Eli Strong (+ He Lost a TOOTH!)

(This post has been in my "edit" folder for a long time.  When I was first writing it Eli was doing great, then he got a wet cough and it really worried me!  But it cleared up over Thanksgiving break, and nothing major ever came of it.  I'll just never stop worrying about this child!)

There are few things I am more grateful for than Eli's overall health.  I do not know why Eli is so well built, but for whatever the reason I feel that Eli is truly blessed with it.

(When we would go to Primary Children's Medical Center, the PICU nurses would marvel at how "big" Eli was for a heart child.  "What do you do to help him be so big?" they would ask.  I'd answer, "Um… Well… He likes hot dogs and cottage cheese… ??")

It's no secret to the boys that if Eli is the one mad at you, you best be watching your back.  His physical ability to move in such a coordinated fashion is really a marvel.  I'll be sitting on the ottoman, and Eli will jump off the couch, land on my neck, wrap in legs around my neck, and swing down, and bring us both tumbling to the ground.  It's scary good.  And it hurts, to tell the truth.

So....... Eli recently had his annual heart check-up.  Oh, it went wonderful, and he still looking great.  (He weighed 47 pounds and was 45 inches tall.  A solid square, man.)

AND THEN ELI LOST A TOOTH!  I know, right?!
And he lost it in the middle of church, haha.  He started biting on carrots and crackers really hard, and his tooth just *popped* down.  Matt hastily took Eli to the bathroom and 5 minutes later Eli came back one-tooth-less.  It was awesome.  I started to cry a little bit.  Just sometimes it really takes me off guard that he is really growing up!  And that he is hitting the miles stones which when he was born I didn't really allow myself to think about.  (Dramatic, right?  Yeah... I know.)

Anyway.... Just love this boy.  He's crazy.  But it's awesome crazy.
Loves fashion.  Loves to dance.  Loves food.  Loves to roll up into a Transformer.

The Kids and Their Stories :: Fall 2013 - June 2014

When the get hurt in the middle of playing/wrestling together, they either real cry or fake cry for 2 or 3 seconds, the yell, "I'm okay!", then everyone laughs really hard.

June 2014

We pass a field with horses who are grazing and have covers on. Titus is convinced he saw a zebra.

"I saw a zebra!" exclaims Titus.

"No, zebras are only in Africa," replies Isaac.

"I saw a zebra. He had 3 stripes, and had clothes!"

June 2014

"Go brush your teeth."

Titus, "No, I want my teeth to fall out."

May 2014

Titus, "I have strong muscles."

Eli, "You have tiny muscles."

Titus, "Muscles can be strong and tiny."

May 2014

"Guys, don't write on yourselves!" I yell.

Titus says, "I'm just painting myself."

Eli then says, "And we just lick it off!"

May 2014

"The water has a lot of fish, but no Megalodons," explains Eli.

April 2014

We're fishing and the first catfish is caught. Eli exclaims, "I see his mustache!"

April 2014

Titus walks into the room with an Articles of Faith booklet. He starts "reading," saying, "We believe in praying. And a Jesus with a nice face... and trees."

April 2014

Isaac looks at Matt's old baseball glove and laughs, saying, "That's a grandpa glove!"

April 2014

Eli gets in the car after preschool, sighs, holds his pinky up, and explains, "I smash my finger. I got bloods by bricks and stones on the playground."

April 2014

Me, Titus, and Eli are looking at a book about animals and their teeth. There's a picture of a beaver. Titus says, "Isaac has those teeth, too!"

April 2014

We walk out of a dollar store and Titus exclaims, "I didn't steal anything!"

April 2014

We're watching the movie Frozen, and the part "picks his boogers and eats them" comes up. Eli says, "I do that."

Matt says, "Eww!"

Eli looks at Matt, raising his eyebrows, "I do that all the time."

April 2014

Titus, "We need to paint the house red."

March 2014

Eli, "My legs hurt."

Matt, "Do you know why your legs hurt?"

Eli, "Why?"

Matt, "Because you're growing."

Eli, "What?! I'm growing?! MOM, I'M GROWING!"

