And Time Flies By!

This evening as the boys and I were getting ready to head out to our Bible study, Beniah looked at me and said, "Mama, you know the group that meets at church tonight? (Do you mean the youth group?) Yeah. I want to go to youth group."   I am a little humored by this because I remember feeling like it was going to take forever for winter to be over, for summer to come, to turn 13, etc.  Now, I am noticing how quickly life is flying by (although, I do still find myself thinking "when will diapers end!")  This past month and a half has been very busy.

Elijah turned 3 and had two parties.
The first one was with the Luse family at Pietro's Pizza in Salem. The kids had a blast eating at their own table and playing all sorts of arcade games.

 

 Grandma had a blast cuddling the baby while the rest of us followed the older kids around.

The second party was the next day on Elijah's birthday. The Whittakers came over to play, eat some pizza and cupcakes, give some gifts, and (of course) play Mario Kart.

 He has is own sense of style!

 Isaac just slept through the whole party.

 But with the ending of the birthday parties, came the leaving of the cousins.

 

 

 And time marches on and with it comes new firsts.

Fist time that Isaac slept in the cradle that his Mama, Grandpa, and (I believe) his Great Grandpa slept in.

Isaac's first smile captured by my camera (there was one taken a couple days before this one, but it was on his Grandma's camera).

First recreation of a Daddy's baby picture.

 

 He looks amazingly like Tim did at this age.

First walk.

We also traveled and had fun in the snow, but those are stories for another post (especially since it is past my bedtime and the middle of the night feedings will be here before I know it). Just know that month was filled with love.

Lots and lots of love.

 

 And with a dash of charm and cuteness!

The Hustle and Bustle of Christmas - Part 1

It's been a month since Christmas and I have yet to write about how wonderfully full and busy the season was for us. I guess that is what I should expect since we now have 4 birthdays, Thanksgiving, and 3 Christmas celebrations just in our immediate family between November and January. 

Tim had to "make" his own birthday breakfast since I was still recovering from my multiple surgeries. He opted for store bought doughnuts, which the boys loved!

Elijah was very disturb with how dirty he got from eating a chocolate doughnut. 

I had my mother in law take the boys out shopping for Tim's birthday while I recovered from the c-section at home.  

They were very excited to have Tim open his present.

I found this wonderful beard t-shirt website that had the perfect shirt for Tim.

   After Tim's birthday celebration, my mom took Beniah and Elijah down to Roseburg for a couple of days so that I had some time to recover from my gall bladder surgery without two boys trying to cuddle up to me and bumping and pushing on my belly.  Two days later, we headed down to Roseburg for the Luse family Christmas celebration and to introduce him to his Auntie,Uncle, and cousins.

Isaac didn't cry when he first saw Ravi! A first for one of my boys.

   Beniah had his first slumber party at his cousin's house while he was down there. Elijah wanted to have his own slumber party, so he crawled into bed next to grandpa and slept next to him the whole night. Grandma got kicked out to the twin bed in the spare room.

So far, every time we've been in Roseburg at Christmas time, Beniah has been able to go onto the stage to perform with his cousin. It's massively cute to see how excited (and slightly confused) he is to be singing with Jeshu.  It has set a precedent though. I have to had remind Beniah that he will not be going on stage when we visit Roseburg again.

After church, it was time to gather together... 

...to pray and speak a blessing over Isaac... 

...and open presents before the night was through.

because we had to leave the next morning so Tim could get back to work.

Excitement is in the Air!

With five days left to go until Isaac is born...

 Daddy decided to start his ten day weekend from work with a much anticipated and requested camp out with his boys.

As I post this, I am hearing a Daddy voice saying, "Boys, boys. It's time to settle down!" 
How can you settle down when your baby brother is coming soon and you're on a camp out?
So much excitement!

My Big Headed Boy

 When I birth my babies, they have come out with big heads. 

Both of them measured at 15 inches. Average is 12 inches.

 Praise God for C-sections!

 They typically have to work really hard to raise their massive head off the floor.

At Elijah's two year well child exam, the doctor noticed something unusual about his head

There is a slight bump on the right side of his forehead.  I noticed this before but thought nothing of it since he has his father's big head.

 The doctor isn't too worried about it either, but he wanted to get a CT scan just to make sure everything is fine. So, early this morning, I packed up a sleepy Elijah and took him to the hospital.

 It was an exciting adventure to play with new toys while wearing breezy, tiger filled pajamas.

Soon, we were off (with the favorite blanket, Elmo, and train) to get the scan.

 Mama wasn't allowed in the room while they put him to sleep and scanned his head. But soon I got to cuddle with my sleepy boy and left the hospital to go pick up Beniah.

I was warned by the nurses that anesthesia could cause him to be grouchy and cuddly today.

They were wrong!  Once home and fed, he was a ball of energy until his nap time.

Oh well, at least I won't have to deal with random crying from him today. 

On a side note: While the results of the scan haven't been shared with me, I overheard the doctor tell Elijah's nurse that it seems to be extra bone growth. 

Yay! He's just thick skulled like his Daddy!

(That line's for you, Tim Dear!)