You ‘landlubbers’ better watch out, the ‘jolly roger has been hoisted up the mast’,
and pirate Truman has spent the day reading, and looking for his pirate booty.
Now, If only he can figure out how to get this silly sword in and out….
Ah…got it.
Well, it’s finally happening, I am starting to feel like we are settling into life with three children.
We have begun to walk Tucker to school again, (Elliot strapped comfortably in my baby bjorn) Truman running behind Tucker,
And driving to and from Trumans preschool twice a week has become an easier task, with Elliot strapped in his car seat right next to Truman,
Laundry doesn’t seem to be piled quite so high, and meals are appearing on the table, most nights, at a timely manner. Not every single room in the house is dirty at the same time, and this little guys feeding schedule has begun to be regulated.
Hurray for a new normal.
The weather is warming up, and our play space has been extended to the outdoors. HURRAY!! And what is the first things the boys do?
Search for bugs, and,
Play in the mud.
It’s comforting to know, that somethings never change.
The boys are getting a little bit of ‘Cabin Fever’. With the RSV virus raging around us, we’re trying to keep on ‘hunkering down’ around our house. In some ways spring can’t get here soon enough, as I am looking forward to extending our play area outside. But for now, we’re trying to keep ourselves busy indoors.
Tucker’s still making Sock Monkeys,
Toph has recently rekindled his love of sketching,
Truman always loves puzzles and has begun trying his hand as stringing wooden beads,
Baking treats that don’t contain chocolate (as Elliot doesn’t tolerate that very well, and sweets are my weakness…)
Building houses for our guys,
Garages for our cars,
And villages, just for the sake of building,
(we love Jenga blocks for building, by the way!)
Workbooks are always a favorite, especially for Truman,
And it’s fun to watch your children do quirky things, Truman loves to eat his valentines candy like this, stacking and organizing them first…
And sweet Elliot has mastered focusing on things, and following them as they move. He found new friends on his swing: fishies and a lion,
As much fun as we’re having, I am anxious to bask in the sun of spring, get my hands in the dirt and garden, and rake up the leaves that have yet to find their way to garbage bags, and let my children ‘run and roam free’ in our yard. But until then, we’ll find more fun things to do.
Even as an adult, I still get excited about packages that come in the mail. But it is not nearly the kind of magic I felt as a child receiving a package, or even a letter from a penpal.
It is no wonder that when the boys see the brown UPS truck pull up in front of our house, that they race to the door to receive the package being delivered. During the holidays we received many packages in the mail (Christmas shopping was made easier thanks to AMAZON), that were promptly put away from little hands and eyes.
But whenever a package was delivered that I knew contained a present that was not for them, I let them open it. They loved this.
One day we got this book arrived for Christopher:
When I read aloud the title of the book, “So brave, young and handsome”, the boys excitedly replied, ‘that’s a perfect book for dad.’
I couldn’t agree more.
“Time doth softly, sweetly glide, when there’s love at home.”
It’s been over two wonderful months since Elliot arrival. He’s brought so much love to our home.
I wanted to record, so I could remember, the details of Elliots Birth.
The morning he was born, we were quite shocked to learn that he was coming, you see, we were not expecting him for another 3 weeks. His due date was January 25th.
Before his birth, we had had quite a busy few days. We celebrated the Christmas Season, Tuckers Birthday and Tuckers Birthday Party. We were all worn out from the busy-ness that had occurred. So a few days before he was born, I had been feeling pretty tired, and had been experiencing contractions. Which didn’t seem abnormal, considering how busy we were, and how much we were doing. The night before his birth,we went as a family to the store, and I had purchased the food to make freezer meals, we got home, put away the groceries, put the boys to bed, and I was so tired, and uncomfortable, I soaked in the tub to ease the pain, and then went to bed early. The next morning around 6:00 AM, I was awakened when my water broke. I was shocked, sat up, and woke up Christopher, saying, I think my water just broke. To which Christopher responded, are you sure? I wasn’t positive at first, (as we still had planned on doing so many things and almost a month to do it!), but shortly thereafter the strong contractions started, and I was positive Elliot was on his way!
I called the Doctor, who told us to come to the hospital (I’d never had my boys this early before, so I was feeling a little nervous). I then called my parents who started their journey from SLC, they too were a little shocked, and I think I will always remember the sound of my mom’s voice as I told her the news. While I was doing this Christopher ran around the house packing our hospital bag. Then I called our sweet neighbor to come over to watch the boys until my parents could get here. She was so willing, and for that, I will be always grateful.
