Three Years Old... How is this possible?

    I haven't blogged in a long time because life is busy. I have a 5 month old now and a 3 year old and life goes fast and is busy. But I realized that I need to write down the funny and interesting things Eli is doing now. I can't believe how much he grows daily and this fall, he will be attending preschool(what?). He is 38 inches tall and 32 lbs. He hasn't gained much weight, but he is such a picky eater! But the doctor said he is healthy! :)
    He loves to sing songs. For awhile, he would sing Jesus Loves you, but only the second verse(the one mom doesn't know). He loves to sing/hum theme songs: Duck Tales, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Imperial Death March, Chip and Dales, ect. But he gets stuck on a phrase and says it over and over until someone moves him on!
    His ideas and things he says has his daddy and I in stitches sometimes. Travis shaved his beard last night and Eli told him that he looked like mommy and he exclaimed that Daddy had lips! LOL! On the way to Virginia, he asked to play hide-n-seek, in the car! He will say " 'member mom?" when he is reminding me of something. or "That's the rules!" He likes to try to negotiate things, like we tell him he has to eat 3 bites, and he will say, "no 2. See I have 2 fingers up." He says "Sorry" whenever we admonish him. I have no idea where he got that from. I need to remember to write down some of the funny things Eli says! He says such funny things!!
   He loves to play Angry Birds and is obsessed! He will play this with his blocks for hours! He also is getting into pretend play with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures and his superheros. He likes to make them battle. He loves to cook for me and bring me random food, includes waffles with cars. He loves his iPad and will try do things to get to play iPad. He is attached to technology, more than I like to admit. It started with letting him play the iPad if he used the potty as a reward. He still enjoys books.
     He is almost potty trained, he still has accidents, especially when he is too"busy" to stop playing and number 2 is still hit or miss. He can count up to 13 by himself. He can also count objects one by one up to 13. He is starting to recognize words, like his name, stop. He can text Dad and Eli. He will text those words over and over to people. It's cute. He even wrote his name by himself once. He constantly wants to know what things say and how things are spelled.
   He is growing and changing so fast. I can't believe it! I love how much he is becoming his own little person. I think he is going to be a class clown! He is pretty funny and loves to make others laugh! I am excited to see what God has in store for him! :)

His birth story.... 5 weeks late

       I feel the need to write his birth story out, even though it's way late. It's hard to keep up with the blog with a newborn and almost 3 year old!
    So, it all started Friday January 29th. I started to get contractions Friday night. But they were way irregular. I had them for a couple hours and then went to bed and they were gone. I lost hope. I was four whole days late. This was after everyone said he was going to come early. They even thought a New Years Day baby. Nope. He was 4 days late as of Friday. I had lost hope that he was going to even come at all!
   Saturday morning, I had contractions again. They were irregular. They were anywhere between 15-8 minutes apart. I figured that they would fizzle out as well. I didn't want to lay around all day and I had a 5$ reward coupon for Kohls that needed to be used. We decided to head out to go to Target, Kohls, and lunch. I had contractions on and off all morning. Eli on the way up sang his made up song, "I go to Target, I go to Target, I go to Target..." He is a boy after his mama's heart. We went to Kohls and I ended up getting pants for Eli for 50 cents... wahoo!
      We went to Texas Roadhouse. Eli was struggling in the restaurant and I was having some real contractions, so we decided to head home. Eli was upset that we didn't end up at Target. We got home and put him to bed for a nap. Travis and I laid in bed. I wanted a nap, but Travis started an episode of Duck Dynasty. I got sucked in and I was having contractions.
     Around 3pm, they were 7-8 minutes apart. Around 4pm, I was in pain! They were about 5 minutes apart. I called the midwives and they said, "Eat dinner, see you in an hour or  two." I was in pain and didn't feel like eating, but I ate a bagel. My mother-in-law came to watch Eli as we headed in. We got to the hospital around 5 pm. I was already 7 cm and paperthin! Holy cow!!! It was go time! I got an epidural around 6pm. It felt so good. Again, It only took on one side. My left leg went completely numb and I could feel contractions on the right. So, weird! I went to 8cm to 9cm pretty fast. Around 10 pm, I was 10 cm and ready to push soon. My midwife came in and sat in a chair doing crocheting. LOL! She was so calm. Travis sat next to me as I pushed on every contraction to move baby down. It wasn't bad. My water hadn't broke yet. Sometime around 10:30(I think), the midwife decided to break my water with her finger because it was bulging. It hurt so bad after that. I don't think my epidural worked all the way down. I pushed and pushed. I actually screamed, which I didn't do with Eli. It was rough. Then he came at 11:13pm. Thank you God! He was beautiful. He was 9 pounds, 15 ounces and 22 inches long. No wonder why it hurt! It was worth it.

   He was immediately placed on my chest. We had wonderful skin-to-skin. They delayed clamping of the umbilical cord too! We had an amazing time bonding, just the three of us.
    Then it got late. I eventually got a shower and felt much better. They did all the necessary things for the baby and I. Travis headed home about 2am... Late night! I didn't get much sleep. Between the nurse for Benjamin and my nurse. We were woken every hour. They took Benjamin for about 2 hours, so I could get some sleep. I woke up at 6am for the day. The next day, Eli came to visit! We wasn't impressed or really paid attention to Benjamin. I don't think he knew what to think. I missed Eli. I can't believe how much I missed him. That night was rough too! I couldn't wait to go home and be a family of 4!

We love our family. I am in love with my boys and watching them grow. <3 I thank God that he entrusted these two beautiful and wonderful boys to me.