Oh, the joys...

Graham started solid foods this past week and as evidenced below, he loves it!

Now before anyone rushes off to nominate Michael for father of the year for changing this diaper, let me assure you that he posed for the picture but then quickly left the scene. He did, however, provide emotional support from the other side of the room.

I'm a bit freaked out about posting pictures of my son's poop on this blog so I posted them really small. I'm not sure why but somehow that made me feel better.

A wonderful surprise

I never know what the date is. The month I usually know, but I can never keep track of the date. Maybe it's my lack of brain cells these days or maybe it's because it doesn't really matter in my little world. Anyway, I was thinking this morning that it was about time to introduce Graham to baby food. I went to the calendar to find out when he would be 6 months old, and I discovered that TODAY is the 24th. He's 6 months old today. So, I guess I need to go get some baby food - the plain cereal is probably getting a little boring!

It's difficult to explain how quickly these past 6 months have gone by. Really, this past year is a blur. It's been on my mind all day. It seems like it was just last month when we found out we were pregnant with #3. I used to think that I wouldn't want Graham to know what a surprise he was, like somehow he would feel less loved if he knew he wasn't planned. That seems so silly to me now. Many of life's greatest blessings come in the form of surprises. God had him planned all along, and he was anything but an accident. However, I can't even express in words how shocked and overwhelmed Michael and I were. Ben was only 8 months old and life with 2 little boys was just getting settled and do-able. God whacked us over the head and drew us to our knees like never before. I will definitely admit that it took me a while to get excited. And then came the news of baby BOY #3. That one was hard to swallow as well. 3 boys in 3 1/2 years. Yikes! But Graham came into our family and blessed us beyond words. This sounds so cliche, but I can't imagine our family without him. I look at these 3 little guys and feel like I could burst with joy.
In saying all of this, I will also admit that these past 6 months have been harder than I imagined. These little guys wear me out and exhaust me. I have been sleep deprived. I have had a difficult time getting anything done. And have you ever tried grocery shopping with a 3 year old, 1 year old and little baby? Let's just say I would rather starve than do that regularly. We don't have a lot of down time or date nights right now. There aren't many quiet dinners or afternoon naps. I don't get many nights out, and there are no weekends away. Sometimes it's easy to start feeling sorry for myself, like I'm somehow missing out on something. But then I look into these sweet little eyes and quickly realize that I'm not missing a thing. Happy 6-month birthday, Graham Oliver!


By the way, these precious pictures were taken by my sweet friend Krista. Thank you, Krista, for blessing us with your talent and your friendship!

A Perfect Day

Today was one of those days that you just want to freeze and frame. I have always loved Easter but for some reason this Easter was extra special. The boys are in bed, the house is cleaned up (or as cleaned up as it's going to get), and the house is quiet. I feel so blessed today and am overwhelmed with thankfulness. I need to get to bed but I also feel the need to sit down and write out the day before I forget it.

I love everything about Easter - dying Easter eggs, the yummy food, lots of candy & sugar highs, the egg hunts, fun spring outfits (or coats when it's freezing cold outside), flowers, sunshine (or snow), and of course, being with family. Easter has always been big in my family, and I desire that for my boys.

It's been so much fun to teach Levi this year about what we celebrate at Easter. For several months now Levi has said the same thing at the end of his prayers each night, "Thank you for dying on the cross, giving us eternal life and living in our hearts. Amen." We have had lots of talks this past week about what that really means, and it has brought such a renewed sense of joy to my heart. I love that aspect of parenting - my faith is often deepened and renewed as I seek to explain God through the eyes of a child. We often think of Christmas as the holiday where we celebrate Jesus, but as Christians, Easter really is our most significant holiday. The fact that Jesus took on flesh and lived as a man is a miraculous thing, and we were redeemed through His death on the cross. But if Jesus had remained dead, the cross would have meant nothing. His resurrection truly gives us our hope and life. He conquered death, and that is definitely something to celebrate!