March 2014

Titus, "Big kids are allergic to 'Frozen'."

March 2014

Eli, "Our friend has two girlfriends."

Isaac, "No, Eli, those are his sisters."

March 2014

We're getting for school in the morning and I notice Isaac is putting shorts,

Me, "Get pants, it's cold outside."

Isaac, "But I don't have any camo pants for my camo shirt."

Me, "Isaac, you can wear any pants with a camo shirt."

Isaac, surprised, "Oh!"

February 2014

We are playing hide-and-go-seek, and it's Eli's turn to count: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.. 16, 18, 19… 10, 11, 12… um… 20! Ready of not, here I come!"

February 2014

Matt takes a pen from Titus, "Wow, what do you have? Were you drawing on the wall?"

Titus, "No, I just clicking it."

Matt, "Oh, that's good. We don't want to draw on a wall, huh?"

Titus, "Yeah, Mom will scream."

February 2014

Titus is singing, and I quote:

"What does the fox say?

'Wha papa papa papa pa!'

What does the farmer say?

'Corn corn corn corn corn!'

What does the Isaac say?

'I wanna build LEGOs!''

February 2014

"When I grow up I wanna play hockey so I can crash into windows." - Titus

February 2014

Matt pulls a slim-fast shake out of the fridge and Titus asks, "Dad, what are you drinking Mommy's and Grammie's favorite?"

February 2014

We pull into Target's parking lot.

Titus yells, "It's our red store!"

January 2014

Matt: "How much money do you have?"

Isaac: "17 quarters, 4 dimes, 1 penny, and 2 dollar bills."

January 2014

One morning I had to tell one of my boys:

"I did not say, 'Put your penis on your brother's head,' I said, 'Get your jacket on.'"

January 2014

Titus is holding some Chapstick, and says, "I like my stick… My lipstick."

January 2014

Eli burps at the dinner table.

"Wow, Eli, that sounded juicy," I say.

"Yeah," he smiles, "I throw-up a little bit, but then swallow it."

January 2014

We are finishing Harry Potter movie #8, and right when Voldemort dies (aka turns to dust), Eli yells, "He's made of paper?!"

January 2014

Matt, "Time to take your medicine."

Eli, "The yucky medicine?"

Titus, "I like yucky stuff."

December 2013

Eli, looking at Frozen characters, "That big guy is really scary, and really big… He's my favorite guy."

January 2014

Isaac, "Those wands at Harry Potter World can do lots of cool things."

Me, "Well, that isn't real magic, just really fun pretend and imagination."

Isaac, "Oh… But I still want one."

December 2013

Each of the boys brought a toy gun into the car. While driving they start to shoot at random objects.

Isaac, "Eli, shoot the airplane!"

Eli's gun *pops*

Isaac, "Did you get him?"

Eli, "Yeah, I shot him in the jet."

Winter 2014

Titus, "I'm so strong… Like this:" he then close-fisted hits a chair.

Winter 2014

"I want to drink your favorite!" demands Titus to Matt, who is drinking a Mt. Dew.

Winter 2013

1 second after Sacrament meeting is released, Titus runs down the pew, jumps off the back, yelling, "I'm SPIDERMAN!"

Fall 2013

Eli flexes his muscles, and says, "There bones in there to make us strong. And breaks stuff. And pull people around."

Fall 2013

Grammie asks Eli, "Do you need to put on your shoes?"

"No," Eli says, "I wear my foot."

Fall 2013

Eli Turned 5, Nobody Cried

There are a few things that are actually a pretty big deal.
1)  Eli, the heart child, has turned 5 years old and is amazingly healthy.
2)  Niether him nor I cried before, during, or after his birthday.

Eli can become really emotional when it comes to his birthday.   He gets really torn about which present he wants, what kind of cake he'd like, and what theme he wants it to be.  MONTHS before his birthday (I'm talking 11 months before) he starts trying to figure out what he's like… Then he changes his mind.  And then he changes his mind again.  And then he's in tears whenever he thinks about it.

