I'm Goin' Out with my Boots On

We've had a lot of fun this week celebrating Byron's birthday and the end of summer and life in general, and I can't even begin to describe how much I'm loving this new phase of motherhood. It's so rewarding to see how much Caleb loves his little brother, and I can't believe how blessed I am by the perfect angel baby I've been given.

David:  He's continued to be a great sleeper this week, 4 of the past 7 nights he started out with a 6 hour stretch, then would wake up around 2 am and again around 6 am.  He smiles in his sleep, and melts my heart, hates to get his diaper changed or have his clothes changed, but loves getting showered now that his cord has fallen off.  He had his 2 week wellness check Friday morning and he weighed in at 9 lbs 5 oz, and is 20 1/2 inches long.  I don't know where he falls in percentiles, since we had a different doctor than usual and she didn't tell me that, but she said he looks great and is letting me skip his 1 month wellness check to avoid the sick children that are starting to fill the waiting room as fall begins.

Caleb:  He's growing so fast.  His favorite pair of shoes right now are some cowboy boots my mom gave him, and while they match nothing he owns, I put them on him every single day.  He gets compliments on them everywhere we go and he's in hog heaven. He's started climbing up on everything, and has become much more independent since I've stopped carrying him everywhere.  He still likes to hold my hand when going up or down stairs, and won't climb into or out of his carseat on his own, but he loves to kick the soccer ball around, hold his baby brother, and eat anything and everything.  He's started trying to talk more and even though most of it is just babble, he's convinced he's having a full blown conversation with you and every now and then something actually makes sense.  He's hit the phase where a kiss solves all of his problems and I can't describe how adorable he is.  He got his haircut this week and looks so grown up all of a sudden.  He's certainly not a baby anymore...good thing I've got another one or I might just cry whenever I'm not laughing at him.

Byron:  He's had a a pretty good week.  His 26th birthday was Tuesday and I tried to spoil him, but it certainly felt sub-par compared to what I accomplished last year for him.  He got his breakfast in bed, and I took the boys to have a picnic with him at a park he's been wanting to show me behind his work, and I made him lasagna for dinner, after which we went on a family walk around the neighborhood, but he had to wait until Saturday for his birthday cake (I was hoping family members would help eat it, but we still brought a lot home) and I didn't figure out what his birthday present would be until about 10 pm last night, and it won't be here for another week and a half, but he's excited about so I win anyway right?  My parents got him the best gift though, a small compound bow he can shoot for fun around the yard or at the new archery range in Centerville.  He's pretty excited about it and almost lost one of the arrows while playing with it in my parents yard this evening when it went through his the shoe box he was using as a target and got buried in the dirt.  Luckily Alyssa found it (right when we were getting in the car to leave) and Byron was pretty excited about that.   He's been doing a lot of documentation for his current project at work, and seemed to have a lot of meetings, but he got to ride his bike into work every morning and that seems to be his favorite part of the day anyway.  He's ready to start waking up and exercising before work again so hopefully I'll be encouraging enough to make that happen this week. :)

Arielle:  I've started getting out and about this week.  Monday morning my Mommy watched Caleb and David so I could get my hair cut (I had it totally chopped off) and she's been great about letting me come over when I need to get out of the house (I'm sure it has nothing to do with how much she enjoys holding David).  Thursday morning Mommy and I took Caleb, David, and Charlie to a playgroup at Stubbs park before running a few errands and it was fun to be reminded just how much Caleb loves swings when he started giggling excitedly before he was even all the way in it. 

In General:  This week has been really laid back.  Monday and Thursday evening we all piled into the car and went to Byron's soccer practice. Monday we met the rest of my family there and had FHE with them after soccer practice, which Caleb loved.  Friday night we took Caleb to the library after Byron got off work before heading home and having yummy stuffed shells my Mommy had made for us.  Saturday we attended an "end of summer" picnic that my Grandma and Great Aunt Jill organized.  There was a ton of yummy food and Byron got to throw the Frisbee around with our cousin Ryan Michael, and Uncle Ben, which is his favorite part of going to parks.  I got to talk to my cousin Katrina and Aunt Liz, which is always great fun, and Caleb ran around playing with Carson and Westley.  At one point he totally ate dirt (literally) when he fell out of a folding chair he had been playing with, but he was up and running again shortly thereafter so I figure the damage wasn't too extensive.  David got passed around quite a bit, and I'm just hoping everyone who wanted to hold him got to since there were more people than time.  Today was wonderful.  David got passed around at church again, which I must admit I enjoy and I enjoyed our lessons.  This afternoon we got to spend some time with a wonderful widow in our ward that refers to herself as my "Nana" (she was my adopt-a-grandparent when I was in Young Women's) then came home for lunch and naps before going to my parents for dinner.  My Mommy made cinnamon chicken and rice, one of Byron's favorite dishes, and  the weather was nice so we got to enjoy sitting out on the deck while the kids played in the yard after dinner.

Yes, those are little girl leggings I bought for $1 on clearance when he was about
 a year old because I wanted pajama pants for him.
and Yes, I took my son out in public dressed like this...
Just for a walk around the neighborhood before bedtime though :)

Playing with Uncle Charlie at the park

He climbed up this all by himself several times during play group

Aunt Amber holding baby David

Caleb's new haircut!!!

A picture during one of the rare moments he's actually awake

David with his Great Grandpa Lane

My haircut!

Caleb with his new choo choo from Nana Pence

The link for this week's blog title song.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc4LMJaoN8E