Our pastor quoted C.S. Lewis today - "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but by it, I see everything else." I just love that. The resurrection of Christ is the essence of Christianity, and it is in this that I find life. True life. Not just mindless day to day living...taking care of the house, raising kids, paying bills, etc. But purposeful living. Hopeful living. Because our Savior lives, Michael and I have hope to pass on to these 3 precious little guys.

In celebration of our living God, our family had the most perfect day. We went to church, had a great lunch at our house with my mom and my sister's family, the kids had an Easter egg hunt in the yard, and we did LOTS of eating. It always makes me smile when my boys get to spend the day with their cousins because they just adore them. However, we really missed the oldest cousins this year - it wasn't the same without them! Happy kids running around with chocolate all over their faces and wearing adorable little outfits all day long is something to smile about!

This was Graham's first Easter, and he was so happy today! He loved the excitement in the house.

Ben entertained us all day with his sweet little personality and his rapidly expanding vocabulary.
And I think I heard Levi say about twenty times today, "Can you open my skittles?" He was bouncing off the walls with excitement all day (or maybe it was all the skittles!)
A perfect day...very few tantrums and fights (except over the plastic Easter Thomas trains in the Easter baskets. Who knew the one pulling the Easter eggs is way cooler than the train pulling bunnies?!), happy kids, time spent with family, and lots of good food. But, most importantly, a day spent celebrating our risen Lord.

You know you're tired when...

I ran to the grocery store last night at about 8:30. My goal was to make it home by 9:15. I had a long list of things to get done before bed so I was going to have to be wise with my time.

I raced through the grocery store on a mission, impressed by how quickly I was able to get everything. I stood in line and was a bit excited when there were a few people in front of me. After all, some magazine reading time sounded like a good reward for my fast shopping. My groceries were on the belt and it was time to pay. Problem...I didn't have my wallet.

Who goes to the grocery store without their wallet? My cell phone, keys and makeup were all in my purse but no money. The man asked if I had my checkbook. Are you kidding me? If I didn't have my wallet I certainly didn't have a checkbook. I don't think I've seen that in weeks.

The kind man scanned my groceries and told me they'd be waiting at customer service. I sped home, realizing that I was not going to make my 9:15 goal. My sweet hubby met me in the garage with my wallet, and I went back to the store.

The man at customer service was laughing at me. He took my credit card, processed the payment, and then I started to walk away without my credit card.

"Ma'am, don't forget your credit card," He said with a smirk on his face.

We both laughed and I made some clever comment about the day needing to end.

He asked if I needed help out with my groceries. I told him thank you but I could get them. He then walked out from behind the counter, took my cart and said, "Here, why don't you drive to the pick up door. It's probably safer."

I've never thought of myself as an airhead but last night's episode could definitely be evidence of a mind drifting away...

My firstborn

Levi thinks he's fifteen years old. Maybe it's because he's the firstborn or maybe it's because he has two little brothers. Or maybe it's because I sometimes find myself treating him like a teenager. "Levi, watch Ben and make sure he doesn't go in the street!" Are you kidding me? He's only 3 years old! I realized how crazy that sounded soon after it came out of my mouth. But I do find myself thinking of him as much older than he is.

A few days ago Levi and I were hanging out downstairs with both monitors on while Ben and Graham were sleeping. We first heard Ben wake up, and Levi was anxious to go get him. After all, he hadn't had anyone to fight with in over 3 hours! I told him it would be a few minutes because I had food all over my hands. He went up anyway and hung out with Ben until I got there.

A little bit later we heard Graham wake up and Levi said, "Mommy, can I go get Graham?"

"No, Levi. That's something Mommy has to do."

"But Mommy, I can get up the kids!"

I don't know what I'd do without him around to help me take care of the "kids"!

Mother of the Year Award

I definitely do not win the mother of the year.