Well that's how his 4th birthday went down, and I was preparing myself for his 5th birthday to be the same.  All the tells were there for tears:  can't decide on the present, can't decide who he wants to come to his party, can't decide what theme it should be.   But it all came together the last week before his big day.

He (me) decided that he'd have two parties; one "friends" birthday at a park during lunchtime on a weekday, and the other at Grammie and Gramps' home during our visit Easter weekend (which is to come), and the theme will be IronMan with the cake chocolate with a vanilla buttercream.
And he said, "Yes," and didn't cry.

-So a few days before his actual birthday we celebrated at the park and it went awesome.  Pizza, cupcakes, play with friends, and presents.

-During his baseball game on Saturday we brought some mini cupcakes and handed them out to the team and then they sang him happy birthday.

-On Sunday we handed out mini cupcakes to his Primary Class, then that night we watched home videos.  Once again: HE DIDN'T CRY.  (The last time he tried to watch the home videos he cried and cried and cried.  Just couldn't take looking at himself all hooked up to machines and recovering from open-heart surgery.)

IronMan-esque cupcakes.
I'm gonna try and do an IronMan cake this weekend. 

Titus and his girl.
They love each other, therefore they fight with each other all the time. 

Eli patrolled the party making sure everyone had a good time!

I made those candy necklaces for the party favors.
They were IronMan colored candy (red and yellow) and had IronMan stickers attached around.
Eli didn't want to wear his, nor a hat. 

I found that "birthday boy" pin.  He loved wearing it!
He also wore it on Sunday. 

And I didn't cry during the whole week.
It's kind of a big deal.  I'm usually such a mess when his birthday starts coming around.  All those memories flood back, and the emotions that come with it:  fear, happiness, anxiety, joy, sorrow.  Having a sick newborn is the pits, man.
But I'm okay, I think I'm doing well.  Honestly, the 3rd birthday was the hardest for me.  To get to 3 years old was such a big mile stone.  We knew he'd do all three of his surgeries before his 3rd birthday, and you just gotta hope he'll survive till then.  And he did!

Eli is awesome, and wonderful, and healthy.  Yay!

Eli drew a Picture

Eli is not one to pick up crayons and paper and make a masterpiece.  He instead prefers to spend his creative energy contemplating things and then taking them apart. Like my necklaces, or all the Lego men.  He'll fidget and tinker all day long--put a maker in his hand and he goes limp.  

Fidgeting with the oranges as I sit here typing:

But on Friday he brought home a paper from preschool with some handiwork, a family portrait. And I think it's the sweetest thing!

Matt asks, "Is that one mommy and her hair?"

Eli, "No, it's just her face!"

Haha, thanks, bud!

PS, I found some orange plates for a quarter each and I just love them!  (Love orange plates, guys.  Not a joke.)

… The Big Blur ...

Hey.  So life happened,  I know that.  I just don't remember much from it.  Like, I was pretty emotionally and physically drained from the end of October till when Matt got home (November 21).  Just tired, ya know?  And the waiting game is so hard.  Especially with dates and times changing with the homecoming, or knowing that the date and time will probably change…. I mean, I was fine, I've been through much worse situations--and I knew I'd be fine--it was just hard.  Didn't realize how hard it was going to be, those last few weeks/days.  A lot of anxiety.  I wanted to believe that Matt was coming home, but didn't want to set my heart on it incase it changed to a later date.  It's difficult feelings balance, to say the least!

(Plus, what to tell the boys?  "Um, yeah, Daddy is PROBABLY going to be home this day… But it maybe later.  We'll see."
At one point I heard Eli (4 yr old) telling his brothers, "My dad's is dead in Afghanistan, but when he come home he'll be alive."  
***Matt did NOT have a good internet connection from his room from late June and forward.  We were unable to FaceTime/Skype/ Google+ for 5 months.  Just sporadic voice calls.***) 

Matt, on the other hand, was so happy and relieved those last few weeks of deployment.  Things were settling down for his job--finally!  The soldiers he looked over were starting to be in less danger… and he was coming home!  Yay!  He could almost taste the American Mt. Dew on his lips ;)


So I don't really remember much from this time period, but I do have these pictures that help me piece it all together.
Let's go through them, shall we?

