We were blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa Olimb come down for Easter and to meet their newest grandbaby.  We didn’t do much having just gotten out of the nicu and trying to figure out life again with a newborn, but we did get in a few Easter-y activities.  Our neighborhood had an Easter egg hunt, bounce houses, and a balloon maker guy at the park by our house, so we walked over and made some memories.  A few that stood out:  Seeing Grandma Olimb get a little competitive and pass along some egg hunting tips to Asher; Grandpa Olimb taking Asher’s place next to the Easter Bunny; and, watching Asher somehow convince the Easter Bunny to let him spear him with his balloon sword.

Happy Easter from the Olimb Boys!  How blessed are we!!!

We had our Second Annual dinner and egg hunt with the Hoverson’s!  Asher found the big, huge, prize-infested golden egg last year, Micah found it this year, and we’re all hoping that Isaac finds it next year or he might quit :).  This picture makes me laugh.  I completely spaced Asher’s Easter basket.  He’s the one with the Safeway shopping bag.  Nice, ha!

First of all, I just want to thank my extremely talented husband for fixing our broken blog and giving the boys’ a new look!  It’s been driving me nuts not being able to update their scrapbook with all the recent memories!  Mostly because, if I don’t write it down right away, it’s lost forever.  I’m going to try my best, Asher and Beck, to remember all that has happened this last month, but there’s a big, fat chance I’m forgetting a lot.  Just know we’ve been having fun :).

Beck…ohhhh, my heart is so full for you.

You make me smile and laugh and thank the Lord for the great blessing that you are to our family.  I can’t stop kissing you.  Although you’re not sleeping through the night yet, and all I feel like I do at night is take naps, you are such a good baby and already making me so proud.  I love it when you’re hungry and you eat your fists.  I love your soft, fuzzy shoulders and your squishy arms and legs.  I love watching you work so hard to lift your head up and bobble around and then throw it down in exhaustion. I love it when you look at me with super wide-eyes as if you’re saying, “Who are you, and where did you come from!!!”.  It’s usually right after a big burp :).  I love when I kiss you and you try to eat my face off.  I love when something scares you and you throw your arms up over your head.  I love it when you cry and sound like a little lamb.  I love watching you smile while you dream.  And, one of our most loved things about you is all of your grunts.  We’ve started calling you “the protester” because every time we move you, or you move, or we tickle your toes, or we talk to you, you grunt.  It’s precious.

We love you.  You make our family so much sweeter.  Sorry to be so smile demanding, ha!

On top of all your sweetness, you’re absolutely gorgeous.  I think Asher said it best the other day when he said, “Mommy, we have the bestest, coolest baby in the whole world.  Punkers is so beautiful!”  He’s right.  Oh, and in case you haven’t realized, your nickname has become, “Punkers”.  It’s progressed from Pumpkin to Punkie Pie to Punkie to Punkers.  Once Asher heard “Punkers” it was all over and now he rarely uses your name.  Your brother adores you.

Our friend, Kelly, of One 3 Photography again blessed our family with these AMAZING photos to cherish forever.  Every single one of these are my favorite!  We are so grateful for your friendship, Kelly, and thank you for sharing your talent with our family!

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I had to put up some baby pics of Asher, because I think it’s quite obvious they are brothers.  They look so much alike!

I also want to thank Krista and Shannon, and the many friends who threw Beck his very first rockin’ party!  He had the most beautiful baby shower.  It was obvious that countless hours were poured into making his baby shower perfect with little cutesy onesie and diaper favors; “Welcome Baby Beck” banners; a huge spread of food which included deliciously adorable cupcakes; a sweet, sweet devotional from Lorraine with visuals and music even; balloons and flowers and sprinkles and lemon drops all perfectly placed; and the most special – a room full of friends and a “blessing tree” with sweet notes written to our family.  Two things are true.  Beck is very loved and we are blessed with wonderful friends.

And, now I have a million more posts to make to get caught up!  There’s a lot of cuteness going on around this home :).

Well, we definitely haven’t been bored this last month, ha!  After we got home from the NICU we were really hoping to be able to settle into a little routine, and to just hang out and enjoy our new family of four…but I guess routine is so overdone these days.  We discovered that Beck has a dairy allergy.  Enter new GI doctor, more appointments and xrays and ultrasounds and special formula.  Asher got sick.  Super sick.  And, in turn Beck got sick.  We brought Beck into the hospital for an appointment and to have his doctor look at him.  She said, “I’m not going to lie, I’m concerned about him and on the fence about admitting him.”  We were there for quite awhile observing him and trying to figure out what to do.  We left with more treatments, more meds, and pretty strict orders.  Come to find out, both boys have been struggling with RSV.  And, now tonight both boys have been throwing up.  Awesome, ha!  In case that’s not clear, that was a sarcastic, fake laugh :).  Praying our boys can start feeling better, and we can have some appointment free weeks real soon!