My last post was all about Ben and his new toddlerish (I know that isn't a word) behavior. Well, today I had had enough. I decided that I needed assurance that he didn't have an ear infection or some other explanation for this behavior. So, Michael took him to the after hour clinic this evening while Graham and I took Levi to swim lessons and yes, he has bad ear infections in both ears.

I feel horrible.

In my defense, he has had no symptoms. No fever. No runny nose. He has been sleeping and eating fine.

Now after 10 days on amoxicillin I'm sure he will be a perfectly well behaved child who never throws tantrums and always wants to please his parents. For at least tonight, please just let me pretend this is true.

I'm not crazy, just really tired.

The new Ben

Benjamin Elliott. Our laid-back, sweet as can be, "easy" child. Not anymore. Yes, he is still just about the sweetest and happiest kid you will ever meet, but easy and laid-back he is no longer. He will be 2 in about 3 months but emotionally, he is all there. Here are all the reasons that we now have a new Ben living with us.

Ben has always been easily distracted. If he was upset, you could usually calm him down by giving him "froggy" and he was fine. Not anymore. He has discovered tantrums and he has them perfected. He falls on the floor, kicks his legs and bangs his arms on the floor. And he doesn't stop. It's scary and hilarious all at the same time.


He's OBSESSED with yogurt. He doesn't just want it at breakfast, lunch and dinner. He wants it about every hour. He gets a spoon out of the drawer and cries at the refrigerator for "Diego" (sometimes I buy them Diego yogurt but he calls all yogurt "Diego"). When he's done eating it, he cries for more and then throws a tantrum when we don't let him have it.

He has found a way to get back at his big brother - biting. Oh, I'm praying hard that he doesn't become a "biter", but it looks like he enjoys using this tactic during fights with Levi. And he bites hard. Let's just say there are marks and lots of crying involved. Part of me is happy that he's fighting back but couldn't he choose a more socially acceptable form of fighting?


He has decided that Mama and only Mama can put him to bed. For a while now Michael has been putting Ben to bed, but all of a sudden Ben has decided that this will not work. He screams "Mama" over and over again and then runs to me and wedges his face between my legs. We weren't going to let him have his way last night and Michael tried so hard to put him to bed only to have Ben scream and throw every book on the floor that he tried to read. Michael just put him in his crib, thinking he would eventually stop screaming and go to sleep. He didn't. He cried so hard I thought he was going to vomit. I went in there and he calmed down. We read a story. I put him in his crib. He went right to sleep. Ben won.

He loves to throw food on the floor. We have disciplined him for this since he was a baby but he just thinks it's hilarious. I, on the other hand, do not. A few days ago he started pulling this trick. I walked over to his chair, sat down in front of him and before I could say anything he yelled "NO!" right in my face. This didn't go over very well. (Actually, I had to keep myself from cracking up because the look on his face was just hilarious!)


On a positive note, his vocabulary is rapidly expanding. He now knows the names of every Thomas train and car from the movie "Cars". He sings lots of songs, can say most of his ABCs and can count to 10 (often skipping some numbers). He also says words like "mine", "no" and "push" about every hour. Grandma was trying to help him with a toy the other day and he pulled it from her, said "mine", ran into the laundry room and shut the door. Poor guy. He thinks even his Grandma is trying to take things from him.


He is obsessed with television. He is also opinionated about what he watches and definitely makes his wants known. With Thomas, Sesame Street, Diego, Veggie Tales, and Little Einsteins, he would watch TV all day if we let him. Don't try to talk to him or get his attention while he's watching TV because it won't work. He is completely absorbed in another world. This trait is definitely inherited from his daddy. I took the boys to get their hair cut today at a kids salon where there is a TV in front of every chair. Ben ran from screen to screen - he was in heaven. Some kids cry when they get their hair cut. He cried when we left the salon.

Did I mention that he is still the sweetest and happiest kid in the world? He really is. His giggles and smiles are enough to melt anyone's heart. He is just so much fun to be with. But, Lord, please help us because I think we are in for a few surprises.