So on the rare day I actually put on make-up,
I had a pretty ugly cry and smeared it all over my face.  Oh so tragic.
(Why did I cry?  Not really sure… I was pretty irrational, and I knew it, haha)   

Obsessed with "What Does the Fox Say?"  YouTube video!  Had to get the fox plates.
Titus loves to sing this song when he's on the toilet! 

Boys getting some rock throwing business done.  Serious work. 

Last game for Isaac's soccer session!  Thank heavens!  Hard stuff to do it all without Matt.
And yea, that's Titus asleep on my lap.  

FaceTiming with Nana and Mume!  So Fun! 

Our Veterans' Day living room chaos.  Epic fun, it seems. 

Retail therapy to Target!  Love those 3 fuzzy heads. 

And pretty much I binged watched "Scandal" for like a week.
It was a good emotional patch for that week.  

Seeing Fun, Despite Snot

When in the middle of colds, and allergies, and ear infections, and throat infections, it's hard to remember what my children's personalities are like.  I think they are fun, and pleasant, and for the most part easy going, but I don't remember.  

It's kind of nice when they do silly things, and laugh, and play, and are imaginative, to help me get a peak at what they are really like, despite all the snot and grumpiness. 

--Titus went to bed with a Batman pj shirt on.  He woke up with an upside down, backwards, "I look like a million bucks" shirt.  I think there was some mid-night changing going on!  And no, he pretty much refused to let me touch him or the shirt.  It's perfect the way it is!  But why does my tummy show? 
And that diaper he's wearing is just for night time, and this morning it was empty!

--I heard Eli start to really giggle, and I turned around and he's bouncing a way on the trampoline like, "a kangaroo!"  Two feet in one sock.  Some serious fun, people.  The two other brothers joined in, but Eli got it down the best.  

Took all the kids to the doctors yesterday.  Each one is now on different meds, on different schedules with meds.  A little overwhelming, but grateful to nip this snot attack in the bud before it turns into more and more and more infections!

Titus had the ear infection, Isaac was close to getting a throat infection, and Eli just was way congested.  Thank you, Georgia Spring for giving us soo many allergies.

And yes, the doctors visit was really long.  But that's okay.  Everyone did fine, and we survived to face another day!

3 Little Men of the House

Thinking about these boys and how stellar they are.  

Isaac

My oldest and goofiest and worriest of all.  Age 6.

He's been such a great help to me and his brothers.  He's really grown into his own, and has come to understand that certain responsibilities are his and he's very willing to take those responsibilities on. Very on top of things, if not just a bit forgetful at moments.  Creative, imaginative, caring, and a LEGO building pro! 

At church he's in CTR 6 (I think!), doing great, and starting to sing songs.  Yay!   

On Sunday Isaac drew a great stick figure picture of Christ giving the priesthood to the 12 apostles.

 Eli

The second child, and the most intense!  Age 3.

He really feels his feelings, and when he's happy he is so happy!  Though when he is sad he is very sad.  But that being said, he really is a joy to be around.  He loves his brothers, and loves all family members--if someone is missing, he's the first to comment on it.  A little tinkerer, always taking LEGOs apart, and trying to figure out the mechanics of my jewelry.

He's a brand new Sunbeam, and though a little timid to go into Primary, once in he loves it!    

On Sunday he was all smiles when he told me that "I do head, shoulders, knees, toes!  I did!"

 Titus 

The baby, and he milks it for all it's worth!  Age 2.

He understands that he's small and loves to try to get into my lap any moment he can.  He squeaks and meows his language when ever he can get away with it.  But he's feisty, always in the middle of the actions with his brothers playing.  The only one that asks to color, he's tough and smiley, and still a bit unbalanced.  

Still in Nursery, he's a pro at it.  Typically likes it, though a bit confused why Eli doesn't join anymore.  

On Sunday when we sang "I am a Child of God," he turned to me and exclaimed, "Child of God song!"