I wanted to share some pictures my mom and dad took of their time here with Asher so he can be reminded of their fun times together.  Grandpa and Grandma Necas rented a house here while we were waiting for lil’ B’s arrival.  Asher was pretty much with Grandpa and Grandma for two weeks straight.  He was one happy little boy running around painting the town red, getting to eat out lots, seeing new sites, spending lots of Grandpa and Grandma’s money, and doing fun things like swimming all day and riding his scooter in his jammies!  He was literally spoiled…and we paid for it for about a week, ha!  Thanks, Dad and Mom, for taking care of our Asher and freeing us up to be with Beck!!

Big Asher vs. Little Asher water fight!  It was a close call :).

How happy does Daddy look being able to introduce his son to the luxurious sport of hammocking :).

This is so precious.  Asher made the decision that after years of saving his money in his piggy bank that he wanted to cash out and buy himself some Beyblade Toys.  He set his money aside for church and savings and went to Target with the rest!  He’s in love!  1-2-3!  Let it rip!

Our little boys have been sick this week.  Asher has been doing extra treatments throughout the day, and we started him on a steroid a few days ago.  We were concerned about Beck catching the same thing and tried hard to keep the two of them away, but it was nearly impossible to override Asher’s intense love for his brother.  We had to start lung therapies on Beck a few days ago and I couldn’t help but cry.  He’s three weeks old.  His lungs are so tiny, and so full.  It’s hard listening to him cough and wheeze.  I hate Cystic Fibrosis.  I hate that a cold isn’t just a cold, and I’m constantly worried about new bacterias and lung damage.  I’ve found myself praying more fervently this week for a cure.  It just needs to happen…and soon.

We are so in love with our little boy.  He is absolutely precious, and a gift from the Lord.  He makes us smile so much now, and all he can really do is stretch his little body and move his head from side to side :).  It brings us so much joy to say the words, “the boys” and “the kids”.  We are abundantly blessed!

We’re home.  Together as a family.  We’re so blessed, and thank the Lord we were able to avoid surgery for Beck.  Although 6 days in the nicu felt like 3 months, we’re thankful it was only 6 days, especially knowing we were on the brink of it being a lot more.

Jeremy is 3 for 3 on the artwork in our home!

He’s so precious.

First bath.

Wait.  What are you doing?!  Nooooooo I don’t want a comb over, Daddy!!!  🙂

First family walk.  Asher can stand up when he rides now.  It’s a big deal.

Asher is absolutely smitten with his brother.  I was a little worried about things before Beck came because I knew it was going to be quite an adjustment for Asher.  He has been so wonderful and a huge help.  Anytime Beck cries or needs something Asher is on it!  Not sure how long this will last, but it’s really sweet now :).

Trying to get organized and keep their meds straight.  Beck is only on enzymes, vitamins, salt and zantac right now, but we know this list will grow, especially when we start lung therapies.  We keep praying for that cure!!

We’re so thrilled to be able to announce the arrival of our third son, Beck Ellis!  He’s incredibly beautiful, and he has the most kissable cheeks and little grunts that have stolen my heart forever.  We thought Beck was going to join our family weeks ago, but he decided to hang out until he was over 40 weeks, and then he met his match with the big, bad petocin.

He likes baths.  I like his old man facial expressions and wrinkles :).

Since the moment we met I could not lay Beck down or control my kisses.  We spent our first night together cuddled up holding hands talking about always being punctual, how much he’s not a fan of late night eating, and covering the same topic over and over again about how beautiful he is.  Jeremy and I are so blessed to call him ours and have him a part of our family forever.  Someone else is also quite excited about his little brother :).  When Asher held Beck for the first time he was hugging and kissing him and after awhile Beck started to cry…and then Asher started crying…he thought he did something wrong and hurt his little brother.  It was the sweetest moment.  Beck is so blessed to have a big brother who is already his protector.  Of course Asher also had to touch his eye balls and man-handle his face checking him out, but I suppose that’s what big brothers do too, ha!

