the orders canceled for some reason or another. This year (thanks to the economic stimulus package) we were able to purchase a really nice dining set and it is actually on it's way as we speak! We are excited for the opportunities for fellowship this will provide us - and since Bram is the master griller of the house, we will be having lots of cookouts! Skirt steak, anyone?

We hope everyone enjoys the long weekend with your families and friends!

Outside time ("Spring is more fun")

We had outside time today. The weather was perfect for some frolicking good times! First we went to the backyard and played with some bubbles. Benjamin is fascinated by the fact that they disappear when he touches them. He isn't quite confident in walking yet, so he tried to crawl after the ones that got caught in the wind - pretty humorous to watch him attempt to crawl with one hand outstretched to catch the bubbles :) The other humorous moment was when I had to communicate to him that he could not take off his shoes while we were outside. You can see his consternation in this photo.

We also explored the garden which is only populated by landscaping rocks right now. It seems the last few springs have gotten away from me in the gardening department. I think I have a few good excuses though :) Benjamin didn't seem to mind, as he was very interested in the different colored rocks. I had to keep reminding him, "No mouth, Benjamin." Haha - he's such a boy!

Another very boy thing Benjamin is already expressing is his love of cars and trucks. While we were in the front yard admiring our crab apple tree in full bloom he caught a glimpse of a truck parked across the street. Let me just say the flowers couldn't cut it after that. All he wanted to do was to get over to the truck. I love how persistent he is at times - that is, when he isn't defying me :) We also brought his little push walker out front so that he could walk up and down the sidewalk. The walker converts into a little car, and he won't touch it unless its in that configuration. Even though he has to bend over to push it!

Overall, it was a very fun outing...other than the fact that I now have watery eyes and a runny nose :) As long as the boy is happy, it's worth it.
(Thanks to Jenny James who took the pictures to commemorate the occasion!)

Boy of many names

He has many nicknames like...

Baby Butter

Budge

Lovey

Buh-boy

Pup-pup

Jamin

Benji-boy

Bubbah

Scooby

and Muffin Man
(In other words, anything other than Ben.)