We arrived at the hospital, and got checked in, then admitted. At this point I was anticipating my labor to be similar to what was experienced with the previous two. Which was Short. So when I was asked if I wanted an Epidural, I declined, thinking my Labor would be the same as my previous two experiences. It soon became apparent that this time, my water broke which put me into labor INSTEAD of being in labor which broke my water, which presents a different labor experience.
We went to our labor and delivery room, where Christopher began to make a flurry of phone calls to family, and then to friends whom we had plans with that evening, and then a little later to his work, other church members to take over his church responsibilities, and the Relief Society President to take over the Enrichment Programs that had been planned for later that week. After those minor details were in place, we began to walk the halls, to encourage labor, again with my previous two, they were born a few short hours after my water broke. I was grateful for this extra time, to begin to wrap my mind around the upcoming arrival of our sweet Elliot. As mentioned I had intentions of preparing for his arrival both mentally and physically, over the next few weeks, so as we walked the halls of the hospital I was grateful for this extra time I had been given to prepare myself mentally for his arrival.
Christopher and I walked the halls together, for quite sometime, there was such an adrenaline rush pacing those halls, knowing that so soon we would be meeting the newest member of our family and trying to narrow down our long list of names to find the perfect one. We finally decided upon Elliot Christopher, and the timing was perfect, as we returned to the room, and the contractions became more frequent and harder.
The labor and delivery nurse called the doctor on call, as well as the 2 pediatric nurses, and the pediatric respiratory therapist, the extra people were there because of his early arrival. I remember thinking, there are alot of people here, but not really caring. Soon our little boy would be here.
At this point in the delivery process, I always begin to doubt my choice to have a natural child birth. And Christopher always says to me, ‘I am so proud of you Emily, you’re doing such a good job’ (to which I always think, he’s never given birth, how would he know that I am doing a good job?), but then always feeling grateful he is there by my side. Christopher is a tremendously supportive man, and he has been able to be there with all three children through the entire process, and I know it would have been different experience had he not been there.
Soon I was ready to push, and after about 30 minutes of pushing, Elliot made his appearance.
Blue faced and screaming. An image I will never forget.
We were soon reassured the blue face was not from lack of oxygen but from bruising. After a through look over, he was pronounced a healthy little boy.
A blessed day full of many miracles.
to this sweet smile…
and this one,
and this one…
What you say, it’s the same smile?
Oh, well I love this little face, and the way he smiles when he wakes up from his nap, to see a familiar face and give us a little smile. LOVE IT, and like I said…it’s addicting. Trust me.
For Primary last week the boys were encouraged to bring a small family photo or drawing to hang on our ward family tree that was located in the primary room.
When I read the note I realized, we didn’t have a family picture with all five of us in it!! Elliot is over 6 weeks old, but yet, we didn’t have a single snap shot with ALL of us in it. What?!?!
So over the next week I tried numerous times, and talked about it on several occasions, but somehow it just didn’t happen. So, when Sunday morning arrived (Christopher had already left for his early morning meetings, and wasn’t going to be home until right before church), I discussed our options with the boys, and they gladly decided they wanted to draw pictures, and I am so glad they did. Look at these precious family photos.
Trumans Family:
Tuckers Family:
I love children’s artwork, and it makes me smile to see how they view their world: Each of them at the center of their families, a very important place to be, and in my opinion, as it how it should be.
Since having Elliot, I have been amazed by my boys. I can’t even begin to put it into words, how wonderful it is to see them love each other SO MUCH. It is a taste of what our Heavenly Father feels for us, I am sure.
The other day, Truman really wanted to be with Elliot. He was watching a movie on the laptop on our bed. I put Elliot next to him, but shortly after he began to fuss. I picked him up, and Truman said, once he’s happy again, can he come be with me again? I put Elliot down, and again he began to fuss, I picked him up and again Truman said, mom, PLEASE can he come back? So after a few tries, we gave Elliot the Binky and he was content. I ran to grab the phone, coming back to find this:
Tucker had wandered in, put his arm around Truman (and Truman still had his arm around Elliot).
It just made my little heart skip a beat. And it made me think…
When you have someone to love, and someone who loves you back, isn’t life so much more wonderful?
I think so.