Long over-due update :)

The past few months have been filled with many challenges, but they have also held many joys for our growing family! Between sickness for me and the boys, general third-trimester discomfort, and two very busy toddlers, blogging has been the last thing on my mind :) Here is a run-down of the most exciting developments of the last 3 months:

Benjamin: Today, Benjamin is 28-months-old! He has had a language explosion and talks in complete sentences non-stop! It has been so much fun to communicate with him on this new level. His conversations center around trucks or trains, bugs and animals, or playing at the park with his friends. He never meets a stranger these days. He greets just about anyone who walks within 10-feet of him, whether they acknowledge him or not :) One of my favorite phrases he uses is, "Hi! How you doin'? I good!" (Good is pronounced "dood"...just so you know!) There is never a pause for you to answer the question :) He is still our little daddy's boy. His favorite part of the day is when Bram gets home from work. He loves to play with and talk to Bram about his day. He loves to "dress up" in Bram's shoes, tie, belt and badges and say he is going to work with Daddy (pronounced "Dah-ee!") He is a joy to be around and brings laughter into our day at just the right moment! We love our little Bubba!

Christopher: Gus-Gus (as I call him) has made the most outwardly noticeable changes over the last few months. He started walking about a month ago (that is, at 11-months-old!) He is now almost able to keep up with his big brother. He loves Benjamin and follows him around and pesters him to no end :) He has started saying a few "words" over the last few weeks. He now says "Bah" for ball and "MMM" for more. He barks like a dog whenever he hears our neighbors dog and makes the sound of a car when he plays with any kind of vehicle! Of course he says "mama" and "dada" a lot, though I'm not sure he totally understands that those sounds represent our names :) His current favorites are books (which he will sit and look at by himself for long periods), going outside, music, and anything Benjamin is playing with...haha! His first birthday is less than a week away (July 6!) He will make a very good big brother come August!

Baby #3: We found out at the end of April that we will be welcoming our daughter sometime in the first few weeks of August! We had a hard time coming up with her name, but Benjamin helped us out. I guess he heard us discussing names because at one point Bram jokingly asked him "Benjamin, what is "Sissy's" name?" To which Benjamin replied "Bethany!" Well, we couldn't go back on that! So, our little girl will have the name:

Bethany Lyneve

Lyneve was Bram's mother's name, so we are continuing the tradition of giving our children middle names that honor members of our family. We are getting anxious for her to come. Both the boys were born at around 38 weeks, so I'm anticipating that I have a month left to get everything ready before she arrives!

We will be busy until she comes and even more busy after she makes her way into our home! Here's a little picture of what life is like for us these days:

Life as we knew it...

...has changed forever!

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!

Christopher's 4-month check up!

Here are Small Fry's stats:

Weight: 15 lbs. 9 oz. (75th percentile)

Height: 25.5 inches (90th percentile)

Head Circumference: 16.5 inches (50th percentile)

He is growing beautifully and developing a little ahead of schedule on some things :) This child wants to sit up so badly that he will try to do a sit up anytime I lay him on his back. He is almost rolling over, so I have to keep an eye on him all the time. We are going to try some rice cereal tomorrow, so I will post photos soon!

While Bram has been away

Bram is on his last submarine trip for the year...thank God...and there have been a few funny (and one scary) incidents in his absence. Benjamin, Christopher and I have been staying with Ryan and Jenny James. They graciously opened their home to us to both help me take care of the little guys and keep me company. The change of scenery has been welcome and the help has been a blessing, indeed!

First, the scary incident. On Sunday evening Jenny and I were preparing Gluten-Free Three Bean and Turkey Chili (which was fabulous, by the way and not just for us gluten-free-ers) when my first real kitchen accident occurred. I was chopping the onion when the ceramic knife I was using slipped and caught the side of my left hand. I very calmly pulled the knife out and put pressure on the wound. After 10 minutes I checked to see if it had stopped bleeding and saw that there was a very nasty cut under there - it was time to go the emergency room! The cut wasn't deep, it just cut a good size flap of skin that no band-aid will hold. No stitches, thankfully. They closed the wound with something called "Dermabond" and gave me a tetanus shot and sent me on my way. Ryan very kindly drove me to Shady Grove Hospital - he is a very good brother-in-law! Jenny watched the boys and cared for Benjamin as he was very concerned when I told him "Momma has an owie!" He actually started crying and holding his hand in sympathy. He is a very compassionate little boy, but I digress :) I am still pretty soar, but am healing quickly!

Now for the fun stuff.

Benjamin has made a rather long over-due milestone. He has not been in the habit of actually saying "Momma" but after months of prodding, he now says my name. Well, something like my name. He calls me "Mommop" and it is appropriate since he calls Bram "Daddat." Who knows how long this will last, still I think it's the cutest thing ever! Since Bram has been away, Benjamin will every once in awhile look at me questioningly and say "Daddat?" and I will say, Dadda is on a big boat right now, but he will be home soon." That seems to satisfy his curiosity for now. We all miss Bram very much right now.

Christopher has learned to belly-laugh. This morning I was playing peek-a-boo with Benjamin and even though I wasn't even looking in his direction, every time I peeked my head out and said "boo" Christopher laughed hysterically! He is such a responsive little boy, and not even 3 months old yet! He loves to be held and talked to, tickled and made faces at. He is a joy to be around, except when he insists on being held and talked to while I am trying to make dinner. Then he can be very whiny :)

Bram returns home, barring any unforeseen problems, on Thursday. Please pray that his return home will not be delayed at all. He will take a few days off of work and we will enjoy the long holiday weekend together!

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!

Benjamin showing off!

Here's a video that shows off Benjamin's toddler status...Enjoy!

Mother of a toddler

So, I guess it's safe to say I have officially reached "mother of a toddler" status. Yesterday was the first day that Benjamin walked on his own for significant stretches of the day. I realize that there are still days of crawling and carrying ahead, but I am very encouraged that he has made the mental leap necessary to walk. He is constantly changing and learning from Bram and I, Jenny and Ryan and anyone else he interacts with.

Jenny and I were talking this morning about the time that he couldn't do anything - not even roll over. He was completely dependent on someone to do everything for him - I thought that was a busy time in my life. Now that he has many skills to accomplish his own ends, this is the truly busy time! I have to watch and listen every moment he is awake. Even as I write this he is getting into the basket by the door that holds all the car keys and trying to use them on the front door lock.

That makes me realize that he really watches what the adult around him do. I really have to carefully consider my actions before I even attempt them because this little one imitates everything I do. What am I modeling for him in my daily life, my interactions, my priorities, and my routine? Am I truly exhibiting for him the things of first importance - my daily devotion to growing in godliness, the priority of my role as wife, mother, homemaker? All these thoughts are borne out of my son learning to walk. It just proves that God can use the smallest things to change our perspective and challenge us to change. I guess the catch is that we have to be paying attention. I pray today that God uses the seemingly routine or insignificant things that happen to us to open our eyes to His truth and give us hearts of obedience to follow Him - just as my little boy follows me around today!