The other reason I couldn’t lay Beck down was because he wasn’t able to keep anything in his belly.  We found out at Beck’s 20 week ultrasound that he was showing “echogenic bowels”.  The doctors were not completely sure what that meant or what it was, it was just a red flag, something to watch throughout the pregnancy, and something we would have to wait to see how and if that would manifest when we saw Beck.  Since Cystic Fibrosis is a lung and digestive disease, when we heard this news Jeremy and I started mentally preparing for the possibility of having two kids with CF.

In less than 24 hours of Beck being with us, he went from occasional spitting up to vomiting bile.  To hear, “we’re going to need to bring him up to NICU to run some tests” was absolutely crushing.  My first thought was of our sweet Paxon, and how sometimes babies don’t make it out of the NICU.  Emotions and memories came flooding back as we handed over our beautiful boy not knowing what the future would hold for him.  To walk into the room and see him already with an IV, a tube down his throat, to hear all the beeping monitors going off, to see doctors and nurses frantically working to run xrays to get him ready for tests all made me want to throw up.  My plans to have another night cuddling our baby came to a crashing halt.

In no time they knew that he had a bowel blockage and we needed to do something fast to try to rid his body of the meconium.  They rushed him down for a procedure to help with this, but essentially it was a complete failure.  The plan was to try the same procedure the next morning, and if that didn’t work Beck was going to have surgery on his bowels the very next day.

We were desperate.  Desperate for this procedure to work.  Desperate for him to poop and avoid this surgery.  Desperate for people to pray for our boy.  And, desperate for a cure for CF as it all became quickly apparent that we were now dealing with this beast of a disease again.

Hundreds of people have been praying for Beck and begging God to allow this blockage to move through his body.  It’s completely humbling and an overwhelming feeling to hear so many coming alongside us and joining us in prayer.  And it’s even more humbling because it’s working!!!  We started the morning yesterday preparing for the procedure to go the same as it had before, and expecting our two day old baby to have surgery.  Except that wasn’t how the procedure went!  Jeremy and I started crying and thanking the Lord when our boy started to pass some meconium during the procedure!!  We had hope.

And, we have even more hope now!  He has continually been passing meconium on his own, and we’re anxiously awaiting the arrival of the neonatologist this morning to see if we can take the tube out of his mouth and try feeding him again!!  It’s a new dawn.  It’s a new day.  We have hope it’s going to be a very good day!!  We wanted to share our boy with you, and ask that you continue to pray.  We’re desperate to bust the chains on this place and bring him home!!!  We love you all!!  Thank you for loving our boy!!

Based on lots of contractions these last few days, I’m guessing this will be the last post I make before little b comes to see us.  We’re all super excited to see his sweet face, and can’t wait to cuddle him like crazy.

Last night we had a huge milestone in our home.  Asher now rides his bike without his training wheels!  The whole process took about 10 minutes…literally.  I really expected this to be a progressive, week long training school, but I guess he was ready to rock the two wheels!

Here’s your very first time without training wheels…

And, you 10 minutes later…

We were shocked that he picked up the skill so quickly, but I guess it makes sense with his fearless, pedal to the metal, who needs training wheels, type of personality.  We’re so proud of you, Buddy!  (and scared, mommy’s scared)

Speaking of that fearless personality, we wrapped up soccer a few weeks ago.  We’ll definitely be doing this sport again, it was so much fun, and Asher loved it!  It was extra special this time because Jeremy was Dave’s assistant coach, and Asher got to play with his buds Chase and Carter.  Dave was out of town for the team photo which was a bummer, but I had to post the pics to show all the boys, and the adorable pic of Daddy with his little soccer star.  And, one more video of our rockin’ goalie :).

Asher took a Big Brother class a few weeks ago, and loved learning all about babies and how he can be a big help around the house.  I know I’ve mentioned it already a few times, but he seriously is so excited to be a big brother.  It was hilarious watching him excitedly talk to the teachers and show them all he knew about taking care of a baby.  He’s so proud.  One of the teachers was talking to the class about how much babies cry, and Asher raises his hand and says, “Excuse me, my baby is only going to eat and sleep.”  LOL!  I’m hoping this big brother high continues :).

I also have to post these pics because they’re beautiful, and I want to make sure they’re included in Asher’s scrapbook.  My friend, Kelly, with One 3 Photography asked if she could take some fighter pictures of Asher to promote our Silent Auction this year.  We’re not only grateful for her willingness and creativity to promote our auction, but we’re so thankful we will forever have these images of our warrior fighter.  He’s a perfect blend of fierce and beauty :).

