The Boulton Blog: Birthdays Galore

I have fallen way behind, and instead of boring you with all the nitty gritty details, I'll try to hit just a few of the highlights.

David: August 17th was his birthday! He turned 2 and had a fun day...I think. Sunday the 16th his Granny worked hard making bacon, eggs, and tater tots for his dinner, and gave him an ingenious indoor sand box, so that hopefully we'll get him over his aversion to the texture. Haha Monday morning we took him into our room when he woke up and spoiled him with breakfast in bed and the duplos he got from his Grandma and Grandpa Boulton. He got to go play with his Granny that day, and he enjoyed a nice long nap that afternoon. For dinner we took him to Stake'n'Shake and followed it up with a trip to Fetch, the puppy store in the mall. He had a great time playing with a little cocker spaniel that was great at only chewing on the soft toys in the cubicle...and Byron's sandal. But didn't nip at the boys or jump up on them at all. He's talking a ton, and loves laughing. He and Caleb love saying silly quotes from Big Hero 6, the 2 most popular being "We jumped out a window" and "Hairy Baby! Haaaairy Baaaby"

Caleb: He's had soccer practices every Wednesday night and does better participating some weeks than others. Hopefully by the end of the season he won't mind the hour long practices, but for now he keeps falling asleep on the way to practice, taking a while to get warmed up to the idea of running around, and burning out about 15 minutes before it's supposed to end. (This kid is really good at making any stumble into the most dramatic looking fall possible) His first game was this past Saturday. He woke up incredibly excited and put his soccer uniform on without complaint. He did fairly well the first half of the game, but by the second half he was pretty tired and cranky. In his age group, in the rec league we have him in, each team puts 3 players on the line in front of their goal, then the team who has the ball is allowed to get it all the way to center field before the opposing team is allowed to leave their line. They play for 3 minutes at a time, then rotate new players in, so he probably only played a total of 21 minutes or so, but of course he made some spectacular looking falls, and was very upset when his team members would take the ball away from him. I may have bribed him with macaroni and cheese for lunch to get him to finish the last 12 minutes of the game, but it was fun, and hopefully he'll get better. :)

Byron: His birthday was also this month! I managed to get up (at the same time as him) and bring him breakfast in bed after his shower/shaving routine. He had requested breakfast burritos, and I had never made them before, so I was a little nervous, but he ate them with a smile and was more than happy to compliment them any time they've come up since. He headed off to work shortly after that since he had a big report to finish before 3pm the following day. The boys and I made his German Chocolate cupcakes and picked up some Snickers icecream bars to drop off at his work. Byron loved the treats, and apparently his co-workers did as well. We were supposed to go to the temple that night but one of the unfortunate side effects of this pregnancy doesn't allow me to sit stationary for that long, so instead we ordered papa johns and had a quiet evening at home. He enjoyed getting to Skype his brother that night and even managed to score a loaner bike from a friend at church while his is being repaired.

Arielle: Tomorrow I will officially be 36 weeks pregnant. 1 month to go people!!! I am finally starting to burn out on craft projects, after making a fun package for my aunt's coming baby girl, burp cloths, scratch mitts, bibs and nursing poncho's for a couple of friends who are either pregnant or just had their babies, and hair bows out the wazoo for everyone else (got a little excited about all the fall ribbon when looking for a fabric). I'm focusing more on the house now, which is in complete disarray. I probably should have focused on it more the past month, then did all of my crafting during the last, and toughest month but oh well, c'est la vie.

I'm not sleeping great, and I'm uncomfortable most of the time, I've experienced some contractions that were a little more intense than Braxton Hicks but certainly nothing to get excited over or be concerned about. I go in for an appointment on Tuesday to be tested for strep B and am hoping to get a better idea of how big I'm measuring. At my last appointment I met a new OB they just hired to the practice and she was very concerned by how big I was measuring, but didn't say specifically how big that was, and I've been kicking myself for not asking ever since. Good thing I wrote myself notes so my swiss cheese brain won't let me forget again.

I was released as the sunbeam teacher (a tender mercy on a pregnant woman since I had the class of 8 sunbeams all to myself) and was called as the Activity Days leader in my ward! I'm so excited and have planned out some activites for the girls that I'm hoping will guide them through their Faith in God projects as well as give them fun new talents and prepare them for Young Women's and beyond.

In General: Life is wonderful. I love my boys, I love my husband, and am so grateful for all of our family, near and far.

Let me know how you're doing if you have a minute. I miss you all and think of you often.