David: He is learning animal sounds, and the actions that go along with them. He knows bird, cat, dog, snake, tiger, and elephant without any help, and Caleb is more than happy to help him with chicken, goat, sheep, and horse. He loves playing with trains and yelling "Time Tunnel, Time Tunnel!" from the Dinosaur Train show that he and Caleb love to watch. He also loves airplanes and is very good at spotting them in the sky, which happens pretty often since there is a small, private airport less than 2 miles from our house.
Caleb: He is growing so quickly and learning new things all of the time. Saturday afternoon we went to babies'r'us and he was very distraught when we left the store without buying anything "for baby 'Zekiel" (he still doesn't quite have that first E in there yet. :) He laughs when I tell him the baby is trying to kick him and loves to tell me that my belly is big because I have a baby in there. He's a happy boy, just about all the time, and loves playing outside. He was thrilled when Byron took him on a bike ride Saturday afternoon to the grocery store that's close by and was a big helper holding onto the eggs on the way home so they wouldn't crack. He even made sure they made it into the fridge before running off to play again. I may have a little mother's helper in the making after all. :)
Byron: He's the most amazing husband and the absolute love and light of my life. He sets such a wonderful example of service, humility, patience and forgiveness and finds so much joy in teaching new things to those around him.
This Sunday he subbed in the nursery with 2 other men who had children in there. On my way out of the primary with my (eight!) little sunbeams, one of the presidency members mentioned in passing she was grateful for Byron. I didn't think much of it at the time, since I was trying to corral my class into the hall and some semblance of a line against the wall while we waited for our classroom, but she caught me again at the end of church and said again how wonderful he was. She mentioned how good he was at interacting with the children, and playing with them, and was so grateful that he was willing to help pass out snacks and try to do what he could to actually be a sub instead of standing against the wall chatting as some others are apt to do. I'm not going to lie, I was grateful to hear that it went well, since I was surprised he had agreed so readily to subbing (last minute) in nursery of all places, since he won't willingly go into a primary classroom that I'm not in. I don't think he realizes how good he is at teaching and explaining things in terms almost anyone can understand. If he ever decided to be a teacher I'm sure all of his students would all excel in his class.
He also agreed to let Chandler use his bicycle for his High Adventure trip to Mackinaw Michigan this week. He was a little hesitant when I said that Chandler would be riding about 100 miles, but when he figured out he covers about 105 miles in 3 weeks just going to and from work, he was okay with it. Caleb had a bit of a meltdown on the way home though, thinking that it was so incredibly terrible that his Daddy had left his bicycle at Granny's in trade for a bike that was much too big and...scary? We're not really sure what that was about, but he cried the entire 20 minute drive home and was only consoled when he was completely distracted by snuggles, a bowl of fresh grapes, and chocolate milk.
Arielle: I can't remember having much going on this week. I made a dress for the first time in my life. A darling little ruffled thing that I would love to have in my own size if I wasn't afraid of elephantitis my hips would certainly suffer from in such a dress. I have been trying to spend more time outside with Caleb and David since the pollen count seems to have finally settled at a level where I'm not dying if I spend more than 20 minutes outside, and I've been grateful for the more mild temperatures we've had this week since the humidity the week before seemed to suck every ounce of energy I could muster.
Ezekiel is getting bigger and I can finally feel him moving almost all the time. With Caleb I felt like I had a little soccer player, with David I imagined him swimming around in there, but with this one I feel like I've got a Mexican Jumping Bean hopping around in my belly. Here's to hoping he's nice and active during the ultra sound this coming Tuesday.
Wednesday I went to the doctor after the rash seemed to be getting worse instead of better and I hadn't slept well for 2 nights, and what I thought had been poison ivy my doctor informed me was probably something called PUPPP. A rare rash found in pregnant women that starts on your belly and spreads from there...which is exactly what mine had done, and also explains why I hadn't given it to Caleb and David even though they were constantly snuggling me during the week and a half I'd had it. It's basically my body having an allergic reaction to my skin stretching out again and the pregnancy hormones coursing through my body, but he gave me some prednisone that seems to be working amazingly well, and things have been healing nicely since then.
In General: Our week has been pretty much the same as every other week, but Saturday we spent the day together doing all kinds of fun things.
We left early-ish in the morning to go to the Troy Strawberry Festival. It was fun walking around seeing all of the strawberries painted on the streets and the red fountain that was in the middle of it all. They also had a fun kid area that we didn't make it to with a bounce house and some games, but I think the boys had fun anyway. Walking around I saw some amazing looking strawberry doughnuts, and really wanted to get some, but when we finally found the line it was twice the length of the football stadium and I realized that I was not interested in standing in a line for over an hour to get some doughnuts...no matter how good they might be. They had all kinds of fun booths to look at though, and people were selling everything from deep fried strawberries to strawberry noodles and caramel strawberry popcorn. Eventually we settled for some really yummy strawberry smoothies and kettle corn, and brought the boys home for naps.
When they woke up Byron took the boys on a bike ride to the store, which I was amazed by since he had an uphill climb both ways, made more difficult by the trailer with 70 lbs of little boy hitched to the back, but he did it anyway, and seemed happy when he made it home, so I guess it wasn't too exhausting.
Today was a wonderful day that began at a shocking 5:30 am (Byron had forgotten it was Sunday and David wanted us to be awake) so I made homemade bread this morning, the boys were both bathed, dressed, and ready before 8:30 am for our 11 o'clock church, and Byron even managed to squeeze in a 40 minute nap so he could feel happy and functional while wrestling the boys through sacrament meeting with me. I think we're both looking forward to the schedule change next month when we'll have church from 1-4 instead of 11-2 when we're at church during both lunch, and naptime.
We got to have an amazing dinner at my parents house after church, and I enjoyed spending time playing with and braiding Amber's hair after dinner while the boys laid out an elaborate track for cars on the floor and Byron talked bicycles with Chandler. I'm so grateful to have family so close and that they like having us around too. :) It also makes me wish Byron's family were closer - but I guess I'll just have to soak up every minute I can during the reunion next month. :)
I guess that's all for now. We love you all! Cheerio!
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| David in his Happy Place |
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| Caleb loves to play with his Daddy |
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| David was not excited about this picture - but I really wanted to see my final product on a human being! |
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| The bench had "Time Out" inscribed on the back and was just the right size for my boys. They loved it |
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| Enjoying some downtime and smoothies at the festival. |
I got the blog title from a fun new song my mom showed me tonight. Here's a cute video to watch while you listen!
Chivalry is Dead by Trevor Wesley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZfR7qc0WVs
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