Jeremy and I were humbled, numerous times, throughout the planning of our silent auction this year.  “Soliciting” friends, and friends of friends, and new friends, and begging people to donate their time, effort and money is not something that’s high on our “want to” list…it’s actually on our “are you kidding me, burp” list.  We know that there are a million other causes out there that need help and support as well, and we completely understand that people have their own struggles going on in their lives.  So, we don’t take what happened this year at our silent auction lightly.  It was a big deal.

We had 390 items donated this year.  Absolutely amazing.  People crocheting and sewing, people donating their time and services and products, people calling in favors for us, people doing what they could to round up amazing items that not only drew a crowd, but raised a ton of money.  Humbling.

Our guest book got a little off this year, but we had about 475-500 join us that night.  When I stood in the back of the conference center and got a view of the full room I cried.  We truly don’t know how to express our appreciation to everyone for making the time to come and be with us.  We know life is busy, and the list of other things you could have been doing was extensive, but you chose us.  You chose our boy.  You chose this fight.  We are humbled by your love and support.

Jeremy made a new video and tshirts for the auction this year, that make me so proud, and I know Asher will feel the same way one of these days…

Dumo Spiro Spero, while I breathe I hope.

So, on to the exciting news of how much money we all raised for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation…

How does $21,118.83 sound?!?!?!?!

Pretty stinkin’ amazing if you ask us!  YOU did this!  YOU made this happen!  YOU are teamASHER!  We are grateful and so thankful to have you on our team fighting with us.  On top of this huge number for the Foundation, you also personally blessed our family with $2,110 that is in a savings account that we can use for Asher’s medical funds!  I’m really not sure how many times I can use the words “humbling, grateful, thankful” before I start sounding fake.  I just cannot think of any other words to describe how we felt after the auction.  We love you all.

When Jeremy was sharing with everyone about Cystic Fibrosis he made a comment that one of these days we’re going to fill the Conference Center with people, not for an auction, but for one, huge, kickin’ party to celebrate a cure!  Oh Lord, I cannot WAIT for that day!

Until that day…we fight.  We fight this disease all day every day in our home.  Thank you for standing with us.

These days I’m so thankful for a phone that takes pictures and videos, because the idea of carrying another something that weighs over 2 ounces is not high on my list.  I thought I would post a couple of fun memories that I’ve stocked up on my phone…

Daddy has definitely been trying to buy himself some time with the “can we get a puppy?” question.  Asher has obviously been listening to what his Daddy has been saying, ha!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqg-O-Vua8M[/youtube]

Someone is doing really great working on his strokes :)…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZAEmSpNmVU[/youtube]

Asher has some new moves (what the heck are these moves?!)…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edhDzdYugC0[/youtube]

Asher loves to run.  That’s already been established.  Sometimes we go up to the park by our house and let him run around the track.  The track is 1/4 mile long.  This time when he was running with Auntie Dana, it was his fourth time around…he ran 1 mile…it really makes me teary.  So proud, buddy.  So proud.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqtIQt1-Ueg[/youtube]

Shanny blessed our family.  She willingly took Asher for his first sleep-over with his cousins.  Equipment, pills, and all.  I luckily share a birthday with her sweet boy, Rush, and so she single-handedly blessed her son, and our family all at once.  We love you, Shannon, and are so thankful for your willingness to take care of our son!  We’re excited for all the new sleepover memories we’re about to embark on :).

A certain cutie got his picture published in a local magazine.

Asher still loves puzzles.  Cannot even tell you how many times he’s put his states puzzle together.  This picture though is primarily for his morning rooster tail that makes me smile :).

Each year the trees in our backyard get bigger…and so does the pile of leaves to jump in.  Asher was so excited this year for the leaves to drop so he could jump in.  Last year we had a lot of rain that sort of ruined the leaf jumping opportunities, but this year he scored big time.

This just makes me smile.  I went into Beck’s room a few weeks ago and noticed that Asher colored a picture and built a tower and put it in Beck’s crib as a welcoming present :).  Asher is SOOOOO excited for his brother to come and be a part of our family.  We talk practically all day long about how he’s going to care for Beck, how he’s going to help Mommy with Beck, what he’s going to do if Beck cries, and he’s constantly wanting to hug and kiss Beck and he’s already trying to make his brother laugh in womb.  It’s really adorable.

Asher’s boat.  This was about a 4 day project that I just had to take a picture of.  It only took about 3 roles of scotch tape, and when that ran out he moved on to masking tape, lots of coloring, and the last component he was so proud of was the door he cut out.