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:

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?

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!

Baby Watch - Day 3

Things have slowed down around here. I'm back to having very irregular contractions, so I guess what I was experiencing yesterday was "false labor." It's really funny how different this stage of the pregnancy has been compared to this stage when I was expecting Benjamin. I had zero contractions, and while he dropped early on (about 32 weeks) I had no indication he was coming except for a strange feeling that came over me about 5 days before my water broke. I was definitely expecting something similar this time around.

Again, I am having to remind myself that expectations are dangerous things. I am very good at not having expectations when circumstances are unknown or unfamiliar. I'm not so good at it when I have some experience to draw from. The good in all of this is that I am having to rely on my faith that God is sovereign over all aspects of my life. He is not surprised by little course changes or even complete "turn-arounds" - he planned it. If I believe that he is good and that he intends good for me, I have a responsibility to trust him. I too often do not act on that belief. I act as if he cannot be trusted - instead relying on my own limited wisdom for comfort. I am so glad that I am being reminded that my wisdom is foolishness in comparison to his wisdom. I do want him in control - now I need to act like it. While I am having to fight disappointment, as I was getting very excited to see this little face I have been dreaming about for 8 months, I can rest in the knowledge that God's plan cannot be thwarted and that it is the best possible outcome for me and my family!

I would so appreciate your prayers in this time. That God would renew my strength for the inevitable arrival of baby #2 and that he would continue to show me where I am not living out my beliefs. But most of all, please pray that I would let go of my pride and trust God's timing for all circumstances in my life. Thanks!

Baby Watch - Day 2

I just came back from a check up with the midwife and things are progressing, for sure! My contractions are getting closer together, but still are not painful - though that's not saying much because I have an unusually high tolerance for pain. The baby is very low - about +1 station (I can hear the collective gasp from the moms out there as I write this!) There is no good indication at this point when labor will pick up, but I think it's safe to say I'm not getting all the way to my due date (July 12th.) By God's grace we will see little Christopher Abraham or Bridgette Lyneve before the end of the week!

You can still give us your predictions on sex and birthday!

Baby Watch - Day 1

It is time to commence Baby Watch!

I got some news from the midwife today - apparently this baby is making it's way into the world in the very near future! Right now, my contractions are still really far apart and pretty irregular, but all that could change in a matter of minutes :)

We will keep you all updated each day until Lillard Baby #2 makes his or her arrival.

Anyone willing to make a prediction as to whether it's a girl or a boy and the birthday?

Back home - family update

We made it back to Maryland in one piece, thankfully! After so many full days in Cincinnati, the quiet around here has been both a blessing and a bit unnerving. Thankfully Ryan and Jenny are here to help break up the silence at times - though they are very quiet compared to the Lyman household :) Benjamin adjusted to being home right away - was back into old habits immediately. I am very glad he is getting better at adjusting to "new" environments. He was confident and comfortable more quickly than I had prepared myself for! It is nice to be able to sleep in our own beds - Benjamin has definitely been enjoying it most - averaging 14 hours of sleep each night since we returned! It's nice to have a rested boy on my hands each day.

And the extra hours alone are welcomed by me, as I am definitely in nesting mode! I have found myself occupied with many little projects and the planning of other little projects for when Bram returns...no heavy lifting or painting for "the preggy" (as Bram affectionately calls me.) I reach the 8 month mark this coming Saturday, and boy do I feel it! At my last midwife check-up they informed me that I gained 8 pounds in the course of 3 weeks - par for the course with my pregnancies. At this point in my pregnancy with Benjamin I actually gained 10 pounds in about 2 weeks! But after that the weight gain plateaued as I was losing weight and he was gaining it. So if I do the same thing this time I will have gained 28 pounds. Not too bad in my estimation :) The baby turned head down over the weekend (both a blessing and a curse, as you other Mommies are well aware!) and despite the cramped quarters, he or she has not settled down in the activity department. It feels as though I have two little feet constantly kicking the upper part of my belly. Ruthie Hempel told me that if it's a girl, she's a dancer, and if it's a boy, he's a soccer player. I guess we will just have to wait and see!

Bram will return a week from today! It has been such a strange trip for him. We had prepared ourselves for 4 weeks of intermittent email contact, but instead, for the past 2 weeks we spoke on the phone everyday and even got to be together in Cincinnati for 4 days! The sub needed some major repairs and all the testers (of which, Bram is one) had nothing to do but sit and wait for the repairs to be completed. For the last week it was always, "We will leave sometime tomorrow" which didn't turn out to be the case until Wednesday morning. We said our goodbyes for the week and praised God for the blessing he had given us in the time we did have together. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us over this time...your faithfulness to us has been a huge blessing! We have been granted such undeserved gifts over the past 2 weeks and we know it is attributable to your prayers for us - thanks again!

The next post will have pictures and videos of our time with Lymans, so stay tuned!