My Boys

My Brother

My brother's worth about two cents,

As far as I can see.

I simply cannot understand

Why they would want a "he."

He spends a good part of his day

Asleep inside the crib,

And when he eats, he has to wear

A stupid baby bib.

He cannot walk and cannot talk

And cannot throw a ball.

In fact, he can't do anything--

He's just no fun at all.

It would have been more sensible,

As far as I can see,

Instead of getting one like him

To get one just like me.

-Marci Ridlon

Wyatt loves his baby brother. They are going to have so much fun together in a couple of years! Aren't they cute???

Levi Smiles!

Levi has been sharing his adorable wide-mouth smile for a few weeks now, but I can never seem to get a good picture of it. Here's a cute smile, but I really love the one with his mouth wide open. I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures of it in the next few months. Levi is two months old now, and is doing great. He seems to be following the growth curves of his brother and sister, so we'll have another tall, skinny kid. He loves his bathtime now and gets quite a workout every night in the bath, kicking and waving his arms.

Levi's Blessing Day

Levi was blessed by his dad on Sunday. It was a great day! Darin gave him a beautiful blessing, and we were happy to have so much family there. Grandnana and Papa came from Las Vegas, Aunt Janet came from Dallas, Chelsea came from LA, Nana from Gilbert, Grandpa Bruce from Chandler, the Lichlyters from Yuma, the Prices from Tucson, the Kluvers/Parisots from Vail, and the Elams from Tucson and Sahuarita. We appreciate all the miles traveled to be with us on our special day. When Darin and all of the other priesthood holders circled around Levi for the blessing, it hit me how blessed my children are to have that amazing circle of support and love that includes many generations. After the blessing, we all gathered at our house for a lunch of Hawaiian Haystacks and Sweet and Sour Meatballs. And we all put away lots of cookies!

The day before the blessing, we went on an excursion to Madera Canyon to have a picnic dinner and let the kids run and play. Nana and Papa hit the root beer pretty hard. The kids loved hiking and playing by the creek. Ethan fell in the water and soaked his shorts, but somehow his feet stayed completely dry. The kids even saw a few bear caves, and Lindsay was sure she saw the bear! These cousins get along so well. I love it when we have an excuse to get them together.

Levi's One Month Old!

Levi is already a month old. I took him in to get his pictures taken last week. and literally the day before his appointment all of the hair on the top of his head fell out, he got a serious case of dandruff, and he broke out with baby acne all over his face. Oh well, the pictures turned out really cute. I'll share them after we get them back. But he's doing great. He's growing bigger and starting to be more active and alert. He's happy most of the time. We are still trying to coax that first real smile out of him. We are all loving having him as a part of our family. Here's a bunch of pictures for our far-away family.

Thanks for the cute blanket, Larissa!

Levi Thomas Elam

Hi Everybody! I've had a couple of people bugging me for months to start a blog, but I haven't gotten around to it. Then I thought I should have something exciting to post as my very first entry, so I've been waiting for some excitement in our lives. Well, I can't think of anything more exciting than the birth of a new baby, so I guess my excuses are gone now. Anyway, we are very happy to have Levi Thomas join our family. He has been such a sweet baby so far. His brother and sister adore him. Wyatt pats his head and says, "Cute little boy" over and over. Madison loves to hold him and kiss him. I wasn't sure I was ready for a newborn again, but I have spent way too many hours this week just sitting and holding him, and loving every minute of it!